Just found an EK2 that supposedly belonged to an officer Otto Weiss, killed near Verdun. Does anyone have references that might verify this officer existed? Sorry, I don''t have a unit.
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Doug--without unit, rank, date... no can do. I have a list of "von" Anybody fatalities, but if he was a wartime Leutnant der Reserve, nothing to go on. Rick -
Hi Doug,
believe it or not some 36 Prussian officers with the name of Weiss were killed in action during the First World War ((Ehrenmal des preußischen Offizier-Korps). But then we come up against that ridiculous "Prussianism" whereas for some inexplicable reason only surnames are included in listings of Prussian officers. However all is not lost: At least the place of death is listed and that gives us a couple of choices:
Oberleutnant der Reserve Weiß of IR.99 killed on the 22nd Feb 1916 at Verdun.
Leutnant Weiß of IR. 168 killed on the 9th of September 1916 at Verdun.
Of course he may not have been Prussian
Regards
GlennComment
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Rick,
Supposedly a "colonel" as written on the old tag. Killed near Vacherauville (NW of Verdun). Date on tag is 11/29/18, but that could be the date the cross was picked up. Maybe I'll find more when I get the tag to examine, but I doubt it.Comment
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Doug,
Don't think he could have been a colonel. The only Oberst with the name Weiß reported KIA was Oberst Maximilian Weiß of the 10th Bavarian Infantry Regiment König killed in Lorraine on 8th September 1914. Similarly no half-colonels fit the bill.
For what its worth I found a Leutnant der Reserve Otto Weiß in Württemberg Reserve-Infanterie-Regiment 122. He however appears to have survived the war.
GlennComment
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Glenn,
Thank you very much for that info. It gives me something to go on. The old tag looks like a museum ID tag, or maybe just something the vet stuck on it. It would have been easy to misinterpret the rank.Comment
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