Bavarian Pilot in Siberia

[Aerowallah]

Here's a thread I posted in another forum that you folks might get a kick out of, about a Bavarian observer named Lt. Hans Loibl who was shot down and spent several years in an officers' POW camp in Siberia, until he was released in 1920...

I only have three photos of Loibl--



Here is his service record from a 1930's document--



This is his Leutnant's patent--

[Aerowallah]

Loibl is awarded his EK II on October 28 1914, while serving with the Feldartillerie Reg't. No. 5--



His Bavarian Service Order, 4 Cl. came a year later, after he passed the preliminary Artillery Observer course while on the rolls of the Feldartillerie Reg't. No. 9. He had just begun specialised Observer training with Flieger-Ersatz-Abteling No. 1--



This certificate attests to his fully fledged status as flying Observer, dated June 7, 1916, from the Bavarian Militar-Luft-und-Kraftfahr-Wesens. He had already been months at the Front with Feldflieger Abt. 4.

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One week later he is awarded his Oberserver's badge, on June 15, 1916--

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Some of his mail home, from before he was shot down--mostly undecipherable to me, unfortunately!



Here was his operational map of Western Russia marked up in grease pencil, with the towns Gai and Imbrody heavily underlined--

[Aerowallah]

Six weeks later he was shot down. Reinhard dug up this fantastic report by Loibl of his capture:

Report by Lt.d.R. Loibl on his capture:

On 31 August 1916 I made a long-distance flight with Unteroffizier Busse as my pilot from bayer. Feldfliegerabteilung 4 b from Kowel to Kowno. The aircraft took a shot above Kowno and we had to make an emergency landing, as the cooling water was draining out of the tank and the motor was overheating.

We landed next to a single farm with the intention to repair the damage. Threatening the owner with a pistol, we gathered what we needed.
After we had been working for about an hour, we suddenly started receiving strong and effective fire in the right flank from a wood at a distance of about 300 m. We received several more rounds in the machine. Since fire from such a short distance would have quickly dispatched us, I had little time to react and quickly decided to take the machine gun and placed the wood under strong and continuous fire.

Russian soldiers in the wood had already formed up and approached us under cover and had occupied the edge of the wood. My strong machine gun fire silenced the Russian fire, which meant that nothing more was undertaken against us during the further 1 ½ hours that we needed for the repair. When the motor was finally repaired, we taxied off and had to pass the dairy as the terrain left us no other choice. This is where the accident happened when a cow from a grazing herd took fright and ran onto the runway and just clipped the propeller and undercarriage, as we weren’t any higher. We crashed right next to the farm, and the soldiers and farmhands gathered there leapt on us and took us prisoner. This was at about 12 o’clock midday.
We were transported to Kowno in the evening.

I declare that this statement is made to the best of my knowledge and conscience.

Hans Loibl
Ltn.d.Res. a.D.

Personally I would have given Loibl a Plm for his coolness under fire but, then, I'm not the Kaiser and am probably a little biased. Reinhard, what was your source on this?

Loibl has a few photos of Russian troops in the field:



Included was a souvenir officer's board, probably from his counterpart in a Russian Artillery regiment.

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For the next four years this was his new home--

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Some Russkie camp officers with whom the Germans appeared to have a civil relationship!

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Loibl was the subject of a ceremony while in camp--



An EK II improvised into an EK I...first-class job!





This Russian telegrapher is no doubt receiving congratulations for Loibl from the Czar, or Kerensky, or maybe Lenin!

[Aerowallah]

There are a bunch of reports on Offiziersgefangenenlager Omsk published after the war, recording conditions in the camp and camp life from 1917 to 1918, all personal observations but signed FRAU NEUMANN, which I think is some sort of nom de guerre, but I don't get the reason for the sex change!






There is also a programme for some camp theatrical production with scenes entitled:

"Tartaren - Vorratszeltlager am kleinen Bazar."
"Ankunft neuer Gaeste vor der Kanzlei. April 1916"
"Feier in der Tuerkenbaracke zu Ehren Thronbesteigung Mehmed V"
"Alte Herren-Faustball"

A Lt. Nikolai was cast in a few parts, along with some Leutnants, Hauptmanns, U-Arzts, and Doktors. No drag acts, and no Lt. Loibl who looks way to serious to let his hair down.

There is no evidence of mail home during this time, just a blank postcard--



I did the shadow effect to simulate prison bars. You guys deserve the best in visual effects.

[Aerowallah]

After he returned in 1920, Loibl's fellow officer-inmates gave him eine kleine Tchotchke--is quartz mined in Siberia? I guess it represents ICE!--to commemorate their stay in Russia--