webr55

His BWB:

Signature Oberst...?

He got the Black Wound Badge in 1918 for his early wound:

The document was issued in Riga, where his Wirtschaftskompanie was to my knowledge aiding in the building up of the Baltic states.

Ludwig with some other officers of his regiment:

He was then transferred to a Wirtschaftskompanie 246. I don't know whether this was part of Landw.Inf.Reg. 4 or a separate unit. Does anyone know?

#10: This page shows that he became Kompanieführer in 1917:

#9: Another pic of his Soldbuch:

#8: His Soldbuch survived. It was actually issued on the last day of the Battle of the Masurian Lakes.

Here is the first page, the signature is a Zahlmeister Jülich, who in 1914 was assigned to Gren Reg. 1.

I have not been able to read the signature of the regimental cdr. Something like Oberstleutnant Kniesing? Kirnsing? Any ideas?

#7: His EK2 document, written in June 1915, shows him as Leutnant der Landwehr. The actual award was on 27.01.1915.

#6: This is the "official" picture of his EK2 award. I cannot see any NCO Tresse here. So I guess he must be Leutnant here?

His brother Franz:

Closeup Ludwig:

#5: Shortly afterwards, he earned the EK2. The following picture shows him with his brother (who apparently served in army postal service - can anyone confirm this?). I am a little confused about this picture: Is Ludwig - with NCO Tresse - an Offizier-Stellvertreter here?

#4: Then came WW1. Ludwig served in Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment 4. I have not been able to find much info on this regiment. There appears to be no regimental history of it.

Apparently, Ludwig started as Offizier-Stellvertreter. This is his "Verwundetenkarte" from 1914, where his rank is given as "Offz. St.". The original writing was "Feldwebelleut", but this has been crossed out.

Close-up of Ludwig. He is Vizefeldwebel, right?

#3: The way to get commissioned before 1914 was complicated. Ludwig's estate was not small, but, from what has been told, not large enough for becoming an officer before the war. Thus he made Vizefeldwebel der Reserve, and, turning 35, entered the Landwehr in 1913. This pic shows it:

Close-up of his shoulder-strap:

#2: Ludwig as One-Year-Volunteer - Unteroffizier:

Gentlemen,

here is a group I have been wanting to post for a long time. This is my wife's great-grandfather, Ludwig Weszkalnies. He was a Prussian reserve NCO before 1914 and ended up as a char. Oberlt. der Landwehr. I will post some pics of him (not all are very clear) and later some documents.

Any comments and observations welcome! I still have difficulties with uniforms and insignia.

Chris

First picture: Ludwig in Grenadier-Regiment 3, Königsberg. Probably before 1900. It seems he is Gefreiter here.

Paul,

I could not help but notice that it bears a post 1913 long service medal. I believe this is wrong for this bar since the medals range from 1866 to 1897. The vet would have had 12 years service in before the turn of the century. I think this should have the ealier bar shaped long service award.

Dan Murphy

Vets could (and did) exchange their old version of the Landwehr decoration for the new one in 1913. What worries me however, is the General Honor Decoration, which was given to senior NCOs. That's why I would agree that the bar might have had a regular LS decoration originally.

Here's the reverse. I'm pretty sure I picked this up around 15 years ago.

cheers Jason

I see no problem with yours.

I'm no expert on these bars by any stretch of the imagination, but it seems to me that the border of the bar is slightly thinner than those normally encountered? I've had a look at my medal bar with 5 clasps on it, to my worn out eyes it seems that way!

cheers Jason

Would of course be good to see the back, but the combination of clasps is correct for the IX. AK.

Rick Research said:

I think if a photo shows up of him wearing his medal bar, it will then be seen to have been copied/listed as a 2nd Class by mistake for a 3rd Class.

I think so too. Here is a photo, but you can't see anything.

Hello Brian,

I suppose you know this page?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surviving_Vet...First_World_War

Chris