the Slaughter of the Innocents

[Chris Boonzaier]

Here is a Pass to a guy whose career, from start to finish, lasted less than 2 months....

(Soldat ( ???? Freiwilliger) Anyone have an idea what the rank is?

[Chris Boonzaier]

Wounded on the 25th of October 1914 at Gheluvelt.

One of the Slaughter of the Innocents Regiments...

[David F]

HI Chris,i am sure that Freiwilliger means free willing meaning that he volunteered for service and was not called up or conscripted.

I am sure that some of the other more knowledgable people on here will be able to verify that

David F

Edited June 6, 2007 by David F

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi,

it was froma line of regiments of men who all volunteered at the outbreak of the war... hts the first word in brackets that is a mystery.

best

Chris

[Naxos]

Chris, I think it reads: Soldat ( Zweij. Freiw.) Zweij?hriger Freiwilliger = two year volunteer

Hardy

Edited June 6, 2007 by Naxos

[bob lembke]

Chris, I think it reads: Soldat ( Zweij. Freiw.) Zweij?hriger Freiwilliger = two year volunteer

Hardy

I second Hardy's reading.

Chris, where do you get the 2 month career? On post # 2, the various dates span from August 1914 (his possible intake) to his award of the EK II on July 1916.

Not an authority here, but the "slaughter of the innocents" concept is a bit overworked. However, the charges in Belgium were bad enough that my grand-father (there as a staff officer) spent a lot of energy keeping my father from volunteering for the infantry. I have a rather dramatic letter from him describing a Belgian battlefield, with all the contorted corpses, and the battlefield being very cold, which in August/September was certain really not physically cold. The damn letter seems to have a bloodstain on it! I should have it chemically analysed!

The IR 103 was an active regiment, it was not all volunteers, I would think.

These Paesse are a tremendous historical resource, but the lack of any organization or liason makes them almost useless as an organized resource.

Bob Lembke

PS: Chris, would you like to post more of the Pass?

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi Bob,

From the time he took his oath, went through training and was badly wounded, one month and 25 days went buy. He was in hospitals and rehab till 16.

The entry was for the Ersatz bataillon of 103 where he landed after his wound until he prossesed out. He was in combat with the 242 RIR in the 53 R.D. which was one of the "slaughter" regiments.

Bottom left marked in red you can see he was let out in 16 with a 30% dissability.

Other than the address page and family details there are no more entries to the book. It is typical for books of guys killed or wounded right at the beginning of their "careers"

There is a pretty good book on the "innocents" Korps called "Langemarck" by Karl Unruh.

best

Chris

[bob lembke]

Hi, Chris;

I had thought that you meant that his career was over, in the sense that he was dead or out of the army in a month or two. Certainly the active phase of his career was. It was common for men with persistant wound disability to be parked in an Ersatz=Bataillon or Depot while he was watched to see if he recovered enough for active duty. My own father was wounded in late 1916 at Verdun, spent 1917 in a variety of hospitals and recuperation units (Effort was made to keep him in contact with his unit; in fact shortly after his wound he was sent from the hospital to his unit for a weekend!). He had an arm wound that got reinfected and spit out bone fragments for over 10 years. Early in 1918 he was sent to the unit in Berlin which did the preliminary training of flame pioneers, where he presumably trained recruits for flame warfare. His Pass has the interesting notation, after a medical evaluation: "k. v., ohne Flammenwerfer"; or: "fit for combat, not with flame throwers". As an experienced Flamm=Pionier, and a guy with a technical education, he must have been considered more valuable as a flame thrower trainer than as just another body for the infantry meat-grinder. Finally, he performed some sort of trick to go back to the front, to a different flame company, where he was wounded twice more in a month for his trouble.

I have some Paesse that are very short due to wounds, disability, etc. However, all of them are interesting and tell you things.

I had thought that you suggested that IR 103 was full of volunteers. The reserve regiment certainly could have been. Having seen the carnage in Belgium, my grand-father pushed my father toward the Pioniere, not the infantry, where he said that my father would learn useful things. I think in one letter g-f wrote that as a Pionier he would build and hold the storm ladders, while the infantry would climb up the ladders and charge into the wire.

Hope that you do not mind the personal stuff. I would think that it would be interesting, a different slant than you get from the usual books. It is mostly from a lot of correspondence, mostly Feldpost, and a lot of family oral history.

Bob Lembke

[Chris Boonzaier]

I had thought that you suggested that IR 103 was full of volunteers. The reserve regiment certainly could have been.

Bob Lembke

Hi,

it is important to note the difference between the Reserve regiments and certain OTHER reserve regiments (like the RIR 242 for example).

Other reserve regiments had trained soldiers/ex active soldiers... the "Innocent" regiments had guys with 5-6 weeks of service/training... hence the name.

best

Chris

[Chris Boonzaier]

It was common for men with persistant wound disability to be parked in an Ersatz=Bataillon or Depot while he was watched to see if he recovered enough for active duty.

Hi,

they seem to have been kept long after it was clear that they would NOT be fit for active duty. I have passes where men had lost limbs and were still only invalided out a couple of years later.

It seems that the seriously wounded passed from Hospitals to Ersatz battalions. then out of the service. The Ersatz battalion was a proccessing unit for them. Depending on how long their "Kur" period took, it could go on for years.

I suppose the system back then had them looking after the guys better then modern times when they find themselves out on the street just months later.

[bob lembke]

It seems that the seriously wounded passed from Hospitals to Ersatz battalions. then out of the service. The Ersatz battalion was a proccessing unit for them. Depending on how long their "Kur" period took, it could go on for years.

I suppose the system back then had them looking after the guys better then modern times when they find themselves out on the street just months later.

They also had recuperation companies (I have forgot the exact German term) and my father was parked in one for a while. There is a lot of insight into the detailed and complex actions of the german Army of the era to make maximum use of men with different levels of disabilities. I have an interesting Pass of a young man who was in a Guards regiment, but within a few weeks of fighting it was discovered that he had a bad heart. He was treated and later shifted to something like a Landsturm battalion, where I assume it was felt that he could keep up with the older men, and perhaps only guard a bridge rather than be in combat. (I have coronary heart disease, which certainly put a halt to my Alpine climbing, for example, so I "have been there".) I also have studied Paesse where a man was badly wounded, recovered somewhat, was put in a war factory, but still was a soldier, and a couple of years later was discharged, probably when the medical types realized that he would never recover enough to return to an army unit in a useful way.

The Germans were acutely aware of their limited numbers of men and seemed to make great efforts to use men carefully, as they did with other resources. I suspect that when the German Army finally broke down, all of the resources, men, materiel, etc., had been closely managed, and when things finally "ran out" there was no slack in the system at all, and the whole war economy and machine just broke down. Does anyone know the poem; "The Parson's Wonderful One-horse Shay", about a wagon so perfectly made that it ran for 100 years, and one day 100 years out the owner was racing down the road and his damned carraige had every part all break or wear out at the same instant, and the rider ended up in the road sitting on a pile of junk?

Bob Lembke

[robert39]

There is a pretty good book on the "innocents" Korps called "Langemarck" by Karl Unruh.

best

Chris

Too bad that it is not available in english.... I received a copy last week .

This could be a nice translation project for you Chris .

____________

Robert

Edited June 7, 2007 by robert39