Several uniform photo questions

[Mike Dwyer]

I have a postcard I purchased as a gift for a friend. Some things in the photo have caught my interest though. I'm not really into field uniforms, preferring parade dress, so I don't know much about what's being worn in this photo.

First, I must apologize for the photo, it's the one off of eBay. I don't have a working scanner so I can't scan it and get a copy without that annoying red arrow in it that's pointing out the dog.

The first questions is, are these cavalrymen? I noticed their boots come up much higher on their legs than the common jackboots do. Then I thought they might be artillerymen because the soldier on the far left has a 40 on his shoulder strap and I think I can see a flaming cannonball above that (but that could be just my eyes playing tricks!!)

[Mike Dwyer]

Second question

The soldier on the far left, plus the far left one in the back and the middle one in the back, appear to have NCO lace that only covers a very small part of their collars and then on their cuffs it only goes between the two buttons. Is there some significance to this?

[Mike Dwyer]

Third question

On the soldier in the middle front, is that a beamte badge on his cap between the state cockade and the national cockade? It may be difficult to see in this piece of the photo since it's so small. It looks like it's rectangular or a shield perhaps??

[Mike Dwyer]

Fourth question

The soldier holding the dog has NCO lace completely around his collar and cuffs along with the large NCO button on his collar (the one behind him on the far right has the lace all around too, but I don't see a button on his collar). The one with the dog also has a second row of lace on his sleeve above the cuff, is this a higher ranking NCO?

[Chip M]

Mike,

Yes, these fellows are field artillerymen. The higher boots would normally indicate mounted personnel. The shortened NCO insignia was done primarily as a cloth saving measure, but it also had the added effect of lessening the chances of being spotted by the enemy as an NCO. The NCO with the double cuff lace and collar disk is a Feldwebel. I cannot see the cap device well enough to tell what it is, but it does look like it might be a Beamten insignia.

Chip

[Mike Dwyer]

Thanks

Mike,

Yes, these fellows are field artillerymen. The higher boots would normally indicate mounted personnel. The shortened NCO insignia was done primarily as a cloth saving measure, but it also had the added effect of lessening the chances of being spotted by the enemy as an NCO. The NCO with the double cuff lace and collar disk is a Feldwebel. I cannot see the cap device well enough to tell what it is, but it does look like it might be a Beamten insignia.

Chip

Chip,

Thanks for the reply. I had kind of wondered if the shortened lace might be either because of cost or limited availability, or to help with saving an NCO from standing out too much!

[Mike Dwyer]

Unit ID

So, if they've got 40 on their shoulder straps, I'm guessing they're members of Altmärkisches Feld-Artillerie-Regiment Nr.40?