An Imperial Bavarian Gendarmerie Uniform

[SCHUPO]

Gents,

It is a bit slow this holiday weekend so I thought I would follow up on my post on Bavarian Landespolizei uniforms with an example of the Imperial Bavarian Gendarmerie uniform. This is a circa 1898 Bayern Gendarmerie Wachtmeister Uniform. This dark green uniform was worn by a Gendarmerie Sergeant of the Royal Bavarian Rural Police during the period of time that the Kingdom of Bavaria existed prior to the end of WWI. The rural Gendarmerie remained largely unchanged at the end of WWI and these uniforms continued in wear until circa 1936. The German Gendarmerie were considered to be a part of the military establishment but as policemen their personnel did not have to be counted in the 100,000 man Reichswehr. Their weapons did have to be counted and reported to the Allied Control Commission however.

I also have a peaked cap for this uniform.

 

[ccj]

That’s a very attractive tunic and not too common to boot.

 

[SCHUPO]

Thank you for the kudos and interest. Here is the cap.

The peaked cap would have also changed over time and would have originally been worn without a chin strap prior to the end of the war but could have a leather chin strap added later. There is evidence there was once a chin strap attached to this particular cap. If you will look closely at this cap you will also see another set of holes on either side of the Bavarian cockade. That is because this cap continued to be worn until the police were nationalized and given new uniforms after 1936. So, this cap, at one time, had a Police Model 1934 eagle and swastika within a wreath of laurel replace the white/blue Bavarian cockade. I restored this cap to its original condition, to better match the uniform time period, by replacing that NS insignia with an original Bavarian cockade placed through the original holes. Either configuration would be correct as both sets of insignia have been on this particular cap.

Notice this Gendarmerie cap was made in Deggendorf which is a Bavarian city near the black forest.

 

[SCHUPO]

One last item for this Gendarmerie collection gents,

Here is a 9mm Single Action / Double Action German Police revolver that I have been after for some time and recently acquired. These revolvers are pictured and described in the Horst Friedrich book, "Dienstwaffen der deutschen Polizei und Gendarmerie, Historie, Technik, Kennzeichnung" in Chapter 9. My recently acquired example is identical to the Bavarian Gendarmerie examples shown in his book on pp. 214-216. Friedrich states these revolvers were still in some Bavarian Police stores as late as during the Weimar Republic.

This six shot "Modell 1892 Bavarian Gendarmerie-Revolver" has a case hardened, and blued, frame with the octagon shaped barrel, un-fluted cylinder, and trigger guard blued. The hammer and trigger are polished bright. The brown wood grips are finely checkered and the butt plate has a lanyard ring as is normal for these police revolvers. There is no safety mechanism or lever on the left side of the frame. This revolver has German proof marks only and has no maker marks as mentioned by Friedrich in his book. The brown leather revolver holster can fit a S&W M&P or this pistol. There is a pouch under the front flap that allows for carrying extra ammunition.

I like these turn of the century revolvers and semi-automatic pistols because they show a lot of firearm innovation as well as very fine machine work. The checkering on revolver parts such as the loading gate, ramrod, and grips are good examples along with close fitment of well machined metal and wood parts.