Four Deathcards: A sad story

[Adrian Stevenson]

Losing one son in a war must be terrible for any parent, but this family lost three sons in the Great War, only to loose another son in WW2.

They named all their sons with names starting with the letter "A".

Here is the deathcard of the first to be lost in 1918.

August Schmitt: a bandsman in 2 Kompanie / Inf Regt 131 and holder of the EKII

[Adrian Stevenson]

Then came Alois Schmitt killed in heavy fighting near Noyon, aged 19.5 years, while serving with Inf Regt 412.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Aloys Schmitt was serving with 1 kompanie / Reserve Inf Regt 208 and was an EKII winner. "A heroes death for the Fatherland on 29th August 1918"

[Adrian Stevenson]

And now we come to WW2.

Artur Schmitt was an Unteroffizier and holder of the Infantry Assualt badge and the EKII.

"A heroes death for Fuhrer, Volk and Fatherland on April 6th 1941 in the battle for Greece aged 25 years"

I believe he fought in France in 1940 with Aufklärungs-Abteilung 34. I have a beer mug which came with these cards which was a Christmas gift from his Commanding Officer.

I have had these cards for a few years now but I want to do some research on them and try and get some photos of their graves. I have emailed a friend to see if he can research the German War Graves site for me.

Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V. - Arbeit für den Frieden

I don't have much sucess in using that site. Not sure what I am doing wrong despite using an English guide.

Cheers, Ade.

[Adrian Stevenson]

Here is the beer mug I mentioned.

Note the "traditions" cap badge of the "Schwedter Adler" or "Dragoon Eagle" which was worn by several Regt's including Aufklärungs-Abteilung 34.

Rittmeister Von Arnim later became a Major and holder of the Deutsche Kreuz in Gold.

[Adrian Stevenson]

My friend Fred has come up with the info on where he was killed:

Nachname: Schmitt
Vorname: Arthur
Dienstgrad: Unteroffizier
Geburtsdatum: 20.02.1916
Geburtsort: Heimbach
Todes-/Vermisstendatum: 06.04.1941
Todes-/Vermisstenort: Kato Nevrokopion


Arthur Schmitt ruht auf der Kriegsgräberstätte in Goce Delcev (Bulgarien) .
Endgrablage: auf diesem Friedhof

So, it turns out he is actually buried in Southern Bulgaria.


Cheers, Ade.

[RedArmyCollector]

Wow..That is a sad story indeed. The Ultimate Sacrifice

(not sympathizing for the Nazi's but for the soldiers)

[ironcross1]

Stunning piece of history , certianly brings home the reality of war , Thanks Adrian , Raymond

[Glenn66]

Shame, the 3 WW1 guys made it to within only a few months of the armistice...

[ObKrieger]

Just out of curiosity, why is there a difference in the spelling of Artur's last name? I have noticed that spelling errors are very common on these. Is this just a typo?