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Uniforms and Equipment of the Old Army - Cavalry - Uhlans - The Ulanka

Vizewachtmeister of the Uhlan Regiment
Vizewachtmeister of the Uhlan Regiment "Kaiser Alexander II. of Russia" (1st Brandenburg) No. 3 (Fürstenwalde) in service dress. Studio photograph (KAB) before 1914. Photographer: A. Regis, proprietor Hubert Schmidt/ Fürstenwalde. The NCO braids were plain for the line. On the right upper sleeve the awards (chevrons) for lance fighting can be seen. The regiment otherwise rode only chestnuts.

Typical for the Prussian Uhlans was the dark blue ulanka with a waist sash of the same color as well as with sleeve cuffs, front facings and a rounded collar in the respective badge color.

For parade a flap in the badge color was buttoned up. Likewise on the czapka.

Furthermore, epaulettes with nickel-silver or brass half-moons were worn on the ulanka, which either displayed the regiment number or the monogram of the respective formation.

All monograms were made of brass. The crowns sat between the points of the half-moons, the respective monograms on the field.

In the guard formations the epaulettes showed no badge.

Non-commissioned officer of the 2nd Guard Uhlan Regiment (Berlin) in walking-out uniform. Original KAB. Photographer: E. Bieber/ Berlin. The NCO braids in the Guard were patterned.
Non-commissioned officer of the 2nd Guard Uhlan Regiment (Berlin) in walking-out uniform. Original KAB. Photographer: E. Bieber/ Berlin. The NCO braids in the Guard were patterned.
Two non-commissioned officers of the Prussian Uhlans. Photographer: Paul Kallenbach/ training area Hagenau in Alsace.
Two non-commissioned officers of the Prussian Uhlans. Photographer: Paul Kallenbach/ training area Hagenau in Alsace.

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Scenes from the daily service of the Old Army - Training - Instructional Infantry Battalion

According to Mila (History of the Clothing and Equipment of the Royal Prussian Army 1808 - 1878, Berlin 1878, reprint Krefeld 1970, p. 104) the Instructional Infantry Battalion "was established by A.K.O. of 30 December 1819, with the intention of promoting uniformity and conformity in service and in the infantry's drill exercises, for which purpose every year on 1 April officers, non-commissioned officers and men of all infantry regiments are detached to Potsdam for a certain period; a permanent company remains together continuously."