Epaulettes of the lieutenant of the Land Front of the Naval Fortress of Emperor Peter the Great

According to the plans of the 1910s, the main line of defense of St. Petersburg was 30 km west of Helsingfors (Helsinki). Its main reference point was the seaside fortress near Revel (Tallinn), which was built in 1913 under the name of the Naval Fortress of Emperor Peter the Great. The fortress included two fronts: the primorsky one, consisting of a system of minefields and coastal batteries, and the land one, which passed at a distance of 18-20 km from Revel.

In 1914, the land front of the fortress included two artillery regiments, as well as a large number of engineering and technical units (management, warehouse, two sapper companies, an aeronautical company, an aviation detachment, telegraph and railway and automobile companies). The fortress was subordinate to the Maritime Ministry, it did not last long. Throughout the war, it reliably blocked the approaches to St. Petersburg. In late 1917 – early 1918, when the front began to collapse under the influence of Bolshevik agitation, the artillery of the fortress was put out of action, and the defensive structures were blown up by the garrison. On February 25, 1918, the Germans occupied the territory of the fortress, turned into a pile of ruins.

A brief description of the garrison ranks' uniforms was highly approved on March 24, 1914, but it was published only on September 4, 1914, after the outbreak of the war, and today it has remained unknown to researchers for a long time. The uniform of the officers of the land front of the fortress in cut and color resembled the uniform of the army infantry troops of the 1913 model, and combined details inherent in both the land forces and the navy. From the army units, it borrowed the protective color of the fabric and the trim with red edging, from the navy – patterned sewing on the collar and cuffs, embossed buttons and epaulettes of the guards infantry pattern with a woven field. The artillery of the fortress was awarded a gold metal device, engineering and technical parts – silver. In addition, the silver device was relied on by commandant ranks and adjutants of the fortress staff. The main distinguishing sign assigned to all ranks of the fortress was the monogram of Emperor Peter the Great in the form of intertwined letters "P" with the Roman numeral "I", which was significantly different in drawing from the Peter's monogram used in the ground forces. For lower ranks, the monogram was applied with paint on a stencil, for officers it could be a metal overlay or embroidered. With a gold metal device, the officer's monogram was made silver, with a silver one – gold.

The epaulettes have darkened with time, but the trace of the monogram makes it easy to identify it. The absence of traces of a sapper or other emblem suggests that the epaulettes belonged to a commandant officer, a serf adjutant or an officer of the serf engineering department. Monograms of officers of the Naval Fortress of Emperor Peter the Great are occasionally found on the antique market, but shoulder straps and epaulettes are practically not found on sale. Extremely rare. Guarantee of authenticity.