Prussia Inscription on EK1 - Help with identification

[JohnBurke]

Dear Fellow Colleagues,

I have an EK1 with a hand scribed name on the back as shown in the pictures below. It is "KO" marked on the back as well. Myself and a few others discussed what we saw on the back and we at first thought that the inscription read "H. Flesche" This is not a common name. With this information we looked in the 1918 Rankliste and found a solder by that name who served in FAR 67 from 1914 thru 1918. The FAR 67 regimental history book was obtained. In the book, we found that the soldier was in fact awarded the EK1 on 3 Nov 1918. In the 1918 Rankliste we saw he was promoted to Oblt on 10 Nov 1918.

The rub comes when we look at the letter "H" in the inscription. Some feel we got it wrong, it is not a letter "H" but some other letter(s) such as "Lt" or perhaps a fancy "A". We noted every line and pen stroke and tried to compared it with current style German script. Indeed it might be some other letter but we cannot come to a consensus. Another rub came when looked in the 1926 Rankliste (covering the period 1914-1918), all of a sudden there were two Flesche officers listed in the same regiment - Albert and Erich. Neither having a name beginning with a letter H. The letter A would make sense, since Albert Flesche was shown to be in the 31st Infantry Division to which the FAR 67 was assigned throughout WWI. The regiment's history book mentions only one Ltn Flesche with no first name given. So how could a regimental history book get it wrong? I tend to think not.

Can someone look at the inscription below and offer their an opinion about it what it says? What is the first letter or letter(s) in your opinion. A close up provided. At first glance is does look like an H but if you look deeply into the script and the specific pen strokes, there can be some doubt. Also, who is this guy? Any other insight would be appreciated.

Thanks, John

[Chip]

Though this is not clear enough for me to read, I would suggest that the last name would most likely not begin with a lower case letter.

Chip

[JohnBurke]

Fellow Colleagues,

For those interested, I wanted to update my post since I've had some messages from other members of the GMIC. The responses were that the first letter of the script looks like a German current style script letter "H". So the inscrption on the EK1 back is "H. Flesche". This rules out owners Ltn. Alfred Flesche (I had this name wrong as Albert in my first post) and Ltn. Erich Flesche listed in the 1926 Prussian Army Rankliste as members of FAR 67. The other soldier found in the 1919 Prussian Army Reserve Rankliste was Ltn. d. Res. Flesche of the 2. GDzF. Glenn Jewison, moderator from another GMIC topic, wrote with the following information - "The Leutnant d. R. Flesche in 2.GRzF was Hermann Flesche. He additionally won a Knights' Cross 2nd Class of the Baden Order of the Zahringer Lion with Swords on 5 September 1916. He survived the war. He is shown as a member of 2. GRzF at the time of his award of the BZ3aX. Hermann Flesche's award of the Zähringer Lion is listed in Erhard Roth's "Verleihungen von militärischen Orden und Ehrenzeichen des Großherzogtums Baden im Ersten Weltkrieg 1914 – 1918"

I am continuing to browse a copy of 2. GRzF regimental history book by Friedrich Wilhelm von Rieben: "Das 2. Garde-Regiment zu Fuß" - Zeulenroda 1934, Sporn, 639 Seiten. If anyone has additional information about Ltn. d. R. Flesche I would be interested in hearing from you.

Sincerely, John

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi,

sorry I missed this, I think the initial is an H... I agree with Chip though... the lower case f is strange...