maxstiebritz

Kevin, It's not my story I just help the news along - but I have a few thoughts along and about the same idealogy - The Landsturm or Landwehr Soldat guarding a train station or bridge - never firing a shot but still can be considered a "WW1 veteran." There is a lady in Maryland who is 106 years old, She is the last female WW1 Veteran - She was a Yoeman but I could never say she was or is not a veteran because she did not see combat... In modern terms another note: A soldier who sits off the coast in a "Gator" ship waiting to be deployed in the last Gulf War can still be considered a veteran of the "Gulf Wars" but never saw combat...at least in the eyes of the US military As for his memories, I can't say what he saw and what he did not. How many friends or realitives were lost. How many were disfigured or how many came back out of their minds. Just a humble observation, Thanks for your comments!

WW1 vet here fought for Germany By Harry Levins - 11/11/06 WW1 German vet in the US story... On this Veterans Day, consider that rarest of veterans, Walter Heiman of University City. First, he?s 105 years old and a World War I veteran. Second, in WWI, he wore the field-gray uniform of the German army. Heiman is Jewish. He fled from Nazi Germany in 1938. "All I had when I left was $25 and a pregnant wife," he says. From 1938-41, Heiman lived a hardscrabble life in Chicago. He moved to St. Louis in 1941. Starting from scratch, he built a career as a purveyor of electrical supplies. In the ?50s, he moved to Olivette, where he and his wife, Trude, reared two children. Shortly after Trude Heiman died in 1994, Walter Heiman moved to University City, to The Gatesworth, the complex for the elderly. There, he says, he?s the sole WWI vet, from either side. Heiman was born on March 12, 1901, in Essen, Germany. He was 13 when Germany marched off to war. As soon as Heiman finished high school in March 1918, he enlisted, a 17-year-old private. He wanted to fly, as an observer in the back seat of a warplane. The army sent him off for training to an air base in Hanover. But Heiman?s flight career never got off the ground. He says, "My training hadn?t finished when revolution broke out on Nov. 9. Then the Kaiser fled, and everybody was on his own, and I went home." As the German war effort collapsed, so did support for Kaiser Wilhelm?s regime. A revolutionary republic was proclaimed on Nov. 9, 1918. The Kaiser fled to the Netherlands on Nov. 10. On Nov. 11 " 88 years ago today" an armistice ended the war. By then, Heiman was back home in Essen. Soon, the French army occupied the city. Heiman wanted to go to college. But even before the Nazis rose to power, anti-Semitism pervaded Germany. "They had a law that only one member of a Jewish family could be in college," Heiman says, "and my brother Kurt was already there." Like Walter Heiman, Kurt Heiman had served in the German army. Unlike the younger Walter, Kurt Heiman saw combat and was wounded, in the Battle of the Somme in 1916. He never fully recovered from his wounds and died in 1920. By then, Walter Heiman was an apprentice in the grain distribution business. In 1926, he started his own grain business in Essen. He got married on the last day of 1935. Three years later, he made up his mind to leave Nazi Germany. Thanks to relatives in Chicago, he had a place to go. The Nazis seized all of Heiman?s assets. He said farewell to his parents, his in-laws and his older sister, Lily. He would never see them again. They all perished in the Holocaust. In Chicago, Heiman learned English, thanks to night school and a small radio. He wanted to become a U.S. citizen. "But that was delayed until 1945," he says. He adds with a sardonic smile, "I was considered an enemy alien." His son John was born shortly after the couple arrived in the United States. A daughter, Shirley, followed. Today, both live in Creve Coeur. Shirley Heiman is on hand to help her father cope with an interview. "He?s hard of hearing," she says, "but he?s really quite sharp." Indeed, with only momentary pauses, Heiman can retrieve long-ago names, dates and places. But one memory he skirts is his service as a German soldier. "Anything that had to do with the army, I want to forget," he says. "I have very bad memories."

Reminds of the lunchroom in my High School I was never that fond of the Chow Hall.

Landsturm Soldiers - Have to love the leather hat

Hun "sportsman?"

Hello, I wanted to add a small note...I put a Summary History of the 236th Infantry Division on my website. In case you wanted to see. Mit Kameradschaft,

How many soldiers have drank some Schnapps and started playing Skat?

Feldmarschal Paul von Hindenburg

Kevin (and other readers) this is the last one for awhile... A lady in Feldgrau The backside of the lady in Feldgrau

Even Kaiser Karl too! The back of the Kaiser Karl postcard... Injoy!

The Kaiser of course

Thanks Kevin in Deva! Here are some more for your pleasure... One for brave little Italy!

This is a great "colored" postcard.

A patriotic postcard.

Another Franzman postcard.

One for the Franzman as well.

A German Soldier & his sweetheat!

