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I do not have the book, but I would appreciate it if you could show the page with this personal data-such as date and place of birth. Thanks very much! Andy

Glenn, So, should it have been listed as the BM4b (without the crown)? Andy

Rudolf Frhr. von Wechmar (26.11.1823-18.10.1881) He was a Prussian officer who began his career in Gren. R. 6 in 1841. He held several General staff positions. In 1868 he left the Prussian army to take commander of the Baden Gren. R. 109 on 18. Nov. 1868. He was the "Führer" of the 1. Baden Inf. Brig. from 18.12.1870. When the Baden army became part of the Prussian army in 1871, he was back in the Prussian Army. 12.12.1873 Commander of the 21. Inf. Brig., 02. Mai. 1874 promoted Gen.Maj. 13.01.1880 commander of 11. Div. He retired on 10.09.1881. He died barely a month later. He also had the PLM (awarded 19.01.1873) and EK1 Andy

Karsten, He received permission to war the Tunisian award in mid-December 1888 (see MWB 1888 Spalte 2286). A Stabarzt d. Landwehr Dr. Hugo Kleist (*17.11.1842) of Berlin received the same award at the same time. Dr. Kleist also had the EK2w and PKrO4mSchww for 1866. This is why these two men received the award- http://books.google.de/books?id=4m4xAQAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=intitle:tunis+inauthor:kleist&hl=en&sa=X&ei=14kvUqqPF-Xh4APiyIHADw&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false For those who can't follow the link, they published a book in 1888 with the title: "Tunis und seine Umgebung. Ethnographische Skizzen." Tunis and its surroundings- ethnographic sketches. He entered the 3. GRzF as an Einj. Freiw. on 01.04.1879, was released to the reserves on 07.07.1879. He reentered the army on 01.11.1880 in 2. GFAR. Leutn. 16.09.1881. 24.03.1890 transferred to FAR 34 and then into the Sch.Tr. f. DOA 10.12.1891. Andy

Karsten, In 1913 he was living in Leipzig as a Dr. med. He disappears after 1896- presumably he left the army and went to medical school. He was born 04.07.1860. When I get home from work, I'll check his earlier career for clues to the Tunesian award (if someone does not beat me to it!) Andy

Taube, Very nice photo! I think it is Oskar von Xylander. I compared the photo in Biblio's 3rd volume of the series "Die Ritter des Ordens Pour le mérite des I. Weltkrieges", page 583 and they are the same man. Andy

Interestingly enough, there was a Hptm. Ludwig Terberger in IR 158 in 1914. His awards in May 1914 were LDH4 SA3b. His date of rank as a Leutn. was 18.10.1897, so no centenary. Perhaps the plot thickens?? Andy

Rick, According to the 1979 "Anschriften Verzeichnis ehemaliger Kgl. Preuß. u. Kgl. Sächs. Kadetten" he died on 10.05.1977 in Bad Honnef (Frankenweg 1a) Andy

Looks like "Grüning" to me. What is the rest of the stamp-- "Hauptmann u. Komp. Führer........ that might help. Andy

Eckhardt, A Vizefeldwebel Blechschmidt was promoted to Leutn. d.R. d. Inf. R. 95 (from Landwehr Bezirk Meiningen) on 28.07.1917. Unfortunately, the Militär Wochenblatt does not provide a first name. That said, I think this could certainly be your man. One source indicates that a Feld Intendantur Sekretär Hermann Blechschmidt received the EK2, AEZ, EHsM, SMK. So, what do we make of this??? Are you sure of the first name?? Andy

Rick, That gentleman entered the saxon 2nd Gren. R. (Nr. 101 in 1867), so, he can be eliminated as well. Andy

Paul, I used the Militär Wochenblatt for 1864 and 1866 and the and Ordenslisten for 1848-1850, all contemporary sources that provide what I believe is as complete a list as possible for each data base. Andy

Over the last several months, I have created three new data bases which list the awards of the various grades of the PRAO, PKrO and PHOvH with swords for the 1848/49, 1864 and 1866 wars. I have named the vast majority of these. While I realize that there may not be that many bars or photos of recipients of these awards, I want to ensure that the members are aware of the possibility to research items from the mid-19th century. In each case I tried to determine there last year of service to assist in figuring out who these officers were and their last published awards. I myself am not a collector of bars or photos. I work on identifying the individuals behind the awards. With the help of the other Research Gnomes, I think we can open a new chapter in the history of awards. So, don't be shy about asking. We'll do our best to assist. Andy

Rick, The 1904/05 DOA list Jakob's awards as BdZL3b HssP4b PrKr4 KSäA3c and OestFJ4. So, looks like the FJ knocks him out of contention. Andy

I have a table of the WWII armored divisions, but it will not copy well into this posting. If you send me a PM with an e-mail address, I'll be happy to send it to you as a WORD document. ndu

Georg Menkhaus, born 06.06.1893 in Iburg (Osnabruck), entered the Bavarian army as a recruit on 07.11.1914. There are numerous entries for him on ancestry. He too was infantry. It seems he survived the war. Andy

