Military pass to a Verdun veteran

[Betty Swollocks]

Hi all

Ive recently bought a pass to a WW1 Verdun veteran, George Bollwein and as I usually collect German WW2 paperwork ive no idea how to decifer this WW1 pass. A few questions.
1, Did WW1 Military Pass's usually have a photo in like the WW2 Wehrpass did ?
2. Does this pass show the soldiers decorations ?

What I'm really after is a brief rundown of his WW1 military history. It looks like he was in a Pioneer Unit and then moved on to an Artillery unit but im not sure.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance
Darren in the UK.

[Betty Swollocks]

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[Betty Swollocks]

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[Betty Swollocks]

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[Betty Swollocks]

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[Betty Swollocks]

Hi all

Ive recently bought a pass to a WW1 Verdun veteran, George Bollwein and as I usually collect German WW2 paperwork ive no idea how to decifer this WW1 pass. A few questions.
1, Did WW1 Military Pass's usually have a photo in like the WW2 Wehrpass did ?
2. Does this pass show the soldiers decorations ?

What I'm really after is a brief rundown of his WW1 military history. It looks like he was in a Pioneer Unit and then moved on to an Artillery unit but im not sure.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance
Darren in the UK.

[Don D.]

Pictures, no. Awards yes. Can you make page 11 larger?

[Betty Swollocks]

Hi Don

Thanks for the reply. Here it is

[Kaleun]

Our friend here got the following awards:

18.5. 15 Eis. Krz. 2. Kl. = 18th May 1915 Iron Cross 2nd Class

16.11.15 M. V. Krz. 3. Kl. m. Schw. = 16th November 1915 the 9Bavarian) Military Merit Cross 3rd Class with swords

Nice Militärpaß - I like it!

regards
Thorsten

[Betty Swollocks]

Thanks guys for the information. Can you tell what units he was with ?

Darren

[Don D.]

The Bavarian Minenwerfer Company 1.

[Dave Danner]

Regarding the initial questions. No pictures as far as I know in WW1 passes. He wasn't in an artillery unit, just pioneers. He entered service in the Bavarian 4th Pionier-Bataillon on 7 August 1914 as an Ersatz-Reservist. He went to the Minenwerfer-Abteilung of the Bavarian Pionier-Regiment on 8 December 1914 and then to mittlere Minenwerfer-Abteilung 104 on 22 April 1915. On 15 December 1915, he was transferred to Bavarian Minenwerfer-Komp. 1, where he remained until being hospitalized in 1918.

He was promoted to Gefreiter on 14 December 1915 and Unteroffizier on 20 October 1916.

He was hospitalized on 7 March 1918 for psychiatric evaluation (Untersuchung auf seinen Geisteszustand). He remained in various hospitals until 4 September 1918. While hospitalized, he was transferred to a replacement unit, Minenwerfer-Ersatz-Bataillon 2. He was released from the Army on 29 November 1918. It is unclear exactly what he was hospitalized for, probably shell-shock, but it was apparently serious enough to end his war without ever being physically injured.

Regards

[Betty Swollocks]

Great, thanks for the information Dan.

It makes sense as he has an Invalid book which i assume is some sort of state benefits payment book. I also has a WW2 Wehrpass and Wehrpaß Notiz for the fella but he didnt see action in WW2.

Looks like a good find this one. I only bought it as ive been to Verdun three times and its such a magical place.

Darren

[Betty Swollocks]

Hi all

Can someone give me some information on Bavarian Minenwerfer-Komp. 1

I presume they were artillery ? What type of guns used and would they have seen front line action ?

Thanks in advance
Darren

[Gerdan]

Darren

may be this is a start for you (type of guns):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7.58_cm_Minenwerfer

These are Bavarian Minenwerfer:

http://www.milex.de/forum/anhaenge/f...tentopic_0.jpg


Gerdan


Gerdan