Marcin FELEDZIAK Infantry Regiment 171

[egbert]

What a beautifully restored historic building

[ph0ebus]

Catching up on great recent developments, Martin...well done! I've had my hands full with my own research, as well as collaborating with one of my Israeli cousins on a book that will be published shortly. I have also been helping some other cousins sort out their own ancestors' Great War records, which have been appearing in some recent threads. When it rains, it pours!

Is this the correct Unit History?

https://www.worldcat.org/title/infanterie-regiment-nr-171-im-weltkriege-auf-grund-d-amtl-kriegstagebucher-bearb-im-auftr-d-reichsarchivs/oclc/72564921&referer=brief_results

Oh, but this one is near you!

https://www.worldcat.org/title/das-infanterie-regiment-nr-171-im-weltkriege-bearbeitet-von-generalmajor-a-d-kaiser-major-buchholtz-hauptmann-a-d-renovanz-etc-with-maps/oclc/560383172&referer=brief_results

-Daniel

[Martin Feledziak]

Greetings Daniel.

I was so happy with the recent update in the VL reports and like Egbert I am astounded to find GF attached to IR 171.

Considering the fact that he was from a farming community in rural Prussia.

Why would he be in a distant Alsace - Lorraine Unit.

He was born 1897 so he would be in the muster class for 1917, probably earlier, unless he volunteered.

I know he had a cousin, same birth year, in the local 37 Fusilier regiment and both the same year class.

Also he has another older cousin based in Metz (Kings infantry 145 Regiment) so that could be a reason.

Possibly the authorities posted them away from home to make an ethnic mix of their troops.

Now you have pointed out a possible regimental history held in a library here in the UK.

That is more than I could have hoped for.. So I have emailed them to see what options I have available.

Clearly I want to cast an eye over it.

Certainly good stuff

Thanks

[ph0ebus]

Greetings Daniel.

I was so happy with the recent update in the VL reports and like Egbert I am astounded to find GF attached to IR 171.

Considering the fact that he was from a farming community in rural Prussia.

Why would he be in a distant Alsace - Lorraine Unit.

He was born 1897 so he would be in the muster class for 1917, probably earlier, unless he volunteered.

I know he had a cousin, same birth year, in the local 37 Fusilier regiment and both the same year class.

Also he has another older cousin based in Metz (Kings infantry 145 Regiment) so that could be a reason.

Possibly the authorities posted them away from home to make an ethnic mix of their troops.

Now you have pointed out a possible regimental history held in a library here in the UK.

171.jpg

That is more than I could have hoped for.. So I have emailed them to see what options I have available.

Clearly I want to cast an eye over it.

Certainly good stuff

Thanks

The maps alone will be worth the price of admission, so to speak!

It could very well be he started out in a local unit, only to be transferred to IR 171 later in the war. My grandfather started out with FAR 47 based out of his hometown in Fulda, but mid-war was transferred to FAR 43 which is based out of Wesel, some 337 km away as the crow flies. The Unit History will be helpful, but the smoking gun will probably be his medical records, which will need to be extracted out of LAGeSo.

-Daniel

[Martin Feledziak]

This is the position regarding the library. Briefly I shall have to go down to London to look for myself.

But I am impressed that this book is available and in English.

There may be nothing in the book of any value to my search for clues but it is possible that there is an

indication as to what was happening when he was reported missing just prior to February 1918.

I don't like to say it but I would be surprised that it had been translated into English.

I am very pleased to find there is a history but..

Only the most famous German WW1 books have been translated.

Even the translators of those famous books have been variously criticised.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Martin

Thank you for your email. The book you are interested in is part of our General Reference Collection.

Items in the collection are not loanable, whilst still in copyright they cannot be copied, they can, however, be viewed in our London Reading Rooms.

At St Pancras (Euston Road, London NW1) we have 11 Reading Rooms,

each specialising in a different subject area or type of material and with different opening hours. In our Reading Rooms you can:

Consult books, journals and other items from our collections

Access a wide range of electronic resources and electronic journals

Ask for help from information specialists at the Reference Enquiry desks

Consult subject guides, bibliographies and other research aids.

If you wish to consult items in the British Library you will need to register for a Readers Pass.

You will find information about using the Reading Rooms and about Reader Pass Registration at

http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/inrrooms/stp/stpancrasrr.html

It is important to read the information about Reader Pass registration carefully and to bring the correct documentation with you as

otherwise you will not be issued with a Readers Pass.

You will also need to know which items you want to reserve to consult.

Items are not available for browsing on shelves. They are held in storage and need to be reserved.

