A-H Regiment at Verdun?

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bob lembke
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A-H Regiment at Verdun?

#1

Post by bob lembke » 13 May 2005, 15:01

My father told me a couple of anecdotes about a A-H regiment arriving by train on the Western Front that, most likely, would have to have been at Verdun in the time period of August 1916 through December 1916. It supposedly was sent to serve alongside the Germans as a sign of solidarity. Seemingly my father was at trainside when they detrained (almost certainly Stenay, just north of Verdun.)

If one of you A-H experts corroborate this or even provide a unit ID I will be happy to write out the info and a description of an engagement they got into.

Bob Lembke

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#2

Post by Alp Guard » 13 May 2005, 16:27

The name of the unit Hitler served in during WW1 was the 16th Royal Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment called acording to tradition Regiment LIST after its commanding officer.

(I have "stolen" this information from an earlier thread on this messageboard)

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... n+regiment


bob lembke
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A-H Regiment

#3

Post by bob lembke » 13 May 2005, 16:44

Alp Guard;

By "A-H regiment" I meant Austro-Hungarian regiment", not "Adolf Hitler regiment".

Bob Lembke

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A-H Regiments

#4

Post by Glenn2438 » 13 May 2005, 17:23

Hi Bob,

I am unaware of any A-H involvement on the Western Front (apart from super heavy artillery in 1914) until the summer of 1918. I think your father probably meant 1918.

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Glenn

bob lembke
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A-H Regiment

#5

Post by bob lembke » 13 May 2005, 19:01

Glenn;

Yes, that is the second possibility; I had considered it less likely. He fought at Verdun from August 1916 till 28. 12. 16., when his second wound, in a FW attack on Mort Homme, really damaged his left arm. He spent 1917 in and out of hospitals, with the arm repeatedly getting re-infected (he lay in a French dugout for three days before being found), and it spit bone fragments for over 10 years. But he did spend time with his unit at Stenay-sur-Meuse in between hospitalizations, but he did not seem to have fought, as his arm was weak.

He finally was classified fit for combat, but not FW duty (the notation is in his Militär=Pass, which I have) and was sent back to the unit in Berlin which, I have discovered, did the technical training for the flame troops (Which unit my secret before my book is published.) before they were sent to the front. (The unit was not one of Maj. Dr. Reddemann's units.) Also did some MP duty, as the old civil police were unfit to deal with the developing civil unrest. So I assume that he, who was educated in a technical school before the army, trained new flame troops. Finally, about August 1918 he seems to have tricked someone and got sent to the front again to fight, as he wanted to join the guys. But he went to the 11. Kompagnie, not 2. Komp., up in the Reims sector, where he was quickly wounded twice again, the second being blinded by a German short while attacking in no-man's-land, the whole Trupp being blinded. He got his sight back later, some did not. He said that they tried to discipline him for being at the front when he should have been in Berlin!

So he was also at the front at that time. But I assumed that the Austrians were having enough problems of their own at that time to send troops to the Western Front, so I did not mention that time period.

Do you then know any A-H regimental designations for units sent to the West? I know beans about A-H sources, and have none (Although I was able to poke about the National Library in Wien a little while ago), while my German Army sources, resourceas are fairly good. (Am ordering 7 more official histories today or tomorrow from Weitze in Germany.)

Thanks for any help, Glenn. I am always cautious about my father's oral history, although it generally has proved, where verifiable, remarkably accurate. I wrote it all down before starting my serious WW I research so it would not get colored by later research, reading, etc. So when his anecdotes about this A-H regiment seem creditable I will share them.

Bob Lembke

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A-H Regiments

#6

Post by Glenn2438 » 15 May 2005, 12:47

Bob,

Two A-H Corps were assigned to the Western Front in 1918. The XVIII. Corps under FML. Ludwig Goiginger was actually operational and the IX. Corps HQ under FML. Schneider Edler von Manns-Au was still only forming.

