Help identifying Gewehr 88 Regiment markings.

[Guest]

Greetings friends!, I have recently purchased a 1891 Loewe Berlin Gewehr88 and am looking for help identifying the regiments this particular rifle served with

What i believe to read 22.R.11.79?

And L.op.4. 222

 

Thank you all for your time!

[shippingsteel]

54 minutes ago, Spooky said:

What i believe to read 22.R.11.79?

And L.op.4. 222

 

The hatched out marking is for Infanterie-Regiment Nr.22 (1.Oberschlesisches) part of the VI Armee Korps

I believe the other is for a Landsturm unit, possibly Landsturm-Infanterie-Bataillon Oppeln, also VI Armee Korps

Edited 26 May , 2019 by shippingsteel

[trajan]

Hi Spooky,

 

Welcome to GWF!

 

SSteel has it almost right on the "22.R.11.79.". It is actually the Infanterie-Regiment Keith (1. Oberschlesisches) Nr.22, named for, I believe, James Francis Edward Keith, a Scot who became a Prussian Generalfeldmarschall under Frederick the Great. The '11.79' indicates it was issued as weapon 79 to the 11th Company, which belonged to the regiment's 3rd batallion. Rifles are not my thing, but is this an original Gew.88 plain and simple? Or a modified stripper-clip loading one? That will give a clue as to how long it served with the I-R 22, but in any case, almost certainly not after 1910 or so, when all Gew.88 in regular units were replaced by the Gew.98.

 

 And SS is quite right with his tentative guess on "L.Op.4. 222", which, to be precise, is the unit mark for Landsturm-Infanterie-Bataillon Oppeln (VI.17), the 17th such unit attached to the Armee-Korps VI, this being the weapon 222 assigned to the 4th Company. "Obsolete" Gew.88 were often issued to Landsturm units, but the modified stripper-clip ones did see service in WW1 - and beyond!

 

Trajan

[Guest]

Thanks for the welcome trajan!,

 

The rifle appears to be an original Gew.88, However there is an S marking on the chamber and the serial number is insanely low (Double Digit low), Hope that helps you with any additional info you can supply me with.

 

[trajan]

The "S" indicates it was converted in 1903 or later to fire the 'spitzer' 7.92×57mm Mauser cartridge. If there are guide rails for a stripper clip then it was (?further) converted for that in or after 1905. So, this one was very much to hand and in use after the Gew.98 was brought into service, not something sitting on the shelf!

 

All in-service units were supposed to have the Gew.98 by 1907, and all reserve units and all Reserve and Landwehr units by 1912, so the conversion was perhaps done while this rifle was Landwehr/Landsturm? Either way, the conversion suggests it almost certainly saw active service in WW1, if not necessarily at the front, although some combat units were armed with these for a short time when their Gew.98 were handed back to allow the men in the reserve and Landwehr units to train with these - this happened with, for example, the entire Saxon Division 58. 

 

Trajan