The letters received by the Limbach family following Fritz's death will be published on this blog one letter at a time in the following days.
As these letters were received over several months the posting-date will be before they were written 100 years ago.
[No place] 2 October 1915
Dear family
Limbach.
As you
already know, the English attempted
to break through our lines again. At our Regiment’s positions they tried to
break through the iron wall of our brave Hacketäuer
[Nickname for IR16].
One platoon
of 6th Company manned an extremely important foreward position.
Amongst the troops at this position, called the “Prellbock Stellung”, was your valued son.
After
heavily bombarding us for a few days, thereby heavily damaging our positions,
the enemy commenced with the ground attack on 25 September at 07.45 hrs.
The attack
on our positions, which was preceded by a gas attack, was repelled succesfully thanks
to the brave soldiers at the heavily fortified Prellbock Stellung.
Sadly this victory
was not without sacrifices on our side. The Company mourns the loss of 9 fallen
comrades. Amongst those heroes was your son, der Einjährige Fritz Limbach. [*1]
Your son,
who in battle proved himself to be a true Hacketäuer, sadly had to sacrifise his
life for our treasured Fatherland. He was killed by a shot to the head, and
died without regaining consciousness.
The whole
Company, and also I, very much mourn the loss of such a capable soldier, who through
his high sense of comradeship was liked by all.
Please
accept his comrades’ deepest condolences on your terrible loss.
Your son
was buried on 27.9.15 with full military honours. He was laid to rest, together
with the other heroes of the Company, in a common grave at the Ehrenfriedhof in Douvrin.
The grave
was marked with a cross with inscription.
Be it a
consolation for you that your beloved son gave his young life as a hero for his
beloved Fatherland. Being aware of this may, I hope, ease the pain of this
terrible loss.
With fond
memories of our dear comrade I am,
Respectfully
(was
signed) Breunig
Leutnant der Reserve and Company commander
PS: The
personal effects of the deceased are enclosed.[*2]
[*1] Curiously
the Regimental History of IR 16 (Published in 1927) puts Fritz’s (and some of the
others’) date of death at 24 September 1915, the day befóre the Battle
of loos.
Their
gravestones also bear that date.
The above
letter of Ltn Breunig mentions 9 casualties in 6th Company, apparently all in
that one action on the morning of the 25th.
The Regimental
History however mentions 10 men from 6th Company dying on differing
dates between 24 September and 2 October (the date of Breunig’s letter):
Dates are
as per said Regimental History
Reservist Wilhelm Altenbach, from Opladen/Solingen
Died 24th
September 1915. Buried in Lens-Sallaumines, Block 4, grave 537
Musketier Paul Budde, from Hillegossen/Bielefeld
Died 24th
September 1915. Buried in Lens-Sallaumines, Block 4, grave 539
Musketier Emil
Emde, from Langerfeld/Schwelm
Died of
wounds 24th September 1915. Buried in Bauvin, Block 3, grave 48
(Maybe Emil
died of wounds sustained befóre 24th September?)
Musketier Richard Emmler, from
Biedenkopf/Hessen-Nassau
Died 25th
September 1915. Buried in Lens-Sallaumines, Block 4, grave 538
Gefreiter Hermann
Gumpertz, from Duisburg
Died of wounds
29th September 1915. Buried in Seclin, Block 3, grave 54
Musketier Wilhelm
Hundertmark, from Adorf/Waldeck
Died of
wounds 28th September 1915. Buried in Bauvin, Block 3, grave 5.
Einjährige Freiwilliger Fritz Limbach, from Barmen
Died 24th
September 1915. Buried in Lens-Sallaumines, Block 4, grave 536
Musketier Karl Romberg, from Barmen
Died 24th
September 1915. Buried in Lens-Sallaumines, Block 4, grave 508
Musketier Eduard
Siesskind, from Busendorf/Elsass-Lotharingen
Died 24th
September 1915. Buried in Lens-Sallaumines, Block 4, grave 507
[*2] Included in the batch of letters were these two booklets which I presume were (part of) the "Personal effects of the deceased":
1) "From the Word of God"excerpts from the Bible:
[*2] Included in the batch of letters were these two booklets which I presume were (part of) the "Personal effects of the deceased":
1) "From the Word of God"excerpts from the Bible:
Do note the "Sollte ich fallen, bitte Ich diesses mein Büchlein zu senden an...": "In case I'm killed please send this booklet to..."
2) and a "Feldgesangbuch" ("Field hymnbook") "for the Evangelical men in our Army" (Fritz was Evangelical Christian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelicalism )
No inscriptions in this one.
2) and a "Feldgesangbuch" ("Field hymnbook") "for the Evangelical men in our Army" (Fritz was Evangelical Christian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evangelicalism )
No inscriptions in this one.
Hi there,
ReplyDeleteI'm in Lens right now for own family history research. The brother of my great grand father was Wilhelm Hundertmark. I found his grave in Bauvin. During my research today I found a forum's thread of the letters and the story of Fritz Limbach. Very interesting. So Wilhelm must have be wounded that same day and died three days later. I wonder if he was mentioned somewhere or could be seen on a photograph...?
I'll keep on researching. Thanks for all this fantastic work.
Regards, Eckhard
Eckhard!
DeleteMillion apologies about my véry late reply, but I never got a notice from Blogger that someone had replied!
Your Wilhelm could very well be in the group-pictures that Fritz took, but who is he? Have you scanned them for any family resemblance?
Fritz did write home detailing every photograph he took and how many copies his cousin should make, but when it was groups he'd write e.g. "Group at Auchy. 5 copies". No names unfortunately.
Interesting to "meet" a relative of one of Fritz's mates!
Wilhelm must have experienced a lot of what Fritz writes about.
Hope it colours in the picture you have (or nów have!) of your great-great-uncle's time in the Great War (Did I get the number of great's right?)
Fritz is totally not a relation of mine. I just happened upon this treasure-trove of letters on Ebay, and the seller didn't quite have a clue of what this was. She thought it was the letters of 2 brothers, one in France, and one near the Don(in Russia)!
But after reading, and transcribing, and translating his letters he has sort of become a sort of a virtual brother. Part of the family.
"Too good for this world" as one his mates describes him.
Anyway, if you want high-res scans of the group-photos please ask.
Jan Willem
Hello. I am from Canada and am researching a distant relative who was in IR 16 and killed in Sept 1914. Does anyone know where I can access the regimental history for that period? Any help appreciated. Thank you. jtohlman@icloud.com
ReplyDelete