Land forces of Austria-Hungary 1867–1914

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Military civil engineer in captain's rank in service adjustment

The land forces of Austria-Hungary consisted of the Common Army from 1867-1918 (which used the prefix kk until 1889 , from 1889 then the constitutionally corresponding kuk since 1867 ), the Imperial-Royal Landwehr established from 1868 , the Royal Hungarian Landwehr and the latter affiliated Croatian-Slavonian Landwehr and, in the event of war, from the kk and ku Landsturm . With the Austro-Hungarian Navy they formed the armed power of the dual monarchy .

Since during the war there were a not easily manageable number of changes to uniforms, equipment and armament, troop regrouping, reorganization and dissolution, only the peace status up to 1914 is dealt with here.

designation

Different names existed for the land forces subordinate to the Austro-Hungarian War Ministry . In the legislation (see Reichsgesetzblatt ) the jointly led land forces were usually simply called the Army or the Joint Army. The Austro-Hungarian military administration used the term Common Army. During the war (in which the armed forces that were not jointly maintained were also centrally led) and since then almost exclusively the term Austro-Hungarian Army has been chosen. The army high command existed only in war.

history

Pioneer sergeant in march adjustment

Weakened by the lost war that Austria had waged together with the armed forces of the German Confederation as part of the federal execution against Prussia, Emperor Franz Joseph I was forced in 1866/1867 to defend Hungary , who had remained in passive resistance since the failed attempts at secession in 1849, with the so-called. Granting compensation for partial sovereignty and reorganizing the monarchy, which had been run uniformly until then, into the so-called "dual monarchy".

The new position of Hungary as part of the total monarchy with equal rights with Austria included the right of the Hungarian half of the empire to set up their own territorial forces , the ku Landwehr (Hungarian: Királyi Honvédség) , in addition to the Common Army , which was under the Minister of War , from 1867 . It was subordinate to the Hungarian: Honvédelmi minisztérium . The resulting weakening of the Common Army had to be accepted to pacify the Hungarians. As a consequence, the cisleithan kk government began to set up a landwehr from 1868, the kk landwehr , which was subordinate to the Austrian Landwehr Ministry. Thus three de jure independent army bodies existed side by side in Austria-Hungary, of which the Common Army (today mostly called the Austro-Hungarian Army) was by far the largest institution.

Emperor and King Franz Joseph I was at the head of the armed forces of his monarchy sworn in on him, but since the debacle in the Sardinian War he left the leadership of the army to the General Staff; Although he was almost exclusively in uniform until the end of his life, he mostly took part in the annual maneuvers and made the final decision on promotions, transfers and awards, but no longer actively intervened in the command of the armed forces. (During the First World War, aged 84 to 86, he did not visit troops at the front.) For him and for his heir to the throne, the armed forces were the monarch's most important instrument of power in the state because they only obeyed his orders. In addition to him, the chief of the general staff was particularly important; the Austro-Hungarian War Minister was responsible for organization, technology, training, equipment and financing. Both functionaries were appointed and dismissed by the emperor and king themselves, without his being accountable to a parliament.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne , assumed a special position from 1898 . Franz Joseph commissioned him to inspect the army (for which the heir to the throne set up his own military chancellery in the Belvedere in 1899), later let him work to rearm the navy and in 1913 appointed him general inspector of all armed forces . He was only subordinate to the emperor and king, who gave him a free hand in modernizing the structures, insofar as this did not incur costs that had to be approved by the parliaments. During the First World War, Franz Joseph I appointed Archduke Friedrich as army commander in 1914 because of his advanced age ; its function was primarily to emphasize the role of the dynasty in this armed conflict. However, Friedrich left the operational management, as requested by the Kaiser, mostly to Chief of Staff Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf . Emperor and King Karl I./IV. led the high command himself from December 2, 1916 to November 3, 1918.

The Austro-Hungarian armed forces broke up like the dual monarchy in 1918. On October 31, 1918, Hungary declared the end of the Real Union with Austria, thus making the common structures and tasks that had existed since 1867 obsolete. Hungary set up its own war ministry; the newly appointed Minister of War Béla Linder immediately recalled the Hungarian regiments from the Italian front ; the passing on of this order to the Hungarian regiments was delayed by the army high command. On November 3, 1918, the monarchy concluded the armistice approved by the emperor and king with Italy and other war opponents. As far as this was still possible, the armed forces were demobilized on November 6, 1918 by decision of the emperor and king . Not only the Hungarian, but also the Czech and Polish associations had already made their way home to their states, which were now completely independent of Austria, without waiting for demobilization or considering other decisions from Vienna. At the Vienna Westbahnhof there were even shootings by Czech units with German-Austrian units passing through .

