imperial german clothing issue stamps Imperial German Army Clothing Depot Issue Stamps

[Kenny Andrew]

These BA stamps can be found on first world war German helmets and equipment.BA stands for Bekleidungsamt or Clothing Depot and can be used to find out where the item was issued.

 

BAG: Garde-Korps (Berlin)
BA I: I Armee-Korps (Köenigsberg)
BA II: II Armee-Korps (Stettin)
BA III: III Armee-Korps (Berlin)
BA IV: IV Armee-Korps (Magdeburg)
BA V: V Armee-Korps (Posen)
BA VI: VI Armee-Korps (Breslau)
BA VII / VII Armee-Korps (Münster)
BA VIII: VIII Armee-Korps (Coblenz)
BA IX: IX Armee-Korps (Altona)
BA X: X Armee-Korps (Hannover)
BA XI: XI Armee-Korps (Cassel)
BA XII: XII Armee-Korps (Dresden)
BA XIII: III Armee-Korps Württembergisches AK (Stuttgart)
BA XIV: XIV Armee-Korps (Baden-Baden)
BA XV: XV Armee-Korps (Strassburg)
BA XVI: XVI Armee-Korps (Metz)
BA XVII: XVII Armee-Korps (Danzig)
BA XIX: XIX Armee-Korps (Leipzig) Second Sächsisches Armee-Korps
BAO: China Expeditionary Armee-Korps (Ostasien)
KA: Kolonial Amt (Africa)

[Fritz]

 

As of 1914, there were 21 Armee Korps. This did not include the Royal Bavarian Army, which was absolutely separate, and had it's own Kriegsministerium (War Ministry), which was independant till January 1916. The Bavarian Army had 3 own Armee-Korps - and the Bavarian clothing items are usually stamped: "BD" for Bekleidungsdepot. Also the regimental stamps and designations were entirely different. Within the other Prussian Geman armies a regiment could have the stamp designation: J.R.21 (not J for Jäger), being Infanterie-Regiment Nr.21. The Bavarian designation would be 21.J.R. - being Königglich Bayerisches 21. Infanterie-Regiment (21st.) A small diffence goes a long way! Also the designations of the Prussian Garde were at variance to the others: 1.G.R.z.F. = Erstes Garde-Regiment zu Fuß (note: Fuss is written with "ß" pronounced ess-tsett), KAR = Kaiser-Alexander-Garde-Grenadier-Regt.Ne.1, KFR = Kaiser-Franz-Garde-Grenadier-Regt.Nr.2, G.F.A.R.2 = Garde-Feld-Artillerie-Regt.Nr.2, GJB = Garde-Jäger-Bataillon, just to mention a few examples. Perhaps you can add some of this info to your article? Important to add:

XX.Armee Korps = Allenstein,
XXI. Armee-Korps = Saarbrücken.
I. Bayr.Armee-Korps = München,
II. Bayr. Armee-Korps = Würzburg,
III. Bayr. Armee-Korps = Nürnberg

You also omitted the XVIII. Armee-Korps, which was a mixed Korps partly with troops from Grosszerzogtum Hessen-Darmstadt (I.R. 115-118 and 168) and the other troops were from the Prussian Province of Hessen-Nassau. I think the B.A. was Darmstadt, without having to look it u