Aspern Posted 4 July , 2016 Share Posted 4 July , 2016 I was wondering if anyone out there had any info about Army Zeppein commander Friedrich George, who captained LZ 74 when it raided England in September 1915. Date of birth, military career, anything like that would be useful. Many thanks Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob lembke Posted 6 July , 2016 Share Posted 6 July , 2016 Just a quick comment. How much do you know about him? Be sure that you are looking for Friedrich George, but also Georg Friedrich, which, just statistically, might be a more likely German name. In German usage the name order is sometimes reversed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Prussian Posted 6 July , 2016 Share Posted 6 July , 2016 Hello! The important thing is the "e"... Georg is a german firstname, George is british or french. If he was called George, it will be the last name. I don´ tknow the man, but I found a Hauptmann George (Patent 13.9.11) in the "Verkehrstechnische Prüfungsanstalt", after war Oberstleutnant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aspern Posted 6 July , 2016 Author Share Posted 6 July , 2016 Hauptmann Friedrich George is a well-known army Zeppelin commander who flew two raids over England in September 1915 - that is definitely the man that I want!. Andy, does the "Verkehrstechnische Prüfungsanstalt" give any details about him. Thanks guys! Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Prussian Posted 6 July , 2016 Share Posted 6 July , 2016 Hi Ian! No. Nothing. I read it in the ranklist of honour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob lembke Posted 7 July , 2016 Share Posted 7 July , 2016 16 hours ago, Aspern said: Ian wrote: - "Hauptmann Friedrich George is a well-known army Zeppelin commander who flew two raids over England in September 1915 - that is definitely the man that I want!." Ian, I have about 60 different Rangslisten, books usually published yearly that listed every regular army officer (not reserve officers), published by national army (after about 1890 Prussia and Wuerttenburg published theirs in the same volume.) Closing in on 1914 the latter ran to about 1500 pages. Gaining physical access to them is a bit of a problem, but I will try. As he was a Hauptmann in 1915 he would have been a regular officer, almost certainly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aspern Posted 7 July , 2016 Author Share Posted 7 July , 2016 Bob - that would be brilliant if you can find anything - but it sounds like a mammouth task! But anything you can find out would be much appreciated. Kind regards Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Prussian Posted 7 July , 2016 Share Posted 7 July , 2016 Maybe it helps: The LZ74 was originally named LZ44 (number of Luftschiff-productions.), In the army it recieved its number LZ74. It attacked England twice, had then a collission with a mountain october 8, 1915 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Zeppelins The place "Schnee Eifel" is wrong, it´s called "Schneifel" Here is something in german: https://books.google.de/books?id=iChcSLW3NXMC&pg=PA215&lpg=PA215&dq=Hauptmann+george+Luftschiff&source=bl&ots=Ss4NvUUiny&sig=zXbFHwWU20BE1C4-TgKBP0IPc_s&hl=de&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjGtpHV8OHNAhUmP5oKHSfpAOgQ6AEILDAB#v=onepage&q=Hauptmann george Luftschiff&f=false He alspo served with LZ17: http://www.luftschiff.de/2_luftschiffe/2_017.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aspern Posted 11 July , 2016 Author Share Posted 11 July , 2016 Hi Andy - many thanks for the links. I'm afraid my German is not very good - almost non-existant - but would I be right in saying the link to the page is actually about someone who served under George, not about George himself? Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Prussian Posted 11 July , 2016 Share Posted 11 July , 2016 Hello Ian! Yes, it´s about a private who served under George Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob lembke Posted 12 July , 2016 Share Posted 12 July , 2016 Ian; Think I have your man. Found my Ehrenrangliste 1914-18. In it, page 603. There was a branch of the German Army described as Vekehrstruppen. I would translate this as "Communications Troops". They are covered in the volume on pages 587 to 613. Units encompassed, in 1918, or at the peak, include four railroad battalions, seven telegraph battalions, a war telephone school, seven fortress telephone companies, five airship battalions, four flier battalions, a truck battalion, and a complex establishment whose title I would translate as "Research Organization of the Military Transportation System". (My translations are not authorative. I have not taken a day of German classes. I taught myself to read German in 2000, and estimate that I have read about military matters in German perhaps 10,000 hours since then. My grammar is very weak.) The Research Organization is covered on pages 602-03. Its central establishment is the "Communications Technical Testing Commission", in Berlin. Among its "Members" in 1918 was a Hauptmann George. (On page 1098 of the lengthy name index, there were six army officers named George in 1914-18, plus one official. This book covers the four German Armies.) In 1926 he was a lieutenant colonel in the Reichsheer or German Army of the period. He seemingly came from a formation described as "Erk 2", using the often baffling cryptic and extreme abbreviations used in German. I believe that he was a Hauptmann in 1914, possibly not in the Prussian Army. I would not be surprised if he was a major in 1918. I may poke thru other books and find more. No first name. Probably not to be found in my reference materials. More likely in some secondary source about the airship war. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob lembke Posted 12 July , 2016 Share Posted 12 July , 2016 You have his first name. We do not have the first name of Hauptmann Kleinschmidt, who I will try to track down now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aspern Posted 13 July , 2016 Author Share Posted 13 July , 2016 Hi Bob Thanks for going to all this effort - much appreciated. It is always so much harder to find clear information on the army Zeppelin commanders than it is for the naval Zeppelins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob lembke Posted 13 July , 2016 Share Posted 13 July , 2016 Ian; Is it important to you to find out more about his earlier career? His earlier units, if any, some clue as to where he came from? There is a parallel thread on another Zeppelin commander, take a peak, there is a personal note that might amuse you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn J Posted 26 July , 2016 Share Posted 26 July , 2016 Ian, Friedrich (Fritz) George was born on 29 September 1873. He was commissioned into Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 143 on 27 January 1895. Attached to the Luftschiffer-Bataillon in 1900, he was definitively transferred to that battalion with effect 1 October 1901. He was promoted to Oberleutnant on 18 July 1903 and received a Patent of seniority of 15.9.04 Ss. He was appointed as an instructor in the airship battalion and promoted to Hauptmann, initially without a Patent on 10 April 1908. He was transferred to the testing department on 21 February 1911 and received a Patent of seniority in the rank of captain of 13.9.11 X4x. Among his known wartime commands was that of commander airships in the 1st Army. He was promoted to Major on 6.11.17. Following the Armistice he remained in the newly formed Reichsheer and in 1921 was commander of Kraftafahr-Abteilung Nr. 1 (transport battaion Nr. 1). He retired as an Oberst (1.2.28) on 31 October 1928 as an officer on the staff of Group Command 2 in Kassel. Regards Glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aspern Posted 1 August , 2016 Author Share Posted 1 August , 2016 Hi Glenn - I've only just seen your post. Brilliant. Thank you. I'd love to know where the photo comes from. With kind regards Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn J Posted 2 August , 2016 Share Posted 2 August , 2016 Ian, the photo comes from a rather interesting album of portrait photos of Reichsheer officers published in 1931. "Die Führer des Reichsheeres 1921 und 1931", edited by Generalleutnant a.D. Ernst Kabisch is a collection of some 800 portraits and brief biographies of Generals, principal staff officers, regimental and battalion commanders and senior medical and veterinary officers etc. as at two time frames - 1921 and 1931 to commemorate the ten years of existence of the Reichsheer. Of course, all of these officers served in WW1. Regards Glenn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aspern Posted 3 August , 2016 Author Share Posted 3 August , 2016 Thanks Glenn, that is really interesting. I never expected to see a photo when I posted my original question! Really appreaciated. Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now