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Chinese Officers Training in
Germany
Photos © Sharon Cho
This is a very curious series of photographs. It
shows at least five Chinese officers in German uniform. The photographs were
kindly shared with us by Sharon Cho
who is looking for information on a family member in the photos. One of the
officers in the photo is her step great grandfather, whose name is unknown but a
family tradition says that he studied in Germany prior to the First World War
(as seen in these photographs), that he later worked as a German translator in
China but stopped working for the German embassy and started working for the
Swiss on the outbreak of the Second World War.
From the photographs we can tell that these are
Chinese officers in Germany sometime between 1898 and 1914. If anyone can offer
more information please contact me here.
Five Chinese Officers wearing Prussian Army
Uniform
| This photograph
shows the five officers wearing standard German army uniforms of the
period.
Four of the officers wear the Prussian
army officers grey double breasted Litewka tunic. The seated officer on the
right wears a Prussian army officers grey double breasted Paletot coat.
They wear Prussian army peaked officers
caps with two cockades. Two cockades were worn on caps in the German
army from 1897 onwards, with an Imperial cockade above a state cockade.
However, closer examination would seem to show that they are nor the
usual cockades worn by German officers. The upper imperial cockade for a
German officer would have an outside ring of black with an inner ring of
white/silver and a red centre. These cockades look to have a silver or
gold outer edge and a coloured centre.
The lower state cockade would be
black/silver/black for Prussian officers and these officers lower
cockades again do not appear to be predominantly black. Paler shades
were worn by officers of other German states but the prescience of
Prussian officers in other photographs in the series would seem to show
that the Chinese are attached to the Prussian army. It is possible that
these officers wear their own specially made national cockades.
The different shades of tunic collar and
cap bands indicate that they are attached to different units. Possibly,
some are training with the artillery and some with the cavalry for
example. They all wear Prussian army trousers and short boots. |
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Chinese Officer with Prussian Officers and Other
Ranks
| This photograph shows a
foreign officer with officers and other ranks from a Prussian Infantry
Regiment. I have not yet been able
to confirm that the uniform is that of a Chinese army officer of the
period. It consists of a double breasted tunic with a dark sanding
collar, officers epaulette shoulder straps and lace loops on the cuffs.
The tunic does not appear to be one worn by the Prussian army and the
cuff loops are certainly not Prussian. The headdress worn by this
officer is very definitely not Prussian. It is a round stiff kepi with a
short peak. It is a dark colour with piping along the top and
bottom edges in metallic lace. On the front is an unidentified round
badge.
The Prussians in the photograph wear dark
blue peacetime uniforms which were standard within most of the German
army (but not the German East Asian troops in China) prior to the outbreak of war in 1914. They all appear to be from
the same unit in that they have the same shade of collar and cuffs as
each other.
Four of them hold officer rank, with an
other ranks infantryman on the far right and a senior NCO third from
right in the background (note his collar lace). Officers and the NCO
carry swords, the infantryman on the right carries a Gew98 rifle. The
rifle most likely dates the photograph to the 20th Century.
The Prussian uniforms are dark blue with
red collars and Brandenburg style cuffs. These cuffs identify them as
infantry. The Pickelhaube spiked helmets have the Prussian line eagle on
them showing them to be a line infantry regiment from Prussia (as
opposed to a guards regiment or one from a smaller state such as
Bavaria, Saxony or Württemberg. Note the smaller spike worn by the
private soldier as opposed to the larger spikes of the officers. |
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Chinese Officer with a German Orderly
This photograph shows one of the Chinese officers wearing
the same double breasted Litewka and peaked filed cap as seen in the first
photograph. He wears Prussian army riding breeches and riding boots. A German orderly holds his horse and another similarly dressed German
soldier is the the background. They wear drill uniforms with other ranks
Prussian army peakless army
field caps. The caps have two cockades (most likely the Imperial black/white/red
over the Prussian black/white/black). Note the contrast between the cockades
worn by the German orderly and the Chinese officer in the close up below- the
German can be clearly seen to have dark centres to his cockades whereas the
cockades worn by the Chinese officer do not. The style of building in the
background and the large Germanic number 13 on it again
point to these photographs having been taken in Germany rather than China.
Please respect the generosity of
Sharon Cho in sharing these photographs
with us by not reproducing them without prior permission.
Recommended Links
This series of photographs has been discussed on Forums before with some
interesting and informative comments but no definitive solution to the officers'
identity or accurate dates.
Pickelhaubes Forum- Period Photographs Section
Axis History Forum- Chinese History Section
Axis History Forum- Japanese History Section
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