Pre-War/Early War V

Cavalry

There were three different branches of the Belgian cavalry: Chasseurs-à-Cheval, Guides, and Lancers. The Chasseurs wore dark blue dress jackets trimmed with white braid, or dark blue field jackets trimmed in yellow for the 1st Regiment and red for the 2nd and 4th Regiments. A dark blue cloak was worn over the field jacket. The riding pants for all units were blue grey with white stripes along the legs. The Chasseurs wore a shako on service, but wore a tasselled bonnet de police as their field cap.

Guides wore a similar uniform but in a dark green and with magenta riding pants and a busby as their on-service hat.

Lancers wore the same uniforms as the Chasseurs but for different colored facings (white for the 1st and 2nd Regiments, and yellow for the 3rd and 4th).

Every cavalry unit received the M1889 Carbine. Guides and Lancers were issued lances as well as swords, while in 1914 the Chasseurs had only swords.

La Gendarmerie

The Gendarmerie uniform was similar to that of the Grenadier, except that their dress tunic was single breasted and there was no stripe along the legs of the trousers. They wore cavalry cloaks and had bonnets de police as their field cap. As in the other branches, commissioned officers wore kepis. The mounted arm was issued older models of the cavalry sword and light cavalry carbine, and each man was also to carry the M1877 pistol. The dismounted Gendarmerie were armed with the Mauser M1889 Carbine, but carried the M1889 yataghan as their bayonet.