Original German WWI 1st Grand Ducal Mecklenburg Dragoon Regiment No. 17 NCO Cavalry Waffenrock Tunic Original Items

Original Item: Only One Available. This is a jacket from World War One for a Non-Comissioed Officer assigned to the 1st Grand Ducal Mecklenburg Dragoon Regiment No. 17 which was a cavalry association of the Mecklenburg military within the Prussian army. In German it was called 1. Großherzoglich Mecklenburgisches Dragoner Regiment Nr.17.

Tunic is constructed of fine blue wool shell with satin like lined interior. It featured red piping, 8 button front and single vent rear. The shoulder boards are read with yellow embroidered as is the collar and cuffs. Overall condition is very good.

Approximate Measurements:
Collar to shoulder: 9”
Shoulder to sleeve: 25”
Shoulder to shoulder: 15.5”
Chest width: 18”
Waist width: 15.5”
Hip width: 21”
Front length: 31″

The 1st Grand Ducal Mecklenburg Dragoon Regiment No. 17 mobilized with its squadrons on August 2, 1914. The regiment was then transported to the western theater of war, where the unloading took place east of Aachen. On August 4, the regiment then crossed the Belgian border at Gemmenich as part of the 4th Cavalry Division . All subsequent combat operations were carried out in the formation of the 17th Cavalry Brigade.

Parts of the 4th Cavalry Division had their first enemy contact in the village of Vise , where a gun battle with Belgian gendarmes developed. The Maas bridges in the village had already been destroyed, and the barges had also been made unusable. Therefore an immediate crossing of the Maas was no longer possible.

The main task of the cavalry was the educational procedure. The 2nd and 4th Cavalry Divisions, however, received the further order to reach north around Liège . On August 5th, the reconnaissance squadrons crossed the Meuse near Lixhe , including the 2nd squadron of the Ludwigsluster Dragoons. Subsequently, German pioneers erected further makeshift bridges for the crossing. In this way, the remaining associations could also make the transition.

On August 10th and 11th, there were violent attacks on the Belgian civilian population and their property in the towns of Linsmeau and Velm. The 17th Cavalry Brigade and the 4th Cavalry Division were directly involved.

One of the most dramatic events of the war happened to the Mecklenburg Dragoons at the Battle of Halen on August 12, 1914. After the Battle of Halen, the Ludwigsluster Regiment continued to fight in the association of the 4th Cavalry Division in the Battle of the Marne and in the Battle of the Aisne and Oise. Both Mecklenburg Dragoon regiments remained in the western theater of war until November 1914. The regiment was subsequently transported to the eastern front. There the Mecklenburg Dragoons took part in the fighting of the next war years.

Initially, the regiment took part in the skirmishes during the advance on Warsaw . The Mecklenburg dragoons then took part in the battle for Kowno . The Battle of Vilna followed in September 1915. The battle was the last chance to set the Russian enemy in motion. In November 1915 the front in the east froze in trench warfare. The Mecklenburg dragoons then took up position in front of Dünaburg.

In autumn 1916 the 4th Cavalry Division had to surrender its horses. The regiments of the unit were from now on largely unmounted. This measure was also a consequence of the ongoing trench warfare on the eastern front and the resulting mainly infantry deployment of the squadrons.

The Battle of Riga in September 1917 was the last major military operation in which the regiment took part in the formation of the 17th Cavalry Brigade. In the course of the fighting, the brigade was assigned to the Eastern Group by General der Infanterie v. Subordinate to Kathen .

After the armistice in the eastern theater of war, the regiment was deployed in Livonia and Estonia from February 1918. The 4th Cavalry Division was relocated to the Western Front in April 1918. The Mecklenburg Dragoons remained in the area of ​​the Eastern Front until the end of the war. In the area of the General Command 60 – north of Tartu – was the regiment of 4 March to set up the war. Fighting gangs and performing occupation duties was one of the main tasks of the Mecklenburgers from this point on. On December 18, 1918, the march began from the Dorpat operational area in the direction of Riga. In Tigniz there was a clash with the Estonian troops there on December 22nd. In this dispute, the squadrons of Dragoon Regiment No. 17 stood out. Their steadfastness towards the hostile troops prevented the column from being cut off.  The Dragoons finally arrived in Riga on December 27th. On December 31st, the evacuation began from there. However, the last parts of the regiment did not march back home until January 10, 1919.

Like all German cavalry regiments of the army, the Ludwigsluster suffered numerous losses.