Coucy Le Chateau May 1917

[GreyC]

As far as I can make it out not identical with the addressee, name probably starting with "G".

GreyC

[charlie2]

15 hours ago, knittinganddeath said:

You put too much faith in me ;-)

Don‘t be so modest

my take on some of the last two lines, it might help you

habe hier großartiger? ———- ?

Verbleibe einstweilen ——-? presumably his name

Charlie

Edited 19 July , 2022 by charlie2
Word added

[GreyC]

8 hours ago, charlie2 said:

presumably his name

if only...

habe hier großartiges Frühlingswetter.

Verbleibe mit vielen Grüßen.

His name is only written underneath the stamp, very hard to read, presumably starting with G.

GreyC

Edited 19 July , 2022 by GreyC

[charlie2]

1 hour ago, GreyC said:

Frühlingswetter

Thanks GreyC, I can see that now even though it looks (to me at least) as though he has written Fruhlings and Grußen instead of Frühlings and Grüßen.

With a bit of squinting and imagination I read his surname as possibly Grothe. As No. 16 Company was only in existence for a few months from 23rd March 1915 it leads me to believe it could have been written by Friedrich Grothe, who according to the IR92 Roll of Honour, was wounded at the river San on 17.05.1915 and died at Feldlazarett I, X Armee Korps on 24.05.1915.

Charlie

[GreyC]

Grothe is very well possible.

GreyC

[charlie2]

The second postcard with help from GreyC

Frankreich 18.IV.15

Sende dir hier eine Karte von 

meiner ehemaligen Korporalschaft

Bin nämlich jetzt zur 16. Komp. versetzt.

Mir geht‘s noch immer gut.

Haben hier großartiges Frühlingswetter

Verbleibe mit vielen Grüßen

 

France 18.4.15

Sending you here a postcard of my former section.

I am now transferred to the 16th Company.

I'm still doing well.

We're having great spring weather here.

As always with kind regards.

Charlie

[GROBBY]

Many thanks for you great help all ,This makes it very interesting for me on researching these cards and units .I will post another 2 if thats ok .The first is at the early part of the war and hopefully give the soldier and where he is .Thanks again for the help

[knittinganddeath]

Last card:

Abs. Arm S. Emil Meyer (?), Arm. Batl. 186 III. Komp, 6. Korp D. Feldpost 296

An Freulein Emilie Urban am Kanal (?) in Künheim Ober Elsass

Gesch. Den 17. III.18

L. Emilie

Hier rauf (?) sende ich dir eine Karte auf den Jos. Tag und ich wünsche dir viel Glück und Gesundheit auf den Jos. Tag und viele Grüsse an die kansse familie und ich denke dass auch balt Frieden gibt dieses Jahr.

Schreibe mir auch einige Wörtlein mir ob mein Kärtl angekommen ist. Sende Emil Meyer.

 

From Armierungssoldat (?) Emil Meyer, Arm. Batl. 186, 3rd company, 6th corps D Feldpost 296

To Miss Emilie, Urban am Kanal (?), in Kunheim in Upper Alsace

Written on 17 March 1918

Dear Emilie

Hereby I send you a card on St Joseph's Day and I wish you much happiness and health on St Josephs' Day and many greetings to the whole family and I think that there will soon be peace this year. Write me a few words to say if my little card has arrived. Send to (?) Emil Meyer.

 

[knittinganddeath]

Abs. Utffz. O. Bothfeld, Res. Inf. Reg. 82, 3. (?) Komp, ....................................................

An Herrn Traugott Bothfeld, Gross-Werther b. Nordhausen a. Harz, Provinz Sachsen

Geschrieben den 27.11.14

Lieber Papa u. liebe Schwester

Sende Euch viele herzliche Grüsse von hier und hoffe, dass es Euch gut geht wie mir auch. Gesundheitszustand Gott sei Dank gut. Das Wetter ist recht schön jetzt, ziemlich gelind. Hoffentlich wird der Winter nicht allzu streng. Die Karte zeigt das Haus in welchem ich einquartiert bin.

Die Aufnahme ist vor dem Kriege gemacht. Wo di Kreuze sind, sind Granaten durchgegangen, aber eher wir darin wohnten. Die rechte Hausseite haben wir im Besitz genommen. Rechts vom Hause ist ein schöner grossen Garten. Der Besitzer ist auch im Orde, ist von Beruf Maler. Schreib bald mehr.

Auf Wiedersehen, Euer Oskar

 

From Unteroffizier O. Bothfeld, Res. Inf. Reg 82, 3rd (?) company, .....................

