GAR 7

The mountain artillery (GAR) was assigned to the mountain divisions. Mountain cannons and howitzers were among the smaller barreled guns. The devices could be disassembled and carried on horseback or even by gunners. The design, of course, facilitated that they could be moved even on difficult mountain terrain. But the KuK artillery contingent sent to Palestine also consisted of mountain artillery batteries. Obviously, the conditions in the desert were not considered favorable to send conventional weapons there. Of course, there were such, but when the von Marno artillery division was put together, organizers took into account the potential difficulties.

The battlefields cited on the Kappenabzeichen of the 7th Mountain Artillery Regiment all recall the mountain terrains of the Great War, from Albania to Italy. The badge was made by the Arkansas company. It is interesting that two versions are known. One of them is the badge addressed to the 7th Mountain Artillery Regiment shown in the opening picture. At the same time, there was also an unnumbered version, which I inserted into the body of the text. Here, the space for numbering was left empty: everyone could engrave the number of their own unit if they wanted. The postcard shows the numbered copy. It comes from the collection of my friend Gábor Csiszér. It is interesting that it does not record the names of the battlefields, but depicts a mountain cannon with its operators. So it is not exactly like the badge.