Gefreiter Max Göschel




The German Asien-Korps or Levante-Korps was created to support the Turkish Ottoman Army. In March of 1916 the first elements of the “Pascha I Expedition” arrived in Beersheba, part of present day Israel. The rest of the Expedition arrived in April and together they supported the failed Turkish attempt to advance from Southern Palestine to attack the British protected Suez Canal. Göschel took part in the Battle of Romani, including the fighting at Katja and Bir el Abd in August 1916. In March and April 1917 he took part in the 1st and 2nd Battles at Gaza. In May 1917 he was taken ill and spent 2 months in hospital in Jerusalem before being evacuated to Germany.



For a detailed account of the actions including Photos and Maps, please visit Harry's article here

The Iron Cross 2nd Class award was made on the 5th of June 1917 in Constantinople and was stamped with the name of General der Kavallerie Otto Liman von Sanders. The document was printed by the German firm F. Loeffler in Konstantinopel and has a perforated left edge meaning it was torn out of a book of blank Iron Cross award documents.

The award document for the “Eiserne Halbmond” was signed by Generalmajor Friedrich Kress von Kressenstein. Although the proper name of the Ottoman War medal “Harp Madalyası” has nothing to do with “Iron” the German name “Eiserne Halbmond” was adopted as the award was seen as the Turkish equivelent of the Iron Cross. The english term “Gallipoli Star” is a fantasy name.

Göschel's Militärpaß with the battle entries for Gaza

The award document for his Bavarian Military Cross 3rd class with swords