Imperial German Reservist’s Stein of Reservist Brudy, 3rd Prussian Machine Gun Detachment.

Imperial German Reservist’s Stein of Reservist Brudy, 3rd Prussian Machine Gun Detachment. (Maschinen Gewehr Abteilungen) Brudy served in this elite unit 1908-1910. The 3rd Machine Gun Detachment was garrisoned in Strassburg, a city in Alsace-Lorraine on the west bank of the Rhine. The city was annexed by Imperial Germany at the close of the Franco-Prussian War, and was reclaimed by France after Germany’s defeat in WWI.
Brudy’s unit was equipped with the newly developed Maschinengewehr 08 (MG 08), which was the German Army's standard machine gun in World War I and is an adaption of Hiram S. Maxim's original 1884 Maxim gun. It was produced in a number of variants during the war. It could reach a firing rate of up to 400 rounds per minute using 250-round fabric belts of 7.92x57mm ammunition. The introduction of this weapon changed the way wars were fought.
On the upper rim of the stein in German is "Sustained Fire is our Salute". Maschinen Gewehr Abteilungen had several Fahrer (drivers) for the horse-drawn carriages required to transport the guns and ammunition, as depicted in the stein’s central panel. The troops wear the unique grey-green uniforms and tshakos used by these and other schutzen formations. The upper right panel shows a carriage mounted gun being sighted in by the officer of the detachment, and Fahrers at rest in the lower pane. The left side of the body of the stein shows gunners at practice with their sledge-mounted MG-08's in the upper scene, with the lower pane illustrating the troops at rest around a campfire at the end of the day. The pewter lid is crowned with a representation of the MG-08 with sledge mount, which is slightly tilted to the viewer’s right as a result of an old “bump”. The roster surrounding the handle on either side of the stein shows some wear demonstrating that the vessel was used quite often. The thumblift is the Prussian Eagle with outspread wings. Steins of machine gun units are rare.