Tasks and funding

The tasks of the armed forces were regulated in the accorded defense laws of Austria and Hungary of 1889:

  • The common army and the Austro-Hungarian Navy served to defend the monarchy both externally and internally.
  • Landwehr and Honved supported the army inside and outside the borders of the empire during the war and ensured internal security and order during peace (but only in exceptional cases).
  • In the event of war, the Landsturm served to support land and naval forces.

The total expenditure for the army, land forces and navy in 1912 was around 670 million crowns . That was less than 3.5% of the total national income, in 1906 it was only 2.5%. In Russia, Italy and Germany, spending in 1912 was about 5% of net national product. Austria-Hungary remained the great power with the relatively lowest expenditure on the armed forces.

Forest

As commander in chief , the emperor and king had a military chancellery at their disposal, the task of which was to maintain contact with the central authorities: the Reich Ministry of War in Vienna, the Imperial and Royal Ministry of National Defense in Vienna and the Imperial and Royal Ministry of Defense in Budapest. The chief of staff, formally subordinate to the Minister of War, had direct access to the monarch.

Corps areas and supplementary districts

As Reich Minister of War (until 1911, then Austro-Hungarian War Minister at the request of Hungary), the Emperor and King, who personally exercised the supreme command de jure until 1914, appointed a high-ranking general in agreement with the Austrian and Hungarian Prime Ministers who had a number of auxiliary bodies:

  • Chief of the General Staff
  • General Cavalry Inspector
  • General Artillery Inspector
  • Fortress artillery inspector
  • General Engineer Inspector
  • General trainer inspector
  • General Inspector of Military Education and Training Institutions
  • General assembly inspector
  • Medical troop commander
  • Chief of the military medical officer corps
  • General construction engineer
  • Chief of the Military Medical Committee
  • Apostolic Field Vicariate
  • Chief of the Military Technical Committee
  • Head of the accounting department

The military territorial commands with a senior general at their head were directly subordinate to the War Ministry. The personnel of the military territorial command was divided into the military department, the corpsintendance, the military construction department and the auxiliary organs.

The military department headed by the chief of staff of the corps or military command concerned was responsible for the conduct of military affairs.
The military construction department was responsible for the non-fortification buildings:
The corps or military command directorship for economic and administrative business.
The auxiliary organs of the corps and military commands included the artillery brigadier, the judicial officer, the chief medical officer, and the military chaplains of the various denominations (if any).
The Commander-in-Chief: Emperor Franz Joseph I.
Alarm in the field quarters

In summary, there were five subdivisions for the land forces in Austria-Hungary, some of which differed from one another in organizational, traditional and uniform terms:

  • the Joint Army with
the "German" regiments
the "Hungarian" regiments
  • the Imperial and Royal Landwehr
  • the Royal Hungarian Landwehr with
the Croatian-Slavonian Landwehr

In 1915 all units lost the honorary names and additional designations used up to that point. From then on they were only listed under their master number. (However, this rule has not been adopted by historiography.)

Language problems

Since the Austro-Hungarian monarchy was a multi-ethnic state , German was set as the common command language of the army. The latter meant that the recruit from Lemberg or Riva had to learn about 100 most important commands in German in order to be able to fulfill his duties within the service. Only a small part of the army units spoke only German.

The official language was used for communication between the departments. She was with the kuk army and kuk Kriegsmarine as well as the kk landwehr German, with the ku landwehr Hungarian, partly Croatian.

The regimental language was the language that was spoken by the majority of the crew. If, as with Inf. Rgt. No. 100 in Cracow, the team was composed of 27% Germans, 33% Czechs and 37% Poles, then there were three regimental languages. Each officer had to learn the regimental language (s) within three years.

Purely German-speaking infantry regiments were z. B. only:

