This two-volume set provides the reader with an insight into the wide range of uniforms, weapons and field equipment used by the Imperial German Army during the First World War. The devastating and dramatic character of the war required many innovations in military clothing and equipment. New uniforms and adequate protection was a must, and steel helmets appeared on the battlefield, replacing the outdated spiked helmets. Even medieval-looking items, like steel breastplates and trench clubs, were produced, giving the soldiers a fearful appearance. The threat of poison gas caused the immediate development of gas masks. It was also the time of the tank, observation balloons, mine warfare, the Zeppelin, airplanes, flame-throwers, deadly machine guns, and other war machinery that saw service, sometimes for the first time. Using over 1,000 color and period photographs from private collections and museums, the author succeeds in showing a broad range of artifacts, together with full and to the point descriptions. This series is aimed towards the novice or advanced German World War I collector and enthusiast, military history student, modeller, researcher and re-enactor.Volume One covers: Field Equipment, Optical Instruments, Body Armor, Mine and Chemical Warfare, Communications Equipment, Weapons, Cloth Headgear. 500 colour eb/w photographs
