Nice photograph. These are soviet soldiers with WWII insigna. According to wikipedia, they are artillery captains (sure for the left one, possible for the other, can’t see the shoulder strap. According to the sleeve patch, they are artillery officers, inside are the cross gun barrels of this arm. I cant say much more with this cliche. Interestingly it may have been shot shortly after WWII, perhaps in Germany or another country annexed to Soviet space. Notice the girl is wearing soviet boots, probably the best offer of the day for ladies footware fashion because of shortages. The eery thing is the pristine surrounding, odd in the wrecked Europe of the time.
turning on rationing in those days, in France it lasted up to 1949, and gave the famous french expression of monotony “BOF !”, because the food ration tickets gave right to a standard invariant ration of Beurre Oeuf Fromage, (Butter, Eggs, Cheese), that stayed in the french language as a shortcul to express the monotonous daily sameness…
Thanks for the information! I wasn’t sure if that insignia was Russian or German. And I did not know that was the origin of BOF, an expression I’ve heard before. I love butter, eggs, and cheese but would not like to have a diet of mainly just that though!
MATTHEW'S ISLAND 
Dear Matt, greetings from Paris !
Nice photograph. These are soviet soldiers with WWII insigna. According to wikipedia, they are artillery captains (sure for the left one, possible for the other, can’t see the shoulder strap. According to the sleeve patch, they are artillery officers, inside are the cross gun barrels of this arm. I cant say much more with this cliche. Interestingly it may have been shot shortly after WWII, perhaps in Germany or another country annexed to Soviet space. Notice the girl is wearing soviet boots, probably the best offer of the day for ladies footware fashion because of shortages. The eery thing is the pristine surrounding, odd in the wrecked Europe of the time.
turning on rationing in those days, in France it lasted up to 1949, and gave the famous french expression of monotony “BOF !”, because the food ration tickets gave right to a standard invariant ration of Beurre Oeuf Fromage, (Butter, Eggs, Cheese), that stayed in the french language as a shortcul to express the monotonous daily sameness…
All the best.
Franck.
Thanks for the information! I wasn’t sure if that insignia was Russian or German. And I did not know that was the origin of BOF, an expression I’ve heard before. I love butter, eggs, and cheese but would not like to have a diet of mainly just that though!