Battles Your Ancestors Fought In

[Beowulf]

Spanish Civil War, War of Cuba are the ones i know yet...

[rothaer]

I would like to restart the thread that was begun by rothaer on AG and revived by Beowulf on the first GA. (...)

 I found some text here that I had saved:

The performance of my family in the last two world wars is actually poor.
 
WWII:
Pat. grandfather: German army (Wehrmacht, Spionage-Abwehr), in Norway 1940-1945
Mat. grandfather: German army (Wehrmacht, Pionier), in Germany 1944-1945. He had a pretty bad leg after an accident, so he was drafted very late and could just guard some buildings.
 
WWI:
Pat. grandfathers: German army, don’t know where and no notable stories told.
Mat grandfathers: As they were in Central Poland they were Russian citizens and none of them was ever drafted.
 
Actually the military part of WWI was non-existent in my family history.
 
Franco-German War 1870/71:
A 2 x great-grandfather was Sergeant in the Prussian army „Infanterie-Regiment Graf Kirchbach Nr. 46“ and took part in the whole war including taking Paris.
 
Napoleonic Wars 1792-1815:
Four paternal ancestors will have taken part, all in the Prussian army:
- one was musketeer in infantery regiment (IR) 30
- one was drum roll in IR 4 in Elbing
- one was musketeer in IR 21 in Thorn
- one was lieutenant in IR 51 in Danzig. He was killed in action near Halle/Saale in 1806.
 
Seven Year's War 1756-1763:
Five paternal ancestors took part, all in the Prussian army:
- two (father and son) were cuirassiers in cuirassier regiment (KR) 2
- one was grenadian in Grenadier-Garde-Bataillon No. 6 (actually an elite unit and he was invalid already at an age of 23)
- one was soldier in IR 34
- one was soldier in IR 24
 
Outside any known to me wars I had three riders in the Saxon army in the time period 1680 - 1740
- two of which were field trumpeters, which was considered a pretty sophisticated and privileged military position and
- one was a dragoon.
 
Thirty Years' War (1618-1648):
Two ancestors are known to have been into the war:
- one was just described as a soldier, born in Oberpfalz (northernmost part of tribal Bavaria). It’s not known in which army he fought.
- one was a rider in Druckmüllersches Regiment, in the army of the German ceasar in Austria. Though fighting for the catholic side, the commander of this regiment was a protestant. My ancestor was born in Lower Austria and appeared as a protestant and stayed in Southwest Germany after the war.

[Rufus191]

Thought I was going crazy trying to find my post, then realised it was on the old forum, doh! Anyway, attempting a recap...chronologically, if we are being pedantic, since I have a Charlemagne descent, and a recently discovered 18th century link to several English aristocratic families through an ancestor with a boring name (tip, never neglect ancestors with boring names :o), the list should probably include many I have not even researched or become aware of yet, but this is what I am familiar with (sorry I'm not sure on which specific battles in the earlier cases)

1644 Catholic peasant ancestor who fought for a Catholic Lord from the English Midlands (a Catholic stronghold), perhaps at Marston Moor in the English Civil War

c. 1680s various wars fought by French Huguenots for William of Orange and others, then as part of the British Army after William's claiming of the British throne

1775-1783 American War of Independence, father's ancestor as a privateer on the American side, mother's side two (Major?) Generals, one on the American & one on the British

1790s-1810s Napoleonic Wars various Naval and Army ancestors on both sides took part on the British side

1853-56 Crimean War various officers on the British side on my mother's side, soldiers on my father's and part time Navy (many fisherman and ordinary sailors became temporary Naval servicemen)

1899-1902 2nd Boer War - various officers on mother's side

1916 - Battle of the Somme - several family members died on each side

1917- Battle of Passchendaele - great great uncle served (and survived) (recently watched 1917 - highly recommended movie)

1940s - various great uncles served as officers in the British Army, not sure what Battles, suspect one was in the French resistance but never admitted it, another I think served in Africa and India (recommend this book A Schoolmaster's War by Harry Ree about a schoolteachers experience as a British officer coordinating French resistance in central and eastern France).

