Need help identifying this uniform

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tzamow
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Joined: 18 Jul 2021, 05:17
Location: Pittsburgh

Need help identifying this uniform

#1

Post by tzamow » 18 Jul 2021, 05:44

Hi,

I'm currently going through some of my grandfather's possessions to digitize them as I begin filling in our ancestral tree.
I know very little information about my great grandfather Friedrich who was born in Germany in 1877 and came to America in 1898.
I know almost nothing about my great great grandfather, Carl Otto, who I believe was born around 1850 somewhere in Prussia.

I believe this picture is a picture of him and if someone could help me out with the details of this particular uniform, I would greatly appreciate it.

The original black and white image was painted over at some point in time to colorize it.

Thank you.

Image

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Waleed Y. Majeed
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Joined: 13 Nov 2004, 12:37
Location: Aarhus, Denmark

Re: Need help identifying this uniform

#2

Post by Waleed Y. Majeed » 18 Jul 2021, 11:06

Might be a artillery corporal. Collar trimming or broad bright edge would make him a corporal (unteroffizier). The “ball” spike on his (what looks like) Model 1895 helmet was used by artillery. His shoulderboards, if correctly researched might be those of a “one-year volunteer”.
This would make your great great grandfather (aged late 20’s early 30’s) an artillery corporal doing a one year volunteer tour sometime in late 1890’s.

Waleed


tzamow
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Posts: 2
Joined: 18 Jul 2021, 05:17
Location: Pittsburgh

Re: Need help identifying this uniform

#3

Post by tzamow » 19 Jul 2021, 02:06

Waleed Y. Majeed wrote:
18 Jul 2021, 11:06
Might be a artillery corporal. Collar trimming or broad bright edge would make him a corporal (unteroffizier). The “ball” spike on his (what looks like) Model 1895 helmet was used by artillery. His shoulderboards, if correctly researched might be those of a “one-year volunteer”.
This would make your great great grandfather (aged late 20’s early 30’s) an artillery corporal doing a one year volunteer tour sometime in late 1890’s.

Waleed
Thank you very much for your reply.
I really appreciate it!

-Tommy

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von thoma
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Joined: 10 Jul 2010, 04:40
Location: Spain

Re: Need help identifying this uniform

#4

Post by von thoma » 19 Jul 2021, 03:35

" The right to believe is the right of those who don't know "

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Hans1906
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Joined: 07 Jan 2020, 00:13
Location: Deutschland

Re: Need help identifying this uniform

#5

Post by Hans1906 » 19 Jul 2021, 12:11

Tommy,

here a PDF file:

Lothar Mertens
"Das Privileg des Einjährig-Freiwilligen Militärdienstes im Kaiserreich und seine gesellschaftliche Bedeutung"
8 pages, download size 235 Kilobyte (1986)

Link to the PDF file: https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q ... ipnbz8jKj3

Good luck for your further research! :milwink:


Hans

P.S. recommended google / google photo search "einjährige freiwillige kaiserliche armee"
The paradise of the successful lends itself perfectly to a hell for the unsuccessful. (Bertold Brecht on Hollywood)

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