The Prussian

Hello! If Inf.Rgt.160, the base colour under the numbers might be blue. It´s difficulty to see...

Note the "button-strap". It´s round. I haven´t seen that before. And austrian field-caps didin´t have any pipings. Either it´s a cap of own property with pipings, or it´s a "collection" of an unknown green-piped cap with a WW2 Edelweiß.

Hello! The Württemberg cap only had pipings on the top of the cap and a cloth visor. Bavarian caps had a black piping on the top and a kind of fibreglass visor. I don´t know, which cap we see here, maybe a self-made one for officers (Eigentumsstück) The cocade is an austrian officers cocade witht the K (worn since february 28, 1917 for Kaiser Karl). The shoulder strap is from the austian-hungarian Landwehr-Gebirgstruppen. The Edelweiß is not an austrian one. German troops didn´t have Edelweisse with stalks. If germans wore them, they used austrian ones. But austrians looked different to the one at this cap! Here we have a german WW2 Edelweiß (if it has four holes to sew on) I attached an austrian (above) and a Wehrmacht Edelweiß (bottom)

Sometimes the stamp on the postcard could help. The MG-Scharfschützen-Trupps 1-200 were formed since january 1916. Non-prussia were: bavarian: 41-446, 87-90, 135-138, 187-193 saxon: 91, 92, 139, 140, 194-197 württ.: 93, 94, 141, 142, 198-200 These Trupps formed since september 1916 the MG-Ss-Abteilungen (3 Trupps = 1 Abteilung) 1-49, 50-52 (saxon), 53-54 (württ.), 55-75, 76 (saxon), 77 (württ.), 78-79, bavarian 1-4 Since february 1916 the Trupps wore the infantry uniform with shoulderstraps with their Trupp-number and a Troddel of a 1st company. Since august 1916 they had their Abteilungs-number and Troddeln of 1.-3. company Also, NCOs and enlisted men recieved the MG-Ss-badge. This badge might have been worn only during the war. Officers recieved the badge since august 1917. The Geb.MG-Abt. were formed in may 1915 (201-210 for the Alpenkorps), since august 1915 N° 211-255, since november 1918 N° 260-264. Those last Abteilungen were built from other Abteilungen. (3 old Abt. = 1 new Abt.). Here I´ve got an interesting photo with an MG-Ss-badge. Because of the tunic it could be a post-war photo. Until now I couldn´t explain the shoulder strap. A crown with a gothic L. These shoulder straps were worn by Inf.Rgt.47 and bav.Inf.Rgt.10. But only officers had metal letters. The Litzen seem to be early Reichswehr. Probably it´s a Freikors unit. Any ideas???

Maybe they recieved the badges before they came to the other unit?

Yes. But did they wear the Sniperbadge???

Hi Chris! That´s hard to say... The MG-Ss-Abt. were under command of the OHL and were detached to the different divisions, corps or armies. The MG-Ss-Abt.24 was the only MG-Ss-Abt, that was attached directliy the Alpencorps from 12.2.18-23.9.18

Hello! I wonder about the Stabsfeldwebel. That rank didn´t exist in the german navy. The Stabsfeldwebel was introduced in 1938! Well, the straw-hat was stil in use at african stations and on surverying ships in the south seas. The branch-patch is, if it is golden: Oberschreiber, Obermeistermaat or Obersanitätsmaat of the "Matrosendivisionen" If it is silver: Schreiber, Meidstersmaat or Sanitätsmaat of the "Werftdivisionen" But I just see, the "pennnats" of the crown are quite short. They don´t reach the width of the ancor, so it probably is silver, which indicates him as an "Oberbottelier"

Hello" #47 shows 2.Garde-Rgt.z.F. Maybe the buttons were "Eigentumsstücke"? I read, that those tunic-buttons had a diametre of 24mm (+/- 0,50mm) since 1842. An A.K.O. from april 4, 1902 said, that the button-size had to be reduced, but there ain´t no infos about the diametres...

That´s great, Chris! A wonderful photo!

Hello! Well, your are right about the quality. It´s simply cheap metal, but I think, in 1918 that was ok... Heeresreserve is possible too, of course. I just wonder, I´ve never seen such a badge before.This one was at ebay for about two years before I decided to buy it.

