Entrenching tool : German Army

Places
Accession Number REL33714
Collection type Heraldry
Object type Personal Equipment
Physical description Steel, Wood
Maker Unknown
Place made Germany
Date made c 1914-1918
Conflict First World War, 1914-1918
Description

Imperial German Army entrenching tool. The spade-like tool has a fixed wooden handle ending in a ball finial, and a square tipped steel blade.

History / Summary

This entrenching tool is thought to have been brought to Australia as a souvenir by Brigadier Sydney Charles Edgar Herring AIF, who served throughout the First World War, temporarily commanding 13 Battalion before becoming the the first CO of its daughter unit, 45 Battalion. In 1918 he was promoted to command 13 Infantry Brigade, before returning to Australia in May 1919. Herring stood unsuccessfully as a Nationalist candidate for the Senate in 1924, and served again in Australian Military Forces during the Second World War. He died at his Killara home in 1951.