Prussia Garde Regiment uniform?

D

desny

New member
Hi all,
I am trying to kill two birds with one stone:
- check if I succeed in posting a picture on this site;
- ask if the resident experts could tell me the regiment and rank of this handsome soldier.
I visited several uniform sites, including Kaiser's bunker which was quite helpful. What I found out by myself:
- the Pickelhaube Wappen shows (I guess) an Eagle with Star
- the chinstrap looks like metal to me, not leather
- round base for the spike, not cruciform
- round visor
- the Litzen are separated and go up the sleeves
- white belt and "round in square" buckle
Unfortunately, nothing at all is written on the back of this picture.
This uniform looks very similar to a Garde picture on Kaiser's bunker site.

I would like to confirm if this picture represents the person I think. The family legend for this person tells that he was born in 1875 or 1877 and at its conscription (in 1895 or 1897) was spotted because he was tall. He was sent to Berlin and assigned to the Garde Regiment of a member of the imperial family. He might have signed a longer engagement than the compulsory military duty.

Could you please help me sorting out facts and family legend and confirm if this uniform could fit the story. Thank you for any hint.

Roland
5491543010
 
Posting the picture obviously did not work. Yet the flickr URL address is appended in my message. Using that address gets you to my picture. What did I do wrong? Thank you for your help.

Roland
 
Roland,

Getting the pictures from Flickr is relatively easy but not as straightforward as one might think. First go to the photo page. Then go to the tab that says share this. Go down to where it says BB code.

Copy the code–the BB code not the HTML code.

Paste the entire code into this box–no tags–no nothing just the code. Hit preview and you should have a picture. We will stay with you until we solve this! Many of us use Flickr.

We do a lot of ancestry type questions from pictures. Yes indeed a tall person was most likely to be selected for the guard. More to follow when we see the picture.
 
Here you go. You have to use one of the photos under 'actions' then "view all sizes" and pick one. That is the photo you can link to.

At any rate, he is a Pte. You will have to decide if his buttons and helmet eagle Wappen are silver or brass, and then look at the Garde-Grenadier-Regt regiments with Brandenberg cuffs. HERE. Pick one. Could be any one of them, or 5 Garde-Regt. zu Fuß.

5491543010_5176875ebe_b.jpg
 
Thank you for your prompt reply. I give it another shot with another photo. Both soldiers seem to have had the same haircut or barber! Is there a way to date these pictures, based on their uniforms?

If I understood properly, and looking at Tony's chart, if it is Brandenburg cuffs, it has to be the 5. Garde Regt, all the other Regiments (1, 2, 3 and 4) having swedish cuffs. What puzzles me is that the same chart says that the 5. Garde Regt. had white shoulder straps which is definitely not the case on my first picture. Could it be possible anyway that with these dark straps, he served in the 5. Garde Regt? As the pictures were taken at a Berlin photographer's, they could have been stationed anywhere between Berlin, Spandau or Potsdam.

Kind regards

023-2 by desny12, on Flickr
Roland
 
desny said:
If I understood properly, and looking at Tony's chart, if it is Brandenburg cuffs, it has to be the 5. Garde Regt, all the other Regiments (1, 2, 3 and 4) having swedish cuffs. What puzzles me is that the same chart says that the 5. Garde Regt. had white shoulder straps which is definitely not the case on my first picture.

Roland
Click to expand...

Roland, there are a couple of other possibilities. Yellow usually appears very dark, sometimes almost black on these old photos. He might be from Kaiser Franz Garde-Grenadier-Regt. Nr.2, which had red shoulder straps with a yellow cypher on it. The red would appear pretty dark and the yellow would too. He could also be from Königin Elisabeth Garde-Grenadier-Regt. Nr.3 whcih had yellow shoulder straps which might appear dark in the photo.
 
All the pieces seem to fall into place. I also found out that you had to be taller than 1.78m (5 foot 10") and that the Garde Regiments would recruit in all prussian provinces and Alsace-Lorraine, where the 2 gentlemen in the above pictures come from.

I have one last question for today: I have 4 more photos of men in uniform from the same period and with the same questions: which regiment and which rank. Is it right to post them in Pickelhaubes and, if so, in this forum?

Again, thank you. I leapt forward in my research with your help.

Roland
 
desny said:
//If I understood properly, and looking at Tony's chart, if it is Brandenburg cuffs, it has to be the 5. Garde Regt, all the other Regiments (1, 2, 3 and 4) having swedish cuffs. What puzzles me is that the same chart says that the 5. Garde Regt. had white shoulder straps which is definitely not the case on my first picture.
Click to expand...

Sorry, never even noticed the strap. As Mike said, he is Garde Grenadier, not 5 Garde-Regt. zu Fuß.
 
Hi,

I feel I have now the confirmation I was looking for. The family legend had retained that this gentleman (first picture) was a member of the personal Garde Rgt. of a princess, daughter or sister of the Emperor, but nobody could remember the name of that princess. Sophie of Greece (a sister of Wilhelm II) being the chief of Königin Elisabeth Garde-Grenadier-Regt. Nr.3 at that time, we close the loop. The picture of my grand uncle has just been called out of anonymity thanks to your help.

Kind regards

Roland
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top