Glenn J

I am incommunicado at the moment My internet connection at home last night and this morning is "down". Hopefully it will be resolved today. Regards Glenn

Dan, Oberst Richard Hentsch, born 18 Dec 1869 at K?ln, died 13 Feb 1918 at Bucharest. A Saxon infantry officer turned General Staff Officer. Sekonde-Lieutenant: 22.1.90 B Premier-Lieutenant/Oberleutnant: 21.4.97 Hauptmann: 19.4.01 H Major: 27.3.09 C Oberstleutnant: 20.4.14 Oberst: 17.1.16 Attached to the Great Prussian General Staff as a Premier-Lieutenant in 1899 he was assigned to the Central Department of the Saxon General Staff in 1901 and further to the staff of XII. Army Corps. On the 23rd of April 1904 he was appointed as a company commander in I.R.103 until 19 Mar 1906 when he was again assigned to the Great Prussian General Staff. On the 13th of September 1912 he returned to the General Staff of the XII. Army Corps until the 1st of April 1914 when he went back again to the Great Prussian General Staff. On the 2nd of August 1914 he became head of the "Foreign Armies" Department on the staff of the Field Army in which position he remained until the 12th of September 1915 when he became deputy Chief of Staff (Oberquartiermeister) of the 11th Army. Later that month he took over the same position on the staff of Heeresgruppe Mackensen until the 1st of March 1917 when he became the Chief of Staff of the Military Administration in Rumania. He died in this position the following February. Awarded the PLM on 23 Sep 1917. Regards Glenn

Hi Paul, the only officer with a similar spelt name in the 1866 Hannoverian Army list was a Hauptmann A von Borstel of the 4. Infanterie-Regiment...and he was killed in action at Langensalza. No Saxon officer of that name serving in 1866. There was an Austrian Rittmeister Burghard von Borstell serving in the 2. Uhlanen-Regiment in 1865. Regards Glenn

Paul, I doubt it. Char. Generaloberst Ludwig Beck was not a "von". Regards Glenn

Ralf von Rango (1 May 1866 - 13 Mar 1939) Regards Glenn

Rick, Paul, that is the same Julius von BECK in Feldart Regt 3 in 1890. Oberst Karl Friedrich Victor August Asbrand gen. von Porbeck retired as the commander of Fu?artillerie-Regiment Nr. 14 on the 18th of July 1896. This from 1896. Regards Glenn

Rick, congrats on the zillionth post I should also mention that most graduates of Gro?-Lichterfelde Cadet School who were not immediately commissioned (Selekta class, Vorl?ufig ohne Patent) joined their units as a char. F?hnrich and were usually promoted to the substantive rank about six or seven months later. Regards Glenn

Generally speaking, the award of the Charakter of the next highest rank was indeed a retirement issue but not exclusively so. Normally when a vacancy in a regiment for a captain became available but the next senior guy in the regiment eligible (promotion was predicated on regimental seniority up to the rank of captain) was not quite senior enough in comparison with his peers in other regiments, he would be promoted "provisionally without a Patent" until he did have the requisite seniority. Similarly it seems the case that Captains in the same situation instead of being promoted "vorl?ufig ohne Patent", they could be characterised to the next rank until they had the necessary seniority for substantive promotion. An example: Hauptmann Viktor von Aigner on the staff of Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 60 was appointed char. Major on the 6th of May 1913. On the 16th of June 1913, just some five weeks later he was promoted to "supernumery" Major with a Patent of 16.6.13 Dd. Interestlingly enough Viktor von Aigner did receive a retirement Charakterisierung on retirement - to Generalleutnant on 30 June 1927. Regards Glenn

Mark, I have had second thoughts about this tunic. A Sektionchef would have worn a dark green tunic with badges of rank as per your tunic. I am thinking that this is perhaps a Feldmarschalleutnant's jacket with the wrong braid attached. I can think of no other high ranking official that wore two stars. The Sektionschef was the professional head of the Intendance Branch of the Austro-Hungarian Army whose post title was Chef der Milit?rintendantur and was simultaneously the head of the Economics Department in the War Ministry. Regards Glenn

Rick, That was my first impression but a Beamtenstellvertreter's shoulder strap braid also surrounded the base end of the strap (like a Wehrmacht Unterfeldwebel) and wore no collar Tresse. Perhaps this is the tunic of a Feldunterarzt minus the Aesculapian Staff? Regards Glenn

Hi Mark, I was referring to German Military Officials but the basic principles stand the same for Austro-Hungarian Milit?r-Beamten. Regards Glenn

