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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Help with Foreign Uniform


jonnyboy

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Hello,

Can anyone please tell me anything about the Uniform this man is wearing. If it is zoomed up, he seems to have three buttons in the form of a triangle on his collar, what does that mean and what is the medal. He also seems to have a sword on his left hand side from his belt. Sorry it is not very clear. I think there are three possibilities that he is either, Austrian, Czech or Russian. It was taken around 1914, give or take a couple or three years. Any info very much appreciated, no matter how small. Thanks for looking.

jonnyboy

post-23-1109855885.jpg

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Hi,

Your image is of an officer of the Austro-Hungarian Army. The cap he is wearing appears to be Officer's Cap, possibly the model 1910.

The three stars on the collar could be for the rank insignia for a Hauptmann (Captain), although the rank could be for a higher rank, but it is difficult to tell from this image.

The photo could well have been taken in 1914, as it was not unusual for a mix of dark and lighter clothing items to be worn together at this time.

As to what unit the officer belongs to, that is more difficult, whether he is in the cavalry, artillery, infantry is too difficult for me to say, but my guess would be for a non-mounted unit.

The medal conforms to the usual method of wearing Austro-Hungarian medals.

Hope this helps.

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Cheers Grant,

Thanks for such a speedy reply and all the interesting info, thats great. Pity the medal is so obscure, I bet you could have told me what that too ! Thanks again,

jonnyboy

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Hi,

It is the 1908 Jubilee Cross for Franz-Jozef's 60th year on the throne, on Military Ribbon.

Take care,

Neil

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Very much appreciated all of you, A very informative site, BeppoSapone gave me, Thanks. Also Thanks to Neil and is this the Medal that you meant, The Crown Jubilee Cross of 1908 ? (Taken off the site that BeppoSapone recomended) Would there have been records of who was given this medal, chaps ?

jonnyboy

post-23-1110015884.jpg

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That is the medal. It is a rather common decoration and although awarding of the medal would most likely be found in a service record, there is no way to tell the receipient just from this award. (if that makes any sense!)

Take care,

Neil

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Thanks Neil,

it's back to the drawing board again then !

Thanks to all of you who replied for the info you have given me, all very informative, cheers,

jonnyboy

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Just another possibility.

It is possible that the person in the photograph is not in the 'military'. He may be a member of the Gendarmerie.

I do not have much information about the gendarmerie in Austro-Hungary, but they did come under the control of the ministry of war for the duration of the war and performed field police functions. Their uniform was very similar to the image that is displayed above.

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Just a suggestion. I'm sure it was necessary to crop the photo to make it "fit", but if there was a way you could re-size it or just re-crop, showing the other person in the photo, it might be possible for the experts [NOT ME!] to give you some additional info.

all the best,

Dan

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Thanks both of you, what Grant said may be true as the reason why I cropped the photo was that all the other six people on it were civilians and I thought they weren’t of much use being there to anyone identifying the uniform. In hind sight perhaps only one person in uniform with other civilians may have had a bearing on him more being in the Gendarme, than him being in the army, if that makes sense !

My Grandmother was Austrian and she and her mother are in the photo and I wanted to connect him to my Great Grandmother as her partner, it gets complicated.

Thanks both anyway, as every idea etc. is of help.

jonnyboy

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Guest steveb21

Mate,

You can contact the Austrian Army Museum to find out.

We also have a bloke on this site that has this info and answers questions about the Austrians give him a line.

S.B

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Hey, Thanks Steve, How do I contact this fella on the Forum then, or what forum topic does he read so I can contact him ?

jonnyboy

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e-mail: kapost@oesta.gv.at

Hi Johnny,

Try e-mailing the information you have (name place of birth etc.) to the above address for the Kriegsarchive in Austria.

You should recieve an e-mail in a few weeks with some basic information: unit served, death details.

I was able to get some information on my wife's great-grandfather this way.

Good luck,

Neil

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