From: ameliede@...
Last year I was searching for information about the army uniform worn by my
Grandfather's young brother in a photo taken in the early 20th century. All we knew
was that he had been conscripted into 'the Tsar's army, never to be heard of
again', and I was trying to establish his age to fit in with other aspects of the
family already known.

I found 'An Index of Russian Army Uniforms' by Marc Conrad on the internet, and was
able to recognise the uniform in our photo amongst the many photos and
illustrations on the site. I was subsequently able to fine tune the period as
between 1910-1914 after I contacted Mr Conrad via the contact email address on the
site.

I have since established that Mr Conrad is an authority on many matters relating to
the Russian Army. Unfortunately, I didn't bookmark the site showing the index, and
have been unable to find it again, but I still have the contact email address,
which appears on other pages concerning Marc Conrad's works.

This information may be of use for other Genners' queries about Russian army
uniforms often posted on this forum.

My great uncle was one of the thousands of young Russian Jewish lads conscripted as
cannon fodder early in the 20th century in Belarus and beyond, and my grandfather
told my late father that the villages and towns under Russian rule usually included
a person who provided a service of disfiguring young men in order to make them
unfit for army service, eg amputating fingers or toes or worse. Anything was better
than being conscripted. The photo of my very young great uncle in Private's
uniform, taken before he died, can be seen in the bottom row of photos on the
Druya Site by Eilat Gordon Levitan.

I would guess that any Jewish conscript who rose in the ranks would have been
highly skilled in some way, or else a member of an influential family.

Felicity Bartak
Melbourne
Australia

MODERATOR NOTE: The website to which Felicia refers is
http://marksrussianmilitaryhistory.info/