[Nictus]

As far as I know with certainty:
Paternal grandfather: WWII, Italian Army, infantryman, North Africa campaign, more specifically for sure in the battle of Mareth Line. Taken prisoner months later during the last resistance of the Italian Army in North-Africa, released later after years of semi-slavery in Morocco.
Maternal grandfather: WWII, partisans' courier in Italy: he helped transmitting orders and infos for the older partisans brothers.
Maternal great grandfather: WWI, Austrian officer, promoted on the battlefield on the Russian front to be in charge of an Hungarian infantry company on the same front. Taken prisoner by the Russians, released during the conflict and continued the active service in the Austrian Army till the defeat.
Father in law of the previous: Englishman immigrant in a Boer Republic (Transvaal if I remember correctly), irregular volunteer (on the English side) in the Anglo-Boer War. Missing in action.
Father of paternal grandmother: WWII, Blackshirt legionary, Eastern Italian border defence against IX Korpus of Yugoslav Army. Murdered in the defence of Gorizia.
Father of the latter: WWI, Austrian Army, territorial militia, no known line duty, retired and died during the war in the refugee camp in Wagna (Austria).
Great grandfather of the latter: Hessian German enlisted in the Holy Roman Empire Army, later Austrian Army, he fought in all the major battles against Napoleon which saw the Austrians involved before been employed in garrison duty in my hometown after the Restoration.

[Rober_tce]

Respect to my more recent ancestors, my great grandfather participate in active form in Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). By the other hand, a grandfather of other familiar line fought also in a batallion of soldiers in same war.

Recently I have discover an ancient line (or a group of ancient lines) in my genealogycal tree whose reach until 15th century. There I have found an ancestor who was a captain of the “Spanish Tercios”, who fought in Germany and Flandes, in the “Thirty Years War”. His son married with a granadine (she lived in Alpujarras region), whose some of her antecessors suffered the horror of the “Alpujarras Revolt”, an armied conflict where fought real troops against insurrected moorish (converted in this moment to Christianism) since 1568 to 1571; in this line I have found a moorish couple, a descendant of converted of jews, and several old christian lines.

[Manofthehour]

Not a direct ancestor but my 2nd great uncle Paul V. Lindeman. He's from Meyersdale Pennsylvania as are my paternal ancestors.
He's sitting here somewhere in France in september 1944, prior to the Battle of the Bulge which he would later fight in. He obtained injuries in three different battles and was awarded the Purple Heart and a number of battle stars.

During World War II, the 26th Infantry of the 1st Division, also known as the “Yankee Division”, was involved in several key battles12:
1. North Africa: The 26th Infantry led America’s first-ever amphibious assault in North Africa2.
2. Kasserine Pass: They fought at the Kasserine Pass2.
3. Sicily: They assaulted Sicily at the Amphibious Battle of Gela2.
4. Normandy: They invaded Normandy at Omaha Beach2.
5. Aachen: They conquered the first German city of the war at Aachen2.
6. Elsenborn Ridge: They held the line against heavy German attacks at Elsenborn Ridge during The Battle of the Bulge2.
7. Rhine: They vaulted the Rhine2.
8. Czechoslovakia: They attacked all the way to Czechoslovakia by war’s end2.

[Webb]

Here's one of my paternal second great grandfathers, Captain John Holmes, Quitman Guards, Company E, 16th Mississippi Infantry, Army of Northern Virginia, CSA. That means he was a captain in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He began as an enlisted private. He was the father of my paternal great grandmother, Jonnie Taylor Holmes.

