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October 24, 2024There is a howitzer badge that has been puzzling me for a long time. The old M 98 15 cm howitzer can be seen on it and a precise unit designation: 2/II Budapest mortar battery. I looked for it in all sources available to me and on the Internet, but I couldn’t find it. Now the name of the unit has finally appeared on a postcard. It shows a gun placed in the mouth of a rock cave. On the back, the inscription II. Budapest Division 15 cm howitzer battery. The card was sent in March 1917 and bears the stamp of the 17th Corps and the office of a Trieste censor. The sender was a first lieutenant assigned to the command of the corps. That’s quite a lot of new information to start with. The first step is to examine when the 17th corps was assigned to the Italian front? How did this card get to Trieste? We can get a precise answer to this: it was ordered there in August 1916 and was on the Italian front until the end of June 1917. During this time, first the 57th and 62nd Divisions, then the 24th Division instead of the 62nd, were assigned to it, and the whole belonged to the 5th Army. So the date stamp is correct. At this time, the 57th and 62nd divisions were in staff. Let’s see the divisional artillery then! Not surprisingly, we find two artillery brigades: the 57th and 62nd Field Artillery Brigades. That’s when the long-awaited moment comes: will I finally find the artillery division I’m looking for in these brigades? Numbered 62, we see the usual three field artillery regiments (one cannon, howitzer and heavy artillery regiment). The 57th Division, on the other hand, has always been special, as it had mountain brigades. In addition, as a result of reorganizations from 1916, the former 57th division became the 90th division with a new composition. The 57th and 18th Infantry Brigades were then assigned to the 57th division, which operated partly with regular line regiments. The divisional artillery also appears to have been largely replaced. As it was until 1916, also later it was “raked together” by battery, it was not organized in the usual systematic system. From August 1916, the number of batteries increased, regular field artillery and mountain artillery were mixed. According to the sources, there were five independent 15 cm howitzer batteries among them. The hastily assembled units often did not even receive registry numbers, but many of them had names (e.g. China battery, Belgian battery from the names of the original destination countries of the guns left over from export). Unfortunately, the Budapest division or battery is not listed by name in the records I have access to. Nevertheless, I assume that among the mentioned five howitzer batteries was the 2nd howitzer battery of the Budapest Division. Finally, from the picture on the postcard, it can be concluded that the cave carved into the rock was typical of the Italian front. The artillery protecting the Tolmein bridgehead was placed in completely similar battery positions on Mengore Hill as shown on the photo. The 57. division was defending the frontline a bit more South at the Isonzo. [...] Read more...
October 15, 2024From May 1915 until the end of the year, one of the main targets of the Italian offensive was the Austro-Hungarian bridgehead in Görz. Mt Sabotino, located on the west bank of the Isonzo, was the main point of defense. The bloodiest clashes took place around the villages of Oslavija and Podgora on the southern slope. I have written about these fights here before. Hungarian reminiscences highlight, in addition to the very heavy own losses, that the Italian troops attacked the increasingly strengthened defensive positions with mass attacks typical of the Great War. These were mostly repulsed by the defenders before they reached the first line of defense with the infantry fire from the covers and the artillery installed on the Sabotino hill. In November 1915, the Italians managed to occupy the first line of the Austro-Hungarian defense. The heavy losses are indicated by the fact that an ossuary was built in the area at altitude 188 above Oslavija, which housed the remains collected from the war graves of this battlefield after the war. Another shocking reminder of the bloody losses is a plaque that I found recently. The wall of the most famous church of the city of Bologna, St Stefano, is covered in a long row by plaques with the names of the dead from Bologna of the Great War. The names are grouped according to years and battlefields on separate plaques. Most of the names were on the one with the inscription Podgora from 1915, as a visual reminder of the battles there. Of course, similarly long commemorative plaques with many names can also be seen in Hungarian cities. As an example, I would mention the Heroes’ Gate in Szeged, where we can also read the names of dead in endless rows. It is not easy to match a suitable badge to the post. After all, the message of the post is respect and raising of hats before the dead of the enemy, something that did not occur very often on the insignia made during the Great War. The badges commemorating the victims can of course be applied afterwards to the memory of the victims of both sides. [...] Read more...
October 11, 2024I already wrote here about the Kappenabzeichen of the 38th Honved Division in connection with a photo of it being worn. Then I mainly gave information about the designer, Richard Zutt. Now I present the division’s insignia-decorated Christmas card. The printers produced many different versions of Christmas and Easter cards. Some of them were decorated with the usual motifs. At Easter, bunnies and male eggs, at Christmas, a decorated pine tree and angels recalled the holiday in the trenches. But there were also many propaganda cards. These featured funny scenes or Easter eggs decorated with the colors of the Central Powers. But there were more combative, sometimes even morbid ones, like the buck of the 83rd infantry regiment that “gifted” a hand grenade instead of a male egg (it’s true that this was probably a unique image, or only a small number of enlargements were made of it). The insignia of the 38th Division rests on a snowy pine branch, so it shows more of the usual motif. [...] Read more...
October 3, 2024So, I chose a badge that has always been very shocking to me and resonates for this month. This is the beautiful insignia of the 26th Infantry Regiment in its simplicity with the caption, “We will endure till the end!”. Of course, the text was not meant to be the last great sigh of the losing war, but rather referred to the faithful persistence despite of the endless series of trials. But still, the final hour came, when the vow also ended: the armed forces of the Monarchy laid down their arms. There is no point in picking out even one of the disasters that happened this month, either in the Balkans or in Italy. Unfortunately, these did not happen by chance. The appearance of the USA on the European battlefields shifted the military balance of power definitively in favor of the Entente. This naturally resulted in the military defeat of the Central Powers. Rather, I would like to raise what the soldiers who returned to their home country after the collapse found at home in Hungary. I believe that the communist propaganda, which was already strongly percolating from Russia at the time, probably did not take root among the soldiers living in rural, village conditions, who made up the majority of the crews of the Hungarian regiments. These peasants could still be mobilized, they would have remained ready to fight if there had been someone to hold them together. Unfortunately, there were not many such leaders. The Károlyi government was deceived by the promises of the Entente and ordered a general disarmament, despite the fact that the victors repeatedly violated the armistice agreements. This is how the Romanian invaders were able to reach the Tisza river. For me, the most bitter fact was that in the spring of 1919, in the hours of Hungary’s agony, despite the government’s will it was possible to keep relatively larger, intact troops in four places. However, they did not unite, and some of them did not even participate in the armed resistance at that time. They just waited, like Miklós Horthy’s troops in Szeged or the royalist Colonel Antal Lehár’s volunteers in Western Hungary. Only the Székely Division undertook a meritorious fight. Without their resistance, the Romanians might have reached the Great Plain by Christmas. From the end of March 1919, the fourth military force was the army of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, which was joined by many soldiers who were desperate about the fate of their country and had a non-communist attitude. Turkey’s successful resistance after the war shows that those who did not wait for the benevolence of the Entente, were able to achieve results by showing strength. But back to the badge, now is the time to reflect on the sad ending, after which there was no longer any point in pinning this badge on the cap. This reflection also applies to the further fate of the site. The war months are gone, but so is the Kappenabzeichen and photo material that kept the site alive. I think that I will keep the page active, from time to time I will upload new materials to the other sections, but not with the same regularity as before. I thank the readers for “sticking it out”! Continue to follow the new posts, even if they become a little less frequent! [...] Read more...
