An Austro-Hungarian Imperial And Royal Colonel General Von Pflanzer-Baltin Medal

Silver, marked "SILBER" and "890" (silver) on the edge, obverse illustrating the bust of Colonel General Karl Freiherr von Pflanzer-Baltin, surrounded by the inscription "K.u.K. GENERALOBERST von PFLANZER-BALTIN", reverse illustrating the rifle-bearing general standing upon a bluff, the Austro-Hungarian coat-of-arms below, the rifle pointed at a four-headed beast in the river, inscribed "AM DNJESTR 1914/16" (at Dniester) above and engraver marked "HK", 33.3 mm, extremely fine.

Footnote: Karl Freiherr von Pflanzer-Baltin (born June 1, 1855 in Pécs, Hungary - died April 8, 1925 in Vienna, Austria) was an Austro-Hungarian general who was active in the First World War. Pflanzer-Baltin became General of Cavalry from October 1912 and he served on the general staff, but in 1914 he was unattached, due to precarious health. It was only in the autumn of that year, when Romania appeared to be turning against the Central Powers, that he was charged with the defense of Transylvania. When the Russians crossed the Carpathians, and there was immediate danger of their eruption into the Hungarian plains, Pflanzer-Baltin, with an improvised division, threw himself on them, and conducted a defense with a series of offensive movements. He was promoted to Colonel-General in 1916. After fighting with varying success in the southern part of Eastern Galicia and in the Bukovina the 7th Army under his command was driven back by Aleksei Brusilov's offensive in June 1916, whereupon he was relieved of his command. Pflanzer-Baltin became General Inspector of the infantry in 1917 and subsequently Supreme Commander of Austro-Hungarian infantry in Albania. In the summer of 1918, the Austro-Hungarian front in Albania yielded before the attack of the Entente army. Pflanzer-Baltin, entrusted with the command in this theatre of operations, won back, after a brief attack, the old positions south of Fjeri and Berat, the last notable success of the Austro-Hungarian Army in the field.

His decorations and awards include: the Military Merit Cross (Austria-Hungary), the Order of the Iron Crown (Austria), the Knight's Cross of the Order of Leopold (Austria), the Order of Leopold, 1st Class, and Imperial Counsellor (Geheimrat) (December 1914), the Commander's Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa, the Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold (Austria), the Decoration for Services to the Red Cross, the Iron Cross 1914 1st Class, the Iron Cross 1914 2nd Class, the Military Merit Cross 1st Class (1916), the Master of Skirmish Warfare, the Large Military Merit Medal with Swords ("Signum Laudis" (Austria-Hungary), the Gallipoli Star ("Iron Crescent", Ottoman Empire) and the Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary.