Russian 11th Sapper Battalion Photograph

[Guest]

Hello! This is my first thread on this site. I'm looking to learn more about my Great Grandfathers involvement in the Great War and this is the only photograph I have from the period. He is kneeling in the first row and doesn't have a mustache. He was a Pole, born in 1884 in the Świętokrzyskie region of Russian Poland. If I read the shoulder board correctly, he was a Mladshi Unteroffizier? Can anyone make out the regiment? If anyone can shed light on this photograph I'd very much appreciate it! Thanks.

Edited 2 January , 2019 by Guest
forgot to add something

[venceremos]

Looks like that he  is private 11th Infantry Regiment. Need better photo

[jwsleser]

Not an officer or NCO. There is a monogram/cypher above the II. Can you get a better scan of it (or draw it)? The first row, second man from the left also has the monogram. It might be a little easier to read. 

 

It could be the 11th Sapper Battalion. Cypher of Nicholas I. It is very unusual for the unit number to be on the pogani (shoulder board) along with the monogram, however the 11th Sapper does have both. If the 11th, part of the VIII Army Corps. Peacetime garrison in Odessa. 

 

v/r  Jeff

[Guest]

On 20/03/2020 at 20:37, jwsleser said:

Not an officer or NCO. There is a monogram/cypher above the II. Can you get a better scan of it (or draw it)? The first row, second man from the left also has the monogram. It might be a little easier to read. 

 

It could be the 11th Sapper Battalion. Cypher of Nicholas I. It is very unusual for the unit number to be on the pogani (shoulder board) along with the monogram, however the 11th Sapper does have both. If the 11th, part of the VIII Army Corps. Peacetime garrison in Odessa. 

 

v/r  Jeff

 

Thank you very much for the info Jeff. Unfortunately the scanned image I posted is all I have access to at the moment. The original is tucked away in my parents basement (several thousand km away). The only other inheritance I have from him is a rose gold signet ring with his initials which according to oral history was bought during the war in Odessa. When I get the chance to see the photo in person again I'll take a magnifying glass and see if I can confirm the cypher as that of Nicholas I. This is just the sort of breadcrumb I was hoping for. Cheers!

[Mikhail]

Definitely, he is a private of 11th Sapper Battalion. They wore quite unique cypfer in the memory of tsar Nikolay I on the shoulder boards.

From 1883 until 1914 the battalion was stationed in Odessa.

WWI - from 1914 - 8th Army Corps of 8th Army, 1916-1917 -8th Army Corps of 4th Army.