Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment 46

[Gerst]

I have posted photos of my paternal Grandfather which put him in the 46th Landwehr Regiment in 1914. I am surprised because he was from Leimbach in Thüringen, and the 46 LIR was from lower Silesia.

Question 1 - Is this unusual
Question 2 - I seem to remember hearing that Opa was at Tannenberg. Was the 46th at the battle?

Thank you for your help - Vielen Dank für Ihre Hilfe!

Arnim

[Renner aus Schlesien]

I have posted photos of my paternal Grandfather which put him in the 46th Landwehr Regiment in 1914. I am surprised because he was from Leimbach in Thüringen, and the 46 LIR was from lower Silesia.

Question 1 - Is this unusual
Question 2 - I seem to remember hearing that Opa was at Tannenberg. Was the 46th at the battle?

Thank you for your help - Vielen Dank für Ihre Hilfe!

Arnim

Arnim - Greetings !

Question 1 - I'm not sure how unusual it was for a soldier to serve in a Regiment other than one from his own area, but my grandfather was living in Hagen (Westfalen) prior to the First World War, but his Regiment - 10.Fussartillerie Regiment was from Lower Saxony.

Question 2 - I don't think the 46.LIR was at Tannenberg. According to what I can find, the only Landwehr Regiments at Tannenberg were the 75.LIR, 76.LIR (both part of the 33.Landwehr Brigade), the 31.LIR, 84. LIR (both part of the 34.Landwehr Brigade...both Brigades part of the Hoherer-Landwehr Kommano Nr.1)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_b ... erg_(1914)

Making a quick check of Histories of 251 Divisions of the German Army I see that the 46.LIR was part of the 3.Landwehr Division for the entire war and only served on the Eastern Front. This is directly from the book..."1914 Russia - At the beginning of the war the 3rd Landwehr Division formed a part of the 2nd Landwehr Corps (old 6th Landwehr Corps) and always occupied the eastern front. Poland - Up to the German offensive of the summer of 1915 the 3rd Landwehr Division along with the 2nd Landwehr Corps, participated in the Polish Campaign. At the end of October 1914, it was identified before Warsaw (Rawa-Vistula); in the middle of November it was in retreat to the south and east of Czenstochow; in December it was to the west of Kielce."

I hope this is good info for you and let me know if you want me to copy down the entire record of the 3rd Landwehr Division from the book for you.

Cheers,
Erik

[Gerst]

My grandfather may have started with the 46th in the east, but he eventually must have been transferred to the western front. He served with the 78th Infantry Regiment at Arras as some point and my father told me that he was at Ypres. I found mention of a 78 Landwehr Regiment (at 2nd Ypres) on an English website but I was not aware that there even was a 78th Landwehr Infantry Regiment. Maybe they meant the RIR 78.

In any case, I have a photo which clearly states "Arras" and 78 JR on a sign. It is not dated, but it must have been early in the war, possibly late 1915 or 1916. The uniform looks the same as the one where my grandfather is wearing in the Pickelhaube and has the 1888 rifle. He was in the machinegun company at Arras.

Does anyone know which Landwehr units recruited in the area around Eisenach and Bad Salzungen in Thueringen?

Thanks for your help.

[Gerst]

I just returned from Berlin. My cousin gave me Opa's Soldbuch and Militärpass! Can you believe it! He also gave me Opa's EKII with ribbon and two medal award documents. I aready had one EKII and his two other medals. Now I have his complete service record as well! I have the same stuff for my father: 1925 - 1945!

Opa started in the Württemberg IR 127 in 1876 and left active duty in 1905. He joined the Landwehr, later the Landsturm in central Germany. He was mustered in 1914 to the LIR 46 and served on the east front - he was briefly with IR 345.
In 1916, he was on the west front at Arras with LIR 78 with whom he completed service. He fought on both fronts!

I have scanned everything!

Gerst

[genealogy1999]

@Gerst

Hello, where do you have posted the photos and are there Group-Photos too?
My 3x Great-grandfather Gustav Theodor Luft (born 16.01.1877 and called Theodor) was also in the Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment 46.
On the "Verlustenliste" you can read that he was seriously injured.
I have just one Photo of him. In the uniform

Greetings