egbert Posted 13 July , 2011 Author Share Posted 13 July , 2011 .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveMarsdin Posted 13 July , 2011 Share Posted 13 July , 2011 Nice pieces, Egbert; even nicer memories Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiegeGunner Posted 13 July , 2011 Share Posted 13 July , 2011 Sehr schöne Andenken, Egbert. You are fortunate indeed to have so many mementos of your forebears, and I hope the next generation will treasure them as you do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Carter Posted 14 July , 2011 Share Posted 14 July , 2011 Hello Egbert I will be visiting the Somme in September and will certainly be in the Gueudecourt area. With your permission, may I laser engrave a small memorial cross and place it in the approximate location of the trench that he served. regards Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 14 July , 2011 Author Share Posted 14 July , 2011 Thanks guys for your responses! Terry - a wunderful offer which is certainly most welcomed! Do you need more location information? As the link in post #8 does not work anymore, here is another known facette of the story: The surviving parents grieved so much and so long over the loss of their only son, that even the children in school wanted to cheer Kurts father up. He was a school teacher. Some time after the war, 1928, the class gave him a special memory gift in form of a German WW1 soldier in bronce. The inscription says "Unserem lieben Herrn Thielicke die dankbare UIIIr 1928" UIII is a high school class "Untertertia"= class (grade) 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 14 July , 2011 Author Share Posted 14 July , 2011 Another angle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 15 July , 2011 Share Posted 15 July , 2011 egbert, your great-uncle served opposite my grandfather. John Hosken was a rifleman in the New Zealand Division. He was wounded in the shoulder in October 1916. John, who was known as 'Ivan', survived the war. Mick and I visited the area in the Spring, just before travelling north and paying our respects at the grave of your grandfather. In memory of Kurt Thielicke - may he rest in peace. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Carter Posted 15 July , 2011 Share Posted 15 July , 2011 Hello Egbert Yes you can give me more info, thankyou. Would you want me to laser the details in German or English? German.... then you will have to instruct me. Regards Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 15 July , 2011 Author Share Posted 15 July , 2011 @Robert: do you have any more detail about what happened there around Oct 1st 1916 near/next to Bayonet trench. Any accounts from John? Any info as tiny as it may be is much appreciated! @Terry: English is fine as Kurt was a student in University of Halle. He is now universal. And please: take some good pictures from the cross you place there. Here is a snippet from regimental history of RIR 36 and its wherabout on Oct 1st Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 15 July , 2011 Share Posted 15 July , 2011 egbert, I will check my sources when I get home. Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 15 July , 2011 Author Share Posted 15 July , 2011 Snippet from Sonderkarte 26.11.16 , Bajonet trench of RIR 36 marked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 15 July , 2011 Author Share Posted 15 July , 2011 collage then (7.10.16) and now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 15 July , 2011 Author Share Posted 15 July , 2011 The rejuvenation of this old thread spurred me on to research more on what I have inherited from my mother, who lived as a young girl several years in the household of the Thielicke family. So yesterday evening I looked around in the dark corners of the cellar -forgotten memories of the past- and I found some silverware from the Thielicke family. Lt. Kurt Thielicke for sure used these items when he was still alive and grew up there to an angel in waiting. No material value, but certainly ideally value since yesterday. First Lt Kurt Thielicke's napkin ring ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 15 July , 2011 Author Share Posted 15 July , 2011 Kurt Thielicke volunteered the Army directly from university. He was a member of a fraternity in university of Halle a/d Saale. So I wrote some years ago to the successor organization and got the following information about Lt K.T from the archives. I asked GWF pal Mick aka siege gunner to have a more precise translation of what is known. Here is the translation, credited to Mick (thank you very much!): We don't have such student societies here in the UK, so I will have to use the terminology of American student fraternities. So a 'Fuchs' is a 'freshman', but I don't know whether the American system has a name for a 'Leibfuchs' or for the more senior fraternity member who acts as his 'older brother'. I presume that 'Fachmann' is a surname in this case (remark egbert: yes it is). Kurt Thielicke Date of birth: 27.01.1895. Home town: Halle Freshman pupil of Fraternity Brother Fachmann Nickname: Thilo the Sheikh Faculty: Philosophy Inducted into the fraternity 01.04.1913 as one of 11 fraternity brothers Killed in action 01.10.1916 as Leutnant of the Reserve, on the Somme (1915 Leutnant of the Reserve, 1916 Pioneer Company of Reserve Infantry Regiment 36) "A loyal and upstanding