Signum Laudis with war decoration (officers)
Nationalities: 95% German - 5% other
(Staff / II. / III. Battalion: Vienna ; I. Baon .: Wöllersdorf ; IV. Baon .: Konjic )
Regimental commander in July 1914: Colonel Rudolf Sterz Edler von Ponteguerra
Nationalities: 97% German - 3% other
(Staff / I. / III. / IV. Battalion: Graz; II. Baon .: Klagenfurt )
Regimental commander in July 1914: Colonel Otto Koschatzky
Nationalities: 98% German - 2% other
Regimental commander in July 1914: Colonel Friedrich Edler von Löw
Nationalities: 94% German - 6% other
(Staff / I. / II. / IV. Battalion: Laibach ; III. Baon .: Graz )
Regimental commander in July 1914: Colonel Carl Weber
Nationalities: 98% German - 2% other
(Staff / I. / II. Battalion: Brno ; III. Baon .: Sarajevo ; IV. Baon .: St. Pölten )
Regimental commander in July 1914: Colonel Eduard Hentke
Nationalities: 97% German - 3% other
(Staff / I. Battalion: Bregenz ; II. Baon .: Innsbruck ; III. Baon .: Schwaz ; IV. Baon .: Salzburg )
Regimental commander in July 1914: Colonel Gustav Fischer
Nationalities: 97% German - 3% other
(Staff / I. / II. / III. Battalion: Prague ; IV. Baon .: Eger ( Bohemia ))
Regimental commander in July 1914: Colonel Adolf Brunswik von Korompa
Bosnian-Hercegovinian hunter in marching adjustment

Problem of the Welschtiroler

By the end of the war, around 60,000 Italian-speaking men (then known as Welschtiroler) between the ages of 22 and 42 had been drafted into the army. They primarily served with the kuk Kaiserjäger , the kk Landesschützen or the Landsturm, and in 1915 the Standschützen were called up. After Italy entered the war, which the Austrians regarded as treason, the Italian-speaking Tyroleans began to be covered with suspicion. (Up to this point there was no resentment whatsoever .) This then led to the fact that they were mostly only used in the East, the Standschützen formations were, with a few exceptions, only used for unarmed work. There was worse treatment, including harassment, as they were generally (unfounded, incidentally) charged with the “treasonous behavior” of the Italian kingdom. Colonel Otto von Lerch wrote in a memorandum of May 9, 1916 to the Chief of the General Staff:

"No South Tyrolean Italian tongue should be regarded as absolutely trustworthy"

They now feared increased desertion , but this turned out to be unfounded. On the contrary, the Italian efforts to recruit Russian prisoners of war for the Italian army were of no avail - only about 500 men changed fronts. Another 700 or so men had emigrated to Italy, said Cesare Battisti , a member of the Reichsrat . The temptations for the so-called irredenti - (the unsaved), which Gabriele D'Annunzio praised as "returning home to the lap of Mother Italia", had no effect. This fact also influenced the fighting morale of the Italian soldiers, which led to the fact that in 1916 a bon mot was circulating among the Italian infantrymen Dio ci liberi degli irredenti! (“God deliver us from the unsaved!”), Which gave a real testimony to the Welschtirolern, who were deployed against Italy. If, however, at the beginning of the war, 30% of the Kaiserjäger regiments were still Italian-speaking; by 1918 this had fallen to 2-3%.

oath

According to the service regulations for the Imperial and Royal Army (Part I, Service Book A-10, a) from 1873, all soldiers in the joint army had to take the following oath:

“We swear to Almighty God a solemn oath to be faithful and obedient to His Apostolic Majesty, our Most Serene Prince and Lord, Franz Joseph the First, by God's grace Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia etc. and Apostolic King of Hungary, also Most High To obey their generals, in general to all our superiors and superiors, to honor and protect them, to obey their commands and orders in all services, against every enemy, whoever it may be, and wherever His Imperial and Royal Majesty's will require it like to fight bravely and manly, on water and on land, day and night, in battles, storms, skirmishes and ventures of all kinds, in a word, in every place, at every time and in all occasions, our troops, our flags In no case to abandon standards and artillery, never to enter into the least agreement with the enemy, always as it is in war is in accordance with the law and is entitled to good warriors to behave, and thus to live and die with honor. So help us God. Amen!"

The oath for the members of the armed forces was the same - with one exception: according to the Apostolic King of Hungary was inserted and the sanctioned laws of our fatherland , which, in contrast to the army, the armed forces not only on the monarch, but also on the proclaimed Laws of the respective part of the empire were committed.

Troop flags

In contrast to other countries, the Austro-Hungarian land forces did not use a separate flag for each regiment. Only three different troop flags were in use, one in white, one in imperial yellow and a third, separate, for the ku Honvéd. The two variants for the Common Army and the Imperial and Royal Landwehr showed the large coat of arms of the House of Habsburg eagle on the (heraldic) obverse. The imperial yellow flag also had this eagle on the back (correctly embroidered, not mirrored), while the white flag on the back showed the Virgin Mary in a wreath of stars. The flags were lined with a row of black, yellow, red and white triangles on three sides. The flagpole was painted spirally in the same colors. For parades or other honors, a tuft of oak leaves or, if not available, made of fir branches was attached to the top of the pole, which should be approx. 14 cm high. The units of the "Common Army" were equipped with the white flag, with the exception of regiments No. 2, No. 4, No. 39, No. 41 and No. 57, which carried the imperial yellow flag.

