Original Item: Only One Available. This is a particularly attractive Imperial German WWI “1914 Kriegs-Chronik 1918” commemorative service record personalized to Landsturmmann Leo Stößer, whose wartime service is recorded with the 11th Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment, the 2nd Bavarian Foot Artillery Regiment, and finally Bavarian Artillery Park Company No. 4. His handwritten service summary records duty around Metz and Lorraine, service on the Italian Front, and his eventual demobilization on November 30, 1918.

This is not an official military award certificate, but rather a commercially produced veterans' Gedenkblatt, or commemorative service print, intended to be individually completed with a veteran's name and wartime history. A virtually identical example preserved by the Museum Oberschönenfeld and cataloged through bavarikon is dated 1918 and identifies the design as the work of Munich military artist Anton Hoffmann (1863–1938), published by National-Verlag Michael Ederer and printed by Dr. Köhler & Co. in Munich. The museum likewise identifies the technique as color lithography with handwritten personalization.

The elaborate color lithograph surrounds Stößer's service record with an Imperial eagle, flags, laurel foliage, soldiers, cavalry, artillery, a machine gun, submarine and warship imagery. The monuments visible in the background are identified on the cataloged museum example as the Hermannsdenkmal and Niederwalddenkmal, reinforcing the deliberately national and commemorative character of the design.

The lower corners retain the printed publisher and artist identifications:

NATIONAL-VERLAG
MICHAEL EDERER
MÜNCHEN, AUGUSTENSTR. 75

and:

ANTON HOFFMANN MÜNCHEN

It remains displayed in an old stained wooden frame with its hanging loop still present.

The commemorative print remains highly presentable, with strong surviving color and a clearly legible handwritten service history. The paper exhibits expected toning together with scattered staining and several noticeable old moisture tide marks, particularly across the lower margin and lower right portion. Minor spotting and surface discoloration are also present. The wooden frame shows scratches, dark staining, handling marks, and general age wear, but remains solid and gives the piece an appealing period appearance. The print is displayed behind glass and has not been removed for examination, so the concealed edges and reverse have not been inspected.

The principal printed motto across the top reads:

Verklungen ist der Waffen Lied, versunken die alte Zeit,

with the continuation along the bottom:

In neue Bahn die Jugend tritt, zu brechen der Väter Leid.

Approximately: “The song of arms has died away, the old age has passed;
youth steps onto a new path, to put an end to the suffering of the fathers.”

The central heading reads:

1914 Kriegs-Chronik 1918

Or: “1914 War Chronicle 1918”

The recipient is named:

Leo Stößer

Landsturmmann in der Bayr. Art. Park-Kompagnie Nr. 4

Or: “Landsturm soldier in Bavarian Artillery Park Company No. 4.”

The handwritten service history is divided around the central Iron Cross illustration. Read continuously, while retaining the document's original abbreviations, it appears to read:

Er rückte am 9. Dez. 1915 zum 11. Feldart. Regt. 2. Ers. Batt. ein u. zog am 4.9.1916 an die Front zur Park-Komp. 2. bayr. Fußartill. Regt. ehrenvollen Anteil nehmend am Weltkriege. Im West. 1916/17 in der Südstellg. v. Metz, in Lothringen u. an d. italienisch. Front. Ferner bei der Bayr. Art. Parkkomp. Nr. 4 ab 7. März 1918 bis Ende des Weltkrieges. Nach treuester Pflichterfüllung im Heere wurde er am 30. November 1918 in seinen Heimatsort infolge Demobilmachung entlassen.

“He entered service on December 9, 1915, with the 2nd Replacement Battery of the 11th Field Artillery Regiment, and on September 4, 1916 went to the front with the Park Company of the 2nd Bavarian Foot Artillery Regiment, taking an honorable part in the World War. In the West during 1916/17, in the southern position of Metz, in Lorraine, and on the Italian Front. Furthermore, he served with Bavarian Artillery Park Company No. 4 from March 7, 1918 until the end of the World War. After the most faithful fulfillment of his duties in the Army, he was discharged to his home town on November 30, 1918 as a result of demobilization.”

The printed inscription immediately beneath the service history reads:

Zum steten Gedenken für alle Zeiten.

Or: “As a lasting remembrance for all time.”

This particular form is an excellent example of the commemorative material produced in Germany at the conclusion of the First World War. Rather than simply recording an award or administrative action, these Kriegs-Chronik sheets were intended to summarize an individual veteran's complete wartime experience in a form suitable for display in the family home. The directly comparable example preserved by Museum Oberschönenfeld is specifically classified as a Gedenkblatt, or memorial sheet, and as an artifact of military remembrance and veterans' culture.

The artist, Anton Hoffmann, was especially well suited to this type of work. Born in 1863 and later based in Munich, Hoffmann had personal military experience before studying art and became known particularly for historical and military subjects. He also worked extensively as an illustrator for magazines, books, school publications, and youth literature.

Stößer's handwritten chronology is particularly interesting because it documents several changes of artillery assignment. His first recorded unit was the 2nd Replacement Battery of the 11th Field Artillery Regiment. Contemporary Bavarian military references place the 11th Feldartillerie-Regiment at Würzburg. The document then records his transfer to the Park-Kompanie of the 2nd Bavarian Foot Artillery Regiment, a unit strongly associated with the fortress region around Metz. Period Bavarian Army listings place the staff and I and III Battalions of the 2nd Foot Artillery Regiment at Metz, with its II Battalion at Germersheim. This makes the document's subsequent reference to the “Südstellung v. Metz”, or southern defensive position of Metz, entirely consistent with the regiment's established geographic connection.

The distinction between field artillery and foot artillery is important. German Feldartillerie consisted of the more mobile artillery intended to accompany field formations, while Fußartillerie encompassed the heavier artillery associated historically with fortress warfare and, during WWI, increasingly with heavy guns and howitzers employed in siege and positional warfare. Period organizational descriptions show that foot-artillery formations included Parkkompagnien alongside their firing batteries. These companies formed part of the supporting organization needed to keep heavy artillery formations supplied with equipment, transport, replacement matériel, and the considerable logistical resources demanded by large guns.

The rank or status Landsturmmann also places Stößer within Germany's wartime reserve manpower system. The Landsturm represented the broadest layer of the Imperial German military obligation and could include both older men and other men liable for military service who were not serving in the active army or ordinary reserve categories. Contemporary regulations divided the Landsturm into two levies and extended military liability through the completion of the forty-fifth year of age. The designation alone therefore does not establish Stößer's precise age, and no age should be assigned to him without his military personnel record.

His chronicle next places him “in the West 1916/17”, specifically in the southern defenses of Metz and Lorraine, followed by service “an d. italienisch. Front”, or on the Italian Front. This is an especially interesting entry. German military involvement in Italy expanded dramatically in 1917, when the German 14th Army under Otto von Below was organized for operations alongside Austro-Hungarian forces. The Bundesarchiv records Below assuming command of the 14th Army on September 9, 1917 and specifically documents his presence on the Italian Front that year. The present certificate, however, does not name a particular battle or offensive, so it would be speculative to identify Stößer specifically with Caporetto or any other engagement solely from this document.

On March 7, 1918, Stößer was transferred again, this time to the formation prominently recorded beneath his name, Bayerische Artillerie-Parkkompagnie Nr. 4. He remained with that company through the end of the war. The final sentence is particularly evocative, recording that after fulfilling his military duty he was released to his home locality on November 30, 1918, less than three weeks after the November 11 Armistice, as part of the enormous demobilization of the Imperial German forces.