Other Ranks Pickelhaube Of The 165th Infantry Regiment (5th Hanoverian Infantry Regiment),

Other ranks Pickelhaube of the 165th Infantry Regiment (5th Hanoverian Infantry Regiment), properly registered JR165, IIIB, 1905, initials KH engraved in the visor.

The unit was created on March 24, 1813 under the name of Light Field Battalion "Lüneburg" of the Electoral Brunswick-Lüneburg Army (de). In Lüneburg, which was then still part of the Kingdom of Westphalia, Lieutenant Colonel Albrecht von Estorff, on behalf of Colonel von Tettenborn, called for the voluntary formation of a hussar regiment. The "Chasseurs d'Estorff" emerged from this regiment during the war against Napoleonic France. The first battle against the French took place at Lüneburg on 2 April 1813. In August 1813, the battalion was incorporated into the Russo-German Legion of General von Wallmoden-Gimborn. On 25 January 1814, the Landwehr battalions of Lüneburg, Celle, Gifhorn and the Lüneburg Field Battalion were merged to form the Lüneburg Infantry Regiment. At the outbreak of the First World War, the regiment was mobilized on 2 August 1914 and joined the 4th Army Corps, which entered northern France via neutral Belgium. Here, it suffered heavy losses during the Battle of the Marne, so the 1st and 2nd Battalions had to be combined. By replacement, the 1st and 2nd battalions were reconstituted on October 16, 1914, with three companies each, and from December 7, 1914, each battalion again had four companies. In 1915, the regiment participated on the Western Front in the Battles of the Aisne, the Battle of Artois, the Autumn Battle of La Bassée and Arras, and the Battle of Loos. In 1916, trench warfare ensued in Artois and Flanders. In October 1916, the regiment received a 2nd and a 3rd machine gun company. From April to May 1917, the unit participated in the Spring Battle of Arras and then fought in Flanders. In 1918, the regiment was again in Artois, in Flanders, near Ypres, on the Avre and Matz rivers. After further heavy losses, the 1st Battalion was disbanded on September 20, 1918. A few days later, a first battalion was re-formed from elements of the disbanded 184th Infantry Regiment. During the fighting at Souain, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions were almost completely destroyed. The remnants each formed a company. By early October 1918, the regiment was so decimated that the remaining soldiers were formed into a combat battalion. The regimental group was temporarily re-established in the middle of the month. During the fighting at Fleury, the 1st Battalion was taken prisoner at the end of October 1918.