Help Identifying 1910ish Pomeranian Uniform

mlevenhagen

mlevenhagen

New member
Hi, I am new here (and really not well versed on military, but determined to map out my genealogy & heritage thoroughly & properly)!

I need help identifying the unit or rank of my 2nd great-granduncle, and possibly when/where this photo may have been taken! There's nothing on the back of it. His photo has hung on my grandparents' dining room wall for decades, and we've known next to nothing about him (not even his name) until recently. My 2nd great-grandmother apparently avoided speaking about him after his loss in WWI. :( I've been able to connect the dots through family registers (yay), but I'm getting conflicting information on how he was placed. I don't know when the photo was taken (assuming pre-WWI), and I don't know exactly when he enlisted.

Here's what I do know:
  • Born in Werder, Demmin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and was stationed in Stettin
  • Was already in the military he was married in 1913
  • Was killed on June 7, 1916 near Kalnciems, Latvia (and is buried there); cause of death was drowning!
  • His rank/units have been listed as follows:
    • Casualty Register upon death (Preußen 559) shows: 3. Landwehr-Eskadron, II. Armeekorps
    • Official Death Registry Record states:
      • his commander: commander of the II. Ersatz-Battalion Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment No. 49
      • his rank/unit: Meldereiter; III. Landwehr-Eskadron, II. Armeekorps I. Battalion Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment No. 49
    • His headstone has something that looks different: 2. L. J. R. 49.
If any of you have any information that might be useful, I'd be eternally grateful! My head is spinning from trying to decipher the units of the German Imperial Army!!

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Good luck. There are some great people on this site who should be able to help. My wife and I are big Ancestry users and I understand the challenge. Looks like you have a really great start!
 
Steve,
-The Meldereiter of the I.AK would wear the Koller.
-Those of the XV.AK had the Husar style uniform.
-The Meldereiter of the Garde Korps: dark green tunic. Dragoon Style....with cuffs. And stripes on the collar...
page 591 in the Verlag Militaria book.
And page 155-and next-in the Paul PIETSCH book.
 

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Welcome to the forum,
Imo the picture shows him as a young man doing his military service before the first world war, and not as a Meldereiter during the war. His year of birth could confirm that.
Regards,
Lars
 
Lars13 said:
Welcome to the forum,
Imo the picture shows him as a young man doing his military service before the first world war, and not as a Meldereiter during the war. His year of birth could confirm that.
Regards,
Lars
Click to expand...
Lars, thank you for chiming in! I definitely think it was earlier on in his military career. I would love to narrow down when he actually enlisted. He was born in 1879. In the 1900 census, his occupation was listed as "dragoner"
 
mlevenhagen said:
Lars, thank you for chiming in! I definitely think it was earlier on in his military career. I would love to narrow down when he actually enlisted. He was born in 1879. In the 1900 census, his occupation was listed as "dragoner"
Click to expand...
Dragoner is german for Dragoon. A type of Cavalry unit
 
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