To Mr Traugott Bothfeld, Gross-Werther near Nordhausen on the Harz, Province of Saxony

Written on 27 November 1914

Dear Dad and dear sister,

Sending you many warm greetings from here and hoping that you are doing as well as I am. State of health, thank God, is good. The weather is very nice now, quite mild. Hopefully the winter will not be all too severe. The postcard shows the house in which I am quartered.

The photo was taken before the war. The crosses show where grenades have gone through, but before we lived there. The right side of the house is ours. To the right of the house is a beautiful large garden. The owner is in order, he is a painter by profession. Will write more soon. Until we meet again, from your Oscar

[charlie2]

6 hours ago, knittinganddeath said:

3rd (?) company,

3rd Company, IV Reserve Armeekorps, 22. Reserve Division

The Division was in the Nouvron-Vingré - Soissons area when the card was written.

There is only one entry in the casualty lists for an Oskar Bothfeld, he was wounded in 1916 as a Vizefeldwebel with No.3 Company, RIR82 http://des.genealogy.net/search/show/3903120 so presumably survived the war.

Emil Meyer is a needle in a haystack, there are nearly 500 entries in the casualty lists, none of which jump out as being the right person.

Charlie

 

[GreyC]

9 hours ago, charlie2 said:

Emil Meyer

As Emil Meyer was part of the bayerische Pionierbataillon 19, one might find hgim in the Bavarian Kriegsstammrollen on ancestry if access is there.

GreyC

[GROBBY]

Many thanks for all your help .It is great to have someone who can understand the german archive and information as my german is very small .All I have learnt has been since late  adulthood.. I will post another couple if that is ok .I am learning more about the german army all the time.The first card is interesting as it is of Calais and I wonder where he got the card Thanks again

[charlie2]

2 hours ago, GreyC said:

one might find hgim in the Bavarian Kriegsstammrollen

There are 104 entries but none for the right Emil Meyer.

Charlie

[GreyC]

11 hours ago, charlie2 said:

There are 104 entries but none for the right Emil Meyer.

Oh dear!

Thanks for looking it up!

GreyC

Edited 13 August , 2022 by GreyC

[charlie2]

6 hours ago, GreyC said:

Oh dear!

 

It passed an hour or so  

Perhaps pal Grobby can be persuaded not to buy anymore cards written by someone called Meyer/Meier/Mayer/Maier or Schmidt

Charlie

[GreyC]

I´d second that!

GreyC

[GROBBY]

Il try for Shicklegruber next time 

[charlie2]

1 minute ago, GROBBY said:

Il try for Shicklegruber next time 

Good man  

[bierast]

On 13/08/2022 at 09:07, GROBBY said:

Many thanks for all your help .It is great to have someone who can understand the german archive and information as my german is very small .All I have learnt has been since late  adulthood.. I will post another couple if that is ok .I am learning more about the german army all the time.The first card is interesting as it is of Calais and I wonder where he got the card Thanks again

These two are from Pionier Emil Lehmann of Pionier-Kompagnie Nr.245, part of the Saxon 123. Infanterie-Division. As described in the first of my three articles on this division for Stand To!, the 123.ID was transferred on 18th-19th May 1915 to the Lille area, where it was held in OHL reserve as a so-called fliegende Division ("flying division") for rapid deployment to crises on the Western Front.

The text reveals that PK 245 was billeted in Helemmes, an eastern suburb of Lille. In the second one (27th May) I can see mention of the celebration of H.M. King Friedrich August III of Saxony's birthday on the 25th. H.M. was not present for the occasion, but did visit the division on 12th June.

Emil was lightly wounded later that year, according to the Saxon Verlustliste dated 20th November 1915. It's always hard to tell for sure due to the variable reporting delay in compiling these lists, but this could relate to the division's severe ordeal at Souchez during the Anglo-French offensive which began on 25th September (during which 123.ID had to hold its own sector against the full force of the French assault, whilst simultaneously despatching its reserves to assist the collapsing 117.ID on its right against the British).

Note the birthplace... Lampertswalde near Großenhain, the same as in his sister's address on the postcards.

http://des.genealogy.net/search/show/1479237

There is no further mention of Emil in the Verlustlisten, so it would appear that he survived the war.

You can find a lot more on 123.ID, including photos and personal accounts, on our two volumes on the Saxons in Flanders (the division held the St. Eloi sector over the winter of 1915-1916)

https://www.royalsaxonarmy.co.uk

[bierast]

I own this one from Pionier-Kompagnie Nr.245, also from May 1915 and showing the same odd ink stamp with the 'M' missing from 'KOMP'. The photo was taken while in training with Pionier-Ersatz-Bataillon Nr.12 in Pirna, hence the '12' rather than '245' below the uniquely Saxon pick and shovel Pionier branch insignia on the shoulderstraps. All Saxon Pionier units wore the pick and shovel, with the exception of Minenwerfer units which had an 'MW' instead as per other German contingents.

