Another Reservistenpfeife and another story about Verdun. This time, the design is different as the one shown previously from the Infanterie Regiment 117. As we have seen previously with the Beer Stein, there are some pipes, that are more patriotic and shows more the Spirit of the Regiment, and other that shows the happiness (and “party” mood) of the recruits moving into the reserve. This is the case in this one, where even the Regiment number is written on the side by hand.
This Pipe belonged to a recruit who served in 1896 until 1898 in the 4. Unter-Elsässisches Infanterie-Regiment 143, based in Straßburg in the Alsace. This area is now part of France, but between 1871 and 1918/1919, it was part of the Imperial Germany. This was one of the Provinces, along with Lorraine, that France lost during the Franco-Prussian War. The regiment was part of the 30th Infantry Division. This article is about the Regiment more than the person, just because it is almost impossible to find his records, unlike the Bavarian Soldiers. Please remember, that there is plenty of information in the Munich Archives about the Bavarian Army, but this is not the case here, because this Recruit was in the Prussian Army.
The 30th Division was part of the 7th Army, that hold the French attacks in August and managed soon later to counter attack and participate in the Nancy-Epinal.
After that, between the rest of 1914 and 1915, the division was place in the south of a famous World War 1 city, Ypres. They fought in the first and the second battle of Ypres, so they saw the effects of the use of gas in war. This regiment also was involved in the attacks and counter attacks for the Hill 60, in the south of Ypres.
At the beginning of 1916, the division was sent to Verdun, and just 8 month later, the 143rd Regiment was going to exist only in paper, but we will talk about that later. There is a map attached, where we can see the positions, where the 30th Division was placed. They attacked on the 24th of February; 3 days after the battle began, achieving good results without having heavy loses. Just the 105th Regiment had a tough time.
They remained in Verdun until the second part of the year taking part in minor battles, but also bringing a big toll of casualties. Just to summarize, the attack in February was made only in the right bank of the river Meuse and in March, the main effort was made in the left bank until May.
At the end of May, it was decided to make a big push in the right bank again, with the objective of taking more terrain and other Forts, like the Fort Vaux and the fortified positions of Thiaumont.
This Division was part of the offensive to take Fort Vaux at the beginning of June; it was going to be place just on the right side of the attack, Damloup. This position was already under fire since mid May, and on the 2nd of June, it was stormed. Fort Vaux was heavily bombarded, which caused the water supply to be destroyed. The Fort was assaulted and the fights moved to the tunnels inside, with grenades and flamethrowers. It was going to take 5 more days for the French to surrender, after an heroic defence under extreme circumstances.
The 30th Division participated also in the fights around the fortified positions of Thiaumont, which changed “owners” many times. It was just between the 2nd and 3rd defensive areas, with a MG Bunker and a Casemate with 2 x 75 mm Cannons.
The 143rd Regiment took part in these attacks and counter attacks between the 15th and the 8th of August. The results of these combats are clearly explained in the book “Histories of the 251 Divisions of the German Army, which participated in the War 1914-1918”, exactly in the page 339: “On August 8 the 143d Infantry Regiment attacked the works of Thiaumont and was decimated”. This shows the Hell they went through these days.
Sources:
Traditions of the Imperial German Infantry Regiments (Chris Dale).
Histories of the Two Hundred and Fifty One Divisions of the German Army.
Die Tragödie von Verdun 1916