My wife's side is better known. I still need to get the official records back from WaSt in Berlin but it was either the 6th or 7th Bavarian Reserve Infantry that my wifes great opa served in, can't remember right now.
Well that is interesting, this is the stock disc off my Amberg made stock, you may recognize the unit marking:
It reads: 6th Bavarian Reserve Infantry regiment, Company number 8, weapon number 54. They were stationed in the center of Bavaria. The stock dates between 1902 and 1913 but I do not have the original matching barreled action to the stock.
My great grandfather joined the German army in 1902 and served all the way to 1918. He was stationed in Metz, Lorriane province when the war began. He was born in Krotoschin, Posen province of East Prussia. I cannot imagine what it must have been like hearing about the Russians advancing into East Prussia in 1914 and having his home town near the front lines.
He was a senior NCO as of April 1914 (Vizefeldwebel IIRC). His pass shows some interesting information and transfers as well. There are mentions of trench duty in 1918. I cannot imagine what that must have been like, being 35 years old and taking care of 16 year old recruits in the front lines. He was posted to the Artillery depot at Koln during the later half of the war. Interestingly enough, that was the location of one of the major repair depots.
I am privileged to own a Gewehr 88 and Gewehr 98 that have Koln repair depot markings on their butt plates. Perhaps he saw the armourers' working on them ?
I watch the movie "All Quiet on the Western Front" and the training school scene near the beginning gives me an impression of what some of his other duties would have been while being in Koln. His pass shows some commendations from his commanding officers over the years as well.
His military pass lists some regiment numbers so I am currently working on plotting them to a map I have of Armee Korp districts so I can follow where he was for most of the war.
I imagine in the pre war years he was trained on both the Gewehr 88 and Gewehr 98. As such, my collection is heavily focused in that area. I am also aware that he carried a Luger P08 with him into WW1 and, in accordance, I recently acquired a 1914 dated Luger. It is one of the center piece's of my collection to honour him.
Well my grandfather was thrown into an enemy alien camp during WW2 and I have no idea about my great grandfather. That side of my family has all died except for my grandma, father and aunt and no one really knows much about the family history.
My wife's side is better known. I still need to get the official records back from WaSt in Berlin but it was either the 6th or 7th Bavarian Reserve Infantry that my wifes great opa served in, can't remember right now. My wife's opa was in the HJ, Kriegsmarine then was Marine Infantry captured at Festung Saint Nazaire after capitulation on 11 May 45. That is the short version.
Very interesting. My grandfather on my father's side was enlisted into the Luftwaffe as a service technican. I saw photos of him working on Ju 88s, He 111s, and near a Fi 156 recon plane. You can pick him out in the group of his comrades right away as he was always the tallest one. The photos must have been circa 1941 summer or 1942 summer as there was a Soviet SB2 medium bomber with it's engine nacelles destroyed to deny it's use to the enemy.
As far as I know, he was stationed near Leningrad for the war. His military pass did not survive as he was forced to destroy the papers in 1944 with the Soviet advance. He was captured but managed to convince his captives he was a Dutch worker forced to work for the Third Reich, having lived in Holland for some time before the war. He was sent back to Holland to face war crimes in 1945 on a series of trains and trucks but when his truck passed near to Koln, he went for a piss break and never came back. He rejoined the family in Koln. They moved to Canada in 1965 and I am one of the first generations on that side of the family in Canada.
I own a few Kar98k examples for his memory as I remember a story where he was part of a target shooting contest where first prize was a turkey. He won and sent the food back home.
My uncle, who was 17 in 1945, was drafted into the Army as a cyclist for an artillery battery. His group was surrounded in February 1945 and he spent the next 3.5 years in a Soviet POW camp. To this day, he lost his hearing in one ear because of an ear infection that was never treated at that camp. He didn't speak much of his time there but he did mention that the blankets felt "alive" at night.
As for the Gewehr, I just gave it a bit of a post shooting scrub and oh man, I have opened pandora's box. As soon as I took the bolt apart I found tons of mud in every crevice. Same for the action, I was picking mud, dirt and carbon out of the receiver. I don't have an 8mm brush's so I never got into the bore but from what I can see it has TONS of sharp rifling left. We will see how bright she gets with a trip to Wholesale for brush's and some elbow grease.
Reminds me of my 1916 Erfurt Gewehr 98. She was a real forgotten rifle, took three days of cleaning to bring her back to being range worthy. You should have seen the bore on her when I first had her. If you look at it now, you would swear it wasn't the same rifle.
Do you know what kind of screwdriver is needed to take the unit disc off? I am curious if there is a unit marked on the underside now.
I had to use a home made device. Essentially, it is a fork that has the two outer prongs bent up and away from the stock (provides a bit of a finger rest) and the two in the middle pushed away from each other that it just fits the stock disc screw with some tension. I advise caution with this as one wrong slip of the hand and you may nick your stock. The screws on my stock discs turn counter clock wise when holding the stock facing muzzle end to your right side.
The next thing I did was get a screw driver and added a bit with a very thin and narrow square type fixture and placed it just under the disc through the exposed screw hole, tilted to one side. The last thing is to take a hammer and gently tap the screw driver base towards the stock. You will see the disc slowly lift up and eventually it will pop out. Again, take your time with this as the walnut stock may have shrunk in this area so it will be a tight fit. As with the first step, be very careful as you may nick your stock if you are not careful. I have checked the discs on my Gewehr 98s where the disc was sitting above the wood line and could be removed relatively easily or where the wood showed older signs of the disc being flipped. With my 1916 Oberndorf, it is tempting, but I have decided never to remove the disc as the wood stock is near perfect condition over all.
A few of the discs came up blank on either side for some of my Gewehr 98s (even my 1905 Danzig) so be prepared to have no unit markings.
But I promise, just like my P38, K98, Gew 88 etc etc, I will put a few rounds down range every year, not a lot, but at least a mag/clip.
What Gewehr 88 do you have ? I am curious now
. I am hunting for an Amberg marked Gewehr 88 or 98 but with a preference towards a Gewehr 88. I know they are out there but I can never seem to stumble upon them.
