INTRODUCTION

In May 2014 I came across a listing on a well-known Internet auction-site, offering
"a collection of letters from a German soldier (or perhaps two brothers)  from the Eastern and Western front, all dated 1915, including pictures and a letter detailing the circumstances of his death"

For some reason I had to have this, and I even upped my bid in the last minute
(Which was a good thing as I got it for € 2,-  less than my upped bid !)

When the letters arrived I laid them to one side for a few days, and then began to sort them date-wise, and started to read them. Turned out it was the complete correspondence, from his almost day 1 in the army upto 3 days before his death, of one German soldier :
"Einjährig-Freiwilliger" Fritz Limbach, from Unter-Barmen (now Wuppertal) .

And, as happens quite often in the description of such a lot, there were a few errors:
Fritz never was at the Eastern Front (The seller perhaps mistook "Don" in Northern France for "Don" in Russia), there were no two brothers, and the letter "describing the circumstances of his death" is actually about Fritz' cousin Erich Bonert.

This is what I know at the moment about Fritz Limbach:

Born 25 October 1894, Barmen (now Wuppertal)

Only son of  August Hermann Limbach ( 6-8-1851 Elberfeld – 7-11-1918 Unterbarmen)

and  Anna Proll  ( 14-9-1862 Elberfeld – 23-12-1938 Wuppertal, buried 27-12-1938 )

and he has four sisters :  Anna (born 1882), Helene, Else (who is engaged to a certain August), and Hanne (the youngest I suspect)

The father of Fritz was the owner of the "Linde’sches Eiswerke von Limbach & Bonert"  at  Bismarckstrasse 1, Unter-Barmen .

Fritz attended the Gymnasium Sedanstraße in Barmen
He is named on their war-memorial.
http://www.denkmal-wuppertal.de/2010/04/kriegerdenkmal-des-realgymnasiums-zu.html


Fritz entered the Prussian army as an "Einjährig-Freiwilliger" ("One-year-volunteer")  in, initially, "IR 56", training at Kevelaer.
"Infanterie-Regiment Vogel von Falckenstein (3. Westfälisches) nr. 56" 
(which sort of means "the 3rd Infantry Regiment of Westphalia and the 56th Infantry Regiment of the German Empire")
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einjährig-Freiwilliger
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-year_volunteer


I'll publish his letters on the day he wrote them, but then 100 years later.

The day of the week in square brackets  [  ]  underneath the date is my addition, it doesn't appear in the original letters, it is there to get a sense of when he wrote the letter.
Also anything in square brackets  [  ]  in the transcription of his letters is mý addition.
If something is in normal bracket  (  )  then it is just like that in his letters.

And I will let his letters speak for themselves, I will add no commentary, only provide some backstory to what he describes when needed.
What he actually means, or is trying to say, is something for the comments-section to discuss in.

Also, the letters from the family tó Fritz have not survived.
As he had no place to store them, and the trenches were to be kept neat and tidy at all times, he burned them all after he replied to them.