Uniforms and Equipment of the Old Army - Cavalry - Uhlan Regiments - the Bavarian Uhlans

Bavaria provided two Uhlan regiments in the Old Army, which had their own numbering and were garrisoned in Bamberg (No. 1) and Ansbach (No. 2).

They were:

1. Uhlan Regiment Kaiser Wilhelm II., King of Prussia (Bamberg) - Founding date: 21.12.1863.

2. Uhlan Regiment König (Ansbach) - Founding date: 21.12.1863.

The regiments were formed from former squadrons of various Chevaulegers regiments.

They spent World War I together, first on the Western Front (Battle of the Marne, Flanders), then from April 1915 in the East. In February 1919 they returned to their home garrisons.

The Bavarian Uhlans wore steel-green caps, ulankas and trousers.

Crimson were

the trim stripes on the cap,

as well as the collar,

the pointed sleeve cuffs and

the parade flaps on the ulanka and

the trim stripe on the trousers.

The parade flap of the headgear (Tschapka) was also crimson.

The headgear was the black leather tschapka with a carmine-red cover (M 1873; previously there was the M 1864).

The cover (kouvert) was sewn on permanently, so unlike the parade flaps it could not be removed.

The front peak was edged in silver for officers. The attached rear peak was also.

For the enlisted men only the front peak was edged with a metal strip.

The scale chains were made of neusilber (nickel silver) or were silver-plated and were held by lion agraffes.

The chin cords were interwoven with silver and blue for the officers. For the enlisted men they were white.

The chin cords were held on the Tschapka - at the right corner of the lid) by a silver or nickel-silver lion-head hook.

At the front was the royal monogram with a crown.

The parade plume consisted of white horsehair and had a blue-and-white metal cockade. Because of the parade plume, the actual field emblem was therefore not worn.

In 1886 the Prussian Tschapka model shown here was introduced. These now displayed the familiar lion emblem at the front.

The two regiments differed mainly in the color of their buttons: No. 1 white and No. 2 yellow.

The braiding, as well as the fittings, ornamentation and scale chains of the Tschapka, and the half-moons of the epaulettes, were also executed in the respective button color.

According to Haber (Die Cavallerie des Deutschen Reiches. Derselben Entstehung, Entwicklung und Geschichte, ..., 1877, reprint Krefeld 1977, p. 333 ff.), the Bavarian Uhlan regiments did not carry standards.