World War 1 binoculars

[Richard Beaumont]

I have inherited some WW1 binoculars brought back from France by my grandad and am struggling to identify exactly what they are and where they might have seen action.  I'm told my grandfather picked them up and they are part of the german militaria.

 

They have a hand engraved name of Hensoldt next to the left eyepiece and a hand engraved Wetzlar along with a stamped 6 x next to the right eye piece..  On the central pivot of the hinge furthest away from the eye, there are the following letters and numbers stamped on: G.J. 2.R.K. 11 

 

If anyone has any nswers or can point me in the right diection, I woul be extremely grateful.

 

I have attached some photographs .

 

Thank you in anticipation of any useful information

 

Richard Beaumont

[sr97]

They are certainly German. The name Hensoldt and Wetzlar are the manufacturers and if I am not mistaken, they also made binoculars in the Second World War. The '6x' refers to the magnification of the lenses, few standard binoculars had a greater range than this during the war. I am unsure of the series of letters and numbers but at a guess I would say they are the serial number which may be able to help you date them, hopefully another forum member can help on that front.

[Richard Beaumont]

Thank you so much for your interest.  Here's hoping someone can shed light on the numbers

[MikB]

6x was pretty much a de-facto standard in WW1 prismatics, though there were some Zeiss 8x as well. The centre pivot button I would guess carries German army unit markings, but I've no knowledge of how to interpret them.

Edited 29 June , 2020 by MikB

[GWF1967]

12 hours ago, Richard Beaumont said:

Thank you so much for your interest.  Here's hoping someone can shed light on the numbers

If you edit your thread title to include words such as “German” “unit marking”, you should get an answer. 

[Richard Beaumont]

They have a hand engraved name of Hensoldt next to the left eyepiece and a hand engraved Wetzlar along with a stamped 6 x next to the right eye piece..  On the central pivot of the hinge furthest away from the eye, there are the following letters and numbers stamped on: G.J. 2.R.K. 11  The numbers on these German binoculars may possibly be the markings of the German unit if anyone can help.

[sr97]

Could 'RK' possibly refer to the 'Reserve-Korps' of the German Army?

[Richard Beaumont]

A bit  more research suggests it may be GJ (Jaeger -light infantry battalion) 11 (11th battalion) 2 RK (2nd Reserve Korps.......................I think.  I'm something of a novice at researching this stuff but if anyone woul;d care to offer an opinion or confirm I am on the right track, that would be great. Thanks

[Gabelou]

11 garde Inf Rgt, 2 kompagnie binocular nr 11.

Unusual hand made unit mark from 1914-15.

The other marks are machine made.

Gabelou