one year volunteer??

hamtaro

hamtaro

New member
Hi gents,

I dont read german, but is this a Pickelhaube belonging to a One Year Volunteer or eines Einjährig Freiwilligen aus dem Königreich Bayern as described by the seller?
I have compared it with mine and searched the sites, artilces and books, it doesnt have the charateristic of a OYV haube, I thought OYV would opt for officer's charateristics, like pealings, etc. The spike looks EM to me, so is the rear spine, but it has the private purchase liner. The side post and the kokarden, too.
What is this exactly, could this be one of those eigentum helmet purchased by enlisted man?

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6213018405


http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=6213018405

by the way, there is a depot mark, too, what does it mean?

confused
Bambang
 
Bambang,

You always bring up such good points. My opinion is that you can't tell whether it is a private purchase enlisted or a one year volunteer. I was bidding but lost a picture of a group of Bavarian one year volunteers in the field. They had on really rough helmets. This one seems to be in great shape but certainly has some enlisted characteristics. One year volunteers were just enlisted soldiers. There were different, trained differently, billing differently and had some money. Someone paid a lot of money and got a nice helmet. The depot mark I believe has to do with the manufacturer sort of a maker's mark. The mark on the Uberzug means German Reich's patent. I am thinking of jumping into Uberzug's shortly.
 
Hi Joe,

Yes, perhaps this one is an eye opener for me, I always thought that OYV always opted for officer's style details like pearlings, chinscales even brass trims, but this one is more to the EM except for the high quality liner.
Could this be a 'moderate priced' eigentum helmet for a OYV and how did the seller knows that this one belongs to a OYV, by the carrying case perhaps?

Thanks
BB
 
Bambang,
I don't think the seller knew or cared. He was filling an order. Look at the visor trim. Price? Probably cheaper----I don't know for sure but OR parts were very inexpensive.
 
Here is my take on it.

Einjährig Freiwilligen (One Year Volunteer) is automatically slammed on any Pickelhaube that is private purchase by dealers. The worst for this, is a certain dealer in Florida who likes cats who clearly does not understand the rank structure.

If I can offer one piece of advice to anyone, it is this:
ignore the description and use yours eyes and knowledge to determine what the item for sale actually is.

I believe (this is an opinion) that a true OYV would be authorized to wear officer's characteristics, like Perlring, etc but a soldier who was not a OYV would have to wear in garrison an Eigentum helmet that very closely resembled the issued one. This is where you see private purchase helmets with M95 rear sliding vents, spikes, and M91 pattern posts with scales. Externally, it appears to be issued but internally, clearly a private purchase.
 
An excellent point T. Most of these sellers have no clue as to what they really have. They are lucky if they can ID the state wappen. Use your own knowledge to decide what things are. This helme would be a nice addition to anyones collection. Brian
 
I have in my collection an OYV helmet that is a straight issued enlisted piece. It is a Saxon with a paper ID label to a OYV in the 2 Kompanie 177th Regiment. Incise stamped into the neck guard is BAXII 12. Ink stamped is 177.R. Verkauft 14. Obviously a volunteer of lesser means.

Steve
 
I really wish I had won that picture. The helmets had all enlisted parts from the outside and a striped shoulder boards in a field environment. Did the company Kammer issue out field helmets? If the one year volunteer was headed for a reserve commission, did they issue him a helmet for the field exercises in preparation for the commissioning? Fritz Nagel does a great job in his book describing life as a one year. The details of helmet accoutrements were not included.
OYVbake.jpg
 
My impression of the OYV is that Mom and Dad had to buy all equipment plus pay for room and board. Consequently, there would not be any issuing of pickelhaube or any other equiopment from Kompany stores. The OYV escaped the extra year of service and gained access to the reserve commission simply because his parents were well off and could afford to meet expenses. Brian
 
I have an older article on one year volunteers. I need to update it soon.

Young men, between the ages of 17 and 23, who had earned their matriculation certificate (high school diploma) could elect to serve just one year of their compulsory military service on active duty to avoid delaying their university education. These came from good (rich) families as they had to equip themselves (rations, quarters, uniforms and equipment). They had to pay for it all to include a horse (if needed) or had to pay into the remount fund. The cost was pretty substantial. It was considered to be generally equal to the cost of a year at university, and very much dependent upon which kind of unit a one year volunteer decided to go into. He could choose his regiment, however, infantry, jägers, engineers, and foot artillery were expected to pay between 1750 and 2200 marks for their year. Field artillery and train increased the cost from 2300-2700 marks. But for cavalry and mounted field artillery, the costs soared to 3400 to 3600 marks a year. [x]

The payback was many fold.

