Viribus Unitis

Franz Joseph’s motto: “Through United Strength!” in the Great War, this was, above all, a force united with the Germans. German-Austro-Hungarian friendship appeared on many propaganda badges. One of the favorite motifs is the German and Austrian buck, who shake hands or fight shoulder to shoulder in their typical uniforms.

Friendship was indeed a serious factor, although the officers of the Monarchy occasionally licked to be overshadowed by the Germans. In fact, in joint operations, command was always given to German generals. I don’t think there was even that much revulsion at crew level. Each side rated the other. There’s a lot of evidence of that. So we can say that the accord shown in the propaganda materials was given at the level of the troops. The pictures are honest.

I’ve already presented a postcard of the German Southern Army. Here you can see another postcard with a similar motif. This is a German edition from Munich. I put on it a distinctive friendly handshake Kappenabzeichen. The separate cap badge is a kind of “de-luxe” version, a little more expensive, silver-plated, with enameled national colors. Interesting is also the inscription on the back, which is a kind of vow: “Stark im Kampf und Not, treu bis in den Tod. Die Fäuste dem Feind auf ewig vereint.” In English: “Strong in battle and need, faithful to death. Their fists against the enemy are united forever.”