Photo question

[Robert Noss]

I got that photo today (yes, on a fleamarket):



Is that a General ?



Any identification possible ?

The saluting officer seems to attract the attention of the others, is he somebody important ?



Thanks in advance

Robert

[V. J. Kursietis]

Hi Robert!

Unfortunately, I can't identify the officers in the picture, but it would be fairly safe to assume that the officer saluting is a General. If you notice the pennant on the car, it is that of a commander of an Armee or Heeresgruppe. Also, on the car you can see written AOK, which would indicate that it is an Armee commander's vehicle. Unfortunately it is not clear on the pic, but it seems as if there is a number after the letters AOK, perhaps it is clearer on the original pic, which would certainly narrow things down. That is assuming, of course, that the saluting officer is the passenger of the vehicle and is not saluting the comamnder who is still in the vehicle, but it looks more likely that he is the Commander. Pure guesswork of course, and perhaps not a lot of help, but it may help to narrow down the field.

I'd also like to take this opportunity to express my admiration for your picture collection (just judging from those that I have seen), especially those of Generals, which is my interest. I envy you the opportunity to visit these flea markets and pick up original pics - I have to satisfy myself with downloads, scans, but I'm not complaining, I have over 3500 in my data base.

All the very best, and keep up the good work!

VJK

[Rick Research]

I could write a novel about THIS one!

GREAT photo!

Hard to tell about the old mustached officer with the Litewka... I suspect these are ALL just headquarters officers.

The (grinning) saluting officer is probably a General Staff officer (maybe just from a Guards regiment) and notice that he is

"rendering military courtesies" to the General's EMPTY car.

Yes, empty! There is no driver behind the wheel... and one cannot imagine His Excellency seated in back... with no driver!

So, like in the navy, he is saluting the parked car's FLAG!

And (playing Photo Detective here! ) I'd say from the standing from foot to foot, bored expressions on those lined up staff officers' faces... they are waiting for His Excellency to show up from inside the building and LEAVE-- if he had just showed up and the chauffeur had jumped back to open the door so H.E. could emerge... they'd all be looking alert, enthusiastic... and be sucking their stomaches in at attention!

Ayuh, one picture IS worth a 1,000 words!

[Kai-Steffen M.]

another thing- why is the wheel in the car on the right (äh- wrong that is! ) side? this IS germany isnt it?

Gruß,
KSM

[JensF.]

But there are the letters "AOK" (ArmeeOberKommando) on the side of the car. Maybe a captured and repainted british car?

[Rick Research]

We need some Old Car Guys help!

Here's one of Cardinal Archbishop von Bettinger being dropped off for field Mass in the C.O.'s buggy:

? Same "government issue" sedan type?

[Kai-Steffen M.]

nope- thats a similar but different type of car- look at the headlights and the lower windshield (first car has more squared off type- lower has more rounded one) i noticed the mercedes-benz-star on the upper grill of the first car.... so maybe its just because the pics were taken before german motorized traffic was organized as left-driving...anyway- thats off-topic

Gruß,
KSM

[Robert Noss]

Thank You so far, friends.
There is no number after the A.O.K., look at the licence plate, although not completely visible, you can see that it only consists out of one letter and one number - could be an R or B - 1. Doesn't that indicate that the car must have belonged to a rather high ranking individual ?

About the place of the steering wheel, I think until the 1st WW, the car manufacturers placed it where they liked, there was no rule. Should have to ask a car specialist about that.
When I am strolling over fleamarkets and digging for photographs, I also buy photos of old cars, for trading and selling to car collectors. Steering wheels can be on both sides, left-hand and right-hand. Don't know when they made the rule, that german cars had to have the wheel on the left side.

Here's another car picture I got last weekend:



The first photo of the army headquarters was in a box of old letters and handwritten things, few old postcards but not interesting, I examined the letters too, but could not read any of them, they seemed to be much older as the photo. There was also a big photo of Hindenburg, exactly one that I already have, so I didn't buy the Hindenburg picture, cause the seller wanted to have 20 Euro for it. The photo with the car was only 3, what a difference.
It's not so important to know the names of the people, it's a nice photo anyway. I only wanted to have an identification for one reason - when I know the name of high ranking people on photos, they go into my collection, those which are not to identify will be sold or traded later.

Kind regards
Robert