Hessian Dragoner #24 Officer Straps

[b.loree]

Another group from Steve McFarland's great collection:


On the left, a 2nd lieutenant's pair of straps with Russian Crown and cypher. On the right, a pair of Colonel's straps (Regiment Commander) from before the Regt was awarded cyphers.

 

[Glennj]

I have been unable to find any introductory order for the number 24 as worn on the LDR 24 board/epaulette/strap. Prussian Dragoon regiments were authorised the wear of a number according to their regimental number with effect 12.12.1889 but the Grand-Ducal Hessian LDR 24 appears not to have been affected by this order and continued to wear blank shoulder pieces. A Ruhl plate from 1890 still shows a blank shoulder strap. The Cypher of Nicolaus II was introduced by decree of 10 October 1896 and published in the Hessian Militär-Verordnungsblatt Nr. 25 of 31 December 1896. If authorised, this example of an Oberst's board presumably would have been worn between 1890 and 1896.

Only two officers holding this rank affiliated to LDR 24 come into question during this period:

Oberst Karl von Voigt
Oberst Armand Baron von Ardenne

Did Steve dig out an introductory order?

Regards
Glenn

 

[KAGGR#1]

Glenn ;
Thank you for your information on the Hessian D R 24 Col. straps
with the numbers 24 .I bought this pair at our great military
Shows of Shows last Feb.
At first I thought the pair might be after the cypher had
been taken from the regiment , however with the pre war look
When I emailed around to see what others thought
someone suggested the 24 numbers were what was worn before
the cyphers were awarded .
My main focus on shoulder straps are for the I G officers
who wore cyphers .
A large part of my collection will be shown in the book
on this subject to be done by Mike Kelso and published by
Tiger III Books
Thanks for all your great and helpful information
Steve

 

[Glennj]

Steve,

my pleasure. Perhaps this chap was the former owner of the boards; he commanded LDR 24 from around the time cyphers of "enemy" regimental chiefs were abolished in May 1917 until 1919 and in the case of LDR 24, the Cypher NII replaced by "24".

Oberst Ludwig Ritter v. Poschinger (1870-1958)

Regards
Glenn

 

[Chip M.]

Would not these boards with the "24" have had an underlay and "Rundstreifen" rather than just a white underlay if they were post May 1917?

Chip

 

[Glennj]

Chip,

that certainly should have been the case. At the moment, as far as I can ascertain, the number 24 was not worn on pre-war boards. I intend to check out some further Ruhl plates from the mid 1890s in Potsdam in a couple of weeks time to see if indeed numbers were in use in the period between 1890 and 1896.

Regards
Glenn

 

[Glennj]

This G Arnould print dated 1891 shows the troopers of LDR 24 with a plain white strap. The other Dragoon Regiments illustrated in the series show the numbered straps as introduced in December 1889.

Regards
Glenn

 

[Glennj]

Well I managed to consult a copy of the 1895 Ruhl which confirms that DR 24 was still wearing a totally plain strap/board/epaulette in that year. I think this pretty much rules out that the numbered 24 shoulder board is pre-war.

Regards
Glenn