"Beamte” and Military Specialty Troops of the Imperial German Army - Part 1

Dear Collector Friend and Colleagues.

I have frustratingly spent the last 2 years researching “Beamte” helmets.  The more research I do, the harder it got.  I have put together a research paper to share what I know in hopes of finding from you the answers to my questions.  I am dividing this into several parts.  AoK will post over the next 2 months.  If you have any questions or have more information I would love to hear from you.  After collection for over 60 years, I still have a lot to learn.

For years I have been trying to understand the diversity of the Beamte Units within the Imperial German Army. Like most collectors, I can identify the Beamte helmet as one that has a Prussian Line Eagle with a smaller Line Eagle on the tail, but more I did not know. The question is, “Who wore what helmet?”.  I started doing some research.  What I found out is… the answer is not as clear as I had hoped. At least now I can start to make more sense of it.  In drafting this article, I realized that I have a problem.  The problem is,” the more I know, the more I know that I do not know”. 

The term Beamte means an Official or Government Officer.  The proper term Beamte soldiers who served in the Imperial German Army is Militar-Beamte. The position of a Military Beamte was created in the Prussian Army in 1758, and formally established in the Imperial German Army on June 26, 1872.  The Military Beamte and Intendantur (Administrative Directors) were active in many areas that kept the army functioning.  In the beginning they included management of permanent military facilities such as fortresses, hospitals, the Military Pension fund, and Weapons Production Supervision. By the late 1800’s their responsibility expanded to include financial and material-technical security, organizational services directors, military justice, prison directors, military education, non-regimental medical - veterinary services, technical - scientific institutions, military pastoral care, and many other small administrative departments. The Military Beamte was a soldier who held a military rank, but their legal position was governed by Prussian Civil Servant Law.  Like the regular army soldier, the Militar-Beamte were paid a military salary based on equivalent regular army rank.

Every type of uniformed organization of Imperial Germany wore some form of a Pickelhaube.  The Military Beamte and Intendatur should NOT be confused with civil, state or local Police, Customs Officials, or Fireman. 

As the Military Beamte and Intendantur were an active part of the Imperial German Army, their uniform and dress were prescribed the Army command.  Regulations for uniform and dress of the Military Beamte was set forth in the D.V.E 17a of October 17, 1902, entitled “Zusammenstellung der Uniformen und Abzeichen der Beamten des Koenigliche Preussen Heeres”. These specifications were expanded on April 8, 1904, and again on October 5, 1908.  The final changes before World War 1 were on October 30, 1911.

 My “Bible” for information on the Imperial German Army is the 3-volume set entitled, DAS DEUTSCHE HEER, Friedensuniformen bei Ausbruch des Weltkriegs, written by Herbert Knotel (famous military illustrator), Paul Pietsch (author of Formations und Uniformiersgeschichte des Preussischen Heeres 1808-1914), and Major Baron Collas.  This information was first published as a serial in a military history magazine from 1935 until 1940.  In the late 1950’s the serial edition was re-organized with the help of Ingo Promper and Capt. Hans Rudolf von Stein into the 2-Volume set and released in 1961.   The book was further improved by Jurgen Kraus, and Georg Ortenburg to a 3-volume set and was published in Stuttgart in 1982. The books cover every aspect of military organization, uniforms, and weaponry. I also used Atlas des Deutschen Reichsheeres und der Kaiserlichen Marine, by Carl Henckel, published by the Militar Kunst Verlag “Mars”, in1901. Later reprinted by J. H. Bielitz and W. Eger in 1984.  This is an excellent illustrated organizational chart of the entire Imperial German Army. Both are monumental works. I was also greatly helped by reading Die Militaerischen Kopfbedeckung 1869-1919, by Walter Wannenwetsch and Joachim Hilsenbeck. They included helmets of the Military-Beamten, Police, and Firemen. 

Regular Army Officers and Soldiers

Many regular army specialists were wrongly categorized as Militar-Beamte due to the appearance of the helmet or the jobs they performed.  They are not considered the “point of the spear” in an active combat regiment, but they were an integral part of the units they served.

The Paymasters of the Army, (German = Oberezahlmeister (Senior Paymaster), Zahlmeister (Paymaster) and Unterzahlmeister (Junior Paymaster) were Regular Army soldiers.  These soldiers were posted to each regiment’s staff.  They wore the standard uniform of that regiment, but the helmet was differed from the standard helmet worn by soldiers of the Regiment.  The Ober-Zahlmeister and Zahlmeister wore a helmet with all silver metal trim, a round front visor trim and round spike base with smooth spike.  The helmet had domed studs instead of stars at the base. The frontplate was the Prussian Line Eagle with bandeau for Prussia and a small gold Prussian Eagle (Beamte Abzeichen style) on the large eagle's tail. 

The Zahlmeister for other states also wore silver trimmed helmets.  Baden paymasters had a small Griffen on the bottom of the larger Griffen, Mecklenburg Regiments the monogram for each Duchy, and Saxony the Saxon shield flanked by lions. (*The exception to this is Bavarian, Wuerttemburg and Hessen who wore the standard officer helmet of their state without Beamte Abzeichung).   The Braunschweig  Zahlmeister and Unterzahlmeister wore a leather helmet with round front visor trim and round spike base with smooth spike.  Rounded chinscales with officer cockades. All the metal trim was silver. Frontplate was the Prussian heraldic eagle with “Furst” bandeau. The center device is the Braunschweig Order in silver and gold. 

* All Unterzahlmeisters DID NOT wear a Beamte Abzeichung

Tune in for more………….