ulan

Uhlan prisoners at Guelzin (LOC)

from The Library of Congress

• 5 older comments, and then…
• trialsanderrors said:

  Uhlans (in Polish: "Ułan"; "Ulan" in German) were Polish light cavalry armed with lances, sabres and pistols. The title was later used by lancer regiments in the Russian, Prussian, and Austrian armies. Uhlans typically wore a double-breasted jacket (kurta) with a coloured panel (plastron) at the front, a coloured sash, and a square-topped Polish lancer cap (czapka) also spelt 'chapka,' chapska and schapska. This cap or cavalry helmet was derived from a traditional design of Polish cap, made more formal and stylised for military use. Their lances usually had small, swallow-tailed flags (known as the lance pennon) just below the spearhead. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uhlan On Guelzin I find Le Port Ecluse Guelzin, which leads me to Condé-sur-l'Escaut: Condé-sur-l'Escaut is a commune of the Nord department in northern France. It lies on the border with Belgium. The population in 1999 was 10,527. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condé-sur-l'Escaut An alternative is Gœulzin: Gœulzin is a commune in the Nord department in northern France. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gœulzin Both are on the Belgian border, so both likely saw action in the early stages of the war.

• Jim Rees said:

  I didn't know they still used lances in WWI. They would have been no match for those rifles, probably bolt-action, possibly Enfields. I assume the captors would be British or French but can't find a match for the uniform.

• aware health said:

  I think that's French cavalry guarding the prisoners. You can see those odd helmets in this wiki photo: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:French_heavy_cavalry_Paris_Aug...

• Jim Rees said:

  I couldn't find out much about the helmets. They may be Tarleton style, which were made of leather and used by the French army since medieval times. The French introduced the first steel combat helmet in 1915 but it wasn't issued to the cavalry.

• Deserted Transport said:

  These are French Dragons.