October 1, 2024There are badges that are often included in wearing photos, but the majority are not. The Kappenabzeichen of the 51st Honvéd Infantry Division is often seen, but the insignia of the regiments belonging to the division are not. Therefore, in relation to 51 division badges, one can never know for sure which regiment’s soldiers wear it. You can know this with certainty if the image is captioned, like the one just uploaded. According to the caption, the picture shows soldiers of the 302nd infantry regiment. This gives me the opportunity to present the regiment’s very special badge. The 302nd Infantry Regiment was raised in early 1915, like the other regiments of the 51st division, and replaced one of the four regiments of the 23rd Division captured at Przemysl. The badge faithfully follows the regiment’s war events until 1917. The ancient chariot and the warrior holding a laurel branch on it are an allegory of victory in war. Not very often, but ancient depictions also occur on the badges, for example on the one prepared in memory of the Kirlibaba battle site mentioned on this badge, which I wrote about here. For the sake of order, here is also a green lacquered copy of the division insignia worn in the photo. [...] Read more...
September 28, 2024I have dealt with the topic of assault troops repeatedly. This new post is about the general assault troop badge. Because the leadership of the Monarchy planned to introduce a uniform skill badge for assault troopers as well. In 1918, the regulations were already prepared, according to which the members of the assault troops were qualified, and they intended to award them a badge of honor in case of adequate performance. The skill badge was however not introduced before the end of the Great War. But the award badge was finally designed. Quite a few copies could have been made, because I know of the existence of several pieces. At the monarch’s request, the badge does not include the usual trooper symbols. There is no hand grenade, no helmet and no skull bone. A lion, symbolizing the courage and strength of the storm troopers, replaced these, and an oval laurel wreath similar to pilot insignia frames the insignia. Incidentally, the lion is very similar to the depiction on the badge of the Peter Ferdinand Combat Troop [...] Read more...
September 26, 2024I have written about the organization of sapper troops here before. I picked up the topic again for the sake of the nice badge and an exciting photo. The badge is interesting in two ways. On the one hand, a presumably wooden structure can be seen, reminiscent of the elements of an emergency bridge. The construction of temporary bridges was the task of the sapper units, as was the case with all technical construction or demolition tasks in the field. This is how we get to the railway in the opening image. This is the field railway built on the Karst, which played a major role in the supply of troops. The track was built by sapper units with the participation of additional workers who did the earthwork. Returning to the badge, the inscription also requires an explanation. The sapper battalions were directly attached to the corps. So the inscription shown in the published picture refers to sappers assigned toXVIII. corps. But with the same motif, two other badges with different numbers were made. One shows the number 25 and the other 50. This is where the puzzle begins. Because the Monarchy had 26 numbered corps, that is, 50 cannot apply to any corps. But then what? I don’t know… [...] Read more...
September 24, 2024I already wrote in detail about the 42 cm super mortar here. Reading the war reminiscences, I have the impression that the moral effect of such weapons with great destructive power may have been more important. The large-caliber mortars were originally intended by the Monarchy for coastal defense. The weaker deck armor of the armored ships besieging coastal forts was thought to be penetrated by the huge projectiles fired on steep trajectories. The concept was later changed and instead these guns were deployed against the armored domes of land forts. The post presents a rare photo of the largest barrel size 42 cm gun. The picture shows how the separately delivered parts are assembled. The gun barrel is transferred from the trailer to the already prepared gun base. The shot could have been taken somewhere on the Italian front, judging by the landscape and the houses. The visual display of the weapon was mostly done by depicting the projectiles. The size, shape and inscription of the three differently colored badges presented here are the same. This weapon must have been very popular if so many different versions of its insignia were produced. The iron cross was not accidentally placed on the projectile. This mortar was first employed by the German forces, and then the Monarchy took it over and started producing it. The Lüttich and Antwerp inscriptions recall the German successes achieved in Belgium at the beginning of the war in 1914, where the artillery of the Monarchy also played a role with its siege guns. [...] Read more...
September 21, 2024The 62nd Infantry Regiment was part of the 35th Transylvanian Division. I already wrote about its use in the Great War in the post about the division here. The command and cadre of the regiment was in Marosvásárhely. Half of its crew consisted of Hungarians from the Mezőség region, and half of Romanians. The owner of the regiment was King Louis of Bavaria. Here I present the rarer insignia of the regiment, on which the owner of the regiment and the monarch of the Monarchy can be seen in a joint portrait. The Kappenabzeichen is also matched to the letter-sealing stamp illustrated with the regiment’s previous battle scene. The name of the regiment owner can also be read on it, as well as the mentioning of battle of Győr in 1809. Although there were not many laurels there in the fight against Napoleon (“I’ve forgotten the valor of Győr!/When did you ever erect a memorial statue/For the many heroic feet that ran like that?”) Sándor Petőfi Hungarian poet wrote about the battle in his poem. Still, there were moments worth highlighting, such as Sergeant Stanczy’s military deed immortalized on the stamp. [...] Read more...
