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Figure 2 is based on an early
wartime photograph
of a German Schutztruppe Officer. Again he is typical of how they
appeared from the introduction of the standardised Schutztruppe uniforms in 1896
until the beginning of the First World War. He is dressed the same as the previous
NCO except that his uniform would have been of better quality, with a
higher collar and officer's black/silver/red braided shoulder straps (see right). He wears a grey
peaked field cap with piping and hatband in white for East Africa and a
black/white/red imperial cockade on the
front of the hatband. Officers usually wore short boots with grey puttees or
leather gaiters as shown here. They were usually armed
with a pistol and carried as little equipment as possible.
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Schutztruppe Officer's Shoulder Straps
(See
Schutztruppe Insignia Page)
Photo Copyright Doppler |
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Figure 3 is based on a
late wartime photograph of Oberleutnant zur See Wenig of the 2nd Artillery
Battery of the East African Schutztruppe. Like most former SMS Königsberg
crew later in the war, he has discarded his naval uniform entirely. He wears a captured British Wolseley
tropical helmet (see right), an unidentifiable khaki shirt with no rank
distinctions and non-regulation shorts. This was quite typical of Schutztruppe
officers and NCOs later in the war. With supplies running short they were increasingly seen in
casual slouch hats and non-regulation tropical helmets.
Likewise their uniforms tend to become less and less regulation with
civilian or
captured shirts, shorts and tunics in evidence, stripped of allied insignia
where necessary of
course. White shirts were dyed with tea, coffee or local
plant mixtures to different shades of light brown to khaki. Askari tunics were
also sometimes issued to the Shooting Companies when shortages of the blue piped
tunic became chronic. Often later in the war the Schutztruppe are seen with no visible insignia of rank or of
belonging to either side. To help in identification this officer wears a black/white/red armband (see right). This practice was not
very widely spread although some Germans did wear
black/white/red strips on their shoulder straps.
The use of horses in East Africa was very limited due to their susceptibility to
diseases carried by the tsetse fly especially in the south of the colony. Officers were
sometimes mounted (often on
mules or small
tough ponies) at the head of columns of askaris.
Oberleutnant zur See Richard Wenig
had been a gunnery officer on the SMS Königsberg. When the crew of the
Königsberg were incorporated into the Schutztruppe Wenig went on to command
von Lettow-Vorbeck's artillery including the now land based guns from the
Königsberg. Wenig lost his left foot in action around the Rufiji Delta but
continued in service right up to the end of the war (being one of the last 30
officers to surrender in November 1918) with a prosthetic foot he made himself.
This may explain
why he is one of the few mounted officers seen late in the war. After the war Wenig wrote a book called "Kriegs-Safari"
based on his experiences during the war in East Africa.
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British Wolseley Tropical Helmet
(See
Tropical Helmets Details Page)
Imperial War Museum Collection
Armband and shoulder strip
(See
Identification Brassard Details
Page)
Imperial War Museum Collection |
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Figure 4 is based on a wartime photograph
of a German Schutztruppe Medical Officer of the 9. Feldkompagnie. He wears a
Schutztruppe officers tropical helmet
with a silver officers cord and a small black/white/red cockade. These
cords and cockades were often lost or removed on campaign. He still
wears his original Schutztruppe blue piped khaki tunic with an other
ranks belt and buckle (see right) but his shorts are non regulation,
possibly captured British items. The khaki puttees commonly worn by
the Schutztruppe later in the war were from captured or improvised
stocks. Being a doctor or medic he wears a white red cross armband to
identify him as a non combatant.
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Schutztruppe Other Ranks Belt Buckle
(See
Belt Buckle Details Page)
Photo Copyright Doppler |
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Figure 5 is based on a
wartime photograph
of a German Schutztruppe NCO or Officer in the latter stages of the war.
He wears a non-regulation tropical helmet (possibly civilian or
private purchase) white shirt and khaki trousers tucked into non
regulation boots. In fact, as had become common to an extent, he wears little to distinguish him as
belonging either side at all except for his belt buckle and M1909 ammunition
pouches. One passage in "Blockade and Jungle" by Christen P
Christensen (See Book Reviews Page)
describes a scene where one German narrowly avoids shooting another
German by mistake and only recognises the fact that he is friend
rather than foe by the fact that his target has a long beard- the
British were usually clean shaven while the Germans allowed their
beards to grow on campaign.
Like many officers and NCOs in the field he finds binoculars very
useful and like most things for the Germans in East Africa they were
hard to come by, so captured and civilian items were used alongside
issue stocks. The Imperial War Museum in London even has a pair of
opera glasses captured from the German forces in East Africa during
the First World War (see right). |
Opera glasses used in East Africa
(See Imperial War Museum Collection Page)
IWM Collection |
