A Very Fine Pair of Cased WW1 Great War Imperial German Epaulettes

For the Imperial German 40th Infantry officer. Used by the German regimental officers that fought in the trenches with Adolf Hitler's infantry, and apparently the 40th relieved Hitler's company within the List Regiment, the Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment 16 (1st Company of the List Regiment). In their original storage case in mint condition overall. Mid blue cloth background with gilt crescent and Infantry number 40. Red back cloth. During the war, Hitler served in France and Belgium in the Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment 16 (1st Company of the List Regiment). He was an infantryman in the 1st Company during the First Battle of Ypres (October 1914), which Germans remember as the Kindermord bei Ypern (Ypres Massacre of the Innocents) because approximately 40,000 men (between a third and a half) of nine newly-enlisted infantry divisions became casualties in 20 days. Hitler's regiment entered the battle with 3,600 men and at its end mustered 611. By December Hitler's own company of 250 was reduced to 42. Biographer John Keegan claims that this experience drove Hitler to become aloof and withdrawn for the remaining years of war. After the battle, Hitler was promoted from Sch?tze (Private) to Gefreiter (Lance Corporal). He was assigned to be a regimental message-runner The List Regiment fought in many battles, including the First Battle of Ypres (1914), the Battle of the Somme (1916), the Battle of Arras (1917), and the Battle of Passchendaele (1917). During the Battle of Fromelles on 19?20 July 1916 the Australians, mounting their first attack in France, assaulted the Bavarian positions. The Bavarians repulsed the attackers, suffering the second-highest losses they had on any day on the Western Front, about 7,000 men

Code: 22240