September 20, 2024The Kappenabzeichen of the Third Army is one of the most common badges. It can be found in every collection. I have already presented a wearing photo of the badge here. Postcards depicting the army badges are also not uncommon. Some of the badge images published in printed form show a smaller version of the badges. We see this in our case as well. The number of smaller versions is lower than the regular size. Most regimental badges were not even made in two sizes. Interestingly, in the case of higher units, it is considered common to make two or even three sizes. Smaller specimens also had a hook-in pin, and they appear in the wearing photos as well. I wrote about another popular insignia of the 3rd army with a panoramic view of Belgrade here. [...] Read more...

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October 24, 2024There is a howitzer badge that has been puzzling me for a long time. The old M 98 15 cm howitzer can be seen on it and a precise unit designation: 2/II Budapest mortar battery. I looked for it in all sources available to me and on the Internet, but I couldn’t find it. Now the name of the unit has finally appeared on a postcard. It shows a gun placed in the mouth of a rock cave. On the back, the inscription II. Budapest Division 15 cm howitzer battery. The card was sent in March 1917 and bears the stamp of the 17th Corps and the office of a Trieste censor. The sender was a first lieutenant assigned to the command of the corps. That’s quite a lot of new information to start with. The first step is to examine when the 17th corps was assigned to the Italian front? How did this card get to Trieste? We can get a precise answer to this: it was ordered there in August 1916 and was on the Italian front until the end of June 1917. During this time, first the 57th and 62nd Divisions, then the 24th Division instead of the 62nd, were assigned to it, and the whole belonged to the 5th Army. So the date stamp is correct. At this time, the 57th and 62nd divisions were in staff. Let’s see the divisional artillery then! Not surprisingly, we find two artillery brigades: the 57th and 62nd Field Artillery Brigades. That’s when the long-awaited moment comes: will I finally find the artillery division I’m looking for in these brigades? Numbered 62, we see the usual three field artillery regiments (one cannon, howitzer and heavy artillery regiment). The 57th Division, on the other hand, has always been special, as it had mountain brigades. In addition, as a result of reorganizations from 1916, the former 57th division became the 90th division with a new composition. The 57th and 18th Infantry Brigades were then assigned to the 57th division, which operated partly with regular line regiments. The divisional artillery also appears to have been largely replaced. As it was until 1916, also later it was “raked together” by battery, it was not organized in the usual systematic system. From August 1916, the number of batteries increased, regular field artillery and mountain artillery were mixed. According to the sources, there were five independent 15 cm howitzer batteries among them. The hastily assembled units often did not even receive registry numbers, but many of them had names (e.g. China battery, Belgian battery from the names of the original destination countries of the guns left over from export). Unfortunately, the Budapest division or battery is not listed by name in the records I have access to. Nevertheless, I assume that among the mentioned five howitzer batteries was the 2nd howitzer battery of the Budapest Division. Finally, from the picture on the postcard, it can be concluded that the cave carved into the rock was typical of the Italian front. The artillery protecting the Tolmein bridgehead was placed in completely similar battery positions on Mengore Hill as shown on the photo. The 57. division was defending the frontline a bit more South at the Isonzo. [...] Read more...
October 15, 2024From May 1915 until the end of the year, one of the main targets of the Italian offensive was the Austro-Hungarian bridgehead in Görz. Mt Sabotino, located on the west bank of the Isonzo, was the main point of defense. The bloodiest clashes took place around the villages of Oslavija and Podgora on the southern slope. I have written about these fights here before. Hungarian reminiscences highlight, in addition to the very heavy own losses, that the Italian troops attacked the increasingly strengthened defensive positions with mass attacks typical of the Great War. These were mostly repulsed by the defenders before they reached the first line of defense with the infantry fire from the covers and the artillery installed on the Sabotino hill. In November 1915, the Italians managed to occupy the first line of the Austro-Hungarian defense. The heavy losses are indicated by the fact that an ossuary was built in the area at altitude 188 above Oslavija, which housed the remains collected from the war graves of this battlefield after the war. Another shocking reminder of the bloody losses is a plaque that I found recently. The wall of the most famous church of the city of Bologna, St Stefano, is covered in a long row by plaques with the names of the dead from Bologna of the Great War. The names are grouped according to years and battlefields on separate plaques. Most of the names were on the one with the inscription Podgora from 1915, as a visual reminder of the battles there. Of course, similarly long commemorative plaques with many names can also be seen in Hungarian cities. As an example, I would mention the Heroes’ Gate in Szeged, where we can also read the names of dead in endless rows. It is not easy to match a suitable badge to the post. After all, the message of the post is respect and raising of hats before the dead of the enemy, something that did not occur very often on the insignia made during the Great War. The badges commemorating the victims can of course be applied afterwards to the memory of the victims of both sides. [...] Read more...
October 11, 2024I already wrote here about the Kappenabzeichen of the 38th Honved Division in connection with a photo of it being worn. Then I mainly gave information about the designer, Richard Zutt. Now I present the division’s insignia-decorated Christmas card. The printers produced many different versions of Christmas and Easter cards. Some of them were decorated with the usual motifs. At Easter, bunnies and male eggs, at Christmas, a decorated pine tree and angels recalled the holiday in the trenches. But there were also many propaganda cards. These featured funny scenes or Easter eggs decorated with the colors of the Central Powers. But there were more combative, sometimes even morbid ones, like the buck of the 83rd infantry regiment that “gifted” a hand grenade instead of a male egg (it’s true that this was probably a unique image, or only a small number of enlargements were made of it). The insignia of the 38th Division rests on a snowy pine branch, so it shows more of the usual motif. [...] Read more...