You can search the British Library holdings at

http://explore.bl.uk You will also find additional catalogues on this link

http://www.bl.uk/reshelp/findhelprestype/catblhold/all/allcat.html

[Martin Feledziak]

The maps alone will be worth the price of admission, so to speak!

It could very well be he started out in a local unit, only to be transferred to IR 171 later in the war. My grandfather started out with FAR 47 based out of his hometown in Fulda, but mid-war was transferred to FAR 43 which is based out of Wesel, some 337 km away as the crow flies. The Unit History will be helpful, but the smoking gun will probably be his medical records, which will need to be extracted out of LAGeSo.

-Daniel

Daniel,

I sent a request to LAGeSO back in March asking if they could find his medical records.

I have just dug it out and re-sent the request but this time with the update from the verlustlisten,

giving the regiment info and report date.

also

looking at the Janet and Joe book of Imperial Germany

"The class of 1917 was mobilized over 18 months early between January and May 1916. This class had been decimated both by Verdun and the Somme.

some of this class had only trained for three months"

The above passage appears to fit with My GF, He would be the class of 1917 and 18 years of age.

Remember from post 28 of this thread he was in Riemke Germany and writing to his sister in Dusseldorf dated 29 June 1915.

[roel22]

Hi Martin, good to see you're making such good progress. Sadly I doubt you will get a reply from LaGeSo. They have closed the Krankenbuchlager per 31-12-2013 and do not answer to any requests sent in after that date. But let's hope you are lucky...

Roel

[ph0ebus]

Hi Martin, good to see you're making such good progress. Sadly I doubt you will get a reply from LaGeSo. They have closed the Krankenbuchlager per 31-12-2013 and do not answer to any requests sent in after that date. But let's hope you are lucky...

Roel

I have been contemplating organizing an advocacy campaign to urge them to either open the records themselves or figure out who can manage these records on their behalf. This is a key year in which I think an effort of this type might gain traction, but given I have not undertaken such a thing before, I am not sure how to get this off the ground and get it going 'the right way'. For researchers like Martin, myself and quite a few others here in this and other forums, the records held by LAGeSo are our only avenue, and while I understand they have a resource issue to contend with, my view is the government needs to sort it out and fix the problem so that these crucial records are available to all. I am thinking of starting a new thread on this issue, and won't say any more about it here in this wonderful thread, but I just wanted to express my shared frustration and hope we can find a good solution together.

-Daniel

[roel22]

LaGeSo is going to transfer the Krankenbuchlager-records to the Bundesarchiv-Militärarchiv. So I think best is to contact them.

AFAIK records of soldiers born before 1890 are already at the Bundesarchiv. Also those of soldiers born january or july between 1890-1899.

I fully agree it's a great shame these records are not available to researchers anymore. Especially because there hardly are any other (Prussian) records left.

I hope your petition will have result: it has been tried before, though (no success).

There are plans to reopen the records in time, but no idea when.

Roel

[Martin Feledziak]

Roel & Daniel,

That probably accounts for why I did not get a reply from my March inquiry

They may have many other tasks to do. It was only through reading other posts on this forum that I learned that they carried out this function.

In time, perhaps the data could be handed to the volunteers who are currently doing the excellent work with the Verlustlisten scans.

I should also "Pay-back" myself and do a little indexing for the project.

But I am worried that I would make a mistake with either the soldiers names or where they were from.

I still have trouble recognizing the script letters as so many are similar..

http://wiki-de.genealogy.net/Verlustlisten_Erster_Weltkrieg/Projekt

[egbert]

I have been contemplating organizing an advocacy campaign to urge them to either open the records themselves or figure out who can manage these records on their behalf. This is a key year in which I think an effort of this type might gain traction, but given I have not undertaken such a thing before, I am not sure how to get this off the ground and get it going 'the right way'. For researchers like Martin, myself and quite a few others here in this and other forums, the records held by LAGeSo are our only avenue, and while I understand they have a resource issue to contend with, my view is the government needs to sort it out and fix the problem so that these crucial records are available to all. I am thinking of starting a new thread on this issue, and won't say any more about it here in this wonderful thread, but I just wanted to express my shared frustration and hope we can find a good solution together.

-Daniel

The State Office for Social and Health Affaires of Berlin that formerly held the Krankenbuchlager belongs as the name says to the city and state of Berlin. Berlin is run down by the ruling party with their hilarious mayor and if it were a commercial enterprise they had to open a bankruptcy/chapter 11 action. The reasons the Krankenbuchlager was closed were financial . The LaGeSo is among other responsible to pay the social welfare aspects for one million aliens that ask for asylum and/or other benefits related to their status, and that just in Berlin! You have to establish understanding that they had to cut other services. The Krankenbuchlager surely was an easy victim to set free personnel costs. The identification of the Krankenbuchlager for closure was not difficult with all the complaints against unfriendly and service disoriented staff/employees from the Eastern part after the reunification. I also have had my "experiences " with these people. Let us hope that things run smooth when and if the Krankenbuchlager is transferred into federal hands.......

