Need ID - On Soldier Wearing Unknown Shoulder Boards

Hello,

Can someone please identify which unit the shoulder boards on this
soldier were from ?



Here is a closeup of the shoulder boards.



What colors were the shoulder boards ?

Thank you,
Mack

The guy on the photo is a student drafted to the army in 1916-1917 as an "educated volunteer". Such volunteers (the Russian term volnoopredelyayushchiysya is hard to pronounce even for a native speaker) were students or university graduates who could choose this shortened 1-year track instead of being drafted as regular recruits. In the course of their service, they performed all soldier duties and simulataneously prepared for an officer exam.

This particular soldier belonged to 1st Preparatory Training Battalion, attached to 29th Reserve Infantry Brigade and stationed in Nizhny-Novgorod. The battalion was staffed with mobilized students and provided preparatory training for an accelerated offiicer course and further commission.

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Part of the above information was provided by Valentin from Sammler Militaria forum.

Hello Mike,

Wow! that is some facinating information I didn't know any of that.

Thank you very much Mike, I really appreciate your kind help.

Do you have any idea what colors the shoulder boards were ?

Many thanks,
Mack

AFAIK the boards in reserve infantry brigades could be khaki, dark green, light blue or red. Khaki was the most typical color, but on his photo the boards look too light for khaki, so they are probably light blue. The board piping was made of intermittent black, orange and white threads. The cyphers are red.

Hi Mike,

Thank you for the details on the shoulder board colors.

Mack