Chip

I think post #5 might be from the Zivilverwaltung der besetzten Gebieten. In other words, these are not army officials under the Heeresverwaltung, but rather civilians, who were entitled to wear a uniform (Feldziviluniform). Typically, they wore a special design of shoulder cord, the middle official's type looking like this one. The underlay was either dark green or feldgrau. These were worn by a host of officials and as Rick mentions, police commisars. It is a whole field in and of itself and little known, as it is rarely covered in material about the army. Chip

Hardy, Thanks for showing the issue-type patch. I couldn't find the scan of mine. The officer's patterns tended to be privately made like the one in the photo and this one seems to have the abbreviation "Fl." at the beginning. I can't make out the rest. I have photos with officers both with an "Fl." and also with a winged propellar. Chip

The oval on his sleeve appears to be a Feldflieger unit patch. It was not uncommon to see button hole ribbons worn on Blusen. They simply "pretended" there was a button hole and sewed the ribbon on to make it look like there was one. Here being worn by Ldst.Sgt.Otto Plath of the Ldst.Btl.Nr.19, XVII AK (Hessen). Chip

CR, I would be happy to identify them for you. You can either post a picture here or PM me for my E-mail address. In the meantime, there is a good reference on the Feldgrau Forum website. You will have to register and if you do, I will send you a link to the pages. Regards, Chip

Simply beautiful Chris. Any idea why the EKI doc would not have been signed? Chip

"Bei den Schießschulen und der Gewehrprüfungskommission erworbene Auszeichnungen erhielten zusätzlich eine versilberte Eichel bzw. Granate an silberner Schnur, die jeweils hinzugefügt und später beibehalten wurde." From Kraus. The Schützenabzeichen appears to the Stufe Nr.8. Chip

Artur Dreifuss - Ersatz Bataillon Infanterie Regiment Nr.135, 2.Kompagnie (Lothringen). This was his training unit. The info on the back is his field unit. Karl Bender - 2.Rekruten Depot, 1.Ersatz Bataillon, Infanterie Regiment, Armierungs Kompagnie. Pionier Johann Merz - Infanterie Regiment 98, Minenwerfer Kompagnie. The complete Erkennungsmarke is a WWII era piece. Chip

That's a tough one Don. Congratulations! What is the average price for these badges now? I have a few, so I have not paid attention to the prices for years. Chip

Chris, So you see why "251 Divisions..." does not have these regiments. Their divisions are not listed! They are, however, listed in Kraus on page 470 and in Cron's "Die Organisation des deutschen Heeres im Weltkrieg, heft 5". Though not specifically mentioned by unit number, he does discuss their specific brigades and divisions in reference to the Küstenschutz. Ulstermann, Thanks for adding this information. I'm not familiar with Nafzier. Could you give us the rest of the information about this reference? (title, publisher, date, etc.) Heiko, There were a few 900 series FARs, but this unit is most likely one of the 900 series munitions columns. They also wore normal looking FAR shoulder straps. FAR straps were numbered well into the 1000 series. Chip

Chris, You need some new books dude. There was a whole series of 600 numbered infantry units. If you think that is interesting, what do you think about this? Chip

I did a double-take at the "tailor's label". Chip

Since we seem to be on the topic, here is a very rare document that was recently shown on the German SDA website/forum. Chip

This could be a pre-September 1915 board for the Prussian IR 29 or one of it's affiliated reserve units. The corps underlay color was Hellblau or light/bright blue. There is also the possibility that it could be a Litewka or Friedensrock board for the Train Abtlg.Nr.29. There was no prewar Train unit with this number, but it is possible that it was a wartime unit. The Train's "Waffenfarbe" changed from Hellblau to a darker Kaliblau in 1915. Chip

Chris, There were several styles of this unoffical insignia. The most common patterns were the one I have shown and similar one that looks more like a lighting bolt. It is cut from yellow cloth rather than formed from cord and the ends of the Blitz are pointed. I have a picture of one somewhere. There was an article printed in a 1986 edition of the Zeitschrift für Heereskunde on this subject. In his book, Kraus footnotes his information and refers to this von Stein article entitled, "Abzeichen der deutschen Starkstrom-Formationen im 1.Weltkrieg". Unfortunately, I only have the ZfH editions from 1929-1958, so I don't have a copy of the aforementioned article. Chip

Paul, What did the pre-1900 crown look like? Thanks, Chip

Looks like "Marius" to me. Chip

Chris, The artwork on this piece is very nice. Thanks for showing it. Chip

Chris, I am just going by the tables that list the arms for the various types of units. Perhaps it is a prewar list. I'm sure Sturmpioniere would have had carbines. If you take a look in Kraus or Führer durch Heer and Flötte, both list the Gewehr 98 as the arm for pioneers. Chip

Chris, Of course, it it possible that they are pioneers, but normally, pioneers were issued Gewehr 98s. Chip

Simon, Yes, it looks to me that none of them is wearing the specific Feldgendarmerie uniform. Chip

What is the wording on the side of the filter? Thanks, Chip

Simon, The Feldgendarmerie were normal military police that had their own particular uniforms with the most distinctive feature being collar Litzen and Polish style cuffs. Their gray caps had a dark green band with red piping. During the war, army NCOs were "abkommandiert" for service with Feldgenarmerie. The cavalrymen in your photo with the Ringkragen fall into this category. The solider in the first photo appears to be a dragoon. I belive there was also a Feldpolizei or Militärpolizei, who were troops pulled from their respective units for policing duties, especially in the Etappen areas. Some duties were just temporary and armbands were all that was issued. Chip

Seeing that these guys are carrying carbines, I am guessing they are Telegraphentruppen. Not to dangerous. Chip

Aceton, I have been collecting prewar and WWI Russian items for many years, but have not accumulated a collection the size of my friend, Regal Uniforma Collector (who started this thread). My shoulder board collection consists of approximately 45 pieces, three of which I showed earlier in this thread. I prefer the enlisted man's examples, but here, one has to take what one can get. Most of my items are common and would be of no interest to you, given the nice examples you have shown. Regards, Chip

Aceton, Very nice examples. Thanks for showing them. Do you specialize in artillery or is this just a sampling? Chip