The Uberzug
26 Feb. 2008
Joe Robinson
|
| I have been tracking some information
on Uberzugs for a while. There are many holes in this article
and research. It is intended to be a continuation of the research
in references. As was once said in a recent book by
Trawnik, no book can get it all without mistakes or
holes. I like to think of it as standing inside the
fire, at least we are making an attempt to clarify. |
| |
The original covers were allegedly authorized
by an AKO dated 8 May 1884. The purpose of this was
to have some way of marking sides during maneuvers.
The solution that was used was to equip one side of
the maneuvers with a white cloth cover. There is an
example of this cover located in the museum in Rastatt. |
|
| |
 |
The problem is that there was no AKO in 1884 that
authorized these Uberzugs. Therefore, I do not know whether
the authorization extended throughout the army, just
for the Kaiser maneuver, or only for a specific group.
They surely existed, and they surely were for maneuver
purposes, but there was no AKO. |
| |
On 17 May 1892, there was supposedly an AKO that authorized
the creation of an Uberzug. I do not yet have this AKO.
This would be the Uberzug, as is generally known. There
were some color changes to the body color as the probe
items improved, and at this time there are no markings
or unit designations. This new style cover was made
of gray green cloth that covered the entire helmet to
include the visors. It was used by all branches of the
German army. The cloth cover used for leather pattern
spiked helmets was shaped in the form of the helmet.
The rounded front and back halves were sewn together
along each side. The top had a hole through which the
spike protruded a cone shape (or round shape for artillery
units) bag that was linked to the cloth body by four
cloth bands covered the helmet spike. Issue covers were
fitted to the edge of the front and rear visor with
five metal hooks, three front, and two in the back.
These fit over the visors edge. It was very common to
find the issue marks on a cover similar to helmet depot
marks. Cover hooks came in many styles. Hooks were attached
with separate cloth and was attached to the helmet.
Hooks were generally made of white metal. Bavarian hooks
were made of steel, lacquered black and were therefore
magnetic. There were generally five hooks for issue Uberzug, with the exception of mounted troops that had four hooks.Slits appeared along the rear spine of some
for ventilation starting in 1895. So somewhere between
1892 and 1897 soldiers started wearing unmarked Uberzugs
on a regular basis. |
 |
| |
 |
 |
| |
 |
Private purchase covers were available and were
form fitted. No hooks were used but rather the visors
were fitted into hardened pockets. A common marking
found on private purchase style covers or the letters
DRP, which stands for Deutsches Reich Patent. Remember
at this time there were no numbers or markings on
the outside of the Uberzug.
|
| |
There was allegedly another AKO of 28 January 1897
that supposedly authorized numbers and letters to be
placed on the Uberzug. A copy of the AKO is included
below. Nothing is mentioned in the AKO about letters
or landwehr crosses. It does not detail the color of
the Uberzug; however it does authorize numbers to be
worn by line infantry regiments and the reserve line
infantry regiments. Regiments of the Prussian guard,
Grenadier Regiment 89 from Mecklenburg, the Bavarian
Lieb Guard Infantry Regiment, and the 109th Baden Guard
Regiment did not wear numbers on their helmet covers.
There are many wartime pictures of the 109 Regiment with helmet covers.
|
 |
|
| |
 |
The Uberzug was marked clearly with the regimental
number for infantry regiments and reserve infantry regiments
starting in 1897. There is no specific mention of other
branches or helmet types. The assumption is that they
were authorized at the same time. There is a general
understanding that the letter R was used for reserve
units. There are many questions about what is on the
helmet of landwehr or Landsturm. We have to remember
that Landsturm did not have a helmet authorized and
therefore needed no Uberzug. The landwehr did not have
a helmet authorized until September 1899. The "L"
was authorized first in Feb. 1900. |
 |
 |
| |
 |
From 1897 until 1914 red numbers were in vogue. These
numbers were supposed to be sewn on with some sort of
red cloth. Stencils were supposedly not used. Remember
that reserve units and Landwehr units existed only for
a short time and not in all regiments. These units appeared
to get the hand-me-down's. |
| |
 |
 |
| |
|
In 1901 umpires at maneuvers were authorized white
armbands and helmet covers.
