Wurttemberg 11mm Mauser Cartridge Pouch Grenadier Regiment 119 Konigin Olga

An Imperial German infantry Patronentasche (cartridge pouch) of the pattern made to carry loose 11mm cartridges for the Mauser rifle, unit-stamped inside the lid "119.R." for Grenadier-Regiment Königin Olga (1. Württembergisches) Nr. 119 (Queen Olga Grenadier Regiment, 1st Württemberg, No. 119), the senior infantry regiment of the Kingdom of Württemberg. The pouch retains its folded cartridge divider, its brass closure studs, and its rear belt loops with their central brass loop. It measures approximately 7½ inches (19 cm) across the lid and 4¼ inches (11 cm) in height.

The body is built of blackened leather, stitched around a curved, slightly bowed box that sits against the hip. A deep, domed lid closes over the top and is secured by a leather tab at each end, each tab pierced with a keyhole slot that drops over a brass ball stud on the end of the box. A short rectangular leather tab, double-stitched, is applied at the centre of the lid's lower front edge, with a corresponding stitched strip along the inside edge of the lid. The back is fitted with two full-height leather belt loops, each closed at the bottom by a keeper strap fastened over a further brass ball stud on the underside, and between the loops a rectangular brass loop on a leather tab. Inside, the lid is unblackened brown leather. The box holds a folded divider of fabric-faced material, stitched at its folds into two rows of individual cells so that each cartridge stood upright and separate; it is secured at the centre of the front wall by brass wire. No maker's mark is visible.

Pouches of this family were developed for the 11mm cartridge of the Mauser Model 1871, the rifle taken up by most of the contingents of the new German Empire in the 1870s, and they remained in service with its 1884 tube-magazine successor, the Model 71/84, which used the same round. Because these cartridges were carried loose rather than in clips, the divider kept the rounds from rattling and let a soldier draw them one at a time. The arrival of the Gewehr 88 and its five-round packets made pouches of this kind obsolete in front-line infantry service, and surviving examples were passed down to reserve and second-line formations. Württemberg's connection with the Mauser rifle was a close one: the Mauser brothers' works stood at Oberndorf am Neckar, in the royal Württemberg arms factory they acquired in 1874.

The regiment named inside the lid was the oldest in the Württemberg army. It traced its foundation to 1 June 1673 as the Herzogliches Regiment zu Fuß (Ducal Regiment of Foot), and its first company to the Leib-Kompagnie (life company) of 1638, the personal guard of the Dukes of Württemberg. In its first century the regiment saw service against the Ottoman Turks and afterward in the dynastic conflicts of the Spanish and Polish Succession. Under the Napoleonic settlement Württemberg became a kingdom, and its troops marched with the French against Austria and Prussia and into Russia in 1812, before the kingdom changed sides after Leipzig in 1813 and took part in the campaign of 1813–1814 against France. The regiment was carried in the Württemberg lists as Infanterie-Regiment Prinz Paul Nr. 1 (Prince Paul Infantry Regiment No. 1) from 1810 and became Leib-Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 1 (Life Infantry Regiment No. 1) in 1813.

In 1864 Queen Olga of Württemberg became the regiment's Chef (honorary colonel-in-chief). Born Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, a daughter of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, she had married Crown Prince Karl of Württemberg in 1846 and became queen when he succeeded to the throne in 1864. In the Austro-Prussian conflict of 1866 Württemberg fought on the side of Austria, and the regiment met the Prussians at Tauberbischofsheim. Four years later the same regiment marched with Prussia. In the campaign of 1870–1871 it formed part of the Württemberg Field Division, which went through the Sedan campaign and then held the eastern sector of the siege lines around Paris. There, at Champigny and Villiers on the Marne, the division's entrenched positions stood against General Ducrot's attempt to break out of the city between 30 November and 2 December 1870. With unification the Württemberg army was brought into the imperial order of battle, becoming the XIII (Royal Württemberg) Army Corps on 18 December 1871, and the regiment took its place in the imperial sequence as No. 119. On 22 January 1872 it was granted the crowned cypher "O" for its Queen, worn in yellow on red shoulder straps.

On the eve of 1914 the regiment was garrisoned in Stuttgart with the 51st Infantry Brigade of the 26th (1st Royal Württemberg) Division, XIII Army Corps. It opened the conflict on the French frontier in August 1914, and by December the division had been sent east to Poland with the 9th Army as part of the XIII Corps under General von Fabeck. In 1915 it served on the Eastern Front and then in the autumn campaign in Serbia, before returning to the West, where it served on the Somme and at Arras. In October 1917 the division was moved to Venetia and took part in the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, the offensive remembered as Caporetto, and in March 1918 it returned to the Western Front under the 2nd Army for the spring offensives.

The lid interior carries several ink stamps. At the left is the unit stamp "119.R.", read as Regiment No. 119. To its right is a boxed stamp that has been struck through with a heavy line, and below it a second line, also cancelled. Beneath these an uncancelled boxed stamp gives a four-digit date beginning with "1" and ending with "8"; the middle digits are only partially inked and cannot be read with confidence, though a reading of 1878 is possible and would sit squarely within the service life of the 11mm pattern. A further heavily inked stamp at the right is not legible, and a small faint mark sits near the right end of the lid. The cancelled marks indicate that the pouch was likely re-marked at least once during its service life, consistent with return to stores and reissue. No soldier's name or company number is identifiable.

Condition is consistent with long service. The blackened finish shows overall crazing and fine cracking, with scuffing and wear to the corners and edges that exposes brown leather beneath, most noticeably along the lid rim and the lower seams. The closure tabs and belt-loop keepers are complete, with wear and darkening around their keyhole slots. The stitching is present throughout, with surface wear along the exposed edges. The brass studs and loop show age toning and light verdigris. The cartridge divider appears intact, with some compression and creasing to the folds at one end. The interior stamps are partially worn but the regimental number remains clear.

Unit-marked 11mm cartridge pouches turn up less often than the later clip-loading patterns produced in great numbers from 1888 onward and again during 1914–1918, and an example that still holds its folded divider is less common again, since the dividers are frequently missing. The clear "119.R." stamp ties this pouch to one of the senior regiments of the Württemberg contingent, the Queen Olga Grenadiers of Stuttgart, and it makes an appropriate companion to a Model 1871 or 71/84 rifle, to Württemberg uniform and headdress, or to a collection built around the XIII Army Corps.