IR 23

The 23rd was a mixed nationality regiment recruited from the central part of the Kingdom of Hungary. Its recruiting area was the north-western part of Bács-Bodrog county. The headquarters of the cadre operated in Zombor, the headquarters in Budapest. Most of the crew was Hungarian, a third of them were of German nationality. But there were also Slovaks, Serbs and Croats in his unit. All this was the result of a resettlement policy of the Habsburg Monarchy after the Turkish wars. The uninhabited areas of Hungary were first settled in large numbers by Serbian families fleeing from the territory of the then southern neighbor Turkish Empire. After that, Hungarian and German settlers populated the area, but there were also Slovak and Croatian settlements. The Monarchy sought to strike a balance between the many nationalities. Where possible, he tried to settle a significant German population, but he also tried to reduce the share of Hungarians or other nationalities by mixing other ethnicities. Thus, the Monarchy was a multiethnic state. Cohesion had to be maintained by fidelity to the dynastic principle, loyalty to the Habsburg family. This was strongly manifested everywhere in the appearances. It was no different in the army either. Behind the scenes, of course, old ethnic differences often broke out.

We are left with many memories of the 23rd Infantry Regiment. Badges are common, and postcards and letter sealers are not uncommon either. There are also plenty of Kappenabzeichen wearing photos. In this post, I present two material variants of the most common cap badge. A tombak and a silvered badge bearing the rushing goat as the main motif. The beautiful Art Nouveau wreath also contains the number of the regiment and the name of the regiment’s owner, Earl of Baden. The same badge was made by the Viennese company Gurschner on a smaller scale. Both the field postcard and the letter sealer were made in a variety of slightly different series. The interesting thing about the seal is the negative coloring.