KB 2 Chevauleger "Thurn und Taxis": The West Coast Military Collectors Show

Here is an after-action report on the 2 Chevauleger's attendance at the West Coast Historical Military Collectors Show that was held last weekend on May 8 and 9. Every year, the Great War Historical Society sets up a number of displays in an effort to reach out to the public. The GWHS' member units contribute towards these displays, including the 2 Chevauleger; naturally our display was cavalry-oriented. The GWHS was out at the event on Saturday, May 9; this is usually the busiest day of the two-day event.

We arrived about 8:30 am and began setting up our display, primarily consisting of a saddle and various accessories. We also brought a complete set of equipment and a Kar 98az carbine. The event was fairly well-attended and we spent most of the day handing out business cards and answering questions from passers-by.

I took this event as the perfect opportunity to model my newly-constructed private purchase brown corduroy breeches. These are made of a chocolate-brown corduroy and are lined with black leather in the seat- essetially, these follow the same pattern for the 1916 Reihosen, only in corduroy. While this is a speculative design, it's very possible that this method was used since these were private purchase. Of course, it's also possible that they could have been made based on a civilian riding breeches pattern. In any event, these are perfectly plausible and fit in perfectly with my impression as a Gefreiter of the 2 Chevauleger.

Below are some pictures from the event:

Here I am wearing my private purchase 1909 Chevauleger tunic with provate purchase corduroy riding breeches. The boots are the 1915 Universal Pattern Bavarian Cavalry Boots and the belt is the 1911 sword belt. I have removed the straps for the sword and replaced it with a bayonet (Seitengewehr) with attached sword know or Faustrieman. The machine gun is the model MG08.