Infanterie Regts - Bosniaken

[Mujo]

Much has been written about the elite units to come out of the south of Europe, and particularly of my interest are those Austrian and Prussian volunteer/"free" units raised by monarchs starting with the "Alte Fritz" in 1740 who raised a lancer and then a hussar regiment of Bosnians to counter the Polish uhlans raised by other armies. More intriguing enough are the mentions of Croatian pandurs (light infantry/skirmishers) that annoyed his fusiliers through their use of irregular ("indian-like") tactics.

The eventual annexation of Bosnian into the A-H Empire was a violent one and it left almost a thousand dead Austrians before it was complete. An American newspaper of the time described the struggle as futile but commendable on the part of the Bosnians who resisted it nonetheless.
It's of great interest to me that these units rose to such prominence and became disproportionally portrayed alongside the three major ethnicity and held on the same par. As seen in the pictures/post cards below.

As a testament to their battlefield prowess, the fez became associated with their reputation and thus many units wore it as a ruse de guerre when hoping to deter the Italians from attacking.


(These photos were sourced from various period post cards and modern artwork. No actual references exist to my knowledge. All photos come from private collections.)