member of the Pflug fraternity" Daniel Hormann, Archivist of the Fraternity of Pflüger, Halle zu Münster (formerly: 'Alemannia auf dem Pflug zu Halle') Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 15 July , 2011 Share Posted 15 July , 2011 I love the nickname Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 15 July , 2011 Author Share Posted 15 July , 2011 egbert, your great-uncle served opposite my grandfather. John Hosken was a rifleman in the New Zealand Division. He was wounded in the shoulder in October 1916. John, who was known as 'Ivan', survived the war. Mick and I visited the area in the Spring, just before travelling north and paying our respects at the grave of your grandfather. In memory of Kurt Thielicke - may he rest in peace. Robert Do you know the exact date when your GF was wounded? I have the RIR 36 regimental history here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 15 July , 2011 Author Share Posted 15 July , 2011 This set of 1891 teaspoons with Kurt's fathers initials were surely used by Kurt until he joined the army ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Dunlop Posted 16 July , 2011 Share Posted 16 July , 2011 Do you know the exact date when your GF was wounded? I have the RIR 36 regimental history here.Not yet, egbert. My grandfather served in WW2, as a trainer. Therefore his war records are not in the public archives yet. My sister is chasing up. It would be great to see the RIR 36 history for October. I will get back to you when the specific date is nailed down.Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 16 July , 2011 Author Share Posted 16 July , 2011 In the meantime I will post another set found by accident in a forgotten box 2 days ago and which was used by Lt Thielicke ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry Carter Posted 17 July , 2011 Share Posted 17 July , 2011 Hi Egbert Have noticed that German WW1 burials the crosses were more of a sharp angular design instead of the tradional basic cross. I will experiment and show you an example to see what you think. My Great Uncle was wounded near Gueudecourt, in October 1916, and later died in hospital at Etaples. I will laser a cross for him aswell and when I visit the Somme I will place them side by side, if that is OK with you. Regards Terry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 17 July , 2011 Author Share Posted 17 July , 2011 Terry that is wonderful and I am looking forward for the photo results as it will show the drama about 2 opposing soldiers being united in the great army up there. My Great uncle was carried from the battlefield to nearby Bertincourt for burial. Burial took place 5 Oct. His grave was # 205, but later during the war he was reburied to his hometown. If anybody knows the location of the Bertincourt German war cemetery from the 1916+ , I'd be grateful to get a message. @Terry and Robert: this is the area of interest in which Lt Kurt Thielicke most likely (99%)was kia. For reference I have also marked the Bn HQ of I.Bn RIR 36 to which he was attached as leader pioneer platoon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 17 July , 2011 Author Share Posted 17 July , 2011 For your orientation I have marked here in green the angle of the wideangle panorama photo I posted in post #38. The large tree in the picture appr. shows the location of I.Bn RIR 36 HQ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFF Posted 18 July , 2011 Share Posted 18 July , 2011 related? http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Thielicke+&GSbyrel=all&GSdy=1916&GSdyrel=in&GSob=n&GRid=53520907&df=all& Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
egbert Posted 1 October , 2011 Author Share Posted 1 October , 2011 Today 95 years ago Kurt Thielicke was killed in action. R.I.P. This photo is pre-war from university before he joined the Army as a volunteer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Beech Posted 1 October , 2011 Share Posted 1 October , 2011 With deep respect I want to remember Kurt Thielicke, Leutnant d.R. (Lieutenant) RIR 36, who was killed in action at Gueudecourt, 1 October 1916. I invite you all to share a second and remember a young man who died at age 21. The family branch does not exist anymore, so nobody knows him anymore nor will remember him - he is a soul lost in space. Recently I found a couple of field letters, one portrait picture and his bible with vitae. Pals, that's all what is left of this young Lieutenant . Kurt Thielicke was born 27 January 1895 in Halle. He was a young university student when he volunteered to join the Army 8 August 1914. On 22 September 1916 he was stationed at Gueudecourt, Somme and was killed as platoon leader Pionierzug. At this very day, the 12 th Div (British) with 36 and 37 Bde were opponents. Please see the picture and subsequent aerial with the trench marked where he was killed in action. Rest in Peace wherever you are! P.S Thanks for Malcolm and Annette supporting the research! Egbert I think sometimes we forget that those on the German side also had the same hopes and fears as those on the British side. Kurt Thielicke gave his life for what he believed in. I'm sure he would have rather been at home in Germany than on a trench far from home. May he rest in peace. Regards John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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