Post by CRMichaelis on May 4, 2008 18:17:16 GMT -8
Many of you have heard the story of my paternal grandfather's service in WWI, but here it is again for those who haven't! My grandfather, Rudolf Michaelis, was born in Szazregen, Transylvania which was part of Hungary until the end of WWI. He was born in 1894 and was called up at the beginning of the war. As far as I can tell, he was in Honved Infantry Regiment 23. The Honved was the Hungarian version of the Austrian Landwehr. There's a long, complicated story behind its formation, as was typical of anything to do with the Dual Monarchy. Bottom line, men of military age could find themselves in either the Common Army (k.u.k.) or Landwehr/Honved (k.k. or k.m.) depending on where they were from.
My grandfather mobilized at the beginning of the war and was part of the XII Korps of the 2nd Armee which moved first against Serbia, but was then redirected to fight Russia. They were positioned in the Carpathian Mountains, and on 31 December 1914 Rudolf was captured in a surprise Russian attack at the Uzsok Pass. I have a copy of his POW card stating this information. The card is incomplete, but the date and location allowed me to cross-reference the units at the Uzsok Pass in late-December 1914 with the units raised in and around Szazregen, which led to my surmising that he was in HIR 23. There is a cryptic Hlgyg 23 on his POW card, but no one I've contacted can decipher this abbreviation. Anyhow, I'm pretty confident it was HIR23 that he belonged to. According to my dad, his father related that he was captured without ever having fired his weapon at the enemy!
I remember a few stories my grandmother told me about him (he died a month after I was born). He was transported across the entire breadth of Russia in the dead of winter. While marching through small villages the Russian peasant women would run out and wrap the prisoners' feet with rags, telling them that they hoped the German and AH women were treating their men as well. He spent several years in Vladivostok, Siberia as a POW. He was guarded at various times by Russians, Americans and the Japanese. He was a cabinet-maker by trade, and my dad has a violin that he made that has the inscription "Vladivostock, January 1, 1920" on the inside.
After the war he emigrated to the US and sent for my grandmother. I have not yet confirmed whether they were married before or after she came to the US. We have their marriage license from Rumania (Transylvania was given to Rumania after the war for their "glorious" contributions to victory - they sat on the fence until they thought the Allies were going to win in late 1916 - attacked Transylvania and promptly got their butts kicked all the way past Bucharest!) but they could have been married by proxy.
I've been trying to put together a Honved impression for a number of years. I finally found a good supplier for the uniform and then found another great source for the leather gear. Just last week my dad was going through some old photos and found a picture of my grandfather all kitted out in 1914!! I'll have to make some changes to the impression, but I'm so lucky to have found this picture!
I'll post the photo as soon as I figure out how to!
My maternal grandfather and great-uncle also served in the US Army in WWI. I'll post their stories and photos at a future date.
My grandfather mobilized at the beginning of the war and was part of the XII Korps of the 2nd Armee which moved first against Serbia, but was then redirected to fight Russia. They were positioned in the Carpathian Mountains, and on 31 December 1914 Rudolf was captured in a surprise Russian attack at the Uzsok Pass. I have a copy of his POW card stating this information. The card is incomplete, but the date and location allowed me to cross-reference the units at the Uzsok Pass in late-December 1914 with the units raised in and around Szazregen, which led to my surmising that he was in HIR 23. There is a cryptic Hlgyg 23 on his POW card, but no one I've contacted can decipher this abbreviation. Anyhow, I'm pretty confident it was HIR23 that he belonged to. According to my dad, his father related that he was captured without ever having fired his weapon at the enemy!
I remember a few stories my grandmother told me about him (he died a month after I was born). He was transported across the entire breadth of Russia in the dead of winter. While marching through small villages the Russian peasant women would run out and wrap the prisoners' feet with rags, telling them that they hoped the German and AH women were treating their men as well. He spent several years in Vladivostok, Siberia as a POW. He was guarded at various times by Russians, Americans and the Japanese. He was a cabinet-maker by trade, and my dad has a violin that he made that has the inscription "Vladivostock, January 1, 1920" on the inside.
After the war he emigrated to the US and sent for my grandmother. I have not yet confirmed whether they were married before or after she came to the US. We have their marriage license from Rumania (Transylvania was given to Rumania after the war for their "glorious" contributions to victory - they sat on the fence until they thought the Allies were going to win in late 1916 - attacked Transylvania and promptly got their butts kicked all the way past Bucharest!) but they could have been married by proxy.
I've been trying to put together a Honved impression for a number of years. I finally found a good supplier for the uniform and then found another great source for the leather gear. Just last week my dad was going through some old photos and found a picture of my grandfather all kitted out in 1914!! I'll have to make some changes to the impression, but I'm so lucky to have found this picture!
I'll post the photo as soon as I figure out how to!
My maternal grandfather and great-uncle also served in the US Army in WWI. I'll post their stories and photos at a future date.
It seems like of a lot of Austro-Hungarians became involuntary world travellers because of the war.