Flogging MvR's horse.

[GuynemersGhost]

Hi, everyone.

In my amateur attempt to restrace MvR's tracks (shod, as they were), in the opening days of WW1, I'm faced with a confused situation.

In "The Red Air Fighter" MvR states that he led an Ulan patrol to Kieltze. This location seems to be assumed in some material as being Kalisch and in other material as Kielce.

It seemingly is not Kalisch, as during the time of MvR's patrol Kalisch was occupied by the 155st Infantry and the remainder of the 1st Uhlans, and, frankly, destroyed in one of the early atrocities of the war.

Kielce is 224 kms beyond Kalisch and 232 kms from Ostrowo. This is not within range of a cavalry patrol that departed at midnight and arrived the next morning (as per Red Air Fighter).

I'm forced to conclude that MvR was not at Kalisch (unless he was and didn't want to say so), or he was at some other town that he referred to as Kieltze (but clearly not Kielce).

Logically, a cavalry patrol would have been screening the infantry, probably somewhere east of Kalisch, but perhaps only 40-50 kms from Ostrowo.

So, where was the MvR patrol? Any ideas? Source material? Am I getting this all wrong somehow and missing something?

Guynemer's Ghost

[GuynemersGhost]

I'll add one more comment: MvR's mother wrote that she had heard he'd died at Kalisch. There were lots of rumors flying at the time of heavy combat there (that don't appear to be true, just civilian repression, seemingly).