Grand Cross Pour Le Merite + Cross Pour Le Merite / Blue Max / order Manfred von Richthofen

The Pour le Mérite (Fr.: For Merit) was an order of merit (German: Verdienstorden) established in 1740 by King Frederick II of Prussia. The Pour le Mérite was awarded as both a military and civil honour and ranked, along with the Order of the Black Eagle, the Order of the Red Eagle and the House Order of Hohenzollern, among the highest orders of merit (German: Verdienstorden) in the Kingdom of Prussia. After 1871, when various German kingdoms, duchies and principalities had come together under P