In a message dated 1/24/2006 6:16:17 AM Mountain Standard Time, sgchewy@earthlink.net writes: Is there any records of soldiers that fought in Tyrol during the war? My ancestor was born in the 1800's and just before coming to the US in 1893 he served in Trol. Can they be researched? The only records of soldiers who fought in Tirol are the records of those who were born somewhere in today's Republic of Austria. Or maybe those who were born elsewhere and recruited within the borders of today's Republic of Austria. Many of the units that fought in the South Tirol were battalions from regiments recruited in other lands of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. If your ancester was born in Bohemia and he fought in Tirol you may be able to find out something about his unit in the German book: Die Sudetendeutschen im Weltkriehge 1914-1918 by Konrad Leppa. The book is available in the US via interlibrary loan. It is divided into chapters that are dedicated to the engagements in which specific battalions were involved. For example, if you know your ancestor was orginally recruited into Infantry Regiment 73, look for the pages that are about a battalion from that regiment. Some of the chapters include soldiers' narratives and mention names of men who were cited for bravery. Some of the book is in Gothic typeface and some is in Roman typeface. The style of German is not all that difficult if you are able to read German at all. If you get the book and photocopy the pages you want be sure that you also photocopy all of the "Skizze" (little maps) that show battle lines on given days so you have them as reference if needed. If you can pick out place names in the text like "Isonzo" or "Caporetto" look for the phtots in the back of the book that are related to those locations. The individual records of soldiers recruited in Bohemia who fought in WW I may be in the military archive in Prague. They would not be in Vienna. Vienna may be able to provide basic information about soldiers recruited in Bohemia -- name, place of birth, regiment and maybe his place of death if he died or where he was taken prisoner if that was the case. All they have are about a million (!!) 3X5 cards with that basic information. To get information from Vienna you should provide the name, date of birth and birthplace. If you know the regiment that recruited him, name that, too. Otherwise they may find too many soldiers with the same name to process your inquiry. If you don't know anything but the name and the approximate district where the man was born you can still guess at a regiment. Use the 1898 recruiting map at: http://www.kuk-wehrmacht.de/regiment/ as a starting point to suggest 1-2 regiments from the general area that he was likely to have lived to the Vienna Archive. When WW I began the army was organized pretty much the same as it was in 1898. As the war went on there were several reorganizations. Visit Glenn Jewison's website at: http://www.austro-hungarian-army.co.uk/ Click on Orders of Battle and then of Italy 1915. Look for the names of the units that were stationed in Italy. The abbreviation GbBrig = Gebirgesbrigade is for a Mountain Brigade. These units were made up of various battalions detached from regular infantry regiments. They wore an Edelweiss badge. Some were "Schutzen" battalions or "Jaeger" battalions and others were regular line infantry battalions. The abbreviation: Baon = Battalion 1/29 = 1st Battalion of the 29th Regiment Look for any battalion that belonged to a regiment from Bohemia per the map cited above. If you know the ancestor fought in the south Tirol then search first under the order of battle for Carinthia. If you know he was already a veteran who had served and was mustered out before the war started and over 30 years old when drafted, he may have been in a Landsturm unit (made up of older veterans of prior service). If you don't understand the abbreviations used look at the bottom of the web page for an explanation. If you need more information, send an Email to Glenn Jewison whose Edress is on the home page of the site (bottom). There is a possibility that there were also Bohemian Jaeger battalions in Italy. Explore Jewison's website. If you want campaign maps for the war in Italy you will find some at: USMA Great War Atlas. Search with that phrase to find the index of the atlas. You can download or copy the maps and paste them to MS PAINT or another imaging program to save them. MS PAINT will automatically print them in the original size which takes several sheets of paper. Karen