German telephone cable reel remains well cleaned relic used by soldiers of the Marine Infantry Brigade recovered in 2016 from ,Regina Trench near the village of Courcelette on the Somme battlefield of October 1916

This is a German telephone cable reel remains still with its brass center handle still in place the reel is not complete but still a very rare find from the battlefield.The reel is very rusty but still in solid condition with some rust holes and damage it has been very well cleaned and is not braking up or falling apart which is perfect for display but still a rare one for the collection. The  reel which would have been used by German soldiers of the Marine Infantry Brigade it was recovered in 2016 from Regina trench defensive position near the village of Courcelette the October 1916 battlefield on the Somme. This is a nice condition relic with well known history recovered 7 years ago on the famous Somme battlefield of late summer 1916.The item comes with a A5 laminated information card with pictures. 

In late September, the Marine Infantry Brigade, comprising the 1st and 2nd Marine-Brigaden from the 1st Marine-Division and the 3rd Marine-Brigade from the 2nd Marine-Division, with an infantry complement equivalent to an army division. The marines were well-trained and rested troops of excellent quality and were transferred moved from the Belgian coast to the Somme. The move was as part of a general relief of the divisions opposite the British. On 30 September, the Marine-Brigaden moved up through Baum Mulde (Boom Ravine) and relieved the 8th Division on the right of the 4th Ersatz Division.

Regina Trench (Staufen Riegel) was a German Trench dug along the north-facing slope of a ridge running from north-west of the village of Le Sars south-westwards to Stuff Redoubt (Staufenfeste), close to the German fortifications at Thiepval on the Somme battlefield. It was the longest such trench on the German front during the First world war. Attacked several times by the Canadian Corps during the Battle of the Ancre Heights, the 5th Canadian corps briefly controlled a section of the trench on 1 October but was repulsed by counter-attacks of the German Marine Brigade (equivalent to an army division), which had been brought from the Belgian coast. An attack on 8 October, by the 1st Canadian Division and the 3rd Canadian Division on Regina Trench also failed. On 21 October, the 4th Canadian Division attacked the western portion of Regina Trench, as the 18th Division, 25th Division and the 39th Division of II Corps, attacked the part further west (known as Stuff Trench to the British). The Canadians met little opposition and gained the objective, as the II Corps divisions captured Stuff Trench in thirty minutes, giving the British control of the Thiepval Ridge. Three counter-attacks were repulsed by the Canadians and by 22 October, more than a thousand Germans had been taken prisoner. The east end of the trench was captured by the 4th Canadian Division during the night of 10/11 November.
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