[OL]Oldenburg Military History

oldenburg-l
1

Hello,
a 'Pionier' is a member of the 'engineering corps' of an army, the Brits
call these guys 'sappers' if I remember correctly.

PS: I do not remember if this has been said before: There never was a
'Kaiser's army'. The - then - seperate German states (most of them) had
their own armies. The Grand Duchy of Oldenburg had the 'Gro�herzoglich
Oldenburgisches Infanterie-Regiment No. 91', other Oldenburg soldiers served
as seperate entities in the Royal Prussian Army. Both of course co-operated
with Prussian army corps and were de facto parts of the Prussian army, but,
sure enough, there never was an 'Imperial (Kaiser's) army.

The Bavarians, a.o., would have snorted at the assumption of being Kaiser's
soldiers, they were, of course, Royal Bavarian.

All these different armies (the smaller states usually playing only as
seperate companies, batallions inside a Prussian regiment) comprised some
kind of a "German army" from 1871 to 1918, but never Kaiser's army. Until
into WW I, the different German armies even had different uniforms, etc.
There were e.g. officers from the former (in 1866 annexed by Prussia)
Kingdom of Hannover who did like to become Prussian officers and thus
entered the service of the Royal Saxonian Army.

My granddad served as an Oldenburg soldier in WW I as part of a Prussian
regiment. Fighting together with Bavarian troups, he and his comrades were
called 'Sauprei�en' (bloody Prussians) by the Bavarians. This stopped when
they changed their Prussian (black/white) cap insignia for Oldenburg
(red/blue) ones. Now they were accepted as 'non-Prussians'.

All this is, of course, not true for the navy. There was the 'Kaiserliche
Marine' = Kaiser's navy, and sailors from all German states served there.

I hope this was not too long
Regards
Heiko

-----Urspr�ngliche Nachricht-----

2

PS: I do not remember if this has been said before: There never was a
'Kaiser's army'. The - then - seperate German states (most of them)
had their own armies. The Grand Duchy of Oldenburg had the
'Großherzoglich Oldenburgisches Infanterie-Regiment No. 91', other
Oldenburg soldiers served as seperate entities in the Royal Prussian
Army. Both of course co-operated with Prussian army corps and were de
facto parts of the Prussian army, but, sure enough, there never was an
'Imperial (Kaiser's) army.

The confusion continues. Rather then wait for my whole history let
me jump in here. Without going all the way back let me start in the
very late 1850s and beginning of the 60s. Prussia decided that it
had a place in Europe as a major power and as leader the German
nation. Within a very short time period (1859-18600) it almost
doubled its army from 45 to 81 infantry regiments. In the meantime
certain alliances were being made among the German states either
with Prussia or Austria. The question was, who between the two
would lead Germany to unification.

Oldenburg early on was with Prussia as it was in close proximity
with it and not with Austria. Besides it was small fry and was not
about to test its mettle against the big boys like other nations
would: Saxony, Hanover, Bavaria etc

Oldenburg had undergone a similar evaluation of its own forces
back in 1853. It found the troops to be unfit for combat but fine for
cermonial duties. This was not good enough for the Grand Duke.
He ordered one of his highest ranking officers to be trained by
Prussia in their methods. He immediately increased the number of
bullets each soldier was to practice with during one year from 40 to
80.

During the 1848/49 war with Denmark, Oldenburg had a strong
force of 4760 men under arms. These were comprised of 5 infantry
battalions (one light, four heavy), three squadrons of cavalry and
two batteries of cannon. As soon as the war was over the 4th Bat.
of the line was dissolved as well as the 4th company of the light
infantry bat. The third Bat. and the 3rd comp.of the light Bat. were
set up as reserve units not on active duty. This was a temporary
arrangement set up on Oct. 1, 1850 by Archduke Paul Friedrich
August and reafirmed as final on Apr. 1, 1855. At this time the
troops were all pulled together to enable better training as a
complete unit. Additional baracks were also built at this time.

