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Figure 1 is based on a
photograph of a German New Guinea
Company Police Soldier taken in Friedrich Wihelmshaven, on
Kaiserwilhelmsland
in 1899. The German New Guinea Company raised the first Police-troop
("Polizeitruppe") on New Guinea. In 1899 the German colonial ministry took
control of the colony and its Polizeitruppe from the Company. These
Police Soldiers ("Polizei-Soldaten") of the ) of the German New Guinea Company wore a locally made dark red
Sarong (variously known as a "Hüfttuch" (hip-cloth)
or "Lendentuch" (lion cloth) in German, a "Sulu" in Tok Pisin or a
"Rami" in Hiri Motu,
a widely spoken Papuan language) and a brown kepi-style cap with a black leather
peak and a large imperial cockade on the front. The equipment consisted of a
leather belt supporting a single large ammunition pouch of a style once used by
the Prussian army but obsolete since the 1860's. He is armed with a Mauser M71
carbine although the first New Guinea Polizeitruppe organised by the German New
Guinea Company were armed with old French Chassepot '71 rifles, possibly from
stocks captured during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71.
This police
trooper wears a band of
plaited fibres around his left arm and a necklace that may possibly be made of
sea shells. Surprisingly the German authorities seem to have occasionally tolerated
such non-uniform adornments (or "Bila" as the islanders call them). These
adornments
usually consisted of plaits of plant fibres adorned with seashells, animal bones
and teeth, pieces of coral, beads, agate, coloured stones or even large insects.
They could be worn around the arms, wrists, neck, ankles or in the hair.
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Figure 2 is based on a
photograph of a German New Guinea
Police Soldier taken in 1909. This shows the New Guinea police as they typically
appeared from the late 1890's until 1914 (in fact some photos show policemen on
the Marshall Islands under Japanese rule in 1915 still wearing German fields
caps with the imperial cockade.). Photos of the New Guinea Polizeitruppe in both the Sokehs rebellion
and the short campaign in 1914 show them dressed like this.
They wore a dark red sarong as
described above with a brown leather belt with a Naval other ranks belt buckle
(see right) supporting one or two M1895 style ammunition
pouches. As well as the ammunition
pouches, the New Guinea Polizeitruppe were issued a water bottle, a ground sheet and
a rucksack (similar to the Naval "Seesack"- see
Naval Equipment Details
Page)- but not usually bayonets. The standard headdress was a dark brown field
cap with a black leather peak and red hatband with a small imperial cockade,
which replaced the kepi worn by the Polizeitruppe of the German New Guinea
Company. During this period the New Guinea
Polizeitruppe were mainly armed with the Mauser '88
Carbine and the Jägerbüsche '71 rifle as seen here. |
Naval Other Ranks Belt Buckle
(See
Belt Buckle Details Page)
Photo Copyright Doppler |
Figure 3 is based on a
photograph of a German New Guinea
Police Soldier taken in 1914 just after their
surrender to Australian forces. The original photograph shows a group of
similarly dressed New Guinea Police as
prisoners of war onboard an Australian ship. They wear dark red Sarongs with two
M1895 ammunition pouches on a naval issue brown leather belt with naval other
ranks belt buckle. They also wear straw hats with an imperial cockade holding up the right side, as originally
issued to the
East Asian
Expeditionary Corps. Some figures in the original photograph do not have
either side held up. Straw hats such as these are quite commonly seen in photos
of the New Guinea police especially on the smaller islands. At least one
photograph from the 1914 campaign shows a group of New Guinea police with some
wearing the field cap and others wearing the straw hat in a mixed group.
During the Australian invasion non-combatant police in
German New
Guinea, purely involved in civilian matters, were identified by wearing a white armband.
Figure 4 is based on a
photograph of a German New Guinea Police NCO taken in about 1910.
In relatively cold weather such as on night patrol and during the rainy season,
the New
Guinea Polizeitruppe wore khaki cotton naval style tops with a naval square collar and cuffs
edged in red and matching three quarter length khaki trousers These uniforms were
similar to those worn by Wissmann's askaris
in German East Africa in the early 1890's and also by African troops of the
Cameroon
Polizeitruppe in the early 1890's. In some
photos of New Guinea police the NCOs are seen wearing this khaki naval top while the
rank and file wear only the sarong as in the previous illustrations. This may have
been simply to display rank insignia as seen by the single red chevron on the upper
left sleeve of this NCO (see NCO Rank Insignia Page).
Figure 5 is based on a
photograph of a German Carolines Islands Police Soldier probably taken in the
first decade of the 20th Century. Polizei-Soldaten on the smaller islands such as the
Carolines, the Marshalls, the Marianas, Paulu, Bougainville, Nauru and Samoa
often wore a mixture of uniforms. White naval fatigues were issued as seen here.
They had a blue edged square collar and three blue bars across the chest. The
sleeves and trousers were short and the trousers were three quarter length.
Sometimes the trousers were replaced by the red sarong, sometimes
the sarong was worn with no top. Headgear could consist of a straw hat or the brown field cap as usually worn in New Guinea,
while some Polizei-Soldaten were bare headed, some with short cut hair others with
wild Afro-style haircuts. The straw hat (as seen here) was
originally issued to the
East Asian
Expeditionary Corps and had a large imperial cockade holding up the right
hand side. Curiously this Polizei-Soldat has pinned up the left
side of his hat (or perhaps he is wearing it backwards). Many of these island
police also decorated themselves with locally made adornments as described
above.
Another very curious
item of headgear worn by island Polizeitruppe has been seen in contemporary illustrations but not (so far)
confirmed in photographs. The illustrations (such as those in the Kolonial Lexicon and the
1930's Waldorf-Astoria cigarette card set) show Polizei-Soldaten on Yap (or "Jap" in German)
in the West Caroline Islands wearing a peakless blue cap on parade, edged along
the top with a twisted cord in
the imperial colours, with an imperial cockade on the front and a white feather
plume.
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