Bavarian Pickelhaube

[Peter B]

Don't have time to take a good set of pictures yet but I just received my Bavarian Pickelhaube and the unit stamp on the visor is driving me crazy. Very hard to see but for sure I can see a 6 at the front and I am pretty sure an R at the end. Could it be 6 FAR? or 6 RFAR?

Any help appreciated. My next attempt later on when I have some time will be to use the tissue paper and pencil trip to see if I can figure out the middles letters.

It also has a hole (bullett maybe?) in the base of the spike - rather intriguing.

I'll post more pictures later.

Peter

P.S. It had a repro strap with the original brass so I added the Bavarian chin strap I had from another helmet (thanks to Amy for identifying the chin strap).

 

[Lars13]

Hi Peter,

Based on the pictures I read / guess "6 R A R", I don't really see enough space for another letter. I know that "AR" is sometimes used for Artillerie Regiment, but don't know if this would be Feld- or Fuß-Artillerie.

Regards,

Lars

 

[911car]

Lars, if it is 6th artillery regiment, it can only be Feldartillerie, since there were only 3 Bavarian Fussartillerie regiments.

 

[coert65]

To me it looks like 6 FAR, which is indeed a Bavarian feldartillerie unit.
By the way, the damage on the spike looks like caused by a shrapnel ball. Because of the round imprint on the spike.

 

[coert65]

By the way, here are some shrapnel balls I picked up on the fields near Ypres, they measure about 1cm in diameter. If the imprint is about the same, it was probably caused by one of these balls.

 

[argonne]

Name of wearer was KRIEGER

Philippe

 

[argonne]

Lars, if it is 6th artillery regiment, it can only be Feldartillerie, since there were only 3 Bavarian Fussartillerie regiments.

Bruno,

There was a KB Reserve Fußartillerie Bataillon 6 .

Three soldiers with this name in this bavarian ari unit:

Verlustlisten 1. Weltkrieg, page 4516: Krieger Adam (Keilbach)

des.genealogy.net

Verlustlisten 1. Weltkrieg, page 16108: Krieger Johann (Morenberg)

des.genealogy.net

Verlustlisten 1. Weltkrieg, page 4516: Krieger Wilhelm (Hütten, Schweiz)

des.genealogy.net

Philippe

 

[Peter B]

Thanks to you all so far. I know it's not 100 percent but kind of nice as I was looking for a Bavarian Artillery Pickelhaube and just got lucky here.

Thanks Coert for the information on the shrapnel. You are right that it looks like a round imprint and I am pretty sure it is about 1 cm. I'll check later as I am at work today.

Bruno,

There was a KB Reserve Fußartillerie Bataillon 6 .

Three soldiers with this name in this bavarian ari unit:

Verlustlisten 1. Weltkrieg, page 4516: Krieger Adam (Keilbach)

des.genealogy.net

Verlustlisten 1. Weltkrieg, page 16108: Krieger Johann (Morenberg)

des.genealogy.net

Verlustlisten 1. Weltkrieg, page 4516: Krieger Wilhelm (Hütten, Schweiz)

des.genealogy.net

Philippe

Very hard to read but I think this could be Wilhelm. Thanks!

Looking again it might also be Krieger on the other side. Hard to tell.

 

[Peter B]

Thanks to you all so far. I know it's not 100 percent but kind of nice as I was looking for a Bavarian Artillery Pickelhaube and just got lucky here.

Thanks Coert for the information on the shrapnel. You are right that it looks like a round imprint and I am pretty sure it is about 1 cm. I'll check later as I am at work today.

Very hard to read but I think this could be Wilhelm. Thanks!

Interesting that he is from Switzerland. Could not resist going north to join the war or maybe ethic German living in Switzerland?

 

[911car]

Bruno,

There was a KB Reserve Fußartillerie Bataillon 6 .

Three soldiers with this name in this bavarian ari unit:

Verlustlisten 1. Weltkrieg, page 4516: Krieger Adam (Keilbach)

des.genealogy.net

Verlustlisten 1. Weltkrieg, page 16108: Krieger Johann (Morenberg)

des.genealogy.net

Verlustlisten 1. Weltkrieg, page 4516: Krieger Wilhelm (Hütten, Schweiz)

des.genealogy.net

Philippe

Hi Philippe, I did think of this possibility, although I had no knowledge of this very battalion, but since there was no sign that this be a reserve helmet...

 

[Peter B]

Interestingly Wilhem Krieger has the rank of "Wehrmann" on the wounded list. Would this mean he was in an Artillery unit in a support position as opposed to others with the rank of "Kanonier" who would be on the guns? I cannot find a lot of information about the rank of Wehrmann other than it is equivalent to private or soldat.

 

[Sandmann]

Interestingly Wilhem Krieger has the rank of "Wehrmann" on the wounded list. Would this mean he was in an Artillery unit in a support position as opposed to others with the rank of "Kanonier" who would be on the guns? I cannot find a lot of information about the rank of Wehrmann other than it is equivalent to private or soldat.

As far as I know „Wehrmann“ means that he was a soldier of a „Landwehr-Regiment“ and came from „Landwehrmann“

 

[Peter B]

As far as I know „Wehrmann“ means that he was a soldier of a „Landwehr-Regiment“ and came from „Landwehrmann“

Thanks Sandy. He was listed in the wounded list as being part of KB Reserve Fußartillerie Bataillon 6 so I was just wondering if that was normal for someone with this sort of rank to be there? Maybe transferred in as he had some special skill? He was from Switzerland so maybe he was a watchmaker who worked on instruments? My grandfather was a watchmaker and he worked on instruments in the Royal Canadian Air Force in WWII.

 

[Peter B]

By the way, here are some shrapnel balls I picked up on the fields near Ypres, they measure about 1cm in diameter. If the imprint is about the same, it was probably caused by one of these balls.
View attachment 18170

I measured the imprint and it is exactly 1cm. Imagine getting hit by a piece of shrapnel like that! If it is Wilhelm Krieger maybe this happened at the same time he was “lightly wounded” in 1915?

 

[coert65]

I measured the imprint and it is exactly 1cm. Imagine getting hit by a piece of shrapnel like that! If it is Wilhelm Krieger maybe this happened at the same time he was “lightly wounded” in 1915?

It is possible off-course. When an 18pdr shrapnel shell explodes, it spray's about 365 of those lead balls across the battlefield.
Those shells had a timefuse, set at a time so the shell would explode at a height, so those balls would spray at the correct height. Mostly used for destroying barbed wire, or personnel.

 

[Peter B]

It is possible off-course. When an 18pdr shrapnel shell explodes, it spray's about 365 of those lead balls across the battlefield.
Those shells had a timefuse, set at a time so the shell would explode at a height, so those balls would spray at the correct height. Mostly used for destroying barbed wire, or personnel.

For sure! And I have that same shell in lamp form.

 

[coert65]

Very nice lamp Peter!

 

[Peter B]

Very nice lamp Peter!

Would you believe it only cost me $8.00 when I bought it? Without the helmet of course. That was in about 1988.

 

[coert65]

That is really a steal at only $8.00! You did very well!

 

[Peter B]

Finally have some time to take some more photos. I really like the helmet and the character. Not sure how the inside got so bad when the outside is so nice? I like the shrapnel hole in the base of the spike and could just imagine how terrifying it must have been when it happened. There is one strange hole in the back in line with the spike. Other than that everything is as it should be.