Info request: Imperial Russian Uniforms circa 1903-1095

[pocoloco]

Hi,

came across two diaries and two photo books in my work. Haven't yet read the diaries, just skimmed over them quickly but looked through the photos better. They show garrison and camp pics of Imperial Russian Guards Cavalry Division/Regiment, probably in St. Petersburg and in summer camp in Krasnoje Selo. Included are also pics out of garrison life.

I didn't have time to scan any of the pictures for reference yet but will try to do that on next Monday. Before that I'm enquiring if any of the members would have pics from this era about the uniforms and rank insignia used/worn by the 1st and 2nd Horse Guards Division. Also if anybody has good pics of Nicholas II in field uniform, I would like to see those as well since there are two photos that, I think, have His Majesty the Tzar, as well, or then it's His lookalike :) Also in the photos are higher officers besides the usual rank & file so if there happens to info with pics about the unit commanders etc, everything like that is more than welcomed.

Also, if you might happen to know good books/sites about the subject/era, in English please, I would like to give those a look as well.

Thanks for looking,

pocoloco

edit: forgot the timeframe. Diaries are roughly from 1903-1914, photos 1903-1905.

[pocoloco]

Any Russian members with good internet links? I can't speak any Russian, so have googled only in Finnish and English and information is limited, unfortunately.

[tercio67]

Vinkhuizen collection of uniform drawings
(Russia) http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgtitle_tree.cfm?title_id=614971&level=2&tword=

[pocoloco]

^ Excellent. Many thanks. Difficult thing is, that the person who wrote the diaries talks only about the Regiment but never mentiones the unit by its proper name. I guess when I have the pics to show, hopefully this coming Monday, people might recognise the unit and even the higher ranking officers. Unfortunately many of the photos are quite faded, hopefully I can enhance them a tad digitally.

[pocoloco]

So now some pics, if anybody has more insight to the unit and or persons shown, please contact me / leave comment. Thank you.

pic1 - Guard duty in St.Petersburg?
http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy290/pocoloco1010/lmhm2.jpg

pic2 - non-officers... troopers that is? No double-headed eagle crested helmets
http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy290/pocoloco1010/lmhm4.jpg

pic3 - standard of regiment? Notice double-headed eagle crest on helmet
http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy290/pocoloco1010/lmhm12.jpg

pic4 - in Krasnoje Selo? Is this young Tsar Nikolai II? Pic from ~1903/5 Probably not, not enough medals ;)
http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy290/pocoloco1010/lmhm1.jpg

Still have dozens of pics, from mess hall, officers lounge, private life etc but hoping that these four will get the research going onwards.

[pocoloco]

Chevalier Guards Officer, presumably the author of the diaries:
http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy290/pocoloco1010/lmhm11.jpg

Musical equipment of the unit, anyone recognise the monogram on the drum?
http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy290/pocoloco1010/lmhm5.jpg

[CaptMorgan68]

Chevalier Guards Officer, presumably the author of the diaries:
http://i800.photobucket.com/albums/yy290/pocoloco1010/lmhm11.jpg



wow good find man

[pocoloco]

Thanks, hoping to find more specific info and still need to read the diaries as well. He might not be of Chevalier Guards though, because there were three other heavy cavalry units it seems - Life Guards Horse Regiment, His Majestys Life Cuirassiers and Her Majestys Life Cuirassiers.

Author speaks about the Regiment, so it could be Life Guards Horse Regiment.

[pocoloco]

Bit more net searching and the chap could be from Her Majesty's Life Cuirassiers? Check the foto above and compare with the following:

http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/04/b2003/hm4_1_k_0.html

[redcoat2]

I think you’re on the right track. The soldiers are from one of the Cuirassier Regiments rather than the Chevalier Guard. The Chevaliers did not wear cuirasses. They wore a red vest with a large metal St Andrew’s star on it.

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/8532/chevaliern.jpg

Figure 142 is a Chevalier trooper. Figure 139 is the Tsar in a Life Guard Hussar uniform.

I’d guess that the ‘M’ monogram is significant. M = the Empress Maria. Here are the 1906-14 uniforms (full dress and service) of the Cuirassiers of the Empress.

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/6497/cuirassierdress.jpg
http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/5285/cuirassierservice.jpg
Key: An officer’s uniform is shown on the left facing right. A trooper’s uniform is on the right facing left. A cuirass was worn over the top. There would have been some variation in the braiding on the officer’s uniform according to rank.

The double-headed eagle helmet was worn as part of the dress uniform. The service helmet or cap was worn the rest of the time.

[redcoat2]

To contradict what I wrote earlier I’ve since found that the Chevaliers did wear a cuirass. They wore their distinctive vest and emblem when they were on duty inside an Imperial palace. The Guard Reiter Regiment (aka Life Guard Horse Regiment) was much the same. They wore a vest with a double-headed eagle emblem when inside a palace and a cuirass when on duty outside. There were therefore four groups of Imperial Guard heavy cavalry with very similar cuirassier uniforms. They could be distinguished by the colour of the piping on their uniforms and by the colour of their ‘furashka’.

[pocoloco]

Redcoat: Many thanks for digging into this. I think that Her Majesty's Cuirassiers is the best option so far, good call on the monogram. With black and white photos bit difficult to distinguish colours of the pipings. I think the Chevalier Guard had more elaborate cuirass than the three other heavy cavalry "Lieb regiments".

I have tried to read diaries a bit more, but mixture of Swedish and Russian, with 100+ years style handwriting slows reading already enough but at some points the auther uses both morse code and some form of "secret code". One short morse code that I transferred back to normal letters has Swedish and Russian and a Latin verse. Not revealing too much information yet but it is, and the rest of the coded parts, about his adventures with the members of opposite ***. Very interesting stuff, nevertheless :)

One higher ranking name that came up in the very beginning was General Arapoff - he was following a conversation with the regiment's commander and somebody that the author knew. This person related the conversation to the author. The mentioned Arapoff could be perhaps Major General Arapoff... this conclusion just after a quick googling though. Will try to check more of the morse code bits, hehe, and check if I can decipher his "secret code" this evening.

[redcoat2]

I’m not so sure about the monogram ‘M’ now. The design looks very similar to the insignia used by those who served in Nicholas II's escort:

http://www.antiquesatoz.com/orders/rusgard.htm

[pocoloco]

I think it's still M for Queen Maria. The emblem of Nicholas II has the Roman number two underneath the letter, whereas the letter on the drum has no number. I would still go for the Her Majesty's Cuirassiers.

Woke up today at 4am, couldn't sleep 'cos couldn't decipher the code of the author, just gibberish atm. The morse code is easy to solve for the letter part but then understanding the meaning is a different matter.

Nice challenger anyways. Will try to post few more pics later today.

[redcoat2]

Here is a video slide show that looks at the heavy cavalry of the Imperial Guard:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbNJ5rmdGws

[pocoloco]

Hi, thanks for the link and help with this. The diaries and photo albums are now in the Finnish War Museum, hopefully they will have some information sooner or later about the author and his writings. But ofcourse I took copies of the morse code and secret code so I can still ponder upon those myself, too. :)