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This is a posed studio
photograph probably taken shortly before the First World War. It shows
Seesoldat Johann Jacob Heckenbücker of the III. Seebatallion.
He wears the
Seebatallion Dark Blue Home Uniform
(see right) with collar, cuffs and piping in white with yellow Litzen
on the collar and cuffs. The insignia on the shoulder straps is also
yellow and shows an imperial crown above two crossed anchors above the
battalion numeral III. The tunic has plain domed brass buttons on the
front, cuffs and rear skirts and smaller brass buttons with the
company number holding the shoulder straps. His trousers are matching dark blue with white
piping.
Notice the curious way in which old
orthochromatic film shows yellow (on the Litzen and shoulder strap
insignia) as a very dark colour, much
darker than natural. This was caused by the inferior
photographic techniques of the time. See the
Pickelhaubes Forum for more information on orthochromatic film.
The shako of the Seebatallione was of the
design as for the army's light infantry, the "Jäger". It was of black leather,
with front and rear peaks. The Seebatallione wore a brass imperial
eagle superimposed over a naval anchor on the front with an oval
imperial cockade at the top (see right). On parade a black horsehair
plume was worn above the cockade. Note also the brass
chinscales worn across the helmets' front peak.
He wears a polished black
leather belt with an other ranks naval belt buckle (brass with a white
metal centre bearing the imperial crown inside a wreathed motto "Gott
mit uns" - see
Belt Buckle Details Page). From the left side of the
belt is hung a bayonet, although the exact model cannot be clearly
seen. His all white bayonet knot identifies him as belonging
to the 1. Kompanie, within the III. Seebatallion.
He carries a pair of white
gloves in his left hand. This curious addition is commonly seen in
posed photographs of the period. It is believed the practice was
started by the Kaiser Wilhelm II to make his noticeably smaller left
arm appear longer. It then became the fashion amongst the German armed
forces to carry a pair of gloves in one's left hand.
Johann Jacob
Heckenbücker (22/07/1893 - 19/1/1942) was born in Crefeld in the
Prussian Rhineland. In August 1914 he joined the 1. Kompanie of the
III. Seebatallion in Tsingtao and took part in the defence of the city
against the Japanese siege. After the fall of Tsingtao he spent the
rest of the war in the Kurume Prisoner of War camp in Japan. Upon
being released in 1919 he, along with several hundred former
Seesoldaten, travelled to the Dutch East Indies and enlisted in their
colonial police force. Here he married and had children while being
promoted in 1922 to Hauptpolizist and in 1940 to Polizeibeamter. When
Germany invaded the Netherlands in 1940, all Germans in the Dutch East
Indies were interned and shipped to British India. En route,
Heckenbücker's ship, the Van Imhoff was sunk by a Japanese aircraft
due West of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean. While some of the ship's crew
escaped on lifeboats, Heckenbücker along with hundreds of other
prisoners went down with the ship.
Recommended External Links
-
German Veterans in Dutch East Indies Service at the
Axis History
Forum
Sinking of the Van Imhoff at
German Wikipedia
Please respect the
generosity of Jacob Heckenbücker's grandson and great-grandson, Freddy
Rudolf and Zylgwyn Heckenbücker, respectively in sharing this
photograph with us by not reproducing it without prior permission.
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