WW1 German unit abbreviations

Hand-written abbreviations of various units commonly found on the backside of photos are in fact an invaluable source of information for identification purposes. These inscriptions made nearly a century ago and sometimes representing hardly recognizable numerals and digits either in half-erased pencil or faded ink could help modern-day collectors to dig into the story behind a photograph.

This list gives an opportunity for keen eyes and inquisitive mind to identify numerous photos of military personnel in case of absence of other indicators most common of which are ciphers and numbers on shoulder straps.

It’s worth mentioning here that an Arabic number found in front of the slash in a unit designation stands for a company, artillery battery or cavalry squadron while a Roman number indicates a battalion or field artillery battalion (Feldartillerie-Abteilung).

E.g.: “6./R.I.R.170” stands for the 6th company of the 170th reserve infantry regiment, “2./4.b.Fda.R.” – 2nd battery of the Bavarian field artillery regiment No.4 “König”, “III./I.R.129” – 3rd battalion of the 3rd West-Prussian infantry regiment No.129 and so on.