U-Boot

The propaganda badges of the Austrian Navy Association show the flag of the Navy of the Monarchy above the letter U denoting submarines. The badge is made of several designs, with a needle, as a buttonhole badge or designed as a brooch. Some of the war flags show the double coat of arms, other versions show only the Austrian coat of arms. Like other propaganda badges, these beautifully designed enamel badges were used to raise donations to support military purposes.

The most popular units in the fleet were submarines. As I wrote about it earlier here, it was the weapon that was able to achieve relative success for the Monarchy’s fleet. These successes were well known. As is usually the case with propaganda badges, in this case it can be rightly assumed that both soldiers and civilians could buy. Quite a few copies of it remained, they are easily obtainable and very attractive pieces for collectors.