Ribbon Bar In Reference Book Wear: Generalleutnant von Römer

[Rick Research]

Meet possibly the most obscure Luftwaffe General of WW2:

© 1992 from the essential Karl Friedrich Hildebrand's "Die Generale der deutschen Luftwaffe 1935-1945," published by Biblio Verlag, Osnabrück--

[Rick Research]

Erwin von Römer

born 8 February 1885 Bad Elster, Saxony
died 25 February 1948 Schuya, USSR

Army 21 March 1907 to 28 February 1934
Air Force 1 March 1934 to 31 May 1942
“zV” 1 June 1942 to 31 May 1943 but without service

Fähnrich 2.10.07
Leutnant 14.8.08 vorp. 14.2.07 Ff
Oberleutnant 25.9.14
Hauptmann 5.10.16 G/ 18.4.16 # 34 (LW Generals’ Bios has wrong date)
Major 1.4.29
Oberstleutnant 1.10.33
Oberst 1.8.35
char. Generalmajor 17.2.38
Generalmajor 1.4.39
Generalleutnant 1.4.41 #1

21.3.07- “1915” Saxon Jäger Battalion 13
“1915-1918” Observer (that’s IT in his biography—Kampfgeschwader 1 per SA3aX/O’Connor)
September 1916-July 1917 Kampfgeschwader 1*
May- July 1917 Kampfstaffel 3 of Kampfgeschwader 1*
unknown dates Kampfgeschwader 4* (* thanks to Rick Duiven for these units/dates)
1919-- ???
1.10.19-30.9.20 Company commander Inf Rgt 23
1.10.20-31.3.29 Company Commander Inf Rgt 10 (Staff II./Inf Rgt 10 per 1928 RL)
1.4.29-28.2.34 on staff of Commandant of Troop Exercise Field Arys
1.3.34-31.7.37 Commander of Flyer Training Section (Abteilung) 13
1.8.37-31.5.42 Commander of Air Force Exercise Field, Zingst, on the Baltic
25.6.45-25.2.48 arrested by Soviets, in captivity

Bavarian MMO4 by end of 1913. Reuss House Order-Knight presumably 1913-14 (shows 3rd from end on ribbon bar)
Reuss House Order 3rd Class X WW1 (ribbon bar)
SA3bX 13.11.15 in Jäger Battalion 13
SA3aX 3.5.17 Kampfgeschwader 1 (Bomber Squadron 1)

Tiny crew shot of him with plane crew p. 217 Neal O’Connor’s “Thuringian” volume, showing an unidentifiable version of flying badge NEVER listed in the Reichsheer Rank Lists! (EK1, BWB)

Hard to imagine LESS WW1 career detail!

And here is his ribbon bar, which just came to live at my house today, thanks to Rick V!

[Rick Research]

Not JUST von Römer's ribbon bar as identified from his unique (and very strange!) awards combination, but THE ribbon bar he is wearing in the photo above!

Note the two styles of swords, and the slight variation in height of his Reuss Hoise Order and Hindenburg Cross swords (5th and 6th ribbons) as well as the small version Luftwaffe eagles. This is an old type, "WW1" ribbon bar as still sometimes encountered in the 1930s, all steel construction with holes individually drilled for devices. (NOT to be confused with the lazy All Brass frauds of today! ) Because the ribbons are all silk, they have faded-- but then it seems the dark blue was not colro fast on the long services even when the General was wearing this bar before the war!

[Rick Research]

Just to add some additional confusion-- this would have been a red herring if the eagles had been the shared army and navy style-- the backing on this is black, rather than the usual Luftwaffe gray normally encountered.

[Rick Research]

Now the Soviet occupation forces would have detained Erwin von Römer anyway, as a former Third Reich general-- they usually arrested ancient "class enemies" even if they had last been officers under the Kaiser, but in this case, there may have been a tragic case of mistaken identity--

the NKVD may have actually wanted Erwin's ?brother/?cousin MARTIN von Römer, who had been City Commandant of Kiev as an army Generalmajor.

Martin fell into Western hands and lived out the rest of HIS life happily in the Bundesrepublik.

Oddly enough, the Soviets were remarkably "lenient" with Wehrmacht personnel who had never served on Sacred Russian Soil-- and whether Grenadier or Generalleutnant, those who had NOT were almost always paroled home...


in late 1948.

The wrong place, the wrong time, and just a few more months....


For another thread on a pictured ribbon bar, see

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...ad.php?t=50304

[Daniel Krause]

Neat bar with very distinctive combo!

...and of course a nice but tragic history behind.

Best regards

Daniel

[Rick Research]

I don't seem to get very many Happy Endings, do I?

Here is a close up of von Römer's Tiny Eagle, as compared with the Normal Size. It is quirky "fashion" touchs like this that make it possible to say that the ribbon bar in his Biblio portrait is THIS one.

[stogieman]

It is good!

... when my Evil-Twin is kept appeased! I will honestly say that this is one very important aspect of our hobby for me. I really get juiced when someone is so happy with an item I have sold!

[Gerd Becker]

Thats a very nice and interesting bar, Rick. And as usual, fantastic work on the research.

Why are the Long-service-ribbons so much faded?

best,
Gerd

[Brian R]

This is a great (and sad) story behind a very interesting bar. Rick, it's wonderful how you can bring these pieces to "life".

Brian

[Rick Research]

Some color batches just were not "color fast." I have other bars with the long services faded to gray while the rest remains OK. Green is another color that goes, often bleaching near white on ribbons like the Bavarian Luitpold jubilees. And then there are the Hessian general Decoration ribbons, where the pale blue fades so "white" it is hard to tell from the front they are not Hamburg Hanseatic Crosses.

Here is the "uneven fading" ribbon bar thread--

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...=uneven+fading

Condition on von Römer's bar isn't great... but I'm happy to be able to see THIS exact ribbon bar being worn by its original owner. (It even looks faded when HE was wearing it! )

[Gerd Becker]

Some color batches just were not "color fast." I have other bars with the long services faded to gray while the rest remains OK. Green is another color that goes, often bleaching near white on ribbons like the Bavarian Luitpold jubilees. And then there are the Hessian general Decoration ribbons, where the pale blue fades so "white" it is hard to tell from the front they are not Hamburg Hanseatic Crosses.

Here is the "uneven fading" ribbon bar thread--

http://dev.wehrmacht-awards.com/foru...=uneven+fading

Condition on von Römer's bar isn't great... but I'm happy to be able to see THIS exact ribbon bar being worn by its original owner. (It even looks faded when HE was wearing it! )

Thanks, Rick . Very interesting!

best,
Gerd

[WNickel]

Hi Rick,

that's the ribbon-bar I mean - congratulation....

Werner

[Luc]

nice document of Erwin Von Römer

I bought today this very rare document of Erwin Von Römer when he was prisonner in an Russian prisonnerscamp!!

He died in Russian!

[Rick Research]

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