Special units

Nurses

In terms of personnel, nurses and nursing assistants were certainly the ones who took the most part in caring for wounded and sick soldiers. Because of the war, the capacity of healthcare institutions had to be increased enormously. This also necessitated an increase in the number of healthcare personnel needed to operate the institutions. While the training and appointment of doctors could not be done with the required speed, the training and employment of nursing personnel could be done much sooner and more flexibly.

Among the personnel, nurses also deserve special attention. Obviously, even 100 years ago, there were specialized nursing tasks that required serious professional preparation. For example, surgical assistance to surgeons treating the wounded required expertise. For this task, medical soldiers who were trained for this task within the framework of the army were mostly employed. Voluntary nurses were mainly involved in the care of convalescent patients. Given that full recovery from illness or injury took several weeks, during this time a very large number of auxiliary personnel took care of the ill soldiers: typically volunteer nurses.

The medical staff also wore badges, mostly with a red cross motif of various sizes and shapes. The nurse in the post is wearing the badges most often seen in the wearing photos. The round badge is visible on the front of the headscarf, the large oval on the neck of the blouse. Wearing it in the middle of the neck can be considered common. While working, the nurses wore a simple white scarf or bonnet to cover their hair, to the light material of which they could not attach the badges.

The decoration of the large oval badges with the Hungarian holy crown applique is very unique. Strangely, the Rudolf-crown decoration typical of the Austrian provinces cannot be seen. Is it possible that these badges were only worn in Hungary?

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