WWI German Uniform ID & Where to Locate Personnel Records

afwife

This is the only photo I have of my grandfather in uniform. It was taken 1917-18, and he is the man on the right. It appears to me, the man on the left is an officer. Can anyone identify the branch of service it might have been? He was born in 1895, in Luneburg, Germany, which is in Lower Saxony. A City Register record from his hometown lists him in the following towns: Bleckede (Aug-Nov 1914) & Geesthacht (Feb-Apr 1915). Both of these towns are located on the Elbe river. Does anyone know of any military connection? I would appreciate any insights, comments about these uniforms and where I might find personnel records. No luck with it so far, and I have heard over the years that many of these German records were lost. . .

Thank you for any help,

Leah

Kennneth Smith

@afwife You may have tried this but I did a Google search for WWI German uniforms and then clicked on images. A lot of photos of German uniforms came up. You may find a photo of the uniform you are looking for and then could do further research to learn more about that uniform. I tried to paste the link to that page of uniforms but Family Search would not accept that link.

You may also want to try Pinterest to see if there are any photos of uniforms similar to the one you are looking for.

Good luck with your research.

Ken Smith

afwife

Ken,

Thank you for your suggestions. I don't always think about Pinterest, so I will look around there. Looking at all the pics on Google can make one bleary eyed, but I have spent time there. I appreciate your trying to include a link, but glad to hear I am NOT the only one who has trouble doing that, at times!

Sincerely,

Leah

RobertWessel

@afwife

Have you tried sending the photo to one or more of the WWI museums in Europe? Many museums will respond to inquiries regarding the subject matter they cover.

Historial de la Grande Guerre – Musée de la Première Guerre Mondiale

https://www.historial.fr/en

When visiting the Historial, school groups can choose between a wide variety of activities both inside the museum and outside in the town of Péronne or on the battlefields. Please note: guided tours within the museum are not available for school groups.

Dauerausstellungen Tilly en

https://www.armeemuseum.de/en/exhibitions/museum-of-world-war-i.html

Permanent Exhibitions in the Museum of World War I {loadposition ersterweltkriegenglisch} {loadposition friedensbeginnenglisch}

Wehrgeschichtliches Museum Rastatt

https://wgm-rastatt.de/

Das Wehrgeschichtliche Museum Rastatt gehört mit seinen Sammlungen und der modernen, didaktisch aufbereiteten Ausstellungspräsentation zu den führenden militärhistorischen Museen Deutschlands. 1934 im Karlsruher Schloß gegründet befindet es sich seit 1956 im Barockschloss Rastatt.

afwife

Hi Robert,

Thank you for your input. I hadn't thought about looking for, or contacting WWI museums in Europe, but that makes good sense. I will look into the places you mentioned with the links provided (appreciate specifics like that), and see what happens.

Once again, this shows how others often have insights that are so beneficial to research being done!

Sincerely,

Leah H. Snider