War Merit Cross 1st with Provenance to a U Boat Commander

A very nice, cased example of a War Merit Cross 1^st Class with Swords, with provenance to Waldemar von Fischer, a WW1 U-Boat Commander and U-Boat base commander during WW2. It was consigned to auction in Germany by the grandson of Von Fischer in 2020 along with other of his wartime artefacts which were sold as separate lots.

Constructed in a silver Tombak, the non maker marked Cross  has taken on a lovely patina and has the later straight flat pin back.

Completely free from damage, the Cross is complete with its original case of issue which is also in very good condition

Waldemar von Fischer:

 1 Apr 1909                Seekadett

12 Apr 1910              Fähnrich zur See

19 Sep 1912              Leutnant zur See

2 May 1915               Oberleutnant zur See

21 Jan 1920               Kapitänleutnant

31 Dec 1922              Out of naval service

1 Jul 1941                  Kapitän zur See

Decorations

          Iron Cross 2nd class

          Iron Cross 1st class

1916 to 1918            Lifesaving Medal

1918 or later             War Merit Cross (Lippe)

U-boat Commands

UB 33        1 Feb 1917        -       21 Mar 1917

UC 60        25 Jun 1917      -       30 Nov 1917

UB 38        6 Dec 1917       -       24 Dec 1917

UB 126     20 Apr 1918     -       11 Nov 1918

Post WWI career

Commands of Waldemar Fischer from 1936-1945:

Military artillery operations director, Shipyard Wilhelmshaven - Sep. 1936 - Sept 1939

Commander, Naval Weapons and equipment operation Hamburg Tollerort - Oct 1939 - Dec 1940

Chief of Staff, St. Nazaire shipyard - January 1941- June 1941

Chief of staff, shipyard La Rochelle - July 1941 - Oct 1942

Port commander Marseille - November 1942 - Mar 1943

Upper shipyard director, shipyard Trondheim - Mar 1943 - Feb 1944

Chief of the Military Department of shipyards and bases at the same time general affairs of the Main Office warships (K III A), OMC / K - Feb 1944 - August 1944

Danish Naval Commander Islands - August 1944 - May 1945

Dismissed - February 16, 1946

Ships sunk by Waldemar von Fischer

Date U-boat               Name of ship  Type of ship     Tons Nat.

16 Oct 1917     UC 60                Est   Steamer   1,426                  ru

13 Dec 1917     UB 38                Ottokar   Steamer   957            br

11 Oct 1918     UB 126              Maja        Steamer   1,452       sw

12 Oct 1918     UB 126              Laila         Steamer   1,626       

4 ships sunk (5,461 tons).

The last picture of Von Fischer is not included but can be found on the internet