Austro-German Medal Group

This is an unusual grouping of two military service crosses. The first one on the left is the Austrian Balkan War Mobilization Cross with the dates 1912 - 1913. The second is the War Honor Cross for German combatants of the First World War which was first instituted in 1934. Since the original owner was Austrian he would not have been able to apply for the German cross until 1938 after Germany annexed Austria. What is really interesting about this group is lack of other medals. How did this man serve in two wars and not earn any other medals? Maybe he was an Austrian desk jockey who never saw combat, was never wounded and got out of the service without earning any long service awards. Since Austria was no longer an independent country he may have discarded his Austrian WWI service medal and replaced it with the German cross. He might not have liked the Nazis that took over his old country so if he did get any civilian long service medals with the swastika he may have refused to add them to his group or he may have died before he had to make that decision. What ever the reason this is a very unusual and rarely encountered medal combination grouping.