WWI german dagger

[Mat_fr]

Hi all !

here is a small research i do, i hope that it'll interest someone in the forum

i've found near in my home a dagger which is this one :

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/8779/p1000532rf5.jpg

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/3650/p1000533fa7.jpg

http://img260.imageshack.us/img260/1502/p1000534kz5.jpg


at first sight i thought that it was an old hunting dagger;

but one day i found this by chance in a book about the WWI battle of the Vosges's mountain (in France near my city in fact, Vogesen in deutsch) :

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/662/p1000538us1.jpg

title of this picture says : (translated in english)
"young artilleryman from FAR9 ( / 9e Fuss Artillerie Regiment ?) wearing on his left side the 'bayerisch' ( / german, in english = ?) artillery dagger with Lion Head"


and ohh surprise, look at the dagger of this (young) soldier :

http://img185.imageshack.us/img185/1659/p1000543lv7.jpg


i've observed my dagger and i found this, on the handle :

http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/7787/p1000537dg6.jpg

"9.A.2.54"

my questions are :

- what does the inscription mean ?
- if this is a unit, where this unit fought ?
- Have anybody in the forum ever seen this kind of dagger ?

cause i've also an ancestor who fought in German Army in WWI in Ostfront (he was a 'forced' german soldier, cause he was french but in territories occupied by germans; the men like him are called 'malgré-nous" in France, (= "in spite of us")) but i don't know in which unit ("bayerisch" unit recruiting frenchmen ??)..

i doubt of that, but perhaps this was his dagger ?
more likely a dagger found on the battlefield in Vosges ?


thx for the people who'll read that and perhaps reply !


regards,

mat.

[Herman the II]

title of this picture says : (translated in english)
"young artilleryman from FAR9 ( / 9e Fuss Artillerie Regiment ?) wearing on his left side the 'bayerisch' ( / german, in english = ?) artillery dagger with Lion Head"



Unfortunately i´m a little bit short on time by now, but that's a wonderful piece of history you found there.
The German word "bayerisch" means Bavarian in English. Bavaria is a part of Germany (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bavaria), many units from Bavaria had a Lion head on their flag or dagger etc. Its even in the coat of arms of Bavaria.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Coat_of_arms_of_Bavaria.svg)




i've observed my dagger and i found this, on the handle :

"9.A.2.54"

my questions are :
- what does the inscription mean ?
- if this is a unit, where this unit fought ?
- Have anybody in the forum ever seen this kind of dagger ?

i doubt of that, but perhaps this was his dagger ?
more likely a dagger found on the battlefield in Vosges ?



I'm quite sure that the inscription refers to the unit of the daggers owner.
Something like 9th Army . 2 Division. 54. Regiment etc..
I´m quite sure that this dagger belongs/ed to a German soldier from Bavaria who died(?) in France.

I will do some research later this evening,
regards...

[Herman the II]

Ok, I have done some research about the registration on the dagger and found out that the "9 A" should stand for
"9 bayer. Feldartillerieregiment" (Eng.: 9th Bavarian field artillery regiment)
which was part of the "2. Königlich Bayerische Division" (Second Royal Bavarian Division).
So "9 A" stands for the artillery regiment and the "2" for his Division.
The "54" is probaplly the company...(?)

[Mat_fr]

So it could be the dagger of a soldier who fought in the same unit that the young soldier above ?
FAR 9 could stand for 9 FeldArtillerieRegiment..

And it's said in the book that FAR 9 fought in Vosges ; this dagger was probably found in the battlefield by a member of my family..

very interesting, thanks !

mat.