Memorial Fallen Soldiers Second Nassau Infantry Regiment 88

This memorial stands in a small park at the end of Kleine Windmühlenstraße beside the moat of the Mainz Citadel.

A square read sandstone plinth topped with an oak wreath and a large M1916/1917 WW1 steel helmet. The monument is a replacement of an earlier version that had a bronze statue of a soldier standing on the top and the inscription was carried on a bronze plaque. The regiment had been based in Mainz from 1871 until it’s dissolution in 1919, though after WW1 ended the regiment was forbidden from returning to Mainz and the regiment was officially disbanded after it had only reached Aachen.

The inscription reads: "1808 K 1919 In memory of the 2nd Nassau Infantry Regiment 88 and its soldiers killed in the 1914/18 campaign. In the ranks of the dead heroes of the regiment are 127 officers, 3934 noncommissioned officers and men." No names or details are recorded on the monument (the regiment had served at Verdun and during the Battle of the Somme). A crown is carved above the text and along with the K (for König) referred to King Constantine I of Greece who had been appointed Regimental commander in 1913.

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Source

• Text: Andy Pegler
• Photos: Andy Pegler