A WARLIKE FAMILY

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 3, Issue 204, 26 August 1940, Page 7

A WARLIKE FAMILY

EX-KAISER'S DESCENDANTS THEIR WAR SERVICE One son, eleven grandsons and one grand-nephew of the ex-Kaiser Willi elm II are serving at the front under the swastika Hag of Nazi Germany, according to information supplied by the German High Command. One grandson has fallen in battle. One granddaughter, Princess Cecilie, is a volunteer apothecary in the army drug department at Potscllam. Prince Oscar of Prussia, fifth son of the aged ex-Kaiser, is a colonel of the reserve ami commands a regiment at the front. Prince Oscar's' eldest son, Oscar, aged 24 years, a lieutenant in the slSt Infantry Regiment, fell while leading a charge in Poland on September 5. Two other sons, Burchardt, 22, and Wilhelm Karl, 17 ; . are respectively first lieutenant in infantry regiment No. 9 and sub-lieutenant with an artillery regiment. Burchard't speaks Eng lish excellently, and in peace time moved about in the American colony of Berlin. Of the four sons of former Crown Prince Wilhelm and Crown Princess Cecilie, three are on active service while the youngest, Fredrich, 27, has been interned on the estiate of a prominent Scotsman. "Fritzie" was working in a London bank when the war. started, and was ill when other Germans gped back to the fatherland. Prince Wilhelm, 33. the former crown prince's eldest son, is a reserve captain in the Ist Infantry Regiment. He took part in the battle of Kutno, in Poland, in September, Prince Louis Ferdinand, 32, a first lieutenant in the Hindenburg bombing squadron, is a member of the air force's teaching staff at Rangsdorf, ncrir Berlin. Since Prince Wilhelm married a commoner, Ferdinand! is the future head of the family. Prince Hubertus, 30, also a first lieutenant in the air force, is in a bombing squadron at the front wher6 his knowledge of English is invoked occasionally to question British prisoners. Prince Wilhelm Viktor, 20, only son of Prince Adalbert of Prussia, is a corporal in an infantry regiment, Prince Alexander Ferdinand, 2l> ; only son of Prince August Wilhelm, is a first lieutenant in the air force signal corps. His father, a high ranking Nazi storm troop leader, is distributing food ration cards in the Potsdam city hall. The only child of the late Prince Joachim of Prussia. Prince Karl Franz Joseph, 23, is a lieutenant in an armoured % car regiment. The three oldest sons of Victoria, only daughter of the former Kaiser, and Duke 'Ernst August, arc members of a cavalry regiment. They are: First Lieutenant Ernst August. 25: Lieutenant Georg Wilhelm, 21 and Sub-Lieutonant Christian, 20. The fourth son, Wolf Ileinrich, is only 16. The former Kaiser's grand-nep-hew, Prince Fr.ied.Tioh Karl, 20, is ;i sub-lieutenant in the signal corps. Former Crown Prince .Wi I helm's youngest child, Princess Cecilie, 22, -volunteered for the army drug store duty at Potsdam. She was accepted and now serves regularly on an eight-hour day basis, with Sundays off.