Captain John Holmes served in every major engagement in which Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was involved, including Gettysburg, except First Manassas (Bull Run), until he was captured near Petersburg, Virginia, during the battle for the Weldon Railroad in 1864. He was sent to the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, DC, and then transferred to the prison for officers at Fort Delaware. He was part of Stonewall Jackson's "Foot Cavalry" during Jackson's Valley Campaign in the spring of 1862.

In 1865 he was paroled and sent by steamship to Savannah, Georgia, where he was released and allowed to return home to Magnolia, Mississippi.

I know from some relatives on that line that he belonged to Y-DNA haplogroup E-V13. I don't think any of them has done the Big Y, so that's as far as it goes.

On my mother's side they fought for the Union. I guess it's a good thing they didn't run into each other back then.

Your post made me think of this from an article I read:

https://www.loudounhistory.org/history/l...w-rangers/

" When General Robert E. Lee's army moved north as part of the Antietam campaign, White's Comanches were suddenly back in force in Loudoun County. The Rangers were sleeping in the Waterford Baptist Church when they were attacked by White's [leave site]men after midnight on August 27, 1862. Surrounded, the Rangers defended their position in the brick church until almost every man was wounded and ammunition was running low. When they surrendered, it was to relatives and to boys with whom they had gone to school. One of White's men, William Snoots, loudly insisted on the right to kill his prisoner, and it took several of his fellow Confederates to force him to accept the rules of civilized warfare. The prisoner was Loudoun Ranger Charles Snoots, his brother."

[Jalisciense]

As far I know, in no war...unless you count "La conquista de México" lol

[Artmar]

My great-grandfather Robert Krzaczek depicted in the attachment, being R1b-U152 ( more specifically: https://discover.familytreedna.com/y-dna...3384/story) fought as a young man here in 4th regiment 11th company of a Legion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_...n%C3%B3wka and got captured.  I have official documents but they are in Polish, so most of people here won't understand a thing.

[Running4Borders]

My mom's mom's dad William served in WW1 with the 33rd National Guard Infantry but I don't know many further details.  The 33rd fought in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, Somme offensive, Saint-Mihiel and Le Hamel according to Wikipedia.  It looks like he enlisted in March of 1918. 

Guilty of surface-level family tree building myself, just recently realized that his dad John was 49 or 50 when William was born, and John fought for the Union in the American Civil War.  That timeline seems wild to me.  My mom has a picture of John in his uniform and other military trinkets of his.

My mom's dad also served in the Navy during WW2 as an officer (& was career Navy until he died).  He was stationed in NYC and patrolled for German U-boats off the coast.  An actor whose name I'm going to omit so as to be cryptic on the internet served under my grandpa, and family lore has it that said actor gave an interview in the 70s or 80s talking about his military service and mentioned a "mean eastern European officer" in it who almost definitely would have been my grandpa who was a known hard ass and known eastern European.

[rmstevens2]

My great-grandfather Robert Krzaczek depicted in the attachment, being R1b-U152 ( more specifically: https://discover.familytreedna.com/y-dna...3384/story) fought as a young man here in 4th regiment 11th company of a Legion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_...n%C3%B3wka and got captured.  I have official documents but they are in Polish, so most of people here won't understand a thing.

He looks like an extremely tough and sturdy man.

[Mitchell-Atkins]

My World War II "Greatest Generation" paternal grandfather (left) and maternal grandfather and grandmother (right)
That's 3/4th of my ancestral dna in those 2 pictures.

Greatest Generation, generation of Americans born between approximately 1901 and 1924, who came of age during the Great Depression and the 1940s, many of whom fought in World War II.

I believe the picture on the left was taken in Belgium probably around 1945.  

My maternal grandfather served in the Pacific.  As a member of the 543rd Engineer Boat & Shore Regiment he was in Milne Bay, New Guinea in 1944. First half of 1945 he as in Mindoro, Mindanao, Leyte, Batangus, all in the Philippines; and Aomori, Honshu, Japan in Sep 1945. 

