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    Posted

    Hi all,

    I recently got some friendly, very efficient help in Identifying a bavarian officer from imperial Germany here:

    There is a small number of nice CDV-photos in the album where this one came from, that show bavarian army officers I would love to see identified, too. So I thought it would be good to start a thread for these photos and I will add them here when I find the time to take pictures good enough to show. Looking forward to any input on these!

    And here is the first man... A senior officer, Oberstleutnant? Picture taken in Straubing, I think it is a "5" on the Epauletten. This picture luckily has a name on the back but I cannot decipher it - it is a dedication "to his beloved old friend Elsässer" (who owned this Album), written on 18. May 1901.

    Cheers
    ArHo

    Straubing (3).jpg

    Straubing (2).JPG

    Straubing (1).JPG

    Posted

    Hi ArHo,

    nice easy one ?

    char. Oberstleutnant Johann Ritter und Edler von Schmädel, commanding Landwehrbezirk Straubing around 1901.

    Regards

    Glenn

    1603919591_Schmdel.thumb.jpg.ccfa39162871e31506b0642dd052e7b1.jpg

    Posted

    Wow, that was fast - and obviously too easy ? - thanks Glenn!

    Now here in contrast is a really tricky one which, I am afraid, perhaps cannot be definitely solved at all (or only with another, named picture to compare) - an officer from Amberg with his wife. Unfortunately no name, no medal bar and the numeral / symbol on his Schulterstück is impossible to identify, even with a magnifyer, so I can only assume he also belonged to KB6IR. Any guesses?

    But anyway - I really love the medals of his wife, awarded for her service as a nurse or the likes in 1870/71 as she has the noncombatants commemorative medal for that conflict. ? Have a nice sunday!

    AmbergPairA.jpg

    AmbergPairAB.jpg

    Posted

    Hi Arho,

    difficult to be certain without awards but I am going to take a guess at the then Major Albert Schenk of 6. Infanterie-Regiment around 1897/98. Pictured here as a Generalmajor about 10  years later.

    Regards

    Glenn

    1032912816_schenkalbert1.jpg.f7e3e7991fe84aefb7739e10b40cfaac.jpg

    Posted
    On 01/12/2019 at 13:02, ArHo said:

    Wow, that was fast - and obviously too easy ? - thanks Glenn!

    Now here in contrast is a really tricky one which, I am afraid, perhaps cannot be definitely solved at all (or only with another, named picture to compare) - an officer from Amberg with his wife. Unfortunately no name, no medal bar and the numeral / symbol on his Schulterstück is impossible to identify, even with a magnifyer, so I can only assume he also belonged to KB6IR. Any guesses?

    But anyway - I really love the medals of his wife, awarded for her service as a nurse or the likes in 1870/71 as she has the noncombatants commemorative medal for that conflict. ? Have a nice sunday!

    AmbergPairA.jpg

    AmbergPairAB.jpg

    Very nice.
    The first medal is the bavarian Zivilverdienstmedaille.

    • 2 weeks later...
    Posted

    Glenn: Thank you - great! I am very sure that's him (The Nose and ear are too similar for any coincidence) - now I will do some research on his wife :-)

    So first of all here ist one man I was able to identify (I hope...): It should be Oberstleutnant Jakob Hitzler 6. IR, Erlangen (father of Jakob Ritter von Hitzler, t 1915, Militär-Max-Joseph-Orden). I like his set of battle-clasps of which I could until now only decipher "Paris". More to follow...

    Best

    Hitzler (1)a.JPG

    Hitzler (2)a.JPG

    Posted
    30 minutes ago, dedehansen said:

    Hi ArHo,

    maybe theses?!

    614266769_0GefSpg.jpg.940a181e588761c39c6a922e8daf4668.jpg

    Kind regards
    Andreas

    Wow, thanks @Utgardloki@spoleiand especially @dedehansenfor your input! I'll have one on you guys tonight ?

