Regiments and militairy history of Konrad Kalau vom Hofe

beerens

New member
Dear forum members,

At this moment I am doing some research for Hauptmann Konrad Kalau vom Hofe. Possibly you can help me any further:

Konrad Kalau vom Hofe was born at July 22nd 1880 in Carlsruhe, Kreis Oppeln, Schlesien (Silesia: Now Poland). His family were landowners. The Kalau vom Hofe name, is mentioned in the nobility index. At January 27nd 1901, he became a Leutnant (2nd Lieutnant to USA standards).

From 1904 till 1908 he fought against the Hottentotten in Namibia. In 1910 he was promoted to Oberstleutnant (1st Lieutnant). I guess he was in the 26th regiment (1st Magdeburgisches).

Possibly you can help me little further:

- From this small bit of information, can you give me some direction via which path Kalau became an officer in 1901? Do you think he became a Cadett or did he use a different way?

- Do you have some information or direction in mind about the kriegsschule, this man has visited? Are there kriegsschule ranglisten available? Do you have some more information about kriegsschulen in general?

- Aspirant officers were connected to a regiment. Do you have any idea to which regiment he was connected? Possibly a 1901 Rangliste might help?

- In 1904 he went to Namibia to fight the Hottentotten. Do you know any sources available where Kalau could be traced? Units and so on? He gained the Kronen order with swords, 4th class.

- After or even in 1908 he came back to Germany to join a regiment. Possibly this was already the 26th reg. than. Probably a rangliste can give more information.

- All extra information about Konrad kalau vom Hofe, his youth, the place he lived, hin school period, his militairy education and other events are more than welcome. Pretty much is known from Regimentsgeschichten fron the 1914-1917 period.

Thanks a lot in advance for your time and energy to help me searching into the right direction.

Best regards from Holland,

Ad Beerens
 
Ad,

I presume you are aware of that Konrad Kalau vom Hofe was a winner of the OPLM?

He was a graduate of the Groß-Lichterfelde Cadet School,joining Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 26 as a charakterisierte Fähnrich on the 20th of March 1899. His patent as a Leutnant according to the 1901 Prussian Army Rangliste is 18.5.01 A2a.

Kalau actually left Prussian service on the 2nd of January 1906 to enter the Schutztruppe for Southwest Africa the following day. He was assigned to the 2. Feldregiment (beritten) and later with the draw-down of operations to the 11. Kompanie of the Schutztruppe for DSWA. He was still serving with the Schutztruppe for DSWA in 1910 when he was promoted to Oberleutnant with a Patent of 17.5.10 X9x. He left the Schutztruppe for DSWA on the 30th of April 1913 and rejoined his original regiment (Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 26) on the 1st of May 1913.

Regards
Glenn
 
Glenn do your sources mention the Abitur? If he left the HKA as a charakterisiert Fähnrich, why did he wait till age 19? If he was a Prima and got the Abitur the 2 years make sense. But then there is the royal order in February 1900 when the date of ranks of Prima cadets was backdated to equal the same date as of the Selekta cadets. Soooooo a Prima does not quite fit. I know there were no absolutes but he seems old without the Abitur.
 
Joe,

I cannot confirm his class or Abitur at this time. We can assume he was not a Selekta graduate as he would have been immediately commissioned in 1899. I am hoping to look at the Militär-Wochenblatt for the 1st half year of 1899 this weekend. I will see what it says in the cadet appointments section.

Regards
Glenn
 
Dear Gentlemen,

Thanks for your replies and clear answers. I realise Kalau vom Hofe was a Pour le Merite winner. To explain little more about my journey through history, I will write a few words to get things clear:
As I am a Dutch civil engineer, I like to see facts to be sure, but I like side-step experiments. About four years ago, I started collecting officer's pickelhauben. About one year ago I have bought a Pour le Merite without provenance. One day I was doing a short course about looking back in the past and into future. The woman that was my teacher held the PLM and told about an officer, 36 years old, killed in action in the winter 1916 / 17 at the West front, not too higly ranking and an infantry men. I got through my books about PLM winners. I have two antique books about PLM winners. The book string of book 1 had dissapeared, the book string of book 2 was at the Kalau page when I opened it. So I decided that the baby possibly could have had belonged to Kalau vom Hofe. I realise this is all vague but sometimes it is comfortable to connect items to one man.

