6156 - General Gerhard Tappen - A cased Pour le Mérite with Oak Leaves

General Gerhard Tappen - A cased Pour le Mérite with Oak Leaves A hollow gold cross on a Baroque loop, enameled blue on both sides, with vent holes in the cross arms. Unsigned. Width 52.8 mm, weight with oak leaves 18.7 g. The oak leaves are hollow-embossed gold-plated silver. A pre-made ribbon section approximately 62 cm long, woven in black with three wide silver stripes and sewn-on snap fasteners. Presented in a dark leather-covered award case from the Order’s Chancellery, with a corresponding label and serial number on the underside. Also included is a large-format portrait photograph of Tappen. The highest-ranking and, with only 122 awards, also one of the rarest honors. Dietrich Gerhard Emil Theodor Tappen (1866–1953): 1885 ensign, 1886 second lieutenant, 1893 first lieutenant, 1897 assigned to the General Staff, 1901 battery commander in FAR 8, 1904 adjutant on the General Staff of the 16th Division, 1906 major, 1909 Chief of Staff of the XVII Army Corps, 1910 department head on the General Staff, 1912: Lieutenant Colonel; at the outbreak of war in 1914, served in the Supreme Army Command as Chief of the Operations Department on the General Staff of the Field Army. Awarded the Pour le Mérite on September 11, 1915; awarded the Oak Leaves on January 27, 1916. In 1916, he became a Major General and Chief of Staff in Mackensen’s Army Group in Romania. He subsequently served as commander of the 5th Replacement Division and, in 1917, as commander of the 15th Infantry Division. In 1939, he was promoted to General of Artillery. Condition: II +