1 July 1916 German losses

[Ralph J. Whitehead]

This post relates to a project I am working on, trying to identify as many 1 July 1916 German losses as possible. One regiment that could provide a large portion of the losses relates to Reserve Infantry Regiment 99.

This regiment defended Thiepval on 1 July and while there is a regimental history, there is no record of the men who were casualties that day. The Stammrolle records have been destroyed and other than a few sources, the names of the men are unknown.

In the hope of being able to identify as many of these men as possible I am asking the forum members to provide any names of 1 July losses for RIR 99 that they may come across. I am particularly interested in enlisted men to use in my research model. If you know of any from any source, please add them to this post, thanks.

Ralph

[Jack Sheldon]

I have looked at the battle report of RIR99 for 1 July and the brigade history as well. During the day it was reported that the losses were 50% (this from a four battalion regiment), so even allowing for inaccuracies, and the proportion of wounded and missing, you are chasing a large figure. Sadly, there are no actual figures, though the brigade history says that just before they were relieved some days later, their losses had hit 70%. These documents came from Stuttgart, so there is a possibility that there, among the RIR 99 stuff, will be something useful. I say this because Soden, in Part 1 of the 26th Res Div history, gives the overall figure from 1914 through until Jan 1917. For what they are worth, by then KIA, MIA and wounded were Officers 88, OR 2,485 and these figures must have been computed from something. Start saving up for a holiday in Stuttgart!

Jack

[Ralph J. Whitehead]

Thanks Jack, I have my doubts that any trips will be forthcoming. I have found a small handful of identified losses from various Ehrentafel as well as the book on Jewish war dead, etc. Even with a few known names and dates, especially with enlisted men I should be able to identify a large proportion of 1 July losses. The officers often have mention in the different accounts such as the one in the IWM book of first person accounts and other sources. NCO's are also represented but the method used to extrapolate loss dates are much harder with the small number of known names and dates. Still, a partial accounting will help the overall count.

Ralph