[Martin Feledziak]

Egbert,

That is an eye opener for me. I always thought of Germany as a very well run country. I have not considered it has a problem with asylum seekers.

Then if money has to be saved then of course history from 100 years ago must be the first consideration for reduced funding.

The UK has an obvious problem with migrants wanting to get in. You only have to look at the Calais camps.

For Germany any migrants wanting to get in don't have the problem with 21 miles of water to get across.

My wife and children ask me why I spend so much time looking at history and at the dead !!.

I say to them "To understand our future we must understand our past".

Also I have some spare time to do the looking

[Martin Feledziak]

So

I have been looking at the regimental history of Das Infanterie regiment 171, as much as is readily available on the internet.

The last Report has GF missing before 28 February 1919.

Now this would tally with the hospital picture that I have from June 1918.

So I am now thinking that something happened mid 1918 which put him in hospital.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The 115th division underwent relatively few organizational changes over the course of the war. Cavalry was reduced, artillery and signals commands were formed, and combat engineer support was expanded to a full pioneer battalion. The order of battle on February 1, 1918 was as follows:

• 229. Infanterie-Brigade
  • Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 40
  • 4. Lothringisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 136
  • 2. Ober-Elsässiches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 171
• 2.Eskadron/3. Badisches Dragoner-Regiment Prinz Karl Nr. 22
• Artillerie-Kommandeur 115
  • Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 229
  • Fußartillerie-Bataillon Nr. 94 (from May 1, 1918)
• Pionier-Bataillon Nr. 43
  • 3. Reserve-Kompanie/Pionier-Bataillon Nr. 33
  • Pionier-Kompanie Nr. 229
  • Minenwerfer-Kompanie Nr. 115
• Divisions-Nachrichten-Kommandeur 115

[Martin Feledziak]

I am going to guess that he was wounded in some action in Marne Battle area.

Keeping in mind the large number of soldiers from 171 reported missing in the Verlustlisten from 22 Feb 1919,

Post 316 below

[Martin Feledziak]

This is all the names for 171 from the report of 22 Feb 1919.

I am now beginning to think that these are just the Authorities getting their records in order and not as a result of specific

battle or incident.

[Martin Feledziak]

The above entry appears in the report for 22 February 1919, so this is some 3 months after the end of the war.

Also it lists his status as missing.

As it stands I could now open up every report after 22 Feb 1919 and look for another report in the section where 171 regiment will logically appear. Or just wait for the indexers to find his next entry , if there is one.

To be fair I am totally happy with the details that I now have..

In theory there should be another report showing a status as "Not missing- Lightly Wounded"

I am assuming that this is the way the indexers are working and there are more 1919 reports to follow.

I am really impressed with their work and would love to thank them for their efforts.

[Martin Feledziak]

I decided to have a look through all the reports after 22 February 1919

I was only looking for items relating to Infantrerie Regiment 171.

I have screen grabbed cuttings out of those issues to produce the below image.

the report number and date for each entry is the file name. ( I had to reduce the size to upload to this page so it is difficult to read )

Conclusion -

There are around 28 soldiers added for IR 171 since GF's report. Many of the soldiers are reported POW or dead and from a time much earlier in the war.

I have not found any more information about my GF.

I may have missed some reports because I am still poor at reading German, I may not even properly understand how the reports are laid out.

But I have done my best.

N.B issue 2365 for March is missing

[Martin Feledziak]

Just cross checking soldiers common to reports

Berhhard Kuhlmann 07 03 1896 Lightly wounded in 1915 ( IR 171 )

http://des.genealogy.net/search/show/8286931

Berhhard Kuhlmann 07 03 1896 Missing with GF in 1919 ( IR 171 )

http://des.genealogy.net/search/show/2318402

[Martin Feledziak]

I found this whilst checking on a few things

ü

This is the first time I have submitted the character in a search box.

So now I see a Verlustlisten for Fusilier Regiment 73 and Ernst Junger's first wounding.

I suspect this may have been during his first battle at Eparges - Verdun area

In his book he describes:-

"Suddenly there was a flash

among the rootwork, and a blow on the left thigh flung me to the ground. I thought I

had been struck by a clump of earth, but the warm trickle of blood indicated that I'd

been wounded. Later, I saw that a needle-sharp piece of shrapnel had given me a flesh

wound, though my wallet had taken the brunt of it. The fine cut, which before slicing

into the muscle had split no fewer than nine thicknesses of stout leather, looked as

though it might have been administered by a scalpel."

