German Army Bands

aicusv

aicusv

Well-known member
Any one know where within the organization of a regiment the band fit in the Imperial German Army? Where the members of the band pulled from the individual companies? Or, was the band its own unit? Or, was the band part of a Company? Thanks
 
I can't answer your question .I do have a collection of Music Meister shoulder straps .For the most part these are
1 of a kind straps .Over the years they had 3 different models of their shoulder straps .The last and final model
were all red no matter the color of the regular straps for the regiments .Some of these are shown in Mike Kelso's
book on Imperial Garman shoulder straps .There is a collector in Texas who collects only German Military Music
items .I would think that he could answer your question .If I ever master posting photos , I will post some of mine .
Or if you want to PM me I can send you some via email. I also know a collector who only collects items from
the KAGGR # 1 , as his Grandfather was a musician in the regiment .
Steve McFarland
 
I will send you my email Steve, and will post your pictures here if you agree with that.
All you than have to do, is post comments, as to identifying them, as I have no knowledge of imperial german music bands in the army.

Greetings, Coert. :)
 
Working from memory here, but I think band members were hired by contract and not technically soldiers. Buglers and drummers were soldiers however.

Steve
 
I know that within the U.S. military, bands are a unit unto themselves, some are contract musicians. My reason for asking information about bands is I'm trying to figure out what Troddel or bayonet knot they would have worn. Within the Imperial German Army there were a number of independent units that were smaller in size than a company, what Troddel would the troops in these wear? I'm trying to figure out who wore this:
Unknown toggel.jpg
 
Did bandsmen even carry weapons? I don't think so. Again, from memory, each company had a few drummers and buglers, these were regular soldiers. They would have worn the troddel of the company they were part of.

Steve
 
aicusv said:
I know that within the U.S. military, bands are a unit unto themselves, some are contract musicians. My reason for asking information about bands is I'm trying to figure out what Troddel or bayonet knot they would have worn. Within the Imperial German Army there were a number of independent units that were smaller in size than a company, what Troddel would the troops in these wear? I'm trying to figure out who wore this:
Unknown toggel.jpg
Click to expand...

The Musicians, or „Spielleute“, were a special „Dienststand“ (don’t know how to translate) and each Regiment got a fix number of them.
There is some information about the Uniforms of Musicians in the Book „Das Deutsche Heer - Friedensuniformen bei Ausbruch des Weltkrieges- Text-Band 1“, Page 295 to 299.
I can send it by Mail if you don’t have the book. But I didn’t read something of special Troddel for Musicians in that book..
 
Hi chaps,

generally speaking, the regimental band of an infantry regiment was a component of the regimental staff under the direct supervision of the regimental adjutant. It consisted of a bandmaster, nine “established” musicians and 32 “assistant” musicians. However, for disciplinary and administrative purposes, the bandsmen were administered by one of the companies of the regiment. Bearing in mind the majority of both the established and assistant musicians were NCOs, they wore the special NCO bayonet knot. Those assistant bandsmen in the rank of Gefreiter or private soldier wore the knot of the company which administered them. There was no headquarters company in Imperial times and consequently no special bayonet knot for bandsmen. Of course the bandmaster and the senior NCOs of the band (Vizefeldwebel) wore the officers’ sword knot.

Regards
Glenn
 
Yesterday I recieved some photo's from Steve, KAGGR1, for me to post here on our forum.
Picture 1 is of his music tray 1 showing a nice collection of music shoulderboards:

Next up, a picture of how the M1898 music straps looked, as Steve said in his email to me, the backing colour of these was the same as the unit they were in.

Here a picture of the M1898 Kürassiere straps.

Next, a set for Baden, GR110 M1908-1912.

Next up, a set for Mecklenburg, GR89, I & III Batls 1912

And last, a postcard of the Music Meister of Baden IR 114.

Thank you for sending the pictures to me Steve, I enjoyed placing them on the forum for you!

Have a nice day all,

Greetings, Coert. :)
 
Good evening,

Yesterday Steve sent me 2 more pictures of his Music strap collection.
Here they are, his second strap display:

Steve told me that these straps are hard to find, there mustn't have been many made off course.
He has Infantry, Cavalry and Artillery straps in his collection.
Next is a picture of the Music Meister of IR 92, Braunschweig. Wearing his haube with the running horse. A very nice picture!


Enjoy the pictures, and Steve, thank you for letting me post your pictures on the board.
It was a pleasure doing so. :)

Greetings, Coert. :)
 
Fantastic photo...how did a musician get a chest full of medals like that?? We need to have Glenn tell us who this gentleman is.
 
Sorry guys,

just seen this. Obermusikmeister Rudolf Hischer of IR 92.The colour post card image is of Obermusikmeister Konstantin Handloser, IR 114.

Regards
Glenn
 
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