How mistakes are made?

[Ian Jewison]

Here is the Wehrstammbuch to Oberleutnant Friedrich Rößler DKiG.

As you can see from the list of units he served with the Motorcycle, later renamed Reconnaissance Battalion of the 23rd Panzer Division.

Also he was highly decorated. Although the Wehrstammbuch was drawn out 27.1.1938, most of the entries appear to have been made in 1943.

[Ian Jewison]

Different spelling of his name depending how you write "ß".

Rößler or Rössler

[Ian Jewison]

However, if you check the recipient lists for the German Cross he is not entered!

However there is an Oberfeldwebel Friedrich Röhsler who served with 4./Kradschützen-Bataillon 23 and received the German Cross on the same day 5.4.1943!

[Ian Jewison]

Lets have a look at the front of his Wehrstammbuch.

How would you read his name:

Rößler or Röhsler?

[Ian Jewison]

The clerk got it wrong!

So do a thorough check when researching.....a typo in awards lists, on the German War Graves sites etc. paints a different story!

Mind you, don't go looking for something that is not there either and make the mistake the he is a holder of high awards when he is not

[Ian Jewison]

Confirmation of awards from Kriegsstammrollenblätter

[PAB_Collector]

Very intresting Ian.

[JUNGCO]

Thats how my relatives ended up with Weihs...The same letter mistakes. It could also be read as Weiß or Weiss.
Jeff

[Panzer Rob]

AWESOME thread, Ian! You've done a wonderful job showing how errors/mistakes can and did in fact happen and furthermore how a mistake on a single doc/ID can be extremely misleading if supporting documents are not present. I have a couple of similar examples I will try to find some time and post where clerical errors were made and, had the additional documents/papers been missing, some entries/awards etc. would more than likely be written off as

No doubt this may ruffle the feathers of a few "Textbook only" collectors who feel that entries which are not 100% "textbook" correct in every way and need to be discussed/explained are bogus.......

Rob

[Eric JB]

Thank you Ian,


"How mistakes are made": Your thread shows it all.


yours friendly

Eric-Jan

[Rose Heppler]

Thanks for posting this Ian. It's interesting to see and something to keep in mind when you have spelling with an ss that could be "ß" and vice-versa. I know that current day in the military we still have misspelling issues. It will be interesting to see more examples!

-Rose

[pauke]

name

Actually, the clerk did an exact job of typing out the letter(s) he saw. I've never seen an "ess-zett" written as an "hs" and I see the same thing he wrote. He gets the KVK 2. w/o swords in my book.

[David Fettes]

The clerk did his best IMO.

The H of Röhsler looks like the H of Friedrich. (White arrows)

However the E of Röhsler is nothing like the correct E in Friedrich. (Red arrows)

Whoever did the writing was mixing their scripts up!

[WEISNER]

Excellent Job as stated Ian! Perhaps this thread should be pinned and others added that have such mistakes? A real eye opener!
Best Regards!
Kevin

[JUNGCO]

Pauke,
Here's an example for you. His Führungsbuch in block letters. Then his Gesundheitsbuch, hand written.