Help identifying unit, rank, etc.

Nick

Nick

New member
Hi, just introduced myself on this thread.

Attached are two photos that came in the packet of materials I received from my late uncle. I am not sure exactly who this person is yet, but would be grateful for any clues that can be gleaned from the photo:
1) Regiment
2) Rank
3) Approximate date the photo was taken
4) Any background information on the studio where the photos were taken

I'm thinking the photos were taken at different times. It almost looks like the soldier has a mustache in the photo where he is wearing the cap, but not in the photo with the plumed helmet. He also looks a bit leaner in the photo wearing a cap, and there appears to be a button present on his collar in one photo (plumed helmet), that is not present in the other.

I think if you click on the photos they'll enlarge nicely so the details show.

Any insight will be greatly appreciated,
Nick
 
Some additional detail photos. Also the information that is on the glassine envelope that the two photos were in.
 
Nick,

the photograps are taken when he was a Füsilier then Gefreiter respectively of the Füsilier-Bataillon of Leib-Grenadier-Regiment König Friedrich Wilhelm III (1. Brandenburgisches) Nr. 8. The regiment was based in Frankfurt a.O. and I would date the photograph within a very few years to the outbreak of WW1. The collar button denoted the rank of Gefreiter and the black waist belt was worn by the Füsilier (3rd) Battalion.

Regards
Glenn
 
Nick,

Welcome to the Forum: home of "The Wild Bunch" :army:

Great set of photo's.

Glenn,
As I'm not a uniform specialist I only can say this: Great job with this identification !

Rgds,
Francis
 
Thanks all,

Glenn, as always, answers beget more questions so here goes:

1. If I understand correctly, Fusilier = Private and Gefreiter = Private First Class, so this would have been a promotion he had received between the two photos correct? (increased rank to accompany what appears to be some increased body fat!)

2. How do we know he was in Nr. 8 (1st Brandenburg) Regiment and not Nr. 12 (2nd Brandenburg), which Wikipedia tells me was the other regiment garrisoned in Frankfurt an der Oder? I've browsed Kaiser's Bunker and see the shoulder strap illustration there for Nr. 8, but I can't find an illustration of a Nr. 12 shoulder strap for reference, and my eye isn't trained enough to make out the detail in the photo. I'd just like to understand what the other clues are (if any) in addition to the photo studio location. Is there anything unique on the headgear, collar, cuff or elsewhere with respect to unit identificaton?

I would date the photograph within a very few years to the outbreak of WW1
Click to expand...
3. Do I understand correctly that this means the photos were taken just prior to the war? I guess that means this person would have been born sometime around 1890 (give or take a couple years)?

4. Would this person have been a regular soldier or reservist? That seems to be some pretty fancy parade regalia he's wearing for a simple PFC, but again I know VERY little about the German Imperial Army. I'm used to just officers and sometimes NCOs having swords in the infantry.

Thanks again for the assistance. I will start another thread this evening with photos of another soldier I know to be my Great Great Grandfather, born 1867.

Best regards,
Nick
 
Nick,

1. If I understand correctly, Fusilier = Private and Gefreiter = Private First Class, so this would have been a promotion he had received between the two photos correct?
Click to expand...

Yes, Gefreiter is sometimes translated as Lance Corporal but in German service, the rank of Gefreiter was not considered a non commissioned officer.

How do we know he was in Nr. 8 (1st Brandenburg) Regiment and not Nr. 12
Click to expand...

Grenadier-Regiment Nr. 12 wore neither collar and cuff litzen or a regimental cypher on the shoulder strap, just the number 12.

3. Do I understand correctly that this means the photos were taken just prior to the war?
Click to expand...

Yes, assuming he was called up at age 21, he would be aged between 21 and 23. He is not wearing the insignia of a re-enlisted soldier (Kapitulant), so presumably still within his obligatory two years of active service.

4. Would this person have been a regular soldier or reservist?
Click to expand...

A conscript fulfilling his mandatory service.

Regards
Glenn
 
A follow-up: I was able to find Max Richter, Photographer, with telephone #652 at RegierungsStrasse 13 in the "Adreß-Buch für Frankfurt an der Oder 1913" on Ancestry, same address as on the glasine envelope.
 
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