Cathy Rakoczy wrote: > > Hi, I'm new to the list. Does anyone know if it's possible to obtain copies of WWI vital information on individual soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian Army? My in-laws were from the Zagreb/Daruvar area of Croatia. My FIL was Frank Joseph Rakoczy and MIL was Wilma Elizabeth Varga. Do either of these surnames seem familiar? > > Thanks, > Cathy Neil Rakoczy Don't know your surnames. Varga is the 7th most common Hungarian surname. Hungary ruled Croatia-Slavonia 1867-1918. You will need surnames village/town of origin in Croatia to research possible records. Not for the period August 1914-November 1918 and the 1900s. You might find Kirchenbuch (Church books) for certain Austrian military hospitals and some garrisons, say for the period 1800-188O. Things changed after the outbreak of WW I in August 1914, when Austria attacked Serbia. Even if there were WW I records available you would need the name and number and locations and dates of the specific units in which the surname had served during the war ? Austro-Hungarian Land Forces, 1914-1918 The land forces of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy were essentially composed of three separate armies; the common army, which was recruited from both the German and Hungarian portions of the empire, the Austrian Landwehr, which was recruited from the so-called German provinces of the empire, which in practice contained Poles, Ukrainians, Slovenians and Czechs and the Hungarian Landwehr (Honvéd), recruited from the Hungarian administered provinces of the empire. It should be stressed that the latter two organisations were in no way second line or militia forces. Its members, like those of the common army were either professionally enlisted soldiers or conscripts performing their military obligation in the normal fashion. The existence of three separate forces was a throwback to an earlier political decision of 1867 in which the right was conceded to the Hungarians to raise and maintain their own armed forces. This force was known as the Hungarian Landwehr (Honvéd). A similar balancing force was then raised in Austria and named the Landwehr. In practice, during wartime all three forces fought side by side together, the only difference actually being the nomenclature of the individual regiments. The regiments of the common army were designated "Imperial and Royal" - kaiserlich und königlich or k.u.k. The Austrian Landwehr regiments were titled "Imperial Royal" - kaiserlich königlich or k.k. Finally the Landwehr (Honvéd) were styled "Royal Hungarian" - königlich ungarisch or k.u.