Mecklenburg-Strelitz Award Rolls

[Stogieman]

I'm thinking someone's a wee stressed out over this!

[Guest Rick Research]

I am officially announcing herewith, for any of you waiting breathlessly

that you may now breathe again.

This HOPELESS project has been abandoned.

I have never in my life encountered anything quite as monstrously, idiotically, inexcusably, insanely irrationally incompetent as the Strelitz roll keeping.

I am now absolutely certain that complaints about this are what drove the Grand Duke to commit suicide in early 1918.

The combination of profoundly stupid entries like "Musketier Schmidt, XXX Division" as a typical "normal" entry, bizarre book-keeping out of chronological order, sloppy entries (I was just doing all of them until the numbers where no action either way was recorded became insurmountable), horrific handwriting (remember: I learned German in Sutterlin. THAT is not the issue-- ILLEGIBILITY is the issue) and over and over and over and over and over (have I mentioned "over?") again entries where soldiers were receiving duplicate 2nd Classes because the record keeping was SO poor the moron clerk didn't NOTICE have just put this whole thing out of the realm of continuing and remaining sane.

What I will do, I think, is at some point in the dim future go through hunting for FIRST class bestowals, of which by the New Year of 1918 there were aplenty.

But Mecklenburg-Strelitz's insanely incompetent Orders Chancery has semi-forever doomed any rational attempt to make sense out of their ink and paper garbage.

(NOW I know why Daniel didn't want to do this!!! )

[David Gregory]

EEEK. This is not what I was looking forward to.

Rick,

Just to keep you going, I had posted this in the Imperial 2005 Year in Review post. I need to do a bit of homework on the rather obscure unit to which the document holder belonged before I show his whole group.

Perhaps this image will encourage you not to give up. The officer on the left is Leutnant Rau of Mecklenburg Grenadier-Regiment 89. I have not yet identified the other officer. I believe the picture was taken some time in the second half of 1916 near the Somme.

Rau is wearing his EK1 and Mecklenburg-Schwerin KVK1, while the as yet unidentified officer on the right is wearing his EK1 and Mecklenburg-Strelitz Kreuz 1. Klasse f?r Auszeichnung im Kriege "F?r Tapferkeit". With only 419 known awards, this cross belongs in the "rarer than hens teeth" category. The original print shows quite amazing detail.

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I've also got some Milit?rp?sse and Soldb?cher with Strelitz entries and had hoped you might be able to provide some more information on dates and places. I'll post or PM the details and see if that will perhaps sway your decision.

David

[Steve K.]

Hi Rick

I too would love to see the Strelitzer rolls compiled, but incomplete information makes the task frustrating, I can only imagine!

@David,

What a wonderful Mecklenburg picture and document!! My heart skipped a beat when I saw the photo!

Steve

[David Gregory]

Hi Rick

I too would love to see the Strelitzer rolls compiled, but incomplete information makes the task frustrating, I can only imagine!

@David,

What a wonderful Mecklenburg picture and document!! My heart skipped a beat when I saw the photo!

Steve

Steve,

The photo is one of about nine from the estate of Leutnant Rau. When I have identified as many of the faces as possible, I'll post them in a thread on Grenadier-Regiment 89.

The document is part of a small but complete group. I need to find out more about the units to which Pionier Gerlitz belonged and will post all I have on him when I have all the information together.

David

[Stogieman]

David, that is one of the finest and most significant photographs I have seen in a very long time.... Thanks!

[Guest Rick Research]

The fragment of the roll I have is from the end of December 1917 until they shut down in 1933. So anything BEFORE late December 1917 isn't going to be on what I've got.

I had a flip through and did indeed find Gerlitz among a HUGE pile up of awards on that date, HOWEVER what YOU have on the document is more than the ROLL shows, making the roll useless.

He was Running Line 4944, received between 22-25 July (and so "noted" ) with this as his ENTIRE entry:

"A.O.K. 5" (recommendation from), "Pion. Gerlitz" ("entire" name), "Gen.(ehmigt) 27.7.18."

That's IT. No actual unit, no first name.

So, I can NOT hunt for a name, because there is no index, the handwriting is horrible, and there is no way I am going through HUNDREDS of double pages which are split because of size trying. Yes, it is within the realm of the possible to try to find somebody from a KNOWN AWARD DATE like Gerlitz's, because that at least narrows things down a bit-- though very often there were considerable delays in processing, and it might be months away back in the logbook.

And when I actually CAN find somebody, what is "added?" Nothing. Zip. Zero. Nada. There is more information on the award document than the Roll contains.

It is thus a profoundly monumental waste of time.

It is beyond all rational comprehension WHAT the cretins in Strelitz's Orders Chancery THOUGHT they were doing.