On the excellent Delcampe site. The vendor couldn't i.d. the subject, but I managed to scrape my knowledge together and realised this is quite unusual. It's a postcard, but a personal one rather than a mass-produced or official one.
The man is a lieutenant in the Carabiniers (hunting horn and two stars on collar). He's wearing the M1914 tunic, which would be Hunting Green, and the 1914 culottes, grey with two broad green stripes.
The interesting thing is his kepi. If I interpret this correctly, it's the soft, "Yser" model, with earflaps that button up across the front. These were very short-lived, and only a few were issued before the khaki was introduced. They were blue for line infantry and green for Carabiniers (don't know if the Chasseurs à Pied received any). Have seen the Carabinier Cyclists' version, which has a bicycle-wheel badge on the front, but never seen the standard one before.
Mollo & Turner mention these kepis, but they've misunderstood and show a tinted illustration that is actually of a Belgian wearing the British-style khaki cap.
-- Edited by James H on Friday 15th of June 2012 04:25:19 PM
"Sometimes things that are not true are included in Wikipedia. While at first glance that may appear like a very great problem for Wikipedia, in reality is it not. In fact, it's a good thing." - Wikipedia.
This is the photo from which the M&T illustration was taken. M&T have coloured the cap of the man in the centre a pale blue, but, as I say, they've misunderstood the situation. He's wearing a mixture of items, which was quite common. He's got the pre-War ammunition pouch, socks instead of gaiters or puttees, trousers that could be anything (perhaps the "wine red" corduroy), 1914 pattern dark blue infantry tunic, and a khaki, British-style cap. The Yser kepi was a different thing altogether; the photo below is either the Transport or Admin Battalion version.
"Sometimes things that are not true are included in Wikipedia. While at first glance that may appear like a very great problem for Wikipedia, in reality is it not. In fact, it's a good thing." - Wikipedia.
