Russian, Lithuanian uniforms 1920's?

[917601]

My father passed this old family portrait to me before he died. It is a picture of his mother's brother, and his father's brother when in Lithuania, right after WW1, possibly early 1920's. Can anyone ID the uniforms? I suspect the one on the left is Lithuanian army, on the right Russian army.

[917601]

Any thoughts? After cruising the internet I now believe the one on Rt is Lithuanian, the left still a puzzle? Lithuanian Calvary With all the tassels? All comments appreciated.

 

[stratasfan]

Well, those collar points (or whatever the technical term for them is) on the one on the left match the Lithuanian idea. Take a look at this photo from this link, which was ID'd as Lithuanian:

 

 

 

Same as this 1930 Lithuanian soldier:

 

 

 

 

 

[stratasfan]

As far as the look of the one on the right . . . here is someone's interesting photo group - https://www.tumblr.com/search/doughboy uniforms

 

They have this to say about Lithuanian uniforms around 1920 - 

 

Quote

Lithuanian soldiers, 1919-early 1920s. Due to not having an official uniform yet, the Lithuanian government bought up stocks of surplus US Army M1912/17 uniforms that had been left in France.In general buttons were replaced and they wore a uniformed cap of some sort. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[stratasfan]

Haven't found anything with those tassles yet, though. Maybe someone will see this who knows about the Baltic area!

[917601]

Wow, thank you for the information. Your information is most helpful. I was told these types of photos were not taken at one sitting. They took seperate portraits that relatives had and somehow combined them all into one group picture. Hence the touching up.

Makes sense now that I think about it. The one on the right is one of the 1919-20 uniforms, and the one on left with tassels appears to be the later Lithuanian uniform when they had brief independence in the later mid 1920's. I do know grandpaw left Lithuania so as not to be drafted into the czars army in WW1. I do know all my father's relatives who did not leave Lithuania did not survive WW2 and communist occupation. The same story with all my mother's relatives, her family left Lithuania in 1944 with the retreating Germans, fled west, ended up in Dresden during the famous bombing destruction. Lived through that, ended up in Munich ( maybe Vienna) area allied DP camps, finally made it to Chicago in 1948. I took her back to Lithuania , her farmhouse, in 1993 when the Russians pulled out,. All her relatives, we were told did not survive the war or died in the Siberian Gulags.She is still alive, 88. May God continue to bless her.

[917601]

I found this picture of a Lithuanian soldier on the net. What interested me was he is carrying a US M1917 rifle, or maybe a British Enfield ( same rifle, but chambered in .303). The web states England shipped Lithuania many 303 Enfields for their army.