Paroli (uniform)

Parolis on the battle-dress blouse of a k.k. Landesschütze

Paroli(s) (pl. Parolis; en: gorget patch, collar tab, or patch) – was initial the designation to the coloured gorget patches of the Austro-Hungarian Army (k.u.k. Army), appliquéd on the gorget of uniform coat, or jacket and the battle-dress blouse. Parolis indicated the egalisation colour, and served as discrimination criteria of the 102 infantry regiments of the k.u.k. Army, as well as dragoon regiment (mounted infantry) and the regiment of the uhlans (light cavalry).

Parolis in the k.u.k. Army

In the k.u.k. Army two Parolis (1 left and 1 on the right hand side) were appliquéd to the gorget´s (stand-up collar) front part of the battle-dress blouse, covering approximately 1/5th of the gorget length. Rank stars, colour stripes of cloth, piping, and special badges were attached to the front area, as indicated below.

The rank stars of the rank groups gemeine, chargess and Unteroffiziere (NCOs) were made from white celluloid. However, since the year 1913 Paroli rank stars to Stabsfeldwebel and Kadett were made form white silk. Offiziersstellvertreter (officer deputy) rank stars were from brass, those to Fähnrich and officers were metallic gold-plated or silver-plated. In cases of self-procurement, metal embroidered rank stars were allowed.

Examples

The galleries below show examples of Parolis

• on the picke-grey battle-dress blouse or coat, as per order of 1908 or 1916

• 
  Gemeiner, Paroli in sulphur-yellow on coat
• 
  Gefreiter, Paroli in orange-yellow, 1916
• 
  Korporal, Paroli in aple-gree, 1908
• 
  Feldwebel, Paroli in scarlet-red, 1916
• 
  Offiziersstellvertreter, Paroli in gras-green, 1916
• 
  Oberleutnant, Paroli in plack, 1916
• 
  Oberst, Paroli in dark-red, 1916

• Special Parolis on the picke-grey battle-dress blouse, as per order of 1916

• 
  Hauptmann in the General staff (Hauptmann im Generalstabes) with egalisation colour on smaller stripe of cloth and piping),
• 
  Hauptmann in the Artillery staff (Hauptmann im Artilleriestab)
• 
  Hauptmann in the Engineer staff (Hauptmann im Geniestab)

See also

Main articles: Rank insignia of the Austro-Hungarian armed forces, Waffenfarbe (Austria), and Adjustierung

References/sources

• Adjustierungsvorschrift für die k. u. k. gemeinsame Armee, die k.k. Landwehr, die k.u. Landwehr, die verbundenen Einrichtungen und das Corps der Militär-Beamten. (Theil III) Herausgegeben mit Genehmigung des k.u.k. Kriegsministeriums durch die k.u.k. Hofdruckerei von Erich Christl, Bozen 1912.
• Johann C. Allmayer-Beck, Erich Lessing: Die K.u.k. Armee. 1848–1918. Verlag Bertelsmann, München 1974, ISBN 3-570-07287-8.
• Stefan Rest: Des Kaisers Rock im ersten Weltkrieg. Verlag Militaria, Wien 2002, ISBN 3-9501642-0-0
• Das k.u.k. Heer im Jahre 1895 Schriften des Heeresgeschichtlichen Museums in Wien - Leopold Stocker Verlag, Graz 1997

References

Paroli (uniform)