IR 38

The 38th Kecskemét infantry regiment has been mentioned several times on this page (here and here). The posts were not only about the history of the squad, but also about the special Kappenabzeichen. I have already described that, despite the helmet shape, this badge was not the sturmtrupp’s insignia. This is also indicated by the fact that the cover of the volume describing the history of the regiment is also decorated with the image of this insignia.

Now I present another small piece of evidence: the letter seal for the regiment. This also bears the image of the helmet badge. The letter-closing stamp comes from the collection of Gábor Csiszér. In order to confuse the reader a little, in the opening picture we see a postcard that was written from the assault company of the regiment. At the beginning of the Great War, these were still called hunting units (Jagdkommando) as indicated on the postcard.

The badge attached to the post is the most common version, both in terms of size and color. There was also a slightly smaller version of the badge, which was made of silver. This larger, silver-plated version has the regimental number in black enamel on it. The silver plating should be emphasized because there was also a version with the same size, with enamel, but the body of the badge made of copper material, without silver plating.