Footsoldier Photo help needed

P

ph0ebus

New member
Hi all,

I just found a photo (that I had previously misplaced) of my great uncle, Julius Strauss in his uniform, on June 7, 1918. He appears to be a footsoldier, but your interpretation of his uniform and in particular the writing on the back of the card would be greatly appreciated. You can see the front and back of the photo postcard here:

http://ph0ebus13.googlepages.com/home

FYI, I incorporated all the feedback I got on my previous photos into this page too, and credited two photos I used from this forum...if that is a problem, I will remove them asap.

I look forward to your impressions!

-Daniel
 
You'll want to wait until the experts chime in, but I can at least tell you the card is address to his "dear sister", but that's about it. He could be infantry, but I'm wondering if the band on his cap is black instead of red, I can't really tell.
 
Dont know much about uniforms, but the writing says

"Meiner lieben Schwester Selma zum Andenken an den Weltkrieg 1918 - Dein Bruder Julius - Nowo Alexandrowsk d. 7.6.18"

"For my dear sister Selma in memory of the world war 1918 - Your brother Julius - Nowo Alexandrowsk June the 7th, 1918"
 
'Waisenhaus St. Felix bei Taunbuin (Soissons)', “St. Felix Orphanage by Taunbuin (Soissons)'.

'Ein Zerschossener Tank in Einer Sappe von Pinon', “A shot-up tank in a Sappe of Pinon”. I am not sure what a Sappe is, but I believe the tank in the photo is a French Schneider.

I believe Robert is dead on with his translation. Can you make a larger scan of Julius' head/hat? Hard to tell if the hatband is piped or not. Chas. is the photography expert, the point Liongules is making is that IF the hatband is black, Julius could have also been an artilleryman, a Pionier, or transportation troop.

Nice collection of family pictures. Thanks for posting the link.
 
Hi,

I just loaded a closeup of Julius' head and shoulders onto my web page, and added the translations thus far. I tried to insert the picture into the thread but I was having trouble.

A point of clarification: is "Nowo Alexandrowsk" a Russian fort? I found a few references to that via Google. It would seem Julius served on the eastern front, while his future brother in law was on the western front. I wonder what outfit Julius may have been with? Do we know which German troops were at "Nowo Alexandrowsk" in 1918?

I also should note that I just found out that Simon Stern (also on my web page) was assigned to 'Res. Feldartillerie Regt. 5, Regt. Stab' according to a postcard I have sent from Emanuel to Julius during the war. If he was in the Field Artillery too, why is he wearing a footsoldier's uniform?

I also just figured out that 'sappe' is French for 'trench'...who'd have thought he would have used a French word instead of a German one!

Thanks again,

Daniel
 
Hey ph0ebus
I think you will find that languages are sometimes blured in the usage of "foreign" terms, especially in spacific theams, such as medical, military and technical. By the way, the buckel you show on your web site is a post war Weimar buckel with the Weimar eagle rather than the Imperail crown.
Best wishes
Gus
 
Wow, that's the last time I update a web page under the influence of cough medicine. I got more than one email on that one...my mistake! I will update the buckle photo with (hopefully) the right one shortly.

Incidentally, I just found another photo of grandad and his army buddies having a beer together during the war; I will upload that picture when I swap out the buckle.

Thanks,

-Daniel
 
Hi everyone,

I corrected the buckle photo, and added another 'new' picture of my grandfather and some men from his unit enjoying a beer. I also put up scans of the backs of four of the picture postcards: one is the back of the 'Kloster' card; the second is the back of the flamethrower card; the third is the back of his unit photo, addressed to Simon Stern, and the last is from the back of the exploded French Gun.

If anyone can read what he wrote, that would be great. Unfortunately on the first two he used pencil, and on these it smudged a bit over the last 90 years.

Enjoy, and I look forward to your feedback.

Sincerely,

-Daniel
 
This unit gets a little bit tricky -- specifically the ninth battery came from a different training regiment -- the 73rd and was mobilized in December of 1916. It seems to have gone to the 14th infantry division.; it seems as though the entire regiment stayed together with the exception of the third battery. The unit was originally from Wessel in Westphalia but based on its different training source I am not so sure about the ninth battery. It also looks like this division was a Western front resource so maybe I just added more confusion. God bless.
 
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