Saxe-Weimar Which IR does this soldier belong to? IR 94, IR 95, IR32

[Eckhart]

I need your help with identifying the Infanterie Regiment this WWI German Soldier belonged to.

His name was Arno Blechschmidt and he finished WWI as a 2nd Lieutenant (Leutnant). He came from Sonneberg in Thuringia which was at that time part of the Grand duchy of Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach.

Therefore the following Infanterie Regiments come into close consideration: naturally IR94 but also IR32 (many soldiers from Sonneberg were recruted into that one), IR 95 (Coburg is close to Sonneberg) or even IR96. Even others are possible as the Allgemeines Ehrenzeichen mit Bandschnalle und Schwertern was given to soldiers from Saxony-Weimar-Eisenach serving with other regiments.

However, the AEZgX, AEZsX were rarely seen together and perhaps some of those extraordinary experts in your group may have a look into the roll concerning those decorations.

I am amazed to see how Deruelle and Rick Research are able to identify soldiers with their expertise!

http://gmic.co.uk/index.php/topic/38433-an-overdecorated-corporal/

I spend some years of research but I couldn't find any precise trace as most documents regarding who served in those regiments were destroyed during WWII. :anmatcat:

I would be extremely grateful if you could help me with this question.

Sincerely,

Eckhart

Edited August 15, 2013 by Eckhart

[arb]

Eckhardt,

A Vizefeldwebel Blechschmidt was promoted to Leutn. d.R. d. Inf. R. 95 (from Landwehr Bezirk Meiningen) on 28.07.1917. Unfortunately, the Militär Wochenblatt does not provide a first name. That said, I think this could certainly be your man.

One source indicates that a Feld Intendantur Sekretär Hermann Blechschmidt received the EK2, AEZ, EHsM, SMK.

So, what do we make of this??? Are you sure of the first name??

Andy

Edited August 15, 2013 by arb

[Guest Rick Research]

Welcome to GMIC! Why don't you show us his face--one of the things we always wonder about dealing with hundreds of thousands of awards on lists!?

Arno Blechschmidt got the Saxe-Weimar AllgEz-GoldX (AEz1X) in 1917 (no day or month on Weimar's Rolls) as Vizefeldwebel in 7./ Inf Rgt 94. He received the Saxe-Weimar AEz-SilverX (AEz2X) in 1916 as Unteroffizier in the same company of that regiment. If you have his birth and death years, we are always glad to add that to our project of documenting every Imperial army officer's Lebenslauf.

Although some of our books are now appearing on Amazon at higher prices (and we are not even dead yet!) you can still get

Richard Lundström and Daniel Krause "Verleihungen von militärischen Orden und Ehrenzeichen des Großherzogtums Sachsen (-Weimar) im Ersten Weltkriege 1914-1918," PPhaleristischer Verlag Michael Autengruber, Konstanz am Bodensee, 2008. ISBN 3-937064-11-7 from either Daniel or Michael since you are on that side of the Atlantic.

[Dave Danner]

Sonneberg was in the Duchy of Sachsen-Meiningen, not the Grand Duchy of Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach.

[Guest Rick Research]

That's OK-- while 30 (!) Blechschmidts received Saxe-Meiningen Kriegs-Verdienstmedaillen (SMM)... Arno was not one of them, as the cropped off photo confirms.

I spent 2011-12 typing out the over 23,000 SMMs, but I doubt that will ever make it to the Autengruber shelf-list--even though that roll contains the most extraordinary details of the recipeints' civilian occupations and residences.

[Eckhart]

Many thanks Andy!

I am quite sure of the first name Arno.

The story seems to fit (NCO promoted to 2nd Lieutenant, IR 95 involved with the battle of Verdun) but he was born in 1896 which makes him quite young for Landwehr . Do you have any reference I could consult (where could have a look at the Militär Wochenblatt?)

This is excellent news!

Eckhart

[Eckhart]

I amazed how much knowledge is on this forum!

[Eckhart]

Welcome to GMIC! Why don't you show us his face--one of the things we always wonder about dealing with hundreds of thousands of awards on lists!?

Arno Blechschmidt got the Saxe-Weimar AllgEz-GoldX (AEz1X) in 1917 (no day or month on Weimar's Rolls) as Vizefeldwebel in 7./ Inf Rgt 94. He received the Saxe-Weimar AEz-SilverX (AEz2X) in 1916 as Unteroffizier in the same company of that regiment. If you have his birth and death years, we are always glad to add that to our project of documenting every Imperial army officer's Lebenslauf.

Although some of our books are now appearing on Amazon at higher prices (and we are not even dead yet!) you can still get

Richard Lundström and Daniel Krause "Verleihungen von militärischen Orden und Ehrenzeichen des Großherzogtums Sachsen (-Weimar) im Ersten Weltkriege 1914-1918," PPhaleristischer Verlag Michael Autengruber, Konstanz am Bodensee, 2008. ISBN 3-937064-11-7 from either Daniel or Michael since you are on that side of the Atlantic.

Many thanks Rick! :jumping:

You are amazing! If you have a PayPal account, I would like to sponsor your work with a little contribution. I already tried to get your book but an Amazon research came back with the "not available" sign. I found the Autengruber website but couldn't figure out how to order it from there. Can you or Daniel or Michael help me with that?

Heartfelt thanks Rick!

