HIR 18

The personnel of the Honvéd Infantry Regiment in and around Sopron were half Hungarian and half German. The regiment’s command was in Sopron. The regiment was assigned to the 37th Honvéd Infantry Division, so the 18th Honvéds participated in its major battles of the war. They operated with the 1st Austro-Hungarian Army in the northern part of Galicia towards Russian-Poland. In the spring offensive of 1915, they attacked towards Ivangorod. Later, the division was transferred to Bukovina. In the summer of 1916, the regiment was assigned to Máramaros, and then to the eastern border region of Transylvania during the Romanian invasion. In the summer of 1918, the division became part of the Austro-Hungarian corps that was redirected to the Western Front. The end of the war reached the Honvéds of Sopron south of Strasbourg.

The photo attached to the post clearly shows the regiment’s cap badge, a beautiful design of the Morzsányi company. The company also made a completely similar badge for the 4th Honvéd Field Artillery Regiment. On that badge, there is not the number 18 but the number 4 in the round field. Unfortunately, it is not possible to make out which number is on this badge from the photo. Since the photo was taken in trenches and there is no trace of artillery in the photo, I am guessing it is the badge of the Honvéd Infantry Regiment. For the sake of order, I will also upload the badge of the artillerymen.