Dear Janet,
Germany at the beginning of the 20th century was a confederation, and
each state had its own military organization with its own military
archive. In order to find any records, you must first know to which
state the unit belonged where the soldier served. Generally, it is
virtually impossible to find any record if you do not know the exact unit.

Visit the following website to learn more about German WWI records:
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/genealogy/german-faq/part3/section-1.html

For Austria, contact the Austrian War Archive in Vieanna:
http://www.oesta.gv.at/ebestand/ekv/efr1_kv.htm

Here is an outline of what can be found in the Austrian War Archive
(in German):
http://www.genealogienetz.de/reg/AUT/karchiv.html#k22

Andreas Schwab, suburban Montreal, Canada. email: andreas.schwab@...