Duties of a staff officer

[laurentius]

Dear fellow collectors,

 

I recently acquired a medalbar I think would have belonged to a staff officer in the rank of major. I was wondering what kind of duties someone working in the staff would have? Would this be planning, keeping contact with the troops, administering supplies? Certainly where he did this would be important too, a staff officer on the western front would have wholely different circumstances to work under than say an officer on the Italian or the Romanian front. Do you guys have any thoughts or ideas?

 

Kind regards, Laurentius

[BlackcowboyBS]

Could we see the bar?

[laurentius]

Here you go. The medalbar was made by Wilhelm Welhausen from Hannover, a wellknown maker of high-quality bars. This can be seen from the double ribbon used on the back and the thread which secures the medals around the ring. The RAO4 is made by J.H. Werner, just like my other RAO. The maker, together with the Mecklenburg connection is the reason I bought it. Given the Centenary medal, the DA and the RAO @Nicolas7507 and I came to the conclusion that he was most likely a major in a staff position, although you can never know for certain. This is the reason I asked what the job of staff officer would precisely entail, I find it rather intriguing.

 

Kind regards, Laurentius

[BlackcowboyBS]

Thank you Laurentius for showing it. I love this bar. Maybe this prussian officer was in the X. Armeekorps which was stationed in Hannover. 

I guess that a major in the staff has to cordinate plans for attacks and defend and is taking care of replenishment, depending where he is doing his job. But I know that major could also be found pretty close to the front line, many were wounded or killed by hostile fire. I guess that staff officiers from colonel upwards were further off the front line. 

 

[Bayern]

Hello, Normally a Divisional Staff consisted in a Chief of the Staff, a Personnel Officer, a Inteligence Officer, a Operations Officer, a Logistic one , a Civilian affairs officer,apart a Divisional Chaplain or two, a  Divisional medical officer ,Divisonal Veterinarian and so on. The Army Corps Staff was organized among the same lines but tended to be composed of Field Officers of the rank of Lt Colonel onwards inclusive with General rank for example the Army Corps Artillery Chief or the Army Corps Medical chief Officer