NAZI GERMANY, THE SPANISH CROSS, IN SILVER, WITH SWORDS, AWARDED TO BORDMECHANIKER FELDWEBEL (FLIGHT ENGINEER SERGEANT) KARL HEINZ RAUSCHERT, WHO WAS KILLED IN ACTION DURING THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN ON 30TH AUGUST 1940, WHEN HIS HEINKEL He111H OF 6 STAFFELN, KAMPFGESCHWADER 1 (6 SQUADRON, BATTLE WING 1) WAS SHOT DOWN IN FLAMES BY PILOT OFFICER (LATER SQUADRON LEADER) CONSTANTINE OLIVER JOSEPH "JOE" PEGGE, 610 (COUNTY OF CHESTER) SQUADRON, ROYAL AIR FORCE, RAUSCHERT HAVING PREVIOUSLY SEEN SERVICE WITH NO. 2 SQUADRON, KAMPFGESCHWADE (BATTLE GROUP/BOMBER WING) K/88 OF THE CONDOR LEGION DURING THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR, THE SPANISH CROSS BEING REMOVED FROM SERGEANT RAUSHERT'S UNIFORM AFTER HIS STRICKEN PLANE HAD CRASH LANDED AT ROY HILL, BLACKBOYS, HADLOW DOWN, SUSSEX.
Spanish Cross in silver, with swords, a Maltese cross superimposed on crossed swords, of convex shape, 55mm, reverse with wide silver tapering brooch pin, maker's mark "CEJ" (for Carl Eduard Juncker, Berlin) to reverse, and additionally stamped with silver standard mark "900" (the maker's mark and silver standard mark behind and partially obscured by the reverse pin).
The Spanish Cross with some contemporary fire damage, caused when Rauschert's plane caught fire after being shot down (see research notes below), two arms of the cross with surface pitting to the obverse and the brooch pin to the reverse fused to its retaining hook, otherwise Good Very Fine or perhaps a little better, and a rare confirmed award to a Battle of Britain casualty who had previously seen service with the Condor Legion.
Provenance: Gorringes, Lewes, Sussex, 11-12 May 2011, lot 1167, where it was incorrectly described as a "WWII German Order of War Merit breast badge", and accompanied by what the auctioneer described as "some minor documentation", the auctioneer also stating that the "vendor's father was a policeman in the area at the time".
The minor documentation referred to in the auctioneer's catalogue description, which accompanies Rauschert's Spanish Cross, comprises an old scrap of plain paper inscribed in biro "This Decoration was taken from a German officer (sic) brought down at Ray (sic) Hill Camp, Hadlow Down, 30th Aug. 1940".
Spanish Cross accompanied by an extensive file of research, including extract from the personnel list of the Condor Legion (Bundesarchiv RL 35/31) giving details of Rauschert's service with the Condor Legion, German Armed Forces 1939-1948 Casualty/German Military Killed in Action index card for Rauschert, Commonwealth War Graves correspondence re. the transfer of Rauschert's remains from the graveyard in Uckfield to the Cannock Chase German War Cemetery in 1967, along with recent photographs of the German War Cemetery, including of the gravestone of Rauschert and Rudolf Zinnogger, who was also killed in action on 30/8/1940 (both men are now buried in the same grave), a copy of the official handbook for the Guernica Bombing Exhibition in Guernica, along with biographical and service details for Squadron Leader Pegge.
Nigel Parker's "Luftwaffe Crash Archive", Volume 3, 30th August - 9th September 1940 (Red Kite Publications, Walton-on-Thames, 2018) records only one German Heinkel He111 as having been shot down and crash-landing at Roy Hill, Balckboys, Sussex on 30/8/1940, the Heinkel He111 that Sergeant Rauschert was serving in when he was killed in action. Parker also confirms that Rauschert was the only member of the crew of that plane to have been awarded the Spanish Cross, and additionally confirming that he was awarded the Spanish Cross, in silver, and that Rauscherts body was found burning in a wood about 100 yards from his crashed plane, Rauschert subsequently being recorded in the police report regarding the crash as a "gunner".
