Is this a joke picture? Perhaps they are wearing confiscated serbian headgear? The post card is dated oct 12th, 1915. The gentlemen are of higher ranks noted on the back side (from left): Oberleutnant Scherler from Elberfeld, "me", Dr. Simon from Leipzig, Rittmeister Sacher (?) from Torgau, Hauptmann Reibig from Lützen, Hauptmann Blochius Hartmann from Düsseldorf. No unit ID.

Andrei,

>How do you know they are Serbian hats and not Romanian?

I dont.. is that a picture of Romanian soldiers? Were such hats a standard issue?

Yes.Unless they are Serbians on the Romanian Front.

Andrei

Thanks for the info! I once saw a (much later) picture of a Serb with a somewhat similar hat. Therefore I had assumed it was Serbian.

Well don't know maybe they are different.
Andrei

I used to do mountain climbing in Slovenija, and one day I bought a hat somewhat like those, but not as large and stupid-looking, which I was led to believe was the sign of a really "in" climber or Alpinist in Slovenija. Eventually I acquired a Slovene guide, one of the most famous climbers of his time, and he informed me that it was actually a hat sold to tourists that made them look really dumb. Perhaps this is what is going one here.

German soldiers serving in the Turkish Army in WW I (including my father) wore the Turkish fez and other Turkish headgear, and I think that they looked OK, and were generally worn proudly. The nature of headgear was important to Turkish soldiers, and their military culture associated headgear with a bill or brim with cowardice. But I do not see any reason why German officers would want to wear something to please either Serbs or Romanians. These hats look very weird and I think are being worn as a joke. Yes, I have seen a hat that looked like that (but not as extreme) being worn in Romania, by a shepard, about 1975, in Transylvania.

Bob Lembke

On a second thought I think these hats are taller than those Romanian ones.

Andrei

They allow heavy snow to fall off faster.

Yes they do look somwhat like gnomes with those hats. It sounds very likely that they bought themselves souvenirs like in Bobs story. Back then, the Balkans still had quite an exotic flair.

I have seen several fun pictures of posing soldiers wearing foreign dresses, but none of officers so far.