Other Foreign Forces

An Illustrated History of the Embroidered Silk Postcards is the standard reference book on embroidered silk postcards. It contains references to over 2600 different cards with over 270 illustrations. The Listings on this website list cards discovered since the book was published, plus an additional section on Greetings Cards. The new additions are shown in RED.


Embroidered silk postcards exist for military units from Switzerland and the United States. The Swiss forces were essentially Border Forces to protect the country from alien forces, and people fleeing the war zones in the rest of Europe. Most caption on the cards include the German word GRENZBESETZUNG, which translates as frontier occupation. A few cards are known from the Second World War and they have an appliquéd embroidered designs. All Swiss military cards are very rare.

The United States did not enter the First World War until April 1917, so their military cards are less widely available than those of most other countries. Most of the cards that do exist have unique designs not seen elsewhere. The publishers seem to have sourced the silk panels from Switzerland and manufactured them in the United States. United States military cards are rare to very rare.

Images of a representative selection of cards are shown beneath the listings.

 

 Information and images on this site are © Ian Collins 2021.

 No part may be reproduced, stored, transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior permission of the author.


SWISS BORDER FORCES

General

AUX FRONTIERES

GRENZBESETZUNG

GRENTZBESETZUNG  1914/15

GRENZEBESETZUNG  1914 1918

GRENZBESETZUNG 1916

GRENZBESETZUNG 1939-1940 (printed)

MOBILISATION 1939-1943 (printed)

SOLDATENGRUSS

SOUVENIR

ZUR ERINNERUNG AN DIE

GRENZBESETZUNG  1939/40 (printed)

Artillery Regiments

ARTILLERIEGRUSS  GRENZBESETZUNG 1914-17

ARTILLERIEGRUSS GRENZBESETZUNG 1914-18

Infantry Regiments

GRENZBESETZUNG BAT 91

REG 31 GRENZBESETZUNG

REG 32 GRENZBESETZUNG

REG 33 GRENZBESETZUNG

UNITED STATES FORCES

General

USA

US ARMY   OUR NATION’S PRIDE

Air Force

AVIAT.

AVT (Aviation)

US AVIATION

Artillery

CA (Coastal Artillery)

CA CORPS

FIELD ART

USA ARTILLERY

Cavalry

CAV

USA

Engineer Corps

(Badge only)

39TH ENG  MARCY 1919   SOUVENIR DE FRANCE

39TH ENGRS USA   SOUVENIR DE FRANCE

ENG

USA

USA ENGINEER

Infantry

US INFANTRY

USA INFANTRY

27th DIV.  SOUVENIR DE FRANCE

Machine Gun Corps

M.G.

M. GUN

Marine Corps

US MARINES

Medical Corps

MD

USA MEDICAL

MED

Motor Transport Corps

MTC  VERNEUIL  AEF  SOUVENIR DE FRANCE  1919

Ordnance Corps

ORD

ORD DEPT

Q.M.C.

QU. M.

QUARTER M.

USA   QUARTERMASTER

Signal Corps

SIG

SIG CORPS

US Navy

USN   WITH YOU

United States Army, Motor Transport Corps.