Russian lancer

Hi! There are no "global" discussions dedicated only to shoulder-boards and epaulettes on Russian forums, or on social networks. However there are many smaller discussions which bring you interesting information. First of all you can check the Russian Imperial Uniforms section of the Sammler.ru forum, and I suggest you to visit the "Imperial Russian Military Photos" group on FB. You can also check my own profile on FB - I'm Michael Doubrovin. Unfortunately I don't collect shoulder-boards anymore, but I have a lifelong scope on the history of Russian lancers regiments (including their insignia).

It's a general trend: most of the forums slowly die, as global communication is significantly transferred to social networks: Facebook, etc. I've been observing this phenomenon even on Russian military forums in the last years.

Sorry colleague, but it's incorrect identification. There were no "Imperial Marines". Shoulder-boards with such monogramms were in the rowing teams of three Guards Infantry regiments: Preobrazhenski, Semenovski and Kexholmski.

here I have find a link to few pages of the book in www: http://vedsimvol.mybb.ru/viewtopic.php?id=213

I'm not criticizing your friend, but I woun't use the source book that you have mentioned as a primary basis for identification. Like other materials on the topic of the Russian Imperial Army published in Russia right after the fall of soviet regime, it contains very fragmentary information, with a number of mistakes, with very poor quality of illustrations. I have this book, but can't find it right now, as I didn't used if for years - it was almost useless to me. For example, if the book covers the period of 1917-1920, why there are many illustrations of pre-1914 uniform pieces? Again, I would like to put your attention to the fact that shoulder-board is a war-time piece, while last fortress units were disbanded during the army reformation of 1910-1911; soldiers and officers of these units were used in formation of new infantry and rifles regiments.

Your are not correct with ID of this piece. First, there were no fortress infantry regiments in the Russian Army after 1910-1911, while this board looks to be typical for the WWI period (and there was no rank of ensign in the peace-time army). Second, fortress infantry regiments had regimental abbreviations on their boards. Third their facing fabric was brown, not raspberry. Raspberry was a facing color for Rifle regiments, so here we have a rifles ensign of the WWI period. BTW, it's quite common for WWI boards when they have color of rank stripes different from facing fabric, while it must have been identical. Another unfortunate simplification which became widespread with WWI - many officers started to wear boards without regimental abbreviations, while during the peace time it could be recognized as violation of army uniform rules.