Help IDing 1916 Bavarian bar

[Ravenft]

Hello Gents!

The back of the photo is dated 1916. I believe this is a Bavarian bar including EKII, Wurtemburg bravery medal? , Bavarian Military Merit Cross with swords device ?, UNKNOWN (wild guess is Hamburg but I doubt it), and Prussian Red Cross medal?

The last one also looks like an Honor Cross but since the photo was dated 1916 and the uniform looks wartime I suspect it is a ribbon that has similar colors. The name of the soldier is Eckle and after looking up where that name is most common, sources show Wurtemburg which led me to believe the second medal was the bravery medal. Perhaps he was a stretcher bearer?  

Thanks so much,

Rav

[Schießplatzmeister]

Hello Rav,

There are many possibilities regarding the awards represented by the field ribbon bar.  To start however, although I am not a uniform expert, due to the buttons having "crowns", I believe that this NCO is not a Bavarian.  It is a WWI-era uniform.  The first position on the field ribbon bar certainly has the EKII ribbon.  There is definitely not a Hindenburg Cross/Honor Cross ribbon here.  Please scan the entire front and reverse of the photo and share it here.  There may be more clues available (such as headgear, an address on the back, name/address of photographer, etc.).

Best regards,

[Ravenft]

3 hours ago, Schießplatzmeister said:

Hello Rav,

There are many possibilities regarding the awards represented by the field ribbon bar.  To start however, although I am not a uniform expert, due to the buttons having "crowns", I believe that this NCO is not a Bavarian.  It is a WWI-era uniform.  The first position on the field ribbon bar certainly has the EKII ribbon.  There is definitely not a Hindenburg Cross/Honor Cross ribbon here.  Please scan the entire front and reverse of the photo and share it here.  There may be more clues available (such as headgear, an address on the back, name/address of photographer, etc.).

Best regards,

Thanks for the response! I know what you are saying about the Crowns on the tunic but I believe in 1916 most of the German armies were required to use the Crowns instead of the lions. Having said that, I read that a while back but have no sources to back that up.

Here is the whole photo and the back. Thanks so much for the response.

~Rav

[webr55]

Name seems to be Hermann Eckle. 

[Schießplatzmeister]

Hello again Rav,

Thank you for sharing the scans of the photo with us.  I cannot tell what is on his epaulettes, so no help there.  I too think that he is a Württemberger.  It also stands to reason that the second ribbon would represent a Württemberg bravery medal.  I also agree that the third place ribbon looks like a Bavarian MVK ribbon with a swords device.  The last ribbon could be for a Württemberg long service award.  It is difficult to be certain.

Congratulations regarding having this nice photo in your collection (I am a bit partial to collecting photos myself).

Best regards, 

[Ravenft]

47 minutes ago, Schießplatzmeister said:

Hello again Rav,

Thank you for sharing the scans of the photo with us.  I cannot tell what is on his epaulettes, so no help there.  I too think that he is a Württemberger.  It also stands to reason that the second ribbon would represent a Württemberg bravery medal.  I also agree that the third place ribbon looks like a Bavarian MVK ribbon with a swords device.  The last ribbon could be for a Württemberg long service award.  It is difficult to be certain.

Congratulations regarding having this nice photo in your collection (I am a bit partial to collecting photos myself).

Best regards, 

Thanks again for your help! I am very happy with this photo. I also have a photo of him from before the war. His mustache is one of the best I've seen!

[Ravenft]

1 hour ago, Schießplatzmeister said:

  I cannot tell what is on his epaulettes, so no help there.  

Here is a picture of him from before the war. The number on his epaulettes seem to be 66 or 68. I am not familiar with regiments just yet but I'd love to find out. Pardon me if my old German is wrong but on the back it says " Uniform from before the War" I actually don't know what the first word there says but after that is "Linen"?

32 minutes ago, Ravenft said:

The last ribbon could be for a Württemberg long service award.

Yeah I see the ribbon for the long service medal is very similar to this last ribbon. The one before that I wonder if that is another Bavarian Military Merit medal but without crown? I've seen bars with two Bav crosses, one with crown and then one they had prior.