Imperial German Army Uhlan steel lance

Constructed from steel, the lance has a four edged point of forged steel forming one piece with the shaft, which is of cast steel and hollow.

This relic is an example of an Imperial German Army Uhlan's steel lance as issued to German cavalry units at the beginning of the First World War in 1914. Uhlan Regiments are traditionally horse mounted light cavalry armed with lances, sabres and pistols. A total of 26 Uhlan regiments formed a key part of the pre-war Imperial German Army. With the outbreak of the First World War and the dominance of the machine gun and artillery their mounted role became very restricted on the Western Front. On the Eastern Front against the Imperial Czarist Russians there was greater freedom of movement for them to operate in their traditional role. At the end of the war all of the German Uhlan regiments were disbanded.

Several Australian born members of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) fought these German Uhlan regiments in northern France and the flanders the first months of the then still mobile First World War.

• Non-Comissioned Officer's swallow-tailed pennant for steel lance : 6th (Brandenburg) Cuirassiers 'Emperor Nicholas I of Russia'