Clashing styles in this photo

[ireload2]

https://wwiiafterwwii.files.wordpres...zone.jpg?w=809

Information

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[Gil Boyd]

.303's? must be Austrian looking at the flag with the Eagle holding the syckle or a country assisted by the UK

[tombear]

i Wonder how long it was before they were given less Germanic looking uniforms? That photo must have been from imeditley post war.

ATB

Tom

[browningautorifle]

Austrian yes, but I can't find that exact flag. It sure looks different with them holding #1 rifles...

[Peter Laidler]

The flag......... Looks distinctly Prussian to me.

[Gil Boyd]

Could be, but the sycle gives it away

[browningautorifle]

Prussian

It's what the eagle is holding in his claws that distinguishes...

[Ovidio]

Also the Austrian flag on the shield at chest height of the eagle.

[tombear]

Gendarmerie (Austria) - Wikipedia

Straight after the war the British and then the Americans raised "special" police troops with heavier weapons than the regular police to counter any Russian back coups in their sectors.

ATB

Tom

[Promo]

Tom, this is incorrect. Austria was split into four occupation zones, in which they therefore also mainly used the weapons of the occupying nation. Of course in the British occupation zone they mainly got Enfield SMLE rifles. This is also the origin of the "ÖSTERR. GENDARMERIE" marked No. 1 Mk.III rifles.

Edit: to also answer the original question, the people shown are from the Austrian B-Gendarmerie, the first Austrian Armed Forces post WWII. The same pictures is also shown on the Website of the Austrian Military Museum treating the history of the B-Gendarmerie: http://www.hgm-wien.at/facts/geschic...ie/index.shtml