Paragraph 11 (§11) – Porro Bibitur!!!!
The following Beer Stein is a bit different from the previous ones, because it shows a typical Student / Reservist symbol: the 11§ or Paragraph 11. There are so many pictures from recruits before and during the war, who are gathering together around a beer barrel with that symbol in it (around and over!!). Of course, they are all drinking beer, because, at the end of the day, that paragraph is about that.
The Paragraph 11 (11§) is one of the common Beer Rules (Comments), that the Student groups or fraternities had, and it means, “it will be drunk” (“Es wird vorgesoffen”) or “Porro Bibitur” in Latin, in other words, “let`s party”.
The origin of these Beer Rules, or the rules of how the members should behave or act in pubs or locals, can be placed at the beginning of the 19th Century, when it started to appear in some student associations.
This particular “law” soon would be adopted also by the recruits, who were part of their own “association”, or let`s better say, Company or just Section. And as seen in this Reservistenkrug, already by 1898, the symbol was almost everywhere in the army, even in Steins.
This is the main difference between this Krug and the rest, which I have shown before, here we see more “funny” or “cheeky” scenes than patriotic ones, more to be with parties that with the Fatherland itself. Obviously, the Bavarian Coat of Arms is there, but just about it. The main message in this Reservistenkrug is quiet clear:”Eher soll die Welt verderben, als vor Durst ein Bayer sterben“, which it comes to say, more or less: “The World can go to hell, before a Bavarian dies from Thirst”.
Our Karl spent the 3 years (between 1898 and 1900) of his Military Service in the Royal Bavarian 20th Infantry Regiment “Prinz Franz”, which was located in Landau at the gorgeous Bodensee. This Regiment was part of the Royal Bavarian 2nd Division. In the City, you can still see the nice monument dedicated to the soldiers from this Regiment, who fought in the First World War.
After that service, life went on for Karl, until the 7th of August 1914. He was already 37 years old and with 6 children (3 boys and 3 girls, coming another one later in the war), he joined the 1st Landwehr Infantry Regiment in Munich. After, he moved to the 13th Landwehr Infantry Regiment. 1914 and 1915 will be “quite” years for him, with some duties patrolling the border with Austria in Lindau. Another one of his duties was to mind and guard prisoner of war.
Things will change in April 1916, because he will be transferred to the Bavarian 21st Landsturm Regiment and right after, to Artois, taking part in some Stellungskäpmfenin that area. He was the whole year in Flandern, except for a period of 3 months, where he had guard duties in a train battalion. In January 1917, he took part in the fightings in the Sigfriedline. In April 1917 and until January 1918, he was again on security and protection duties in a train battalion.
After January 1918, we cannot find more stops in his military career, but only entries in his records of the awards, that he received:
– On the 26th of October, 3rd Class Service Medal for 9 Years in the Army (Bavaria).
– On the 26th of November, the Military Merit Cross Third Class with Swords (Bavaria).
As medal collector, it would have been great to see his medal bar with just Bavarian medals and the absence of the Iron Cross.
Thank you to Andreas and other members of ordens-forum.de (SDA) for their help in a couple of difficult translations.
I wish you all a very good and peaceful Christmas. Stay healthy and let`s try to do the best in this time of the year…. And after.