Sappers (2)

I have written about the organization of sapper troops here before. I picked up the topic again for the sake of the nice badge and an exciting photo.

The badge is interesting in two ways. On the one hand, a presumably wooden structure can be seen, reminiscent of the elements of an emergency bridge. The construction of temporary bridges was the task of the sapper units, as was the case with all technical construction or demolition tasks in the field. This is how we get to the railway in the opening image. This is the field railway built on the Karst, which played a major role in the supply of troops. The track was built by sapper units with the participation of additional workers who did the earthwork.

Returning to the badge, the inscription also requires an explanation. The sapper battalions were directly attached to the corps. So the inscription shown in the published picture refers to sappers assigned toXVIII. corps. But with the same motif, two other badges with different numbers were made. One shows the number 25 and the other 50. This is where the puzzle begins. Because the Monarchy had 26 numbered corps, that is, 50 cannot apply to any corps. But then what? I don’t know…