landsknechte

You're corrupting me. On a lark, I tracked one down. I found one for sale here in the states. I expect that one of the street signs will be significantly more difficult...

Interesting pattern on the back, Looks like it might have been a tablecloth in a past life.

There's a bit more info on him in a regional wiki page, and the Bavarian Parliament's page, both of which were a great help with my write up. Additionally there's a book cataloging notable residents of Passau which include him. I've got that headed my way via interlibrary loan, and hopefully there'll be a bit more info in there.

Then it starts to get interesting... He was a member of the Hochstrasse Circle, a resistance group that met in his apartment. He and two others were sentenced to death in absentia on April 28, 1945. He and one of the other Hochstrasse Circle members were later confirmed to be members of Freiheitsaktion Bayern as well. Apparently his role in the RAD involved the induction of new recruits, and he actively worked to sabotage the process as much as possible. In 1948 he was elected to the City Council of Passau, and shortly thereafter Mayor. He held that position for 16 year, and was also a member of the Bavarian Parliament from 1954-1958. In 1957 he was awarded the Order of Merit. ...and another photograph of him taken sometime in the 1950's. He passed away in 1966, and ultimately had a street in Passau named in his honor. Sadly Dr. Billinger's medals have been separated from the group. I discovered a post in 2008 where the then owner had the medals. Borrowing their photo: Since it's a clip on bar where I can add medals without altering anything permanently, I'm planning to rebuild it. I've already got a loose EK2, MVK3X, and Hindenburg Cross, and I've got replacements for the three commemoratives on the way.

After the war, he studied economics and law, earning his doctorate in 1923. He worked in banking in Markt Oberdorf, then in Insurance in Weimar and Stuttgart from 1924 to 1928. In 1931 he ended up working in a paper factory in Bad Mergentheim. In 1932, he joined the Weimar Republic's Voluntary Labor Service (FAD), which was incorporated into the Reich Labor Service (RAD) in 1935. Apparently he was made a member of the Nazi Party in 1932 without his knowledge. He rejoined the party in 1938, with his membership backdated to May 1937. He attained the rank of Oberfeldmeister (equivalent to an Oberleutnant). Wehrpass continued: There was also a second, mostly blank Wehrpass with a few entries:

I just landed my first named medal bar this afternoon, accompanied by a nice bit of paperwork! Meet Dr. Stephan (sometimes "Stefan") Billinger: Originally from Oberhaselbach, he went high school in Passau. In 1916 he enlisted in the Bavarian Infanterie-Leib-Regiment, earning the MVK3X in October 1917 and the EK2 in April 1918. His Bavarian Militärpass was included: Some of his award documents are present. Anyone better able to read the handwriting able to determine what name or title they're using on the Bavarian document? During the interwar period, it appears that he served with the Freikorps Passau. He shows up in one of their Kriegstamrolle that Ancestry has scanned.

Nice! It took a while for it to wing it's way over to the New World, but I've got mine recently as well. I also got lucky and tracked down the O'Connor books without completely breaking the bank. The Bavarian book was the toughest to find by a long shot. I'm set for the next several rainy days.

If I find one, I'll certainly share it. Haven't succeeded yet.

I've been been working on this one for a couple of months now, having finally sorted out a clerical error in my research that derailed me a bit... There were only two candidates in the 1918 Naval Ranklist that tick all of the boxes: Both had been in the Navy long enough to have the 1897 Centenary Medal, with Kunau entering in 1896, and Schulz in 1894. The Boxer Rebellion ended up being the key. Theoretically Schulz could have had a steel grade, but I couldn't find a visible connection. Kunau's entry in the 1908/1909 Deutscher Ordens Almanach omits it, mentioning the RAO4, 1897 Centenary Medal, and the Russian St. Anne Order. However, the 1901 Naval Ranklist lists him as being on the SMS Fürst Bismarck, which would have warranted a bronze. Additionally, Daniel Krause was kind enough to check his database for me. Kunau lines up nicely while Schulz ended up with additional decorations not present on either bar. Curiously enough, on the eve of the Great War, the two men were co-workers: Anyhow, most of what I've got concerning his WWI service comes from the Ehrenrangliste der Kaiserlich Deutschen Marine (1914-18): He remained in the Kiel area during the interwar period, and ended up back in uniform in WWII, commanding a banana boat turned troop transport. His ship (the Pionier) was ferrying troops between Norway and Germany when it was torpedoed by a British sub, less than a week after his 61st birthday. About 60% of the crew and passengers survived, however the captain was not among them.

Here's a ribbon bar with the non-combatant version:

Out of curiosity, do we know whether those post war awards included awards with swords?

Forum user Haku was kind enough to cross check the Erhard Roth books, and that helped to clear things up quite a bit. There are six officers we can eliminate right off the bat: Lt. v. Kyaw - two different Kyaw with SA3aX, none had GSF3bX Lt.d.R Oettler - no SA3aX/SA3bX, no GSF3bX Feldhilfsarzt Andree - SA3aX, no GSF3bX Vetrinär d.R. Willkomm - SA3aX, no GSF3bX Lt. Gottfried Koerner - GSF3bX, no SA3aX/SA3bX (There were a bunch of Koerners / Körners in the Karabiner-Regiment. A different one had the Albrecht-Orden.) Lt.d.Ldw.Kav Eisentraut - appears in photo wearing SA3bX & EK2 on a medal bar, but no GSF3bX There seem to be two matches remaining. Both of them lived long enough that the surviving ribbon bars would be possible, and I'm still digging for clues. Oblt. Adalbert Liebster - SA3aX 25.4.15, GSF3bX 1914 -- Born Daniel Adalbert Liebster on 26.1.96 in Leipzig. Appears in several Leipzig city directories as publisher (I think, can anyone more fluent verify that's the correct interpretation of "Verl.Buch-hdl.") and held a Ph.D. Still alive in 1960. Lt.d.R Friedrich Serre - SA3bX, GSF3bX 1914 -- Born Anton Karl Friedrich Serre on 22.6.91. Married in Dresden in 1922. Died 9.6.66.

This is a good one showing awards from the German states: https://www.ehrenzeichen-orden.de/ This is a site that sells reproduction ribbons, but they've got a chart up: https://sammlerschmiede.de/?cat=c7_Ordensbaender-Sammleranfertigung-7.html

Stumbled across a Wolchowstock at a local show, and I couldn't pass it up. I'm intrigued by the "HN" carved on the bottom. I'm assuming those were the initials of the owner or the artist. As best I can tell, there are no corresponding characters in the Cyrillic alphabet, suggesting it's not the signature of a Russian. The miniature 1914 standing in for a Knight's Cross is borderline cute. There's also another cross carved into the figure representing a Knight's Cross. (Were there any Knight's Cross recipients that bore a strong resemblance to that face they found on Mars?)

Found a nice little group on eBay with an uncommon Bavarian Gendarmerie / Royal Protection long service decoration. (There's a write up on it here.) I don't know for certain that all the items came together originally, but everything seems to line up at first glance. Sadly the long service medal itself is nowhere to be seen.