Naxos

A Fahnenschmied is a Master Blacksmith / Farrier. This trade carries the rank of an Unteroffizier

Here are the officers of the 6. Batterie RFAR52 in June of 1916. The one with the X is the CO (Hauptmann) of II. Abteilung RFAR52 stamp on the back

Rick, here is a close-up of the horse brand ... and the back of the photograph with the Paderborn postal stamp

Forum member mad zeppelin from Landships WW1 Forum was kind enough to identify the signature and shed some light on some other entries. Here is what he wrote: Page 12-13; the person signing as CO of Abt. 1 is Leutnant Holtsträter; when the unit moved into the field in January 1918, CO position had changed to Saxon Oberleutnant Seifert, but Holtsträter was still around until January 29th, when he was transferred to Commander Motor Transport Troops 5th German Army (KdK 5). Page 14-15; "vers. z. Kraft I Rekr.Dep. 2 f. St.P. 2" should read "versetzt zu Kraftfahr-Ersatzabteilung I Rekruten-Depot 2 für Stamm-Personal 2" - he was thus transferred as a trainer and not as a trainee.

I will make a better scan when I get home

Great! (Did you notice the Artillery brand on the horse)

Rick, On mobilization my grandfather had to report to his peace time Regiment (FAR50) in Karlsruhe. In Karlsruhe he was assigned to the new RFAR52 and sent to Paderborn for assembly. This picture of him was taken in Paderborn in early October 1914

Nov 6 to Nov 30, 1918 he served with 3rd coy of MGSKW - then was discharged to the district command in Limburg, Weser (Limbourg, Belgium)

... was a Panzergrenadier in the BW - Does that count for some points with you?

Rick, my Grandfather was an Artillery man Here is the old thread (I need to edit the Umlaute in it) http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/topic/11829-sanitts-vize-feldwebel-julius-huber/?hl

Left to right; Offizierstellvertreter, Vizewachtmeister, Feldwebelleutnant

Nice picture, but I think the bravest one on the postcard is the one that is not sporting an Iron Cross. I mean the shaggy disgusted looking one, ... under the table. Those boys are far too well fed and their boots are way too nice to have seen any trench life.

Very interesting article, thank you!

Good one! I like this, everything is there! Note the scratched entry: October 10, 1918 " vermisst " and then the correction: " wegen wunden Fuessen in Lazarett Cassel." On Oct. 10, 1918 he was nowhere to be found - so his officer entered in the man's Militaerpass: "missing" Well, he must have shown up later, since the entry was scratched. Here is his explanation for being MIA (or perhaps AWOL?) - "My feet were sore so I checked into a hospital". This guy is hilarious, "wunde Füße" means literally "sore feet" not any half serious abrasion to a limb. I have never heard of any Infantry man that didn't had sore feet. Then, 20 years later, he proudly wants to wear an Iron Cross to impress the young that are leaving to fight in a new war. But here is a little justice: When he applied in 1940, with forged passport entry in hand as proof, to get his Iron cross, they actually checked the records .... and said: "No!" This is great stuff!

... signed by Leutnant Holtsträter

Here it says that Sturm-Panzer-Kraftwagen Abteilung 1 and 2 were created on January 23, 1917. Buchmuller joined Sturm-Panzer-Kraftwagen Abteilung 1 on March 1st 1917. He must have belonged to the first group of German soldiers that joined the new Panzerwaffe

Thanks Andy

At the time he was wounded he was serving with 4th coy of Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 250 I will try to find out where they were in April 1915 - I know the RIR250 was part of the 75th Reserve Division fighting in Russia but I'm not sure about the exact location. Here

He was wounded on April 28, 1915 - hit by artillery fire in the arm below elbow and a bullet wound to chest

Bernhard, that of course would be fantastic!

Andy, I made another scan, I was wrong, have a look it clearly reads: versetzt zum Kraft I Rekr. Dep.2 f. St.P. 2 what does "f. St.P. 2" mean?

reading the entire column it does - like: Buchmuller war vom: 22.10 1917 bis 15.1.1918 bei nebenstehender Kraftf-Ers.-Abtl. Nr.1 im immobilen Verhältnis (then, neuer Satz) versetzt zum Kraft I Rekr. Dep. 2 f. St B 2

Verhältnis