EK 1914 EK2 & Second War KVK2

[Jock Auld]

Guys,

Quick one before work.

Jock:)

[Chris Boonzaier]

Nice, i have the same EK doc...

[arb]

Hans von Dewall (1866-1923)- Batl. Kom. in IR 74 at beginning of the war. He was the commander of the regiment from 06.09.14-21.04.18 and then went on to lead the 23. and 21. Inf. Brig. as the war ended

He went on the receive the "Charakter" as a Gen.Maj. in 1921 while commandant of the Munster Training area. He retired from the army in March 1922.

Andy

Edited October 1, 2013 by arb

[Chris Boonzaier]

Wow... that must be unique.... commanding the regt throughout the whole war!! I bet the number of regiments where that happed is pretty minimal...

[Jock Auld]

Andy,

Where did you find this out, is there an Imperial version of 'Lexicon der Wehrmacht' somewhere?

Thanks

Jock:)

[arb]

Jock,

I have been working on the Prussian officer corps of 1914 for nearly 20 years, and I have traced the careers from start to finish of all Majors and above listed in the 1914 Prussian "Rangliste", nearly 3,800 biographies. As a Major in 1914 v. Dewall is part of my work.

I've used a number of contemporary sources, to include "Offizier Stammlisten" and the Militärwochenblatt.

For wartime dates of command, Gunther Wegner's 3 volume work (plus name index) "Die Stellenbesetzung der aktiven Regimenter, Bataillone und Abteilungen von der Stiftung bzw. Aufstellung bis zu, 26. August 1939" Biblio Verlag, Osnabruck is the best source available.

Andy

[arb]

Wow... that must be unique.... commanding the regt throughout the whole war!! I bet the number of regiments where that happed is pretty minimal...

Chris,

I really is. I have not found many regimental commands that lasted more than three years, especially commanders of regular regiments. It seems thay wanted to cycle as many officers through a command as they could. Fatigue must have also taken a huge toll, too.

Andy

Edited October 1, 2013 by arb

[Bernhard H.Holst]

Andy:

I vaguely recall it being mentioned that a Graf Eulenburg, PLM. commanded a Garde Regiment throughout WW I.

Can you please confirm that?

Bernhard H. Holst

[arb]

Bernhard,

You have a fine memory! Siegfried Gr. zu Eulenburg commanded 1. GRzF from 07.11.1916-1919. He had been in 1. GRzF from 1889 and served as a company commander from 1905-1913 and then had a battalion from mobilization until he took over GGR 3 for about a month before becoming commander on his home regiment.

He received his PLM on 27.08.1917 and oak leaves on 04.09.1918.

Andy

[Bernhard H.Holst]

Hello Andy.

Thank you for the information. I further recollect that he reached a long life span but had to endure flight from his home in 1944/45.

Bernhard H. Holst

[arb]

Bernhard,

He was born 10.10.1870 in Krangen (Pommern) and died 18.10.1961 in Lindau am Bodensee at 90 years and 8 days old.

Andy

[Bernhard H.Holst]

Andy, thanks for this additional information. 90 years was not bad ,afterall he spent some years during which even as an officer life was hard. PLM w/Oaks for a regimental commander was certainly exceptional, I think.

Bernhard H. Holst

[Jock Auld]

Jock,

I have been working on the Prussian officer corps of 1914 for nearly 20 years, and I have traced the careers from start to finish of all Majors and above listed in the 1914 Prussian "Rangliste", nearly 3,800 biographies. As a Major in 1914 v. Dewall is part of my work.

I've used a number of contemporary sources, to include "Offizier Stammlisten" and the Militärwochenblatt.

For wartime dates of command, Gunther Wegner's 3 volume work (plus name index) "Die Stellenbesetzung der aktiven Regimenter, Bataillone und Abteilungen von der Stiftung bzw. Aufstellung bis zu, 26. August 1939" Biblio Verlag, Osnabruck is the best source available.