Born in Berlin on 18/2/1910, Karl Heinz Rauschert was the oldest member of the Heinkel crew, and the only member of the crew old enough to have seen service in the Spanish civil war. Prior to seeing service with the Condor Legion he had seen service with Stab 1 (No. 1 Squadron), Kampfgeschwader 254 (Battle Group/Bomber Wing 254), which was based in Lippstadt Airfield, in central Germany, April 1937 to October 1938, Rauschert being recorded in the Condor Legion personnel list as having transferred from Stammtruppenteil Kampfgeschwade 254 to the Condor Legion on 13/14 September 1938 with the rank of Flight Engineer Sergeant, seeing service with the Condor Legion in Spain for 8 months, September 1938 - May 1939. The Condor Legion personnel list extract records Rauschert as being based at Zaragoza aerodrome on 27/9/1938, which was then a base for Condor Legion twin engine bombers. The Condor Legion personnel list records Rauschert's commanding officer as being Captain Kurt-Eckhard Allolio, who was the commanding officer of Kampfgeschwade K/88 September 1938 to the May 1939, when the Condor Legion was withdrawn from Spain.
During WW2 Rauschert saw service with no. 6 Squadron, No. 1 Bomber Wing of the Luftwaffe. On his final mission, on 30/8/1940, Rauschert's plane, armed with three 250kg and eight 50kg bombs, along with five other Heinkel bombers of 6 Squadron, took off from its airbase at Nijmegen in Holland with the intention of attacking Farnborough aerodrome, part of an attacking force comprising in total some 50 German bombers and 50 fighters. Before they reached their objective, Rauschert's plane, the lead plane in his formation of 30 bombers, and the other German bombers in his formation were attacked by spitfires. During the first attack, Rauschert's plane and many of the others were shot up, and others shot down. The surviving bombers turned southwards towards the sea in an attempt to evade the attacking spitfires, before heading back towards the English coast. At this point the surviving German bombers, some 30 in number, were attacked by spitfires from 610 Squadron, Rauschert's plane being shot down by Pilot Officer Pegge of 610 Squadron (see combat report below). The pilot of the Heinkel and two surviving crew members managed to bail out between Tunbridge Wells and Pevensey; the pilot, Kurt Reimann, despite being seriously wounded in the head, was captured on landing at Barham House Farm, East Loathly, the Air Mechanic, Richard Vester, wounded in the left heel, was captured on landing at Whyly House, East Loathly, and the Wireless Operator, Werner Stein, also wounded, was captured on landing near Hurstmonchux. The other two members of the crew, Rauschert and Airman Rudolf Zinnogger, were both killed in action. Sergeant Rauschert and Zinneger were initially buried in Upfield Cemetery, Sussex, but were subsequently exhumed and re-interred in the Cannock Chase German War Cemetery by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
The rank of Bordmechaniker Feldwebel had no equivalent rank in the Royal Air Force. German aviators of this rank tended to be jack of all trades and often also took the role of Air Gunner when in action (the role recorded for Rauschert in the post-crash police report).
The Heinkel He111 was one of the most recognisable German bombers of WW2, due to its distinctive, extensively glazed, "greenhouse" nose. It did well as a bomber until it met its first serious fighter opposition during the Battle of Britain, when its defensive armaments were found to be inadequate, particularly against head-on attacks of the type that Pilot Officer Pegge employed when shooting down Rauschert's plane.
Squadron Leader Pegge was commissioned into the RAF in August 1938 and saw service with 610 Squadron from June 1940. The Spanish Cross accompanied by a number of Squadron Leader Pegge's combat reports covering the period 8th July 1940- 10th-11th May 1941, including the combat report during which he shot down Rauschert's He111, which reads as follows:
"I was Red 2 of a flight in 610 Squadron. Large numbers of enemy aircraft were seen approaching from the Channel. I attacked the leader of a large Vic formation of He111's at about 2,100 feet from in front and below from a range of 200, closing to 50 yards. The He111 stopped leading and went straight down. Sgt. Eames saw the enemy aircraft crash into the sea. I finished up right through the formation of He111's and almost reached some Me110's which were above and behind. I then broke away sharply downwards."
