German Colonial WW1 Artillery shell casing and fragment
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Product details
German 7,7cm Feldkanone C96 brass shell casing and shell fragment (base) of an exploded shell. These guns were upgraded in Europe to the C96 n/A model before WW1, but the ones in the colonies, specifically German South West Africa, were still of the older pattern, firing the shorter casing. The casing is marked PATRONEFABRIK KARLSRUHE and was made in July 1897 the year after these guns were taken into service in the German Army. Both the base and shell carry German Imperial inspection/proof markings. There is a very good chance that this shell was fired at the South African Union Defence Force during its invasion of German South West Africa in 1914-15.
A number of these 7,7cm "Krupp" C96 guns were also given by the Germans to the Boer Rebels in 1914. Similar shell fragments were picked up at Nous where the Boer Rebels under Kemp and Maritz, armed with German rifles and artillery, routed a Union Force on 22 December 1914.
An original gun from the campaign can today be seen at the Military Museum in Saxonwold, Johannesburg.