Hanover (Hannover) Military Records

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

Highlights of the Hanover Military Records
Hanover military records for the former Kingdom of Hanover and its predecessor areas span the years 1514-1866. They are a detailed body of records. They include service information for all ranks of soldiers, not just the officers. Conscription lists show men who were identified as candidates to serve, but who may not have actually served. This latter group may be used as a substitute when baptism records are not available for an area. Following are some lists of records and what they contain:

Anciennitätslisten List of officers with name, rank, regiment, dates and release from services

Haupt-Rollen, Familienrollen, Musterrollen (until approx. 1750) List of men, sergeants and officers (mostly kept separately) with names, rank, place of origin and details of service

Stammrollen (approx. 1750-1866) List of men, sergeants and officers in separate lists with names, rank, place of origin, age, period of service, religion, possible profession, whether married, number of children, remarks, date of recruitment (beginning with the end of the 18th century), height (beginning with the end of the 18th century, personal description (started in the 19th century), name of father (starting in 1820)

Rangierrollen List of men and sergeants of a unit with names and height.

Journale Dairies of companies, battalions or regiments with all important events.

'''Konskriptionslisten des Königreichs Westphalen bzw. Kaiserreich Frankreich während der Besetzung Hanovers 1808-1813 (Conscriptions while Hanover was under the rule of France)'''

A list of the male population for the birth years 1788-1793 according to parishes with names, birth dates, height, profession, birth place and place of residence, parents with further information if appropriate, financial circumstances, possible retractions (if there was a health issue, or brothers were serving in the military)

Listen der Landwehrpflichtigen (1813-1815) List of the male population of the age 18-40, separated in groups by age 18-30 and age 30-40 with names, age, birth place, profession, state of health, waivers, inspections by superiors, decisions by the commissioners, remarks

Landsturmlisten (1815) List of those men from a administrative or judicial district or a town who were eligible for military service separated by ages 17-40 (First class) and 41-50 (Second class) with names, age, profession, residence, whether married or not, number of children, remarks.

Listen der Landwehrpflichtigen (1817-1819) List of male population between ages 28-30 with names, birth dates, birth place, parents, profession, reasons for exemption with an examination by superiors, decision by commissioners, remarks.

Listen der Militärpflichtigen (1820-1866) List of male population of various birth years with names of migrants or emigrants as well as information about names, birth dates, birth places, parents, professions, state of health, reasons for exemptions, examinations by superiors, decisions by commissioners, remarks

Feld- und Garnisonskirchenbücher List of members of the military unit (Feldkirchenbuch) or of soldiers and their families of a garrison (Garnisonskirchenbuch) with Place and date of marriage with further details for the husband such as name, rank, residence, place of birth and date, death date, details about the wife, details about the children, confirmations. Some of the garrison church books are already in print, such as Garnisonskirchenbuch Hameln by Wilhelm Rost, Garnisonskirchenbuch Hanover by Jürgen Ritter and Kirchenbuch der Königlich Deutschen Legion by Fritz Garbe.

Losung (Lottery) The Military Commission of the Grandduchy of Oldenburg issued the following publication on January 8, 1818 regarding the military levy for the coming year.

A good many soldiers of the infantry regiments are soon to be retired. Since the regiments were part of the German army, the contingent Oldenburg Jever had to be restocked with 480 soldiers of the birth year 1797 by Losung. This was to be done as follows: Each administrative district had to furnish names of recruits. All reclamations of reasons why some men are unable to serve had to be reported by Feb 1, 1818. After this date only cases of dire circumstances were considered. Otherwise each administrative district was to revise their list of potential soldiers and conduct a lottery, in which each young man gets a number. The names and numbers are then to be entered into a list and forwarded to the military commission. As soon as all lists were received, each candidate would be examined and his fitness rating determined. Should any man try to avoid compliance with his military duty by not showing up or leaving the country, such actions would have severe repercussions in form of punishment.

Source: Gesetzsammlung für das Herzogthum Oldenburg, vol. 3, printed by Gerhard Stallings widow 1819.

Similar rules existed for the Kingdom of Hanover. Here is a link regarding Canton Esens, Hanover lottery lists

Military Records for Hanover in Archives
Niedersächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Hanover Am Archiv 1 30169 Hanover T: (0511) 120-6601 F: (0511) 120-6699 poststelle@nla.niedersachsen.de

How to view archival holdings related to military:

Go to Arcinsys then choose "Landesarchiv" from the left. Select "Navigator" for NLA Hanover from the right and choose "Staatliche Bestände," then select "Kurfürstentum/Königreich Hanover", "Militaria." Browse the resulting links for details on the various holdings.