October 3, 2024So, I chose a badge that has always been very shocking to me and resonates for this month. This is the beautiful insignia of the 26th Infantry Regiment in its simplicity with the caption, “We will endure till the end!”. Of course, the text was not meant to be the last great sigh of the losing war, but rather referred to the faithful persistence despite of the endless series of trials. But still, the final hour came, when the vow also ended: the armed forces of the Monarchy laid down their arms. There is no point in picking out even one of the disasters that happened this month, either in the Balkans or in Italy. Unfortunately, these did not happen by chance. The appearance of the USA on the European battlefields shifted the military balance of power definitively in favor of the Entente. This naturally resulted in the military defeat of the Central Powers. Rather, I would like to raise what the soldiers who returned to their home country after the collapse found at home in Hungary. I believe that the communist propaganda, which was already strongly percolating from Russia at the time, probably did not take root among the soldiers living in rural, village conditions, who made up the majority of the crews of the Hungarian regiments. These peasants could still be mobilized, they would have remained ready to fight if there had been someone to hold them together. Unfortunately, there were not many such leaders. The Károlyi government was deceived by the promises of the Entente and ordered a general disarmament, despite the fact that the victors repeatedly violated the armistice agreements. This is how the Romanian invaders were able to reach the Tisza river. For me, the most bitter fact was that in the spring of 1919, in the hours of Hungary’s agony, despite the government’s will it was possible to keep relatively larger, intact troops in four places. However, they did not unite, and some of them did not even participate in the armed resistance at that time. They just waited, like Miklós Horthy’s troops in Szeged or the royalist Colonel Antal Lehár’s volunteers in Western Hungary. Only the Székely Division undertook a meritorious fight. Without their resistance, the Romanians might have reached the Great Plain by Christmas. From the end of March 1919, the fourth military force was the army of the Hungarian Soviet Republic, which was joined by many soldiers who were desperate about the fate of their country and had a non-communist attitude. Turkey’s successful resistance after the war shows that those who did not wait for the benevolence of the Entente, were able to achieve results by showing strength. But back to the badge, now is the time to reflect on the sad ending, after which there was no longer any point in pinning this badge on the cap. This reflection also applies to the further fate of the site. The war months are gone, but so is the Kappenabzeichen and photo material that kept the site alive. I think that I will keep the page active, from time to time I will upload new materials to the other sections, but not with the same regularity as before. I thank the readers for “sticking it out”! Continue to follow the new posts, even if they become a little less frequent! [...] Read more...
October 1, 2024There are badges that are often included in wearing photos, but the majority are not. The Kappenabzeichen of the 51st Honvéd Infantry Division is often seen, but the insignia of the regiments belonging to the division are not. Therefore, in relation to 51 division badges, one can never know for sure which regiment’s soldiers wear it. You can know this with certainty if the image is captioned, like the one just uploaded. According to the caption, the picture shows soldiers of the 302nd infantry regiment. This gives me the opportunity to present the regiment’s very special badge. The 302nd Infantry Regiment was raised in early 1915, like the other regiments of the 51st division, and replaced one of the four regiments of the 23rd Division captured at Przemysl. The badge faithfully follows the regiment’s war events until 1917. The ancient chariot and the warrior holding a laurel branch on it are an allegory of victory in war. Not very often, but ancient depictions also occur on the badges, for example on the one prepared in memory of the Kirlibaba battle site mentioned on this badge, which I wrote about here. For the sake of order, here is also a green lacquered copy of the division insignia worn in the photo. [...] Read more...
September 28, 2024I have dealt with the topic of assault troops repeatedly. This new post is about the general assault troop badge. Because the leadership of the Monarchy planned to introduce a uniform skill badge for assault troopers as well. In 1918, the regulations were already prepared, according to which the members of the assault troops were qualified, and they intended to award them a badge of honor in case of adequate performance. The skill badge was however not introduced before the end of the Great War. But the award badge was finally designed. Quite a few copies could have been made, because I know of the existence of several pieces. At the monarch’s request, the badge does not include the usual trooper symbols. There is no hand grenade, no helmet and no skull bone. A lion, symbolizing the courage and strength of the storm troopers, replaced these, and an oval laurel wreath similar to pilot insignia frames the insignia. Incidentally, the lion is very similar to the depiction on the badge of the Peter Ferdinand Combat Troop [...] Read more...
September 26, 2024I have written about the organization of sapper troops here before. I picked up the topic again for the sake of the nice badge and an exciting photo. The badge is interesting in two ways. On the one hand, a presumably wooden structure can be seen, reminiscent of the elements of an emergency bridge. The construction of temporary bridges was the task of the sapper units, as was the case with all technical construction or demolition tasks in the field. This is how we get to the railway in the opening image. This is the field railway built on the Karst, which played a major role in the supply of troops. The track was built by sapper units with the participation of additional workers who did the earthwork. Returning to the badge, the inscription also requires an explanation. The sapper battalions were directly attached to the corps. So the inscription shown in the published picture refers to sappers assigned toXVIII. corps. But with the same motif, two other badges with different numbers were made. One shows the number 25 and the other 50. This is where the puzzle begins. Because the Monarchy had 26 numbered corps, that is, 50 cannot apply to any corps. But then what? I don’t know… [...] Read more...
September 24, 2024I already wrote in detail about the 42 cm super mortar here. Reading the war reminiscences, I have the impression that the moral effect of such weapons with great destructive power may have been more important. The large-caliber mortars were originally intended by the Monarchy for coastal defense. The weaker deck armor of the armored ships besieging coastal forts was thought to be penetrated by the huge projectiles fired on steep trajectories. The concept was later changed and instead these guns were deployed against the armored domes of land forts. The post presents a rare photo of the largest barrel size 42 cm gun. The picture shows how the separately delivered parts are assembled. The gun barrel is transferred from the trailer to the already prepared gun base. The shot could have been taken somewhere on the Italian front, judging by the landscape and the houses. The visual display of the weapon was mostly done by depicting the projectiles. The size, shape and inscription of the three differently colored badges presented here are the same. This weapon must have been very popular if so many different versions of its insignia were produced. The iron cross was not accidentally placed on the projectile. This mortar was first employed by the German forces, and then the Monarchy took it over and started producing it. The Lüttich and Antwerp inscriptions recall the German successes achieved in Belgium at the beginning of the war in 1914, where the artillery of the Monarchy also played a role with its siege guns. [...] Read more...
September 21, 2024The 62nd Infantry Regiment was part of the 35th Transylvanian Division. I already wrote about its use in the Great War in the post about the division here. The command and cadre of the regiment was in Marosvásárhely. Half of its crew consisted of Hungarians from the Mezőség region, and half of Romanians. The owner of the regiment was King Louis of Bavaria. Here I present the rarer insignia of the regiment, on which the owner of the regiment and the monarch of the Monarchy can be seen in a joint portrait. The Kappenabzeichen is also matched to the letter-sealing stamp illustrated with the regiment’s previous battle scene. The name of the regiment owner can also be read on it, as well as the mentioning of battle of Győr in 1809. Although there were not many laurels there in the fight against Napoleon (“I’ve forgotten the valor of Győr!/When did you ever erect a memorial statue/For the many heroic feet that ran like that?”) Sándor Petőfi Hungarian poet wrote about the battle in his poem. Still, there were moments worth highlighting, such as Sergeant Stanczy’s military deed immortalized on the stamp. [...] Read more...
