Mark C

Well, not really in the evil psychopath category, but definitely in the stupid choices group. From 1963.

I think up to around 1900 the number on the cap was the regimental number.

No, not Life-Guards Grenadiers, one of the cuirassier regiments.

Rifle regiments wore these fur hats. See http://marksrussianmilitaryhistory.info/RUSS1914.html for the ones as they were in 1914.

No cockade on the cap, and is he wearing his belt buckle upside down? Perhaps this signifies post-1917 revolution? If so, he would be ditching those shoulder boards pretty soon.

Possibly connected with it being a convenient time for the King of Prussia to send a friendly statement to the Swedes. Or perhaps there was a marriage somewhere between members of the two royal houses?

I don't see much chance for this musket to have come to Afghanistan until much later than 1849. Russian territory did not touch Afghanistan until much later. It was only in the 1860s that they started taking over the central Asian khanates north of Afghanistan.

For what it's worth... Got an email of recent books from East View that included something pretty unusual: Mongolia Erkhembatyn tsergiin bichig <http://www.eastview.com/russian/books/product.asp?sku=2048000B> Country: Mongolia, Language: Mongolian(Cyrillic) Ulan-Bator: Batlan khamgaalakhyn erdem shinzhilgeenii khureelen, 2009. 372 p. ISBN: Erkhembat's Military Formation Letter Description: Study of the Military Theory work written by a Barga Mongolian statesman in 1913. The content and annotation are written in English.

These are very nice looking. What's the first one, and why does the cuff have white piping and the pocket flaps blue? Much appreciate the photos, M Conrad Maryland

Go to Internet Archive and look for RECORDS OF THE SCOTTISH VOLUNTEER FORCE 1859-1908 by Grierson at http://www.archive.org/details/recordsofscottis00grierich Regards, MC Maryland

First two photos look like World War One. Group photos look like South Africa, either Boer War or a few years afterward. The Rifles Maltese cross badge on photo 1 would agree with the dark colored rank chevron in the last group photo.

This is a photograph of a United States soldier in the Coast Artillery Corps, circa 1910. I don't know the language of the writing on the back. Is it Czech? Thanks, Mark Maryland

Excellent thread.

What shoes? Aren't they barefoot?

Hell, who do you think just pulled that boulder out?

Thanks. I'm always partial to M1902 uniforms.

1940 new quarters? Then what about the Ost Front ribbon? Might be late 1942 when occupying new quarters in newly occupied Vichy. As for smiling prisoners - not unknown at all on the Western Front, so that argument can go either way. Can't tell about the gendarme either - maybe he gets his jollies putting the boche in the pen, or maybe he thinks Vichy collaboration is the cat's meow. And then again maybe he's just a happy kind of guy...

Yes, strange that the only uniformity are the should strap slides. In all other respects they look like Beetle Bailey. Where's the policeman's belt? And the soft cap in the very front - French not German?

My guess that these are rear-echelon types rounded up in the summer of 1944. Certainly, it looks like police, firemen, and depot types all happy to be out of the war. (Although the gendarme seems to be the most satisfied with the situation.) Anyone ever see Germans in such shiny helmets elsewhere? Looks like two different types of helmet to me.

Super secret transistor radio - only issued to elite SS units via a space-time worm hole to 1965 Japan.

I think these are all your great-grandfather. The one in the uniform coat and tie must be from post 1900, maybe up to WWI if he was recalled to do some war-related work in England. Just to be sure, the first big group photo is of surviving Lucknow veterans about 40 years after the events? Thanks, MConrad Maryland

Are we assuming the Coburg/Gotha list was transcribed from the Meiningen list? They probably were never co-located so perhaps someone was scribbling from the Meiningen list, carried that copy to Gotha, and then took the time to carefully and neatly transcribe into the official entry book. But the carried list inbetween could very well have not been so carefully done, and led to the errors? MC

Book on Turkish Navy uniforms: http://www.militaryz...p?topic=11670.0

See http://rapidshare.com/files/385044201/LatviaMuzeumAnnual.pdf for articles on navy uniforms, independence units, badges, and general gripes about WWII. In Latvian, but short summaries in English. Regards, MarkC Maryland

I don't think it's Customs Agent, in the sense that he was a civil servant in government employ. I think he was a private individual offering services to help businesses and people get things through customs, following necessary paperwork, storing in warehouses, etc.