And here is an EM 1895 helmet produced in 1914, of the 3. GFAR first worn by Gefreiter der Reserve Rudolf Oberlinger, third batterie, who then promoted to Unteroffizier.. It is highly likely that he did not receive this helmet at the start of the war, that he was only called up a few weeks later, and that he received this helmet from a first man (unknown) with the rank of Kanonier, who had presumably been wounded or killed (name tag inside the shell). He then crossed out the name of the helmet’s original owner on the name tag and wrote his own name above it in pencil. Oberlinger was wounded twice, the first time seriously, on the Eastern Front , by end of May or beginning of June 1915, wearing this helmet whilst holding the rank of Gefreiter der Reserve. The helmet was then presumably assigned to a third man, who unfortunately did not write his name on it but tried to scratch out the name ‘Oberlinger’ from the name tag. This last man was almost certainly later promoted to Leutnant der Reserve, having held the rank of Vizewachtmeister der Reserve for some time, as is very often observed. This helmet still shows those Portepee Unteroffizier cockades. In that instance, the EM helmets they had initially worn became their property, which explains why they are mostly found in German attics and were not vet bring backs found in France, Belgium or England.
This helmet has been recently found as such , untouched, dirty and very dusty in a attic of the city of Jena (Thuringia). I will let it as such. It is marked 3GA, BAG 1914 and with the helmet maker Wunderlich, also dated 1914. One of the last helmets produced in peace time, otherwise we would have the KBAG 1914 stamp.
Rudolf Oberlinger get wounded a second time (lightly) at the end of 1916 in France (Somme battle), he certainly then wore the stell M16 helmet.
Philippe
des.genealogy.net
des.genealogy.net
