Exhibit of the Month - Nov. '24

No, of course not!

But what are the pennants or flags with a skull doing in the “Military History Collection”?

In fact, these are so-called “lance flags” of the hussars.

The left flag was carried by the Prussian Life Hussar Regiment 1 and the right flag by the 2nd Regiment. The lance was the standard weapon of the hussars, as was the sabre.

They were called “death’s head hussars” because of the skull they wore on their fur and cloth hats. Since the 18th century, the skull symbol signaled that they would neither give nor take quarter, i.e. fight to the death.

Due to the breaks in German military history, the Bundeswehr’s tradition decree prohibited the assignment of specific unit traditions. Their armored reconnaissance units maintain the memory of the entire German cavalry. Hussars are a branch of the light cavalry and can be seen as at least the "predecessors" of the cavalry regiments of the world wars and then of the armored reconnaissance regiments.

The military history collection is located in the premises of the headquarters of the 7th Armored Reconnaissance Battalion of the 21st Armored Brigade. Here you can admire some of the hussars' exhibits, including what the disparagingly called "dancing hussars" are all about.