NOTE: The Sergeant Eames who believed that he saw Rauschert's He111 crash into the sea was clearly mistaken, no doubt due to the confusion of battle. Recent research confirms that the pilot of Rauschert's plane, Kurt Riemann, briefly managed to regain control of his aircraft, allowing himself and the other surviving crew members to parachute to safety, once their plane was again over land.
For his services during the Battle of Britain Pegge was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the award being announced in the London Gazette of 22/10/1940.
"Pilot Officer Constantine Oliver Joseph Pegge. Since July, 1940, this officer has destroyed seven enemy aircraft. His skill and initiative in air combat are particularly shown on one occasion when, although wounded in one eye, his aircraft damaged and the windscreen rendered opaque by bullets, he brought his aircraft back to base and made a successful landing. He had proved a fearless fighter when attacking superior numbers of enemy aircraft."
610 Squadron was a squadron of the Auxiliary Air Force formed in February 1936 at Houghton, Cheshire and by the end of September 1939 had been equipped with Supermarine spitfire fighters. The then Pilot Officer Constantine Pegge was the most successful pilot to see service with the Squadron during World War 2.
The Condor Legion, was formed following the 17th July 1936 military coup in Spain and was made up of volunteers from the German army and airforce.with the first contingent of volunteers, 86 men, leaving Germany for Spain on 1st August 1936. In Spain the Luftwaffe volunteers took part in a wide range of operations, including the notorious bombing of Guernica, 26th April 1937, the attack taking place throughout the day and consisting of five waves, several of the waves including Heinkel He111 bombers. Later, the Condor Legion saw extensive service on various fronts during the Spanish civil war, prior to being withdrawn from Spain in May 1939 following the Nationalist victory.
Kampfgeschwader 1 was formed in May 1939 and prior to the Battle of Britain had seen service in the invasion of Poland, September 1939 and the Battle of Belgium and France in May and June 1940. 6 Squadron KG1 was formed on 18/9/1939 and saw service with Kampfgeschwader 1 during WW2, including the operations in Belgium and France, prior to taking part in the Battle of Britain..
Two other objects were removed from Rauschert's crashed Heinkel, a machine gun, that was held in Halstead Military Museum up until the 1990s, when it was handed in to the government during one of the gun amnesties, and a data plate and machine gun mount for an MG15 machine gun, which is currently in a private UK collection (a photograph of that data plate and machine gun mount accompanies this Spanish War Cross.
For details of the services of 610 (County of Chester) Squadron, Royal Air Force, see David J. Bailey's "610 (County of Chester) Auxiliary Air Force Squadron, 1936-1940" (Fonthill Media, Stroud, 2019).
An extract from Bailey's history of 610 Squadron, giving details of the service of the squadron on 30/8/1940, accompanies this Spanish Cross. That extract confirms that Rauschert's Heinkel 111 crash landed at Blackboys, Sussex, but leaves open the possibility that Flying Officer Pegge was wrongly credited with its destruction.
The Spanish Cross was instituted on 14/4/1939 as an award for German "volunteers" who saw service alongside the Spanish Nationalist armed forces during the Spanish civil war, from July 1936 to March 1939. The decoration is unique in that it served as a campaign medal, a non-combat decoration, a combat gallantry decoration, and a decoration to reward achievement and leadership beyond the call of duty. The cross was awarded in bronze (to non-combattants, 7,865 awarded), bronze with swords (for front line combattant service, 8,462 awarded), silver (to non-combattants, 3,207 awarded), silver with swords (awarded for an individual act of gallantry or to combattants who had lengthy and considerable combat experience, 8,304 awarded), gold (for showing great merit in combat, 126 awarded) and gold with diamonds (recipients who had exhibited great leadership skills in combat or great merit, 28 awarded).