September 20, 2024The Kappenabzeichen of the Third Army is one of the most common badges. It can be found in every collection. I have already presented a wearing photo of the badge here. Postcards depicting the army badges are also not uncommon. Some of the badge images published in printed form show a smaller version of the badges. We see this in our case as well. The number of smaller versions is lower than the regular size. Most regimental badges were not even made in two sizes. Interestingly, in the case of higher units, it is considered common to make two or even three sizes. Smaller specimens also had a hook-in pin, and they appear in the wearing photos as well. I wrote about another popular insignia of the 3rd army with a panoramic view of Belgrade here. [...] Read more...
September 17, 2024The 50th Infantry Regiment has been mentioned on the site several times. I also wrote here about the badge that is the subject of this post. The topic was put on the agenda again because a contemporary postcard was found, which could almost certainly have been the badge maker’s sample. The image of the buck raising his rifle on the rocky terrain is surely a staged shot. You can even hazard a guess that it was made specifically for the preparation of this badge. This means that all the details of the badge match. The depiction of the movement, the details of the equipment, and even the face are accurate. [...] Read more...
September 11, 2024As the coat of arms on the badge shows, it was a Dalmatian regiment. The crew came from the area of ​​Sebenico (now Sibenik). The headquarters and cadre were in the city of Zara. The regiment was part of the 47th division and in peace the XVI. used corps. During the Great War, the entire regiment was assigned to the 5th mountain brigade. It was first used in Serbia, then from May 1915 on the Italian front with the 58th Division (XVIth Corps). In 1915-16 they were in the Görz area. In addition to the coat of arms of Dalmatia, the badge also features the name of Podgora, which commemorates the battles in Görz. Panowitz was a village near the middle course of the Isonzó. Desperate battles took place here in August 1916 during the 6th battle of Isonzo. The interpretation of the name Zajcica is still to be seen. Such geographical names also occur in Slovenia and Serbia, I have not been able to find the Dalmatian equivalent. I have already written about the regiment’s other badge here. [...] Read more...
September 8, 2024Post by my friend Gábor Csiszér. One of the main means of transport during World War I was the railway. Its application aimed not only the rapid movement of the forces, the delivery of troops and their weapons to their destination but also to serve as the fastest return of the wounded to the hinterland. In the Monarchy it was developed based on the experience of the Prussian army. Prussia already used the railway as a means of military transport means in the Prussian-French war of 1870-71. The K.u.K. Army began to use it from 1878, and in 1911, hospital trains and patient transport trains were already put into service. There were doctors, pharmacists and nurses on the trains. Their work was supported by care services when rolled into the stations, to which the Red Cross also joined. This kind of help was provided by the Railway Refreshment Service of the Red Cross Society of the Countries of the Hungarian Holy Crown. The scene depicted on the postcard was almost “copied” on the beautifully detailed badge. [...] Read more...
September 4, 2024The fall of 1918 brought the collapse of the Central Powers. The completely exhausted Monarchy, as well as Turkey and Bulgaria, reached the ultimate limit of their ability to perform. The troops were in a physically degraded state, insufficient and declining material supplies, and the turbulent hinterland predicted disaster. This happened first on the Turkish front. Under the attack of the British troops, the Turkish forces had already been retreating for a year, but they were able to slow down the pace of the British advance with counterattacks. German and Austro-Hungarian soldiers sent to Palestine were also helping the Turkish troops. The commander-in-chief of the front was also a German general (Friedrich Kreß von Kressenstein, then Erich von Falkenhayn, later Otto Liman von Sanders). The Germans helped the Turks with one corps (Asia Corps), the Monarchy with artillery batteries and technical troops. The allies were able to temporarily stop the British attacks near Gaza and then Amman. In September 1918, the British finally achieved a decisive breakthrough on the Palestinian front. On the 19th, relying on their overwhelming air superiority, they successfully attacked the stations of the allied headquarters in Tul-Kerim, Nablus and Afule. After the subsequent frontal breakthrough, the attacking mounted corps quickly advanced along the beach and got behind the defenders. It is typical that due to the lightning-fast attack, the defenders’ headquarters in Nazareth could not be evacuated either. At dawn on September 20, the staff who were still sleeping there were surprised. After that, the mounted British troops occupied all of Palestine in a flash, first Amman on September 24, Daraa on the 27th, and Damascus on October 1. Turkey was forced to conclude an armistice on October 30, assuming heavy territorial losses. The Austro-Hungarian artillery stationed in the area was not captured, but suffered significant losses during the retreat. The 24 cm mortar battery covered the movements of the retreating 8th Army on the coast until September 21. After that, the troop retreated along the coast, reaching Constantinople on the 27th. The retreat of the von Marno division was even more difficult. The confused, disorganized fleeing troops were surprised by British planes attacking low in one of the mountain passes. In the resulting panic, all the guns of the 4/1 battery fell into a ravine. Later, the rest of the battery also reached the Turkish capital. Other batteries joined German units from the East side of the Jordan to march through the desert and reached Damascus after a week of wandering, only to immediately retreat to Aleppo. This part of the Austro-Hungarian contingent in Syria was taken prisoner of war by the British. The badge attached to the post shows a 15 cm howitzer. The Monarchy also sent such a cannon in to reinforce the Marno Mountain Artillery Division in Palestine. The attached newspaper article depicts one of the 15 cm guns with Turkish observers. The beautiful car photo shows the leaders of the Monarchy’s military contingent by the Bosphorus in 1915. The map shows the front breakthrough and the encirclement operation targeting the headquarters in Nazareth. [...] Read more...
September 2, 2024IR 87 was a Styrian regiment. Its command and recruitmen area was in Cilli (now Celje, Slovenia), and most of its crew were Slovenian. The regiment was originally assigned to the defense of Pola. His battalions were also stationed there. Then, in the Great War, they fought with the 28th Division, first on the Russian and then on the Italian front. The regiment’s insignia shows a small section of the Italian battlefield that became important from the end of 1916, Mt San Gabriele. In 1916, the Italians occupied the bridgehead in front of Görz. Then the weight of their attack shifted to the left bank of the Isonzo river. The key to the defense here was the possession of this mountain north of Görz. As the badge shows, particularly fierce battles took place here from the end of 1916 to September 1917, until the 11th Battle of Isonzó. In the summer of 1917, the 87th gave their place to the regiments of the 20th Honvéd Division (I wrote about their battles on San Gabriele here). The badge shows a panoramic view of the Isonzo valley as seen from Mt Santo. The Görz railway line ran under the Mt San Gabriele, whose bridge over the Isonzo was blown up in 1916 by the troops forced to evacuate Görz. I wrote more about the history of the bridge here. [...] Read more...
