Bundeswehr Fallschirmjager on parade

[usmedalman]

Found this photo or Fallschirmjäger of the 26th Air Assault Batallion "Saarland" marching on the Avenue des Champs-Élysées in Paris during the 2007 Bastille Day Military Parade.

I found the picture informative because of the differences in the accoutermants the various soldiers are wearing -- some with ribbons, some without; some with marksmanship cords, some without... etc.

I don't know the nationalities of the two units behind them, but the chaps on the right look like members of a High School drill team with their chrome plated AKs.

[SirHarry1]

The soldiers on the left side behind the paratroopers are from the Austrian Garde-Bataillon (Guards Bn) in Vienna. To my knowledge the only Austrian unit where the officers wear breeches and swords.

As to whether the German soldiers wear ribbons etc. or not: Its the individual decision of each soldier what to put on his dress uniform. I am a reservist and was on active duty for a while this and last year and all my LTC wears on his tunic is his name plate and the unit patch and breast hanger.

Merry christmas

Harry

[Marc Sherriff]

The BW soldiers are from 26 LL Brigade, not Battalion.

Marc

[Gene T]

I don't know the nationalities of the two units behind them, but the chaps on the right look like members of a High School drill team with their chrome plated AKs.

The "High School drill team" with the chromed AKs are the Bulgarian National Guards. Their decidedly imperial traditions date back to the 19th Century, and the unit somehow managed to survive five decades of Communism without having to make any significant changes to their appearance! Perhaps the Communists also thought that they looked like a high school drill team, and tolerated their continued existence as a form of harmless, apolitical indulgence in national folklore...


Gene T

[usmedalman]

The "High School drill team" with the chromed AKs are the Bulgarian National Guards. Their decidedly imperial traditions date back to the 19th Century, and the unit somehow managed to survive five decades of Communism without having to make any significant changes to their appearance! Perhaps the Communists also thought that they looked like a high school drill team, and tolerated their continued existence as a form of harmless, apolitical indulgence in national folklore...


Gene T

Interesting that such a ceremonial unit would carry chrome plated AK-47s rather than either their modern issue weapon or ones that would fit the period of their uniforms.

[hoover]

The Germans and the Bulgarians wearing their arms in French fashoin.

In my unit I am serving as a reservist (Landeskommando) no ribbons are worn on the tunic. I don´t know why, but all are following that rule.

[Viktor]

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