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This photograph shows two units of the Polizeitruppe. It
was sent as a postcard from Yap in the German Carolines but
written in Angaur a German island off Palau on 16th
September 1911. As such it most likely shows the German
garrison on Angaur, an important phosphate mining base.
The
German NCOs wear white
tropical uniforms with no visible insignia. The man on the
left wears a white tropical helmet that is most likely
privately purchased. Then man on the left wears a white
peaked cap with what may be a red Polizeitruppe hatband.
The Pacific other ranks wear
two different styles of uniform and seem to be from different
garrisons. Note also the different facial features of each
group being from different ethnicities.
One half of them wear red
sarongs, white naval style tops with three blue stripes
across the chest and no headdress. They are armed with the
JB71 rifle and what appears to be the S71 bayonet. They
carry a single ammunition pouch on a brown leather belt with
a plain buckle. These are probably the local Angaur
Micronesian soldiers.
The other half wear a khaki naval style uniform with field
cap. The edging on the uniform and the hatband of the cap
would have been red. They also carry a single ammunition
pouch on a brown leather belt with a plain buckle. Note the
water bottle carried by one. Their rifles are the Gew88 but
their bayonets cannot be identified. These soldiers in khaki
are probably from the mainland New Guinea
Melanesian
Polizeitruppe. |