    @dedehansen I think you nailed it! I took some time to check and it looks like the 12th bavarian IR took part in all these battles, great! I combined my and your picture to make the similarities clear - if you dont want that please tell me and I will remove it. Cheers

    GefechtsspangenHitzler.jpg

    Posted

    Hi Arho,

    I tend to agree that it is indeed Jakob Hitzler. It would pre-date his 1 January 1902 award of the BMV4a. He is shown in the 1871 Militär-Handbuch as an Offizier-Aspirant (Junker) in the 7. Infanterie-Regiment. However, there is another possiblity: Oberstleutnant Benno Brünn, Landwehr-Bezirkskommandeur of Kaiserslautern around the same time and who had exactly the same decorations and wore the number 6 on the epaulettes. Oberst Brünn was a Junker in 2. Jäger-Bataillon in 1871.

    Regards

    Glenn

    Posted
    On 15/12/2019 at 19:53, Glenn J said:

    Hi Arho,

    I tend to agree that it is indeed Jakob Hitzler. It would pre-date his 1 January 1902 award of the BMV4a. He is shown in the 1871 Militär-Handbuch as an Offizier-Aspirant (Junker) in the 7. Infanterie-Regiment. However, there is another possiblity: Oberstleutnant Benno Brünn, Landwehr-Bezirkskommandeur of Kaiserslautern around the same time and who had exactly the same decorations and wore the number 6 on the epaulettes. Oberst Brünn was a Junker in 2. Jäger-Bataillon in 1871.

    Regards

    Glenn

    Very nice Glenn! Well so it means: keep on searching - perhaps there is a picture of Hitzler in one of the regimental histories (I will try to order them in my library).

    Cheers

    Well and - before I post the last images from this album - here he is: Meet Mr. Martin Elsässer from 1866 to ca. 1890. I love this series which shows this proud bavarian officer changing with the years... ?

    Elsässer1866-1890.jpg

    • 2 weeks later...
    Posted

    And the first part of the rest, three gentlemen from Amberg...

    As always I am very grateful for any help on these men!

    All the best for 2020

    ArHo

    Amberg 2.jpg

    Amberg 3.jpg

    Amberg.jpg

    And the second part of the rest - a man with a medal bar from Erlangen (Major upwards), an Oberstleutnant with 13 on the Schulterstücke (?) from Ingolstadt named "Schenk" (?) dated 6.10.1901 - and a group of four men, from IR 12 (?), taken in Ulm.

    Again, thanks for any help and have a good start in 2020 wherever you are on this planet.

    Alles Gute

    Erlangen.jpg

    Schenk Ingolstadt (1).JPG

    Schenk Ingolstadt (2).JPG

    Ulm (1).JPG

    Ulm (2).JPG

    • 2 weeks later...
    Posted

    No one? I would still be grateful for ony info - these are the last, promised ? And I will try to pay back by being a productive member of this community, of course!

    Cheers

     

    Posted
    48 minutes ago, ArHo said:

    No one? I would still be grateful for ony info - these are the last, promised ? And I will try to pay back by being a productive member of this community, of course!

    Cheers

     

    Unfortunately there are some guys whose identity is lost forever... especially pre WW1 officers...

    Posted
    24 minutes ago, Chris Boonzaier said:

    Unfortunately there are some guys whose identity is lost forever... especially pre WW1 officers...

    I know, I know, you are right - but, you know, "hope dies last"... ?

    I managed to identify some early birds (around 1860) during the last years myself but I cannot access the bavarian Militär-Handbücher I would need for this album (they are not online yet for the 1880s+)

    Grüße!

    Posted

    ArHo,

    we have met Albert Schenk earlier in this thread. Unfortunately one cannot perform miracles on identifying obscure officers wearing just the Überrock.

    Regards

    Glenn

    Posted (edited)
    58 minutes ago, Glenn J said:

    ArHo,

    we have met Albert Schenk earlier in this thread. Unfortunately one cannot perform miracles on identifying obscure officers wearing just the Überrock.

    Regards

    Glenn

    No problem at all Glenn - like I wrote I am extremely grateful for all your help until now! Thanks to all of you I now know much more about these men than I ever hoped to...

    Best

    ArHo

    Edited by ArHo

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