Researching Great-Uncles

[Golob_descendant]

I'm trying to find more information on a couple of my great uncles. They grew up in Sostanj (Schönstein), Slovenia.

Alois Golob (born 1896) was a mountain sharpshooter, that died on the Italian front according to family history. I found a reference to him here in a casualty list for 1917:
Golob Alois, Infst., IR. Nr. 87, 5. Komp., Steirmark, Pettau,
Pichldorf, 1896; tot (19/9.1916).

Alois's brother, Johann Golob, (born 1893) also served. Casualty lists indicate he also served in the IR. Nr. 87 - but a post card I have of him shows him in a KuK naval uniform.

Any further information anyone can decipher from this would be greatly appreciated.

I have photos of both great uncles in uniform. Johann is in the KuK naval uniform. The postcard shown is the backside of Johann's photo:
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https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set ... 3262641106
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[klemen55]

You got the wrong Alois Golob, Dave ... The one on your picture wears a typical uniform of the Austro-Hungarian mountain troops. He has the symbol of the mountain troops (Edelweiss) on his collar. On top of that he wears one star on his collar, which means he was a Lance Corporal (Gefreiter). Between the Edelweiss and the star he wears another symbol, which appears to be the badge of the Austro-Hungarian Machine-Gun Troops.

Gefreiter ALOIS GOLOB, born 1897 in Windischgraz (slo. Slovenj Gradec), Steiermark, served with the Machine-Gun Company of the k.k. Gebirgsschützen-Regiment Nr. 1 (Klagenfurt). He was killed in action on 13th November 1917 at Zenson on the Piave River, where the Carinthian Gebirgsschützen crossed the Piave River (as the first Austro-Hungarian unit!) and tried to establish a bridgehead on the right bank of the Piave River.

You can find his name listed in the Verlustliste Nr. 659 (13.3.1918), page 18.

Matrose JOHANN GOLOB (born 1893) served in the k.u.k. Kriegsmarine. He served aboard the Austro-Hungarian naval salvage ship S.M.S. HERKULES in the port of Pola (cro. Pula).

lp,

Klemen

[Golob_descendant]

Klemen,

Thanks for catching that. I knew Golob was a relatively common name. I was able to find a reproduction badge for sale on ebay that matched the one in the photo. Now I need to read up more on the 12th battle of the Isonzo!

Regarding JOHANN GOLOB & the postcard image, does the large .J.G <cross> printed, in blue, across the center of the card have any significance?

Another question: If a soldier was not wounded/killed, or taken prisoner - thus they wouldn't show up in the casualty reports - are there any other lists, that I might also use to find additional information about them? Two other brothers were also in the country during WWI. One I know was in the army. I'd also be interested in any information on my grandfather, ANTON GOLOB, born 1879, who served supposedly 3 years before immigrating to the U.S.A.

Thanks again for the help.

Dave (Golob_descendant)

[Golob_descendant]

Gefreiter ALOIS GOLOB, born 1897 in Windischgraz (slo. Slovenj Gradec), Steiermark, served with the Machine-Gun Company of the k.k. Gebirgsschützen-Regiment Nr. 1 (Klagenfurt). He was killed in action on 13th November 1917 at Zenson on the Piave River, where the Carinthian Gebirgsschützen crossed the Piave River (as the first Austro-Hungarian unit!) and tried to establish a bridgehead on the right bank of the Piave River.

You can find his name listed in the Verlustliste Nr. 659 (13.3.1918), page 18.

2 further questions regarding this:
1) Are their any online references to pertaining to where he would have died on 13 November 1917? The local libraries here do not have much on the Italian Front for World War I.
2) Considering where he would have died (in an area retaken by Italian forces later in the war), is there much chance of finding a burial site for him? And if so, where would the cemetary(s) for those battles be?

[klemen55]

Regarding JOHANN GOLOB & the postcard image, does the large .J.G <cross> printed, in blue, across the center of the card have any significance?

