GERMAN - PRUSSIAN, "Pour le Merite" / Blue Max. (repro)

During the Great War of 1914-18 the award was awarded to commanders operating on all fronts and in all forms of warfare. In the aerial war a fighter pilot was initially entitled to the award upon downing eight enemy aircraft. Max Immelmann was thus the first airman to receive the award, after which it became known - on account of its colour and its recipient - as the "Blue Max" among his fellow pilots.

The qualifying total was subsequently revised to 16. Although the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen, readily qualified for the award he was not however - and to Erich Ludendorff's surprise - awarded the supplementary Oakleaves.

The last surviving recipient of the military Pour le Merite - Ernst Junger - died in 1998.

The Pour le Merite, along with all other imperial orders, was similarly abolished along with Kaiser Wilhelm II's abdication on 9 November 1918.