Mark, that appears to be a tunic of a Sektionschef, a senior Military Official corresponding to the rank of Feldmarschalleutnant. This particular rank of military official as did indeed all Intendance officials wore the normal star instead of the officials' rosette. Regards Glenn

Mark, Military officials both in Imperial and later periods had a dual status. They were at the same time both Reich (State) Civil servants and members of the Armed Forces. Although in the majority of cases uniformed, they were not considered as soldiers in the normal sense. They had either the general rank of officers or of NCOs but not the command authority usually invested in combattant commissioned officers. They were however, fully entitled to the courtesy and respect afforded to personnel of the corresponding military status. The badges of rank worn were similar in pattern to those of their pure soldier collegues and the actual rank insignia worn was determined by their Beamten rank as corresponded to the rank order of Reich civil servants. For example a Milit?r Intendant who ran the logistics (supply and pay) functions of an Army Corps would usually be rank ranged between either a Councillor (Rat) 1st ,2nd or 3rd Class. The former wearing the rank insignia of a Generalmajor and the latter two, that of an Oberst or an Oberstleutnant respectively. What confuses the issue slightly is the fact that many military officials had in addition to their function title, a further "courtesy" title by which they were invariaby listed. Again using the example of the Intendant at corps level, these chaps were awarded the courtesy title of "Wirklicher Geheimer Kriegsrat" for the two senior ranks and that of "Geheimer Kriegsrat" for the Oberstleutnant equivalent. The military officials in Imperial times, like their officer and NCO counterparts were permanently established personnel on the strength of the individual contingents. There was a further sub-division into Military Officials and civil officials of the Military Administration. In simple terms this meant that the former were fully deployable into the field on mobilisation and the latter would remain in the homeland. However, this distinction became blurred in wartime and all officials could be mobilised for service with the army in the field. To answer your specific points in your last post: 1. Yes, Attorneys were military officials of the military justice administration. 2. With regards command structure, they had authority within their own jurisdiction but on purely military matters were usually subordinate to the Chief of Staff or operations officer of the higher formation headquarters to which they were subordinate to. 3. All German males were subject to military service. The officials like everybody else would either have been a former officer or NCO, a reserve or Landwehr officer or a retired reserve or Landwehr officer. Many of the junior secretarial posts (Subalternbeamte) were reserved for former career NCOs. 4. The pay of Military officials compared very favaourably with those of the soldiers. Again using the Intendants, they were salaried between 8,000 - 12,000 Marks per year depending on seniority. A Regimental Commander received at the same time a salary of 8772 per year in peacetime. 5. Uniform was similar to that worn by any other officer of a dismounted branch of the army with specific official insignia such as rank rosettes instead of stars and an official coat of arms worn on shoulder boards/epaulettes and headdress. Facing and button colours differentiated different branches of the military administration. This is a huge subject! Regards Glenn

Rick, the information on Garbe is from a list of the active and reserve officers as at 1 August 1914 of those battalions that made up the later K.B. J?ger-Regiment Nr. 1. Published in the "K.B. J?ger-Regiment Nr. 1 im Weltkrieg". Back home now! Regards Glenn

Rick, managed to find Horchler's promotion to Hauptmann der Reserve: 19.11.08. Here is his promotion gazetted in the 24th of November 1908 edition of the Milit?r-Wochenblatt. He would not have received a further patent on transfering into Landwehr status. Regards Glenn

Rick, a little something on Robert Garbe: 3.8.14: 2./R.Jg. 2 3.11.14. Wounded 3.2.15: E./1. Jg. 13.2.15: R.Jg. 2 19.11.15: F?hrer 2. Rdf./2. Jg. then 4./2. Jg. 15.8.17-4.12.18: Flieger Ersatz-Abteilung Schlei?heim Regards Glenn

Paul, he was the Chef of the: Kaiser Alexander Garde-Grenadier-Regiment Nr. 1 K?rassier-Regiment Kaiser Nikolaus I. von Ru?land (Brandenb.) Nr. 6 Husaren-Regiment Kaiser Nikolaus II. von Ru?land (1. Westf?l.) Nr. 8 and Inhaber of the Leib-Dragoner-Regiment (2. Gro?herzogl. Hess.) Nr. 24 1. Chevaulegers-Regiment Kaiser Nikolaus von Ru?land so it would appear the only infantry regiment was the Kaiser Alexander Garde-Grenadier-Regiment Nr. 1. Regards Glenn