August 30, 2024I recently visited Innsbruck and attended the Kaiserjägermuseum there. The history of the Tyrolean fighters is nicely explained, from the establishment of their associations and their first use in combat (the Hofer Uprisal of Independence against Napoleonic rule) to the present day. It is particularly interesting that the museum stands on the Bergisel plateau, where the great battle of the uprising against Napoleon took place in 1809. But the museum also keeps many relics from the Great War. One of them is the shield-shaped plaque of the 2nd land rifle regiment of Bozen. I’ve written about the shield-shaped badge twice before (here and here). The ragged surface of the badge was striking. Now the reason for this has become clear in the museum. As in many other cities, outdoor wooden sculptures were set up in Bozen, in which an iron nail could be hammered in exchange for donations paid to local relief funds. The shield was created for such a fundraising. It is currently kept in this museum. [...] Read more...
August 28, 2024One of the advanced weapons of the Monarchy was the 30 and a half mortar. Its formidable firepower was already proven in 1914, when the Austro-Hungarian mortars that supplemented the equipment of the German attackers were also effective in breaking through the Belgian fortress system. By the end of the war, roughly a hundred guns were produced. Today, only three of the formidable weapon remained. One is kept in Rovereto, Belgrade and Bucharest. Unfortunately, in the successor states of the Monarchy none remained (it is true, Rovereto was in the territory of the Monarchy until 1918). The attached wearing photo is a rarity, since for some reason the gunners either wore fewer badges or took fewer photos of themselves (this is less likely). In any case, in this picture we see a gunner with an insignia with the word “Gretl” above his tunic pocket, forming a 30 and a half shell. Several other insignia can be seen on his cap: Italian officer’s star, Isonzo-Armee, Armeegruppe Rohr, Tiroler Landesverteidigung. These are all common, the wreath gunner insignia is rare. [...] Read more...
August 23, 2024The Lohner Pfeilflieger got its name from the backward-pointing wings. The first plane was completed in 1912. Soon it was also produced for military use. The series of the machine were classified according to the engines with increasing power. About 270 of the various versions were built. Most of the machines were manufactured in Fischamend, and a smaller part in Budapest. In Budapest, Első Magyar Léghajó és Repülőgép Rt produced the Lohner B II and B VII types from 1913 on Hungária körút. The B III version was a two-seated reconnaissance aircraft. At first, it was equipped with weak Mercedes engines with 100 HP. It was vulnerable due to its low speed and altitude. In the article of aviation historian György Punka, we can read that the first Lohner crashed already on August 14, 1914. On the Russian battlefield, he could not get above an altitude of 500 meters and was shot down with infantry weapons. Another piece suffered an accident in flight two days later and also crashed. The type, unsuitable for military use, was replaced by the B VII series. It already had a more powerful 160 HP engine. But this plane was not able to fly above 3000 meters either. Its speed was also low, 137 km/h. This machine has already been equipped with a protective machine gun. The variety of aircraft types inspired badge makers. The Lohner Pfeil was produced in much smaller numbers than the Monarchy’s other reconnaissance base type, the Hansa Brandenburg. Still, this machine also appears on one of the Kappenabzeichen. I am attaching the most common plate badge with the years 1914-1918 to the post. The same badge was also made without the year, emphasizing the fine details of the machine: parts of the background were cut out from behind the complicated outline of the machine. The full version was made of grey metal, the other version was silver-plated or silver. The manufacturers of badges and other propaganda materials were not interested in the performance and features of the machines. More liked the sight of the airplane. The small, nimble, fast fighters were not spectacular enough. That is why reconnaissance and even some pre-war machines with extravagant dragons appear on the insignia. I am also attaching a letter seal, on which we also see a picture of the Lohner Pfeil aircraft [...] Read more...
August 22, 2024A model designed by Charles Voisin in 1907. The first flying structure that was produced in large numbers. Between 1907 and 1911, 75 pieces were made. As the presented postcard shows, at least one piece went to Wiener Neustadt. The horizontal stabilizer is located on the nose of the unusual structure of the airplane. This is the strangest characteristic of the machine. On the steel frame based structure box-like separating elements built into the wings are also a bit strange. The world’s first cross country flight between Chalons and Reims (27 km) in 20 minutes was made by Henri Farman in 1908 with such a plane. The importance of the event is stressed by the fact that it became the cover story of the leading American natural science magazine. Perhaps it was this event in aviation history that made the Voisin model so popular that it was even included among the Monarchy’s cap badges. [...] Read more...
August 20, 2024The Nagyvárad Honvéd IR no.4.  was part of the tried and tested 20th Infantry Division. They fought in the Carpathians, then on the Italian front, first at the upper reaches of the Isonzo and then at the Karst. The cap badge of the regiment depicts the fight against the many-headed dragon, the honvéd bucks fighting against many enemy countries. This round badge was the only badge of the regiment, produced in Vienna by the Gurschner company, in large numbers. In the wearing photo, the regimental commander, Colonel Károly Kratochvill, decorates the handle of his bayonet with the badge. [...] Read more...
August 16, 2024Here again, a better-known badge follows, to which I can attach a stamped correspondence letter and a letter seal. The 18th Infantry Regiment was a Silesian regiment, three-quarters Czech and one-quarter German-speaking crew. At the turn of the century, the command and staff of the regiment was in Olmütz, and before the war in Königgrätz. The regiment was owned by Archduke Leopold Salvator. He was the chief inspector of artillery in the Monarchy’s armed forces in the rank of general colonel. The letter seal is decorated with his portrait. The 18th infantry regiment belonged to the 10th division, which was in the IX corps in northern Bohemia. It was used throughout the Great War on the Russian front, first in the 4th Army and then as part of the 2nd Army. During the Brusilov Offensive, they were transferred from the scattered 4th Army to the German Southern Army. [...] Read more...
