Russian Uniforms 1881-1914

It seems unlikely that some "distinguished" regiment could be stationed in Tiflis (i.e. far from the front lines) in 1917... Maybe King Albert was made colonel-in-chief of the 15th Tiflis Grenadier regiment, a venerable unit that lacked a royal patron since 1915 when GD Konstantin Konstantinovich had died?

Hello Mike,
All I know so far is that they surrender to the Red Army in Maykop.
Maybe I'll know more in a few days.
Eduard

Can anyone recommend any other books/memoirs written by ex-gendarmes which are available for purchase?

Is there any additional information available about the different departments? All I could find was what the Departments were, and sadly little else.

Anything else will be appreciated.  

Hi Belochka,

I have come across a reference to "Museum of History of Political Police" which is a branch of the State Museum of the Political History of Russia. Of the russian translation it quotes of details of its organization in the pre-revolutionary period. It is either at ul. Pea (sp?) or Gorokhovaya Str.

I hope this may help you.
Joanna

Hi Joanna,

Thanks for your help. The Police Museum is on Gorokhovaya Ul. I will have to check it out on my next visit to SPb.

Hello guys! Great discussion site! I'am a new member here and I'am looking for detail information about  uniforms of Imperial Russian Engineer troops (include cockade, badges and awards),also if anybody knows some editions about schools and history of this troops,please let me know.Thanks to all of you!!!  

[SITE]

I'am looking for detail information about  uniforms of Imperial Russian Engineer troops

Erick, if you read Russian, there's a SITE full of detailed information (incl. images) on the history of Russian engineer troops, from Peter I to our days.

Hello Mike!Thank you very much for your help!!! I'am trying to identify Imperial Russian officer hat but so far no luck. Different sources gave me different kind of information.If you would like to take a look on it ,please let me know and I'll send few images to your email.Thank you very much again!

I'am trying to identify Imperial Russian officer hat

Send me the images. I'll upload them to the forum, and if not me, probably other guys here would be able to help.

Here's your peak cap, Erick:

My not-a-uniform-specialist's guess is:
The combination of black crown, velvet black cap-band (brown wasn't used in the Russian army,  so it must be faded black), red pipings and golden (seen well on another photo) officer's cockade suggests that the cap belonged to an artillery officer, probably of one of the Guards artillery brigades.

As to the metal piece at the cockade's middle part, it was used for attaching a black enameled insert.

Hello Mike ,Thank you very much for your help! What do you think about cockade,was it a common type or it belongs to some artillery regiment only? Erick.

AFAIK all Russian officers wore identical cockades that differed only by the metal: "golden" or "silver". For example, if your cockade were silver it would point at an engineers officer rather than artillery.

Thank you for information Mike but I've seen this type of cockade few times unclude Bonhams & Butterfields auction site ,which is represent this kind of hat w/ cockade ,as White army air service.Thank you again!

Well…I’m not yet a uniform specialist either..but I’m working on it!  

Mike : I’m not sure I understand what you mean when you say they’re were differences in officers’s cockades (gold or silver). The Russian cockades were based on the so-called Romanov colors : silver/white metal, gold/orange and black. Lower ranks, NCOs and officers had a different pattern but they had the same color scheme : silver /white metal outer ring, gold (officers)/orange ring, black ring, smaller gold/orange ring and a small black oval in the center. Unlike eagle headplates and honor scrolls, all officers’ cockades had the same colour pattern, regardless of regimental metal color (pribor). This is true for all branches of the Military, including the Navy and Air Force. The only variation which was tolerated was for some officers to have the cockade made out of white porcelain (which was visible on the outer ring, and appear on black and white photos to be of a different color than the metal ones). These cockades were in vogue mostly in the Guards’ elite regiments (probably they cost more than the regulations’ one). For more information about cockades, see, for example, Zeughaus Magazine No. 2

Mike and Erick : As for the visor cap, I am quite sure it’s a 1914 pattern Air Service officer’s cap (for the Aviation Corps « Aviatsonniya chasti » as of January 3, 1914, then also for the older Aeronautical Corps (Balloons and Airships) « Vozdukhoplavatelniya chasti » since March 21, 1914. This 1914 pattern is described by the famous uniformologist Vladimir Zweguintsov in his books about the Imperial Russian Army. See « Russkaya armiya » (The Russian Army) p. 936, in part 7 (1881-1917) and « Formy russkoi armii 1914 g. » (Uniforms of the Russian Army, 1914) p. 70 : the Air Forces officers’ « furazhka » (visor cap) was made of black cloth with red piping, black velvet band with red piping.  As the embryonic Air Forces were at first associated with the Engineers, for a while they wore the same uniforms and caps (with silver pribor, black velvet collar and facings and visor cap with green cloth and black velvet band, as shown by Shenk in 1910 : http://www.xenophongi.org/rusarmy/shenk/shenk24fs.htm

But changes in both the Aeronautical Corps and the Aviation Corps’ uniforms were later made in 1913 and 1914. Regarding the visor cap, the only change was that the cap color went from green to black; the black velvet band and red piping was kept. No further changes were made to the visor cap pattern until the Revolution.

all officers’ cockades had the same colour pattern, regardless of regimental metal color (pribor).

My opinion was based on a Russian reference according to which the cockade's outer ring of a pribor metal was introduced in the 1910s. However later, upon reading your post, I've found no additional evidence in favor of the existence of "golden"-framed cockades. So your attribution is apparently right.

However, the question remains: weren't exactly the same caps also worn by artillery officers, even before 1913?

I'd like to note that the while-orange-black combination was not considered "sacred" or "national", at least in the 1890s - 1910s. On the other hand, the combination of two colors - orange and black - was viewed as highly symbolic and honorable, as it was the color of St. George order, medal and banner ribbons.

Thank you for interesting information,Daniel! I'll try to get this editions and find as much information as I can.If you know some web sites about Imperial Russian uniforms ,please let me know. Thank you.