Wehrpass:Josef Frammbeck
Josef Frammbeck – Sanitäter and First World War veteran
Josef Frammbeck was a German military medic and First World War veteran from Munich. His surviving Wehrpass was issued in 1938, when he was already 43 years old. The document records his earlier military service, his training as a Sanitäter, and his continued registration as an older Landwehr reservist during the years immediately preceding the Second World War.
The Wehrpass does not appear to document a lengthy new wartime career after 1939. Instead, it preserves the military history of a man who had served during the First World War, received medical training, and remained liable for military service under the Wehrmacht registration system.
Personal details
The personal-information pages provide the following details:
| Field | Recorded information |
|---|---|
| Full name | Josef Frammbeck |
| Date of birth | 24 June 1895 |
| Place of birth | Munich |
| Religion | Roman Catholic |
| Marital status | Married |
| Wehrnummer | München I/95/4115 |
| Wehrpass issued | Munich, 3 October 1938 |
The photograph attached to the inside cover shows Frammbeck as a middle-aged civilian. Since the Wehrpass was issued more than twenty years after the beginning of his military career, it does not show him as the young soldier or Sanitäter he had been during the First World War.
The document also records his parents. His father appears to have been named Johann or Johannes Josef Frammbeck and is marked as having died in 1908. His mother's first name appears to be Frieda, although her surname is difficult to read.
Some further biographical entries, including his civilian occupation, are only partly legible and should not be transcribed definitively without a sharper close-up.
Entry into military service
Frammbeck entered military service during the opening weeks of the First World War. The service page appears to record a starting date of:
- 16 August 1914
This placed him among the large numbers of men mobilised shortly after the outbreak of war.
The unit information is partly obscured by stamps and overlapping handwriting. The clearest visible notation appears to include:
- I.R. 2
This most likely abbreviates Infanterie-Regiment 2. Because Frammbeck was from Munich and served within the Bavarian military system, the notation may refer to the Königlich Bayerisches 2. Infanterie-Regiment „Kronprinz”. That identification is plausible, but it should remain provisional until a clearer image of the unit entry becomes available.
A reference to a 3. Kompanie or similarly numbered subunit may also be present. The page seems to cover a period ending around May 1917, although the exact meaning of the final date is not entirely clear. It may indicate a transfer, discharge, reassignment, or the end of a particular period of service.
Training as a Sanitäter
The most important medical entry appears on page 21 of the Wehrpass.
Under the heading:
- Sonstige Ausbildung, Lehrgänge
- “Other training and courses”
the handwritten entry reads:
- Sanitäter
This is direct documentary evidence that Josef Frammbeck had received training as a military medic or medical orderly.
A Sanitäter was trained to provide first aid, assist in the treatment of wounded and sick personnel, and support the evacuation of casualties. Depending on the unit and circumstances, a Sanitäter could work close to the front line, at a dressing station, within an infantry formation, or as part of a larger medical organisation.
The entry does not state:
- where Frammbeck received his medical training;
- when the course took place;
- how long the training lasted;
- whether he served in a dedicated Sanitätseinheit;
- or whether he acted as a company or battalion medic within an infantry regiment.
Nevertheless, the word Sanitäter is sufficient to establish that Frammbeck possessed a recognised medical qualification. He can therefore properly be described as a trained military medic.
Medical service within an infantry formation
Frammbeck's apparent association with an infantry regiment is not inconsistent with his Sanitäter training.
German infantry formations required medical personnel at several levels. Trained Sanitäter could serve alongside combat troops, provide immediate first aid, assist wounded soldiers, organise their movement to collection points, and cooperate with medical detachments farther behind the line.
It is therefore possible that Frammbeck served as a Sanitäter within or in support of an infantry regiment rather than in a separately named Sanitätskompanie.
The surviving pages do not yet reveal whether he held a permanent medical appointment throughout his service or received Sanitäter training only during part of his military career.
Weapons training
The training section records:
- Gewehr 98
This indicates training with the Gewehr 98, the standard German bolt-action service rifle of the First World War.
Medical personnel were still members of the armed forces and could receive normal weapons instruction. Training with the Gewehr 98 therefore does not conflict with his identification as a Sanitäter.
A Sanitäter might be expected to protect himself, his patients, or his position when necessary, although his principal function remained medical rather than combat-related.
First World War service
The available entries suggest that Frammbeck served from August 1914 until at least part of 1917.
His service appears to have included:
- mobilisation during the first year of the war;
- assignment to, or association with, an infantry regiment;
- training with the Gewehr 98;
- qualification as a Sanitäter;
- and possible front-line service.
The Wehrpass does not provide enough clearly legible information to reconstruct his exact movements, battles, hospitals, or medical stations. Additional records, such as casualty lists, Bavarian military rolls, unit rosters, or wartime medical documents, would be needed to produce a complete service chronology.
Decorations
The decorations section contains a brief handwritten entry that appears to refer to two First World War-related awards:
- the Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer;
- and possibly the Verwundetenabzeichen in Schwarz.
The Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer, commonly called the Hindenburg Cross with swords, was established in 1934 and awarded to recognised veterans who had served at the front during the First World War.
