II. Landesschützen Regiment, Bozen

The names of the Tyrolean units have always been a problem for me. They were all called different from ordinary military units in the rest of the Monarchy. It starts right with the first line infantry. These are not called K.u.K. infantry regiments like elsewhere, but Tyrolean Kaiserjäger. I mean, the emperor’s lovely jägers, four regiments alltogether. The Tyrolean “provincial shooter” (Landesschützen) can be matched to the Landwehr and the Honvéd regiments. They were renamed “Kaiser’s shooters” (Kaiserschützen) after a while. There were three regiments of this kind. So far, we’re still matching. That’s where the trouble really starts. The (permanent?) rifle battalions (Standschützen) arrive, bearing the name of a settlement or district (Gröden, Meran). Supposedly these units were the third line, the insurgents in Tyrolean terms.

In the photo, the buck sergeant wears the kappenabzeichen of the 2nd Landesschützen Regiment on his jacket pocket. The badge is decorated with edelweiss. The flower’s stigma is highlighted by gold. The shield-shaped badge has the name of the regiment on the edge (K.K. Landesschützen Regiment II. Bozen). I also managed to find a letter seal with a matching image for this post.