Rittmeister Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen in the Great War

The Greatest Aviator that ever lived. Since the dawn of aviation in 1903. Rittmeister Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen. While alive, he zigzagged his way over the skies of the Western Front. Then, encountered a fatal bullet over Vaux-sur-Somme. After his death, he zigzagged his way beneath the ground. Until, he found his ultimate, and final resting place in Wiesbaden. The Red Baron receives at least three military funerals with full honors. This story is not so much about the life of the most dashing Knight of the Skies, as it is about his afterlife. And, the wishes of the von Richthofen family for over fifty years.

Service

A post about Rittmeister Manfred von Richthofen’s service, this is not. However, plenty of opportunities to learn about Manfred’s family during his service in the Great War. This video provides some rare examples of photos, and film of Manfred during his life with his brother Lothar, his father, and his dog Moritz.

Death

The nature of Manfred’s death remains controversial to this day. Firstly, for ninety-years, understood felled by a bullet from the machine-gun of Roy Brown. However, it is now clear Canada’s Roy Brown did not kill the World’s Greatest Aviator. It is certainly a man on the ground in the A.I.F. And, it is nearly certain it was Sergeant Cedric Popkin from Australia. Though, Gunner Robert Buie adamant he fired the fatal shot.

First Burial

The World’s Greatest Aviator at the time of his burial, was also, no doubt, the World’s Most Famous Aviator. Manfred’s distinctive red tri-plane is clearly visible to every soldier of both sides of the Front during the Final German Spring Offensive of 1918. My grandfather, A/Bbdr Richard Francis Walshe, may have observed the Red Baron from the vantage point of his 18-pdr. field gun.

Manfred’s first burial, at Bertangles Communal Cemetery occurs on the morning after his death, 22 April 1918. Many images, and film capture the funeral procession. Everything about the ceremony is solemn, and dignified. Much unlike the moments after his death. The day before, every man was going to become rich, with a piece of the Red Baron’s aeroplane.

Interred here on 22 April 1918, his coffin carried by six pilots of No. 3 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps.

Desecration

Serenity does not last long.

“The following day it was discovered that apparently during the night of the funeral, the French villagers had smashed the flowers, removed the cross, and otherwise desecrated the grave. A second cross was made by the mechanics of our squadron, and placed on the grave. At the same time General Sir John Monash sent for the mayor of Villers-Bocage, in which the Australian Corps headquarters happened to be located, and told him that he was disgusted with what they had done, and that if such a thing occurred again he would consider removing his headquarters therefrom. This had the desired effect.”

– The Day the Red Baron Died (1970), by Dale M Titler (Ian Allan Ltd, ISBN 0 7110 0420X).

Second Burial

The concentration of graves period following the Great War necessitates the removal of Manfred’s body to Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof Fricourt in 1920. Unknown if Manfred receives another burial with full military honors. One of the most rare photos, of the period shortly after the Great War, has to be that of Manfred’s cross at Fricourt. Although, the only known photo is one in Berlin. How that comes to be is described in Manfred’s third burial. But first, we need to understand how his body came back to the Deutschland.

Bolko von Richthofen

The von Richthofen’s an affluent family. They would not be the first to contemplate the following. Many affluent British families had no desire for their loved one to lie on the Western Front. Surreptitiously, many soldiers come back home. The von Richthofen family felt no differently, and perhaps had all the more reason to do so.

In 1925, Manfred’s brother, Bolko von Richthofen travels to Fricourt with friends. In the still of the night, Manfred’s remains, and his cross, are taken. Upon their return to Germany, the state soon hears of what transpires, and intervenes. The von Richthofen family devastated. Finally, the state decides. Manfred must lie in the capital of Germany.

Today, Manfred’s former resting place at Fricourt is occupied by Soldat Sebastian Paustian, and Musketier Franz Greis.

Third Burial

The biggest, and most lavish of Manfred’s funerals takes place at Invalidenfriedhof Berlin-Mitte. At the wake, Bolko makes a memorial with the original cross from Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof Fricourt. President von Hindenburg accompanies Manfred’s mother.

Fall of the Iron Curtain

Before the Fall of the Iron Curtain, Manfred’s grave which rests only five feet from the Berlin Wall, has become damaged. Expansion necessitates the removal of a portion of the cemetery for a new autobahn. Finally, the von Richthofen family has an opportunity, once again, to have Manfred’s remains lie where they should be. The state intervenes, this time in favor of the von Richthofen family.

In 1937, a further grandiose memorial ceremony is held at the site of the grave. A massive new tombstone engraved with the single word: Richthofen. Note this gravestone was brought to a West German air force base in 1975, and only returned to its original location at Berlin, in 2017.

In June 1973, ownership of Invalidenfriedhof Berlin-Mitte falls to the nearby Government Hospital. The so-called fourth Generation of the Wall instigated further destruction from 1972 – 1975. In 1975, graves are razed once more, including the tomb of the master builder Carl Rabitz. Graves with exclusive rights for permanency, or those which had not yet transpired, are anonymously relocated. The only reason why the cemetery is not completely destroyed, is due to figures such as Gerhard von Scharnhorst, and Friedrich Friesen. They died in the Wars of Liberation, whom the state sought to monopolize ideologically as freedom fighters. And, of course, the grave of Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen.

Final Burial

Since at least 1925, the von Richthofen family have always wished to have Manfred interred at the family plot in Südfriedhof Wiesbaden. Their wishes came true, fifty years later, in 1975.

Südfriedhof Wiesbaden built from 1908 to 1909. The second communal cemetery of Wiesbaden in the western German state of Hesse. The cemetery, with its trapezoidal burial ground, opens with a baroque garden at the entrance from the main building on the Südfriedring. Along a meandering ring road with impressive English horticulture are a large number of historic tombs. Finally, in the west grove, plot number 77, lies the grave of the World’s Greatest Airman, Rittmeister Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen, better known as ‘The Red Baron’.

Remembrance

Foreign visitors to German cemeteries may be struck by how well-tended the burial plots are. Firstly, the grave will be covered with flowers, or plants. Secondly, you will always find several water fountains along with watering cans, and rakes, to make it easy for the bereaved to care for the plants and remove errant leaves. Furthermore, that graves are looked after by the family is expected. Finally, for many Germans, Remembrance is not only observed in November, it is practiced several times a week in the cemeteries.

Centenary

To Honour and Remember Canadians in the Great War, it is important to Honour and Remember the soldiers of other nations. It should be as important to Honour and Remember the foe. On a beautiful sunny morning, Sunday, 22 April 2018, CEFRG paid respects at Manfred’s grave. It was the centenary of the first interment of Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen.

In Flanders Fields is a bitter poem, and we use it to Remember Them. Ironically, a poem by John McCrae that tells us to Take up the quarrel with the foe!

Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen symbolizes every German soldier, sailor, and aviator of the Great War. We must remember these words of McCrae’s poem. For they apply to Manfred, and every foe.

They too, lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, loved and were loved.

Rittmeister Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen. The German military wanted him to appear as a hero. Manfred never felt like one.

Epilogue

Cedric Popkin died on 26 January 1968, after retiring, and living out the rest of his life in quiet seclusion, at Fingal Head, New South Wales, Australia.

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