Description
Physical description
Jacket
Single-breasted jacket pockets to the lower skirt, piped in red around the base of the stand and fall collar and along the edge of the eight button opening. All metal buttons feature the crested lion design of Bavaria and the cuffs have been altered from being ornamental to being plain but adjustable, fitted with tabs and buttons. The rear skirt has also been altered, there being no red piped panels and instead, a section of field grey cloth has been added. There is a large gash to the left upper chest that partially extends tot he left upper front of the sleeve, being crudely repaired.
Label
22 Infanterie-Regiment Furst Wilhelm von Hohenzollern (II Bavarian Army Corps) was administered from Wurzburg and garrisoned at Zweibrucken & Saargemund.
History note
A simplified version of the standard M1910 jacket, having plain cuffs replacing the former ornamental types and no rear skirt details, but still retaining exposed crested buttons and piping to the collar and front. Although there are no epaulettes fitted that would identify the unit, the clothing office stamp suggests that it was issued to a soldier serving with an infantry regiment of the Bavarian army, 'I.R. 22', being Königlich Bayerisches Infanterie-Regiment „Fürst Wilhelm von Hohenzollern" Nr. 22.
This regiment was part of the II Bavarian Army Corps, and administered from Würzburg and garrisoned at Zweibrucken and Saargemund in peacetime. Part of the 3rd Bavarian Infantry Division in 1914, it was transferred following restructuring to the 11th Bavarian in 1915. The Regiment saw its first actions in France during the 'race to the sea', and later in Belgium at First Ypres. In 1915 it was transferred to the East and to Serbia. In March 1916 it went back to the West and participated in the Battle of Verdun, until moving East again in May to participate in halting the Brusilov Offensive. From there it moved to Romania where it remained until January 1917, serving in the Upper Alsace, then on to Second Battle of the Aisne. Fighting at Passchendaele, it served on the Western Front until April 1918, when it fought at Third Battle of the Aisne, and Second Marne. Losses were so heavy that on 22 July 1918 only 8 officers and 160 NCOs and men remained of the entire regiment, and from then on it was reduced to serve as a single Company.
Jackets of this type were less expensive to manufacture and therefore quicker to supply, but like the M1910 were still seen to be worn right up until 1918 although the final wartime expedient, the M1915 Bluse, was issued as a cheap universal replacement for all.
Inscription
B.A.II
1915
100
90 22 I.R.