A ribbon bar with a past...

[Bob Hunter]

This ribbon bar is attributed to Generalleutnant Karl Siegfried Go?rau and I need some help.

Someone, desperately in need of professional help, chose to remove the last two ribbons on this bar for reasons known only to only to God. Genteel rehabilitation by the ribbon bar Kahunas have produced a pair of speculative additions from the Flower Wars period as being most likely.

I need a photo of him wearing a ribbon bar during WWII to confirm the composition. HELP!

Any help would be most appreciated.

[Bob Hunter]

Believe it or not this is what he looks like...

[Claudio]

Hi Bob:

the two last ribbons could have been Italian, since all the Italian decorations were outlawed by Hitler when Italy betrayed the Axis-alliance with Germany in 1943. That would make sense. I have already seen such ribbon bars with ribbons removed at the end (foreign ribbons) in another case, a German admiral who had Italian ribbons on the second row of his bars.

Ciao,

Claudio

Edited August 21, 2005 by Claudio

[Claudio]

I found the thread of that admiral I was mentioning before:

http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/sho...hlight=litzmann

http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/sho...light=lietzmann

http://www.wehrmacht-awards.com/forums/sho...light=lietzmann

In this case the owner just blackened his Italian ribbons, but I do remember that Detlev who split and sold Lietzmann's huge set of military insignia, medals and bars, the admiral had several sets of ribbon bars. On some of them the Italian ribbons were just taken away.

Fortunately I could purchase "only" Lietzmann's EK 1. Klasse Wiederholungsspange 1939...

Ciao,

Claudio

Edited August 21, 2005 by Claudio

[Stogieman]

Claudio, I don't think they were Italian. None of his duty stations would have set him up for that (??) Bob, can you post the Bio details as well?

[Stogieman]

As an aside, here yet again is one of those most fun pieces that RR's ability to pour through the rank/honor lists put a name on this bar. The Combination of WW1 awards would only have been possible to exactly 2 people. The second was a major fighting in Poland as a Pioneer...... logical process of elimination would have had him with an EK2, not KVK2wX, tah-dah! General!

As a second aside, despite the best tutoring available, I still cannot "read" these lists, symbols and cryptic notes as my Twin does. He is a wizard, probably with a pact to some evil spirit that has given him the gift he has

[Bob Hunter]

Here is page one of his biographical data.

[Bob Hunter]

and page 2 From the look of his bio he didn't even eat at Italian restaurants.

He was strictly a homeboy.

Edited August 21, 2005 by Bob Hunter

[Claudio]

@ Stogieman: Go?rau could have easely been awarded of Italian order if he was working for the RLM before the war and had something to do with Italian Embassy or Italian counterpart in his administrative level.

Ciao,

Claudio

[Bob Hunter]

...which is why we need to find a picture of him with ribbon bar circa 1943.