Thomas W

The second is a flamethrower pioneer serving with the III. Garde-Pionier-Bataillon at Verdun.

Here are two photos I have of Asians serving in the German army. The first shows a man with a "6" on his shoulder straps.

Here's the mustached man when he was a member of the III. Garde-Pionier-Bataillon during the war. I wonder why Minenwerfer-Detachment-Heuschkel had so many former flamethrower pioneers? It could be because the commander was a former member of Pionier-Bataillon Nr. 29, which worked with Bernhard Reddemann on flamethrower development before the war and was the first German unit to use flamethrowers in combat. Maybe Heuschkel knew a lot of these flamethrower pioneers personally and recruited them into his Freikorps after the war...

I've posted a closeup of this image before, but here's the full photo of a former flamethrower pioneer (standing) who was a member of Minenwerfer-Detachment-Heuschkel when this photo was taken. Interestingly, the kneeling man with the mustache on the right is also a former flamethrower pioneer, reinforcing the Flammenwerfer-Minenwerfer-Totenkopf relationship.

Rear:

Front:

Beautiful badge. Too bad real ones never come up for sale.

I got one I'm willing to sell or trade for photos of WWI flamethrower troops from any nation.

The back of the card has a printed legend identifying the battalion.

Interesting postcard that illustrates the Minenwerfer-Totenkopf connection that keeps popping up. This was put out by Minenwerfer-Ersatz-Bataillon Nr. 8; it's apparently an "official" card, meaning it was sold in the battalion commissary or in the barracks.

And this mystery photo, which shows German pioneers with a portable "gas sprayer," a device I've never seen before.

Wex M.1917 Flammenwerfer.

Austrian kleine 22l M. 15 Flammenwerfer.

Oberleutnant of the Garde-Reserve-Pionier-Regiment.

Russian flamethrower sapper from the 1920s.

Pionier-Versuchs-Kompagnie.

III. Garde-Pionier-Bataillon, the first flamethrower battalion.

Garde-Reserve-Pionier-Regiment.

I'll admit that I've paid insane prices for some postcards, but I figure that this is evened out by the amazing bargains I've also found, mostly on eBay. All the following postcards I bought for $1-3:

Jager- (Sturm-) Bataillon Nr. 3.

Bulgarian infantry officer wearing a much larger German Stahlhelm M.1916:

Bulgarian sapper of the First Army Assault Battalion, wearing a German Stalhelm M.1916 painted field gray:

Turkish Stahlhelm M.1918, as worn by German government troops during the Civil War of 1918-1923:

Turkish honor guard wearing the Turkish Stahlhelm M.1917. It was simply a German Stahlhelm M.1916 with the brim cut down:

Turkish assault troops wearing the Turkish Stahlhelm M.1917, during a training course and demonstration at Galicia. Some helmets are painted field gray, and some have wide, vertical bands of color separated by black lines:

Officer of Austrian Kaiserjäger Sturmbataillon, wearing an experimental German Stahlhelm M.1918 with a sloping brow:

Officer of Austrian assault battalion wearing Austrian Stahlhelm M.1916 with a very flat visor dip: