This shoulder board of a Prussian lieutenant from Infantry Regiment No. 190 represents an authentic artifact of German military history from World War I. This single field-gray epaulette dates from around 1917/18 and embodies the material culture of an army engaged in total war.
Infantry Regiment No. 190 was established in mid-1915 by the VII Army Corps, whose home garrisons were located in the Prussian province of Westphalia, with the corps headquarters in Münster. The formation of additional regiments with higher numbers occurred as part of the massive army expansion that the German Empire undertook after the beginning of trench warfare and the high casualties of the first months of war. These new formations were necessary to hold the extended fronts in the East and West and to compensate for the personnel losses suffered.
Shoulder boards (also called shoulder straps or epaulettes) served in the Prussian and German army as essential identification marks for regiment, branch of service, and rank. Since the uniform reform of 1842, they had been an integral part of the Prussian military uniform. The present execution in field gray corresponds to the new field uniform introduced from 1907/1910, which replaced the traditional Prussian blue and was intended to provide better camouflage on the modern battlefield.
For a lieutenant as the lowest officer rank, the shoulder board was characteristically designed: The field-gray base color corresponded to the branch color of the infantry, which no longer featured colored distinctions after the introduction of the field-gray uniform. The regimental number “190” was typically embroidered or sewn on in Arabic numerals. The officer rank was indicated by the execution in metal or with metallic elements as well as by the characteristic loop at the lower end. This loop originally served to attach the epaulette to the button on the uniform.
The temporal classification around 1917/18 is of particular significance. During this late war phase, the material situation of the German Empire was increasingly strained. The Allied blockade led to considerable raw material shortages, which were also reflected in military equipment. While earlier shoulder boards were often more elaborately crafted, late-war versions frequently show simplified production and material substitution. Genuine metal borders were sometimes replaced by embroidered imitations, and high-quality linings were omitted.
The preservation as a single piece is typical for militaria collections. Shoulder boards were worn in pairs—one on each shoulder—but due to war damage, deterioration, or separate collector provenances, often only individual specimens remain today. The stated condition 2 indicates, according to common collector nomenclature, a well-preserved condition with minor signs of use.
The VII Army Corps, to which the regiment was assigned, had a long tradition in the Prussian army. The regiments newly established during the war, such as IR 190, were formed from replacement battalions, recruits, and recovered wounded. They fought on various front sectors and bore the burden of trench warfare with its material and human hardships.
For collectors and military historians, such shoulder boards are important sources. They document not only the uniform regulations and their practical implementation, but also the social structure of the Imperial Army. The officer corps, to which the wearer of this shoulder board belonged, was a social elite with special privileges and duties. A lieutenant stood at the beginning of his officer career and typically commanded an infantry platoon of about 50 to 60 men.
The provenance of such objects is diverse: Some were kept by the wearers after the war, others came into current collections through inheritances, dissolutions of military collections, or through the antiques trade. Each piece silently bears witness to individual destinies and the grand history of World War I, which marked the end of the Prussian-German monarchy and its military traditions.
