Forums at Society of the Military Horse

German soldier, 1914 or 1915.

Photo posted as its 17F out right now.

Most likely this fellow is a Landsturm man. The Landsturm formations were second line reserve, rather like home guardsmen that were much older than normal service age. The shako was worn by this formation and notice that he is carrying the older GEW 1888 rifle not the more modern GEW 1898 or KAR 1898. These troops were often used to guard prisoners, or take on other task in rear battle areas. Standards were somewhat lax compared to Line, Landwehr, and Reserve units. Beards were fairly common. There were infantry and artillery Landsturm formations. I am not sure about cavalry. Other units that wore shakos were Jaeger (Light Infantry), Sea Battalions, and Aviation. The shako cover makes it impossible to tell the unit for sure. This is a Landsturm shako in my collection:

http://www.lovettartillery.com/Prussian ... elmet.html

Ralph Lovett wrote:Most likely this fellow is a Landsturm man. The Landsturm formations were second line reserve, rather like home guardsmen that were much older than normal service age. The shako was worn by this formation and notice that he is carrying the older GEW 1888 rifle not the more modern GEW 1898 or KAR 1898. These troops were often used to guard prisoners, or take on other task in rear battle areas. Standards were somewhat lax compared to Line, Landwehr, and Reserve units. Beards were fairly common. There were infantry and artillery Landsturm formations. I am not sure about cavalry. Other units that wore shakos were Jaeger (Light Infantry), Sea Battalions, and Aviation. The shako cover makes it impossible to tell the unit for sure. This is a Landsturm shako in my collection:

http://www.lovettartillery.com/Prussian ... elmet.html

I wondered what the explanation for the G88 was.

Pat Holscher wrote:

Ralph Lovett wrote:Most likely this fellow is a Landsturm man. The Landsturm formations were second line reserve, rather like home guardsmen that were much older than normal service age. The shako was worn by this formation and notice that he is carrying the older GEW 1888 rifle not the more modern GEW 1898 or KAR 1898. These troops were often used to guard prisoners, or take on other task in rear battle areas. Standards were somewhat lax compared to Line, Landwehr, and Reserve units. Beards were fairly common. There were infantry and artillery Landsturm formations. I am not sure about cavalry. Other units that wore shakos were Jaeger (Light Infantry), Sea Battalions, and Aviation. The shako cover makes it impossible to tell the unit for sure. This is a Landsturm shako in my collection:

http://www.lovettartillery.com/Prussian ... elmet.html

I wondered what the explanation for the G88 was.

The G88 was widely used in East Africa, and I suspect in the rest of the colonies.