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German military unit stamps from World War I 1914-1918

Jens Wiesberger

The decree of February 9, 1912, that in the event of mobilization, the stamping of troop stamps would be omitted and a firearm list would suffice, was transmitted via the "Great Service Route." For this reason, the decree did not reach every armorer at the outbreak of World War I. During the war, armorers had more important tasks, such as repairing weapons. Thus, the troop stamps were mostly stamped by armorer assistants or other soldiers, deviating from the peace stamp regulations. Many wartime troop stamps can be resolved with the formation history of World War I. Some of these troop stamps still pose puzzles today. The troop stamps of 1917/18, often already as precursors to the later Reichswehr troop stamps, are probably attributable to the influence of a general command or deputy general command. There are wartime troop stamps where the abbreviations of the Army Regulation Bulletin No. 337 of July 28, 1915, concerning the stamping of identification marks with the applicable abbreviations, such as Abt for battalion, Batl for battalion, Batt for battery, Ers for reserve, J for infantry, Jäg for Jäger, Kav for cavalry, Ldst for Landsturm, Pi for pioneer, and Res for reserve, were stamped. Regardless of the Army Regulation Bulletin No. 337, other abbreviations such as F.R. for Rifle Regiment, G.R. for Grenadier Regiment, GZF and G.R.z.F. for Garde Regiment zu Fuß were also used in the wartime troop stamps. From around 1917, troop stamps with larger font height of the number and letter stamps appear. Stamps with this larger font height were not in the armorer's kit. It is likely that the stamps of the identification marks were used as a substitute for missing stamps for the stamped troop stamps. The resolution of the wartime troop stamps deviating from the peace stamp regulations, which were stamped by armorer assistants, for example, is always an interpretation, as they cannot be documented with regulations on stamping hand weapons. Format 21 x 29.7 cm, Paperback, 209 pages, hundreds of color and black-and-white illustrations, Best-Nr.StV003, shipping weight 1 kg You order directly from the publisher - we deliver to existing customers with an invoice - your postage share for shipping within Germany is only €3 per order. New customers are delivered by prepayment, as well as international shipping. The postage costs for this and the terms and conditions can be found under "myGun" International customers please await our advance invoice. Here, the shipping costs vary depending on the destination country. (You naturally have a 14-day right of withdrawal from the receipt of the goods)