Help finding Ltn. Thier IR 64

[Tony]

Did this officer exist?

I have a box with the name Ltn. D. Res. Thier Inf. Regt. 64 written on it.

I can?t find any trace of him so can anyone help me out please and tell me if he really did exist.

Thanks

Tony

[bob lembke]

Did this officer exist?

I have a box with the name Ltn. D. Res. Thier Inf. Regt. 64 written on it.

I can't find any trace of him so can anyone help me out please and tell me if he really did exist.

Thanks

Tony

Being a reserve officer, it is harder. There are fairly comprehensive references for "regular" officers.

There probably is an "official unit history", these are expensive, but if you are in Germany your local library may be able to secure a copy for you to borrow. The history may mention him, especially if he managed to get killed.

Also, he may be listed in the on-line data base of the German grave protection association, again assuming that he got killed.

Bob Lembke

[Tony]

Hello Bob,

Thanks for the comments. He isn't on the Volksbund site so may have survived and the local library gave me a shocked look when I asked about official Great War history books. They did take a look in the vaults for me and came up with one whole book which was about the Prussian army in the 18th century.

Tony

[Glenn J]

Tony,

I have come across just one Leutnant d.R. Thier in my stuff. He was commissioned into Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 48 on 17 Jan 1915 albeit serving at the time with General v. Linsingen's troops in the East. I.R. 48 was also a Brandenburg outfit so possibly it is the same Thier who later transfered to I.R. 64. In any case no Leutnant d.R. Thier was KIA.

Regards

Glenn

[bob lembke]

Hello Bob,

Thanks for the comments. He isn't on the Volksbund site so may have survived and the local library gave me a shocked look when I asked about official Great War history books. They did take a look in the vaults for me and came up with one whole book which was about the Prussian army in the 18th century.

Tony

Only about one third of the German dead ever ended up in a known grave; the % is probably higher for officers. So the graves web site often does not list a man who died.

You may have to do some research yourself and then ask them to borrow a book from another public library. The best library in Germany for pre-1945 material is the Deutsches Buecherei Leipzig, which may have recently been re-named. I use their on-line catalog for seeing what books were published, you can search on the unit. I unfortunately have not used it for a while and don't have the web address in front of me; a Google should get it in seconds. You can go into the site for the national library system and steer towards Leipzig.

I know a Brit living in Germany who was allowed to take home a German official history with a market value of at least $10,000. He posted: "Who says this book is scarce?" Well, it is.

I find the German library people so cooperative that I have never gone to Germany to dive into a library, which I have done in the UK and Austria. They happily copy and mail most books at reasonable cost; the British Library, for example, flatly refuses to copy any more than 10% of any book.

Bob Lembke

[Tony]

Nice one Bob.

Titel: Geschichte des Infanterie-Regiments Generalfeldmarschall Prinz Friedrich Karl von Preu?en (8. Brandenburg.) Nr 64 w?hrend d. Krieges 1914/18 / Von Feldzugsteilnehmern bearb.

Verleger: Berlin : Verlag Tradition With. Kolk

Erscheinungsjahr: 1929

Umfang/Format: 414 S. : Mit Kt. Textskizzen, Bildern ; gr. 8

Einband/Preis: Lw. : 15.-

Now I'll have to see if the local library can get a copy.

Glenn, thanks for looking. I wonder if he served somewhere safer than the front, it would be nice to find out if his Bursche lugged his trunk about in Flanders and France.

Tony

[Glenn J]

Tony,

I am going to Potsdam on Thursday. The MGFA have a copy there and I'll dig it out.

Regards

Glenn

[Tony]

Oh well done Glenn, that's a beer from me next time we meet.

Tony

[bob lembke]

With a unit history of 414 pages, you have a good chance of finding him mentioned. The regiment that my own studies are centered on has two "official histories", one regrettably 53 pages, the other 22 pages.

I.R. 64 was in the 6th Division of the 3rd Army Corps. My family traditionally served in III. Armeekorps and III. Reservekorps, but more often in the 5th Division, as the family farm was not far from Frankfurt am Oder. My father was sworn into the Army by Pionier=Bataillon Nr. 3 "von Rauch" of the former; my grand-father served in the foot artillery of the 3rd Army Corps as a NCO, and later, as a Feuerwerk=Offizier, served as the Id of the Generalkommando of the latter in 1914-15. But our traditional family service was in Ulan=Regiment (1. brandenburgische) Nr. 3. "Tsar Alexander II. von Russland".

I owe Glenn a lot for previous help in sorting out some of the above, using some of the amazing resources he has collected. Thanks again! (Not sure how to get a beer from Philadelphia to Germany.)

Bob Lembke

[Glenn J]

Tony,

having got my hands on the history of I.R. 64, I am at least in the position to confirm that Herr Thier did indeed serve in that regiment. As is usual with most regimental histories, it is not indexed and finding references to individual officers can be difficult. I came across no reference to him before October 1916 when he is listed in an Offizier-Stellenbesetzung as the company commander of 6./I.R. 64. The text following indicates that 6th company was largely composed of new recruits at the time and that for most of them this was their first time in action. On 19 April 1917 a Leutnant d.R. Fischer assumed command of the company and as during the period 18 April to 2 May 1917 , the regiment lost 17 officers killed and a further 23 officers wounded, I am assuming that Thier was wounded and handed over command. Bearing in mind that Thier was a company commander at this time, I am further assuming it was the Thier commissioned in Jan 15 mentioned above.

Regards

Glenn

[Tony]

Thanks very much for that Glenn.

I have a few bits and bobs to Somme 1916 casualties so having him placed there (although as late as October) makes it all more interesting.

Cheers

Tony