  • Troop flag of the "Common Army" in white and the Imperial and Royal Landwehr (front)

  • Troop flag of the "Common Army" in white (back)

  • Troop flag of the "Common Army" in yellow (both sides the same)

  • Troop flag of the kk Landwehr (back)

  • Troop flag of the Ku Landwehr (Honvéd) (front)

  • Troop flag of the ku Landwehr (Honvéd) (back)

  • Troop flag of the Croatian-Slavonian Landwehr (front)

  • Troop flag of the Croatian-Slavonian Landwehr (back side)

Food

A lieutenant was entitled to seven mouthfuls, four horse and three and a half bread portions per day, with a mouth or horse portion being set at 4 guilders 30 kreuzers in winter and 3 guilders in summer. The bread portion was estimated at a cruiser. The officers and other gagists were paid the fee, from which they had to pay for their meals.

Until the end of the imperial army in 1918, the fee regulations from 1858 were in effect. These laid down the wages and the allocation (also known as bonuses) to food, bread, quarters, clothing and Limito smoking tobacco. The wages were paid five to five days until 1913. The daily bread portion, an extremely dark rye bread with a lot of bran , was around 840 grams and was taken from the food store every five days, similar to the wages.

Meat was the main part of the diet, even on Fridays. In peacetime this was around 190 grams, plus "food" (potatoes, pasta, porridge). It was usually boiled, sometimes steamed.

Breakfast was given in kind. For this purpose, the following was calculated or made available: until 1908 2.5 Heller, from 1908 to 1909 4.5 Heller and then five Heller. This was enough for 5 grams of coffee, malt or fig coffee and 10 grams of sugar or half a liter of stewed soup (made from 26 grams of bread flour, 10 grams of lard and 1.5 grams of caraway seeds) or a quarter liter of skimmed milk. A centrally organized supper was not introduced until 1899; beforehand everyone had to see for himself how he was getting along. Water was drunk with food.

According to the service regulations, the menage had to take into account the religious and national characteristics of the regiments (e.g. no pork for the Muslim soldiers of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian infantry).

Development of the land forces

Common Army

After the Compromise of 1867 , the previous Imperial and Royal Austrian Army (kk Army) was placed as a Common Army (still under the title kk) under the political and organizational management of the two halves of the empire joint war ministry . The monarch personally held the supreme command. At the express request of Hungary, the name kuk was also introduced for the Common Army in 1889.

Military executives were trained at the Imperial and Royal War School , the Theresian Military Academy , the Imperial and Royal Franz Joseph Military Academy and the Technical Military Academy. Riding instructors were trained in the Military Riding Instructor Institute . The term military indicates that members of the military forces were also trained here. The cadet schools existed as a preparatory school for the military academies . The largest was in today's Theodor Körner command building in Breitensee in Vienna. Landwehr cadet institutes of their own existed.

Research into medicines and remedies for soldiers was carried out in the Military Medicines Directorate in Vienna. The catering of the army was controlled from the military catering establishment .

Since the army was supposed to be a support for the monarch, no consideration was given to national and religious peculiarities when calling up, although the religious regulations of the various religious communities were meticulously observed during service. Religious disputes between z. B. Serbian (Orthodox) and Bosnian-Herzegovinian (Muslim) soldiers unlike today unknown. In the event of war, soldiers of the Jewish faith had their own field rabbis, for the Islamic faith field imams.

Colonel of the Uhlans

A special feature of the Austro-Hungarian army was the frequent change of location of the units. The battalions of the individual regiments were very often relocated to other locations and distributed as extensively as possible over larger areas. The latter was also related to the condition and size or the lack of barracks. Often it was simply not possible, especially in the provinces, to accommodate an entire regiment in a single barracks. Therefore it happened that even individual companies or squadrons had to be accommodated in the vicinity of the staff garrison. It was only towards the end of the 19th century that this situation could be defused by the increased number of new buildings and the renovation of barracks. In 1900, for example, only three infantry regiments of the Austro-Hungarian Army were completely stationed in a garrison - Inf. Rgt. No. 14 in Linz , Inf. Rgt. No. 30 in Lemberg and Inf. Rgt. No. 41 in Czernowitz .

