von der Conta maybe?

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Elwyn W
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von der Conta maybe?

#1

Post by Elwyn W » 28 Jan 2012, 22:42

Would like some help in this:

Oberst H.... ....... Pour Le Merite ...v.d. Conta?

Cheers
Elwyn
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Ken S.
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Re: von der Conta maybe?

#2

Post by Ken S. » 30 Jan 2012, 16:44

It's a bit difficult to make out, but I suspect the "C" is really a "B," or possibly an "L". I think that the name ends in "ke".

As far as I can make out it reads "Obrst Hö[fer ?] nach M... Ord Pour le Mérite durch [?] ... v. d. B..ke"


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Re: von der Conta maybe?

#3

Post by Elwyn W » 01 Feb 2012, 06:18

Thank you so much Ken. That was indeed Obst Karl Hoefer .... maybe it reads verleihung??

Hoefer won PLM on 23.07.16. He was Kmdr Landwehr IR 57 02.06.16 and then Kmdr Landwehr Brig 17 03.08.16. I don't see anything with the superior formation of Landwehr Brig 17 -- 3 LW Div -- that could bring us back to 'Exz?? v.d. B..ke" yet. And I have not tried hard with LW IR 57.


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Re: von der Conta maybe?

#4

Post by Ken S. » 01 Feb 2012, 09:52

Verleihung does fit ("Vleihung" ?).

After some searching I came to focus on one GM von der Lancken, Kdt. of Thorn in 1914 (until 1918 ?) and then Reval as a possible candidate.

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Re: von der Conta maybe?

#5

Post by Elwyn W » 02 Feb 2012, 05:23

If 57 LW IR is a valid clue -- it was summer, it was when Hoefer won PLM -- then this would be in Volhynia/Lutsk in NW Ukraine. 57 LW IR was under 18 LW ID ( Anatol Graf v Bredow) and DT combined Div Rusche/92 ID ( Rudolf Rusche). But general in pic resembled neither nor would the handwriting make any sense.

57 LW IR was under 19 LW Brig. Perhaps a Brig level GenMj?


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Re: von der Conta maybe?

#6

Post by Heimatschuss » 08 Feb 2012, 20:38

Hello,

horrible scribbling so just a wild guess:

Oberst Höfer nach Überreichung
des Pour le Mérite
durch Exz.[ellenz] v.[on] d.[er] Lancken

There were two Generals von der Lancken alive at the time (http://www.lexikon-deutschegenerale.de/l_pr.html) but I haven't checked if any of them was near Höfer when he received the PLM.

Best regards
Torsten

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Re: von der Conta maybe?

#7

Post by Elwyn W » 09 Feb 2012, 04:22

Thank you Torsten.

Yes, GenLt Eberhard 1849 - 1918 or GenLt Hermann Julius Friedrich 1857 - 1931. The Kmdt v Thorn was mentioned in a post at this forum but unfortunately with no first name. Given the distance between Thorn and Lutsk (by WW1 standard anyway), this would probably be the v d Lancken that was not the Kmdt v Thorn.

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Re: von der Conta maybe?

#8

Post by Elwyn W » 27 Apr 2014, 17:49

Mystery solved.

The date was indeed 23.07.16 when Obst Hoefer won the PLM. He was kmdr of LIR 57. Even though it was part of 28 Lwd Brig under 18 Ldw Div, according to Jürgen Kraus's Handbuch d Verbände u Truppen d Dt Heeres, on this same day, LIR 57 was temporarily assigned to 35 Res Div. The Kmdr was Ernst Heinrich von der Becke!

Kraus is well worth the omey.

Cheers
Elwyn

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