German POW's post WWI

German Freikorps, Reichsheer and Reichsmarine 1919-1934.
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phylo_roadking
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Post by phylo_roadking »

Tho coming to mind is ONE large cohesive unit - Czech?? that headed west for home and basically commandeered the Trans Siberian Railway to do it! They became involved in the early days of the Civil War.
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John Kilmartin
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Post by John Kilmartin »

Hi Phylo.
Weren't the Czechs actually Austro-Hungarian troops ? And if I recall they had very limited use of the TSR , so much so that an expeditionary force was sent to Vladivostok which served on its own to be an embarressment to the Western Powers as the contemplated distance was of a magnitude beyond the realisation of the powers that be in all the capitals of those powers.
' Strip war of the mantle of its glories and excitement, and it will disclose a gibbering ghost of pain , grief, dissappointment and despair'
phylo_roadking
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Post by phylo_roadking »

John, I'll have to check up. Been YEARS since I was anywhere near the Russian Civil War....
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phylo_roadking
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Post by phylo_roadking »

Had a quick scan thru what little I have to hand; there's NO mention of prisoner repatriation in the details I havem whcih are mostly to do with the Brest -Litovsk territorial losses, but I;d assume POWs were released. The Treay was in place for 8 months after all.....

The Czechs were a red herring; Austro-Hungarian Czechs who as POWs had volunteered to form the Czech Legion to fight against the Germans, but were sitting astride the TranSibrian Railwy when the Civil war boiled over. They came nominally under the command of Kolchak, and at one stage controlled the TSR from Vladivostok to Ekaterinberg - it was their advance on there that led to the shooting of the Tsar etc. - but didn't take much part in the fighting, leaving it to Kolchak's Cossacks. Bit by bit they were evacuated east along the railway and by sea to France.

I can find no mention of German POWs being involved in any cohesive way at all. The nearest is the strange period during treaty negotiations when Trotsky refused to ratify it - but didn't fight either! - and the Germans advanced again against no opposition, occupying huge tracts of Russia! I did find a comment that the the Civil War broke out, individual German commanders in these areas offered to assist the Whites, but I can find no sign of anyone saying "yes", and apart from the Polish-Russian War and the White invasion from Estonia, this area of Russia was not part of any of the recognised "fronts" of the War, so I assume their kind offer wasn't taken up at all LOL

But I stand to be corrected in the morning.......
"Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle." - Malcolm Reynolds
phylo_roadking
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Post by phylo_roadking »

TC, thats them, the Czechs! Actually Austro-Hungarian POWs! IF there had been Germans......the Czechs would have butchered them LMAO Problem is that the Russian Civil War was not "reported" like so many others, and the vast majority of sources are Russian, which don't necessarily waste too much time on the unit by unit details of the Class Enemy LMAO They were fighting with the Germans when captured, so they were Germans. IF they had remained neutral - they they'd have been praised and recorded appropriately, but they put themsleves nominally under the Whites. The only reason they were still there was as descibed that the RUSSIANS had recruited them to fight the Germans if WWI had continued for them. A reverse of German recruiting of Anti-Soviet Russians in all parts of "liberated" Russia in WWII.
"Well, my days of not taking you seriously are certainly coming to a middle." - Malcolm Reynolds
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mightythor99
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austrian diary, photos, pow, nowasibirsk...........

Post by mightythor99 »

i missed a really cool wwi austrian diary, letters home, from pow camp, and photos, from an austrian guy who was shipped way over on the farthest side of russia. he was sent home, in like 1920 or 21, on a huge ocean liner, and the diary gave photos and detailed daily entries of his war experience, pow camp life, and coming home, even had a couple of photos of the ship,........but, someone out bid me, so i didnt get it.......... :roll: :roll:
but, that's how some of them got home, he wasnt alone. i guess it would depend on where they were, when released.

another thought for ya,..........about those wild check's,.............they were part of the austro-hungarian empire, just like poland, during wwi. there were a couple of check legions, that fought, but they came out of chicago, all vonenteers. cz's, from cz land,..........would have been austro hungarian citizens, so they could have been the ones riding the rails.
I am interested in buying / trading for photo albums, photo groupings, diaries, feldpost groupings,etc, from any country in the world, any army/navy, etc, mostly 20th century!!
Quax der Bruchpilot
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Re: German POW's post WWI

Post by Quax der Bruchpilot »

The last remaining POWs were "exchanged" until 1922. The head of the negotiations leading to all surviving POWs returning home was the Polar researcher Nansen.
pow WWI.JPG
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