Far East Treasures

The German Empire – also commonly known as Imperial Germany or the Second Reich – was founded in January 1871, when the south German states, with the notable exceptions of Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein, joined the Northern German Confederation. This changed the federal state to the German Empire and proclaimed King Wilhelm I of Prussia as the German Emperor.

Initially, its territory was contained to lands in Europe, but since the 1840s there had been a desire by some Germans for a colonial overseas empire. Although Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck, who orchestrated the unification of the German states, had expressed little interest in such colonies – seeing how it could bring Germany into conflict with the other great powers – the German people, and more importantly Kaiser Wilhelm II, desired a “place in the sun.” By 1884, German colonial expansion was underway and the “Empire” soon consisted of possessions in Africa and the Pacific.

Moreover, Berlin was hardly alone in looking to carve out a piece of China. However, unlike in Africa where the continent was essentially divided into colonies or protectorates, in China, the European powers (joined by Japan) sought to seek territory and trading concessions. It didn’t exactly start well for Berlin however, and two German missionaries were killed in China. The German response was to seize Kiaochow (known as “Kiautschou” in German, now usually known as Jiaozhou) with the port of Tsingtao (spelled “Tsingtau” in German, now known as Qingdao) for use as a naval base and trading port. Tsingtao was initially governed and garrisoned by the Imperial German Navy.

Tensions in China – notably the capital of Peking – simmered and there was growing unrest among the Chinese populace. Things finally reached a boiling point in 1899 with the Boxer Rebellion, the anti-foreign, anti-colonial, and anti-Christian uprising in China. The rebels, known as “Boxers” as they practiced Chinese martial arts (“Chinese boxing”), converged on Peking in June 1900.

It was an event that united the great powers – albeit briefly – as an eight-nation alliance fought the rebels and later the Imperial Chinese Army of the Qing Dynasty.

Germany organized the East Asian Expeditionary Corps (“Ostasiatische Expeditionskorps”), which consisted of about 15,000 troops made up of volunteers of the German military. It was put under the command of Generalfeldmarschal Graf von Waldersee and consisted of six infantry regiments, one light infantry company, one cavalry regiment, one field artillery regiment, one heavy howitzer artillery battalion, a pioneer battalion, a train battalion, a medical company, and six field hospitals, as well as additional support units.

The Corps actually arrived in China in the fall of 1900, but was too late to take part in any major actions. However, it was involved in several smaller engagements against remaining rebellions, while it was employed in garrison duties occupying various locations in China.

The forces were outfitted with special uniforms, notably headgear, which was deemed suitable for use in the Far East. By 1909, the last of the East Asian Expeditionary Corps forces were withdrawn to Germany, and that fact explains why the uniforms and headgear are more commonly found in Germany than in the Far East. These are still considered among the rarest of the Imperial German colonial headdress.

A special version of the standard German pickelhaube was introduced for use with the East Asia Expeditionary Corps. This particular model was approved in 1900 and introduced a year later.

It featured the standard hot stamped leather body, which was covered with field gray (feldgrau) fabric that resembled felt. The front and back visor and the leather ear parts were also made of olive-green lacquered leather. There was no edging on the front or back visor. The spike attachment and base were constructed of a single piece of aluminum-bronze or white copper. What was notable about this helmet pattern is that the whole spike and base could be removed and replaced with a metal cap for combat operations. That cap was usually stored inside the helmet, screwed under the spike when not in use.

The M1900 helmet was fitted with an Imperial eagle made of aluminum-bronze, while an Imperial cockade made of sheet iron was worn on the right side. The eagle attached to special eyelets at the front of the helmet, which also allowed it to be removed for field operations. The same basic helmet was worn by Pioneer and Transport troops but with white metal fittings.

The officer’s pattern helmet was similar in design as well, but featured gold-plated fittings and scales, while the cockade was an officer’s version with a silver ring.

Though straw hats were originally part of the summer uniform, a special sun helmet was developed. It differed from the colonial pattern helmets employed by the German Navy – which were essentially copies of the British Foreign Service headgear – in that they featured a unique five-piece neck guard that could be folded up when a soldier was in the prone position. This pattern of helmet was later used by the German Navy and the Schutztruppen in Africa. Almost all of these helmets were produced by the Ludwig Bortfeldt Company in Germany.

The helmet was made of cork and covered with a twill khaki cotton fabric. These were initially worn with a branch-of-service-colored cloth band above the brim with the Imperial black-white-red cockade on the right side. The eagle wappen plate attached to cloth eyelets at the front of the helmet.

The helmet was completely lined with green cotton twill while it had a light brown leather sweatband. The rear of the helmet had five cloth loops, which allowed for the wearing of a neck flap that was attached via five small brass hooks.

The original tropenhelm was updated as the M1904, which featured a slightly lower dome but the same five-piece neck guard. As with the earlier pattern, it was also made of cork and was covered with a twill cotton fabric that appeared to be a bit more grayish in color than khaki. These were also worn with a branch-of-service-colored cloth band above the brim with the Imperial black-white-red cockade on the right side.

Instead of the cloth eyelets that held the wappen in place, the M1904 pattern featured metal loops. It is unknown how many of these helmets were produced, but only a handful survive

Soldiers of German light infantry (Jäger), as well as some supply troops, were outfitted with two unique versions of the German shako. The first was similar to the M1900 Pickelhaube in that it closely resembled the leather shako used in Europe. However, much like the M1900 helmet, it was covered in the same field gray felt-like material with gray lacquered leather.

For the summer, a special Tropical Jäger Shako was developed as a test piece. The exact number produced is unknown, but only a handful of the shakos are known to exist. These were similar in shape to the basic leather shako, but also took elements from the M1900 Bortfeldt sun helmet as the same firm produced this model.

These were covered with the same khaki cotton twill, while the visor was less steep than the standard shako. It featured the same unique five-piece neck guard that was designed to fold up. It was also fitted with a screw-off ventilation cap and had a pair of ventilation holes with grommets on each side. It was also worn with a branch-of-service-colored cloth band. As with the M1900 sun helmet, officers wore the same model ,but outfitted with a gold-plated eagle. However, unlike the helmet, it appears that the shako’s use was solely limited to China.