Chip

Joe and Mike, Maybe I am thinking of wartime commissioned reserve officers not being listed anywhere. Obviously, not my bailiwick. Chip

Joe, A Lt.der Reserve would not be in the Ranglist would he? Chip

Normally, a man's draft class was the year of his twentieth birthday. Of course, during the war, the high losses and need for manpower caused classes to be called up earlier. The class of 1918 began being called up in September of 1916. Volunteers were allowed to do so as early as the age of 17. Chip

I believe that with the 1907 field uniform regulations all infantry units (non-J?ger) either had ponceaurot Patten piping (as in the photo KIR attached) or none at all. Chip

Hello Karsten, Yes, this is a nice example of a WWI era Erkennungsmarke. This man would have been in the draft class of 1915. It is from a Hannoveran infantry regiment and thus would be a fairly common example. This pattern was most commonly worn earlier in the war and the script writing on the front side is a lesser seen variation. Chip

Here is a pair of the M07 shoulder straps. Chip

Micha, Those are errors. There was no Chiffre worn by any pioneer battalion. The only special devices would have been the crossed pick and shovel on the Saxon pioneer boards. All (non-Saxon) Bunter Rock pioneer boards had yellow numbers on red boards. Chip

Bob, Chris Boonzaire might have a use for it on his website. I know he likes to use actual eye-whitness accounts to accompany his articles. Chip

Micha, Your 10.bayr.FAR has Prussian one year volunteer cord? I think this is more likely a one year volunteer from the 10th Hannoveran Pioneer Battalion. And Jens is correct about this being a pattern of shoulder strap for the old blue/black overcoat. Depending on when the cypher for the 3.b.IR was authorized, it might also be from that regiment. Chip

Micha, Very nice examples. If you find wartime Saxon pieces, send them my way! I always will trade my Bunter Rock shoulder straps for wartime examples. This part of the hobby can be a very long slippery slope. The possibilities are finite and yet endless. Ein guter Fang! Chip

The last guy is a Beamte from the technical institute. Chip

Joe, As you may know, he is wearing the uniform of the Kaiserliches Freiwilliges Automobil-Corps. These were the guys who volunteered themselves and their personal automobiles to the service of the Kaiser. They were later recognized as officers and eventually became part of the army. Here is a link to a website that sheds some light on this subject. http://www.kaiserlicherautomobilclub.de/ Chip

You mean all this was a stinking commercial!??? I'm sending my decoder ring back!! ....and no more Ovaltine!!

Hardy, Both of disks mentioned are the so-called 1916 pattern with the cut-out center line. I have to agree with Chris that it is somewhat surprising to see a Sturm-Batl. disk in the 1914 configuration, but when you look at the timeline Sturm-Batl.Nr.4 was one of the earlier units, having been formed in 1916. I'm sure that the transition from one pattern disk to another took time. Like I said, a very cool disk. Congratulations. Chip

Adolf-Victor von Koerber (... Mai 1915) Otto Bufe Gru?, Chip

Very cool Hardy. Was there anything else in the lot? I've got a tag for a gunner in a MGSSA and one from a Gebirgs-MGA, but never have had a chance at a Sturm-Batl. example. Regards, Chip

Of course, I am just kidding. But I do have some European friends that have never had a scanner and I often tease them about it! Chip

Scanners are so reasonably priced any more that seems odd that a collector would not have one, especially medals and photo collectors. I have other collector friends in Germany and France that just seem to be unable to get one. It is very frustrating for their collecting friends, who never get to see any of the nice things that they "supposedly" have. BTW, I have an Epson 3490. Chip

Hello and welcome to the forum. I have some interest in this unit as well as an insignia collector. As you may know, with the acknowledgement by the Kaiser, the regiment received his royal cypher for their shoulder straps. It was one of only a handful of wartime cypher changes/additions. The AKO ordering this cypher was decreed on July 29, 1917 and was published in the Armee-Verordnungsblatt (A.V.B.) on August 25, 1917 (Nr.800). The order mentions "brave conduct in the face of the enemy". Unfortunately, I have no further details at the moment, but I will see what I can find. Regards, Chip

Regiments Erinnerungs Kreuz (REK) Treu dem Regiment (Batl., Marine, etc.).

....and all for tonight.

...and some other interesting examples.

...and the same badge as a large wall hanger.

Rick, I believe that "GA" on the badge with the Skoda 37mm gun, stands for "Gebirgs-Artillerie". But I notice there is a faint "I" above the GA, so the three letters could stand for "Infanterie Gesch?tz Abteilung". I have a bunch of these too.

Thomas, This picture above shows a Selbstretter with the smaller oxygen cylinder. There was a larger size cylinder worn with this style and there were other styles of Selbstretter with even larger O2 cylinders. Chip