WW1 era

[nzcarnerd]

This photo was posted on an NZ website with the caption 'Cars in NZ, WW1 era'.

 

To me it is obviously not NZ, it looks more like central Europe.

 

Maybe someone recognises the uniforms?

 

The small car on the left with central steering is unusual.

 

 

[Casper Friederich]

2 hours ago, nzcarnerd said:

This photo was posted on an NZ website with the caption 'Cars in NZ, WW1 era'.

 

To me it is obviously not NZ, it looks more like central Europe.

 

Maybe someone recognises the uniforms?

 

The small car on the left with central steering is unusual.

 

 

The smaller car on the left is a German Wanderer "Puppchen" with tandem-seating

[Craig Gillingham]

The car on the right is an Audi type D.

[JV Puleo]

I think the uniforms are German and that the officer in the front seat is in the German Navy. Enlisted men in the Army and the Navy wore a visorless hat like that and can't blow the photo up enough to see better. (Other countries used them as well, including Britain where they were extremely unpopular and short lived.) The officer in the back seat is in a different uniform that might give a clue to the location.

 

I did manage to blow it up a bit and am now more convinced that they are Germans - in the Navy.

Edited May 4, 2021 by JV Puleo (see edit history)

[nzcarnerd]

On 5/5/2021 at 2:42 AM, JV Puleo said:

I think the uniforms are German and that the officer in the front seat is in the German Navy. Enlisted men in the Army and the Navy wore a visorless hat like that and can't blow the photo up enough to see better. (Other countries used them as well, including Britain where they were extremely unpopular and short lived.) The officer in the back seat is in a different uniform that might give a clue to the location.

 

I did manage to blow it up a bit and am now more convinced that they are Germans - in the Navy.

 

You were partly right on the German Navy, but I have received some more specific information - 

 

'Our Moscow military uniforms expert thinks the uniforms are German WW1 'Marinekorps Flandern', Marine Infantry servicemen who used 'M' registration numbers.  'Marinekorps Flandern' were the Naval Corps of Imperial German Kriegsmarine 1914-18 operating in coastal area of Flanders: canals, bridges, locks and ports (Belgium/Holland).

 

Car on left has widow's peak radiator header tank and is wide enough for only a single person which suggest a circa 1914 Wanderer Pupchen W3 Tourer Tandem seating/doors 1286cc made in Chemnitz. 

 

Car at at back in middle has most of the identifiable bits hidden but we think from the thin edged veed radiator and distinctive drooping sides windscreen is probably a circa 1915 Opel 8'25 Tourer.

 

The car on right has oval badge proud off a veed header tank, small flat radiator, high gas lights on double stalks with a high headlamp link bar, adds up to a circa 1916 Audi 18’45 Tourer.'
 

[JV Puleo]

Excellent! I wasn't sure about the Navy because the caps should have a ribbon with "S.M.S -----", the name of their ship. Marine Infantry makes much more sense because the uniforms aren't exactly what I'd expect German sailors to be wearing. It was the officer's cap badge that tipped me off because the the German Navy used a rondel surrounded by a wreath and topped with a crown...Army officers had a much simpler device - usually two rondels, one for the German Empire and the other for their state - like Bavaria (which would be blue & white).

[edinmass]

It constantly amazes me the knowledge of minutiae known to the people here. Ask half the kids under forty today who won WWII and they have no clue. The world sure has been dumbed down to the extent that I have very little hope for it.

[nzcarnerd]

27 minutes ago, edinmass said:

It constantly amazes me the knowledge of minutiae known to the people here. Ask half the kids under forty today who won WWII and they have no clue. The world sure has been dumbed down to the extent that I have very little hope for it.

 

I have been lucky to have made a few contacts, who have contacts with some very knowledgeable people into quite obscure stuff.

[nzcarnerd]

Btw I am guessing the hedge in the background is the sort of thing that caused so much trouble for the Allies trying to advance through France in June 1944.