[GROBBY]

Thank you Bierast for your very helpfull information on Emil . I have bought your 2 brilliant books but have not had the chance to read those sections yet as im researching a lot of other stuff at the moment .I have another 2 from Emil which I will post if ok .The information that he survived the war is great as his unit seems to have gone through a lot. That is a great picture of a pioneer and is interesting to know about the pick and shovel insignia.

[bierast]

1 hour ago, GROBBY said:

Thank you Bierast for your very helpfull information on Emil . I have bought your 2 brilliant books but have not had the chance to read those sections yet as im researching a lot of other stuff at the moment .I have another 2 from Emil which I will post if ok .The information that he survived the war is great as his unit seems to have gone through a lot. That is a great picture of a pioneer and is interesting to know about the pick and shovel insignia.

Thankyou for sharing more of this group - I don't notice anything striking in the text, but it's good to have anything from this unit for which I don't have many examples of Feldpost.

The variations in handwriting are so extreme I would doubt it was the same man if not signed - I wonder why the one written in June is such a mess? The division was still in the Lille area at that time, but we have no detailed sources on exactly how this Pionier company was being employed. By the time the one dated September was written the 123.ID was in the (horrific and exceedingly dangerous) Souchez sector...

As far as 'going through a lot' is concerned, the 123.ID did get sent to the Somme in the first week of July and saw some extremely severe fighting and lost heavily. After that it had the good fortune to be sent to the Eastern Front (Belarus) until late 1917, when they were transported back to the west. They were only used in one of the 1918 offensives, namely the last and least successful near Reims on 15th July. From September 1918 onwards they were engaged in heavy defensive fighting against the Americans (St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne).

Note that the same stamp is used on your September 1915 card, but the 'M' is inked now.  I have a single piece from this unit in late 1918 which shows that either the same one or another of identical pattern was still in use then. Many equally small German units seem to have got through multiple different styles of stamp in the same period.


 

[knittinganddeath]

The first card with the messy handwriting looks to me like it could have been writing on his knee (i.e. no hard surface), possibly while in transit (lots of bumping).

An Margarethe Lehmann, Lampertswalde b/Grossenheim, Kg. Sachsen

Liebe Mutter

Schreibe dir mit ...

Dein Paket erhalten

Sage meinen besten

Dank dafür. Mirs geht

noch gut was ich auch

von euch allen hoffe

Sendet nochmals ein

Stückchen Butter mit.

Leute seit herzlich

gegrüsst von Deinem

Bruder Emil Lehmann

 

Dear Mother, I'm writing you with... I received your package [and] thank you very much for it. I am still doing well, and hope the same of you. Send another little piece of butter. Everyone, warm greetings from your brother Emil Lehmann.

[GROBBY]

Thank you so much for translating that Knitting its always interesting to know what they are writing about and thank you Bierast for the extra information on the unit as I love to know what and where they are at the time . I have another 2 from Emil which with your permission I will post now.As you can tell by the writing he must have been out and resting .It seems strange to have a card from Calais

[bierast]

On 05/09/2022 at 09:04, GROBBY said:

Thank you so much for translating that Knitting its always interesting to know what they are writing about and thank you Bierast for the extra information on the unit as I love to know what and where they are at the time. I have another 2 from Emil which with your permission I will post now. As you can tell by the writing he must have been out and resting .It seems strange to have a card from Calais

Thankyou for sharing! The cards here are pre-war (hence the French text) picture postcards which would have been readily available for purchase in Lille, depicting the sights of northern France and adjacent Belgian Flanders. 

As previously noted, the handwriting reveals that PK 245 was based in Helemmes (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellemmes-Lille) during this (by all accounts) pleasant period during which the 123. Inf. Div. as a whole was in reserve in the vicinity of Lille. The regimental history of IR 178 (one of the division's three infantry regiments) states that they too were in Helemmes; that of RIR 106 is less specific ("the southern part of Lille") and those of IR 182 and of FAR 245 (the divisional artillery regiment) are not readily available to me.

This photo of an unidentified sergeant and enlisted man of 7. Komp. / IR 178 was taken in this same period. Many German photos from Lille show this same street location with the 'Café Gosselin' in the background - presumably there was a photographer's studio very close by. We've never been able to pin down the precise location.