Germany – Imperial: A fascinating Western Front Battle of the Somme ‘Hell of Maurepas’ casualty Bavarian Military Merit Order 4th Class with swords in silver and enamel and Iron Cross 1914 2nd Class group awarded to Leutnant of the Reserve August Stengler, 2nd Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment who was decorated with the Iron Cross 2nd Class on 6th May 1916 and would be killed in action on 12th August 1916 during the Regiment’s fighting for the village of Maurepas on the Somme, when after a heavy French bombardment which buried alive many troops, the unit then involved in such fierce close combat that it was withdrawn from the front for refitting just three days later. Stengler would posthumously receive the Bavarian Military Merit Order 4th Class on 20th October 1916.
Germany – Imperial: Bavaria Military Merit Order 4th Class with swords in silver and enamel, marked ‘CH900’ to the reverse of one of the swords. Iron Cross 1914, 2nd Class, ring stamped ‘K’; Regimental Medal of the 2nd Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment. The first two loose-mounted for wear in the continental style.
Condition: notable enamel chip to the central obverse of the Bavarian order, mounted loose for wear in the continental style. Good Very Fine
Along with :
Award Certificate for the Iron Cross 1914 2nd Class dated 6th May 1916 and issued to Leutnant of the Reserve August Stengler.
Award Certificate for the Bavarian Military Merit Order 4th Class with swords dated 20th October 1916 and issued to Leutnant of the Reserve of Infantry August Stengler.
Letter dated 11th February 1918 forwarding the certificates of both the Iron Cross 1914 2nd Class and the Bavarian Military Merit Order 4th Class with swords
August Stengler saw service as a Leutnant of the Reserve of Infantry with the 2nd Reserve Infantry Regiment during the Great War and along with his unit would have seen action in the fighting in the Artois region specifically around Arras for which he would be awarded his Iron Cross 2nd Class on 6th May 1916 before in August 1916 the Regiment moved to the Somme where it would be stationed around Maurepas and Clery in an attempt to defend against the Anglo-French offensive in the region. Leutnant Stanger and the 2nd Reserve Infantry Regiment were noted as arriving in the Somme sector on 10th August 1916 and immediately being subjected to an intense bombardment of calibres of up to 280mm that was noted as turning the landscape into a crater field.
Stanger is noted as having been killed in action on 12th August 1916 when the French launched a massive assault following an intense artillery barrage, the Regiment fighting to the north of the village of Maurepas in desperate close quarters combat trying to man a defensive line that had been reduced to shell holes.
Contemporary sources describe a level of violence that even seasoned soldiers were unaccustomed to with the 3rd Battalion of the 2nd Reserve Infantry Regiment effectively destroyed by the sheer volume of metal thrown at them with many of them being buried alive. The Regiment had to be withdrawn from the front on 15th August due to its extreme losses and was sent to the rear near Cambrai to refit. The village of Maurepas was taken by the French on 24th August 1916.
Stengler’s award of the Bavarian Military Merit Order 4th Class with swords on 20th October 1916, given the timeframe for such awards is almost certainly for his part in the Battle of the Somme in August 1916.
