webr55

Usual '57 reverse:

A recent purchase, quite unusual I think: A white-black EK 1914 on a 1957 ribbon bar. This guy has added only a NC Hindenburg and a 40 year Treudienst - maybe he had more which were banned in postwar times. With the 40 year award, he must have been in civil service by 1902, at the very latest. So he was well in his 70s (!) when wearing this bar.

from the Biblio volume: General der Infanterie Herbert von Böckmann Born: 24 Jul 1886 in Bremen Died: 10 Mar 1974 in Baden-Baden Promotions: Charakter als Fähnrich (14 Mar 1905); Fähnrich (18 Nov 1905); Leutnant (18 Aug 1906); Oberleutnant (28 Nov 1914); Hauptmann (22 Mar 1916); Major (01 Feb 1929); Oberstleutnant (01 Jun 1933); Oberst (01 Jun 1935); Generalmajor (18 Jan 1939); Generalleutnant (01 Aug 1940); General der Infanterie (19 Apr 1942) Career: Entered Army Service (14 Mar 1905) Fähnrich in the 109th Grenadier-Regiment (14 Mar 1905-11 Aug 1914) Detached to the War Academy (01 Oct 1913-31 Jul 1914) Detached to Flying School D?beritz (02 Aug 1914-11 Aug 1914) Pilot with the 8th Field-Flying-Battalion (11 Aug 1914-21 Aug 1915) Company-Leader in the 109th Grenadier-Regiment (21 Aug 1915-13 Oct 1915) Assigned to the Army High Command of Njemen-Armee (13 Oct 1915-15 Oct 1915) Ordinance-Officer in the Staff of Group Mitau, Assigned to the 34th Landwehr-Regiment (15 Oct 1915-31 Aug 1916) Transferred into the General-Staff of the I. Reserve-Corps (31 Aug 1916-07 Dec 1916) Transferred into the General-Staff of the 216th Infantry-Division (07 Dec 1916-19 Jan 1917) Officer of the Army, Assigned to Army High Command 1 (19 Jan 1917-13 Mar 1917) Transferred into the Army General Staff (13 Mar 1917-24 Mar 1917) Transferred into the General-Staff of the 38th Infantry-Division (24 Mar 1917-29 Apr 1917) Transferred into the General-Staff of Army High Command 6 (29 Apr 1917-27 Aug 1917) Transferred into the 36th Reserve-Division (27 Aug 1917-21 Dec 1917) Transferred into Army High Command 8 (21 Dec 1917-31 May 1918) Transferred into the General-Staff of the Field Army, Political Department (31 May 1918-01 Dec 1918) Transferred into the Staff of the Baltic Landwehr (01 Dec 1918-01 Mar 1919) Company-Chief in the 1st Foot Guards-Regiment (Freikorps Potsdam) (01 Mar 1919-01 Jul 1919) Company-Chief in the 5th Infantry-Regiment (Freikorps Hülsen) (01 Jul 1919-01 Oct 1920) Company-Chief in the 9th Infantry-Regiment (01 Oct 1920-31 Oct 1921) Transferred into the Staff of the Group-Command 1 (31 Oct 1921-17 Nov 1922) Transferred into the RWM (17 Nov 1922-01 Mar 1923) Transferred into the Staff of Infantry-Leader I (01 Mar 1923-05 Sep 1925) Company-Chief in the 14th Infantry-Regiment (05 Sep 1925-01 Mar 1929) Advisor in Department T1, RWM (01 Mar 1929-01 Oct 1932) Transferred into the Staff of the 3rd Division (01 Oct 1932-01 Sep 1934) Chief of the Training-Department of RWM (01 Sep 1934-15 Oct 1935) Commander of the 2nd Infantry-Regiment (15 Oct 1935-03 Nov 1938) Chief of the General Staff of I. Army-Corps (03 Nov 1938-23 Aug 1939) Chief of the General Staff of 3rd Army (23 Aug 1939-03 Oct 1939) Chief of the General Staff of Border-Section-Command North (03 Oct 1939-26 Oct 1939) Commander of the 11th Infantry-Division (26 Oct 1939-26 Jan 1942) Führer-Reserve OKH (26 Jan 1942-10 Mar 1942) Delegated with the Leadership of L. Army-Corps (10 Mar 1942-20 Jul 1942) Führer-Reserve OKH (20 Jul 1942-31 Jan 1943) The Chief of the Army Personnel Office proposed to the Führer the retirement of General der Infanterie von Böckmann for the reason that he cannot adopt to the changing requirements of the present times (31 Jan 1943-31 Mar 1943) Retired (31 Mar 1943) Awards & Decorations: - Ritterkreuz (709) : am 04.12.1941 als Generalleutnant und Komm. 11. Infanteriedivision/ I Armeekorps/ 16. Armee/ Heeresgruppe Nord - 1939 EK I ?S- : 04.10.1939 - 1939 EK II ?S- : 15.09.1939 - 1914 EK I - 1914 EK II - Ritterkreuz II Klasse des Grossherzoglich-Badischen Ordens vom Zähringer Löwen mit Schwertern - Ritterkreuz des Grossherzoglich Mecklenburgischen Greifenordens - K.u.K. Österr. Militär-Verdienstkreuz III Klasse mit der Kriegsdekoration - Baltenkreuz - Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer - Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung I Klasse - Medaille zur Erinnerung an die Heimkehr des Memellandes - Medaille "Winterschlacht im Osten 1941/1942"

