Del Prado Prussian Infantry Lieutenant 1914: An Officer at the War’s Opening

Del Prado · First World War · Germany, 1914

A covered spiked helmet and field-grey clothing place this Del Prado officer at the beginning of the First World War. His hand-on-hip stance makes a composed counterpart to the range’s more active infantry poses.

The opening year

The German army entered the war in 1914 expecting campaigns of movement. Fighting in France and Belgium eventually gave way to an extended trench front, while major operations also took place in the east. A figure dated to that first year belongs before many of the equipment changes now associated with the later war.

The reference identifies a Prussian lieutenant. Prussia formed a major part of imperial Germany, but the two terms are not simply interchangeable in every regimental context. Keeping the Prussian identification preserves the specificity available without inventing a regiment.

An officer’s standing pose

The photograph shows grey-green clothing, a cloth-covered helmet with a projecting spike and equipment at the waist. One hand rests on the hip; the other sits near a long slender object descending beside the leg. The figure stands on a rectangular brown base.

The helmet cover is a particularly useful visual marker. It changes the outline and surface of the familiar spiked helmet, so a smooth-looking finish is not necessarily missing metallic detail. Compare the complete head shape with the reference before judging the paint.

Checking a loose officer

Inspect the helmet spike, the object beside the leg and the hand at the hip. The gaps between arm and torso should be visible in a side photograph. Check the boots and base corners for handling damage, especially if the seller has photographed the figure in a crowded lot.

A French corporal dated 1914–15 makes a useful comparison in the changing appearance of infantry. Leave their bases parallel but give the figures enough separation for their equipment to remain visible. The pairing introduces the opening war without suggesting that the two anonymous models reproduce a specific encounter.

An inventory image of the helmet is especially worthwhile. Photograph the spike in profile against a plain background, then include the front of the cover in a second view. These angles make later condition comparisons possible and help separate a genuine difference in sculpt from a misleading shadow in another seller’s photograph.

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