German reenacting before 1918 ID

[anemon]

Hello, I received this photo along with several other unrelated German photos from before 1918. The photo looks like a historical reenactment of a certain period. I would be grateful for help because I can't think of anything specific about it.

[Willmore]

Hi there.

I have three similar photos which are part of a Wehrpaß group.







Wehrpass - Artillerie Regiment Radio Operator - Gefallen

It is possible that they were being used as film extras. Serving soldiers were used as extras during the filming of Kolberg. As many as 50,000 German soldiers were pulled from active duty to flesh out the film’s panoramic battle sequences, while a hundred railway cars of salt were laid down to simulate snow during the film’s winter scenes, much of which was shot in the summer months. Two extras died during filming.

“Kolberg” — Nazi Germany's Cinematic Swan Song - MilitaryHistoryNow.com

It is also possible that that they might have been involved in some kind of commemorative event.

Kind regards,

Will.

[Kohima]

So many times, you hear of serving soldiers being used for epic battle sequences in films, and yet never see or hear any evidence from those directly involved!
If that is what these images portray, this would be the first photographic record of just such a ‘duty’ I have ever seen.
Fantastic!

[VtwinVince]

I would lean towards film extras as well. The amount of energy spent on Kolberg at such a late stage of the war was truly astonishing.

[Witt]

I will go against the grain in that I do not think any of the photos in discussion relate to Kolberg. Maybe it is from another film although I was thinking it is to commemorate (some date/period of) the Napoleonic Wars.

The OP photo is definitely not from Kolberg. I fast forwarded through the whole movie and there was never anyone in grey uniform. The uniforms look Austrian being all white with black gaiters. And like Infanterie Regiment 'Kaiser Franz' Nr. 1 for example was considered German for a while. Their tab color was darker red and we see the men in this photo have a dark colored tab.

I think the same goes for the photos coming from the wehrpaß nachlass. These uniforms look very similar to those worn in Kolberg but maybe hard to tell if they match exactly. Tricorns and shakos were worn in the film but I never saw a single bearskin or grenadier mitre style caps, yet the latter are seen in two of Will’s photos. The first photo showing muster has the grenadiers wearing the mitre and bearskin headwear. I have been trying to match a unit with any of the uniforms shown. Those with the white mitre caps could be Württemburg Garde du Fuß (shown in the first image below) or Altpreußisches Infanterieregiment No. 15 (shown in the second image below). There are similarities to both of these regiments but it could also be something else.







Some of my observations as I think these are ‘reenactment’ photos of sort. Too late for the centennial of the Napoleonic Wars and too early for the Sesquicentennial. Possibly for one of the smaller conflicts.

[VtwinVince]

I didn't suggest that the photos showed scenes from Kolberg, as there were other productions besides this film.

[Witt]

Nor did I ever pinpoint an opponent since I only offered a rebuttal against what I deemed a collective nod to the fact there was a real possibly these photos showcased extras from the film Kolberg in costume. This film was undoubtably the most well known German film regarding the Napoleonic Wars, and if 50,000 or more people were used in roles; it is impossible to not consequently assume the men from any of these photos were in the background. It was stated and maybe implied yet there was no evidence given for or against the notation until I did some research to provide some level of conclusion.

Sure, there were a couple other German films about the Napoleonic Wars that they could have been extras for. Maybe it was for Waterloo (1929), Die letzte Kompagnie (1930), Yorck (1931), Marschall Vorwärts (1932), Der Rebell (1932), Der schwarze Husar (1932), or even Der Feuerteufel (1940). Of course then each one would have to be watched to confirm if it could be a match or not. None of the photos really have the look of early-Depression era photographs, so all but the last could arguably be ruled out before any examination. There is a chance a different smaller scale movie is being represented that has been more largely forgotten with time. I still stand by the belief that they are commemorative photographs not film extra candids.

[Willmore]

Hello everyone.

It is my bad, I should have written that Kolburg is an example where serving soldiers were used as extras. The three photos from post #2 predate the filming of Kolburg by a couple of years and the Wehrpß holder fell in battle in early 1943, so this conclusively shows these are not linked in anyway to the filming of the movie.

Kind regards,

Will.