August 14, 2024Recently, I managed to solve an old puzzle. Not one in fact, but three. The following: What were the so-called “positional batteries” organizationally? What guns belonged to these batteries? Which front does the single “Positionsbatterie” badge represent, where was this 3/5 battery? I found the reason for the lack of clarity in Christian Ortner’s book The KuK Artillery, published by Militaria Verlag. He doesn’t write about positional batteries either, because there was complete chaos around them. To strengthen the front lines, the Monarchy used defensie guns built into the front line on all fronts. They were not removed from the front line even when the crew of the given front section changed. Thus, positional batteries were practically separated from their own regiments and became brigade- or rather division-directed. Therefore, there is no collected, organized information about them. One of the photos in Ortner’s book shows an 8 cm field gun of the M 99 pattern. In the text part, the “positional batteries” are discussed related mainly to the mountain artillery. From this, I drew the conclusion that these anti-assault cannons were field or mountain cannons of smaller caliber, often outdated, of older production. Of course, it also follows that the “mother regiments” should be sought primarily among the field artillery and mountain artillery regiments. That is, the 3/5 battery could have been either a field gun battery or a mountain gun battery. According to information sources describing the use of the troops, the 5th Field Artillery Regiment was not used on the Italian front. The 5th Mountain Artillery Regiment did, however, divided into batteries. I thought primarily of the Italian front because of the mountain landscape on the badge, although parts of the Carpathians could also have been considered. My suspicions were proven by the fact that the depicted landscape was eerily similar to the Tolmein bridgehead, whose pictures I have been looking at a lot lately. Especially the smaller mountain in the foreground reminded me a lot of the Schlossberg “rising” above the town of Tolmein. The Schlossberg is mentioned in many descriptions because the front stretched from the west coast to the east in front of it, and from this part the Italians attacked the somewhat further mountain range, the Vodil and Mrzli Vrh heights. All that was left was to somehow prove that the batteries protecting the area really came from the No. 5 mountain artillery. On the basis of the image of the badge, it was assumed that the battery was installed on the Sveta Maria – Mengore mountain high up in the bridgehead, since Tolmein and the surrounding mountains can be seen from there at the right angle. Some of the posts can still be seen on Mount Mengore, and there are also commemorative plaques at the entrance to the shelters. There is a “Positionsbatterie 15 (or 1/5)” sign, but it faces the opposite south, so you can’t see the city. You can see a “Geb. Kan. Batterie 4/5” sign too, which is supposed to be located on the north side of Mengore mountain. So that’s the key. Two batteries of the 5th Mountain Artillery Regiment (Bt 4 and 5) were assigned to the 15th Mountain Brigade and then to the 2nd Mountain Brigade active in the area in late 1915. They protected the Tolmein bridgehead. Their memorial plaque is on the mountain. Not the 3rd but the 1st and 4th batteries. But maybe the 3rd is there somewhere there, you just have to look around. And the inscription on the badge refers to the 3/5 mountain gun battery, which was used as a positional battery. [...] Read more...
August 12, 2024St Lucia was a small town of perhaps thousand people during the Great War located at the confluence of the Isonzo and Idria rivers. The place is surrounded by smaller mountains, so its location is very favorable from a military point of view. There was a bridge in this place already in the Middle Ages. The town’s current name also reflects this: Most na Soci: “Isonzo Bridge”. This point was the center of the Tolmein bridgehead during the Great War. Until 1917, it was the terminus of the railway line supplying the northern Isonzo front. The defense of the bridgehead was important to the Monarchy for this reason alone. But the Italians didn’t really attack it. Rather, they tried to conquer the surrounding high mountains, especially the Krn group. The 4/58th Battalion was a unit of the 8th Mountain Brigade. This brigade was stationed at the bridgehead in 1915-16. On his badge, in the background of the battle scene, the outline of the town can be seen to the left, you can recognize the tower of the parish church. In the foreground of today’s city view, instead of the rocky riverbed, a dammed lake is visible. The town in the background is unchanged. [...] Read more...
August 8, 2024I have shown the nice plate badge of the regiment in a wearing photo here. The badge, like in case of so many regiments, appears in various patriotic publications, cards of the invalid fund. In addition to the correspondence card that you can see in the opening image, it is also on the letter seal. The badge was made in three material versions. Most of the time, you can find the silver-plated version presented here. [...] Read more...
August 6, 2024After the unsuccessful Piave offensive, the Monarchy gathered its last strength and tried to strengthen its forces and the fronts. At that time, it only had occupying tasks to the east in Ukraine and Romania. In the Balkans, a low-intensity war was going on in Albania and on the Greek border. The Italian front was the most active. Here, the combined Entente forces tried to take advantage of the confusion after the lost offensive and further weaken and grind down the Monarchy’s troops. Along the Piave, he had the opportunity to do this mostly with artillery operations and the use of aircraft. The use of the air force already had significant results during the Piave offensive. Entente aircraft successfully destroyed the military bridges securing the crossing of the Piave. With ground attacks, they were able to disturb and demoralize the marching troops. A similar air superiority developed in Palestine. The Turkish, German and Austro-Hungarian troops retreating towards Syria were hit by continuous low-level attacks: bombing and machine gun fire. Gaining and maintaining air superiority became increasingly important. So it’s no wonder that air battles have become more and more frequent. Earlier, I reported on the death of two Austro-Hungarian flying aces, József Kiss and Frank Linke-Crawford. In August 1918, the fight continued with the same intensity and there were more victims. In this post, however, the focus is more on a miraculous escape, which was also a milestone in aviation history. Sergeant Frigyes Hefty was involved in aviation even before the Great War, participated in air shows and was a passionate pilot. From 1915 he was a soldier in the Austro-Hungarian Air Force, first as an observer and then as a pilot. He achieved nine aerial victories, five of which were confirmed. That’s how he became a flying ace. His activities were honored with a total of ten bravery medals, three of which were first class (gold). Hefty’s name stands out among his fellow soldiers because he was the first pilot who was able to escape from his damaged plane in air combat by jumping out with a parachute. There had been parachute jumps in the past, also in the Monarchy’s air force, but Hefty was the first to be proven to have escaped certain death by parachute from his burning plane during air combat. This happened on August 22, 1918. I’ve attached an airman’s badge to Hefty’s photo, it’s relatively rare. According to most experts, this is the badge of the Wiener Neustadt flying school [...] Read more...