Andy

Andy,

That must take tremendous dedication, is there perhaps some sort of reference work in the pipeline paper/electronic to present all of your hard work?

Thanks again.

Jock:)

[arb]

Jock,

In many ways conducting the research was easier than trying to determine how best to make this and a great deal more information available. Given the size (about 2650 pages), publishing as books would not be cost effective and I am not sure their are many who would chose to pay what it would cost to publish the biographies. Internet access makes sense, but does not offer a realistic possibility of recouping any of the money spent over many years to assemble my library. I am under no illusions that I could ever even attempt to make anything for the hours of work that went into these biographies.

I'd be interested in ideas members may have on striking a balance between access and simply posting on the net.

Andy

[Jock Auld]

Andy,

That is a tough nut to crack, maybe some middle ground somewhere, an electronic book or such like where interested folk would have to pay a fee for access.

I don't know how 'lexicon' works but if put out there as a reference website perhaps you could recoup a bit through the advertising aspect or charging a very low fee per page view or the likes.

Sadly I don't know what is actually electronically available/achievable these days.

The other end of the stick is you may make nothing back and it could go to the grave with you, anything can happen as I need not remind you with Ricks passing.

I hope you find a way to share your hard work and make a bit back for all you time and effort.

I wish you all the best with this project!

Jock:)

[Spasm]

Andy

I assume you have this electronically rather than written out longhand in pencil on 2650 pages. Will it not fit onto a or some CD/DVDs which, I assume, relatively speaking, would be easy. The DVDs are cheap and easy to copy which you could sell, from the sounds of it, to many of those who are interested.

I believe the discs can be protected from further copying by self destructing and destroying the machinery it is in if tampered with. You can tell that I am a computer whizz kid by my staggering knowledge demonstrated here

[Jock Auld]

I never thought of a CD but maybe that would work?

You see them all the time on ebay with private photographs etc?

Jock:)

[arb]

Thanks very much for the input and it got me thinking about publishing what I have.

I spent today (having the day "off" due to the US government shutdown and furlough of government employees) looking into self-publishing. There is a company not too far from where I live that offers very small printing runs specifically for people looking to publish but without having to lay out the funds for a larger run. Of course, the larger the run, the more economical the process. I imagine a useful next step would be to gauge the level of interest in the biographies in order to get an idea how many to have printed.

A friend and member of this forum has had considerable experience selling CDs of various Ranglisten. It's a proven method, but I wonder whether people prefer digital to paper. Call me old-fashioned, but I much prefer a book for most things. Skimming through a digital copy works only if you know what you're looking for. Leafing through a book offers so much more.

Anyway, thanks again for your ideas and comments.

More to follow....

Andy

[Chris Boonzaier]

I have many books on CD, but have really lost track of what I have and where they are... as a result, they are seldom used, .

I think it may be best to go "old school" and on top of that, I guess it is not high gloss Photo paper that is needed.... Buyers will want the info, not the layout ...

As Rick used to say.... Paper is really the only way to go...

I would think along the lines of 2 large telephone book sized/Type volumes... maybe not as optically pleasing as a 5 volume bound leather set, but praticle and cheap to print.... and go EXPENSIVE... you are not selling the book quality, but the reseach put into it.... The market may be limited, but there would be a group of people willing to pay the price....

[Spasm]

I agree that paper is better. I have quite a few stored books and pamphlets gained off of t'tinternet but always forget that I have them or where exactly they are in the files I have on my machine. Those that I refer to, such as Muster Rolls for the Napoleonic British Army, Medal Numbering for the SADF and Foreign Legion, and the like I have printed off and keep on the shelf.

Brian's German Helmet lot numbers is produced in paper format just like a telephone book (as Chris' suggestion) and is mostly list upon list of numbers but can be leafed through to find something.

An electronic version of tables/lists would, I agree, be too cumbersome and difficult for those without my vast computer coding/programming knowledge.