Widtmann was born 18.07.1872 in Munich. He was a cadet and graduated from the corps of cadets on 01.04.1890 and entered 1. IR. He went to the Kriegschule from 1891/92 and studied in "Lehrabteilung A." Priester attended the same years and studied in "Lehrabteilung D." On 01.10.1893 Widtmann was transferred to 6. IR, where he would have now met Priester, and we know he died in 1899. Widtmann left the army on 25.06.1906. In 1914 he was living in Berlin-Friedenau (at Hackerstr. 27, III) as a "Regierungs Sekretair" and upon mobilization, returned to Bavarian military service (there are four nice entries for him on ancestry.com). He was promoted to Hptm. on 05.11.1914. He survived the war. Andy

There were two Sek.Lts. in the Bavarian 6. Inf. R. by those names in 1895, Friedrich Priester and Heinrich Widtmann. Priester was promoted Sek.Lt. on 05.03.1892 and Widtmann on 28.05.1892. I am not sure of the significance of date yet. On 27.01.1899 Priester transferred to the Schutztruppe for German East Africa. He died on 15.03.1899. I'll keep digging to see what else might be available. Andy

Rick, I checked my copy of the IR 12 Stammliste, and he is not to be found! Andy

I can add that he was born 17.05.1872 and died 17.07.1954. If you are ever in Berlin, you can visit his grave in the Invalidenfriedhof! Andy

In an effort to give the forum members a sense of how a name was put to this photo, and what is behind the effort, I submit the following. The first thing I did was start with the known. He was in the East Asian Expedition Corps. Now, back in the 1990's, I created a database with all the members of the OEK from its creation in July 1900 through 1901. As the basis of this, I used the Militärwochenblatt because it was an official source and it included all the support personnel required to sustain such an effort far from home, to include the lower officials not found in the Rangliste. I also added the awards that these individuals received prior to and during their service with the OEK. Next, I looked for those individuals in my database with one of the awards listed in the initial posting. In this case, the first clue was the PAEz which Mutschall had. Next, I went to the 1904/1905 Deutscher Ordens Almanach and looked up Mutschall, and there he was with 4 of the awards. I then checked the 1908/1909 DOA and saw that he had 5 of the six. But what about the Red Cross Medal? For that, I had to look from the Ordens Liste for mention of the award, and there it was. So, now I confirmed that he had all the awards shown in the photograph. His birth year was given in the DOA. In an effort to further confirm Mutschall was the right man, I went through the "Taschen Kalender für Beamte der Militär Verwaltung" compiled by H. Siekmann (hence the shorthand tile "Siekmann") for the years 1902, 1907 and 1917. Only the 1917 edition showed his Red Cross Medal. Now, for the first time, published verification that he had indeed received that medal. Another vital piece of the puzzle was the location of the studio in which the photo was taken- Brandenburg a.H. Looking at his career using the Militärwochenblatt to track his promotions, transfers and awards, I saw that he was located in Brandenburg! I now was convinced he was the right man. This is another example of why we always ask that when posting a photo include the studio name and location! For a first name, I went to the Berlin address book and found his name, rank and address. However, before I could add it to the posting, Glenn had already provided us with his name. So, it took at least 10 publications, a database created years ago and worked on ever since, a little luck that he lived as long as he did and the patience to put it all together. In the end, it's particularly satisfying to help out a forum member to put a name to a photo, medal/ribbon bar or anything else. I would like to emphasize that information, especially from contemporary and official sources, is essential. The more information you have, the more likely your chances for a successful identification. Trust me when I say this is much easier said than done. I've been collecting books, creating and expanding databases since 1993. It's taken years to find the books, more than a few dollars, German Marks, Euros, British pounds, Austrian Schillings and even Czech Crowns to purchase them; untold hours of work on the databases and years of learning how to interpret all this information (both literally and figuratively speaking) to be in a position to solve this little mystery. The last point I'd like to make is that this is all great fun, and that's why I enjoy this as much as I do. It's an interesting challenge and it provides a measure of satisfaction not to be found anywhere else. So, keep the questions coming. Andy

Glenn, Thanks! I just found him in the 1914 Berlin Adreßbuch- he was living in Berlin North at Scharnhorst 14. Andy

I just confirmed that Mutschall did in fact receive the Red Cross Medal 3. Kl. The 1905 Ordens Liste (page 1482) shows that he received it on 11.10.1899. I wonder why it's not in the DOA? His PKrO4 was awarded on 24.10.1901 and PAEz on 17.09.1887. In June 1913 he received the PRAO4. Also, on 13.08.1909 he received the "Charakter als Rechnungsrat." The 1917 Siekmann, page 345, confirms his Red Cross medal. In this book, he is listed as a Rechnungsrat (dated 31.3.1910) and Lazarett Verwaltungsdirektor in Berlin. Now, we just need a first name. According to the DOA and Siekmann he was born in 1852. Andy

I would like to suggest that this could be Lazareth Oberinspektor Mutschall. He was twice attached to the OEK and returned to his previous assignment in Brandenburg a.H. (which happens to be the place the photo was taken!). That said, there is one small problem. The 1908/09 DOA lists his awards as "D70/71 DChM PrKr4 PrAE PrZM" but no Red cross medal. Five of 6 is not too bad, but not 100% conclusive. I'll keep looking to see if he ever got the Red Cross medal. Andy

On 8 August 1899 he and two NCOs, Schlegel and Dolinski, saved two privates from FR 36 from drowning in the moat of the bridgehead at Torgau. Andy