Pickelhaube marked FAR 44

F

flasheart

Member
Gents,

I just bought a very nice M1915 pickelhaube, as close to mint as you could get, certainly unissued. The leather tie for the liner tongues is still knotted from original manufacture, never threaded through. The helmet is a spiked helmet, not a kugel. However, it is marked 'F.A.R 44'

I have another M1915 kugelhelm, also very nice (though not minty like the new one), and also marked FAR44.

Assuming that FAR 44 stands for Feld Artillerie Regiment No. 44, I have two questions:

Why do there seem to be so many FAR 44 helmets around
in such good condition?

Why would a pickel (with spike) be marked FAR44?

Mike
 
flasheart said:
Why do there seem to be so many FAR 44 helmets around in such good condition? Why would a pickel (with spike) be marked FAR44?
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Were you not here for this on the old Forum? My hypothesis was that a depot of FAR44 was captured and a TON of these were shipped back for war bond drives. The question should not be "who has a FAR44" but rather, "who does not have a FAR44?". I have a frosty one, and have seen dozens over the years. Mine came from a garage sale in Kelowna BC, but I am sure it is from this lot. The spike on one, would be (in my opinion) some American worker slapping one what-ever fits for the bond drive.
 
I replaced the spike with the kugel from my 'less than mint' M15 1915 FAR 44, and now I have one near-perfect M1915 kugelhelm FAR44 marked.

I had not realised that kugels and spikes were completely interchangeable on the M1915s.

Unfortunately I also now have a spare spike and a pretty nice M1915 FAR 44 kugelhelm without a kugel. Anyone have a spare M1915 kugel?

Mike
 
Mike,

Does it provide any comfort these helmets were often worn without a spike? I have a lot of pictures of guys with their spikes off including a couple of inspection pictures were the spike is removed.
havenot2.jpg
 
Mike,
I seem to be one of the few unfortunates who does not have an FAR 44 helmet! I do, however, have an M15 spiked helmet marked to the 8th Corps Train Abteilung which caused me to do a little research on the 8th. FAR 44 was also part of 8th Corps headquartered in Koblenz. Randy Trawnik's new book Spiked Helmets of Imperial Germany contains the following passage on page 42:

Immediately following the war the U.S. Army occupied Koblenz. There they found over 20,000 unissued spiked helmets. These helmets were sent to the U.S. and given away to purchasers of the Bonds for the War Loan Drive of 1919.

This confirms Tony's suspicion about a large amount of helmets being captured.

As to the - forgive the expression - ball-less helmet, why not use it to display an M15 camo cover? The were worn sans spikes/balls.

You have a lovely collection. I always enjoy the pictures you post.

Cheers,
K-B
 
Kjell-Bjarne said:
I do, however, have an M15 spiked helmet marked to the 8th Corps Train Abteilung which caused me to do a little research on the 8th
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Hi K-B:

Here's one the Americans didn't get in 1918. It took a lot longer. This TB 8 is clearly the best M95 in my collection. If I sold everything, this would be one of the last to go.

Chas.

TB8.jpg
 
I think you hit this one on the head.
Immediately following the war the U.S. Army occupied Koblenz.
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.
There are actually two pieces of research that need to be done. The first one is to see which units constituted eighth Corps throughout the war and used their depot. The second piece of information is what depots were occupied by the United States. For instance there are also a lot of infantry Regiment 69 helmets. Also infantry Regiment, 111.
 
Kjell-Bjarne said:
Mike,
I seem to be one of the few unfortunates who does not have an FAR 44 helmet! I do, however, have an M15 spiked helmet marked to the 8th Corps Train Abteilung which caused me to do a little research on the 8th. FAR 44 was also part of 8th Corps headquartered in Koblenz. Randy Trawnik's new book Spiked Helmets of Imperial Germany contains the following passage on page 42:

Immediately following the war the U.S. Army occupied Koblenz. There they found over 20,000 unissued spiked helmets. These helmets were sent to the U.S. and given away to purchasers of the Bonds for the War Loan Drive of 1919.

This confirms Tony's suspicion about a large amount of helmets being captured.

Cheers,
K-B
Click to expand...

Here is some new information uncovered by Keith Gill. The Koblenz mystery continues to be expand upon.

Friday Feb 7, 1919 THE STARS AND STRIPES newspaper, Page 1, Column 1:

"85,750 Shiny Ones on Way to American
Prussian Guards' Helmets will help sale of Liberty Bonds

The doughboy guards at Coblenz who kept the keys to the German warehouses where 85,750 Shiny Prussian Guards helmets were stacked are restored to good nature. They eat normally, and no longer dream of great helmet robbery mysteries. For the helmets are out of their custody at last and on their way back to the States. The warehouse keys arent't needed any longer. The helmets are to be handed out back home to buyers of bonds of the Fight Liberty Loan.

Meanwhile, traders on the AEF souvenir bourse are eagerly watching the tape for the first transatlantic quotation on Helmets, pfd.

Word of the 85,750 helmets in one buiding leaped back through the AEF almost before the advance guard of the Third Army settled in Coblenz. Mails from the rear areas of the AEF to the Army of Occupation grew unaccountably large. Every man in the A of O had from six to 60 friends whose latest letters always said after speaking pointedly of lugers and mausers and iron crosses: "And of course I am relying on you to get one of those 85,000 helmets for me."
The pressure of visitors to the warehouse grew so strong that the chief salvage officer at Third Army Headquarters posted a big sign: No More Helmets Given Out." (The citation was found by Keith Gill.)
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