I hope I am right with this but I think the below is the report.

http://des.genealogy.net/search/show/1411746

[Martin Feledziak]

These are the other entries for Ernst Junger

[Martin Feledziak]

Indexed today - 9th June 2014 . This is from a large block report dated 5 July 1918. So this shows him Lightly wounded.

Still I have a loose end with the 28 February 1919 showing him missing !!

http://des.genealogy.net/search/show/8516777

[Martin Feledziak]

I continue to make a mess of this thread so I shall try to straighten it out.

The person below left is my Grandfather and the person

below right is the famous German soldier Ernst Junger. ( I do not think they knew each other )

I established this thread to discover who the two Johann Feledziak's were. ( Now sorted, Although I do not have any Photo's of them )

Along the way I decided to add in other family members

including my Grandfather.

Croonaert introduced me to Ernst Junger, so I read the book Storm of Steel - Excellent it is too !!

So this thread is a mess but I have enjoyed all of it.

I know the soldiers who are mentioned DID NOT !!! I am confident that My GF did not want to be a soldier.

But having said that, he appears happy to pose with his wartime adornments in the 1919 still below.

So does Junger in his image.

I clearly remember a WWII German helmet being used as a hanging basket for flowers in a front garden near to Grand Fathers house

in the late 60's,early 70's I was desperate to have it but never got it.

I think I am almost at the end of the search - there are more details to fill in but I am now content with the overall picture.

Thanks to my forum friends for pointing me in the right direction. Daniel, Egbert, role.

Next year I shall return to the Verdun and visit the infamous places I have read about. I certainly will have an appointment

With GF's Brother at Servon. Killed 22 04 1915.

I feel sure that he has not been visited by a person on his family tree. So I best start sorting a route and some accommodation.

[Martin Feledziak]

I am just going to plonk Jacob Feledziak onto this thread. He was Grand Fathers older Brother and both of them survived the wars.

Buchwalde, Koschmin was in Pogorzela (Kozmin) catholic parish which included villages: Bielawy, Cegielnia Głuchowska, Cegielnia Pogorzelicka, Dobrapomoc, Elżbietkowo (Elisenhof), Felicyanowo, Głuchowo, Gumieniec, Łukaszewo, Pogorzela,Taczanowo (Buchwald)

Buchwald was a farm belonging to Pogorzela, now gone

I am now entering unknown ground as I am not sure that he served in the German army in the great war but given that he was born in 1886, with a unique name, in the right area and he would have been (Jahresklasse) in 1906.

I am thinking that he could not avoid being recalled to duty.

Logic dictates the below but I will need additional material to beef it up.

There are two VL entries for Jacob Feledziak

Verlustlisten 1. Weltkrieg, page 11.862: Feledziak Jakob (Buchwald) 3 April 1916 - Lightly Wounded

http://des.genealogy.net/search/show/3228067

Verlustlisten 1. Weltkrieg, page 13.141: Feledziak Jakob (Buchwalde, Koschmin) 28 July 1916 - Badly Wounded

http://des.genealogy.net/search/show/4003260

I have puzzled over these entries particularly when the reports have him listed with:-

April 1916 - Reserve Infanterie Regiment No 61

July 1916 - Reserve Jäger Battalion No 2

However I have now seen that both units were part of the 36th Reserve Division. So injured in April and after a short period of convalescence

he gets returned to Division but to the Jäger to make up their numbers. Then in July he cops for a serious wound which ends his war ( perhaps saves his life too !!)

36th Reserve Division

The order of battle of the 36th Reserve Division on mobilization was as follows

• 69.Reserve-Infanterie-Brigade
  • Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 21
  • Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 61
  • Reserve-Jäger-Bataillon Nr. 2

[Martin Feledziak]

Combat chronicle WIKI

The 36th Reserve Division began the war on the Eastern Front. It fought in the Battle of Gumbinnen the Battle of Tannenberg , and the First Battle of the Masurian Lakes. In 1915, it saw action in the Gorlice Tarnow Offensive. It remained in the Baltic region until September 1916, and then went to Galicia.

In May 1917, the division was transferred to the Western Front, arriving in June. It was deployed to various parts of the line until war's end, spending most of 1918 in the Flanders region. Allied intelligence rated the division as third class in 1918.

[Martin Feledziak]

This is a period picture of Martin and a Brother. I am not sure which Brother Johann or Jacob.

I think it is Jacob.

Martin did send a card to Jacob - post 7 this thread