The picture below shows the maneuvers of IX Corps in
1900. Clearly the white armbands were used in this instance
prior to the AKO. |
 |
 |
| |
|
| |
Maneuver bands were provided for the participants
in the Kaiser maneuver in 1908. This denoted the "red
team" and was so successful that it was extended
to the entire army in 1909.
|
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
 |
| |
 |
| |
So for maneuvers you had one team with an uncolored
Uberzug, the red team with a red band around the Uberzug,
and umpires in a white Uberzug. |
 |
| |
 |
The red bands came in two distinct types. They were
either permanently attached to the cover or applied
temporarily through a separate loose band. some of the
private purchase helmet covers were reversible and had
the band sewn on one side. |
| |
Red bands applied to other types of head
gear. |
 |
| |
|
| |
WAR |
| |
|
In addition to the massive mobilization required in
August 1914, almost immediately the red numbers fell
out of favor and were replaced by green numbers. This
happened so quickly that it is worth putting it into
perspective. The map on the left reprinted with permission
of the West Point history department shows the advance
into Belgian with the German red lines marked clearly
on the 17th. They had barely entered Belgian at all.
The left most red arrow is from the 20th of August at
the city of Brussels. The AKO below changed the numbers
to green on 15 August 1914 and the red eliminated on
19 August 1914. The driving force was to eliminate the
red numbers gave great target locations and intelligence
information at a distance to the enemy. |
| |
 |
| |
Red numbers had to be removed. |
|
| |
 |
| |
During this short period of time between the start
of the war and the onset of green numbers, there
were some comical adaptations to remove the red
numbers. The helmets shown below actually have the
numbers cut out and patch sewn over the hole.
|
 |
| |
 |
Green numbers replaced red as quickly
as possible. while green cloth was optimal in some
cases numbers were stenciled or even hand painted
on. helmet covers with green numbers, reserve helmet
covers with green numbers and landwehr helmet covers
with green numbers were abundant. Other types of troops
to include artillery and pioneers also wore green
numbers.
|
| |
A new kind of helmet cover showed up with the letter
E on it. These were for the Ersatz elements of the various
units. While this should be readily identifiable. It
was in no way universally used. Pictures of Uberzugs
with such a letter are relatively rare. |
 |
| |
 |
Here you have two individuals from the same Ersatz
unit that had different helmet covers. |
| |
Here we have an ersatz unit with spikes on their helmets
and some with long handled shovels and others not. Are
they infantry or pioneer? |
|
| |
 |
Landsturm units on mobilization had their own headgear
problems. The landsturm was originally supposed to have
an oilskin watch cap. Initially there were problems
getting this kind of headgear alone. Landsturm troops
are often seen in older shakos. There were Uberzug's
for the watch caps. They do not seem to have been universally
issued. |
| |
|
| |
An AKO of 14 April 1915 seems to be the introduction
of the Maltese cross for the Landsturm.
|
 |
| |
 |
This added another layer of confusion to the identification
of the Uberzug. Underneath the cross was supposed
to be the battalion number. The identification of
a battalion, without the identification of the corps
makes photograph or artifact identification very difficult.
Landsturm units did not just jump into the cross.
There are other landsturm units that have both the
corps and the battalion identification on them. |
| |
Corps units that did not have battalion
numbers assigned, in some cases, had only the corps
on the Uberzug. |
 |
| |
 |
28 June 1915, an AKO allegedly changed the field cover
to the M15 model with removable spike. This would make a
lot of sense and corresponds allegedly to the changing of the
helmet itself. The problem is that there was no AKO. This
is called a two-part Uberzug. The two parts are: 1.
the body with half moon shaped slits to allow the chin
strap to pass through and be shown in the front. 2.
A removable spike or ball cover that can be placed on
the hemet and attached through an elastic type band.
Conventional wisdom generally places any helmet strap
visible over the cover as a two-part Uberzug. This also
allowed the helmet to be worn without the spike and
still be covered by the Uberzug. Paragraph 15 of the
21 September 1915 AKO requires all helmets and tschapskas
to have removable tops.
This is the only AKO in the 1915 AVB that relates to the M15 style helmet.
Old myths die hard.
|
| |
 |
| |
Landsturm units continue to wear Corps markings occasionally |
 |
| |
 |
Sometimes it was the cross and the battalion number. |
| |
Helmet covers were often unmarked both in the one
piece and two-piece Uberzug. There is an alleged AKO
on 27 October 1916, which eliminated all of the numbers
and letters except for the cross for Landsturm regiments.
