Wegner joined the German army at the outbreak of World War I , serving as a medic in Poland during the winter of 1914 – 1915 , where he was awarded the Iron Cross for rendering care under fire . He rose to the rank of second lieutenant in the German Sanitary Corps , which was attached to the Ottoman Sixth Army . Wegner was part of a German detachment led by Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz , which was stationed along the Baghdad Railway in Syria and Mesopotamia ; here , Wegner witnessed the death marches of Armenians during the height of the Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Armenian Genocide
Armin T. Wegner