74th field cannon regiment
At first glance, the title of the post, the script on the card and the badge could seem not very consistent. The solution is the continuous development and reorganization of the Monarchy’s artillery. Without details, referring only to the inscription on the post card, this means the following. The organization of the honvéd artillery began a few years before the Great War. As part of this, field cannon regiments were created even before the war, one for each army division. At that time, the honvéd military branch had neither howitzers nor heavy artillery. They were only organized during the war.
The insignia of the post belongs to the 4th Honvéd Field Cannon Regiment, which was founded before the war and was given this serial number then. Later, in 1916, the artillery regiments adopted the number of the division to which they were assigned. The 74th infantry Division was also organized during the war, in 1916. The No. 4 Cannon Regiment comes into this picture as their No. 5 Battery was then assigned to this division. Moreover, at this time, anti-aircraft batteries began to be formed within the field artillery regiments. These were respectively the No. 5 batteries (No. 6 batteries were equipped with mortars). In other words, the inscription of the card indicates the 5th anti-aircraft artillery battery transferred from the 4th honvéd field artillery regiment to the artillery brigade of the 74th division. The artillery of the 74th division showed a very colorful picture with batteries transferred from several units (there was also a mountain cannon battery) and locally organized howitzer batteries.
The name of the 74th Honvéd Field Cannon Regiment is certainly from before 1918. Because in the last major reorganization in 1918, mixed artillery regiments were created, so from then on there were no longer purely field cannon regiments, as the title of the card refers to. Although the postcard was sent in 1918, it was certainly printed in 1917. The card is decorated with the cap badge of the anti-aircraft gunners.
