Help with identification of Gen.d. Inf. medal bar

[John R.]

Help in identifying the the ribbons, which I think includes foreign awards, perhaps Finland, would be appreciated.

Thanks, John

[TP Alexander]

Do you know the Gen.d. Inf.'s name?
It might help someone to look up his service record and give you the answers you are looking for.

[John R.]

Not my tunic, but it belonged to Gen.d.Inf Waldemar Erfurth.

John

[John R.]

Do you know the Gen.d. Inf.'s name?
It might help someone to look up his service record and give you the answers you are looking for.

Here are his decorations from the internet, but I am not sure which is which from left to right when viewing the bar.

Awards and decorations[edit]
Iron Cross of 1914, 1st and 2nd class[1]
Knight's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern with Swords (7 November 1916)[1]
Prussian Service Cross Award[1]
Bavarian Military Merit Order, 3rd class with Swords[1]
Knight's Cross, First Class of the Order of Albrecht with Swords[1]
Military Merit Cross, 2nd class (Mecklenburg-Schwerin)[1]
War Merit Cross, 2nd class (Brunswick)[1]
Hanseatic Cross of Lubeck[1]
Order of the Iron Crown, 3rd class with war decoration (Austria)[1]
Austrian Military Merit Cross, 3rd class with war decoration[1]
Ottoman War Medal (Turkish: Harp Madalyası; "Gallipoli Star", or "Iron Crescent")[1]
Order of Bravery 4th Class, 1st stage (Bulgaria)[1]
Finnish Order of the Cross of Liberty, First Class with Breast Star and Swords (16 September 1941) [5] [2]
Knight's Cross of the War Merit Cross with Swords (8 November 1944)

[germanmedals]

I would love to see the whole set!

[luftkrieg]

A clearer shot of the ribbon bar would be good.

[John R.]

Best shot I have for now. PM sent. John

[Ludwig]

No Finnish awards on that ribbon, John.

[John R.]

Ok, thanks. John

[John R.]

I have permission from the owner to post entire tunic. The ribbons are applied overlapping each other and thus only about half of each one shows. I believe these types of bars were called "space savers" by some collectors. Period photos show the exact same ribbon bar on the general's tunic.

The DKIS (received by him on 2 April 1943) is original to the tunic as are the EK and KVK.

Again, not my tunic. Just posted for information and study by forum members.

John

[JasonA]

Hi John,

A gorgeous set up! Thanks so much for sharing this photo with us. Having any decoration original to a uniform is quite scarce.



J-

[John R.]

Maybe this better image will help in ribbon identification.

John

[John R.]

It is my understanding from the owner that the tunic itself has a Finnish tailor label, possible that the cloth came from Germany along with the other parts of the uniform necessary for the final product.

John

[JasonA]

Hi John,

Very interesting! German officers and generals had uniforms tailored all over Europe during occupation, so no surprise there. But very cool. You can see him wearing his Finnish Order of Liberty in the photo.

Foreign neck orders are much nicer looking than any WWII German order, in my opinion.



J-

[Ludwig]

The breast star is Finnish, too.