A survivor of the Great War

Somehow surviving some of the fiercest fighting on the Western Front without taking a bullet for its owner is this German cigarette case. The inscription reads “Weihnachten 1917 i/felde II/ J R 16” (Christmas in the field, 1917, 2nd company infantry regiment 16). The 16th Bavarian regiment numbered among its soldiers none other than Corporal Adolf Hitler. While serving with the regiment he won the Iron Cross first class. Although there is no name on the case, Hitler was a committed smoker during these years….

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