Ps: Here is the full photo of his marriage with his wife Antonie. Arno was born in 1895 and died in1966. His dearest wish was to return one day to the battlefield of Verdun in order to walk over those fields of slaughter without a shot being fired. He died without ever seeing Verdun again. So I drove one day to Verdun to the hill 304 (assuming that he was with the IR94) and retraced the line of the May 1916 attack according to the Reichsarchiv and Markus Klauer's excellent book "Die Höhe 304". Then I dug out a small little pine tree on the way up the hill.....I planted this little tree on his tomb (see photo) to fulfill his wish and to reunite him with his comrades.....He was a true imperial officer (later promoted from his NCO status). He missed dearly those aristocratic ruling families after the war. Called upon again as a captain (Hauptmann) on September 1st, 1939, his army record states:"engagement on September 1st, dismissed on September 1st 1939"...which is a statement about his true allegiance (he only saw war again during the last days in 1945)

Edited August 16, 2013 by Eckhart

[Guest Rick Research]

Here are scans of the original pages for his AEzs--

GoldX--

SilverX--

As you see, Sachsen-Weimar only kept lists by YEAR, and while all these are apparently in chronological January to December order--and the award Urkunden will have exact dates, the Roll Keepers omitted them!

Here are all the Meiningen Medals for Blechchmidts:

These have never been published. There were a few officers with the Meiningen SMK, but not Arno. What he got from -Weimar must have been "enough."

[Eckhart]

That is fantastic Rick! 7th Kompanie, IR94 it is!

By the way, Nr 1587 on the SMK list was Arno's brother Gustav who made it through the war as a simple soldier.

Unfortunately, there are no documents left as Arno and his family fled from the new communist state after WWII ("Republikflucht"). I bought those medals again from some Antique shops in France and Germany.

I know that Arno's EKII became a quite common decoration towards the end of WWI but is there a roll,at least about those given earlier in the war? I would love to learn more about it.

In any case I will still try and get your book about the Sachsen_Weimar_Eisenach medals.

Many thanks again Rick! If you set up a subscription to finance your research work, count me in!

Cheers,
Eckhart

[Guest Rick Research]

The 30 Blechschmidts got the "SMM" Medal, which is round and solid with no crown on top. The same shaped medal--cut out so it looks like a cross in a circle, has a big crown on top for officers--that was the "SMK." We use army Rank List abbreviations because it is too long to type out the German names for all these awards!

Two Blechschmidt got SMKs--

Hermann-- Lt (dR?) in Reserve Ersatz Regiment 2, o 17.05.15--he was "Zeichenlehrer, Eisfeld" and the above-mentioned Feld-Intendantur-Sekretär ALSO Hermaann, with Etappen Inspektion 2. Armee on 07.07.15,

This FIRST Hermann's father (?) Louis got an SMK on noncombatant ribbon as Zeichenlehrer aD in Schalkau 24.10.18.

Oddly enough, I've never encountered this occupational family name any place else in hundreds of thousands of awards typing.

[Dave Danner]

Oddly enough, I've never encountered this occupational family name any place else in hundreds of thousands of awards typing.

Judging by a quick look through the casualty lists, almost everyone with that name came from the Kingdom of Saxony, Saxe-Meiningen, or Reuss. I suppose if we ever get around to updating the Saxon awards, maybe we'll see a few more.

Even today, the largest concentrations of Blechschmidts are in Sonneberg and the Vogtland. There's also that red concentration in Saarbrücken, so perhaps a Blechschmidt moved there a while ago and was fruitful and multiplied. There are no Saarbrücken-born Blechschmidts in the WW1 casualty lists, nor in the WW1 and WW2 database of the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, so perhaps Saarbrücken was a destination after World War II for refugees from the east.

[Guest Rick Research]

Amazingly inexplicable!

Here is the Militär-Wochenblatt 4 August 1917 entry as being commissioned Leutnant der Reserve in Inf Rgt 95. There are PAGES of previous commissions, all per 28 July.

I wonder--that late in the war when security restrictions had come into place, whether "IR 95" was indeed ACTUALLY his unit... or whether like Bavaria, that was his INTENDED (perhaps) peacetime/post-victory affiliation? By that late in the war usually there are NO units listed. Note the way the other new reserve officers are listed....

Edited August 17, 2013 by Rick Research

[Eckhart]

That is amazing! How do you do this? There must be tons and tons of commission announcements! I am very glad you found it. Apparently the Militär-Wochenblatt 4 August 1917 still mentions the IR94 concerning the Vizefeldwebel Chory, Blechschmidt, the two Ludwig and Strohm. This keeps up with your previous findings (otherwise it would get extremely confusing for me)

That is fantastic!

Many thanks Rick!

[Guest Rick Research]

You're right-- IR 94...not IR 95. So EVERYTHING matches up.

He SHOULD have some sort of file in the Staatsarchiv Thüringen--unfortunately somebody in the DDR time removed/destroyed many files there.

[Eckhart]

Would you have by any chance a website, e-mail address or phone number where I could reach the Staatsarchiv Thüringen? Unfortunately, they might have destroyed his files as he never returned to Thüringen after 1945.

I will be in Europe for the next two weeks (amongst other projects I will take care of Arno's grave). Perhaps I might get in contact with this administration.

Many thanks,

Eckhart

[saschaw]

Very interesting thread and history!

(...) from either Daniel or Michael since you are on that side of the Atlantic.

Or from me...