Wow! 
THANK YOU, if I may add this my little add Russian link about his regiment:
Wartime regiment, Battalion:
http://historydoc.edu.ru/catalog.asp?cat_ob_no=13047&ob_no=13710
But you are simply fantastic, I appreciate your work and huge knowledge, Sir!
I wonder, did he wear uniform during war days because of some regiments, or his peronal will, or traditional thing, since war was then? Also, can't define his uniforms he wore during visiting Stavka, I believe they are just regular uniforms, expect Cossack one from Ocober 4th of 1916. I remember you said Alexandra wasn't present, because of her illness. Thank you again!
Sotnia Cossack review, july 4th 1916, Mogilev , GHQ - Stavka:
October 4th 1916:
With count A. Grabbe (last one), same year, July 4th (first one, I think same day) and October 4th (second one):
I think 4th one is typical day for reviewing troops, or just incidental?
Ausmanov & Nena, thank you for your kind words. Nena, about your photo link, for those who don’t read Russian, I will add that the link to « Wartime regiment, Battalion » shows the 1st Battalion of the 14th Gruzinsky Grenadier Regiment.
Nena : before I try to answer your questions about Alexei’s Wartime uniforms, I will add the following link to a very large size photo of Egornov’s portrait of Alexei in his LG Finlandsky Regiment uniform :
http://www.belygorod.ru/img2/RusskieKartinki/Used/616rnov_CesarevichAlekseGRM.jpgColour balance isn’t correct though, as Alexei’s shouldn’t be that blue but « tsar’s green » (somewhat like dark turquoise). Details of a regimental Chief shako can be seen clearly, with the shako cords on the back and front. The painting is set up in the Alexander Palace Portrait Hall. Interesting to see how it looked liked in colour. If I’m not mistaken, the red vase has survived.
Campaign uniforms : in 1909 the Russian Army adopted a universal field service dress of grey-green colour which Russians call « protective colour » (zashchitnaya) and I will call khaki. From then on, Field service dress basically all looked alike especially for lower ranks who wore a peasant-like blouse (« gymnastiorka ») over loose pants of the same colour (except in the Cavalry where blue or grey pants were worn). Reversible shoulder boards were worn with the blouse : regimental colour on one side (for parades and off-duty service), khaki on the other side (for service at the Front). As the 1914 British Army Handbook of the Russian Army puts it :
« The unit to which an officer or man belongs can best be ascertained, in the case of Guards units, by the coloured piping on the collar, cuffs and shoulder-straps; in the case of all other units, by the distinguishing marks on the shoulder-straps. There are also certain additional guides which may be useful useful aids in determining the unit to which an individual belongs: these are the colour of the shoulder-straps of the greatcoat (…), the colour of the collar patches on the greatcoat, and, in the case of the cavalry, the coloured stripe on the breeches. »
So in most cases, only minute details could identify to which units men belonged : during the War even the rank insignias and units ID became as inconspicuous as possible so that, even with binoculars, the enemy wouldn’t be able to identify which units were where. By now, you will certainly have understood that on black & white photos, without colour references, most war-time uniforms cannot be identified unless a close-up can show the shoulder-boards, or a regimental insignia.
It is known that Nicholas II had some favourite uniforms for daily wear : amongst them, the one from his Own 4th Imperial Family Rifles, which luckily for us can easily be identified – even in war-time - by their peasant-like blouse along with their unique shoulder-board pattern and cockade on forage cap. On special occasions, such as one of his regiments’ holidays, he would wear the uniform of the regiment of the day. When there were many oh his regiments – at reviews or manoeuvers for instance - as a special favour, he would often choose the uniform of a regiment which had distinguished itself. In any case, the officers and men of a regiment always took great pride to see the Emperor dressed in their regiment’s uniform. Before the Alexei did the same as his father. It is more difficult to prove he did the same during the War as he usually wore the uniform of an ordinary soldier. Only correctly captioned photos, diary entries, memoirs of witnesses and the Court Diary (« Kamer-furiersky zhurnal ») could give us some clues. In theory, for daily wear he could pick any of his 23 regiments, and even any of the 38 other regiments he was enlisted in, though I doubt very much that when travelling to Stavka they would pack more than a few uniforms at the time, taking in consideration those to be worn on upcoming special occasions.
Luckily though, all Caucasian Cossack units had a different summer & winter field dress than the the others so they are less difficult to identify.
Your photos no. 1, 4 & 6 show Alexei in summer field-dress with a white leather belt. This undoubtedly indicate a Guards’ regiment – as do the plain colour shoulder-boards I have seen elsewhere (Line regiments and other units had numbers, letters & specialty badges and wore black leather belts). As for which regiment, I can’t tell but it’s not the Cossack Escort, even though he and his father are reviewing one of its detachment. In N. V. Galushkin’s book « Sobstvennyi Ego Imperatorskogo Velichestva Konvoi », your photo no. 4 is captioned as « Return from the Front of the 4th Life-Guards’ Terek Sotnia. Report to the Sovereign Emperor from Sotnia Commander Captain Tatonov. 1916.»
