Bavaria (Bayern) Military Records

For a comprehensive understanding of military records, study the article Germany Military Records.



The Bavarian Army was the army of the Electorate (1682–1806) and then Kingdom (1806–1919) of Bavaria. It existed from 1682 as the standing army of Bavaria until the merger of the military sovereignty (Wehrhoheit) of Bavaria into that of the German State in 1919. The Bavarian army was never comparable to the armies of the Great Powers of the 19th century, but it did provide the Wittelsbach dynasty with sufficient scope of action, in the context of effective alliance politics, to transform Bavaria from a territorially-disjointed small state to the second-largest state of the German Empire after Prussia. Go to Wikipedia for more information on this topic.

Possible Sources
Military Records can be very valuable when gathering genealogy information. Often they provide birth dates, places of birth and the name of the soldiers parents. Occasionally the spouses name and the number of their children is included.


 * Here is a link to the Bavarian Military History from 1805-1815. Listed are regiments, officers and other military leaders: Prussian Army of the Napoleonic Wars, 1805 - 1815
 * WWI 1914-1918 Bavaria Military Rosters can be accessed on Ancestry.com
 * My Heritage has a large data base of military records. ($)
 * Some of the Bavarian Military Records are on microfilm. They are listed in the FamilySearch Library Catalog Scan down and click on the one that interests you.The icon to the left indicates what format it is in and clicking on it will tell you where it can be viewed. Eventually they will be available online.
 * There are some military records microfilmed and the information about these films is available in the FamilySearch Catalog

Germany Nationwide Records Websites

 * Germany &amp; Austria, Directories of Military and Marine Officers - at Ancestry.com ($). 1500-1939. Index. In German.
 * Germany and Austria, Military and Marine Unit Histories - at Ancestry.com ($). 1760-1933. Index and images. In German.
 * Germany, Military and Marine Weekly Publications - at Ancestry.com, 1816-1942. Index and images. In German.
 * German Navy Crew Chronicle - at Ancestry.com ($). 1891-1918. Index. Incomplete.
 * Germany, Torpedo Personnel Register - at Ancestry.com, 1911. Index. Incomplete.
 * German Casualties in the Franco-Prussian War - at Ancestry.com ($). 1870-1871. Images, no index. In German. Incomplete.

Service Records

 * Histories of Two Hundred and Fifty-One Divisions of the German Army which Participated in the War (1914-1918)
 * Histories of German and Austrain Division,1917-1918. NAID 6487553 National Archives
 * Bavaria, Germany, WWI Personnel Rosters, 1914-1918 (Ancestry) ($) - requires Ancestry Worldwide subscription. Over 8 million records. Records are in German.

Casualty Records

 * Germany, World War I Casualty Lists, 1914-1917 (Ancestry) ($) - requires Ancestry Worldwide subscription. Over 5 million records. Records are in German.
 * Germany, Navy Casualty List, 1914-1915 (Ancestry) ($) - requires Ancestry Worldwide subscription. Records are in German.
 * Genwiki World War I Casualty Lists.
 * The World Remembers - WWI Deaths

Prisoners of War
Cemetery Records
 * Numerical Lists of German Prisoners of War Interned by the American Expeditionary Forces in France, 1918-1919 NAID 6706704
 * Organizational Lists of German Prisoners of War Interned by the American Expeditionary Forces in France, 1918-1919 NAID 1918-1919
 * Lists of German Prisoners of War Assigned to Prisoner of War Company Commanders when Labor Companies were Formed, 1918-1919 NAID 6455801
 * Database of war graves from WW I and WWII German War Cemetery records database

World War II, 1939 to 1945
1939-1945: World War II. Many German records were destroyed.

Prisoner of War Records

 * Prisoner of War Rosters, 1942-1947, National Archives NAID 849166 This collection contains records of prisoners of war interned in the United States
 * Records Relating to Prisoners of War, 1942-1927, National Archives NAID 865093 Includes deaths lists sent to the International Red Cross.
 * Records Relating to German Prisoners of War, 1943-1952, National Archives NAID 876973

Cemetery Records

 * Database of war graves from WW I and WWII German War Cemetery records database