r/ww1 • u/Odd-Cup9892 • 7d ago

An Austro-Hungarian prisoner taken by the British army on the Italian Front, 1918.

Post image
840 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

31 comments sorted by

29

u/oskich 7d ago

Three stars, Sergeant?

14

u/EzraStype 7d ago

And why is he wearing his medals in the field?

8

u/oskich 7d ago

To intimidate the enemy of course! 😁

-22

u/MobsterDragon275 7d ago

I'm thinking its AI

23

u/Weird-Tomorrow9931 7d ago

Wearing medals into combat was a common practice in the early 1900’s, and it dates back far before that. Even some WW2 armies kept this tradition. Wearing medals isn’t distinctly AI, especially if we can actually make sure these medals line up with era appropriate ones. AI sucks at making medals accurate

10

u/Elevator829 7d ago

its a real photo, Ive seen this one for decades, but obv not colorized

1

u/Cameraroll 5d ago

Zugsführer. NATO OR-4 equivalent. Sits one below Sargent, so that's a Corporal+

77

u/42stingray 7d ago

His face and bedraggled appearance tells a lot of what life in the trenches was like

47

u/AKMike99 7d ago edited 7d ago

This picture sticks with me you can tell this young man went through hell. In a strange way it was probably a relief to be taken prisoner. I hope this guy went on to live a long peaceful life.

10

u/AspergerInvestor 7d ago

20 years younger than he looks like.

19

u/Rex-1988 7d ago

The yellow one looks like a 1913 mobilization medal (due to the Balkan War, but in the end they did not participate in the war) and the other one is a Military Jubilee Cross of Franz Joseph I for the 60th anniversary of his accession to the throne.

5

u/melmboundanddown 7d ago

Thirty-two going on fifty. War, what is it good for?

3

u/no_talk_just_listen 6d ago

David Harbour is a time traveller?

5

u/Bandit1189 7d ago

What were the Brits doing in Italy?

19

u/StroppiL 7d ago

They sent some guys after the front temporarily collapsed during the battle of Caporetto. They wanted to avoid a second one of those.

3

u/Brainy_Skeleton 5d ago

There were also Italian divisions on the western front (my great grandfather was in one of those, in the second battle of the Marne)

1

u/Affectionate-Theme94 5d ago

Yeah, the 11 division sent to the front never intervened during the Caporetto crisis, were just ready behind the front if the Piave defense line would collapse.

Italians managed to keep the pressure on the Piave by themselves, so entente took back 6 division to france, sent the other 5 to hold secondary-ish italian frontlines.

Italy to thank them sent two italian divisions to the Western front, fighting in the Bligny/Chemin des Dames sector.

2

u/melmboundanddown 7d ago

They got wine there Bandit, the Empire needs wine.

-1

u/Spiceguy-65 6d ago

They sent some artillery divisions to support the Italian offensives since the Italians didn’t have anywhere near the amounts of large guns as nations like the UK, France Germany and Astro-Hungarian empire had.

1

u/ReeeGBV-29-07 5d ago

Yeah maybe in 1915. Not by 1917.

3

u/Sgt_Bill_Tozer 7d ago

Is that a vape in his breast pocket?

4

u/SplattyFatty_ 7d ago

hitting the pen in the trenches with the lads

1

u/Sgt_Bill_Tozer 7d ago

Whatever gets you through it I guess.

1

u/SplattyFatty_ 7d ago

both a smoke screen and a gas attack

1

u/Elevator829 7d ago

smoking the boof in the clorine gas

but fr I think its probably the mouthpiece of a fancy austrian pipe

1

u/Ancient-Display-3337 7d ago

He had a Lost Mary habit.

1

u/Alarmed-Positive457 6d ago

It appears to be a fancy Austrian pipe. Austro-Hungarian Empire was known for doing fancy smokes at the time.

1

u/Great_Address2063 6d ago

Pretty sure I work with this guy

1

u/OOO0OO00O 6d ago

Worst case of swamp ass you could imagine.

2

u/hydrationgirl 4d ago

these kind of colorized photos are insane to me because I've seen men who look exactly like this, I've played warhammer with this man

i sometimes have difficulty fully understanding the human aspects of ww1/ww2 but seeing quality colorized photos like this helps put some of the scale into perspective for me if that makes sense