The infantry in XVIII. Korps was as follows:

106 Infanterie-Division - FML. Kratky:

Landsturm Infanterieregiment 31
Landsturm Infanterieregiment 32
Landsturm Infanterieregiment 6
Landsturm Infanterieregiment 25
Sturmbataillon 106

1. Infanterie-Division - FML. Metzger:

Infanterieregiment 5
Infanterieregiment 61
Infanterieregiment 112
Feldjäger-Bataillon 17
Sturmbataillon 1

35. Infanterie-Division - FML. von Podhoránszky:

Infanterieregiment 62
Infanterieregiment 64
Infanterieregiment 51
Infanterieregiment 63
Sturmbataillon 35

Under command Heeresgruppe Herzog Albrecht von Württemberg:

37. Honvéd-Infanterie-Division - FML. Háber:

Honvéd-Infanterieregiment 13
Honvéd-Infanterieregiment 18
Honvéd-Infanterieregiment 14
Honvéd-Infanterieregiment 15
Sturmbataillon 37

Regards
Glenn

bob lembke
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A-H Incidents on the Western Front

#7

Post by bob lembke » 15 May 2005, 17:19

Glenn and Guys;

Glenn, thanks for the data, which I will tuck away carefully. Here is what my father told me; as I continue to work on WW I the stuff he did tell me, a lot of which didn't make sense to me at the time, as a teen-ager, is proving accurate, at least the stuff that I can corroborate from documents, etc.

As you know, flame troops were generally not up in the trenches, but in the rear in barracks; they had their own trucks, and would sally forth for an attack or counter-attack as needed. (Pop really appreciated this; he wrote to his father: "You can keep as clean as in Garrison. You can be in the trenches in the morning, making Arbeit (as he called an attack). and in the evening you can go to the kino, for (5 or 10) Pfhennig, and the (choice of) movies is even good." (I did not pull the letter, but did that from memory, but it is very close to what he wrote, this from Stenay-sur-Meuse).

So my father was hanging about the train station as a regiment of Austrians were de-training. A group of orderlies were unloading two car-loads of gear, furnishings, and even a large elaborate bed, the stuff obviously belonging to a single officer. A German colonel was watching this process. Finally he called out "To whom does all this stuff belong to?" A fancy-dan, clearly very aristocratic, very rich Leutnant walked over and saluted and said: "It is mine, Herr Colonel." The colonel responded: "I have a footlocker. Burn it!"

When this regiment arrived the Germans did not at first know what to do with it, being sceptical of their abilities. (Here he obviously was engaging in mind-reading or guess-work; a Pionier was not discussing tactics with the COs.) They then put the regiment in the line. After a little while the French figured out that the sector was held by Austrians. They then threw a division against it, and it crumbled. Pop told me that the Germans had put strong reserves on either flank, including his Flammwerfer detachment, and that he himself, waiting in the wings, saw batteries of horse-drawn 75s gallop through the breach, which he thought a marvelous sight. Then they sprang the trap and pinched off the French division, which had to surrender. Sort of like the Battle of Caana with Hannibal; you really don't want your opponent to crumble too quickly.

He said that after that episode they could put the Austrian regiment anywhere in line, and quiet would rule at that sector.

However, the entire two stories could be the product of the distain of a family of Prussian peasants (traditional unit they served in for generations, 3rd Ulans) for the overly elegant, to their mind, Viennese, et al.

Bob Lembke

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kuk Reenactment group

#8

Post by leooel » 18 Aug 2005, 04:27

There is a reenactment group in the Pittsburgh area of the AH 63 IR. They formely had their own web site, but I think they can be reached at The great War Association. They have some info on AH troops on the Western Front.

bob lembke
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Lead

#9

Post by bob lembke » 18 Aug 2005, 05:09

"leooel";

Thanks for the lead. I have some re-enactor friends; I will follow up on it.

Bob Lembke

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