Vitéz stories III – Sergeant Joföldi, KuK IR 38

These are the documents and medals of sergeant in the reserve vitéz Jóföldi Gábor.

Complete WW1 entitlement including vitéz order and certificate

The following information comes from the history of the 38th KuK regiment by József Doromby :

Photo from the regimental book.

“He was born in 1885 in Bogyiszló. In 1907-09 he fulfilled his military duties in Bilek. He was involved in the mobilization and trained as a reserve NCO until January 15, 1915. After that he went to the Serbian front, and from there on May 13, to the Italian front. He went to Doberdo, Italy and then he was taken back to the Serbian front and then again to the Italian battlefield, from where in April 1916 he was taken sick to the hospital. After his recovery, he was commanded to the Russian, Romanian and finally again to the Italian front. Wife: Judit Bencze; children: Judith, husband. Mrs. János Sánta, Gábor, Lidia, husband. Mrs. Józsefné Németh, Ferenc. “

The piece in the book also give his full medal list as shown above. He did not qualify for the Wounded Medal as his period in hospital was due to illness, not wounds received in battle.

His Silver Bravery Medal 1st class would be the basis for his later (1929) introduction into the vitéz order. Below the full size diploma which is quite rare as most units only handed out the small certificates for in the legitimation capsule.

Below some other papers, his 1919 release from service papers, the certificate for his Karltroop cross and his Hungarian WW1 remembrance medal.

He was mobilized again for WW2 (Igazolvány lap in the top middle) but probably did not see any action due to his age.

All papers and medals came from the family and are a real group. Below a “Kappenabzeichen” of the 38th KuK Infantry Regiment in which he served (my collection but not part of his estate!)

With thanks to Zoltán Sőregi for finding the regimental information!

Vitéz stories II – Sergeant Molnár, KuK IR 46

Due to my interest in the Hungarian vitéz order I bought this document. It is a diploma for participating in a course for land management that was given to members of the order – who also would receive a gift of land as part of the order.

With it came another document. The certifacte for participation in the (re)annexation of Transylvania in 1941. By that time he was a reserve sergeant and aged 51!

Researching him in the 1939 vitéz yearbook gives an overview of his medal entitlement. The second document is key for confirming it is as the name is extremely common in Hungary but it gives his year of birth, 1890, and his domicile, Gyoma.

A short translation of the info: Sergeant-Major in the 48th KuK Infantry Regiment with the following medal entitlement: Silver Bravery Medal 1st class (O1) with 3 bars, Silver Bravery Medal 2nd class (O2) with 2 bars and Bronze Bravery Medal, Karltroop Cross and Wound Medal with 3 stripes.

The regimental number seems to be a misstake and should read nr 46 (thanks to Tibor Szekér)

So 4 times (1 award and 3 bars) of the Silver Bravery Medal 1st class. The highest amount of these in the entire Honvéd part of the Austro-Hungarian army was 3 times and that only once!

Example of a Silver Bravery Medal 1st class (Emperor Karl version) with a device for 3 repeated awards! A repeat of 3 in silver is extremely rare if original!

And 3 times (1 award and 2 bars) of the Silver Bravery Medal 2nd class. In the entire Honvéd part of the Austro-Hungarian army there were only 189 such men!

The numbers of such entitlements for the entire Austro-Hungarian army are not known. The info above comes from this excellent website! But it can be guessed that this combination of 8 Bravery Medals is probably extremely rare and might be unique and certainly much rarer than a Golden Bravery Medal!

It is an honour to have these nice documents to a NCO with an absolutely unique entitlement!

Vitéz stories I – Sergeant Horváth, KuK IR 44

Sergeant in the 44th Infantry Regiment (Erzherzog Albrecht Nr. 44). Awarded with the Austro Hungarian Golden Medal for Bravery. The highest possible award in the Austro-Hungarian Army for ranks below officer.

For his actions he was awarded the Hungarian title vitéz and the order in the interwar period you can read more about the Vitézi Rend in the earlier blog.

Grand diploma of the order, handsigned by Regent Horthy.

Below the excerpt from the 1939 Vitéz Albuma:

Awards as stated in the list in the yearbook:

  • Golden Bravery medal
  • Silver Bravery medal 1st Class, 2 times
  • Bronze Bravery medal
  • Karl Troop cross

The short version of his citation as recorded in the Golden Medal award records in the Austrian Military Records

Im Gefechte vom 12/3 auf den 13/3 (1915) am Brdo Bewies er beispeillose Unerschrockenheit u. heldenhafte Tapferkeit.
Kam bis auf 40x vor der fdl Stellung. Trat den Ruckzug trozt des Befehls erst nach 2 Stunden als letzte abt der Angr. Gruppe an.

Which translates as follows:

In the fights of 12/3 and 13/3 in Brdo he showed unprecedented fearlessness and heroic Bravery.
Came up to 40x before the enemies position. Retreated, despite the order, only after 2 hours as the last of the attacking group.

His feats where also published in a Hungarian book (A MAGYAR NEMZETARANYKONYVE 1914-1918.” Budapest, 1921. – Golden book of the Hungarian nation 1914-1918 ) which describes the action as follows:

“He ran forward in the killing adverse drum-fire of the enemy as the head of his platoon and during the assault he exhorted his comrades. The regiment met irreplaceable and heavy losses, so sergeant Janos Horvath got the order to withdraw his fellows from the first line. Horvath was forty paces off the enemy and he sent back a message that they will not leave the line as long as the wounded comrades of the neighboring unit (3rd Bosnians) have not been recovered. Finally he withdrew his men two hours later and he was the last soldier who left the front line.”

His Vitézi Rend Award which is numbered and has the initials of Horvath.

And the certificate that belongs to the award

Replacement Golden Bravery Medal (gilded bronze in the Karl version, interwar period). This came directly from the family but is a replacement. The original will have been a real gold FJ type that probably was sold for mentary reasons as happened very often. Next to this his large Silver Bravery Medal with bar for the 2nd award. The Bronze Bravery Medal and the Karl Troop cross were no longer part of the group so I have not included them either.

Free public transport travel cards to the winners of the Golden Bravery Medal including his photo ID with signature.

The original award request forms as they remained in the Hungarian military archives!

Group as I had it framed some years ago.