Help me identify these uniforms

[Chris_Phil]

Hello,

I was doing some reasearch on the following.

[SPQR]

Seems to be a complete mess of military and civilian dress with no reason to it. I'm sure that the location and time frame are probably accurate but at that time there were so many ad-hoc units, militias, ect during the early 20th century Balkan conflicts and independence movements as well as battlefield scavenging that it will be impossible to pinpoint whose uniforms are in the photo or what flag they wear.

[mrav pesadinac]

This is a photo of the Serbian Army (SA) and it could have been taken during the 1st or 2nd Balkan War (1912-1913) or even 1st World War (1914-1918). Otoman Turks were expelled out of the Balkans during 1st Balkan war. The 2nd Balkan war was between Serbia and Bulgaria (Bulgarians had aspirations for Serbian territory).
If it were taken in Macedonia, than it could have been taken in WWI as the final push against Austrians and Germans started in northern Greece in late 1918, went through Macedonia and then up north towards Belgrade.

A person standing in the middle with a visor cap and binoculars is the only one wearing the full uniform of the SA. Only officers wore visor caps but I cannot distinguish the rank. It seams as if he doesn't have shoulder-boards at all.
The first person on the left (standing) looks like a private of the SA. Yet, again no shoulder-boards.
The rest of them wear civil clothing with 'sajkaca' as headgear. Sajkaca was a standard issue military cap, but became very popular among people. More traditional headgear was 'subara' as worn by the fourth guy form the right (standing in white coat and tie).
This mixture of clothing and uniforms was very common in those days. Serbian Army had three components:
1. the regular army, issued full uniform and equipment,
2. army reserves issued with full uniform (weapons and equipment issued upon recall)
3. ordinary people outside Army reserves who were recalled only in case of outmost urgency. They were only issued weapons upon recall and wore their own clothing.


Hope this helped.

[Chris_Phil]

This is a photo of the Serbian Army (SA) and it could have been taken during the 1st or 2nd Balkan War (1912-1913) or even 1st World War (1914-1918). Otoman Turks were expelled out of the Balkans during 1st Balkan war. The 2nd Balkan war was between Serbia and Bulgaria (Bulgarians had aspirations for Serbian territory).
If it were taken in Macedonia, than it could have been taken in WWI as the final push against Austrians and Germans started in northern Greece in late 1918, went through Macedonia and then up north towards Belgrade.

A person standing in the middle with a visor cap and binoculars is the only one wearing the full uniform of the SA. Only officers wore visor caps but I cannot distinguish the rank. It seams as if he doesn't have shoulder-boards at all.
The first person on the left (standing) looks like a private of the SA. Yet, again no shoulder-boards.
The rest of them wear civil clothing with 'sajkaca' as headgear. Sajkaca was a standard issue military cap, but became very popular among people. More traditional headgear was 'subara' as worn by the fourth guy form the right (standing in white coat and tie).
This mixture of clothing and uniforms was very common in those days. Serbian Army had three components:
1. the regular army, issued full uniform and equipment,
2. army reserves issued with full uniform (weapons and equipment issued upon recall)
3. ordinary people outside Army reserves who were recalled only in case of outmost urgency. They were only issued weapons upon recall and wore their own clothing.


Hope this helped.

Thank you for your response, Mrav Pesadinac! I strongly suspected that those in the formal uniforms were Serbian Army personel

[Chris_Phil]

According to my research the contemporary Serbian Army (1890-1915) used german rifles ...

[Smok]

According to my research the contemporary Serbian Army (1890-1915) used Mauser rifles ... does anyone recognize the rifles that are in the photo above as Mauser-Milanovich perhaps??

In the lower part (from left to right).
First - Mauser-Mannlicher 1888? Long magazine makes me think so. Can be Mosin Nagant 1891 too.
Second one - it can be Schmidt-Rubin M1889
Third one - it can be Mannlicher 1995 (has shorter magazine than first one).

But I'm only guessing.