Flammenwerfer Attacks

[bob lembke]

Gentlemen;

As you may know, I am new to this Forum, but I recognize that some of the very "heavy hitters" in the area of research on the Kaiserszeit=heer populate this Club.

As some of you know, my major area of interest is the German flame warfare effort of WK I, which was sparked by my discovery of my father's letters from the front some years ago. (He was a Flamm=Pionier.)

Last night, reading the history of a German infantry regiment, almost at random, I came across a 16 page description of a flame attack on the Western Front, by far the longest description of a flame attack I have ever found in seven years of research. I do not generally read regimental histories, and the two histories of the flame regiment are, unfortunately, only 22 and 53 pages long. Many officers writing these histories for various units also choose to not mention the participation of FW in attacks by their unit; for example, while the Sturm=Bataillon Nr. 5 (Rohr) even had their own Flamm=Trupp, as well as often borrowing FW from the flame regiment (my father had this duty several times, and enjoyed working with those professionals), the documentor of S=B Rohr, Graf von Schwerin, an artilleryman, almost never mentioned FW in his history, even in descriptions of important attacks where I know from other sources that FW had a prominent role in the success. (But he of course endlessly mentioned the battalion's infantry gun battery, an admittedly interesting topic.)

So I ask that if someone sees such a description in the course of reading regimental histories or the like, they give me a "heads up" to a source that I might never find in the course of my own reading.

I thank all in advance for any leads. You probably know that I share a lot of the results of my research on this and other fora.

Bob Lembke

[Ulsterman]

Bob-

Glad to see you here!

I will get cracking. Most of what i have seems to be Landwehr and Baden artillery units, but the Guard histories are replete with all sorts of stuff.

Have you ever searched the annual army calender? It has all sorts of neat little articles.

Also, there is a CD out in Germany with 50+ regimental histories on it. CB knows where to find it.

Cheers!

Ulster

[bob lembke]

Hi, Ulster!

Thanks for your kind response. I do know Patrick, the young German lad that churns out official history CDs, and I have some of them. I sometimes read 4-6 hours a day, more in German than anything else, but I am sure that I will never get thru them all by the time I am "pushing daiseys". I had purchased this history, as I have reason to believe that my father had provided flame support to the regiment at some time, but ran into this extraordinary description more or less by chance.

Having made this appeal, I must mention that many e-friends have already given me useful leads, both solicited and unsolicited, and I hope that I have thanked them, and do so again.

Bob Lembke