From that period (about 5 months ago), I am collecting data from the Konrad Kalau vom Hofe man. I found out he was born in Carlsruhe, Kreis Oppeln, Silesia (now Poland) got to an army school, went to Africa to fight the Hottentotten, was awarded Kronen Orden 4th class with swords, was the 1st officer of the 26th reg. that was wounded in Belgium in 1914, because he self injured his knee, after this, I have lost Kalau, but copies of the regimentsgeschichten IR 26 years 1915 and 1916 will be made this summer. In Mai 1916 he became a battalionscommander 12th Grenadiere, and commander of fort Douamont in Verdun. There he was rewarded PLM, rejecting a French attack between Mai 20th and 25th. He fought at the Somme at Delville wood, and again in Verdun. In April 1917 he became batallion commander of the 52nd Reg. At Mont Cornillet his bunker was hit and he died at April 29nd 1917 because of a lack of oxigen. He was reburried December 20th 1917 at the Hauptfriedhof at Frankfurt am Main, where his grave is still there. His wife and two children are buried in ths grave too. These together with the second husband of his wife: Mr. Riesser, a famous man from a famous family.

Although the PLM is still unidentified, I have a great time doing some research after Kalau vom Hofe. All information, especially about his yers between 1914 and 1880 are more than welcome.

Thanks in advance,

Ad
 
Joe,

I am not happy about this guy. The register of KIA Groß-Lichterfelde Cadets says he was a graduate in 1899. Not according to the Militär-Wochenblatt of 1899!

There were two Kalau's serving at this time and I think the KIA register is wrong (got the other Kalau). I am tending to believe the "our" Kalau either graduated in 1900 or even more likely was a Fahnenjunker. Until I check the 1900 and 1901 MWBs I cannot confirm.

Regards
Glenn
 
Glenn,
Thanks! Did I show you this? Werner was a navy guy...
kalau.jpg
 
Hi Joe,

I have this book in my collection.

There were several of the family Kalau vom Hofe serving in the Prussian Army during this period including another Leutnant commissioned on 18.8.99 in Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 157. This officer transfered to the artillery in 1908 and was the junior Hauptmann in Feldartillerie-Regiment Nr. 45 in 1914. He retired as a Major.

Regards
Glenn
 
Joe and Glenn,

The bookAltpreussische Geschlechterkunde Familienarchiv does indicate that Konrad Kalau vom Hofe was a Fahnenjunker in 1900 too. This might be a little step foreward that shows you both are searching into the right direction.

regards,

Ad
 
Hi Ad,

still on the trail :D

Well as suspected, the register of KIA Groß-Lichterfelde Cadets is wrong. For that matter so is Möller-Witten's history of the PLM. Both state that Konrad Kalau vom Hofe was a cadet. However the extract appended below from the Militär-Wochenblatt of the 22nd of August 1900 shows Kalau's promotion to Fähnrich from Fahnenjunker (Unteroffizier) on the 18th of August 1900. This promotion date would suggest a probable entry into the army as a Fahnenjunker on or around the 13th of January 1900.

Regards
Glenn

kvh.jpg
 
Ah but another idea. Try this one on. IF IF he was a cadet and failed the Fähnrich exam he would be placed in a regiment as an Unterofficier. From the draft of my old book 2:

Remember you were supposed to have a Prima certificate (Primareifezeugnis) or dispensation to gain entry to the Fähnrich examination. 90% had a Prima Certificate. 75% passed the Fähnriche exam the first time. You could take it again and few if any failed the second time. If indeed they did fail the second time it was into the ranks as an OR or Unteroffiziere. In 1890 the Kaiser demanded leniency in grading. If leniency failed he used dispensations which totaled over 1000 between 1901 and 1912.
There were failures. In the year 1878 eight cadets failed the exam. All eight eventually were made Fähnrich and six of them earned their commission. Manfred von Richtofen, the Red Baron, failed the examination and was sent to the 1st Ulan Regiment as an Unteroffiziere. Eight months later he was made a Fähnrich and eventually was commissioned. This put his date of rank behind his classmates of 1911.


