I am revisiting this post to mark the 100th anniversary of Leutnant Stoebers death today in Belgium 1914
My first Pickelhaube was a 158 regt. Helmet and this has given me an unhealthy
Obsession with the regiment ever since.
So when an officers uberzug appeared on ebay a couple of years ago I had to bid
On it. Now my German is very bad so all I knew from the description was that the
Cover was some how marked as having belonged to the 158 regt.
Luckily I won it and when it arrived all was reviled the cover had a name label sown
On the inside Leutnant STOEBER 12th Kompanie 7 Lothring inf. regt. 158.
Intrigued I wanted to find out more so I searched the internet and found a copy of the
Regimental history.
When it came there he was, the book had a photo! I searched the pages of the book and found he was the first officer of the regiment to be killed on 24th August 1914.
A friend offered to try to translate some of the book for me and found that Stoeber
Along with two cyclists from the regiment went on patrol in the Belgian village of
Solre sure Sambre, the men must have split up and Stoeber was never seen again.
The Regiment searched for him but he could not be found, it was assumed that
Locals had killed him and hid the body.
The regimental history states that a comrade went back to the village later in the war
And found his grave in the local cemetery. His body was later moved to the cemetery
At Langermarck.
Last year I had the opportunity to go over to Belgium and visit the place of his death-I was armed with a leaflet that I had translated into French with a plea for information about Stoeber. Now as you can imagine all my friends thought I had no chance of getting any feedback and I must admit I was doubtful but I posted them at the church and cemetery.
After a couple of months I gave up hope-and then seven months later I had a letter!
It was from a local historian Rene Bayet and his research was beyond my expectations
finally I the truth about Stoeber’s death not only that but I had the name of
The man who killed him!!!! this is what I received:
Extract 1
“The night of August 24, 1914, a German officer is killed by the Sambre bridge.
He wanted to prevent the bridge being blown up.
(ext or) About the German officer death related by Mr DE BACKER, a different version of the facts has been told by Mr Arielle THOMAS and then Mr Noël HARDY.
They were respectively 10 & 9 years old at this time. These two people gave us exactly the same story about this death.
“The officer would have been killed by a village inhabitant with a spade but to avoid any reprisals against the population, it has been imputed to French soldiers. Even a name was given: Hector RENAUD.
Extract 2
15TH August 1915 a officer of the navy accompanied by the wife of the German officer buried in Solre cemetery came to visit him. They want to know how he has been killed, what happened before and after his death, they want to know if he suffered, of which I have nothing to say because I don’t know anything.”
So Hector Renaud did poor old Stoeber with a spade! Yuk!!
I am guessing that my uberzug was a spare that was either in Stoeber’s baggage and
Returned home after his death or one that was left in Germany, though it does have a funny stain up one side!
I think the most interesting thing about collecting is being able to research the history
Of an item and sometimes you get lucky!
With thanks to Glenn Jewison for helping me with Stoeber’s pre war career details.
My cousins wife Nathalie for her French translation.
My friend Richard Keep who tirelessly puts up with my German translating.
And to Rene Bayet who gave me the final piece of my jigsaw.
My first Pickelhaube was a 158 regt. Helmet and this has given me an unhealthy
Obsession with the regiment ever since.
So when an officers uberzug appeared on ebay a couple of years ago I had to bid
On it. Now my German is very bad so all I knew from the description was that the
Cover was some how marked as having belonged to the 158 regt.
Luckily I won it and when it arrived all was reviled the cover had a name label sown
On the inside Leutnant STOEBER 12th Kompanie 7 Lothring inf. regt. 158.
Intrigued I wanted to find out more so I searched the internet and found a copy of the
Regimental history.
When it came there he was, the book had a photo! I searched the pages of the book and found he was the first officer of the regiment to be killed on 24th August 1914.
A friend offered to try to translate some of the book for me and found that Stoeber
Along with two cyclists from the regiment went on patrol in the Belgian village of
Solre sure Sambre, the men must have split up and Stoeber was never seen again.
The Regiment searched for him but he could not be found, it was assumed that
Locals had killed him and hid the body.
The regimental history states that a comrade went back to the village later in the war
And found his grave in the local cemetery. His body was later moved to the cemetery
At Langermarck.
Last year I had the opportunity to go over to Belgium and visit the place of his death-I was armed with a leaflet that I had translated into French with a plea for information about Stoeber. Now as you can imagine all my friends thought I had no chance of getting any feedback and I must admit I was doubtful but I posted them at the church and cemetery.
After a couple of months I gave up hope-and then seven months later I had a letter!
It was from a local historian Rene Bayet and his research was beyond my expectations
finally I the truth about Stoeber’s death not only that but I had the name of
The man who killed him!!!! this is what I received:
Extract 1
“The night of August 24, 1914, a German officer is killed by the Sambre bridge.
He wanted to prevent the bridge being blown up.
(ext or) About the German officer death related by Mr DE BACKER, a different version of the facts has been told by Mr Arielle THOMAS and then Mr Noël HARDY.
They were respectively 10 & 9 years old at this time. These two people gave us exactly the same story about this death.
“The officer would have been killed by a village inhabitant with a spade but to avoid any reprisals against the population, it has been imputed to French soldiers. Even a name was given: Hector RENAUD.
Extract 2
15TH August 1915 a officer of the navy accompanied by the wife of the German officer buried in Solre cemetery came to visit him. They want to know how he has been killed, what happened before and after his death, they want to know if he suffered, of which I have nothing to say because I don’t know anything.”
So Hector Renaud did poor old Stoeber with a spade! Yuk!!
I am guessing that my uberzug was a spare that was either in Stoeber’s baggage and
Returned home after his death or one that was left in Germany, though it does have a funny stain up one side!
I think the most interesting thing about collecting is being able to research the history
Of an item and sometimes you get lucky!
With thanks to Glenn Jewison for helping me with Stoeber’s pre war career details.
My cousins wife Nathalie for her French translation.
My friend Richard Keep who tirelessly puts up with my German translating.
And to Rene Bayet who gave me the final piece of my jigsaw.
