Heinrich von Hess IR 49
He was not a general of the Great War, but he was the owner of the 49th Infantry Regiment. I’ve already written about the regiment in connection with a wear photo. Here I now present a field post card decorated with the badge of the regiment.
The coat of arms on the badge and, of course, the cross has kept me already busy for long time. I wanted to know where they came from. That is why I returned to the person of the regiment owner. He, on the other hand, turned out to be one of the greatest figures in the 19th century history of the Monarchy. His name is also borne by an Austrian military unit that exists today. A street was named after him in Vienna and he was also given a honorable graveyard in the central cemetery of the capital city.
He was born in 1788 in Vienna. Already in the Napoleonic Wars he distinguished himself at Aspern and at the Battle of Wagram. In 1813, at the age of 25, he was already a captain and was assigned to the headquarters of the army. From 1831 he served with the commander-in-chief of the Austrian territories of Italy General Radetzky. His relationship with the 49th Infantry Regiment can be traced back to 1842, when he became the owner of the regiment.
In 1848-49 he again earned merits alongside Radetzky in defeating the Italian Revolution and repelling the Piemontese troops. From 1850 he became an important figure in military diplomacy and a secret adviser to the ruler. He was sent to Italy again in 1859, but his advice was not followed during the battles of Magenta and Solferino, which led to Austria’s defeat. He had the ungrateful task of making peace with the French. He died in 1870 in Vienna.
Searching for Hess, I found his noble coat of arms, which is the same as the right half of the coat of arms seen on the Hess cross of the 49th Regiment. So far, I have managed to gather so much, the other half of the coat of arms has been striped, and I still have not been able to find information about the origin of the cross. That’s pretty annoying. Can somebody help me?
