Just Some Old Guy In A Helmet Waiting For The Bus: REAL Photo Research

[Rick Research]

What you see is what you get folks. Not a thing on back.

Fear not... Ricky knows who this is. Glenn came to the rescue, as always. Teamwork and connections! More on the "process" later. For now just eyeball the photo details and lemme know what you see.

[Rick Research]

must have been an office clerk.

[Rick Research]

Uh... is that a P-08, or are you just glad to see me?

Uh... check out the "ironmongery"!

[PaulChep]

What I see

I see a guy on the street corner who I would like to mug and take his decorations and uniform. I would also ask him his name and date of rank so the research would be easy!!!!!

[Rick Research]

Most important, of course, are the visible CLUES. Being able to squint and tell what is there is even more important than being a sharp clear photo.... With no clues, all is hopeless.

Take, for instance... the belt buckle.

So we know he is a Prussian enlisted man, yes?

[Eric Gaumann]

I like the bullet hole on the left sleeve. Musta gone clean through the sleeve without hitting his arm as he's got no Wound Badge.

[stogieman]

I'll never tell.......

heh, heh, heh, I know who this is and I'll never tell!!!

[Rick Research]

He was actually FRENCH... which rather complicates things!

[Rick Research]

OK, budding Imperial Poirots... what DO you see?

Clues: steel helmet

Old Style ribbon bar

armed to the teeth like a pirate

festooned with awards, which are...?

My first inclination, from his having everything but hand grenades in his boots, as well as the steel pot on his head, was that this was a circa 1919 Freikorps photo. (The glove leather Luger holster is quite interesting-- so skin tight a fit I wonder how he could have drawn it OUT. The hunting cutlass Hirschfänger is quite... eccentric! )

I wasted considerable time trying to match his FACE to one of those guys.

Real research on original primary in-the-paw items rarely is quick or easy.

So, where would YOU go next, to track him down?

[VerKuilen Ager]

Actually, the face looks a lot like Ritter von Epp.

[Mike Dunn]

Hitler in his Halloween costume?? I give up! Mike

[Brian S]

Is that a Reichsbund Deutsche Jagerschaft dagger hanging there?

A Frenchman you say, with a PLM around his neck?

A patched bullet hole in the left sleeve?

I'm going with General Oskar von Hutier as a first guess, but I don't see oakleaves...

[stogieman]

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm

He's Frainch, silly person. Why do you think he has that outrageous accent.........
von Hutier...... NOT

[johnrtse]

An Imperial German General who is French? With a Blue Max, no less!

And the only job he could get after the Great War was as a bus conducter??

I know he's no bus conducter, but my interest is certainly peaked!


John

[Brian S]

OK smart guys, who's the guy in the reflection wearing a medal bar with?