Austria-Hungary Tunic of an Austro-Hungarian Landwehr Ulan

[Gordon Craig]

This is a recent acquisition from a militaria store in Vienna. It is tunic of a major in Ulan Landwehr Regiment number six. This regiment came into existence in 1894 when the entire Landwehr was reorganized and all Dragoon Regiments were disbanded and reformed again as Ulan regiments. Dragoon regiment number 3 became Ulan regiment number 6. Ulan regiments in the K.u.K. army and the K. K. Landwehr wore the same colour uniform. The colour is translated into English as light blue and compared to the dark blue colour of the infantry tunics of this era is a reasonable choice. In the K. U. K. Ulan regiments the colour of the collar braid matched that of the buttons, which varied from regiment to regiment, and could be either silver or gold. Senior officers, from major on, wore the same colour braid on there sleeve cuffs. In the six Landwehr Ulan regiments the buttons were silver and bore the number of the regiment while those in the K. U. K. Ulan?s were the same domed shape as the Landwehr Ulanen buttons but devoid of numbers. The colour of the rank stars was always the opposite colour to that of the collar braid. IE silver star - gold braid and vice versa The ?waterfall? on the back of the tunic is a distinctive feature of Austro-Hungarian Ulan regiments. It is in gold bullion for officers and silk thread for Fahnrich.

The inside pocket of the tunic bears the makers name ?Moritz TILLER & Co. WEIN, VII./2" and below that ?k. u. k. ??????. Some of the rest of the line is not readable as the owners name is written over most of it in black ink. Perhaps soemone more knowledgable than me in this area can fill in the second line. This hand written name is not readily discernable by me. Anyone care to take a guess as to what the name is? There is also a rectangular stamp on the sleeve lining at the shoulder of each arm but these are not readable. The makers label does not bear a date. It is a distinct possibility that this tunic was manufactured between the time that Landwehr Ulan Regiment #6 came into being in 1894 and when the new pike grey uniforms were adopted in 1908. I say that as there is no evidence that buttons worn in Dragoon Regiment #3 were removed and new buttons added for Ulan Landwehr regiment #6. The uniform material is of an exceptionally fine quality and could have been made for parades etc as the external pockets are false ones. This is a new area of study for me so any comments are most welcome.

Regards,

Gordon

[Gordon Craig]

The back of the tunic.

[Gordon Craig]

A closeup of the buttons.

Edited June 28, 2007 by Gordon Craig

[Gordon Craig]

The tailors label in the interior breast pocket.

[Djedj]

Bonjour Gordon,

Two suspects here :

According to the 1908 "Schematismus der K. K. Landwehr und der K. K. Gendarmerie", your man could be :

- Franz WALINER (Rittmeister in 1908, rank dated 1st November 1896) ;

- Gustav WELSCHAN :

SCHEMATISMUS 1905:

Major (6.Landwehrulanenregiment), Kmdt der 2. Div. (rank dated 1st May 1901)

Milit?rdienstzeichen f?r Offiziere 3.Klasse

Bronzene Jubila?msmedaille

SCHEMATISMUS 1908:

Oberstleutnant (6.Landwehrulanenregiment), Kmdt der 2. Div. (rank dated 1st November 1905)

Milit?rdienstzeichen f?r Offiziere 3.Klasse

Bronzene Jubila?msmedaille

Oberstleutnant (6.Landwehrulanenregiment)

Gustav WELSCHAN had previously served in the KUK Armee : he was in the 1878 promotion of the Wiener Neustadt Theresianische Milit?r-akademie (this is a 1897 article) :

WELSCHAN Gustav, Rittm. 2. Cl. bei Alfred F?rst zu Windisch-Graetz-Dragoner Nr.14, r?ckte am 1. Mai 1894 zum Rittm. 1.Cl. bei F?rste von Liechtenstein-Dragoner Nr.10 vor, wurde mit Allerh?chster Entschliessung vom 20.April 1895 in den Activstand der k.k.Landwehr ?bersetzt und bein Landw.-Uhlanene-Reg. Nr.1 eingetheilt.

The 1879 Schematismus had him Lieutenant in the 5. Steierisch-k?rnthner-krainerisches Dragoner Regiment (in Klagenfurt and Marburg) (rank dated 1st September 1878).

The 1884 Schematismus had him Oberlieutenant (and Prov.-Offizier) in the 5. Dragoner Regiment (Marburg) (rank dated 1st May 1883).

The 1892 Schematismus still had him as 2.Rittmeister in the 5.Dragoner Regiment (rank dated 1st January 1891).

Very nice tunic !

Cheers,

Jerome

Edited August 15, 2007 by Djedj

[Gordon Craig]

Jerome,

Thanks very much for the information on the possible previous owners of the tunic from my collection. Nice to be this close to putting a name to it.

I'll be in Vienna again at the end of September and hope to add at least one more pre 1908 tunic to my collection. There were several artillery tunics available at very reasonable prices when I bought this one. I'll post pictures of whatever falls into my backpack as I leave the store!

Regards,

Gordon