Ancestry.com - fantastic luck!

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hi,

I let my membership run out some time ago... now suddenly I need something... murphys law...

If anyone is a member, could they look up the following in the bavarianmilitary records?

Vizefeldwebel karl Dreitzel born 24.5.1893, very probably bavarian leib Regiment.

Would be a huge help.

Thanks

Chris

[Chris Boonzaier]

Hup... I see there are 3 entries...

so if anyone can get at them... I would be in your debt.

Thanks

Chris

[Tony]

I can get on ancestry but have never looked at anything other than English census records or British army papers. Let me know how to find the German stuff and I'll check him out.

Tony

[Chris Boonzaier]

I can get on ancestry but have never looked at anything other than English census records or British army papers. Let me know how to find the German stuff and I'll check him out.

Tony

just give his first and last name in.. and up pops 3 bavarian army records... :-)

[Tony]

Ok found him but the membership doesn't cover ancestry.de, sorry.

Tony

[Chris Boonzaier]

Ok found him but the membership doesn't cover ancestry.de, sorry.

Tony

hi,

the records are on ancestry.com, not .de,

Best

Chris

[Hauptmann]

Hi,

I let my membership run out some time ago... now suddenly I need something... murphys law...

If anyone is a member, could they look up the following in the bavarianmilitary records?

Vizefeldwebel karl Dreitzel born 24.5.1893, very probably bavarian leib Regiment.

Would be a huge help.

Thanks

Chris

Hi Chris,

Hoping this helps. If you need more let me know what and where it should be and I'll give it a shot. If you PM me your email I'll pop over a larger version of the original document.

Dan

Name:Karl DreitzelBirth Date:24 Mai 1893 (24 May 1893)Birth Place:Stolpe Tellow BrandenburgCombat Arm:InfanterieType of Unit:Infanterie-RegimenterUnit:Infanterie-Leib-Regiment

Source Citation: Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, München. Abteilung IV Kriegsarchiv. Kriegstammrollen, 1914-1918. 349. Kriegsrangliste: Bd. 6

Source Information:

Ancestry.com. Bavaria, Germany, WWI Personnel Rosters, 1914-1918[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.Original data: Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv. Kriegsstammrollen, 1914-1918. Bayerisches Hauptstaatsarchiv, Abteilung IV Kriegsarchive, München.

[Chris Boonzaier]

Super, thanks,

have sent you a PM.

Best

Chris

[Chris Boonzaier]

So... thanks to Dan, I was able to find out when his war ended... He was captured on the 20th of July 1916 at Verdun....

that is the leg up i needed....

Anyone who has been to Verdun has probably walked through the village of Fleury... maybe even to the South where the furtherest point of the german lines lay, occupied by the bavarian Leib Regiment.

I remember a trip there with Jens about 6 years ago, we were at the "powder House" (Poudriere or M-Räume) and Jens mentioned it had been cleared by flame throwers when the french retook it.

As it turned out, using the date of his capture, and where his company was, I managed to find the following....

Look here...

http://www.verdunbilder.de/zentrales-schlachtfeld/vestiges-de-la-poudriere/

See the metal door?

Well, Dreitzel commanded the 4th section, 5th company. They were in the M-Räume whjen the French attacked. The M-Räume were a U shaped set of tunnels. When the French arrived Dreitzel was the one who banged the doors on the left hand tunnel closed and pushed the bolt closed. he was then wounded by a splinter.

After some time the french managed to get a flame thrower up and start shooting up one of the tunnels... at the end of which was a bunch of artillery shells. The Germans, battered after days in the line came streaming out of the other tunnel to surrender, Dreitzel amongst them.

ironic as the Germans had also used a flame thrower to take the M-Räume in exactly the same way some time earlier.

A fantastic bit of research luck.

I will be doing a write up on him and his EK doc (awarded a month before his capture).

Thanks Dan!!

[Hauptmann]

Very happy I was able to help out on this one. Always a pleasure to see such things come together. Keep up the great work... and if you ever need more just give me a shout.

Dan

[ph0ebus]

Indeed, Ancestry just uploaded an enormous amount of materials relating to Bavarian troops in the Great War. Records relating to one of my distant relatives (Ludwig Regensteiner) that were not up even a week ago are there now. I am at the New York Public Library on occasion and if someone needs a lookup for these Bavarian records, please let me know...happy to help. I can only promise I will get to the requests when I can.

-Daniel

[Tony]

Are only Bavarian records available? I have a number of ID tags I wouldn't mind looking up.

I can only access UK, Australian and US records. Apparently I need to upgrade the membership for German records, being transferred to ancestry.de if I look up anything German on .com, uk or au.

Tony

[Doc Wilson]

Wow I guess I need to renew my subscription then .... are the other German states military records covered as well?

[Glenn J]

Wow I guess I need to renew my subscription then .... are the other German states military records covered as well?

No, as far as I can determine only the Bavarian Army has this level of detail at the moment. For the Prussian Army, only the Ranglisten have been digitised.

Regards

Glenn

[Chris Boonzaier]

Huh! I have just found a small photo of my guy.... not a great one, but you take what you can get.....