***Antonio Wednesday’s Wonders ***
Wilhelm Eberlein, Kanonendöner ist unser Gruss.
After a simple look at this Beer Stein, we know to which part of the army belonged the soldier. This is one of my favourite Bierkrug and it has a couple of distinctive details of the Artillery branch. First of all, the lid is the head of a Grenade. We can even see the code C/96. This is the standard field cannon of the German Army, the 7,7 Cm Feldkanone C96. Second, we see a figure too; she is Saint Barbara, the Patron Saint of the Artillerymen. By the way, the Saint Day is the 4th of December.
This Reservistenkrug belonged to Fahrer (Driver of the carriage) Wilhelm Eberlein, who served in the Royal Bavarian 4th Field Artillery Regiment, based in Augsburg, located on the west of Munich (a nice city worth to visit, please visit the Riegele Brewery). As you can see, we can read the sentence “Kanonendöner ist unser Gruss”, which means, “Cannon Thunders is our Greeting”. This can be read in many different Artillery Beer Mugs. Wilhelm served there between 1903 and 1905 and before the start of the war, in 1912, he was 2 weeks training with the Royal Bavarian 6th Field Artillery Regiment.
When the war started, Wilhelm, who was already father of 2 kids, joined the Royal Bavarian 2nd Field Artillery Regiment, placed in Würzburg and part of the Royal Bavarian 4th Division. But before going into action, on the 20th of August, he was transferred to Leicht Munitionskolone Nr. 154, in the Royal Bavarian 6th Field Artillery Regiment under the Royal Bavarian 5th Division.
As part of the 6th Army under the command of Kronprinz Rupprecht von Bayern, his Unit made some advances against the French in the area of Nancy, but at the end those offensives didn’t bring the expected results.
After the failure, Wilhelm`s Unit was sent in October 1914 to the Verdun Area, around 40-50 Kms south east of it, the Côtes de Meuse, where he stayed until the end of 1915. During the fights there, the casualties were huge. For example, in those days in October 1914, the 1st Company of the 14th Infantry Regiment had just 1 Officer and 41 Soldiers. His Unit also will be involved in fights in the first half of 1915, where the 1st Battle of the Woëvre took place (April 1915).
In a previous article, another of “my Soldiers” died in 1915, just a couple kilometres from where Wilhelm was. You find his story her:
During the months of October and November 1915, Wilhelm`s Unit was moved to the Champagne Area, Tahure, just 50 Kilometres east from Reims. At the end of the year, it will come back to the South of Verdun (St. Mihiel).
In July 1916, the division was moved to the Artois Area, defending the Lens-Vimy Sector. Soon later in September, they will be sent to a Hell called, The Somme (Delville-Ginchy). Due to the huge amount of casualties, the Division was sent back to reorganization just 15 days later.
Wilhelm was promoted to Gefreiter in 1917 and he will be also involved in some serious battles during 1917. In April 1917, he took part in the Battle of Arras, where the allied attacks were successful and regained plenty of ground. In June 1917, the division was retired from the front for resting and training, before being sent to Flanders in August, where he will be defending the sector of St. Julien, not far away from Ypres. In September 1917, he will be resting and having some trainings nearby Armentieres until the beginning of 1918.
Wilhelm was sent to the Cambrai front, where he advanced during the Kaiserschlacht, the Spring offensive. As we can see in the map (in yellow), he was in May 1918 in the South of Arras. Even with the big advances made by the German Troops, once again, the results of 1914 were repeated in 1918, only that this time, the allies were ready to provide a better and more powerful answer.
In July, Wilhelm was transferred to the Royal Bavarian 7th Field Artillery Regiment in the Royal Bavarian 5th Infantry Regiment. He arrived right in the moment, when the Germans were already in defensive positions after nearby Reims. This division suffered heavy losses and was retired in the middle of August 1918 from the front. The Moral was, in general, really down and the soldiers were just exhausted.
The last 2 months of the war, Wilhelm fought against the North American, inflicting also plenty of casualties and holding, as best he could, the lines, until the end came.
During this time, he was awarded with the Bavarian Military Merit Cross III Class with Swords.