Gorget patches

Gorget patches (collar tabs, collar patches) are an insignia, paired patches of cloth or metal on the collar (gorget) of the uniform, that is used in the military and civil service in some countries. Collar tabs sign the military rank (group of ranks), the rank of civil service, the military unit, the office (department) or the branch of the armed forces and the arm of service.

Gorget patches were originally gorgets, pieces of armour worn to protect the throat. With the disuse of armour they were lost. The cloth patch on the collar however evolved from contrasting cloth used to reinforce the buttonholes at the collar of a uniform coat. (This is perhaps most evident in the traditional commonwealth design for Colonels, which has a button and a narrow line of darker piping where the slit buttonhole would have been.) The patches were introduced as insignia during the South African War (1889-1902). They have been used ever since.

In Austria collar patches of the Federal Army report the rank and the arm of service. They are also used in the police. Traditional, corps colours (German: Waffenfarben or Adjustierungsfarben) dominate the basic colours of the rank insignia.

In the Austro-Hungarian Army (k.u.k. Army), collar patches with rank insignia, appliquéd on the gorget of uniform coat, or jacket and the battle-dress blouse, were designated Paroli.

The galleries below show examples of Parolis

Patrouilleführer of the k.k. mountain infantry 1906-1918

Major Paroli with special badge of the k.u.k. railway regiment

Oberst, Paroli with dark-red, vertical stripe 1916

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