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Old 18th April 2017, 11:18 PM   #10
Jim McDougall
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Route 66
Posts: 10,192
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Glad to see this thread opened since we have a current discussion on 'pandours' via the 'Austrian hussar' sabres thread going.
Here is a blade of a sabre with the 'Vivat Pandours' image, which I found but not unfortunately with the rest of the sword.

As discussed several years ago, the 'Vivat' theme was well known about the time of the original Pandour units c. 1744, but they never used the term pandour. These images with that term came about when other units with similar function were assembled in various European militaries later in the 18th c. (the original von Trenck units in Austria were disbanded c.1748).

The 'pandour' term came to be regarded with similar connotation as the 'dragoons' term in England, and such use as meaning 'to be dragooned' or run down mercilessly referring to the British troops in the Highlands in 'police action'. The original units became notorious for wild outlaw type behavior in their pillaging and foraging.

Their fearsome appearance with exotic costume and weaponry, along with that added to their countenance.

The 'Vivat Pandur' theme was essentially applied in the same sense as 'Remember the Alamo' motto on countless Bowie knives produced in and for Americans long after those events at the Alamo in Texas in 1836.
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