1. The OYV only had to do one year of active service before being transferred to the reserve. This was in place of the 2-3 year active requirement.

2. The OYV started military training at age 17 at the earliest. The normal guy, who was more like a draftee started at age 20.

3. The OYV if he passed the prerequisite examinations could be entered as an officer aspirant or NCO in the reserves. Having a reserve commission was considered to be the open door for a successful civilian life. Taking this test was voluntary, conducted at the end of the active-duty year, and had to be sponsored by the active company commander.[xi]
Click to expand...
another interesting point is that those one year volunteers that could not afford to pay, borrowed the money. Frequently, you had reserve officers getting commissioned already deeply in debt.

http://www.coljs.com/articles/OneYearVolunteer.htm

Fritz Nagel was a OYV. In his 1962 memoirs he detailed his position as a OYV. “And nobody spoke to us. In our battery we were five one year men completely separated socially from the others. We were still considered common soldiers.”[vi]
Click to expand...
 
Guys, Thank You all for the answer,

Yes, Brian, I guess most sellers just dont care what the helmet is all abt, its just part of their consigment stuffs.

And yes, Tony, you are right, I was trapped with the seller's description, in the end, I ended up trying to match the helmet with the description.
Thats an excellent point.

I have Wurttemberg FAR 29 OYV and it has the (most of ) officer's charateristic.
Am I right to assume that this is an eigentum mann helmet then?

Joe, what does the markings means axactly? Its not a regt or some sort of 'schools' perhaps?

Thanks

BB
 
Hi Brad,

My FAR 29 OYV has a round spike base instead of cruciform, I dont knw abt Infantry.
Cant post pic(s) :?

Hope this helps,
BB
 
Brad and Bambang,

Wurttemberg allows a very easy comparison. If you have the Wurttemberg book by Hilsenbeck on page 48. There is a comparison of a one year volunteer helmet an officer helmet and a Fähnrich helmet. There is a period photograph of a one year volunteer on pages 48,49, and 87. There is a picture of a helmet also on page 87. http://www.coljs.com/books/wurtemberg.htm

One year volunteers were common enlisted soldiers in rank. For some reason, many people still believe that the one year volunteer was some sort of a “almost officer.” They were not. "Conventional wisdom" has them being promoted to officer rank as the end of their one year. This was not the case. When we think of one year volunteers. We should think OR first. Yes, they had to buy their own helmet. At the end of their year if and only if they were recommended by the company commander, and they wanted to, they could pursue a several year part-time course to gain a commission in the reserves. While the helmets of one year volunteers and Fähnrich are often similar or you cannot tell them apart, the two groups of gentlemen were on considerably different career paths.

Württemberg helmets in the photographs on page 48, and those of the timeframe provides some interesting comparison. The one year volunteer helmet, shown on page 48 looks exactly like enlisted helmet with some obvious private purchase upgrades like a thin visor trim and pierced antlers. The spike base is round. The chin strap is leather, but all of the studio photographs have chin scales. The Fähnrich helmet has a squared front visor, a round spike base, star studs, and then enlisted spike.

The question comes, in my mind is when the cruciform base was placed on a helmet? Did they buy a new helmet? Where in the commissioning process, did you get to wear the cruciform spike base? Only at the end?
[img]http://www.coljs.com/averta/images/wurthead.jpg
 
hamtaro said:
Hi Brad,

My FAR 29 OYV has a round spike base instead of cruciform, I dont knw abt Infantry.
Cant post pic(s) :?

Hope this helps,
BB
Click to expand...

Hi.
Round based spike and a round visor?
Thanks,
Brad
 
pointystuff said:
Round based spike and a round visor?
Click to expand...
Brad, there is no such thing as a Württemberg military helmet with round front visor combined with a cruciform spike base. There was a Württemberg Police helmet (or rat inspector, I don't know) helmet that had round front visor combined with a cruciform spike base, but it was not army.
 
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