Nice trade: German shoulder boards

[Poulton Palmer]

Hello to all,

I traded these last sunday at a local fair. Not my cup of thea, but I couldn't resist them. They look great, what do you think?

These supposedly should be Hessen shoulder boards, it came with a nicely framed picture of a soldier in Regiment 168. I didn't have time to look this up yet, but I will!

The back is a little bit blurry.

Greetings,

Poulton

[Chip]

Poulton,

The IR.168 straps are for a Hessian one year volunteer's Mantel. The FAR.46 was a Niedersächsisches regiment.

Normally, most prewar type straps with Roman numerals are from Handwerker of the Bekleidungsämter. However, I'm not so sure about your XVIII A.K. pair. I looked in the 1914 edition of "Führer durch Heer und Flotte" and it did not list a Bekleidungsamt for that corps. Pietsch specifically said that they didn't have one. 'Das Deutsche Heer" said that the Handwerker of the Bekleidungsämter wore the shoulder straps in the corps color. The corps color for the XVIII A.K. was not white. So, I am stumped for the moment and will have to keep looking for an explanation.

Chip

Edited March 22, 2013 by Chip

[Poulton Palmer]

Hi Chip,

Thank you for the info. The former owner said that the pair XVIII boards were from 18th ArmeeKorps. This seems strange to me.

Greeting from Flanders,

Poulton

[The Prussian]

Hello Poulton and Chip!

I agree with Chip, that the XVIII.AK didn´t have a Bekleidungsamt. BUT, in 1916 the Bekleidungsämter for the III.bav.AK AND the Reserve-Bekleidungsämter of the XVIII, XX and XXI were founded!

The shoulder straps of the "Friedensuniform M1915/16" for Bekleidungsämter were white! (new Kraus, vol. I, plate 21).

So here we have a shoulder strap for a soldier or an NCO of the Reserve-Bekleidungsamt XVIII.AK for the Friedensuniform M1915/16

Edited March 22, 2013 by The Prussian

[Chip]

Normally, issued shoulder straps will have backing material in the color of the uniform. M15 shoulder straps for the Friedensuniform should be backed in feldgrau cloth. They should also be 4.5 cm wide. These appear to be the same width as the prewar straps they are shown with. This leads me to think that these are private purchase pieces.

Chip

[Poulton Palmer]

Andy and Chip,

I wanted to thank you for all this info!

MfG

Poulton