Belated birthday.
Wonder what he did to receive the Iron Cross.
@Slide Rule He earned it during WW-1 as enlisted swine. IIRC,he was some sort of messenger back in the days before wireless communications. His job was to run around in the open and deliver messages to different units when the land lines had been destroyed by shell fire,cut,or just plain wasn't working.
I THINK he also got a wound badge in WW-1. Been decades since I read about his stuff,so some of the exact details may be off a little.
BTW,IIRC,his treatment by the German government after WW-1 ended with him being partially handicapped from the wounds is believed to be the spark that set him off on the path to revolution. The fact that Germany lost WW-1 and was bankrupted by the allies to pay damages so they didn't have the money to properly treat their wounded vets made no difference to the wounded vets who were still suffering from the war,and these people became the base that eventually put him in power.
While there can be no doubt that Germany brought this on themselves by starting the war,it is also easy to see why the survivors of that war who came home to no jobs,no food,and no medical care for their wounds were a little upset with the German leadership,who all were still living the life of the wealthy.
Given that just about all of the leadership in Europe at that time were all related by marriage somewhere down the line,it should come as no surprise to anyone that the Royalty,both big and small,were never held personally responsible.
BTW,THIS is why the US and other Allied nations spend so much time and money rebuilding Germany after WW-2. We didn't want another repeat of what happened after WW-1,and it seems to have worked.
