This review is from the April, 1999, issue of the Military Rifle Journal.

By Jeff Noll

Reviewed by Fred Masterton

Sometimes when you read a book, it opens up a whole new dimension for you. It depends a lot on your interests - earlier in my life it was Catcher in the Rye by Salinger. My tastes are different now - recently it was Imperial German Regimental Marking , by Jeff Noll. I have a Gew '88 that has previously mysterious combinations of letters and numbers on the barrel bands. Through a long series of Internet explorations, I discovered Jeff's book, the major points of which are summarized below.

The Imperial German Army (pre-World War 1) was nothing if not methodical and meticulous. Every armament from machine guns down to bayonets was cataloged. Arms were identified as to their regiment, the type of regiment (Infantry, Artillery, Reserve, etc.), their company, then the sequential number of the firearm itself When the arm was transferred to another unit, the old markings were defaced, and new ones were added. The markings are likely to be found on any 1871 Mauser through the Gew 1898. Regimental markings were discontinued in late 1916, although many items continued to be marked until late in the war. If you have a German firearm of this period, chances are good that it has the unit markings.

My Gew 1888 has Turkish markings on it indicating that it was sent to Turkey during the war, but the German regimental markings survive. An early marking on the front barrel band has been X-ed out, but it reads 37.R.R.2.33. This indicates the 37th Reserve Regiment, 2nd Company, rifle number 33. The fact that it was a; reserve unit is indicated by the script R (I can't quite reproduce the way it looks, I don't have the exact font). The R followed by the regular upper case R indicates that it was marked prior to 1900, which is to expected for a Gew 1888 made in 1890. A later,intact marking on the back barrel band is 78.R.11.176. This indicates that it was in the 78th Reserve Regiment, 11th Company, Rifle number 176.. This later marking was post- 1900, when the reserve designation was shortened to a single R. In short, the rifle was originally assigned to the 37^th Reserve Regiment, then reassigned to the 78th Reserve Regiment.

Each Regiment was assigned to one or more Divisions during the war. While the compositions of divisions changed, regiments more or less kept their integrity. Any history you are likely to read will indicate the status of a division in a certain battle or campaign. Using the wartime cross-reference register in Noll's book, you can ascertain what division your arm was attached to. The 37th Reserve Regiment was assigned to the IOh Reserve Division. The earlier regimental designation was considerably pre-war, so it is not given in this book. Unfortunately, most divisional histories are given in somewhat obscure references in German - I was unable to find any information on the 10 Reserve Divison in any of my books on World War 1.

The book (hardbound) is available from Jeff Noll for $30 plus $4 priority mail at P.O. Box 7184, Ventura, CA 93006. You can also check out his website for an order. form at hhtp://home.earthlink.net/~nopubl/