For the following archives proceed as explained above by choosing the regional archive .

Niedersächsisches Staatsarchiv Aurich Oldersumer Straße 50 26603 Aurich T: (04941) 176 660 F: (04941) 176 673 aurich@nla.niedersachsen.de

Niedersächsisches Staatsarchiv Bückeburg Schloß 31675 Bückeburg Postanschrift: Postfach 1350, 31665 Bückeburg T: (05722) 9677-30 F: (05722) 1289 bueckeburg@nla.niedersachsen.de

Niedersächsisches Staatsarchiv Oldenburg Damm 43 26135 Oldenburg T: (0441) 92 44 100 F: (0441) 92 44 292 oldenburg@nla.niedersachsen.de

Niedersächsisches Staatsarchiv Osnabrück Schloßstraße 29 49074 Osnabrück T: (0541) 33162-0 F: (0541) 33162-62 osnabrueck@nla.niedersachsen.de

Niedersächsisches Staatsarchiv Stade Am Sande 4c 21682 Stade T: (04141) 406-406 F: (04141) 406-400 Stade@nla.niedersachsen.de

Niedersächsisches Staatsarchiv Wolfenbüttel Forstweg 2 38302 Wolfenbüttel T: (05331) 935-0 F: (05331) 935-211 wolfenbuettel@nla.niedersachsen.de

Niedersächsische Kommunalarchive

Addresses, business hours and a brief description of all Lower Saxony local archives can be found in the Handbuch der Niedersächsischen Kommunalarchive: ANKA Handbuch (also online) Stade, 1997, ISBN 3-9805976-0-1  

State Archives in the Netherlands and other neighboring archives can be found in the following journal:

Hans Mahrenholtz: Quellennachweise über militär (heeres-) geschichtliche Bestände in den niedersächsischen und angrenzenden Staatsarchiven, in: Norddeutsche Familienkunde, 32. Jahrgang, Band 13, Heft 1/1983

The National Archives (in the United Kingdom) Kew Richmond, Surrey TW9 4DU United Kingdom T: +44 (0) 20 8876 3444 F: +44 (0) 20 8392 5286 [mailto:enquiry@nationalarchives.gov.uk enquiry@nationalarchives.gov.uk] The Kingdom of Hanover provided many soldiers for the British King. The following link provides access to the King's German Legion http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/: enter "King's German Legion" into the search field.

Military records for Hanover in the Family History Library
The military holdings of the Hauptstaatsarchiv Hanover for the former Kingdom of Hanover were microfilmed around 1974 by the Genealogical Society of Utah. The resulting collection spans over 130 reels of microfilm housed at the Family History Library (FHL).

In 2014 the Guide to Hanover Military Records, 1514-1866 on Microfilm at the Family History Library was published by Teresa Steinkamp McMillin, CG. This book is chronologically organized by significant periods of the history of the former Kingdom of Hanover. For each time period, available records are listed by combat arm and regiment. For each item, a brief description is given, along with relevant dates, and most importantly, the FHL microfilm number that holds the item. While one my browse the FHL catalog to find these items, they are often not easy to find. Using only the catalog, it is difficult to determine what is available for a given regiment or time period. The Guide is available at FHL and also at many libraries. See WorldCat for a complete list of availability.

Get Help with Hanover Military Records
Arbeitskreis Hanoversche Militärgeschichte (Hanover Work Group on Military History) - The work group has published some important information about military muster rolls, recruitments etc. of Hanover soldiers. The group has put together helpful tips on how to go about researching an ancestor who had to serve in the military at certain times. Their website is mostly in the German language.

Guide to Hanover Military Records, 1514-1866 on Microfilm at the Family History Library by Teresa Steinkamp McMillin, CG - This detailed guide identifies the available records on microfilm at the Family History Library. This book is in the English language.

Death list of Hanover soldiers 1813-1815
The list contains names of 927 soldiers who were enlisted in the Hanover army and died. Among these names are also men from the Duchy of Lauenburg, although Lauenburg was in possession of Denmark in 1815. The list was printed by S.L. Lamminger and Roschenbusch in Hanover in 1817. The names can be retrieved from the online project “Gefallenendenkmäler” (war memorials) at www.denkmalprojekt.org-2008/vl_kgl-hann_truppen_1813-1815.htm The names are according to year and arm of service, then organized by title, name, birth place with administrative district, date of death and place, regiment, and cause of death as they appeared in the above mentioned book.

