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    Shoes with wooden soles - stamped 1915


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    I just got this pair of shoes with wooden and nailed soles. They are stamped "W?rttbg. 1915" and below a small antler (the crest of the Kingdom of W?rttemberg). I never saw that type of shoes before. Any opinions?

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    Jens

    Fascinating ! In general design they are very like the "clogs" produced in the north of England (Yorkshire in particular) for wear by miners, labourers and factory workers.

    Clogs are incredibly duarable, protect the feet from wet floors/ground - like wooden schoen - and are much cheaper to produce than shoes/boots with proper leather soles, as the "sole bend" (sole leather) is the most expensive and hardest to work part of the boot.

    These might be late war production? Either for issue to factory workers or perhaps even troops who weren't actually in the line?

    My two pfennings worth!

    Peter

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    These might be late war production? Either for issue to factory workers or perhaps even troops who weren't actually in the line?

    I do not believe factory workers would need the hobnails, but I agree that these were probably made for use by rear area (probably in Germany itself) Landsturm troops guarding bridges and other facilities. Germany suffered a severe leather shortage in 1914-15 of which one result was the ersatz pickelhauben. With the German troops marching hundreds of miles at the beginning of the war, it is not hard to believe that many boots were just plain wore out. Boots would then very likely be removed from the 3rd and 4th line units at home for use at the front. This may be what they were given in place of what they originally had. With the 1915 date on these, this would make sense. During WW2, I believe a similar shortage occurred in which jackboots were recalled from those who in the rear for use by front line soldiers. I seem to remember someone quoted as saying" All boots to the front! Those who want to keep them can go with them!" or something similar. I think they are a very nice item and Jens, if you ever tire of them, I would love to have a pair in my collection. :love::jumping:

    Dan

    Edited by Daniel Murphy
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    • 2 weeks later...

    A couple of days ago I sent a mail to the Bayerische Armeemuseum Ingolstadt and asked them to forward pictures of my shoes to Dr. J?rgen Kraus (THE Dr. Kraus). Here is his answer:

    """

    Sehr geehrter xxx,

    die ?bersandten Fotos zeigen einen Ersatzschuh von 1915.

    Im 1. Weltkrieg hat man mit den verschiedensten M?glichkeiten experimentiert, einen Schuh aus Ersatzstoffen, vor allem mit Holzsohlen, zu schaffen. Er sollte nat?rlich nur in der Heimat getragen werden. Ihr Exemplar zeichnet sich durch eine sehr stark vereinfachte Beriemung aus.

    Mit freundlichen Gr??en

    Dr. J?rgen Kraus

    Oberkonservator

    """

    Translation: The pictures show a "substitution shoe" from 1915. In WW1 they tried different possibilities to make a shoe out of substitution materials, especially with wooden soles. Of course it should be worn only at home. Your example is distinguished by extremely simplified straps.

    Edited by JensF.
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    Translation: The pictures show a "substitution shoe" from 1915. In WW1 they tried different possibilities to make a shoe out of substitution materials, especially with wooden soles. Of course it should be worn only at home. Your example is distinguished by extremely simplified straps.

    Makes perfect sense! And, BTW, hobnails don't necessarily imply military wear. I have a pair of Dutch "Klompen" which I wear around camp on wet mornings when I re-enact the War of 1812. I've hobnailed the bottoms to give me a grip on wet grass and I'm sure I'm only re-inventing what clever people have done for centuries!

    Peter

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    • 7 years later...
    • 4 weeks later...

    QUOTE(JensF. @ Nov 25 2006, 12:20 )

    Translation: The pictures show a "substitution shoe" from 1915. In WW1 they tried different possibilities to make a shoe out of substitution materials, especially with wooden soles. Of course it should be worn only at home. Your example is distinguished by extremely simplified straps.

    Makes perfect sense! And, BTW, hobnails don't necessarily imply military wear. I have a pair of Dutch "Klompen" which I wear around camp on wet mornings when I re-enact the War of 1812. I've hobnailed the bottoms to give me a grip on wet grass and I'm sure I'm only re-inventing what clever people have done for centuries!

    Peter

    Peter you need a firm grip early in the mornings when squatting definitely a good friend of mine does 1812 here in the US as an Indian he's a bit of a nut well more than a bit we all love it when he does W1 German great company and funny. Where do you and what events?

    Eric

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    • 1 month later...
    • 9 years later...

    Hi,

     

    I have a similar pair of boots which I originally purchased as WW2 U-Boat boots but I have since found out they aren't WW2, I wonder then if they aren't WW1 U-Boat boots based on the similarity to this set of boots?

     

    Regards

    Steve

    IMG_0296.png

    IMG_0290.png

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