My KuK cavalry badges collection
As promised, I'm going to post my austro-hungarian cavalry Kappenabzeichen.
I will do it in some days, as I want also to describe it at my best; not only the badges themselves, but I'd like to give some historical inputs as well.
At the moment I'm writing, I have more than 230 pieces but the collection is far to be complete. Many are still missing: if you have some and don't know what to di with them, don't hesitate to contact me
Many examples will look identical at a first sight, but they aren't: most of them are variations. I have only 3 duplicates in the collection!
Let's start.
At the beginning of the war the austro-hungarian cavalry was formed by three different corps, each one representing the most important etnichal components of the empire: the dragoons for the german part, the hussars for the hungarian part, while the ulans represented the Slavs. Of course this distinction was only symbolic: for example it was always possible to find a hussar of german or slav origins.
The dragoons was traditionally considered as heavy cavalry, while hussars and ulans were light cavalry, but in reality weaponry and equipment was the same for all, only the uniforms and traditions were different (and in some case, the horse breed).
In the Imperial (regular) Army there were 15 dragoon, 16 hussar and 11 ulan regiments.
Some regiments were assigned to the infantry divisions or higher commands as reconnaissance troops and courriers, but most of them were grouped in cavalry brigades and cavalry divisions, and were intended to be used in mass as mounted infantry. The mounted infantry, altough weaker in strenght than the regular infantry, had a greater mobility and was very suitable in a war of movement.
Unfortunately for the imperial cavalrymen, at the beginning of the Great War the austrian commanders forgot in some way this very modern and realistic doctrine and used the cavalry in suicidal frontal charges against the russian positions on the eastern front. Facing the machine guns, the losses in the regiments were enormous.
That's how a very skilled corps was almost destroyed at the early stages of the war, and never recovered. With the prosecution of the war the cavalrymen became dismounted troops and used as regular infantry, but since the numerical size of a cavalry regiment was much smaller than an infantry regiment, these troops were not as effective.
Here are some badges of the dragoon regiments.
The square "D5" Kappenabzeichen is a ground find (not by me, unfortunately!) and was recovered in northern Italy.
The 2 D12 badges looks identical, but bear different dates in the inscriptions: 1914-1916 and 1914-1917.
The last badge is a "generic" one, that cannot be attributed to any specific regiment.
I will do it in some days, as I want also to describe it at my best; not only the badges themselves, but I'd like to give some historical inputs as well.
At the moment I'm writing, I have more than 230 pieces but the collection is far to be complete. Many are still missing: if you have some and don't know what to di with them, don't hesitate to contact me
Many examples will look identical at a first sight, but they aren't: most of them are variations. I have only 3 duplicates in the collection!
Let's start.
At the beginning of the war the austro-hungarian cavalry was formed by three different corps, each one representing the most important etnichal components of the empire: the dragoons for the german part, the hussars for the hungarian part, while the ulans represented the Slavs. Of course this distinction was only symbolic: for example it was always possible to find a hussar of german or slav origins.
The dragoons was traditionally considered as heavy cavalry, while hussars and ulans were light cavalry, but in reality weaponry and equipment was the same for all, only the uniforms and traditions were different (and in some case, the horse breed).
In the Imperial (regular) Army there were 15 dragoon, 16 hussar and 11 ulan regiments.
Some regiments were assigned to the infantry divisions or higher commands as reconnaissance troops and courriers, but most of them were grouped in cavalry brigades and cavalry divisions, and were intended to be used in mass as mounted infantry. The mounted infantry, altough weaker in strenght than the regular infantry, had a greater mobility and was very suitable in a war of movement.
Unfortunately for the imperial cavalrymen, at the beginning of the Great War the austrian commanders forgot in some way this very modern and realistic doctrine and used the cavalry in suicidal frontal charges against the russian positions on the eastern front. Facing the machine guns, the losses in the regiments were enormous.
That's how a very skilled corps was almost destroyed at the early stages of the war, and never recovered. With the prosecution of the war the cavalrymen became dismounted troops and used as regular infantry, but since the numerical size of a cavalry regiment was much smaller than an infantry regiment, these troops were not as effective.
Here are some badges of the dragoon regiments.
The square "D5" Kappenabzeichen is a ground find (not by me, unfortunately!) and was recovered in northern Italy.
The 2 D12 badges looks identical, but bear different dates in the inscriptions: 1914-1916 and 1914-1917.
The last badge is a "generic" one, that cannot be attributed to any specific regiment.
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