German dog tag: who was this soldier?

[pieter]

Hi guys,

I got this dogtag in the mail today. It belonged to a man named Ernst Margraf, born 18-11-1896 in Nieder Dorla (Niederdorla) Germany. I have no idea what the rest of the text stands for: Fea 9.1.K.M 832.Is there a way to find out more about this mans military career?
Many thanks in advance!
Pieter Boer
Germany/The Netherlands

P.S. I collect German feuerwerker (EOD) and sanitätsdienst (medical) shoulder boards, collar badges and arm badges from 1870-1945. I got this dogtag together with a nice pair of M1916 medical collar badges from a doctor (arzt).

[bichon]

Hi
Fea is for Flieger Ersatz Abteilung 9
cordially
Didier

[pieter]

Thanks Didier!
Now let's see what mr. google has to say.
Cheers,
Pieter

[Matt L]

Hi
Fea is for Flieger Ersatz Abteilung 9
cordially
Didier

Are you sure? That's a WWII unit type certainly, but I don't know about them existing in WWI; besides it's 'Fea' not 'F.E.A', which indicates they're just the first three letters of the word- every word of Flieger-Ersatz-Abteilung is properly capitalized, and thus the abbreviation would also be just capitals. Plus technically 'F.E.A.' stands for 'Fahr-Ersatz-Abteilung', with 'Flieger' always being abbreviated 'Fl' so Flieger-Ersatz-Abteilung would be at least 'Fl. E. A.' to avoid confusion.

I don't know all the various uncommon WWI unit types, but perhaps someone who does can suggest what one might be abbreviated 'Fea'. Obviously the '1.K' is '1. Kompanie' and the 'M.832' is 'Mann (Nummer) 832'.

And to answer your question about service information, no, service records are covered by privacy laws and are only technically available to next-of-kin; my Dad had to get my Grandmother to give her permission to get his Uncle's service record, for example. Unless you're a relation, they're likely not going to give you anything...

[debbi082009]

@pieter. Could you show me the card without dogtag? I like to read the service-information because its a fieldpost-card.

@matt. Didier is correct. It means Flieger Ersatz Abteilung. During WWI there was no Fahr Ersatz Abteilung. Ersatz-Abteilungen were units inside Germany and the only reason for them was to teach rookies in fighting and fill the fighting units with them. Replacementunits (Ersatz-Abteilungen) for driving units were called Kraftwagen Ersatz Abteilung, Sanitätskraftwagen Ersatz Abteilung a.s.o.

[Matt L]

Ah yes, I did just find there was a Flieger-Ersatz-Abteilung 9 raised in 1915 and the short form is listed as FEA9; it occurs that if it were written as one long, compound word rather than the separated form that was used during WWII, it could be abbreviated without each letter being capitalized, i.e. 'Fliegerersatzabteilung'- given the lack of standardization for Erkennungsmarke markings and text, although it's a bit strange, I guess it does make sense. That's pretty cool