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Figures 1 and 2 are based on photographs of Samoan Fita Fita ceremonial
guards.
They wore a white uniform piped in blue consisting of a sarong (known as
a "Lava Lava" in Samoan), tunic and matching peakless field cap with a
small imperial
cockade. Figure 1 has a single large ammunition
pouch and rifle of a long outdated style. Figure 2 wears a ceremonial
red sash edged with gold
with an brass imperial eagle in brass on the chest (see right). Fita Fita NCOs wore a peaked field cap and
had two blue stripes around the cuff similar to those on the edge of the
sarong.
Figure 3 is based on
a photograph of a German Officer on Samoa on parade with the Fita
Fita. He wears
a standard white tropical uniform (without Schutztruppe blue piping) and
a matching peaked field cap with a hatband and piping in red as common
to most German colonial police units with an imperial cockade (black/white/red) on the
front of the hatband. A shade of dark pink was authorised as the
facing colour for German Samoa in 1912 but was almost certainly not
issued before 1914. White
tropical helmets were also issued with small imperial eagles and
cockades. He is armed with only a ceremonial
sword although pistols were issued. Figure 4 is based on a
photograph of a Samoan Policeman taken in Apia in 1914
probably by a member of the New Zealand Advance Force that captured
the islands. He wears a white tropical helmet and a khaki uniform.
The tunic is of a style seen before by the East Asian Expeditionary
Corps, with a standing collar and one left breast pocket. The
pockets (including the two hip pockets) appear to have no pocket
flaps. Above the breast pocket is a seven pointed star badge (see
right). This policeman has a dark coloured band around each cuff (I
have guessed the colour to be red although I have no confirmation of
this). The original photograph on which this illustration is based
shows four policemen. They all wear the same uniforms except that
one has no cuff bands, one has one, another has two and the final
one has three. Also in the original photograph two wear puttees as
seen here while the other two wear their trousers loose around the
ankles. Most
of the policemen photographed on Samoa in the early years of German
rule show them wearing white naval fatigues or with a dark red sarong like those worn by the
New
Guinea Polizeitruppe) with the same naval style peakless caps as the
Fita Fita or straw hats held up on the right hand side with a large
imperial cockade (as originally issued to the
East Asian Expeditionary Corps
during the Boxer Rebellion). |
Samoan Fita Fita Ceremonial Sash
(See Imperial
War Museum Collection Page)
IWM Collection
Samoan Police Badge
(Click
here for a larger Photo)
Copyright Shaun Aumua
Another Samoan Police Badge
(This one may be privately made for a Polizei-Meister as it is
better quality and the inner badge is made of two parts)
Photo from the Warren Collingwood
Collection by Barry O'Sullivan. |