August 3, 2024Aviation was a novelty of the Great War era. The general public was also moved and excited by this area of ​​technical development (besides submarines). They were also willing to make serious financial sacrifices for the development. The Monarchy organized donation campaigns for aviation developments. The airplane surrounded by the wreath (a civilian model) decorated the badge given to the donors. The same template was made with a different type of machine and even with the serial number of one of the air force squadrons. The Kappenabzeichen of the 48th Air Squadron is not the only insignia that has been adapted and transformed for combat formations in addition to the original use. For example, several of the cap badges made with monarchs’ portraits were engraved with the number of an infantry regiment or a hussar regiment. As the background of this post, I chose a poster of a pre-war aviation exhibition and presentation. [...] Read more...
August 1, 2024I have already dealt with the use of searchlights in general here. The most important development process was that the device used to illuminate the foreground of fixed, fortified points began to be used much more widely. The location of the fortress was known and had not changed, so revealing the surprise attacks as a goal did not conflict with the goal of concealment. With the development of trench warfare, this aspect began to prevail again: the covers and trenches were in the same place for a longer period of time, so the lighting of their forecourt did not reveal much to the enemy. So, the headlights that were previously only used in fortresses were deployed to all fronts and positions. Before the war, in addition to devices operating with old acetylene burners, electric headlights also appeared. Supplying them with electricity was, of course, a separate task, which was carried out by the electrical battalions dealing with the electricity generators and the construction and maintenance of the electrical lines carrying the electricity further afield. At first, these battalions also operated the searchlights, later the headlight units were formed. Due to their increased performance, electric headlights became more and more common. One of these devices was the electric searchlight with a mirror diameter of 110 cm, introduced in 1915. The M15 110 cm searchlight was one of the largest devices, operated by a searchlight swarm. It had two versions. The image presented in this post shows the fortress version mounted on the fixed base. 22 of these devices were applied in mid-1917. A similar lighting device was also made in a mobile version, as a portable device. 77 of them were made. I am attaching the insignia of the electrical battalions to the post. In the first half of the Great War, these units were also involved in the operation of searchlights. [...] Read more...
July 29, 2024The Hofmann corps was set up in the spring of 1915 by merging several newly formed army units. Its core was the 55th division, which included three honvéd infantry regiments. They were supplemented by the Bolzano Brigade and later by the 54th Rifle Division. The Hofmann corps received a military number in 1917, from that time the XXV. corps became its official name. The division played an important role in the battles on the Russian front. The badge in the post also refers to the battles that took place in the Carpathians, mainly around the Uzsoki Pass. But later they also played an important role on the border of Eastern Galicia and Bukovina. I already wrote about the commander of the corps in more detail here. The image of the badge appears in many places, and many copies are still in collections today. It had three material versions and was made in two sizes. The photo attached to the post shows the larger version on the field cap. [...] Read more...
July 27, 2024The history of Debrecen, the “civic city”, is full of conflicting events, when “civic rationality” (wealth considerations) were overwritten by the lofty aspects of national loyalty and loyalty to the city. These events accompanied the city from the Turkish wars until the 20th century. The motif stretches unbroken from Gáspár Borzán (1604, it is true, he is the imaginary character of the writer Magda Szabó) to the persons of Zoltán Ács and András Gorzsás, who were murdered in a police salve on October 23, 1956 at 6 o’clock in the evening. They were the first martyrs of the Hungarian 1956 revolution. The heroic fight of the 3rd honvéd infantry regiment in the Great War fits into this line. The Calvinist Great Church in Debrecen is the emblematic building of the city, which I have written about several times. Now I am uploading photos of the barracks building of the 3rd honvéd infantry regiment. They were a regiment of the 20th Honvéd Infantry Division. Together with the 39th joint regiment, they belonged to corps VII commanded by Archduke József that protected the Karst in 1915-17. The many sufferings and sacrifices were not in vain: the outnumbered Italian attackers only managed to penetrate the front line little by little here and there, but these results were also taken back by the defenders of Doberdó in countless cases. Due to the heavy losses, the regiment was reorganized twice when the regiment’s numbers dwindled. The army barracks still stands today and exceptionally still functions as a military facility. In 1978, I also had to go to this building for enlistment, the territorial auxiliary command is located here. The commemorative relief of the 3rd regiment can be seen on the wall of the building. The building still looks roughly the same today as it did 120 years ago, although the beautiful row of trees planted on the edge of Péterfia Street has been cut down (perhaps replanted?). [...] Read more...
July 25, 2024“Hold on guys!” says the Ruthenian inscription of the 36th Landwehr Infantry Regiment. This may have been the motto of the regiment, which they called to themselves in difficult situations. The regiment was established in 1899 in Eastern Galicia, in the area of ​​Kolomea, Stanislau and Czortków. The command was in Kolomea. The regiment was assigned to the 43rd division. This division fought on the Russian front assigned to various corps until the middle of 1916. From the end of 1916, he moved to the Italian front. Deciphering the symbolism and inscription of the badge is not an easy task. What you can quickly learn is the meaning of the word “hlopets”, which means guy, boy, and several Slavic languages ​​have similar sounding words. It probably got into the routine through Polish mediation. As a next step, it was necessary to find the ethnic group using the word. As a result of the current terrible war, every possible forum emphasizes Ukrainian unity, which may be politically important, but cannot hide the fact that today’s Ukraine is a multi-ethnic country. Citizens who define themselves as Ukrainians also historically belonged to several ethnic groups. These were related nations, but not identical, and the differences were reflected in language, culture and even religion. The ethnic groups living in the foreland of the Carpathians for example are Greek Catholic and not Orthodox. According to the sources, Ruthenian is also the collective name of several ethnic groups. The four ethnic groups were located from the Beskids to Bukovina, and in the entire area of ​​the old Máramaros county. I think that the badge is most reminiscent of the Hutsuls, a southern ethnic group. On the one hand, the word hlopets refers mainly to this ethnic group, and on the other hand, the woodcutter ax seen on the badge refers to the main occupation of the Hutsuls, logging and rafting. One more small addition to the Hutsuls: there are two Hutsul museums in Kolomea, the center of the 36th regiment. There are two enemies depicted on the badge. The bear branching out to the right clearly refers to Russia. The cat perched on the tree on the left traditionally represented the Italians during the Great War. Since the regiment fought on both fronts, these two interpretations seem well founded [...] Read more...