Feldgrau Uhlan Officer Tunics - Wehrmacht-Awards.com Militaria Forums

Dave Mosher · 03-13-2005, 08:11 AM

I was going through some old pictures I had and thought there may be some interest in them. From Tony's lead, information with the pictures are always a plus, so I supplimented the old pictures with some new pictures and here is my shot at a study of feldgrau uhlan officer tunics. Any additional information, input or corrections are welcome.

Regards

Dave

Dave Mosher · 03-13-2005, 08:18 AM

Uhlanen or "lancers" were a medium cavalry utilized by the kingdoms of Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony and Wurttemberg. At first appearances these contingents appear to be similar, but upon further inspection, there are considerable differences between them, most noteably between the bavarians and the other kingdoms.

All uhlan contingents had two rows of seven buttons down the front of the tunic, used the piped pointed Polish cuff with a single button and had extra piping around the rear skirt, along the hem and along the back edge of the sleeves and back tunic panels. The buttons were in either nickel (silver) or brass (gilt) and matched the furnature on the uhlan helmet (tschapka). M 1910 officer shoulder boards utilized silver cording with colored flecking associated with each specific state (ie. prussian-black, bavarian-blue, saxon-green, wurttemberg-black/red).

The prussian, saxon and wurttemberger uhlan units wore the "ulanka" while bavarian uhlan units wore the "waffenrock". Ulankas utilized a standing collar piped along the top edges, a bib or "plastron" piped on both sides and used rimmed crown buttons. The rear skirt flap design of the tunics also used eight buttons. Piping color or color combinations and numerals or cyphers indicated the particular regiment. As a general rule, the underlying colored piping was based on the seniority prescedence of repeating white, red, yellow and blue .

Regiment (Prussian)	Tunic Piping	Shoulder Board Piping	Shoulder Board Distinctions (gilt)	Button Color
1^{st Guard}	^red	^white	^plain	^silver
^{2nd Guard}	^red	^red	^plain	^gilt
^{3rd Guard}	^yellow	^yellow	^plain	^silver
^{1st U.R.}	^red	^white	^{crown / "A III"}	^gilt
^{2nd U.R.}	^red	^red	^{Nr 2}	^gilt
^{3rd U.R.}	^red	^yellow	^{crown / "A II"}	^gilt
^{4th U.R.}	^red	^blue	^{Nr 4}	^gilt
^{5th U.R}	^red	^white	^{Nr 5}	^silver
^{6th U.R.}	^red	^red	^{crown / "CR IX"}	^silver
^{7th U.R.}	^red	^yellow	^{Nr 7}	^silver
^{8th U.R.}	^red	^blue	^{Nr 8}	^silver
^{9th U.R.}	^white	^white	^{Nr 9}	^gilt
^{10th U.R.}	^maroon	^maroon	^{Nr 10}	^gilt
^{11th U.R.}	^yellow	^yellow	^{Nr 11}	^gilt
^{12th U.R.}	^white*	^blue	^{Nr 12}	^gilt
^{13th U.R.}	^white	^white	^{crown / "WR II"}	^silver
^{14th U.R.}	^maroon	^maroon	^{Nr 14}	^silver
^{15th U.R.}	^yellow	^yellow	^{Nr 15}	^silver
^{16th U.R.}	^white*	^blue	^{crown / "GR"}	^silver

^{*lt. blue on collar and cuffs}

^{Regiment (Saxon)}	^{Tunic Piping}	^{Shoulder Board Piping}	^{Shoulder Board Distinctions (gilt)}	^{Button Color}
^{17th U.R}	^white	^white	^{crown / "FJ"}	^gilt
^{18th U.R.}	^red	^red	^plain	^gilt
^{21st U.R.}	^yellow	^yellow	^{crown / "W II"}	^gilt

^{Regiment (Württem.)}	^{Tunic Piping}	^{Shoulder Board Piping}	^{Shoulder Board Distinctions (gilt)}	^{Button Color}
^{19th U.R.}	^red	^red	^{crown / "KR"}	^silver
^{20th U.R.}	^yellow	^yellow	^{crown / "W II"}	^silver

Here is the ulanka for a rittmeister of 5.U.R.

Dave Mosher · 03-13-2005, 08:27 AM

While all other uhlan tunics had a single piping color (excluding the piping on the boards), 12.U.R. and 16.U.R were unique in that there were two piping colors; light blue on the collar and cuffs and white on the remaining piping of the tunic.

Dave Mosher · 03-13-2005, 08:31 AM

The three prussian and one wurttemberg "guard" uhlan regiments (1.G.U.R, 2.G.U.R, 3.G.U.R and 19.U.R.) retained the double guard lace or "litzen" on the collar and cuffs found on the pre-war uniform. The three saxon uhlan regiments (17.U.R, 18.U.R and 21.U.R) also wore litzen on the pre-war uniform, but this insignia did not continue to the feldgrau ulanka.

Here is the ulanka of a rittmeister of 3.G.U.R.

