Marine See Batalion

Maple Creek

Maple Creek

Member
This one came in a few days ago and I've been enjoying having it on my desk.

This helmet as well as the one other example that I can find with reference books on hand has a somewhat different construction compared to the standard Prussian shako. It has a thick band of leather at the bottom of the shako body and different vents (half circle instead of circle with holes).

The stamp is a very similar to one posted on Joe's website. It's stamped M for Marine and dated 1905. It looks like 1 C, or 1st Company. The figure at the bottom should be the batallion number which looks like possibly Roman numeral IV? According to Jim Turinetti's book, however, there were only supposed to be three marine see batallions in the 1914 army. I'm still trying to puzzle this out.

Mark D.
 
More detail on stamps: a manufactures stamp (apparently) and a similar stamp from Colonel J's site.

Now I just need an original Feldzeichen, chinscales and parade plume. Shouldn't be too hard to find! :lol:
 
Great !
I'm working in Nieuwpoort - Belgium at 150 meters from the former German (See Batailion) position. No Feldzeichen-Kinnriemen-Busch up to now. :eek:
4th Batalion could match.
Rgds,
Francis
 
Maybe the first character is a 1 for 1st Batallion and the second character is something else - not a "V" for "IV" or 4th.

Khukri said:
Correct: no 4th ! :-?
This happens early in the morning.
Francis
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Cool! Maybe you could stop by and see if they left behind any helmet parts. :)

I wonder if there is anything left to the See Batailion installations.

Mark D.
Khukri said:
Great !
I'm working in Nieuwpoort - Belgium at 150 meters from the former German (See Batailion) position. No Feldzeichen-Kinnriemen-Busch up to now. :eek:
4th Batalion could match.
Rgds,
Francis
Click to expand...
 
Hi Ronny, Thanks. I bought a lot of stuff at auction including some junk, but this was by far the best thing out of the bunch.

Mark D.

RON said:
Beautiful piece once more Mark; congrats! :thumb up:
Click to expand...
 
Nice find and thanks for sharing!

Francis, you posted some fascinating stuff! I never realized that the dunes around Nieuwpoort still contain that much German concrete. I completely missed that the previous times I visited this town :(

Regards,

Edwin
 
This "High Dune"-"La Grande Dune"-"Höhe 17"-where the ruins of the PanzerTurm are-is within my Battalions Barracks.
The first photo shows you the location of the Western Fronts utmost western point.
The second one gives you a view on the allied positions (first French-later British-and even Aussie Tunnelers ! -trying to blow Höhe 17 skyhigh-, and the mole. In vain because the Germans launched Operation StrandFest ("Beachparty...") on July 10th 1917 and drove back the British over the Yser Mouth.
Some premieres:
-The Germans used mased numbers of flamethrowers.
-They first used Senfgas, Yellow Cross Liquid "Yperite" -Mustard Gas. Two days before it was used at Wieltje (near Ieper-Ypres...) So in fact...this stuff should have the name of Lombardsydite or Nieuwpoortite...
-First use of Close Air Support (CAS): aircraft supporting groundtroops. Manfred von Richthofen was there.
Rgds,
Francis
 
Salut Francis,

Indeed, judging from the old map you posted, the port seemed too strategic not to be fortified/utilized by the military.

But how can one tell WW1 from WW2 concrete leftovers? And do you know if the Germans 'recycled' their WW1 facilities when they 'dropped-by' again in WW2?
 
All of this stuff comes from the dunes of Lombartsijde.
When I was a kid, a friend of mine and I use to sweep those dunes with a metal detector for treasure.
The biggest piece we found was a French mortar bomb with the 3 wings still attached ,
but I sold that one a long time ago ,that thing was 50 cm long and could have blown us sky high ,but
the tip of it was missing ,so we dragged it home. :oops:
Those lead balls did not need any searching ,after a good wind they just surfaced.
I still don’t know what those sticks are for ,they burn up very quickly like a fuse.
I painted the grenades to stop them from rusting, and it worked ,the sand kept everything
in a reasonable state bearing in mind that all of this was found just a few meters from the
salty sea water.
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Gentlemen,
The encircled part on the map is a natural part of the dune belt. The mouth of the Yser river is "Off Map". A bit more to the left.
It was called the "Seekessel". "The Sea Cauldron". On the map is the "Hexenkessel" "The Cauldron of Witches". From the name one can imagine the fierce fighting for La Grande Dune-Höhe 17-The High Dune-, as it was extremely important for observation.
One can see how close the positions were appart. I found-both French and German-Regimental records on the internet. Soldiers stated that at times the shelling was more intense than during battles in the Ypres Salient.

I do not know about re-use of pillboxes/concrete in WW II. (At least not on the ground of our Barracks). They did so in other parts on the Belgian coast. Mostly Coastal Batteries.

Regards,
Francis
 
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