N.K.B.218

[Naxos]

"Erledigt von NKB 218, 16.IV.17" = finished (destroyed) by N.K.B.218, April 16. 1917

written on a wreck of a French tank.

am I right in the assumption that N.K.B.218 stands for Nahkampf-Batterie 218 ?

Any information on this Batterie?

Hardy

Edited October 11, 2007 by Naxos

[bob lembke]

Hi, Hardy;

I have been looking at the question of German "infantry guns" for a while. There were 50 "Infanterie=Geschuetz Batterien" set up and called that, and they were numbered Nr. 1 to Nr. 50. Later in the war most infantry regiments seemed to have an infantry gun battery attached to them, perhaps one of the I=G=B s, but, more usually, a battery from a field artillery Abteilung, probably from divisional artillery. Additionally, often a field gun battery on the usual deployment and missions was asked to detail one of their four 77 mm field guns to be rolled out of the battery's emplacements and carefully concealed forward, with orders to not undertake a fire mission unless it was an urgent situation, which I think generally meant a serious tank attack. A single well-emplaced and served field gun, unanticipated, could wreak havoc on a tank attack of the era.

I have read a lot of histories lately, including a bunch of the Schlachten des Weltkrieges series, which have a lot of specific detail, and I can not recall the use of the term "Nahkampf Batterie" for field guns in this role. I now routinely take notes when I encounter mention of these guns and their employment, so I would probably remember it. I would think that it was a local designation, possibly for the infantry gun of IR 218 or possibly one assigned to this duty by ID 218.

Bob Lembke

[Naxos]

Found this:

"Die Nahkampf-Batterien Nr. 218 - Nr. 220 wurden ab Januar 1917 aufgestellt und dem Armee-Oberkommando 2 unterstellt. Sie wurden bereits am 23. Mai 1917 wieder aufgel?st."

the above were established from Baden Artillerie units

All in all fifty N.K.B numbering from 200 to 250 were build in Jan 1917

Hardy

Edited October 11, 2007 by Naxos

[bob lembke]

Found this:

"Die Nahkampf-Batterien Nr. 218 - Nr. 220 wurden ab Januar 1917 aufgestellt und dem Armee-Oberkommando 2 unterstellt. Sie wurden bereits am 23. Mai 1917 wieder aufgel?st."

the above were established from Baden Artillerie units

All in all fifty N.K.B numbering from 200 to 250 were build in Jan 1917

Hardy

One learns something every day! So I guess that these were in addition to I=G Nr. 1 thru I=G Nr. 50. As most infantry regiments in the front lines were assigned one or even two "accompanying batteries", and I am sure other close combat batteries were required for other duties, like the anti-tank role. In my recent readings the typical Field=Geschuetze=Abteilung had one of its 2-3 77 mm field gun batteries set on this duty. So in total it is clear that hundreds of infantry gun batteries were required at the end of the war, and the hundred I=G=B and N=K=B were not enough, by far.

The 105 mm light howitzer also could perform this role, and in fact that was the gun that the infantry gun battery of Storm Battallion Rohr finally settled on. (My father was detailed to S=B Rohr several times, and the clearest memory I have of him talking about S=B Rohr was about the effectiveness of this battery in taking out MG nests.)

Bob Lembke

PS: Anyone familiar with the Brit story about the single German officer who manned a 77 mm and supposedly knocked out 17 Brit tanks, and was remarkably mentioned in the British dispatches, and the story that this was actually a fabrication, issued to cover up the supposed fact that the Brits bungled their tank attack, and were fishing for an excuse? Was this Cambrai?

[Naxos]

Bob, I guess we are learning together here - never heard of N.K.B before I looked closer at what was written on that tank wreck.

Apparently the N.K.B.'s were converted into I.G.B's in the summer of 1917.

Have a look at this very interesting thread: http://www.milex.de/forum/einheitenShow.ht...sageNummer=1306

Regards, Hardy

[Naxos]

Bob, this is from the Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe: "Die Infanterie-Gesch?tz-Batterie Nr. 9 wurde ab Juni 1916 aufgestellt und am 10. September dem Sturm-Bataillon Rohr (Armee-Oberkommando 5) unterstellt."

Hardy

Edited October 11, 2007 by Naxos

[Chip]

Guys,

My information says that N.G.B. 218 (Bayr.) was established by AOK 1 and was disbanded on July 12, 1917. I have examples of both the Nahkampf=Gesch?tz and Infanterie Gesch?tz shoulder straps in my collection. As was the custom when one was transferred or reassigned to a similar unit that wore the same branch shoulder strap, the letters N.G. and the number 241. have been pulled out of the N.G.B. example.

According to the German achives, the N.G.B. originally used Feldkanonen 96 n.A.. At first, the I.G.B. were outfitted with 37mm guns or captured Russian 7,62 cm guns. Later, they were supplied with cut-down 7,7 cm guns. The batteries which were reinstitued in May/June of 1918 were outfitted with Austrian 7,5 cm Skoda mountain guns.

I have some history of the bayr. Infanterie Gesch?tz Batterie Nr.2 from the unit history of the Sturmbataillon 1, to which it was attached. Here are the two guns that are mentioned and pictured in the history. Their original Russian gun and their "new" Infanterie=Gesch?tz L20/17 with caisson, which replaced the Russian guns in the summer of 1917. Here below is the Russian gun and in the next post the L20/17.

Chip

Edited October 12, 2007 by Chip

[Chip]

L 20/17

[Naxos]

Chip; Thank you for the info

shoulder straps of these units must be very rare since they existed less than six month.

I found the images of the destroyed French tank in a photo album that belonged to a Leutnant of the IR170.

Hardy

[Chip]

Naxos,

Yes, neither is easy to find, especially the N.G.B.. In over forty years of collecting German WWI shoulder straps I have found only the one and it had had everything but the bomb device removed.

Chip