Uncategorised What "USE" Are Rank/Seniority/Position Lists?

[Guest Rick Research]

Here are two completely ordinary common documents to an obscure Wehrmacht officer. (As an odd sidebar, these were obtained 9 years apart, 1979 and 1988-- the Bulgarian document appeared in a forgotten collector magazine. When I wrote the owner and enclosed a xerox of my Hungarian document, he never replied-- but I got it all those years later when it came up on a list from our own Jeff Floyd.)

Hungarian WW1 Commemorative Medal for Combatants--

Awarded to Prussian Hauptmann Paul Erich Scheidewind of schwere K?sten M?rser Batterie No. 6, at Budapest 15 October 1930 #102.914. This tiny unit of huge naval siege guns was cited in "Die Schlachten und Gefechte" twice-- for the siege and capture of Fortress Roshan 18-24 July 1915 and for the siege of Modlin 13-20 August 1915.

Bulgarian WW1 Commemorative Medal for Combatants--

Awarded to Major Erich Schneidewind, living in Hamburg on the Elbe 10 March 1938.

Which tells us he was back in uniform-- but WHICH uniform? As a foot artillery officer, he COULD have been an (E) officer in either the army OR Luftwaffe.

But first let's see where he was in 1914 to place him in WW1.

[Guest Rick Research]

The first stroke of luck is that there was only ONE regular artillery officer named Schneidewind in the Prussian army!

Here he is in the 1914 Prussian/W?rttemberg Rank List (available on CD), as Leutnant with seniority of 22 August 1908 T7t in Foot Artillery Regiment 7--

He was attending the Military Technical Academy, which indicated that he had rather good career prospects ahead of him, before the war. As a heavy artillery officer, that explains his assignment to the monster guns battery which battered Russian fortresses in Poland in 1915.

So let's go back and see what he was up to in the years BEFORE 1914...

[Guest Rick Research]

Here's the 1910 Pr/Wtbg Rank List-- uh, NO Leutnant Schneidewind in Foot Artillery Regiment 7! Was he in some OTHER unit then? Uh... nope. So where WAS he?

The "Deutsche Rangliste nach dem Stande vom 26. November 1909" (seniority dates for all the regulars in each German army and the Imperial navy, with Ensigns listed without dates) shows... our Paul/ Paul Erich in Foot Artillery Regiment 7 alright-- as a F?hnrich then!

What this means is that he was ACTUALLY commissioned as a Leutnant in 1910 and "vorpatentiert" to 1908 as an Abitur holder. This gave "college prep" graduates a permanent two year advantage in promotions for the rest of their military careers. So now we know his education... and that he was probably born in 1889. :rolleyes:

[Guest Rick Research]

There is a gap from the last pre-war Prussian rank List of May 1914 until the Seniority List of 1 January 1917. Actually, the Milit?r Wochenbl?tter continued posting promotions, commissions, and assignments, but that is another topic. It is there in 1909 that Schneidewind's appointment as F?hnrich on 19 November 1909 appears.

From the 1917, we find that he was promoted Oberleutnant 25.02.15 L24l. And here he is in the Seniority List of 01.01.19 (available on CD) as Hauptmann 27 January 1918 M2m--

His Imperial army promotions have thus been completely reconstructed. :catjava:

[Guest Rick Research]

This was unexpected-- in the 16 May 1920 "?bergangsheer" Stellenliste, Schneidewind appears in a Motor Transport Battalion AFTER the bulk of Imperial officers had been discharged in March-April 1920--

He has disappeared by the Seniority List of 1 February 1922 so he never made it into the premanent Reichsheer. What this tells us is that he served from 1908 to at least 1920 if not 1921-- so he had 12/13 years of military service that qualified later towards award of Wehrmacht long service awards.

[Guest Rick Research]

A look in the 1914-1918 Honor Rank List (available on CD) shows that he had no General Staff service during the war--

The Honor Rank List shows REGULAR officers of the 4 German armies, with death dates to 1926 and commands for inddependent battalions up as well as any Staff service. (Note the only General officer killed while flying during WW1 !!!!)

[Guest Rick Research]

And here he is in the 12 October 1937 ARMY Stellenliste, just discovered by our Glenn J last year and hopefully soon to be available on CD--

And again in the "B" (E) officers seniority List of 1 May 1940, likewise only discovered by Glenn last year as part of an amazing haul of secret Wehrmacht seniority lists 1937-44--

Note that his branch is "Stamm Truppen PANZER" so his Waffenfarbe was PINK not artillery red!!!! This was not specified in the pre-war Listen!

Here, unfortunately, we lose Major (E) Schneidewind for the moment. He had died or been killed by the May 1944 COMBINED active (T) and former-(E) then (S) officers seniority list from Majors up, which was published back in the 1980s. That was the ONLY published source available for ANY German army officers during WW2 until Glenn's discoveries of 2008.

Because the wartime Seniority Lists are DIVIDED between all-regulars and all-(E) officers, additional Seniority Lists not yet found may eventually add whether Schneidewind was promoted/still alive between 1940 and 1944. By seniority, he probably would have made Oberstleutnant (E) in 1940 and Oberst (S) 1942/43.

So here we have two common documents that have allowed for the reconstruction of a 32 year time span military career. :beer:

[robert39]

An enjoyable and very informative reading, thanks for sharing.

Regards,

__________

Robert