On the one hand, no traditional relationship between the regiments and certain places and their population could develop (as was for example promoted in the Prussian Army - Inf. Rgt. 115 was only in Darmstadt from its foundation in 1622 until its dissolution in 1919 ). On the other hand, the relocated soldiers often served at the other end of the empire. The background to this practice was that in the event of internal unrest , the army should be a reliable instrument of the monarchy to maintain peace and order by making it impossible to fraternize soldiers with parts of the population .

This practice required a high degree of flexibility from members of the army of all ranks, but also enabled them to get to know parts of the empire that were often far away from where they lived. This made it possible for officers serving for decades to identify with the entire dual monarchy and not just with the homeland of their own nationality. However, this practice was severely restricted in the years leading up to World War I.

Landwehr

The Landwehr was organized much differently than in Germany. It was not a question of a militia, but of a regular combat force, with a reduced number of troops (only three battalions per regiment), but with a budgetary target for the individual units. I.e. the regiments were not partially mobile or cadre. (Parts of the Landwehr were even better equipped than the regular army.) The teams served actively in the Landwehr for two years and then belonged to the Landwehr (active reserve) for ten years.

Peace Presence

infantry

kuk infantry

An infantry regiment of the Austro-Hungarian Army had the following positions before the start of the war in 1914:

  • Rod

One colonel as regimental commander / four battalion commanders / one staff officer and two captains e.g. one regimental adjutant (subaltern) / one engineer officer (subaltern) / one provisions officer (subaltern) / four battalion adjutants (subaltern) / five regimental or senior physicians / one Accounting officer (senior officer) / two assistant accountants in corporal rank / (regimental music: a staff commander , a regiment drum , a sergeant, four corporals, five privates, 30 infantrymen, two students) one battalion drum / four battalion horn players / one gunsmith / 21 servants
total: 21 officers / 73 NCOs and men

  • With the companies

16 captains / 48 subaltern officers / 16 cadets / 16 sergeants / 16 accounting officers / 32 platoon leaders / 96 corporals / 96 corporals / 1,120 infantrymen / 16 company horns / 16 company ranks / 64 servants

The target population is: 64 officers and 1,488 NCOs and men

(The same applied to the four Tyrolean Jäger regiments (Kaiserjäger), but with only 4 regimental senior physicians and the companies 16 company horn players instead of the 16 company ranks.)

  • Replacement battalion cadre

One commander (lieutenant colonel or major) / two supplementary district officers / a regimental or senior physician / an accounting officer (senior officer) / 3 corporal assistants / 3 corporal assistants / a staff officer / a gunsmith / 5 servants
Total: 5 officers, 13 noncommissioned officers and Teams

At the subdivision: one captain / one subaltern officer / 2 accounting officers / one corporal / 6 infantrymen / 2 officer
servants Total: 2 officers, 11 NCOs and men.

The reserve battalion cadre was responsible for keeping records of those in the regiment who were
inactive , meaning the monitoring of reservists , those on leave and military personnel who were absent for other reasons.

Each infantry regiment had 2 corporals and 16 soldiers with pioneer training (regimental pioneers)

cavalry

kuk cavalry

The cavalry consisted of lancers , hussars and dragoons .
There was no difference between heavy (dragoons) and light (hussars, lancers) cavalry. The names were based on purely traditional reasons.

A cavalry regiment was led in 1914 with the following positions:

  • Rod

Staff including two division staffs (division means a battalion-strength unit, the division as such is called troop division .) A colonel as regiment commander / a lieutenant colonel and a major as division commander / a first lieutenant as regimental adjutant / a first lieutenant as engineer platoon commander First lieutenant as provisions officer / 3 regimental or senior physicians / a captain or first lieutenant accounting officer / a veterinary officer / 2 police officers / 2 platoon leaders as telegraphists / 2 paramedics / 2 accounting assistants (corporals) / a staff officer / a regimental trumpeter / 2 division trumpeters / a gunner 10 officer
servants in total: 11 officers (including one official), 23 NCOs and men

6 Rittmeister 1st class / 4 Rittmeister 2nd class / 8 first lieutenants / 12 lieutenants. Mounted NCOs and men: one cadet / 12 sergeants / 24 platoon leaders / 72 corporals / 6 squadron trumpeters / 24 patrol leaders / 732 dragoons (hussars, lancers) Unridden crew: 6 accounting officers / 78 dragoons (hussars, lancers) 30 servants / 6 cure smiths / 6 squadrons in
total: 30 officers, 997 NCOs and men

The target number is: 41 officers, 1,020 NCOs and men

  • Replacement squad

One Rittmeister 1st class / one first lieutenant / two lieutenants / one mounted sergeant / one mounted platoon leader. Unmounted: one accounting sergeant / 3 corporals / 2 patrol leaders / 11 crew
ranks Total: 4 officers, 23 sergeants and men

Loss of personnel during acts of war were replaced by the marching battalions . The system of reserve regiments as in the German army did not exist.

