WW1/2 Eickmeyer Family Archive 1898–1945 Verdun Casualty, WWII Panzergrenadier MIA, POW

An exceptional and highly researchable multi-generational German military archive documenting the experiences of the Eickmeyer family through both World Wars.

The collection centres around Erhard Friedrich Eickmeyer, who served with the 4th Machine Gun Company, Infantry Regiment 66, and was killed during the Battle of Verdun on 10 May 1916. Preserved within the archive are his original memorial certificate (Gedenkblatt), military shooting records, handwritten training notebooks and personal papers, providing a rare insight into the training and service of a German soldier before and during the First World War.

The archive continues into the Second World War through Walter Eickmeyer, born 21 December 1908, whose surviving documents include birth records, labour books, Reichsluftschutzbund membership card, wartime correspondence and official civilian paperwork.

A remarkable wartime commemorative Kriegs-Chronik (War Chronicle) records Walter's military service as a Panzergrenadier, documenting his call-up in July 1942, training near Berlin, deployment to Russia in December 1942 and his disappearance during fighting around Starobelsk and south of Kharkov on 25 January 1943. The chronicle specifically references Soviet tank attacks and intense house-to-house combat.

Also included are documents relating to Walter's brother Gustav Eickmeyer, who was wounded during military service in August 1941 and is later confirmed alive in a letter dated 1 December 1945, addressed to him as a prisoner of war in POW Camp 95, Great Britain, providing a rare post-war continuation of the family's story.

Archive includes:

Original Verdun memorial certificate (Gedenkblatt)

Memorial storage tube

Handwritten military training notebooks

Schießbuch (shooting record book)

Kriegs-Chronik 1939–1945

Birth certificate of Walter Eickmeyer

Reichsluftschutzbund membership card

Arbeitsbücher (labour books)

Wartime correspondence

POW correspondence from Great Britain

Family and employment records

Original named military documents

A fascinating archive spanning nearly fifty years, documenting the sacrifices, hardships and survival of one German family through two World Wars. A rare opportunity to acquire a complete, named and extensively researchable family grouping.

Condition as photographed