IR 61

The 61st Infantry Regiment of Temesvár was one of the regiments of the 17th Division, which suffered a lot. After the opening of the Italian front, this division was continuously deployed in the most dangerous sections of this front until the end of the war. Two of the division’s four regiments had mostly Romanian-speaking crews. Most of the 43rd in Karánsebes were Romanian, in the 61st, a third were Romanian, a third Hungarian, and a third German, as expected according to the patchwork-like nationalities map of Bánát.

Due to the huge casualties suffered on the Karst, the regiments had to support many orphans and widows. For this purpose, disabled and orphan funds were created, which collected donations for relief. The badge in the post was already mentioned (here) when I wrote about the Segeti camp, which was used for recuperation and resting. The badge is an issue of the 61st disabled fund, as shown by the wearing photo in the other post, it was also purchased by soldiers. Many copies of this beautiful enamel badge have survived until today. The ribbon of the laurel wreath encircling the coats of arms is dark green, the same color as the lapel of the regiment. As a background, there is a postcard with one of the stamps of the regiment