The back of a postcard

joerookery

Well-known member
This morning I had a series of questions about information on the back of a postcard. While I am far from infallible some of the information I retrieve is pretty easy once you understand some pretty simple things. Thought I might pass some of these along. The rectangular block with the initials "SB" stands for soldiers mail and regularly lists the unit where the postcard was mailed at. The round stamp gives the date. Certain round stamps will show you also the unit that the sender came from. All cards are supposed to have something called an Absender block which lists the title of the individual, his name, and his unit.
jr99_700.jpg


You can see that this sender was an ersatz reservist, who came from infantry Regiment 12/99, XV Army Corps, 30th division.

This can send you on a search for the Regiment location, the regimental history, the Army Corps District area, what an ersatz reservist is and a whole bunch more. Often you will see the words ersatz company or ersatz Battalion in those blocks. That is because most of the group pictures that you see are of trainee's in the depot system. I have included a rudimentary explanation of the depot system from my "tome". Good luck and enjoy searching!

The Depot System

Most of the group pictures that are seen are a training class held in the depot system.
A German platoon was made 8 Grüppen each of eight to 10 men. A group of two Grüppen was known as a Korporalschaft. A Korporalschaft was led by an Unteroffiziere. Therefore, a platoon had four Korporalschafts. Once they were in a Kaserne, a group of recruits would live in a big room known as a Stube. Trainees were divided one Korporalschaft for each Stube. Many of those pictures show a Korporalschaft or a Stube.

The Army Corps District was responsible for the recruiting, equipping and training of a certain number of troops. Upon mobilization different branches left behind a cadre to provide it with reinforcements. These were known by different names for different types of units. An Ersatz battalion was the cadre left behind in an infantry or foot artillery Regiment. An Ersatz company was the cadre left behind for a Jäger or pioneer battalion.
An Ersatz Eskadron was the cadre left behind for a cavalry regiment. An Ersatz Abteilung was used for a field artillery regiment. Many of the active regiments had two ersatz battalions. These were used not only for recruits but also for forming new units. Occasionally, recruits were sent to different regiments than their original Ersatz battalion. While active infantry regiments had two Ersatz battalions, Reserve and Landwehr regiments had only one each.

Each battalion normally had three or four ersatz companies, a convalescent company, a company of men fit only for garrison duty, and one or two recruit depots (Rekruten Depots). Untrained recruits were initially sent to the recruit depot. After a preliminary course they are moved into an Ersatz Company regularly of 100 to 200 men.

This system stayed in place only until the beginning of 1915. Up until that time recruits moved directly from their regimental depot to the units at the front. A new organization known as a field recruit depot (Feld Rekruten Depot) became an advanced replacement center at the front. After one to three months training at home in the Ersatz Battalion, recruits were sent to the field recruit depot where their training was completed. From there they were sent to the front. Wounded soldiers returning to the front would also pass through the field recruit depot to learn the latest techniques. There were times when entire recruit companies were used to fill the gap in the line during critical times. Most field recruit depots were associated with divisions. Recruits arrived as a combined draft from the home depots and were distributed as required among the regiments. Therefore you can easily see how someone who trained with Regiment A. could easily be assigned to Regiment B.
 
This very interesting, as I have a few postcards with this information on them. I have also seen alot of postcards on Ebay and always look for the back to see if it is for a unit that I am collecting.
Thanks for the info Joe.

Cheers,
Cliff :)
 
This is an outstanding translation tool. It only helps in one of the fonts but it is often found.
http://www.waldenfont.com/product.asp?productID=8&m=1

to read old German letters or documents, you will need to learn this script. Kurrent Kupferstich is an excellent learning tool. Write any text on your computer in a typeface of your choice, then convert it to Old German Script using this font. That way you have a familiar text to practice your reading skills on.
 
Hey Joe,
I know from the cards I am working on, that it is possible to find Feldpost cards with none of the information listed on them, I have some that have only the recipiant's address and the message, these have been difficult to attribute, and I have had to resort to penmanship to group them with other cards from the same sender. Ther are even one or two that do not even have a post mark.
Best wihses
Gus
 
yes unfortunately it is true. But look at the bright side you can type in English into this tool and it will show you what it looks like in Kurrent!
 
I missed that feature, but then I am a bit slow, I will have to go play with it a bit.
Gus
After playing with it, it is a very useful tool, now if they could get something that could read smudges and mis spellings it would be perfect.
 
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