Organization within the regiments and battalions

The companies were numbered consecutively within the regiments (and independent battalions). Ie the 1st – 4th Company belonged to the 1st battalion (of the regiment) the 5th - 8th. Company belonged to the 2nd battalion, the 9th – 12th. Company belonged to the 3rd battalion and, if there was a fourth battalion, this consisted of the 13th – 16. Company.

Outline at the beginning of the war in 1914

Target population of the entire armed forces before mobilization in 1914

about:

  • 25,000 officers (not including doctors, veterinarians and accounting officers )
  • 415,000 NCOs and men
  • 87,000 horses (here the information varies)
  • 1,200 active field guns - (not including fortress guns and reserve stocks)

Common Army

  • 16 corps commands
  • 49 infantry force divisions
→ 76 infantry brigades
→ 14 mountain brigades
  • 8 cavalry divisions
→ 16 cavalry brigades
Tschapka of a subaltern officer of the kk Landwehr Uhlan Regiment No. 2

kk Landwehr (Imperial Austrian / Royal Bohemian)

  • 35 Landwehr infantry regiments of three battalions each
  • 2 Landwehr mountain infantry regiments
  • 3 Tyrolean rifle regiments - 1 riding Tyrolean rifle division (bag) - 1 riding Dalmatian rifle division (bag)
  • 6 Landwehr Uhlan regiments
  • 8 Landwehr field cannon divisions - 8 Landwehr field howubitz divisions

ku Honvéd (Royal Hungarian Landwehr)

  • 6 ku Honvéd Landwehr districts
  • 2 ku Honvéd infantry divisions
  • 2 ku Honvéd Cavalry Troop Divisions
  • 4 ku Honvéd infantry brigades - 12 independent ku Honvéd infantry brigades
  • 4 ku Honvéd cavalry brigades
  • 32 Honvéd infantry regiments
  • 10 Honvéd Hussar regiments
  • 8 Honvéd field cannon regiments - 1 Honvéd mounted artillery division

mobilization

In contrast to the army of the German Reich , in which the mobilization strength of the armed forces was achieved by setting up reserve regiments, the Austro-Hungarian army used the growth system by setting up marching formations ( marching battalion ) and tracking the troops. The marching formations had a consecutive number in Roman numerals followed by the name of the main troop part z. B. XIX. Marching Battalion Inf.Rgt. No. 91.

The army was raised to 3.35 million men in mobilization with the involvement of the 1914 recruits (born in 1893) . In addition, there were the first marching battalions , additional land storm formations and five (Inf. Rgt. No. 103-107) reserve regiments.

In the course of the war, the presence of the kuk infantry increased by:

  • 41 infantry divisions
on:
  • 142 infantry regiments (No. 1–139 and No. 204–207)
Shako of a Uhlan of the Polish Legion
  • 9 Bosnian-Herzegovinian infantry regiments (No. 1–8 and No. 10)
  • 4 Kaiserjäger regiments
  • 30 military police battalions (No. 1–30)
  • 8 Bosnian-Herceovinian military police battalions (No. 1–8)
  • 1 Bosnian-Herzegovinian border battalion
  • 7 Tyrolean hunting companies
  • plus the necessary formations of artillery, mountain artillery, train, pioneers, aviation companies, vehicle departments, cable car construction companies, railway companies, anti-balloon companies, high mountain companies, mountain guide companies, searchlight companies, machine gun companies, medical companies, field hospitals, field bakeries, material assembly depots, etc.

The two land forces were increased by 10 infantry troop divisions. (The Landwehr infantry regiments were renamed as kk rifle regiments in 1917.)

The Landsturm was set up with 19 kk and 33 ku regiments.

There were also:

At the end of the war, a total of around 8 million men had been called up or volunteered.

