SHOWCASE 12. CELL 12-11
German
Field Telephones of WW I
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iTD2 (Eiserner
Armeefernsprecher) - "Iron" Army Field
Telephone, early model 1913 with phonetic signaling.
Rectangular telephone body made of iron and covered with
black leather. Talk key on the side. Earpiece with rubber
cushion. Made by Siemens & Halske. The telephone is
sitting on top of its Additional Box (Zusatzkasten zum
Armeefernsprecher). To
be continued after the picture set...
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During
WW I the German Imperial Army used two principally different
lines of field telephones for its infantry units. A fairly heavy Feldfernsprecher
or "Field Telephones" were in use by signalers in the 2nd
and 3rd line positions or at headquarters while each infantry
regiment in the front line was equipped by several more lightweight Armeefernsprechgerät
or "Army Field Telephones". The
Army Field Telephones originated in 1899 when the first
communications units (Telegrafen-Bataillons) of German Imperial Army
were raised. The first model of the Army Field Telephone was of
Siemens design of 1894 and was called "Patrouillenapparat".
Next the 1905 model has arrived which looked very much like the
Patrouillenapparat. In 1913, "Iron" Army Field Telephone (Eiserner
Armeefernsprecher) has come into production. The
talk key of "Eiserner Armeefernsprecher" is located on its
right side and needs to be rotated 90 degrees before talking. The
white Calling Button (Summerknopf) is on the front side of the
rectangular telephone body while black key (incoming signal strength
increase) remained on the left side where it
used to be in the 1905 model, the "Armeefernsprechgerät
alter Art". We
have another sample of Eiserner Armeefernsprecher in our
Showcase No. 7L.
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