Probably this is just a sign made by the Naval Field Post Office in Pola to confirm that this postcard went through the normal censorship process.

Another question: If a soldier was not wounded/killed, or taken prisoner - thus they wouldn't show up in the casualty reports - are there any other lists, that I
might also use to find additional information about them?

Well, you can look in the Kriegsarchiv for the original regimental Verlustlisten, which also contain the names of missing in action, date & place of death and sometimes even the circumstances of the deceased's death.

Another good source are the regimental church death books, which were run during the war by the regimental field chaplains, and contain the names of killed and dead. However, they are not accessible to the researchers in the Kriegsarchiv, as only the archive staff is allowed to peruse through them. So you need to contact the archive to look for your relative's entry. I believe the fee for one search through these books is around € 17.

Then you also have the Personalverordnungslisten with the names of the decorated servicemen, but searching through them is often difficult.

And finally you might try to ask the Kriegsarchiv to look for the Grundbuchblatt (GBBL) (military service record). Many GBBLs for soldiers from Lower Styria survived the post-war archive purges and are available today in the Kriegsarchiv.

Two other brothers were also in the country during WWI. One I know was in the army. I'd also be interested in any information on my grandfather, ANTON GOLOB, born 1879, who served supposedly 3 years before immigrating to the U.S.A.

Like I said you could try looking for their GBBLs. Since your grandfather served in the k.u.k. army before the outbreak of Great War I there is a good chance that they still might have his military service record. But, of course, nothing is 100% certain. If you're going to decide to look for their GBBLs then you need to forward the archive staff the name and surname of the person(s) you're searching, his (their) place of birth and most importantly his (their) birth year.

1) Are their any online references to pertaining to where he would have died on 13 November 1917? The local libraries here do not have much on the Italian Front for World War I.

No. Like I said you could try looking through the original Verlustlisten in the Kriegsarchiv, which also contain place of death, date of death and sometimes even the circumstances of his death (for example Granatvolltreffer, Kopfschuss etc.). Some even contain the exact time (hour) when the deceased was killed.

You could also contact the Kriegsarchiv and ask them to look for your relative's Totenkartei (death card), which also contains the place and date of his death. The Totenkartei looks like this:

http://forum.valka.cz/attachments/19638 ... kartei.jpg

Sometimes it even contains the info where the fallen soldier was originally buried.

A very good and detailed account about the Carinthian Geb.Sch.Rgt.Nr.1 in the Zenson Battle (12-16.XI.1917) can be found in the following book, where it was written by one of the regimental former officers:

Hugo Kerchnawe: "Im Felde unbesiegt: Erlebnisse im Weltkrieg erzählt von Mitkämpfern", Dritter Band (Oesterreich), J.F. Lehmans Verlag, Munich, 1923, page 209-218

2) Considering where he would have died (in an area retaken by Italian forces later in the war), is there much chance of finding a burial site for him? And if so, where would the cemetary(s) for those battles be?

It seems that most of the casualties were at first buried on the battlefield or close to the battlefield in Zenson di Piave (* see a link with a picture of a grave of a lieutenant from Geb.Sch.Rgt. Nr. 1 who was killed on the same day as Gfrt. Alois Golob and was buried in Zenson di Piave), but whether their graves were after the war exhumed and reburied on one of the specifically designed Austro-Hungarian military cemeteries and ossuaries in Northern Italy I cannot really say.

URL (*): www.bibliofi.it/grande-guerra/cartoline ... o-436.html

The closest Austro-Hungarian military cemetery to Zenson di Piave is, I think, in Croce (*) and Fagare (**). Whether the casualties from the Zenson Battle in November 1917 were buried there after the war I cannot confirm.

(*) http://digilander.libero.it/crocedipiav ... iCROCE.htm

(**) http://www.itinerarigrandeguerra.it/cod ... -Battaglia

In either case, as you can see for yourselve, most Austrian war dead on these two cemeteries are buried as unknown.

lp,

Klemen