Yes, I agree. I have recieved another tip for that badge: JMO (Immatrikulation Ostern = enrolment Easter) K.W.A. = Kaiser-Wilhelm-Akademie HR = Heer The K.W.A. was an academy, medicin students studied for ther service in the army or navy. They enroled twice (Easter or autumn) and they had to decide where to serve. In the Army (Heer) or in the Navy (Marine) That´s just a guess, but the abbreviations themselves would fit...

Hello! Does anyone knows, what this badge is? The diametre is 3,4cm Because of the letter K I assume, it´s a german or an austrian one. You know the most words spoken as a K, in english and french are spelled with a C. A J in Germany often means I. So Imo should be Immobile. Württemberg had an Immobile Kraftwagen-Abteilung Nr.1 So my idea is: Immobile Kraftwagen-Abteilung HR 1918 (Immobile motor-lorry detachment) But what the hell does HR mean??? Maybe something with Honvéd, if it´s an austrian one??? Maybe it´s not military? Thanks a lot in advance!

Well, they were Landsturm soldiers. First a man has to serve in an active unit for 2 or 3 years (if he volunteered, he could serve more years). After this active period, he became a Reserveman. The active + reserve time is 7 years. 2 years active = 5 years reserve 3 years active = 4 years reserve Then the men came to the Landwehr 1. contingent 2 years active = 5 years Landwehr 3 years active = 3 years Landwehr After that they came to the Landwehr 2nd contignent und the 31st march of the year, when they reached their age of 39. All men, who didn´t serve active, in reserve or Landwehr, came to the Landsturm (1. contingent age 17-39 ; 2. contingent age 39-45)

Hello! Photo 2: That´s no leather, it´s oilcloth. The 3 upon the collars means 3rd infantry brigade, so the boys came from around Rastenburg (East-Prussia)

Hello! 1) Unteroffizier in WW1. Unit invisible. Probably infantry because of the red(?) cap band. 2) Landsturm. To ID the unit I might know the collar numbers 3) bavarian soldiers between between 1860 and 1873, probably late 60s, early 70s 4) like 3

We see 3rd army, IV.corps, but no divisional markling. Probably the man served directly with the IV.corps?

Hello! What does O.H.B. stands for, please?

Hello Chris! What about the buttons? Blank or "lioned"?

Hello John! Yes, you´re right! After armistice in the east, the Sturmbataillon 8 came under command of the 17th army at the western front

Hello John! The Sturmbataillon had been set-up december 28, 1916 by A.O.K. Südarmee. The Ersatz came: for staff and storm-companies from II.Ers.Btl./Inf.Rgt.21 for MGK: 4.Ers.MGK/XVII.AK for trench mortars: Pi.Ers.Btl.17 The bataillon probably fought in all major battles of the Südarmee, espacially: 2.3.17 and 12.-13.3.17: Battle of Lipnica-Dolna 25.6.17: Patrols at Lipnica-Dolna 29.6.-3.7.17: Defense of the russian offensive 29.6.-3.7.17: Battle of Brzezany 4.-20.7.17: Trenchbattles at the Narajowka, between Narajowka and Zlota-Lipa and Ceniowka

Hello! B.A. VII fits to the colours of the shoulder straps. "Bekleidungsamt VII" (Clothing office 7th army corps) The VII. corps was in Münster. St.A. ? No idea in military... Normally St.A. stands for "Staatsanwaltschaft" (public prosecutor´s office), but they had different uniforms.

Hello! Here is a link about a lot of original movies about the Great War: http://www.filmportal.de/videos?title=&subject[]=689

Hello dante! Very noice thing! Interesting the two different green colours! A cover with green numbers like this was worn between mid/end august 1914 until november 1916. But we have Landsturm. Those units recieved their helmets in march 1915. The number is the number of the infantry-bataillon, which set-up the Landsturm-Bataillon (later they had the army-corps-number and the number of the bataillon). Here we have two possibilities: 1) Prussian infantry-brigade no. 5 (Stettin) or 2) Bavarian infantry-brigade no. 5 (Zweibrücken)

Hello! That phot must have been taken east of Binarville (Argonne)