My Dedo, born 1895 in Bordulaki, District of Brody in L'viv oblast served in the military during WWI. His name was Wasyl Sawicz. How can I go about searching for any records. Best place to start? I have heard finding records for Austro-Hungarian Military is not an easy feat.

Second, during the war, it is rumored that my Dedo switched sides and fought for/with "the other side". I am assuming he may have fought for the Russian army. Perhaps they have records? How would I find them?

Websites? Archives? Any suggestions?

Sandra

I would also like to add that my grandfather was wounded or got sick and spent time recouperating during the war and he went back into battle. I have no details about what happened nor can I confirm if this is fact or rumor. Thought perhaps this info might help.

My Mom also recalls my grandfather talking about being in Italy at some point in the war, of starving etc.

Sandra

Sandra,
You are correct that searching for AH records for WWI is difficult because so many of them have been lost. About all that I have been able to find are casualty records at the Czech National Library. They have placed this records on line and you can search them for your ancestor. Here is the link to the site:
http://kramerius.nkp.cz/kramerius/Welcome.do
You will have to download a plug-in onto your computer to be able to access the records. The Kramerius welcome page explains how to do that. I will tell you that I did a quick search on the site and did not find anything for a Sawicz Wasyl nor anything for Sawicz Bordulaki. A search of just the surname of Sawicz did surface a number of men with this name but not a Wasyl. Good luck to you.
Carl

Carl,

Thanks for your reply. Sadly, I don't think I will be able to find much. I will keep digging around. I would also be interested in researching any Sawicz ancestors who may have been part of the military prior to WWI. I have traced my SAWICZ ancestors back to 1775 and have various names etc in the family tree. Do you know if records exist prior to WWI that are on-line or elsewhere to look?

Thanks

Sandra

Sandra,
Yes, military records for Austro-Hungarian soldiers before 1867 are available and fairly easy to research. Austria was involved in numerous wars prior to 1867 and so it very likely that you could find some of your ancestors. Once you find the personnel records for one, you can then research what his unit did while he served by locating the regimental history for it. These histories are very detailed and provide a wealth of information.
Here is a link to a website that will explain how you can go about it.
http://ahmilitary.blogspot.com/2011/03/guide-for-locating-au...
If you have any questions, feel free to contact me directly.
Carl

Thank you Carl. I will be looking over the site over the coming few weeks and start investigating. Thanks for you offer to assist me as well!

Sandra

I would just like to thank Carl for giving the instructions for looking up records.

My grandfather apparently died in Galicia so I was not really expecting to find anything in the Czech lists.

Much to my surprise I found someone listed with our family surname Kosmyryk. We have never found anyone with this name before and we assumed it was badly transliterated from some other name in Cyrillic, when my father's lost papers were remade after the war. He was always very vague about this.

So although this person is a) dead b) not necessarily a relative, we are curious to know more about him. Is it likely that there is more in the archives to find out about someone listed as killed in the war? Such as family or place of birth, or nationality? What could we do next?

Any next steps would be appreciated.

You are quite welcome.

But actually, Stefan Kosmyryk is not listed as having died. He is listed as having been wounded (verwundet). The record also tells you when and where he was born. He was born in 1889 in the town of Pniow, in the Nadworno (Nadworna?) district of Galicia. Stefan was serving in infantry regiment 15 in the 12th company. He was wounded in 1915.

Unfortunately, I am unaware of any additional records that would cover his military service. Do you know where your grandfather lived in Galicia?
CK

Thanks Carl. I had some difficulty with the plug in so I couldn't see the full record. I will try again.

My father claimed the Kosmyryks came from Stanislau (Stanislawov) in Galicia so that would make sense.

Thank you Carl for your help. I have found the birthplace which is quite close to where we expected: Stanislawov, now Ivano-Frankivsk.

I see there are two different records for Kosmyryk, the one you quote (as wounded, with the details of the company he served in), and the one I found which lists him under Verlust, so I assumed this meant dead.

Is there any more information I could find from the military records, now I know his date of birth and his company?

The Verlustliste Nr (287) seems to cover several people, so presumably relates to where they died or the circumstances. Does this refer to another document? And where would we find it?

Thanks for any ideas.