Can anyone ID this Austrian officer?

[Chris Dale]

Can ayone identify this Austrian officer in the Right foreground or explain why he's wearing a white armband? And any guesses as to what medal ribbon he may be wearing in his buttonhole?
The photo was taken in Gallipoli during WW1.
Any help or comments would be appreciated...
Cheers
Chris

[Glenn2438]

Chris,

I am not sure what he is but he is not wearing an Austro-Hungarian uniform.

Regards
Glenn

[Chris Dale]

Hi Glenn,
Thanks for your response. Can you expand on that. What makes you think he's not Austrian?
He seems to me to be wearing an Austrian tunic with three pointed pockets, while the officers behind him are also wearing the same tunics but with Austrian officer's shakos. The troops he's inspecting seem to be Austrian too. He's wearing a Turkish kalpak (lamb's wool fez) as was common amongst German officers serving on the Gallipoli front...any clues?
Cheers
Chris

[Mad Zeppelin]

The centre man, in my opinion, looks very much like German general Rüdiger von der Goltz, CO of German Finnland Division. The man at right bears striking resemblance with Finnish general and politician Kurt Mannerheim. Are you really sure this picture was taken in Turkey?

[AJK]

Hi,

The photo was almost certainly taken in Finland. The officer with the white "fez" is General (later Marshal of Finland) Karl Gustav Baron von Mannerheim, commander-in-chief of the Finnish Armed Forces during Finland's war of independence in 1918. The white armbands carry the insignia of the Finnish Armed Forces, and the officers behind Mannerheim appear to be Finnish Generals Wetzer, Mexmontan, and possibly Ignatius. The German officer beside Mannerheim is most likely von der Goltz.

AJK

[Chris Dale]

Hi AJK and Mad Zeppelin,
Thanks very much for your observations. That all sounds very plausible. I can see where I went wrong now mistaking Austrian field caps for Finnish...and yes I've seen the Finns wearing fur caps and white armbands with the Finnish coat of arms before.
The book I got it from "World War 1" by JHJ Andriessen says it was taken in Gallipoli but it also says it's Colonel von der Golz. The book has many good photos but some of the other photos in the book are also mis-captioned and as I saw the General's collar insignia on von der Golz I assumed this was the part they'd got wrong, not the location.
It all makes sense now, thanks solving that mystery for me!
Cheers
Chris
PS You were right Glenn, I shouldn't have doubted you!

[Mikko H.]

Karl Gustav Baron von Mannerheim

It's Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim without the von-prefix... Small detail I know, but Mannerheim did find it annoying when he was given than 'von' he didn't have!