Brussels Army museum Latvian uniform

[NickG]

Brussels Army museum Latvian uniform;
This is on display at the Military museum in Brussels which my brother visited last weekend.
Technically not SS but Polizei but notice the SS membership insignia and most of the SS Freiwilligen Polizei Regiment Riga
ended up serving in the Latvian Waffen SS later on. (15th Div)

Of interest is that fact that it shows NCO tresse on the collar which you otherwise would never see on Polizei uniforms.
I am actually not even sure if its a true Polizei uniform as it lacks pocket pleats...
early 5 button Polizei tunics had pleats on all 4 pockets later only on the chest... this is a later 6 button M42/M43 but no pleats whatsover,
which is odd for Polizei...
It also has straight faps on the chest pocket flaps and curved hip pocket flaps!

Hard to tell if its Polizei green or army fieldgray...the rank tresse on the collar you would otherwise never see... but accurate and
unique to this Riga-Latvia based polizei formation. The WW1 WK2 ribbon is odd...

[NickG]

Looks more like an SS uniform than Polizei because of the tresse...again usually never seen with Polizei formations!
Here you clearly see the straight + curved pocket flaps (M42/M43 transitional I guess)!

[NickG]

Here's a similar uniform from my archives which Beadle offered a decade ago...
Again note the rank tresse application, unheard of with Polizei!

Note the best quality but it shows similarities with the Brussels museum tunic!
The cuff title on both tunics sure looks the same. Note the old Beadle offering does have standard
pleated chest and unpleated hip pockets and it no doubt is a genuine Polizei tunic badged up as Latvian.
The question is: was it built up this way? (it does lack the shield)

[NickG]

Here a reference book picture, which shows the same insignia and also the application of rank tresse (Army/SS style) here applied
again on a polizei tunic, very unusual but apparently done by the Latvians on occassion while serving in this volunteer Police Regiment
in Riga Latvia (1942-1943). Again most men were eventually absorbed into the Latvia Waffen SS (1943 -1945) hence me posting this topic here.

Thoughts? Real or built up this way? Note same crude lettered cuff title from a Bender reference book!

[TrondK]

Very interesting Nick.

[AurimasLT]

This very same uniform (at least it looks so) two years ago was sold on one European auction for 3600 EUR. I am surprised that buyer was Brussels Army museum.

[AurimasLT]

Lett frw

[AurimasLT]

Lett frw Riga

[NickG]

Very nice. Wow that is a ton of money!!!! Maybe the owner has it on loan with this Belgian Museum?
Based on these much better images no doubt correctly made in Polizei colored wool but still strange that it lacks chest pocket pleats!
Its transitional M42/43 with M42 pocket flaps on the skirts and later M43 straight flaps on the chest as I commented earlier, now much
clearly visible..and the WW1 EK2 ribbon seems out of place...but its been on there since the auction than. Perhaps a Baltic German WW1 vet?
Thanks for your participation to this thread!

[Ludwig]

Well, the Latvians made their own SS collartabs, metal death´s heads, so why not cufftitles, too?

[NickG]

Well, the Latvians made their own SS collartabs, metal death´s heads, so why not cufftitles, too?

Agreed most likely locally embroidered for the Regiment using blank (SD) German cuff titles...which explains the lack of German quality!

[espenlaub]

Cufftitle are fake, the tunic itself is a Gorky filmstudio ( Moscow) marked, they are still a hundreds there, but must of them are redone, and no one with insignia.

[espenlaub]

99% of the these tunics has been discovered with pockets removed. Seems this tunic is from this party as well- different tone of the pockets, there much less bucks as described about

[NickG]

I see now a slight wool color difference, I agree! So the chest pockets were restored with newly created ones, (with material from another tunic!)
which is the reason for the missing chest pocket pleats ! That explains a lot!
In addition to that issue, it's been post war patched up like this to represent this Latvian Polizei Reg...That museum paid a lot of money for this creation than!
Yikes!