German & French Army, Corps & Divisional Signs - 1914-1918

[Guest paulmarlow]

Dear All,

Please forgive me if this inquiry has already been answered many times elsewhere or shows a complete ignorance of the First World War.

I have been reading a lot about the Battle Of The Somme. I understand that the British Army used Battle Patches to identify the units and equipment within each Division, Corp or Army. From the examples I have seen, some patches were very simple and others were very elaborate, but each one was very individual to the original unit in question. Battle Patches were only used in the First World War and then completely abandoned until the Second World War, when another mass army was required and another set of Battle Patches were either revived or created.

The best examples I could find were Player's Cigarettes Cards:

Images Of Commemorative Players Cigarettes Cards

I would like to know if the French and German Armies had a similar system in 1916. None of the histories I have read mention anything, but do talk about the British patches, so I would have to concede that this may be an answer in itself.

I would be very grateful if someone could tell me how the French and Germans identified their higher formations and maybe point me to some online resources or posts on the subject.

I have made my own searches but I obviously haven't used the correct terms. I am, however, very curious and would like to find out what the answer might be to this question.

Please accept my gratitude in advance for whatever information you can provide.

Many Thanks,

Paul.