Albert is the brother of my great-grandfather, Frank Jaffke, Senior. The following information about Albert's uniform was provided to me by Marianne Jaffke and her father, Günter.

The "XX" on Albert's collar is the Roman Numeral for "20" and indicates that he was in the 20th Division. The "2" indicated his regiment. Therefore, Alfred was in the 2nd Regiment of the 20th Division. The edges that look like boomerangs are called paspellierung and were typically worn by an unteroffizier (noncommissioned officer comparable to a corporal in the U. S. amry), but feldwebel (sergeants) had these collars, too.

The epaulettes would give a better indication of Albert's rank, but unfortunately we can't see them in this photo.

The medal ribbon Albert is wearing is the EK 2, or Eiserne Kreuz 2. Klasse. In English, it is called the Iron Cross, 2nd Class. I found the following description of this medal: "The Eiserne Kreuz (EK) or Iron Cross was awarded to individuals other than senior commanders for superior merit in combat. It was specifically designed as a war time award. The combat version of the EK 2 had a black ribbon with two white edge stripes, the non-combat version had a white ribbon with two black edge stripes. Typically only the ribbon was worn with the uniform. It was passed through a buttonhole on the tunic." The ribbon worn in this picture appears to be the combat version.

Marianne writes: The beard if funny. Like almost every German beard of this time, it looks like the beard of the German emperor (he was a trendsetter).

On the back of the picture, Albert wrote the following: Lieber Bruder und / Schwägerin. Dann schicke ich / Euch auch mein Bild als / Soldat, mich und meine / Frau, auch den ältesten Sohn, / hoffentlich bekommt ihr das. / Das ist [???] eine kleine Erinnerung. / Herzlichen Gruß dein / Bruder Albert. Marianne provided me with this translation: Dear Brother and /Sister-in-law. So I send / you my picture as a soldier, too, / me and my wife, the oldest so, too, / I hope you get this. / This is [???] a little memory. / Best wishes your / Brother Albert.