The Finest Collection!
 

George Anderson brought it all together. 'Erfurt Po8 sn 4857a dated 1913, unit marked"162.R.11.3" http://gottmituns.net/2012/12/23/the...the-great-war/ And a German version!http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infante...sches)_Nr._162

OUTSTANDING!!!
Jan

Thank You Jan for making all of this possible to everyone~~Eric

Eric:

A great and unique display!!

I too cannot say enough about George Anderson. He has and continues to be a most generous and knowledgable mentor and friend.

Ron

Eric,

what can I say, I'm totally lost for words, thanks for sharing.

Its nice when it all comes together! Its a moment in someones' life!! Again I thank all of those who create, manage, maintain and fund this magnificiant site! I could'nt enjoy as well as life without it!!!! ~~Eric

That's a terrific display. It has personality - not just some objects.

George is assisting me to identify the German solgiers who owned and painted the helmut. We know allot from what was hand painted on the inside of his helmut. We know he was a corporal. Its marked "Gefr. Schloo.II.Batl.162" which translate as Corporal Schoo,2nd Battalion, Infantry Regiment 162..I did locate great history of the162nd posted above and I'm still searching and doing luger detective work!...Thank God for George!

Eric,
Gefr. is the abbreviation for 'Gefreiter'. This would translate to 'private first class'.
Corporal would be a 'Unteroffizier'.
Merry Chrismas, Armin.

Amazing!!! TKS, Do you see these painted helmuts in Germany>>

Actually a Gefreiter was a lance corporal but the US Army doesn't have that rank.

The Corps does. A good LCpl is worth his weight in gold!

Gunny John

PS. Really no point to my post...just runnin' my mouth. :bigbye:

Its amazing anything survived much less storing such a beautiful human relic for another hundred years. The original possessor I'm sure he wouldn't believe that he and his possesions would be a topic for discussion a centuary later! Lugers more than any other are so iconic and have values more than their monetary worth. Ownership is mearly a right to possession and lugers are a great example. We 'own' for a time and pass them up to others.!! For example George Anderson has a 1913 DWM luger which the inside left grip has the name of the Doughboy who brought the pistol back to Texas and further research on this owner at the time! I consider it "luger Adoption" The helmut made me crave more~~Eric

Eric,
Very very good. Congratulations for the nice set.

Cheers,
Mauro

Thank You Mauro, We are having a traditional Italian seafood Christmas Eve dinner. Debbie bought 32 lobster tails to start. Wish you could join us!!!

It should be great join you and Debbie for the Christmas Dinner...
But I am busy here in the raining Belgium :(

My wife too is preparing something special... I saw some oysters in the kitchen but I prefer waiting for the surprise this evening...

Enjoy!!

Mauro

We will keep a place open just in case!!!

When and by whom were individual unit marking applied to the luger and the German dog tag?

Eric,
This is a beautiful set, for sure, something to comemorate in 2014, as the Great War Centennial will be celebrated.

I did a quick research at the Volksbund site, which is the organization that take care of the German soldiers war graves from both wars. They disclose some basic information regarding all the KIA and MIA personnel listed on their files. My search did ot find ant match for a "Gefreiter Schloo", which points that the original owner of your helmet probably survived the WWI ordeal.

Actually, I found only one guy KIA in WWI, with this surname, Heinrich Schloo, KIA on November 29th, 1917 - but he was a sailor (Bootsmannsmaat) and perished in a sank U-Boat. Other two Schloo listed there died during WWII (one in Stalingrad Kessel).

On the other hand, the name on the dog tag, Karl Zander, left me with a dozen possibilities - already considering the date of birth -as there are 12 casualties from WWI with that exact name but no date of birth available in the Volksbund site.


And happy New Year!

Douglas

Doug, There is no aspect of luger collecting that I find more exciting and personally rewarding than putting a face to a luger and reintroducing their story. I am really impressed with you and Georges' research! Every luger must tell a story and has its own past! I'm sure none of them who fought so galliantly would every imagine we would be talking about them a hundred years later. I'm so proud of you both! A good time to reintroduce our two friends from the 162nd to the 21st century!!