I do not have this either.
|
 |
| |
 |
With helmets worn without the top, it is not clear
whether the spike was never issued, removed before deployment,
or stored at some central location. The hole on top
of the helmet cover allowed the bayonet stud on the
top of the helmet to protrude. You can see the location
of the front hooks on this picture. |
| |
Reportedly on 3 December 1914, an order from the commander of the 91st Reserve Infantry Regiment placed the green numbers on the back of the field covers. While this was a local order, it is a variation that was done by several units. This unbelievable example from the Trawnik collection shows such a number on the back. Unlike the 91st Reserve Infantry Regiment, this example is a two-part Uberzug used for the M15 helmet. This would indicate that the number on the back was still in use in some units in mid- 1915. You can see that the helmet cover is attached properly and that the ventilation slit is on the back just above the numbers.
Infanterie-Regiment von Horn (3. Rheinisches) Nr.29 Was in the 16th division throughout the war. They were on the Western Front for the entirety of 1914 to 1915. |
 |
| |
 |
 |
| |
 |
 |
| |
|
|
| |
Don't
get comfortable there is always an anomaly |
| |
This looks like an M15 helmet with the chinstrap.
The sign then says 1914 and the backside of the card
is dated 1914. A very careful search will find that
the sides of this Uberzug are rolled up. |
 |
| |
 |
Clearly an M15 helmet, but where is the chinstrap? |
| |
Three helmets from the same unit. one clearly landsturm
one reading 256 and one with no markings. What is the
possible connection? Why do they have guard litzen? |
 |
| |
 |
Look at the lack of ventilation for this model. There
was apparently an early time when there were red numbers
but the spike was not attached with four pieces of material.
Clearly from a ventilation perspective, this is unacceptable. |
| |
Here is another this time from the Loree Collection.
Private purchase 61 Arty Uberzug. It has a reversable
red band. What is the white cloth and hook for? Isn't
it shown in the picture from the Kostel collection
below?
|
 |
| |
 |
 |
| |
 |
This one is quite unusual. This is a Landsturm soldier from Landsturm Infantry Regiment number 13. It had previously been 2nd Landsturm Infantry Ersatz Battalion Ulm. XIII14. Somehow when it was changed to an infantry regiment this Uberzug existed. it uses the unauthorized Landwehr "L" and the Landsturm unit identification. |
| |
While letters and crosses were generally placed above
the numbers in some rare cases like this picture of
a RJR78 soldier from the Kostel collection they preceded
the number. You can clearly see how the chin strap is
lifted up around the cover not through slits.
There are also the extremely rare pictures of numbers and letters in reverse order.
|
 |
| |
 |
Landwehr soldiers also adopted the side treatment
in rare cases. |
| |
Here we have a Landsturm cross but no collar numbers
and no numbers on the Uberzug |
 |
| |
 |
Here in this picture from the Kostel collection we
get a low low placement of the number. |
| |
In the realm of you can buy anything here is a Bavarian Uberzug with a really big number six. |
 |
| |
 |
This gentleman wears a 50 mm metal Landwehr cross that is normally found on an oilskin cap. |
| |
This gentleman is wearing his Uberzug inside out. You can see the hooks on the front visor, and he chose not to thread the chinstrap through the slits on the side. Was he hiding the numbers? |
 |
| |
 |
This cover has a makeshift number. It almost looks like it was put on with a magic marker. |
| |
The numbers on this seem to be something other than red or green -- white? |
 |
| |
|
Looks like duct tape! |
| |
|
|
| |
At least one source says that pre-war shakos did
not have numbers. They certainly did during the war.
|
 |
| |
 |
Also Security minded the Shako clad troops in this
picture covered their unit identification with paper!
|
| |
|
|
| |
 |
The use of numbers is also confusing on Shakos. This
picture of the officers of RIR15 includes one member
wearing the shako of his original unit. |
| |
 |
 |
| |
|
 |
| |
 |
 |
| |
 |
 |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
Thanks to the teaching of someone named Mr. X. we
have an example here of two different Uberzug's from
a Saxon shako wearing unit. One is made of cloth and
the other is made of oilskin. |
 |
| |
 |
 |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
I have many people to thank for contributions
to this article. Glenn Jewison provided all of the AKOs
and the pictures of RJR 15. Randy Trawnik provided most
of the pictures of artifacts, either from his collection
or pictures he took at the Museum in Rastatt. He also
guided me through series of phone conversations. Mr.
X provided the Saxon pictures of a helmet in his collection.
Max Chafotte provided a picture of a Uhlan (what else!)
wearing an Uberzug. Brian Kostel provided the last picture
of the Saxon oilskin and many more. Brian Loree Provided
the 61st Arty berzug and the DRP. Without that kind
help of these people this project would be nowhere. |