Thanks all for your help! Good work!

Any ideas who this fellow with the Japanese breast star is? (It is a post-1939 pic.)

THAT is globalisation! Three bars of his on three different continents.

...and he was the father of St. Henry winner Lt dR Reinhold Hultzsch who was KIA as a flyer in 1916 (Artillerie-Flieger-Abt. 210).

And here's the picture:

I have to agree with Sascha. Looking at the other entries on that page, you see that the standard progression for a Geheimer Oberregierungsrat was KO3 -> RAO3mSchl -> KO2. It seems Pilger was just in line for his RAO3mSchl.

I've only got this pic with the medal on a bar, second from the right.

If it has to be one of those, then you're down to two. The awards do not match with Graf, and if he doesn't look like Goerisch, it has to be either Schrader or Dippel.

Max Graf's awards per 1908/09 are: HohgM, PrDA3, PrZM, KS?AK, SiamKr5, SpMVO, T?rM5. Can't find the others in the DOA.

Found this picture of the award:

Thanks. Yes, maybe, if he was officer-level. Does anyone know when the Prussian Fire Service decoration was first awarded?

I remember thinking about buying this one ... and someone said "Oh yeah, that should be doable"...

The Erinnerungsband was however used with several awards: Apart from the KO3/KO4, the General Honor Decoration, the Cross of the General Honor Decoration and the civil Merit Cross could also be awarded on the Erinnerungsband. This was already done during the 1870/71 war. So I guess with this combination #1 is rather a General Honor Decoration.

Here's a picture of this award from the recent Thies auction: The bar of British Dr. Charles Galton. I should say that the proper name is "Kronenorden 4. Klasse am Erinnerungsband".

BTW, the backing color is black.

The back. I think #4 is a Hindenburg, because otherwise he would have been 70+ when being awarded the 1920s Fire Service Cross. If so, what kind of career are we looking at? The Crown Order suggests someone officer level, but probably only in civilian, not in military life.

Here's another recent purchase I made. A HUGE ribbon bar with 25mm ribbons. The most interesting thing are the two "sanitary" ribbons (Sanitätsbänder) in front. I think the decorations are: 1) Crown Order 4th on sanitary ribbon (awarded pre-WW1?) 2) War Aid Cross 3) LS decoration, maybe an LD2 4) probably a non-com Hindenburg (OR is it an 1870/71 medal?) 5) Red Cross medal 3rd cl 6) Prussian Fire Service Cross (1920s) 7) Centenary

Those letters are a very interesting insight into Buchert's personal circumstances. Apparently he was simply broke, and had failed to pay his rent in Mannheim, which was deemed unsuitable for the Wehrmacht commander of this town. Also, his wife was pregnant and ill and had apparently held back some letters to Buchert. In short, he was considered as having not enough leadership qualities.

Interesting he was immediately recalled as commander of the important training area Hammelburg - there were rear-area posts with much less responsibilities. BTW, that ribbon bar should of course not go with the tunic!

That's a veteran piece, look here: Don't know what the award looks like, though.

Exactly! I skipped the Paymasters as well. Only when looking through the Beamten RL, I payed attention to the missing LS. Thanks! Chris

Rick: Can you find him in the MOH directories? Or are officials not in there?