Figure 1.--The caption to the 1912 postcard here read "Remembering a typical group of recruits in a training class at St. Paul's College in Lower Queichheim." Queichheim is a picturesque village in the Rhineland. I believe these youths have volunteered for officer training. Click on the image to see the message one of the volunteers has written on the back.

We are not entirely sure just how the German army trained its officers. One source of officers was certainly military schools. This appears to have been the primary training for youths planning a military career. And the military schools were secondary schools, training teenagers. Many boys would have begun training at about 11-12 years of age. I'm not sure what proportion of officers came from the military schools. Germany needed officers not only for the regular standing army, but for the reserves to be mobilized in time of war. The military schools could not possibly produced enough officers for the reserves. We note volunteers for what looks like officer training. These volunteers come from regular secondary schools. We are not sure if these volunteers were associated with a school cadet program.

Created: 6:27 AM 12/20/2007
Last updated: 6:27 AM 12/20/2007