  • 1,016,200 had fallen or died
  • 1,943,000 were wounded
  • 1,691,000 were captured

Armament

After the defeat at Königgrätz , the emperor and army command endeavored to draw the consequences of the defeat in the field of armament, equipment and uniforms, as well as with regard to the organization of the army and raising the army. The introduction of breech-loading rifles , which had been delayed for a long time, happened very quickly , as their use on the Prussian side was ascribed a decisive factor in the war. The previous Lorenz muzzle-loading system was redesigned into breech- loaders based on a proposal by the Viennese gunsmith Karl Wänzel. The infantry rifles, extra corps rifles and Jägerstutzen converted to single-shot breeches were standardized under the designation "Muster 1854/67" and "Muster 1862/67" and issued to the respective branches of arms. However, the Wänzel system should not go beyond the state of a temporary emergency solution. As a result, the tabernacle lock developed by Josef Werndl represented a completely new solution, it was a downright pioneering locking system . This corrugated block closure with a loading recess for breech-loading rifles subsequently made the Österreichische Waffenfabriksgesellschaft in Steyr the largest arms manufacturer in Europe at the time . The handguns of the Werndl system standardized on the basis of this were introduced with the model designation "M1867", "M1873", "M1867 / 77" and "M1873 / 77" and formed the standard armament of the Austro-Hungarian land forces for more than twenty years.

The next big leap in the development of the handgun was the transition from the single-shot breech loader to the repeating rifle . The system developed by Ferdinand Mannlicher had a straight pull piston lock and a box magazine for 5 cartridges in the center shaft . This weapon system, which was standardized in the Austro-Hungarian Army for the first time in 1886, was one of the most modern weapons in the world at that time and, as an improved version M1895 , formed the orderly rifle of the Austro-Hungarian soldiers until the end of the First World War . The rifle was manufactured in Austria by the Steyr Mannlicher company and around 3 million times in Hungary.

In addition to firearms, a number of edged weapons were standardized between 1861 and the end of the Habsburg Monarchy . These were the cavalry officer and team sabers M1861, M1869 and M1904, the light cavalry saber M1877, the infantry officer and team sabers M1862 and the sabers for officers and men of the Imperial and Royal Landwehr mountain troops, although these sabers were also used between the World Wars used by the Viennese police . Furthermore, the pioneer saber M1853 was standardized, but with its wide, heavy blade it had more of the function of a cutting tool than that of a weapon. All of the above-mentioned edged weapons are exhibited in the Vienna Army History Museum .

There are two stages in the development of handguns . Instead of the previous einschüssigen muzzle-loading pistol which was in 1870 Revolver introduced. These were the two large-caliber M1870 army revolvers developed by Leopold Gasser and the M1870 / 74 model, which was improved four years later. The 9mm infantry officer revolver System Gasser / Kopratschek (1872) and the 8mm Rast & Gasser M1898 revolver were also added. Subsequently, the multi-shot repeating pistol was switched to, namely the 9mm repeating pistol Roth-Steyr M1907 and the Steyr M1912 . Both pistols are rigidly locked recoil loaders for strip loading with a magazine for 10 or 8 cartridges in the handle.

From the end of the 19th century, several countries were working on the development of the machine gun . In Austria-Hungary around 1890 Archduke Karl Salvator developed so-called mitrailleuses together with Major Georg Ritter von Dormus . These first models are exhibited in the Army History Museum in Vienna. However, the technically highly ambitious developments turned out to be unsuitable for the field, so finally in 1907 the machine gun developed by Andreas Schwarzlose was introduced under the model designation M1907 and M1907 / 12. Both the repeating pistols described above and the Schwarzlose machine gun were used by the Austrian Armed Forces until 1938 after the Austro-Hungarian Army was dissolved in 1918 .

Orders and awards

Order of an emperor hunter

On the picture you can see the medals of a platoon commander (for example a staff sergeant ) of the 2nd regiment of the Tyrolean Kaiserjäger (later high mountain company No. 30 ). His locations were:

He was awarded the following awards for his commitment:

  • the great silver medal for bravery (Emperor Karl I / awarded after January 1917)
  • the small silver medal for bravery (Kaiser Karl / awarded after January 1917)
  • the bronze medal for bravery (Emperor Franz-Josef / awarded before January 1917)
  • the Karl-Troop Cross (for at least 12 weeks at the front and participation in at least one battle)
  • the wounded medal (wounded medal) for a single wound (after January 1917)
  • the commemorative medal of the state of Tyrol for its defenders (issued in 1928)

Distinctions and ranks

Field artillery around 1900

Conscription

Since 1866 the general conscription existed . It included service in the army, the navy, the Landwehr and the Landsturm.

The duration of the service in the standing army was 12 years, namely:

3 years in the line (active)
7 years in reserve
2 years in the Landwehr

Some of the soldiers fit for duty were assigned to the reserve reserve . These only practiced once for several weeks and remained in the reserve reserve of the Landwehr for ten years.

Annual voluntary service was permitted both in the army (or in the navy ) and in the Landwehr.

