The Katanga Order of Merit

Volume 53, Number 6

Edward J. Emering, OMSA No. 6315

During the summer of 1960 when the Congo had just

gained its independence from Belgium, leadership of

the new nation fell to the Moscow-sponsored Prime

Minister Patrice Lumumba, who was considered a

protege of the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev. In

order to avoid the bloodshed associated with the new

regime, the Province of Katanga declared its

independence from the rest of the new state. Katanga

was the Congo’s richest province with significant

deposits of copper, cobalt and uranium. It was led by

the pro-American Provincial Governor, Moise

Tshombe, who announced his desire to secede from

"chaos" on July 11, 1960. Tshombe quickly requested

Belgian assistance to raise and train a Katangan army.

He was backed strongly by the Belgian-owned mining

operations and an army led primarily by Belgian

mercenaries.

Congolese troops moved against Katanga in August of

1960, but became mired in the diamond-mining state

of Kasai, never actually reaching Katanga. Here they

reportedly massacred thousands of Baluba tribesmen.

At nearly the same time, September 1960, President

Joseph Kasavubu with the aid of Colonel Joseph

Mobutu (later Mobutu Sese Seko), Chief of Staff of the Force Publique, removed Lumumba. The Force

Publique had been Africanized in July 1961 and

renamed the Army National Congolese (ANC).

Lumumba died under mysterious circumstances the

following January with news of his death delayed until

February. President Kasavubu named Cyrille Adoula

to replace Lumumba as Prime Minister.

The Congo requested and received assistance from the

United Nations. Although intended as a peace keeping

mission, the central Congo government was eventually

able to subvert the UN assets into an instrument to

subdue the rebel Katanga Province and force it back

under Congolese rule. Troops from Ireland, Sweden,

Italy, Ethiopia and India took two years to accomplish

this goal. The UN was eventually able to occupy the

capital of Katanga, Elizabethville (now Lumbumbashi),

where they engaged Tshombe’s rebel forces.

Dubbed Operation Morthor, the military campaign was

extremely bloody. Reports of cannibalism, massacres

and other atrocities abounded throughout the conflict.

Mobutu eventually assumed power permanently in

1965. Katanga Province was renamed during Mobutu’s

rule, eventually returning to its original name in 1997,

when Laurent-Desire Kabila assumed power.

Collectors may be familiar with the clasp Operation

SHABA, that appears on the Democratic Republic of

the Congo’s Cross of Bravery and the Operation Shaba

Commemorative Medal.

During its brief existence as an independent state,

Katanga issued only three medals: the Order of Merit,

the Medal of Merit and the Military Cross. Both the

Order of Merit and the Military Cross are extremely

well made and attractive medals.

President Tshambe created the Order of Merit of Katanga on January 16, 1961. In the classic French style, it consisted of five classes: Grand Cross, Grand Officer, Commander, Officer and Knight. The order was also awarded as a medal.

The insignia of the order (Figure 1) was a multilevel

concave planchet with a blank reverse. It consists of a

white enamel Maltese cross with four branches

separated by rays of green enamel.

Figure 1: Insignia of the Order of Merit of Katanga

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The Journal of the Orders and Medals Society of America

This symbol is overlaid with a Saint Andrew’s cross with four branches of white enamel separated by rays of gold. Surmounted on this was the coat-of-arms of Katanga in red, white and green enamel. The planchet is suspended from two closed green enamel branches that form the suspension device.

The medal of the order (Figure 2) consists of a 31 mm, round, bronze planchet with the cross of Saint Andrew surmounted by the coat-of-arms of Katanga. Palm branches connect each of the four arms of the cross. The reverse is blank.

Book Review

Jan Rene Westh, Broderede Kors og Stjerner til de Kongelige Danske Ridderordener (Embroidered Crosses and Stars of the Royal Danish Orders of Chivalry). Copenhagen, Denmark: Ordenshistorisk Forlag, 2001. Hardbound; 112 pages in Danish with a five-page English summary. Illustrated.

