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WWI German Officer’s Shoulder straps

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    Posted 8 years ago

    Chrisnp
    (310 items)

    First I’d like to say I am no expert in this very specific area of WWI collecting, so I invite comments and corrections. All three of these came from the same source, and my guess by the evidence is that the straps were pulled or cut away from the uniforms instead of being carefully removed. It makes my imagination work overtime thinking of some doughboy rudely taking them from a prisoner or casualty for a souvenir. Of course there is no way I can actually know about how the straps were originally collected.

    The first shoulder strap has the single pip of a First Lieutenant, and seems to be from the 16th Infantry Regiment Baron Von Spar (3rd Westphalian). I am a bit confused about the narrow width. The reverse has a black strap that would slide through a loop on the uniform shoulder and attach via a button near the neck. The button hole in the slide through strap is torn through.

    The second shoulder strap is for a First Lieutenant of the 20th Bavarian Infantry Regiment Prince Franz. Note the Bavarian blue chevrons woven into the chords instead of the Prussian black. There are a couple dark threads at the base of the insignia where the slide-through strap may have been. There is a small slice in the backing material to the left of the threads that may have been made by a knife.

    The last shoulder strap with the interwoven cords and single pip indicates a Lieutenant Colonel, in this case of the 13th Bavarian Infantry Regiment Franz Joseph I. This time a small stub of the slide-through strap is left below where it was cut off.

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    Comments

    1. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 8 years ago
      I get your drift Chris, but remember, it was only a few decades earlier when "American's" were cutting body parts off of Amer. Indians (men & women) to show & use as change purses while they bragged about it. I have doubts that any soldiers were out in "No-Man's Land" collecting souvenirs. These were probably taken from prisoners, or maybe the dead after a successful assault. Who knows ?
    2. Chrisnp Chrisnp, 8 years ago
      I also do not believe soldiers would risk exposing themselves to fire to collect a souvenir. I Think taking insignia from prisoners occurred, but also I am reminded of my father, who took a watch from a dead German soldier along the roadside, for the very practical reason that his own watch was broken. As he used to say, you get to seeing corpses and after awhile those things don't bother you much.

      After the war, dad found it emotionally difficult to wear the watch, and eventually just kept it in a box tucked away in a trunk. My mother still has the watch somewhere and will post it when I come across it again.

      Chris

    3. blunderbuss2 blunderbuss2, 8 years ago
      I understand what you are saying. Those things seen to have a bad aurora . Nothing that can be really explained to others.
    4. Chrisnp Chrisnp, 8 years ago
      Thanks for the love fortapache, Manikin, Militarist, racer4four, elanski and vetraio50

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