Hi Chip, a good attempt but not right. And here is the answer: A veterinary official of the reserve in the rank of Oberveterin?r. Now you are probably thinking "but did not the vets all become officers in 1910?" Most did but for some unexplained reason a very small number of them in reserve status either elected to remain on official status or were not granted reserve commissions as veterinary officers of the reserve. Even more puzzling is the fact that none of the published uniform texts: Pietsch, Collas, Kraus, Kn?tel etc. etc even acknowledge their existance. However as at May 1914, there were still some 25 reserve veterinary officials in the rank of Oberveterin?r (Beamter) as per the Prussian Rangliste. I stumbled across the details of their uniforms following a note in the introductory details to the "Zusammenstellung der Uniformen und Abzeichen der Beamten des K?niglich Preu?ischen Heeres vom 5. Oktober 1908" in an amendment which stated that the details were in the "Veterin?rordnung" or veterinary instructions. Having tracked a copy down of that at Leipzig here are the details: From the D.V.E. Nr. 57: Milit?r-Veterin?rordnung (M.V.O.) vom 17. Mai 1910, Anlage 6, Ziff. 4: Veterin?rbeamte tragen die Uniform der Veterin?roffiziere mit den f?r Beamte vorgesehenen Abzeichen und ?nderungen: Kleiner Wappenadler an M?tze und Helm; Achselst?cke blau durchwirkt; gepre?te Epaulettemonde; Tressenbesatz der Epaulettehalter und Epauletteschiebertresse blau durchwirkt; Rosetten; Wappenadler auf Epaulettes und Achselst?cken statt des f?r Veterin?roffiziere vorgeschriebenen Emblems; blaue Seide am Portepee; an Litewka Kragenpatten von blauem Tuch, Vorst??e dunkelblau. Following mobilisation in 1914 and early 1915 I have come across certain of these individuals who were eventually commissioned as officers in the rank of either Stabsveterin?r or Oberveterin?r. Regards Glenn

Ok chaps, a little quiz for the Imperial Prussian uniform experts. The year is 1914 . What rank would wear the following uniform and insignia: Dark blue Waffenrock with black velvet collar and Swedish cuffs, gold collar litzen and carmine red piping. Carmine underlay to Shoulder boards flecked with blue or embossed epaulette with blue striped bridle and tress with one Rosette and "Eagle coat of Arms" (Wappenadler). Small Wappenadler on the cap and helmet. Landwehr cross on cockade. A little clue: There were only about 25 of these guys. Regards Glenn

Rick, Horchler was commissioned as a Sekonde-Lieutenant der Reserve on 17.12.91. As a Kriegsgerichtsrat (Rang V. Klasse) or Hauptmann equivalent was the replacement title for Garnison-Auditeur/Division-Auditeur I don't he would have been issued another Bestallung on the change of title on 1 October 1900 as his seniority remained the same. He may have received additional paperwork when upgraded to IV. Klasse (rank insignia of a Major) in 1906. Regards Glenn

Speaking of "mass" commissioning, literally thousands of Offizieraspiranten of the Reserve and Landwehr were commissioned on the 22nd of March 1915. Unlike the guys commissioned in 1916 it is most probable that the vast majority of these chaps were already serving as "one Year Volunteers" at the outbreak of war. Regards Glenn

Ah Rick, I remember him well Rittmeister Johannes Gr?ber Edler von Seelingsheim of Dragonerregiment Herzog von Lothringen Nr. 7 Leutnant: 1 September 1902 Oberleutnant: 1 May 1909 Rittmeister: 1 November 1914 Regards Glenn

Hi Mark, the double breasted tunic was not the sole preserve of General Officers. Amongt others, this style was also worn by Medical Officers, General Staff Officers (in green), Engineering Staff Officers (Geniestab), officials of the military contruction service (with silver buttons), ADCs (in green), officials of the technical military committee, Intendants and other various military officials. Regards Glenn

Rick, in 1888 there was one Oberstlieutenant Gustav von Sodenstern ? la suite who was Railway Line Commissioner in K?nigsberg i.P. Here is the "All Highest Cabinet Order" introducing the cyphers. Regards Glenn

Hi Mark, no regular of that name. I have so far only identified one Leutnant der Reserve Schoefer of Grenadier-Regiment Nr. 11 commissioned as such on the 22.3.1915. No Prussian Schoefer KIA although one Leutnant der Reserve Sch?fer (again not a Guardsman) is listed as KIA in the Ehrenmal. Regards Glenn