Officers of the Reserve

[Fred Green]

Greetings All,

I have a question about the insignia of an Officer of the Reserve. I saw a pair of Lt. of the Reserve Infantry shoulder boards with the number 56 on it.Would this mean that this Reserve Officer was affiliated with the Active 56th Infantry regiment or was this another unit all together?
I have read Angolia's book and he describes the titles but does not give the connection of the unit association. Would this officer be in the geographical proximity of the Active 56th Infantry regiment?
Any help in understanding this is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Fred

[SirHarry1]

Hello Fred,

Reserve officers wore the number of the regiment they were assigned to.
A reserve officer had a slot in an active regiment where he would go for exercises, maneuvres etc., and in case of war he would take over a position in this regiment, either as platoon/company/bataillon commander in the field or with the rear echelon. As regards geography, he could be from the area where the unit was stationed, but could also live far away, no rules here.
Hope this helps, have a good one

Harry

Greetings All,

I have a question about the insignia of an Officer of the Reserve. I saw a pair of Lt. of the Reserve Infantry shoulder boards with the number 56 on it.Would this mean that this Reserve Officer was affiliated with the Active 56th Infantry regiment or was this another unit all together?
I have read Angolia's book and he describes the titles but does not give the connection of the unit association. Would this officer be in the geographical proximity of the Active 56th Infantry regiment?
Any help in understanding this is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Fred

[Fred Green]

Greetings Harry,

Thank you! That answers alot of questions. If the shoulder board was numbered to the 56th Inf regiment that would be where his assigned slot would have been.

Thanks again.

Fred

[Johnny R]

The system was different than the US. There were Landwehr (d. L.) Officers in Reserve Units like the US that did not have an active duty status, but an active unit would also have supplemental reserve officers serving with them.

This was initially a way to get around the limitations of 100K RW and trian more people. When they expanded the Army after Hitler came to power they also brought in many experienced officers as Reserve to fill slots until they could train new replacements. Shortly after the War started the special insignia was eliminated and all Reserve officers (d. R.) insingia wore standard boards.

The boards you saw would be for a reserve officer attached or assinged to IR 56, which was an active unit. He probably would have been a WWI Officer with combat experience. Many of these officers were assigned to training and Ersatz units associated with the Regiments after the War started.

[Kurt]

I have nothing new to contribute other than a great THANK YOU for these answers!!! That's why I love this forum, you learn something every day