Kaiserjäger

For some reason Tyrolean army units had very special status in the Austrian military order. This region also had front line regiments, home guard regiments and auxillary units as well. But they were called differently: Infantry regiments were called Kaiserjäger regiments (though they had no similarity with the regular Feldjäger Bataillons). The local Landwehr regiments were named Kaiserschützen regiments, and the third line infantry was called Standschützen.

The four front-line regiments of Tirol were the Tiroler Kaiserjäger Regiments 1-4. They were applied together in the Kaiserjäger Division No. 8. This was an ordinary Infantry Division with the Tirolean regiments. The badge on the photo is the one of the Division, as it is indicated by the very nice gothic style script of the badge. The eagle has only one head, for me a definitely nice feature expressing fearless bravery rather than loyalty to the royal family. The bird and Edelweiss is placed in front of a mountainous landscape. The Kaiserjäger were applied after the 1915 Italian attack in the defence of their homeland In Tirol.

The badge was prepared first of all from grey metal, but some copies like the one on the picture from silver plate. It is a very popular badge among collectors.