Description
Physical description
Helmet
metal helmet made of nickel-steel with a rounded front peak and three-piece 'lobster' neck-guard, edged in gilt trim. The helmet features a tall O/Rs spike of white metal mounted onto a gilt neck and oval base (has four gilt dome heads). The Prussian Line eagle is of officer's quaility, having a pierced crown and is gilt. The chinscales are of gilt convex type and are secured to the helmet by screw-type posts and not clover-leaf pattern (officer's). Both Reich and State cockades are large officer quality, as is the silk and leather liner and trim.
Label
Helmets of this superior quality were almost identical to those worn by officers (officers' helmets differed by having fluted spikes, clover-leaf spike bases and chinscale bosses, and 'stepped' front peaks). A helmet of this type however suggests private purchase and was worn usually by senior NCOs or men who had volunteered for military service under special arrangement (one year-volunteers - Einjährig-Freiwillige). Of either privileged background or of an advanced education, the einjährige could select his regiment and choose his year of obligatory service up to the age of 23 (other conscripts would serve three in the cavalry). After initial training he could live out of barracks and was obliged to clothe and equip himself - hence the quality of kit depended on what he could afford. After his term of service he would transfer to the Reserve (in peacetime) and be well placed for a commission, though usually never exceeding beyond the rank of Rittmeister (captain).
Otto Sommerhoff was born in New York City in 1888 but returned to Germany with his parents at the age of four. He joined the army in 1908, enlisting into Kurrasier-Regiment von Seydlitz Nr. 7 (Magdeburg) as a one-year volunteer (Einjährig-Freiwillige). A Wachtmeister (sergeant) by 1910, he transferred to Dragoner-Regt 6 and commissioned, his rank at the outbreak of hostilities in 1914 being Leutnant. Having served on the Western Front, Sommerhoff was a Rittmeister (captain) in 1919 at the time of his discharge. In 1934 he rejoined the Army as a supply officer and by 1945 was an Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant-Colonel) and former Commandant of the northern Italian town of Cremona, on the River Po. Among his awards were the Iron Cross (I and II Class) in both wars, the Hessische Militaer Ehrenzeichen (WWI), and the Kriegsverdienstkreuz in WWII.
Sommerhoff died in Bad Homburg, Germany, in 1962.
