6th Schützen Regiment Eger

In the Sudetenland, the city of Eger and its surroundings were the home of the 6th Landwehr (later rifle) regiment. The usual story applies here as well: the Austrian Landwehr was a military administration system corresponding to the Hungarian Honvéd. During the Great War, the name of the regiments changed to Schützen Regiment, i.e. rifle regiment. It was one of the regiments of the 21st Rifle Division. This division was transferred a lot between different fronts. Until May 1917, they fought at changing sections of the Russian front in different corps. After that, they were in Tyrol on the Italian front, in the III.  corps until February 1918. They were then returned to the Russian front, around Zloczów. In August, they were sent to Tyrol, to Army Group Belluno.

The regimental badge attached to this post is one of an interesting series. Among the rifle regiments, some of the Sudetenland and Silesian regiments received this type of insignia. The rectangular badges differ only in the numbering (6,9,15,16). This may have been a similar series to the flag badges of Arkanzas, but as far as I know, only these four pieces were made. On the correspondence card used as background, the regimental number is placed on the coat of arms of the city of Eger. I am also attaching to the post a badge issued by the military aid organization of the area with the coat of arms.

The silhouette of the city Eger can be seen in the background of the card. To the left is the Church of St. Nicholas and Elizabeth, which was built in the 1200s in the Gothic style. Its towers were reconstructed in 2008. The tower on the right side of the picture is the residential tower, part of the “Kaiserburg”, also built in the 1200s by the Bavarian Count Staufer family.

The city is located in Western Bohemia, the Czech name is Cheb. It has rich historical traditions, where Bavarian count families, where it was under the authority of the Czech king, and where it was a free royal city of the German-Roman Empire. The Kingdom of Bohemia came under Austrian rule, and from then on the region of Eger also became an Austrian hereditary province. In addition to the 6th Landwehr, the 73rd Joint Infantry Regiment was also stationed in Eger.