110 Landwehr Infanterie Regiment

[willysmb42]

I have hovered in the background for a while but this is my first post.

I recently purchased some (about 250) photographs/postcards from the First world war at a car boot sale. I was unable to get any information about them at the time from the vendor. Looking through them they are mainly from 2 different locations about 100 from Serbia and about 150 from the Alsace. This enquiry is about the pictures from the Alsace.

Most of the pictures seem to relate to the 110 Landwehr Infanterie Regiment and I was wondering if anybody has any information they can share as I can find very little information on the Web. A book was written about them and published in 1936 by Ernst Von Walthausen . Copies are in 2 libraries in Germany and 2 in America and 1 in Australia but I have not worked out how to get a copy yet and they are all in German anyway.(Unfortunately I don't speak German !)

I found one reference to them as a third rate regiment so I am not expecting to find any heroic stories but the photographs I have are a good mixture of Frontline and rearquarters pictures and many have names written on the back.

The following towns are shown and mentioned in captions on the back;

Heimersdorf

Carspach

Altkirch

Moos

Villa Jourdin (http://www.altkirch-...villa-jourdain/)

They are also mentioned here on this interesting site, about halfway down. http://pierreswester.../?id=490357&r=1

Over the next year or 18 months I would like to take a trip out to the Alsace and maybe take some pictures to go with mine.

Anyway, that is what I have so anymore information from anybody else would be great. I can post some more pictures if anybody is interested.

Roger

[tipperary]

Welcome Roger always love to see pictures look forward to your posts.john

[Jack Sheldon]

This regiment was part of 8th Landwehr Division which formed up in January 1915. The other regiments involved were Landwehr Regts 109 and 110. From the regimental numbers, I assume that they came from Baden. There is no record of this division serving in Serbia, so that perhaps those photos relate to another formation. 8th Landwehr Div spent almost the entire war as a ground holding division in quiet sectors of the Western Front.

Jack

[Colin W Taylor]

Roger

There's a copy in the reading rooms of the Imperial War Museum - see link.

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/publication/80003609

It's a bit closer to home than US or Oz but you'll need to book to visit 3 days in advance and they charge phenominally for photocopying.

I hope this helps.

Colin

[willysmb42]

Thanks for the help so far everyone. The 109 LIR makes sense as some of the captions do relate to them as well.

Colin, that is very good news about the IWM reading room containing a copy as that is only 1 1/2 hours away (although a trip to sunny Oz did sound very appealing !) Do you know if it is weekdays only ?

This picture is just captioned "Rear quarters" and has some lovely detail such as the goat being milked and the small child watching as the rabbit gets its throat cut !?

[joerookery]

From the regimental numbers, I assume that they came from Baden.

They were. A four battalion regiment with the commander and 2 battalion commanders coming from JR 113. Freiburg (R.Stb., I., II., III.) und Müllheim/Baden (IV.)

[willysmb42]

They were. A four battalion regiment with the commander and 2 battalion commanders coming from JR 113. Freiburg (R.Stb., I., II., III.) und Müllheim/Baden (IV.)

Baden features on all the postmarks so again that ties up.

Does anybody know of where I can see the structure of a German regiment i.e family tree ?

This is a picture of Hauptmann Lorenz having his morning wash.

[Tom W.]

Does anybody know of where I can see the structure of a German regiment i.e family tree ?

Here:

http://www.worldwar1.com/sfgarmy.htm

And then here:

http://www.worldwar1.com/sfgermreorg.htm

[willysmb42]

Thanks for the links, I am a bit of a beginner on 1st War let alone German units.

[willysmb42]

I am not sure where this picture is taken, possibly Villa Jourdain, but it does not look the same surroundings as some of the other pictures.

Its titled "Zweikampf" (Tackle)

Feldgeistl. Rost

Lt. Schon

Lt Specht

Lt Schleyer

Lt Benstz

[bob lembke]

Rogers (?);

If some of these are actually sent postcards there will probably be a wealth of information on them that probably is not obvious.

From early in the war Prussian military mail regulations called for a military postcard or letter envelope to carry an "Absender Block" . Most non-Prussian units followed the Prussian example in most things, but I believe that the Bavarian Army did not require this.

The Absender Block will be found near the postmarks (usually two or three, also a source of a lot of info), often to the left and even above the postmarks. It usually is written in two lines of highly abbreviated script, often written upside down. It will generally provide the name and rank of the sender, and identify his unit, down to a very fine level of detail, even possibly to the Korporalschaft. The military postmarks will also provide a lot of unit information, and even the hour of posting. (However, sometimes the unit on the postmark might be different than the sender's unit. I have a postcard of my father's which he posted from the post-office of the headquarters of the Fifth Army; my father sometimes hung about outside that HQ, the HQ of Crown Prince Wilhelm, and watched what was going on, and even reported to his father what was going on.)

The text of most postcards is usually quite banal, what I call "crummy food and warm socks" commentary, and more often than not non-military, especially when written to a female relative like the soldier's mother. The post stamps (not postage stamps, usually not needed, but the inked rubber stamps) and the Absender Block will usually provide more information than the text of the card.

If you really get into this there is a military post working section of the German postage stamp collecting society, which years ago had about 120 members world-wide, and for a modest membership fee you could join and receive a 48 page newsletter (being German, always 48 pages, not 42 or 52 pages) four times a year. These people had directories which would tell you that "Military Post Office Nr. 547", for example, was located in Brussels from February to October 1915. I wrote them and they sent me one or two recent newsletters and solicited my membership. (Knowing German would be a help.) One member, for example, was a Dane who had a collection of 25,000 German military postcards.

If you spot an Absender Block try to scan and post it in a highly magnified state (and right side up), and I will probably be able to read it for you. You generally have to know not only German, and the Suetterlin and/or Kurrent script systems, but also the German military abbreviations. (German brilliance in creating long words and terms was matched by equal brilliance in inventing radical abbreviations.) However, early in the war Prussian regulations also called for the use of Modern script for addresses on military mail, and as a novelty this was often written in odd ways.

Bob Lembke

[willysmb42]

Thanks for the reply Bob, Unfortunately only 1 or 2 of the postcards have been sent through the postal system so most have no identifying marks on them (apart from handwritten place-names and names of the people) .

I will look out for the "Absender Block" in the future though.

Roger

[willysmb42]

I have just discovered this site which is quite interesting to me as it covers the area of my Photographs.

http://front-du-sundgau-14-18.jimdo.com/