What do you think could these dates work? :dontknow:
 
Hi Joe,

I don't discount anything but I don't think a "washed out" cadet would have been described as a cadet. I tend to think he has been mixed up with the Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 157 Kalau.

Regards
Glenn
 
Dear Glenn and Joe,

Thanks again for your helpful discussion and research in German archives. How to become an officer is still a complex case, but because of the research Glenn did, many possibilities can be excluded. Thanks for the copy of the text too.

This weekend I was in Lille (France) with my wife. Today I had time to survey the surroundings of Lens, where the battle of Loos (1915) took place. Kalau vom Hofe was there around September 25th 1915 with the 26th IR. His regiment was at the south part of the battle, near fosse 11: cite St. Pierre. The coal mine and slag heaps are still visible. The man's history is coming to life more and more.

Thanks and regards from Holland,

Ad
 
but I don't think a "washed out" cadet would have been described as a cadet.

Glenn, I do not pretend to know, but as a test case; can you look up the Red Baron and see if he is listed as a cadet?
 
Hi Joe,

well that opened a can of worms!

As my 1911 MWB is not fullx indexed yet I had some difficulty in finding the Baron. As a starting point I checked the March 1911 cadet postings - not there. I then checked the Möller-Witten PLM history which says he joined Ulanen-Regiment Nr. 1 as a Fähnrich in "Spring" 1911. So I double checked the MWB - still not there :?

I then checked the web for biographies of the Baron. Most say he was "commissioned " in April 1911 and then promoted to Leutnant in November 1912!!!!!

I then checked the 2nd half year of the 1911 MWB. And what do we find:

Unterroffizier Frhr. von Richthofen of Ulanen-Regiment Nr. 1 promoted to Fähnrich on the 18th of October 1911. So your theory certainly works in the case of the Baron. It would therefore seem in Frhr. v. Richthofen's case that having failed the Fähnrichs' examination he was assigned to his regiment as an Unteroffizier in the April.

But it just goes to prove how much disinformation is out there!

Regards
Glenn
 
Most say he was "commissioned " in April 1911 and then promoted to Leutnant in November 1912!!!!!

What surprises me is the number of authors who "look up" their facts in the last published book which got their "facts" from the book before them...and on and on. I find myself looking at footnote sources more and more often.
 
Joe,

I could not agree more.

However a slight mistake on my part (now corrected) :D . Manfred was appointed a Fähnrich even later - 19 December 1911. The 18 October 1911 Frhr. v. Richthofen was in Ulanen-Regiment Nr. 3.

Regards
Glenn
 
Okay Glenn now I am lost! Was the Baron listed as a cadet? Why the listing in two different regiments? Help me Mr. Wizard!
 
joerookery said:
Okay Glenn now I am lost! Was the Baron listed as a cadet? Why the listing in two different regiments? Help me Mr. Wizard!
I would think that another member of the family. According to what I've read about the Germany nobility system, in Germany, unlike the British system, the title is inherited like a last name. All sons of Freiherr von Richthofen would also be known as Freiherr von Richthofen. The Red Baron had cousins, who were also Freiherr von Richthofen. As an example here are some past/current holders of the title: Ulrich Freiherr v. Richthofen, Oswald Freiherr v. Richthofen, Siegfried Freiherr v. Richthofen, Hans Jürgen Freiherr v. Richthofen, Karl-Friedrich Freiherr v. Richthofen, Hermann Freiherr v. Richthofen, Alexander Freiherr v. Richthofen, Jasper Freiherr v. Richthofen, Bolko Freiherr v. Richthofen, Manfred Freiherr v. Richthofen, Hubertus Freiherr v. Richthofen.
 
Joe,

no the Baron was not listed as a cadet. As Mike points out there were numerous Freiherren von Richthofen and in 1914 alone there were some 18 serving in the Prussian army on either active or reserve status including one Generalleutnant and nine Leutnants!

Regards
Glenn
 
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