Strange thing or is my sight growing down ?

[olivyaya]

Here is an interesting picture, at least I would say so ...
Can anyone notice the same as I did ????

[Tribley]

NCO collar tress?

[olivyaya]

Yep... no collar tresse although the 1st guy is wearing NCO boards...
The one at back has both : collar tresse and NCO boards...
Strange, isn't it ?

[Tribley]

What is the correct direction of wearing the belt? With most of the photos I have seen with this type of belt the two prongs are facing right.

[Garulfo]

I'm not sure the first guy is wearing NCO boards. The picture is blury and IMO it's just an illusion.

[Mike G.]

The Shoulder Board is Unteroffizier - very normal for Wachregiment Friedrich Engels. The NCO uniform is not.

Something else I noticed that gives a clue to what is going on are the resin parade helmets being worn. They are of the very last type - indicating this is very late 80s, perhaps even 1990. If my suspicions are correct, then this photo depicts the Wachregiment Friedrich Engels when they were at their lowest - morale and other problems had set in, and they were not up to their best. This may explain the discrepancy in the uniform (NCO mixed with the officer Tunic). The Officer Tunic worn with Unteroffizier shoulder boards was pretty much standard for the soldiers actually posted to stand guard at the Neue Wache.

NOTE: Most of the members of the Wachregiment Friedrich Engels were in fact NCOs (Unterfeldwebel or Feldwebel). Those that did not actually stand guard at the Neue Wache did in fact wear their actual rank when performing other ceremonial duties.

Regarding the belt. On my visits to East Berlin, I always made it a point to visit the Neue Wache. It was not uncommon to see one gaurd with his belt put on one way, and the other with the belt put on the other way. Why this was not corrected during guard mount inspection I don't know. Just the same, I always thought these guys looked pretty neat.

[DaveM]

blurry pic... my vote soldat boards

... I agree with Garufo...

soldat boards on the first guy

I think it is too poor a quality pic to make assumptions on.

I have a picture with 7 Wach Reg FE standing in a row...
the first 2 are NCOs the next 5 are soldaten

[U873]

sbs

Nope those are NCO shoulder boards.

Is that red lip stick he is wearing?

[DaveM]

experiment with paint program

Three red dots of equal size placed on the collar piping, cuff piping and the shoulder board pipng/tresse?....

I would venture the boards are only piped white (soldat) with no tresse as the white/silver area should be significantly larger behind the red dot on the sboards in the case of unteroffizier boards

Judge for yourself, but I believe these are soldat boards and are correct to the tunic

[Rob Brown]

The first guy looks as if he has just had a hit of Krak Cocaine!!

was there a reason why they wore plastic parade helmets? I find the steel helmet is light enough to wear on my bonce.

[Mike G.]

I. Plastic Helmet

Rob, the Resin helmet, of which there were at least three known variants, were part of the Wachregiment attire worn during ceremonial duties. Bandsmen also wore them.

II. I concur with Dave's observation regarding the shoulder boards. As he pointed out (Red dots and all ), they are Soldaten.

The fellow in the center definitely has NCO Tress on the collar of his Tunic. I thought about this awhile, and then it occurred to me where he is positioned. In the center of what was obviously a changing of the guards (two guards).

As I earlier remarked, the members of Wachregiment Fredrich Engels not actually standing guard at the Neue Wache, wore their actual rank. Most were NCOs, including the ones standing guard, who generally wore Soldaten shoulder boards.

So the fellow in the center, who has NCO Collar Tress on his Tunic, is most probably the guy that marched the two replacement guards (outside of him on either side) up to Neue Wache, and then is bringing back the two that were replaced, again on either side of him.

Here are some additional photos:

[Mike G.]

Another example:

[Mike G.]

One last example:

[Kevin1261]

Grinning while goose stepping? was that how he was trained?...neat pictures