OLD FRIENDS ..NEW FRIENDS 30 October 2006 EXCLUSIVE: OLD ENEMIES.. NEW FRIENDS BRITAIN AND GERMANY'S OLDEST LIVING SOLDIERS MEET FOR THE FIRST TIME.. By Julie Mccaffrey THE two elderly gentlemen are helped from their wheelchairs, stand as straight as their frail frames allow, and hug tightly like long-lost brothers. This is the moment Britain and Germany's oldest First World War veterans meet for the first time. Henry Allingham, the UK's oldest man at 110, made the exhausting 600-mile trip from Eastbourne in East Sussex to Witten, 25 miles south of Dortmund, to meet Robert Meier. Robert is also his country's longest living citizen at 109. Ninety years ago, air mechanic Henry flew over the Somme crouched in the back of a biplane and dropped bombs on to the battlefield where infantryman Robert dived for cover. But today the warmth of their greeting leaves many in the room in tears. Henry's trembling hand reaches out to touch Robert's cheek and, as his eyes fill up, he says: "It's a joy to meet you, old chap." Beaming Robert clutches Henry's shoulder and says: "Wunderbar!". Throughout lunch, the pair clutch hands and hold their heads close in conversation like old comrades rather than former foes. An interpreter sitting with them dabs tears from his eyes because their exchanges are so affectionate. Henry tells Robert: "I can't see very well. I can't hear very well. But I can still feel. And it feels wonderful to meet you. A thousand words cannot convey how happy I feel today." Robert responds: "You and I prove that we are never too old to make new friends - and I already consider you an old friend. You understand so much of what I am saying, but there are not many of us left." This is Henry's first time on German soil since he served in the Army of Occupation in 1919. Henry says: "Although we were considered enemies, during the Occupation I saw the German families like yours suffered just as much, if not more, than we did. You didn't want war, and neither did we. "Your country was starving. Yet still the German family I was billeted with showed me kindness I will never forget. There was none of the bitterness, none of the rancour that some people had after the Second World War." As the wine and beer flow, Robert gees up teetotal Henry: "Where were you at the Somme? I was waiting to meet you." Henry laughs: "It was a long time ago, but I didn't shoot you!" Both share a mischievous streak. Henry insists his secret is "cigarettes, whisky and wild women", while Robert hired belly dancers for his 109th birthday party. "Even now I could still do a good waltz, but it depends on the right partner," he says. But despite the jokes, each lives with unspeakable memories of the battlefield. Henry is the only remaining man who took part in the battles of the Somme, Ypres, Jutland and Passchendaele. Robert fought in the front line in the Great War and was captured by the Russians in the next conflict. The veterans, who laid a wreath at Witten's war memorial, still feel the pain of seeing pals slain. "Today we won't talk of unspeakable things. Today is about peace," says Henry. Born in Clapham, South London, on June 6, 1896, Henry joined the Royal Naval Air Service in 1915 and was sent to France. He says: "Nobody told us what it was really like out there. It was terrifying. Horrifying. I can't describe, or forget, the stench of death." He still cries when he recalls seeing pilots burn to death, or of falling into a mud-filled pit that swam with rats and body parts. Henry was demobbed in 1919 and retired as a Ford engineer in 1961. He has 32 descendants, including a great, great, great grandchild, aged three. Robert, born on March 10, 1897, was conscripted in 1916, aged 19, and ordered to the Somme. He fought at Reims and Saint Quentin but was shot in the knee at Chemin Des Dames and sent home. In 1939 he was working on the railways, but was captured and held as a PoW until 1948. His son Heinz, 70, lives near his father, who insists his long life is down to porridge, beer and chocolate. After their emotional meeting on Saturday the two are helped from their seats and grasp hands. Robert says: "I am an old man, but you have made me feel young again. Thank you for coming all this way to see me. Thank you for everything." Henry said: "I never thought I'd see the day I met a 109-year-old German soldier. I wish you a much longer life, young man. Much longer."

Wow! I realize I am late on this but what a fantastic read. Thank you very much, Mit Kameradscahft, Max Stiebritz

Here's one for the list and just a mere Leutnant. Leutnant Walther Schnieber of 4K/IR63. He was awarded the PIM on -- 27 Oct. 1917. Enjoy, Sorry about the picture... Max Stiebritz

Meet Infanterie - Regiment Nr. 459's only Regimental Commander, Major Friedrich von Pirscher. Notice the Pour le Merite around his neck. His other awards are both classes of the Iron Cross and the Hohernzollen Hausorden (sorry we cannot tell what the last ribbon is, it is really too bad it's not a color picture).

Hi Dan, Thanks for showing me the Flare pistol the other week. From what I see the cartouche on the grip means "Kommandeur de Lille". like you stated above the flarepistol was manufactured under contract in German - occupied Belgium. In the city of "Lille." In case you did not know your flare pistol is a "Kommandeur de Lille" type 2. The type 1 had the same style barrel but the grip pointed down more. Both had the same cartouche stamp on the grip. Also the trigger guard on both styles differ significatly. Mit Kameradschaft, Max Stiebritz