webr55

#8: Closeup brother Franz:

#7: Closeup Ludwig

#6: L. with his brother who apparently served in army postal service (?). Ludwig with NCO Tresse - does that denote an Offizier-Stellvertreter?

#5: In WW1, Ludwig served in Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment 4. Apparently, hestarted as Offizier-Stellvertreter. This is his "Verwundetenkarte" from 1914, where his rank is given as "Offz. St.". The original writing was "Feldwebelleut", but this has been crossed out.

#4: Close-up of Ludwig.

#3: Ludwig enters Landwehr in 1913, probably (?) as Vizefeldwebel der Reserve:

#2: Ludwig as One-Year-Volunteer - Unteroffizier

By popular request , here are the scans in smaller size: #1: Ludwig in Grenadier-Regiment 3, Königsberg. Probably before 1900. It seems he is Gefreiter here.

Hey, before you dump them, could you post one or two?

1) The ribbons do not glow. They must be old stock. 2) The construction is not easily detectable as fake. And the faker must know something about ribbon combinations, having both Finnish medals together in the correct way. 3) These things come from a seller in VIENNA. They are apparently not sold in masses, MAYBE the seller gets them from somewhere else and doesn't know they're fakes.

Any ideas about the presumed "Offizier-Stellvertreter" uniform in post #7?

Same style, isn't it? Especially the back:

I have to agree about all that. And now I'm really concerned about this bar, which I got from the same seller some time ago:

Back:

What do you think of this one? I first thought it might be ok, but now I seriously doubt it.

f?r Auszeichnung (distinction) vor dem Feind. Great find!! Chris

Is this correct? Did former reserve NCOs who ultimately made officer get the XX after the war?

Also, if I'm not completely mistaken, Ludwig - as an officer - would have been eligible for the Landwehr DA 1st cl (XX). Could anyone confirm this? In that case, he probably couldn't receive it, being in Memelland. There is no evidence he got it.

You got it Pete! Ludwig lived in the Memel District. During the Allied occupation right after WW1, he could still be promoted by the Germans there in 1921, as the first doc shows. But after the Lithuanian occupation in 1923, no further awards could be issued until the return of the Memelland in March 1939. That's why it took Ludwig until December 1940 to get his Hindenburg. Does anyone else have a Hindenburg doc this late?

Thanks for your comments! Still waiting for an answer. Hint: It is right there in the last two documents!

This last one is a very interesting piece. He didn't get his Hindenburg Cross until 1940. Quiztime: Anyone know why?

Finally, he got the "Charakter als Oberleutnant" in 1921:

His belt buckle. Is that an officer type?

His EK2:

His BWB: