I would hazard a well educated guess that they are Freikorps post WW1. Lots of different units with different styles. Regards Tom
They are wearing German belts, shoulder straps and drinking out of german canteens, so unlikely but possible.
Are those belt buckles German? They look `round` to me (Back row) Only officers had round the rest were rectangular ? Kyle
well, they are wearing officer style laced shoulder boards, so it might be a group of officers or it's the belt buckle of a member of Staatsforstbeamte.
I can only thank you for posting, Jools. Had an enjoyable hour going around the houses to no avail, I'm afraid. All the above plausible, been through assorted Hiwis, really beginning to suspect some sort of civic or police chaps. Would you mind if I shared it to a largish Twitter following to see if anyone has any thoughts there?
Staatsforstbeamte are they Forestry workers? Looking at those tunics I can really see where Tom suggested Freikorps ? Those tunics appear to have concealed buttons similar to the ww1 pattern but they have breast pockets? Confusing Kyle
There doesn't appear to be a single chest or arm eagle among them and the collar tabs have what looks like buttons on them so not Wehrmacht. I would agree with the possibility that they are Hungarian.
This photo is quite confusing as 1) They are wearing Hungarian(?) tunics and collar tabs but are wearing German helmets (Hungarian helmets didn't have decals) and their shoulder boards don't match up to other Hungarian uniforms 2) The officer of the group wears a German Officers cap and his collar tabs should be different to the others if he's Hungarian but they are the same.
I can't see the one wearing a visor being a German officer as Heer & Luftwaffe officer visors had silver cords and not a black strap as seen in the photo. Kriegsmarine however did have black straps on officers visors (and NCO ones). Has the national colour shield decal been superimposed on to the picture? It seems brighter than the rest of the image.
No, I have the original and I can tell you it hasn't. I think its the sun shining on the decal and the light being reflected.
With the mis-match of uniforms etc they look even more like para military than ever ? Toms Freikorps suggestion still seems a decent shout ? Perhaps not immediately post WW1 maybe on the lines of the Sudetendeutsches Freikorps ? 1938 ? Backed by Hitler to destabilise Czechoslovakia ? Similar tunics on these 1919 Freikorps? Kyle