webr55

This is the Lippe War Merit Cross, and the combination is ok. In fact, if the bar were real, there would be only about a handful of suspects, with 25+ years of service. However, I have to say that I don't really like the bar. How would that uneven fading of the two blue ribbons be accounted for? Sorry, tab backs are always easily messed with. Chris

Reverse:

Nobody's perfect. Not even Detlev. This one just cannot be right. Wrong precedence, especially Sudeten before Austrian. No Austrian would have got that order wrong. Naaahhhh!

I would also be interested in this, as I have the same problem (my grandfathers').

Most of these are not in the DOA1908/09... except for Karl Engelhorn who would be a perfect match BUT he has got the Karl Olga medal instead of the Jubilee medal, so not him. It can't be Herbort and most probably not Freytag -> no LS!

Great to have found this, thanks. His EK2 is from 1870, but the EK1 is the 1914 version.

Incredible! That photo seems to have been taken at the same time as the first. Thanks for posting!! Chris

The back, for the record.

Another 'Tito' style fake on ebay:

That is supposed to be the Papal "Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice" Cross.

I don't like it:

Here's one of mine:

The name sounds very Bavarian. Also, Bamberg is in Bavaria. BTW, is it certain that he was already Major in 1937? Or could the tunic have been updated later?

Too bad, he seems to be invisible in the usual ranklists. I don't have the last Bavarian ranklists, however. My guess is that besides the EK and BMVO4X, he may have had some unofficial Bavarian dynastic awards, like the Prince Rupprecht medal and Golden Wedding medal 1918. Probably also the various commemorative awards (Austria, Hungary, ...), which already makes quite a long bar. Chris

There are several possibilities. The most probable one is that he had only a KVK2 and wore it from his buttonhole. He could even have worn several from the buttonhole, like KVK2 and East Front Medal. Chris

Marc, what is the name? I have recently posted a list of senior Flak officers, and maybe we would find out what awards this officer had. Chris

And here is another one: Viktor Lutze, with pinback Lippe (sold by Weitze right now):

Wow, are we now routinely going to ID NCOs, too?

Hello Wild Card, I see two possible wearers for your Brunswick bar: 1) Kutzen, Lt. 16.10.06, Hptm 18.4.16 N7n, 1919 Maj aD. In 1914, he is listed in IR92 with BrH4 and Bulgarian BMO5. A Hptm Kutzen got the HHOX on 7.2.18; that might however have been the 1914 Olt from IR117 (Hptm 8.10.14 Q9q, Maj aD). 2) Lieberk?hn, Olt 27.1.13 V8v, 1919 Maj aD. In 1914, he is listed in HusR17 with BrH4 and Bulgarian BMO5. That's all I have. I cannot find any further trace of either. Also, I only went through the Brunswick regiments. Chris

Yes! I forgot to say that what I thought was the Centenary must be his Württemberg LS award! So your guy was in even earlier. No Zahlmeister, maybe, with an NCO LS? (OK, were there any Zahlmeister with WM3?) The biblio series says Freye died 28/10/1952 in Ulm. BTW, if anyone is interested, I'll probably let this go as I don't collect photos.

So here we have: EK2, Württemberg MVO, Württemberg Friedrich Order, ÖM3K, Hindenburg, maybe Centenary, maybe Crown Order 4th, DSWA, long service 40 + 12 years. This combination identifies this Oberst as the later Generalmajor Johannes Freye (1878-1952). He is shown with the above combination (with PKO4) in the 1924 RL. He entered army service on 1.10.1897 according to his bio, so a bit too late for the Centenary.

I was interested in this one because he is wearing the rare 40 year oakleaves device on his long service ribbons:

I bought this picture of a Wehrmacht Oberst on ebay. It came without a name.

Way too common, sorry. Chris

Of course, no awards from his time with the Reiter-SS...