I have no direct memories of my paternal grandfather as he lived in another city and died when I was 4 years old (I do have stories passed down by my father and paternal aunt); but I was very close to my maternal grandfather.  He was a good man.  For years after his death, I would have dreams he was still alive, and wake up sad that it was just a dream.

[Moeca]

Not a direct ancestor but my 2nd great uncle Paul V. Lindeman. He's from Meyersdale Pennsylvania as are my paternal ancestors.
He's sitting here somewhere in France in september 1944, prior to the Battle of the Bulge which he would later fight in. He obtained injuries in three different battles and was awarded the Purple Heart and a number of battle stars.

During World War II, the 26th Infantry of the 1st Division, also known as the “Yankee Division”, was involved in several key battles12:
1. North Africa: The 26th Infantry led America’s first-ever amphibious assault in North Africa2.
2. Kasserine Pass: They fought at the Kasserine Pass2.
3. Sicily: They assaulted Sicily at the Amphibious Battle of Gela2.
4. Normandy: They invaded Normandy at Omaha Beach2.
5. Aachen: They conquered the first German city of the war at Aachen2.
6. Elsenborn Ridge: They held the line against heavy German attacks at Elsenborn Ridge during The Battle of the Bulge2.
7. Rhine: They vaulted the Rhine2.
8. Czechoslovakia: They attacked all the way to Czechoslovakia by war’s end2.

Maybe your ancestor captured by uncle in Tunisia in 1943 and sent to to a Mississippi prisoner of war camp from 1943-1946 .............?!?!?


My father was too young to serve

My grandfather ( paternal ) fought in WW1.........part of a group of 4 batteries of heavy artillery against the Austrians

Other Grandfather ( maternal ) served in the Alpine division , again against the Austrians

Both Grandfathers received the CROCE DI CAVALIERE DELL’ORDINE DI VITTORIO VENETO

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_Vittorio_Veneto

[Artmar]

My great-grandfather Robert Krzaczek depicted in the attachment, being R1b-U152 ( more specifically: https://discover.familytreedna.com/y-dna...3384/story) fought as a young man here in 4th regiment 11th company of a Legion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_...n%C3%B3wka and got captured.  I have official documents but they are in Polish, so most of people here won't understand a thing.

He looks like an extremely tough and sturdy man.

He has already been through a lot when the photo was taken. After the capture he escaped and joined another brigade.  took part in this clash: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Rara%C5%84cza , struggled between the boslheviks and Austrians without food. He somehow managed to get 300 kilometers back to his home but he was quickly interned. After Poland gained the independence he was freed but he subsequently joined the forming army to battle the bolsheviks in Polish-Soviet war: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish%E2%80%93Soviet_War.

After the WW2 broke, he had to go into hiding, because for the sole reason of being a bailiff he was wanted and endangered at least with a prison sentence if not an execution. He almost lost his whole family to the UPA insurgents but some of them recognized his wife.  As he was treating his workers good no matter their ethnicity or religion, they spared his wife and children. However, it was already too late for his youngest son Roman who had been mortally shot during the capture attempt while carried by his mother.
 
Then, after the war has ended it meant no end of his troubles. Under the pretext of helping the partisans he was arrested numerous times, tried and kept under the surveillance. The real reason for that was him being a pre-war bailiff (as I already mentioned), so he was treated as a possible threat by the new system. However, they could not take his land because he did not descend from a former nobility. He was more or less victimized until his last days but he somehow still managed to live to his 70s despite the weakened heart and overall health.

[Awamp Divo]

Another 7th great grandfather, Frederick Starnes I, this time on my mother's side, also fought in the Seven Years war.  This War is often referred to as the first World War as battles happened in Europe, India and the Americas.

In American history, this was known as the French & Indian War

I have seen your posts for years over on the old Anthogenica without any idea that you and I were related! I, too, am a direct descendant of the above-named gentleman. I did not know that he fought in the French and Indian War. Thanks for the info on our mutual "Grossvater."