My Great-Grandfather

[kampfflieger]

I recently learned about my great-grandfather's service in WWI:
He lied about his age to volunteer for the German army at 17.
He was deployed to the Eastern Front in September 1914, wounded by a Russian bullet in August 1915 and, before fully recovering, re-volunteered for the front and was sent to officer training before rejoining his regiment as a Vizefeldwebel. 
He became an officer shortly before Christmas 1916.
After the Brusilov offensive and the Russian Revolution, he got bored of the Eastern Front and became a fighter pilot in February 1918 (Jasta 29). However, he was shot down twice and deployed to the so-called "death squadron" (Jasta 32), infamous for its heavy losses, but which, as an officer, he was asked to lead back home over the Rhine at the end of the war.

How would you assess his record?
For example, how common was it for volunteers to become officers within 2 years?
He says volunteers were held in low regard.

[FROGSMILE]

1 hour ago, kampfflieger said:

I recently learned about my great-grandfather's service in WWI:
He lied about his age to volunteer for the German army at 17.
He was deployed to the Eastern Front in September 1914, wounded by a Russian bullet in August 1915 and, before fully recovering, re-volunteered for the front and was sent to officer training before rejoining his regiment as a Vizefeldwebel. 
He became an officer shortly before Christmas 1916.
After the Brusilov offensive and the Russian Revolution, he got bored of the Eastern Front and became a fighter pilot in February 1918 (Jasta 29). However, he was shot down twice and deployed to the so-called "death squadron" (Jasta 32), infamous for its heavy losses, but which, as an officer, he was asked to lead back home over the Rhine at the end of the war.

How would you assess his record?
For example, how common was it for volunteers to become officers within 2 years?
He says volunteers were held in low regard.

Forum members @GreyC @AOK4 @charlie2 will be interested in your great grandfather’s career and well positioned to answer your queries I think.

[charlie2]

6 hours ago, kampfflieger said:

was asked to lead back home over the Rhine at the end of the war.

In which case he would appear to be Lt.d.R. Hans Böhning, is that correct? 
Charlie

[kampfflieger]

No, my great-grandfather wasn't the commander of the squadron.
He writes that the commanders suddenly disappeared and were replaced with a workers and soldiers council (Arbeiter- und Soldatenrat) which, as an officer, asked him to lead the squadron over the Rhine, then from Saarburg to Strasbourg and from Oos to Böblingen where the squadron was dissolved and he was discharged.
I can't find much in the historical record about this either. 

Another confusing thing is that he writes he witnessed a revolt (I wonder which) in Lorraine with the squadron on November 18, 1917, despite not becoming a fighter pilot until February 1918.

And a correction to my first post: He enlisted at 16.

[charlie2]

It would really help people to help you if we knew at least his name. 
Charlie

[kampfflieger]

Daemrich

But my questions are more general, like how common it was for volunteers to become officers in 2 years or how likely fighter pilots were to survive being shot down twice.

[knittinganddeath]

2 minutes ago, kampfflieger said:

But my questions are more general

I think it would be helpful if you made a list of specific questions that you would like answered.

Verlustlisten has Gefreiter Fritz Daemrich from Bergzabern, Pfalz, wounded with Landwehr-Infanterie-Regiment 11 in the summer of 1915, whom I assume is OP's great-gf based on info from the original post.

[kampfflieger]

Yes, that's him!

How about the two questions I asked above?

Sorry, I'm new to the forum.

[GreyC]

14 hours ago, kampfflieger said:

For example, how common was it for volunteers to become officers within 2 years?

Not unusual. Depends on wheter or not they had passed the Einjährigen Examen.

GreyC

 

[knittinganddeath]

Fritz Daemrich spoke to Theodore Abel in 1934: https://digitalcollections.hoover.org/objects/58411/fritz-daemrich;ctx=1e166725-e43a-47a9-aea5-faa5b4c1fc19

According to the Hoover Institution, which holds the original document, "This is one of many autobiographical sketches collected by Theodore Abel in 1934.... Typically, each autobiography contains information on the writer's occupation, socioeconomic class, education, employment, membership in various associations, place of residence, marital status, military service in World War I, participation in military activities after World War I, first contacts with the National Socialist movement, the main reason for joining the movement, expressions of anti-Semitism, etc. Abel used these autobiographies to write a book, Why Hitler Came into Power: An Answer Based on the Original Life Stories of Six Hundred of His Followers (1938)."

[kampfflieger]

Thanks!

[GreyC]

Beat me to it!

https://digitalcollections.hoover.org/objects/58411/fritz-daemrich

Sometimes things can be so easy. just type the name into google and voila!

GreyC

[kampfflieger]

Yes, that's my source.

To be clear: I do NOT support his politics!

[knittinganddeath]

2 minutes ago, kampfflieger said:

Yes, that's my source.

I think that October 1917 is a typo (the revolt in Lothringen) and it should be 1918. That is the best way to make sense both politically and chronologically (he tells his story linearly).

[kampfflieger]

Probably.

Which revolt was it?

[knittinganddeath]

I don't know. There were socialist uprisings all over the country at that time.

[charlie2]

15 hours ago, kampfflieger said:

death squadron" (Jasta 32),

Unless you have other evidence to the contrary he did not serve with Jasta 32.

Jasta 32 was a Bavarian unit and he is not recorded in the Staffel Kriegsranglisten. In his CV he states that he was transferred to „Abteilung 32“ which is not Jasta 32 but either Flieger-Abteilung 32 or Feldflieger-Abteilung 32.

Charlie

[kampfflieger]

Sorry, I did not know that!

Thanks for the information!

[GreyC]

13 minutes ago, charlie2 said:

Flieger-Abteilung 32

Must be Flieger-Abt. 32. Feldflieger-Abt. 32 was renamed on 31. 12. 1916.

GreyC

[kampfflieger]

Thanks!

[charlie2]

25 minutes ago, GreyC said:

Must be Flieger-Abt. 32. Feldflieger-Abt. 32 was renamed on 31. 12. 1916.

Thanks GreyC

[kampfflieger]

Fliegerabteilungen were involved in reconnaissance, not combat?

[GreyC]

33 minutes ago, kampfflieger said:

were involved in reconnaissance

Yes but they were also used for ground support and other chores.

GreyC

[kampfflieger]

Could he have been transferred to an Abteilung because he was shot down twice in Jasta 29?

How common was it to survive being shot down?

[knittinganddeath]

Maybe the Air personnel & the war subforum could help with some of your questions: https://www.greatwarforum.org/forum/25-air-personnel-and-the-war-in-the-air/