The second abbreviated entry appears consistent with the Black Wound Badge. If this reading is correct, it would indicate that Frammbeck had been wounded once or twice through enemy action.
Because the handwriting is compressed and no clear award dates are visible, the second decoration should be treated as a probable rather than definitive reading.
Medical personnel were frequently exposed to danger while recovering or treating casualties. A wound award would therefore be compatible with his service as a Sanitäter, but the badge alone does not reveal the circumstances in which he was wounded.
Transfer to the Landwehr
On 2 May 1938, Frammbeck was recorded as having been transferred to:
- Landwehr I
The Landwehr consisted of older reservists who remained subject to military mobilisation. Men in this category could be assigned to local defence, guard duties, replacement formations, administrative tasks, or other supporting functions.
At the time of this entry, Frammbeck was nearly 43 years old. His age and previous medical training could have made him useful for local, medical, administrative, or support duties, even if he was no longer considered suitable for regular front-line infantry service.
The entry was certified by a Munich military authority, apparently the:
- Wehrbezirkskommando München
Wehrpass issued in 1938
Frammbeck's Wehrpass was formally issued in Munich on:
- 3 October 1938
The document bears the appropriate official stamps and the signature of an officer identified by the stamped rank:
- Major (E)
The letter E referred to an Ergänzungsoffizier, an officer serving in a supplementary or administrative capacity.
The issuance of the Wehrpass formed part of the wider registration and mobilisation system created during German rearmament. Older First World War veterans were reviewed, classified, and placed into reserve categories according to age, fitness, training, and military usefulness.
Registration in 1939
The page concerning the Beurlaubtenstand, or leave and reserve status, bears a Munich military stamp dated:
- 26 April 1939
This shows that Frammbeck remained under the supervision of the military registration authorities only a few months before the beginning of the Second World War.
The entry does not itself demonstrate that he was called into active service. It confirms only that his reserve status was officially maintained and recorded.
Administrative entry from 1943
The final additions page contains a handwritten note dated:
- 14 July 1943
The entry appears to read approximately:
- Am 14.7.43 überführt in die Liste I.
This may be translated as:
- “On 14 July 1943 transferred to List I.”
The exact meaning of this classification cannot be established from the page alone. It appears to concern his administrative registration rather than a transfer to a named military unit.
The entry was certified by a Munich Wehrmeldeamt and signed by an officer with the rank of Oberst.
Second World War status
The photographed Wehrpass pages contain little evidence of active Second World War military service.
The sections intended for later wartime formations, promotions, appointments, and extensive service entries are largely blank. This suggests that Frammbeck may not have been recalled for prolonged active duty, or that his role remained limited to reserve, local, administrative, or medical availability.
Several possibilities remain:
- he was never called back into full active service;
- he was retained as an older Landwehr reservist;
- he performed brief or local duties that were not fully recorded;
- he was considered for medical or support work because of his Sanitäter training;
- or additional service was recorded in documents that are no longer present.
Without further records, it would be unsafe to assign him to a particular Second World War medical unit.
Significance of the Sanitäter entry
The Sanitäter notation is especially valuable because it establishes Frammbeck's connection with military medicine directly from the Wehrpass.
It shows that he was not merely an infantry veteran who happened to have an interest in first aid. He had received recognised military medical training.
At the same time, the distinction between qualification and assignment should be preserved. The Wehrpass proves that he was trained as a Sanitäter, but it does not yet show:
- his exact medical rank;
- the medical unit in which he served;
- whether he was a full-time medic;
- whether he worked as a Krankenträger;
- or at what stage of the First World War he carried out medical duties.
Frammbeck should therefore be described as a trained Sanitäter and First World War veteran, with the precise nature of his medical service still requiring further research.
Historical context
Frammbeck's Wehrpass illustrates the continuity between the First World War generation and the Wehrmacht reserve system of the late 1930s.
His military biography passed through several distinct phases:
- mobilisation as a young man in 1914;
- service in a Bavarian infantry context;
- training as a Sanitäter;
- recognition as a First World War veteran;
- transfer to the Landwehr;
- and renewed registration under the Wehrmacht before the Second World War.
For many men of his generation, the Wehrpass was not the record of a completely new military career. It was a retrospective administrative document that combined Imperial German or Bavarian service with the mobilisation requirements of National Socialist Germany.
Conclusion
Josef Frammbeck was born in Munich on 24 June 1895. He entered military service in August 1914 and appears to have been associated with Infanterie-Regiment 2, probably a Bavarian formation.
His Wehrpass records training with the Gewehr 98 and, most importantly, the qualification:
- Sanitäter
This confirms that he was trained as a military medic. He may have performed medical duties within an infantry regiment, although the surviving pages do not identify his exact medical unit or appointment.
After the First World War, Frammbeck remained part of Germany's reserve manpower. He was transferred to Landwehr I in May 1938, received his Wehrpass in Munich in October of that year, and continued to be monitored by the military registration authorities into the Second World War.
His Wehrpass therefore documents the life of an older Bavarian veteran whose wartime experience combined infantry service with military medical training.
