This episode of Tores Tuesdays is named “Shackled to a corpse”
The term, attributed to Ludendorff, was probably not expressed in that way by him, but he would probably agree wholeheartedly.
The saying refers to Germany’s allies, the Austro-Hungarian empire. As you know the war started with the assassination of their Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the subsequent ultimatum to Serbia, leading to Russia’s mobilization, then Germany’s declaration of war and so on ad nauseam…
The old empire was really creaking at the seams and turned out to be somewhat ineffective, needing much aid and support from Germany. Though the patriotic propaganda pieces of the day show them united as friends, the friendship will have been strained by their dependence on German production, German soldiers and strategic help.
So, many Germans fought alongside the Austro-Hungarians to shore up their efforts, which will be shown by the items I will show today: a German medal Spange and an M95 Mannlicher bayonet.
The medals belonged to a Württemberg soldier, he has won the Iron Cross second class, but the noteworthy medal is the round one to the right. It was awarded post-war, 1929 on, to Hungarian veterans of the Great War. It was instilled by general Horthy. It was also given to Germans who had fought alongside the Austro-Hungarian forces. So, the gentleman who was awarded this was one of them.
The bayonet is a pretty rare one. It is an M95 Mannlicher bayonet, and there are tons of them around, not rare at all, manufactured both in Austria and in Hungary. However this one is pretty rare anyway, being German made and with German military acceptance stamps. That is a different beast altogether. Very well made, lighter than the standard ones, generally simply higher quality.
This one has Prussian acceptance stamps, a crowned W for Wilhelm II and 17 for acceptance yeas 1917. They are also found with 1918 acceptance stamps. The manufacturer is Ernst Busch, Solingen. There are inspection stamps, frakturs, on the pommel. So, German through and through, but for an Austro-Hungarian rifle.
The thing is, a quartermasters hell is having to supply several different calibers and make sure that they get to the right unit etc. So, the Germans fighting together with the Austro-Hungarian forces were equipped with their standard model 1895 Mannlicher rifle, and then issued German made M95 bayonets, probably due to Austro-Hungarian production shortages.
So, these two items are both attesting to the fact that Germany supported their ally, while feeling that they were shackled to a corpse…