Tüzkereszt History

2012-02-23T13:41:00.000-08:00

Newly decorated Austro-Hungarian soldiers at the Italian Front 1916.

They each have the smaller bronze medal awarded for bravery.

2012-02-18T11:48:00.000-08:00

Soldier Portrait

Austro-Hungarian Private from the Tüzkereszt collection.

2012-02-09T11:47:00.000-08:00

Austro-Hungarian mountain-top fortification in theDolomites 1917.

Cable transport was used to supply thefortifications high up on the mountain tops.

2012-02-08T15:22:00.000-08:00

Austro-Hungarian soldiers on the front in theDolomites 1917.

Before the outbreak of WW1 in 1914, theDolomites were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In 1915, Italy joined thealliance of Britain, France and Russia and declared war on the Central Empires.

Until the end of 1917 the Austro-Hungarian Empire (supported by troops fromSouthern Germany) and the Italians fought a ferocious war in the mountains ofthe Dolomites; not only against each other, but also against the hostileconditions and high altitude.

In the particularly cold winter of 1916 thousandsof troops died of cold, falls or avalanches. Both sides tried to gain controlof the peaks to site observation posts and field guns.

This photograph from march 1917 shows Austro-Hungariansoldiers resting at their camp-site. The simple camp conditions is clearly shown by the soldiers zeltbahn tents.

Each soldier had a piece of square shaped zeltbahn tent that could be put together two andtwo to form the pyramid shaped tents.When not used as a tent the square shaped zeltbahn could be used as rain protection or camouflage.

The photograph is an original paper-copy, never before published from the collection of Péter Orincsay (www.tuzkereszt.com)

2012-01-31T10:36:00.000-08:00

Magyar Aero Szövetség, (MAESZ - Hungarian Aero Association)

MAESZ was a civilian society for sporting aviation in Hungarian the inter-war period. Motorized aviation as well as gliding were among it's supervised activities.

The collar badge of the Magyar Aero Szövetség

The reverse side of the Magyar Aero Szövetség badge

Some original aviation photographs from the active days of the

Magyar Aero Szövetség

2012-01-31T09:34:00.000-08:00

Soldiers art (Trench art)

One thing I like with collecting militaria, is Soldiers art (Trench art). Simple, useful items made by hand by the soldiers in the field. Maybe to bring home as memory, trade or sell to comrades, to add to the salary.

Here is a ashtray that my grandfather usedduring his life. It's made from a 100 mm shell-case to a artillery grenade fromthe times before WW1.

I will present some more Soldiers art (Trench art) items onthis page in the future.

2012-01-26T15:04:00.000-08:00

Two digitally colourized original photographs from the www.tüzkereszt.com collection.

Unknown private

Major Franz Veith, 31. Landwehr Regiment

2012-01-13T13:26:00.000-08:00

Historical Photographs

Austro-Hungarian monarchy military group photos.