Militärpaß-Garde Grenadier Rgt.5 1914-1919(sparticus revolution)!

[K Bandow]

My dad has had this for many years, and I figured I would share it.
The soldier was first put into service with the Garde Grenadier Regiment 5 of Berlin-Schönberg in 1914. In 1915, he was transferred to the 2 MG battalion of the Garde Grenadier Regiment 5 and trained on the Maxim MG-08. He saw the Eastern front and Western front, in battles at such locations as Ypres, Arras, Flanders, usw.
In 1919, he apparently was in one of the units still loyal to the throne and helped fight off the Communist plague known as the sparticus revolution.
If any of you are interested, when I get home, I will post the scans I made last night of the militärpaß.
Karl R. Bandow

[McCulloh]

Sounds like this guy knew Bob's Dad!
I can't wait for the scans.

[Bob Lembke]

Militaer=Pass info on Berlin civil war

Guys;


Very interesting. I have two Militaer=Passe that cast an interesting light on this era and these events.

One is the Pass from my father. In November 1918 he was in the II. Garde=Pionier=Ersatz=Bataillon, which I believe served as a Recruiten=Depot for the Garde=Reserve=Pionier=Regiment (Flammenwerfer), as he had been gassed the previous month fighting in the Champagne, and blinded for a few days. The second the war was over he was instantly tossed out of the Army, the entries made by a Deputy Gallwitz of the unit's new Workers' and Soldiers' Council, the Red committee formed to run each army unit. Pop went to see his mother in Hamburg, and was stopped at gunpoint by a patrol of Red sailors who stripped him of his greatcoat and boots in the street, awkward in December in North Germany. REALLY PISSED (nothing like a REALLY PISSED storm-trooper!), he went back to Berlin and joined the Freikorps Potsdam, which was Garde=based, and soon thereafter burned his way into the back door of the Vorwarts building. They captured 300 armed Reds, and Pop and his buddies took the 26 wearing sailor's uniforms and shot them in the forehead with a P 08. (Yes guys, this was civil war, Pop enjoyed it less than the Western Front.)

The other Pass is from another FW=Pionier, a copy kindly given me by a friend in CA. He also went from the GRPR (FW) to the II. GPEB, and was discharged, but was treated very well, given his marching money, and awarded a pension. (My father, wounded four times, and disabled to some degree {he tricked his way back to the front in 1918, as he had been declared unfit for FW duty; his left arm spit out bone fragments for 10-15 years}, got beans.

These discharge matter entries awarding a pension were signed by the SAME Deputy Gallwitz who tossed my father. The probable difference, the date was March 6, 1919, two months after the Freikorps Potsdam shot the 26 Red sailors.

Actually, I have a source that states that the Guards units often drove the Red leaders crazy by electing right-wing guys to their Workers' and Soldiers' Councils. But the II. GPEB was not a combat unit, it sat in Berlin the whole war, and certainly were not storm-troopers, and its Council was probably Red. But they were probably smelling the coffee.

I have two Passe from the GRPR and one from Sturm=Bataillon Nr. 5 (Rohr), and each one has revealed important things about these units that I think were not known. (Two of these Passe are from e-friends in Germany and California with whom I swapped Passe copies.) If anyone has a Pass from these important units (or the excellent one that is the subject of this thread) I would be delighted to either buy a copy or trade for other Passe copies. (I hope to also write a book on SB Rohr, at some time.) As a further treat I will be happy to provide the summaries of these Passe that I (eventually) write, about 800 word summaries of the guy's career, units, awards, combats, training, etc., etc. I might immodestly add that serious Passe collectors who have seen these write-ups have been blown away. (Not fatally!) I have learned stuff about how Passe were written that allows extracting more information than even from a perfect translation from the Fraktur, Suetterlin, and Kurrent writing, as there are lots of codes and odd quirks, as we know the Bloody Hun loved to put in their documents.

Sounds like a great Pass! There is so much information in these documents.

Bob Lembke

[Frosch]

Hi Bob,


I would certainly like to read your write-ups. I also owe you a summary of the Pionier Militärpässe that I still haven't listed on my site.

Karl,

Do show the scans. I for one would certainly like to see them.

Thanks in advance,

David

[Bob Lembke]

Militaer=Passe

Hi David, Guys;

First let me embarrass David; he is the only Passe=Saemmler that I know who has made an effort to publicly post and share his holdings of Passe on his site. Unfortunately there is no group in this area of collecting. Of course every collector has his own motivations, some love the objects (I think we all do to varying degrees), some wish to be very solitary, as is their right, etc. I and, I am sure, David are lovers of the information they contain. Personally, aside from my father's Pass, I probably value a good copy of a Pass at about 70% of the value I would place on the original document, as in this area I am primarily a collector of information, not objects. I know one or two collectors that place no value at all on a copy, just as most stamp collectors who would pay $100,000 for a "one penny black" would not pay two cents for a photograph of one.

I certainly feel that original Militaer=Passe are a ligitimate class of Militaria. (I always fear that I drag threads off the mark to my own weird recesses.) I would argue that copies themselves are. They are much like a nice shelf of Ranglisten.

I personally would be happy to share a listing of what Passe I have (about 40, I guess) with all and sundry, and also brief summaries, but would be a bit jealous with my descriptions, that started at a page but now tend to run two or three pages single-spaced. (I guess I have done about 25-30.) They are a product of hard labor and much squinting and are intellectual property, I feel. David has been helpful to me and deserves applause for his efforts and I would feel honored to share these with him. I certainly feel that anyone who has given me or even sold me a Passe deserves a copy of a detailed description if I have made one.

I am, of course, hinting at starting a project of cooperation in listing and sharing a registry of Passe, but I have little time to put into such a project at the present time; I am writing my Flammenwerfer book under a contract with a firm time-line, and have recently found more fantastic sources that demand an expanding effort. Do these comments ring any bells? (Other than the one my keeper is ringing as we speak!)

David; I recently obtained a Pass and other documents from a Landser from the Pionier=Vesuch=Kompagnie, which also was the 5th Company of the Garde=Pionier=Bataillon. This interesting unit was actually the first flame-thrower unit. This Pass also has revealed what I feel are important insights.

Bob Lembke

[K Bandow]

Here are the scans.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask!
I am also wondering if someone can help translate some of this?
Thanks!
Karl

[K Bandow]

Some personal info on Kurt Konrath

[K Bandow]

continued

[K Bandow]

Wound badge entry

[K Bandow]

Weapons training

[K Bandow]

Battle list

[K Bandow]

Need translation help (if you need close ups, feel free to ask)

[K Bandow]

need more translation help (mentions something about Siemens)

[K Bandow]

Eiserne Kreuz 2. Klasse entry

[K Bandow]

I will have to make some more scans of the other pages, but first I want to hear what you all have to say.
Thanks!
Karl