WW1 German Double Gallantry group to Muller 385 Landw Inf Reg.

A interesting and scarce German medal and original ephemera to Private Wilhelm Muller of the 7th company 385th Landwehr regiment, 91st reserve brigade, 19th Landwehr division.
This lot comprises of his original military Soldbuch, service book and Militarpak. The Mecklenburg-Schwerin Military Merit Cross 2nd class with original named certificate. The Iron cross 2nd class with original named certificate. The Honour cross with swords with original certificate, a piece of half size medal ribbon for wear on uniform, a Feldmutze cockade and photograph.
Wilhelm Muller was born 18th April 1883 in Altona a port town on the Elbe near Hamburg. He married Anna Schreiffele in 1911 and had one child. As a younger man he probably did the then German equivalent of National service, so he has some military training and then put into reserve. He was enlisted in February 1915 and served in several regiments, his service book dose not state if he saw any front line service at this point as the 19th Landwehr division was made up of older men and men not quite physically fit for heavy front line service, however an asault company was formed from the more capable of the men, from the 385 regiment it was the 7th company. During 1916 the division was posted to Belgium mainly to serve also side the Landsturm battalions as service and supply troops, maintaining the rest of the German army on the front. Here it stayed for more than a year before being posted to the Eastern front in the Riga area of Russia, now on the Russian/Swedish border. They were stationed on the front line near the coast of the Baltic Sea. The fall of Riga weakened the Russian front line along the Baltic Sea, bringing German forces closer to Petrograd, and was followed by Operation Albion, a German amphibious landing on several islands in the Baltic. The offensive was also the first large scale use of stormtrooper infantry tactics by the German Army. The regiment then saw service in Finland and Estonia where they saw ferocious fighting for a short time with the new Russian Bolshevik Red Guards.
Wilhelm Muller was awarded the EKII on the 6th May 1918 and the Mecklenburg-Schwerin Military Merit Cross 2nd class on 18th December 1918 for exemplary and gallant service. The Honour cross was awarded on the 6th August 1934.
Wilhelm Muller is listed as died on 26th July 1943 and was probably killed in the British bombing of Hamberg. There is no grave for him, he appears on the list of those who were killed or went missing from the 24th July to 3rd August 1943 and remembered at the Hamburg-Ohlsdorf Cemetery.
All medals and are original and came with Wilhelm’s certificates and service books etc, although the original ribbons on the two crosses were missing, I have replaced these with the best quality I can find. The ribbon on the honour cross is its original. This lot also comes with a few pages of research and German War Graves details.

Code: 30191