[Ger-Poland-Volhynia] conscription age

[Richard Benert]

Ray has brought up a subject that interests me greatly by mentioning
that "so many Russian German soldiers were defecting" in World War
I, that they were transferred to the Turkish front where their
suspected unwillingness to fight against their German "brothers"
wouldn't interfere with the war's success.

After the war, German writers were unanimous in claiming the
injustice done to the colonist soldiers by this transfer.  They
insisted that these troops had been totally loyal and willing to die
for the Tsar, and their transfer was purely the result of anti-German 
meanness.
This version of events has basically come down to
us as the whole truth and nothing but the truth.  But the sources
I've been reading are giving me increasing reason to wonder about
this, for there can be no denying that many Russian Germans, when
called to the colors in 1914, were extremely conflicted over the
idea of fighting against other Germans.  Many of them may also have
been reluctant to fight FOR a country that didn't always appreciate
them, and who could blame them for this?

I'd like to ask, Ray, if your grandfather related any more about
this than you've mentioned, and I'd like to ask in general if other
people can offer from their family histories or other reading any
evidence one way or the other.  Did the Russian German soldiers
fight bravely for the Tsar or didn't they?  No doubt many, if not
most, of the 250,000 did.  But I'd not be surprised if some, if not
many, did not.  I've gotten into trouble asking this question
before, so I hasten to point out that I don't think this in any way
calls the soldiers' character into question.  That war was stupid to
begin with, and it takes quite a stretch to claim that either side
was worth laying down one's life for.  I respect the belief that
loyalty to country is a high virtue, even though I don't always agree with 
it.

So no flaming, please.  In the interest of historical truth, I'd
just like to see evidence either for loyalty to Russia or for lack
of it in W.W. I.

Dick Benert

----- Original Message ----- From: "Ray Bloch" <rbloch at columbus.rr.com>
>>To: "Donna Schultz" <dschultz120 at gmail.com>; 
>><ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
>>Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 9:51 AM
>>Subject: Re: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] conscription age
>>
>>
>>>My father remembers watching the Volksturm marching down the road to 
>>>Berlin
>>>and as they passed, the kids joked, "Da gehen die alten Affen mit die 
>>>neuen
>>>Waffen."
>>>
>>>Loosely translated as "There go the old apes with the new weapons."  It's 
>>>a
>>>funny rhyme but the truth is that these soldiers had very little in the 
>>>way
>>>of armaments.
>>>
>>>Later my father found out that his father had been conscripted into the
>>>Volksturm and captured and returned to the Soviet Union.  My grandfather
>>>fought in the Russian Army against the Turks in  WWI in the Caucuses.  He
>>>originally was assigned to the front against the Germans but so many 
>>>Russian
>>>German soldiers were defecting that the Russian generals moved many of 
>>>them
>>>to the Turkish front.
>>>
>>>Ray Bloch
>>>
>>>----- Original Message -----
>>>From: "Donna Schultz" <dschultz120 at gmail.com>
>>>To: <ger-poland-volhynia at eclipse.sggee.org>
>>>Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 9:55 AM
>>>Subject: [Ger-Poland-Volhynia] conscription age
>>>
>>>>Greetings:
>>>>
>>>>I have a source that states the upper age limit for conscription into 
>>>>the
>>>>German Army during WWII was age 54. I have a relative who lived there
>>>>during
>>>>the war years and believes that men as old as 65 were conscripted.
>>>>
>>>>Comments?
>>>>
>>>>Thanks.
>>>>
>>>>Donna
>>>>Michigan
>>>>
>>>>_______________________________________________
>>>>Ger-Poland-Volhynia Mailing List hosted by
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>>>>Mailing list info at http://www.sggee.org/listserv
>>>
>>>
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>>>
>>>
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>>
>
> Jerry Frank - Calgary, Alberta
> FranklySpeaking at shaw.ca
>
>
>
> -- 
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