In order to find quickly information about a long searched ancestor who was born at the end of the 18th century and whose fate has been open, Joachim Memmert took the trouble to organize the death list alphabetically by family names. His lists can be retrieved in Zeitschrift für Niederdeutsche Familienkunde Heft 3, 2008 for the letters A-K. Letters L-Z can be found in the following issue of the periodical.

Hanover Soldiers Who died or never returned from Napoleon's Invasion of Russia, 1812
When Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812 many men from Hanover were forced to fight. Most of the men never returned home. After the Wars of Liberation the government of Hanover appointed Lieutenant Heinrich Meyer to travel the parts of Russia where the war took place or where German POWs were brought to in order to promote the return of the Hanover residents. He also investigated whether the soldiers were killed in action or find out why many did not return to their homes. The results of his investigations resulted in four lists which were given to the government and explained the fate of 1058, 906, 410, and 1040 missing persons. Of the 3423 men 71 lived in Russia and did not want to return to Lower Saxony. A lot of them had married in the German settlement of Saratow. 212 men enlisted into the Russian army. The rest had either died in hospital or during their marches. With remarkable care the Russian hospitals recorded the deaths of German soldiers. A fifth list was established which registered 1148 German POWs, whose German origins could not be established. These five lists are located in the State Archive in Hanover. They can be found among the documents for Amt Lüchow (Signatur 74 Lüchow Nr. 212). These may enable a family researcher to explain the fate of a Hanoverian ancestor who went missing after 1812/13.

Source: Meyerholz, Heinrich. "Ein Hinweis auf bisher kaum genutzte Quellen für Familienforscher" in Norddeutsche Familienkunde, Heft 1/1980.

Einquartierungsbuch of Hildesheim (those who quartered soldiers in return for protection), 1631
When the Battle of Leipzig was bringing victory for the Prostestants on September 2, 1631 many North German cities tried to exploit the situation to free themselves from occupation by the Imperial Army. The city of Hildesheim which had suffered through multiple administrative changes now joined the Leipzig Union against the Imperial Army. However, their resistance proved to be too weak and therefore, they let a Swedish contingent occupy their city for seven weeks in hopes to avoid occupation. The Swedes with the help of Lüneburg troops fought against the Imperial general Count v. Pappenheim who lost the fight, and the Duke Georg von Lüneburg now occupied Hildesheim as general and the man in charge of 14,000 soldiers. This army very soon joined the people of Wolfenbüttel who were trying to fend off Imperial troops. Hildesheim was now exposed to armies, friendly and not. Count v. Pappenheim, informed by the Catholic Church about the fate of the people in Hildesheim, saw another chance to score and hurried back to his previous head quarters. The city fathers and people of Hildesheim were not happy with the prospect of again coming under siege and being plundered. They looked for negotiation. Their wish was granted in exchange for feeding 2,000 soldiers and paying the amazing sum of 150,000 Reichsthaler (currency). Even though some single families were protected from plunder, the whole city generally suffered greatly by occupation, fire damage and forced regulations, so badly that Hildesheim, once a prosperous city became now one of the poorest in the German Empire. FamilySearch has a document on film called “Einquartierungsbuch” of the city of Hildesheim. This is a list of those who took in soldiers and contributed money for being protected from plunder (see Family History Library film 2065432)

Source: Otfrid Mylius and Karl Seifart: [http://books.google.co.in/books?id=t1JEAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=bibliogroup:%22Erheiterungen:+Eine+Ausw.+D.+Neuesten+u.+Interessantesten+aus+dt.+Unterhaltungsbl%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=P3trT6XENqrJsQL_vLWNBg&ved=0CEcQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=bibliogroup%3A%22Erheiterungen%3A%20Eine%20Ausw.%20D.%20Neuesten%20u.%20Interessantesten%20aus%20dt.%20Unterhaltungsbl%22&f=false Erheiterungen: eine Ausw.d.Neuesten u. Interessantesten aus dt. Vol. 39]

Germany Nationwide Records Websites

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

World War I, 1914 to 1918
1914-1918: World War I. Alsace-Lorrraine (Elsaß-Lothringen) returned to France. Parts of eastern Germany ceded to Lithuania and Poland.

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