Old habits die hard and it was not until the death of the commander
of the Oldenburg Regiment, Count von Ranzow, on Jan. 27, 1860
that the Duke could really affect change. At this time he asked and
received a new commanding officer from the Prussian king. This
was Gen. von Fransecky who was to lead the 7th Prussian Div.
against Austria at Königsgrätz in 1866. Von Fransecky made a
fighting force out of the Oldenburg farmers. In 1861 the entire
regiment received more up to date rifles (Zündnadelgewehre) and
within 5 years (1864) the general had done his task to completion
and was removed back to Prussian units where he was given
command of a Division and later the 2. Army Corps.

Up to 1866 all the German states were united or ununited in the
German Bund. It was sort of the successor to the old Holy Roman
Empire of the German nation which had been dissolved in 1806 by
Napoleon. I June of 1866 Prussia unilaterally dissolved this Bund
and started the North German Confederation. A civil war was
imminent.

Part 2 to follow

The Bavarians, a.o., would have snorted at the assumption of being
Kaiser's soldiers, they were, of course, Royal Bavarian.

That's another whole different kind of wax. :slight_smile:

3

All these different armies (the smaller states usually playing only as
seperate companies, batallions inside a Prussian regiment) comprised
some kind of a "German army" from 1871 to 1918, but never Kaiser's
army. Until into WW I, the different German armies even had different
uniforms, etc. There were e.g. officers from the former (in 1866
annexed by Prussia) Kingdom of Hannover who did like to become
Prussian officers and thus entered the service of the Royal Saxonian
Army.

Trouble was that the Saxons army was also a Prussian army after
1866. They may have kept their unit designations but the shots
were called in Berlin and not Dresden. "Für Gott und Kaiser" was
the rallying cry of the entire German army during the 1st WW

My granddad served as an Oldenburg soldier in WW I as part of a
Prussian regiment. Fighting together with Bavarian troups, he and his
comrades were called 'Saupreißen' (bloody Prussians) by the Bavarians.
This stopped when they changed their Prussian (black/white) cap
insignia for Oldenburg (red/blue) ones. Now they were accepted as
'non-Prussians'.

The Oldenburgers wore the Prussian uniform including the
Pickelhaube. There are enough pictures of the same in the unit
histories. To the Bavarians anybody from the north was a
Saupreuß and probably still is. :slight_smile:

Fred

4

<snip>

Prussia declares war on Austria, Bavaria, Hannover, Saxony,
Baden and Hessia as part and parcel of the struggle for dominance
in a new Germany in 1866. It beats the enemy handily and a new
Germany is born without Austria in it.

Oldenburg had decided to go with Prussia and placed it's troops
under Prussian command as part of the 13th prussian division
under Gen. von Goeben. The Oldenburgers fought in Franconia
(Hochhausen and Werbach) and lost 2 officers and 9 soldiers.
There were also two wounded officers and 40 men. The regiment
returned to thunderous applause in a big parade back to Oldenurg
city on Sept. 22, 1866.

Now it was time to start the North German Confederation which
went from the North Sea to the Main river.

On Jul. 15, 1867 Oldenburg and Prussia came to a permanent
agreement to place its forces under Prussian command. The
Oldenburgisches Infanterie Regiment Nr. 91 was founded on Oct.
1, 1867 within the Prussian 37th Infantry Brigade of the 19th Div in
the Xth Armycorps. Uniforms became Prussian, rules became
Prussian, the regiment became Prussian and carried the Prussian
eagle on their helmets. The king came to see this new outfit at the
parade grounds of Donnerschwee on Jun. 10, 1869.

Oldenburg had already instituted the universal draft but always and
only for its own regiment. It was a lottery system and one had to
have really bad luck to be chosen for actual service. Things
changed now and for the war of 1870/71 against France, Prussian
was in need of more and more troops. It was now able to draft as
needed and the possibility always existed that an Oldenburger
would wind up in some 'foreign' unit. The concept of keeping all the
boys from one place together in one unit stayed but in reality
people were transferred and any carrier officer would certainly have
to serves wherever assigned.

So, now when we read about the Oldenburger boys being drafted
and not really wanting to serve under the Kaiser (really the King
until 1871), we know a little about the circumstances involved. They
really did have to do the Prussian thing and discipline was hard.

Fred