Resources for Interpreting Honor Rank List of the Kaiserliche Marine

[Roman C]

I recently managed to acquire a copy of the Imperial German Honor Rank List for 1914-1918 (Ehrenraglists der Kaiserlich Deuschen Marine) in order to complete some research on a few named items. While overall it's been quite useful, I've found a few pieces are difficult for someone who is somewhat less familiar with the terminology, especially given the stylized script.

Is there a good place to ask questions about original documents such as this? For example, in one particular service record there is a reference to an officer aboard SMS Helgoland, after which there is an abbreviation H.A.b.E.



I'm unable to determine if I'm misreading the abbreviations (no combination of these abbreviated letters appear in the legend), or if it stands for something which others more familiar with this text might know of. Are there any communities which might specialize in this, or any experts here on the forums?

[AZPhil]

Hello Roman,
Try this section.
https://www.warrelics.eu/forum/photo...a-third-reich/

Semper Fi
Phil

[thecyclist64]

looks like H U b E to me, but can't find out what it means

[Roman C]

Thanks Phil, I suppose this book actually would make quite a bit of sense there. While the topic is Imperial German, it was indeed only published in 1930. Will give it a shot there!

Cyclist - I also had that same thought, the font here can be a big barrier. While the character is open at the top, in the glossary this open-topped "A" appears as the first letter, and corresponds to German words which begin with A (Admiral, Artillerie, etc) so I'm quite confident the abbreviation is H.A.b.E., however only after looking for "Ubteilung" and realizing my mistake

[thecyclist64]

It could well be an "a", but hard to tell really

[Willmore]

Hi there,

It says H.A.b.E,

Here is an excellent ‘cheat sheet’ that I use.

[Roman C]

Excellent references, thank you both! Those guides are especially useful with the upper/lowercase Fraktur characters.

A fellow in another group pointed me to this list of common acronyms used by the Wehrmacht information center (Wehrmachtauskunftstelle) which seems to be hosted on bundesarchiv.de: Bundesarchiv Internet - Gebrauchliche Abkurzungen der Deutschen Dienststelle (WASt)

Assuming that's a relevant list here, might suggest that it's a Mobile Port Authority (Hafenamt beweglich Einheit)? The plot thickens.

[Roman C]

Will be sharing photos and a story soon

[Glenn J]

Roman,

most definitely H.A.b.E. Could you please tell me the name of the officer and the page number this entry refers to?

Thanks.

Regards
Glenn

[Glenn J]

In the mean time, I have solved this little riddle. I see you were referring to Dr. Emil Grulich of S.M.S. Helgoland. H.A.b.E. stands for Hilfsarzt bis Ende, that is he was an assistant medical officer on board S.M.S Helgoland from July 1917 to the war's end. Hilfsarzt in this context refers to his level of employment and not his held rank, that of a Marine-Oberassistenzarzt der Reserve. In this case, he was employed as an assistant or junior medical officer on-board. You will notice throughout the Ehrenrangliste that all those officers who survived or who did not retire before the war's end, have a final entry of either "bis Ende" or "b.E."

Other abbreviations for medical officer appointments were:

Ob.A. Oberarzt (senior medical officer)
S.A. Stabsarzt (staff medical officer)
Chef.A. (principal or chief medical officer)
Halbfl.A. Halbflottillenarzt (half-flotilla medical officer)
Div.A. Divisionarzt (division medical officer)

etc.

Regards
Glenn