Dave Mosher · 03-13-2005, 08:35 AM

The double litzen was made of a subdued metallic tape or woven off-white cloth with the same or similar braided "fullung" in each bar on a colored base tab which corresponded with the base color on the shoulder board piping. The shape of the collar on those tunics with litzen were also "squared-off" vs. the more rounded edges of other line regiments. Additionally, a single metallic litzen bar was also afixed to the Polish cuff under the button and additional piping was added along the bottom edge of the cuff. No numbers were utilized on the shoulder boards of the prussian guard uhlan regiments.

Dave Mosher · 03-13-2005, 08:39 AM

Bavarian uhlan waffenrocks utilized a "stand and fall" collar piping along the bottom edges, a plastron piped only on one side and used rimmed bavarian rampant lion buttons, which faced each other inward across the tunic (ie. half of the buttons face the the right and the other half face the left). A total of six buttons were used on the rear skirt flap design on those tunics. There were only two bavarian uhlan regiments and both were piped in maroon. The button color distinguished which regiment (1.Bav.U.R.-gilt; 2.Bav.U.R.-silver), and no numbers were used on the officer boards.

Regiment (Bavarian)	Tunic Piping	Shoulder Board Piping	Shoulder Board Distinctions (gilt)	Button Color
1.Bav.U.R.	maroon	maroon	plain	gilt
2.Bav.U.R.	maroon	maroon	plain	silver

Here is the uhlan waffenrock of a major of the 2.Bav.U.R.

Dave Mosher · 03-13-2005, 08:41 AM

Here is the prussian crown vs. bavarian lion on the rimmed M 1910 buttons.

Dave Mosher · 03-13-2005, 08:46 AM

On September 21, 1915, Prussia introduced the new field service (Bluse) and future peacetime (Friedensrock) tunic, replacing the M 1910 waffenrock which had previously served both purposes. Wurttemberg and Saxony followed suit on October 10 and November 9, 1915, respectively. Bavaria delayed introducing their new Bluse and Friedensrock another six months, until April 1, 1916.

The officer shoulder boards for all uhlan contingents were now double-piped. For Prussia, Saxony and Wurttemberg, the previous regimental piping color was used as the second piping above a red base piping. Both Bavarian uhlans use the previous maroon base piping with a second dark green piping. The cording on field service boards used on the Bluse were now subdued with grey or tan thread and white flecking in addition to the previous state colors, except for Wurttemberg where just the black/red flecking remained. The cording and flecking on the boards for the Friedensrock and undress tunic (Kleinerrock) remained as the M 1910 boards, but used the double-piping described above. Older M1910 tunics were to be replaced when no longer useful, and in many cases, the newer style boards were used to "up-date" a M 1910 tunic in the field.

Here is a M 1910 bavarian uhlan waffenrock with the "updated" M 1915 subdued double-piped boards for the field.

Dave Mosher · 03-13-2005, 08:50 AM

The uhlan Kleinerrock for Prussia, Saxony and Wurttemberg was piped in red with the double-piped shoulder boards described above, red collar tabs which are piped in the regimental color and plain domed gilt or silver buttons, as above. Both Bavarian uhlan Kleirerrocks were piped in maroon with double-piped shoulder boards as described above, dark green tabs which were piped in maroon, plain domed tomback (Bav.1.U.R.) or silver (Bav.2.U.R.) and the blue/silver lozenge tape around the edge of the collar.

Here are the shoulder boards for a rittmeister of 19.U.R. Note the silver cording and black/red flecking as in the M1910 boards, but with red double-piping indicating these boards were from either a Kleinerrock or Friedensrock.

Dave Mosher · 03-13-2005, 08:57 AM

The new Friedensrock differed in appearance from the previous M 1910 ulankas and waffenrocks in several areas. All uhlanen Friedensrocke had no front pockets, had standing collars and both the collars and cuffs were now completely covered in the M 1910 regimental colors (except for the piping of 17.U.R. which changed from red to maroon on the M 1915 uniforms). The gilt and silver M 1910 rimmed crown and lion buttons were replaced with plain domed buttons in tomback and silver, except the three saxon regiments which changed from gilt to silver.

Here are the differences between the M 1910 and M 1915 ulanka for either the 12.U.R or 16.U.R.

Dave Mosher · 03-13-2005, 09:03 AM

And the differences between the M 1910 and M 1915 bavarian uhlan waffenrock.

Dave Mosher · 03-13-2005, 09:05 AM

Bavarian Friedensrock also added the blue/silver lozenge tape around the edge of the standing collar and, for parade, a separate rabatte in maroon covered the plastron.

ccj · 03-13-2005, 10:16 AM

Oh my...

I am amazed by those images. Thanks for posting those for us to enjoy.

ccj · 03-13-2005, 10:30 AM

Dave,
Can you show more imagesf the Bavarian 1915 Waffenrock? It looks like there are two long rows of loops for ribbons/medals.

What are the loops by the collar for?

Tony & Kaiser · 03-13-2005, 10:43 AM

Excellent work. I try to focus only on Dunkelblau for this very reason; so much happened in such a short perioed of time 1907 to 1918, it can be a real mess to figure it out. This is definitely worth saving. Thanks Dave.