Available from Tim Eriksen, P.O. Box 890190, Temecula, CA 92589, for $50 (which includes postage and handling).

Figure 2: Medal of the Order of Merit of Katanga

The ribbon consists of a broad, green, central stripe bordered on each side by a red stripe and a thin white stripe. The breast star of the order is 90mm, the commander grade, pictured in this article, is 50mm and the officer and knight grades are each 40mm.

The award of this order ended with the arrest and exile of President Tshombe in 1963. Tshombe would eventually return in 1965 to serve under the Mobutu government. ~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~

Most collectors are familiar with the metal plaques or stars that accompany the higher grades of major European orders. However, in the pre-modem era many of these emblems were originally produced as finely embroidered badges. Although, with some notable exceptions, that practice has been largely discontinued, embroidery retains an important niche in heraldic artwork. As the author points out, "Embroidery is the art of decorating material, primarily cloth, by needlework with thread or sometimes fine wire." It is an art form of great antiquity, having originated around 3000 BC. The author tells us that "Heraldic embroidery began in Byzantium, where embroideries lavishly ornamented with gold were produced. Ecclesiastical embroidery was produced from the early 11 th Century, while the secular use of embroidery on court dress... began during the Renaissance. The importance of hand- worked embroidery faded with the invention of the embroidery machine in 1828."

In this well-researched and informative book, the author provides detailed information on the topic of embroidered crosses and stars, with particular emphasis on the Danish Order of the Elephant and the Order of the Dannebrog. He also touches on embroidered stars in other European orders, citing examples in France, Italy, the Netherlands, Prussia, Russia, England, Sweden and Norway. The book is illustrated with superb color as well as black and white photographs. Although the tables in the text are in Danish, they are not hard to figure out. Fortunately, this book has an English summary that provides an excellent digest of what is presented in Danish.

Reviewed by Charles R McDowell, OMSA No. 1580

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Volume 53, Number 6

Identification and Inquiries Department Conducted by S. G."Yash" Yasinitsky, OMSA No. 1

Identification requests and inquiries may be submitted by OMSA members, free of charge, directly to me. Include all available information about the subject of the request or inquiry, such as size, metallic content, ribbon, enamel colors, and the obverse and reverse inscriptions. Also include, if possible, the best illustration of the subject, but do not bend illustrations. Forward the description and illustration to me at RO. Box 777, Millbrae, CA 94030, together with a stamped, self- addressed envelope. Non-members are requested to include a $5.00 check made payable to OMSA. I look forward to

your inquiries, but be patient.

Identification requests are given a designation for future reference that consists of The Journal year and number in which it appears and its sequence in the issue. Thus "IDENTIFICATION REQUEST 991111" appeared in the 1999, Number 1 issue of The Journal and it was the first request listed. The same method is used to designate inquiries except that its sequence in the issue is indicated by a capital letter instead of a number.

IDENTIFICATION REQUEST 02/6/1

GERMAN CHAPTER ORDER No.1 Light-blue gold Maltese cross with fleur-de-lis between arms, 40.4 x 60mm (63.8mm including suspension ring). Obverse: In a pearled circle, enameled medallion in polychrome, showing the equestrian figure of a knight spearing a dragon. The crown is red with an ermine base. Reverse: An abbess with a book and a pastoral staff standing beside an altar with a crucifix, with a landscape in the background. The crown is blue with ermine base. No hallmarks.

Reverse of German Chapter Order No. 1

Obverse of German Chapter Order No. 1

GERMAN CHAPTER ORDER No. 2 Gold Latin cross patee, 42.3 x 56.2mm (66.3mm with

suspension ring), in dark-blue enamel with overlaid

gold filigree. There is a tiny blue orb within a flower-

like gold setting in the middle of each arm’s terminus.

Obverse: central pearled oval medallion shows the z

Virgin Mary and Christ child in color. Reverse: Bust

of a man wearing a bishop’s miter and holding a staff,

also within a pearled oval. Red ribbon. No hallmarks.

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