General compulsory service began at the age of 21. All persons between the ages of 19 and 42 were required to take part in a land storm unless they belonged to the army, the Landwehr and the reserve reserve.

Industries / branches of service

Platoon leader in the (Hungarian) Inf.Rgt. No. 82

Overall, the land forces consisted of the following branches:

German infantry - Hungarian infantry - Bosnian-Herzegovinian infantry - hunter troops - kk Landwehr infantry - ku Landwehr infantry - army shooting school
Helmet of an officer of the Austro-Hungarian Dragoons
Dragoons - Hussars - Uhlans - Landwehr Uhlans - Landwehr Hussars - kk stud branch - ku stud branch
Field artillery - fortress artillery - technical artillery - kk Landwehr artillery - ku Landwehr artillery - kuk artillery shooting school
  • Technical force
Pioneers - Sappers - Railway Regiment - Telegraph Regiment - Train and Pioneer Equipment
  • Military construction service
  • Medical services
Medical officer corps - Medical Corps - Military drugs beings - Veterinary Service
Military catering industry - equipment management industry - military coffers - troop accounting service - directorships
  • Train
  • Military training and education institutions
Officer's Orphan Institute - Military Sub-Real Schools - Military High School - Military Academies - Cadet Schools
Catholic military chaplains - Greek-Oriental (Orthodox) military chaplains - Protestant military preachers - Field rabbis - Field imams
General staff - artillery staff - genius staff
  • Life Guard Officer Guard
ku Life Guard - First Arciéren Life Guard
  • Life guards team guards
kuk Trabantenleibgarde - kuk Leibgardereitereskadron - kuk Leibgardeinfanteriekompanie
Annual volunteer corporal in the Bosnian-Herzegovinian Inf.Rgt. No. 1

Change in uniform

In the years 1906–1908 the uniforms were changed in various branches; so z. B. with the state riflemen, the medical service and with parts of the military civil service.

Armbands for field uniforms

The soldiers deployed as military police in the Feldgendarmerie wore a black and yellow band on their left upper arm to identify them. It was mostly yellow with a black stripe in the middle, but bandages also appear in the opposite color. They were issued with different labels:

  • FIELD GENDARM
  • CROCHET
  • GENDARM
  • KuK Gendarmerie Patrol Corps
  • Patrol corps

All the inscriptions were in block letters.

Furthermore, armbands were worn:

  • from the paramedics, the disabled and sick porters (sometimes also from field chaplains)
an armband made of white cloth with a sewn, scarlet bar cross for members of the Society of the Red Cross ,
a white and red armband with a red bar cross in the white and a white Maltese cross in the red part for members of the Order of Malta ,
an armband made of white cloth with a sewn on, scarlet paw cross with straight flanks for members of the Teutonic Knight Order
  • a yellow armband with a metal double-headed eagle attached to it by the staff car masters in the rank of non-commissioned officer
  • a yellow armband with the metal emblem of the railway troops from the members of the railway company formations. A variant split the ribbon on the emblem, with the left part striped black and yellow, the right part red, white and green.
  • a black and yellow armband with the inscription "Bahnhofskommando" in block letters on the yellow (lower part) from the members of the station command offices
  • from the members of the field transport line a black armband with a gold-colored border on the upper and lower edge, plus the gold-colored inscription "field transport line" in cursive in the black part.
  • A yellow armband with a black central stripe and the imprint "KUNST" in white block letters from the members of the art group in the war press headquarters.
  • from reporters and their servants a yellow armband with a black central stripe and the imprint "Presse" in white block letters.
  • armbands from the members of the staff troops, the left part of which was black and yellow, while the right part was striped red, white and green. The regular unit of the soldier in question (e.g. 4th JB) occasionally appears in the center in black letters.

Museum reception

The nature and history of the Austro-Hungarian land forces is in the Vienna Army History Museum u. a. Documented in detail by means of armament, adjustments, medals, flags, etc. Particularly noteworthy are the 34 uniform depictions of the Austro-Hungarian Army painted by Oskar Brüch , which were made for the Budapest Millennium Exhibition in 1896 .

See also

literature

  • Peter Fichtenbauer , Christian Ortner : The history of the Austrian army from Maria Theresa to the present in essays and pictorial representations , Verlag Militaria, Vienna 2015, ISBN 978-3-902526-71-7 .
  • Peter Melichar , Alexander Mejstrik: The armed power. In: Helmut Rumpler , Peter Urbanitsch (editor): The Habsburg Monarchy 1848-1918. Volume IX: Social Structures. Part 1, Volume 2, Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Vienna 2010, 1263–1326.
  • Austro-Hungarian War Ministry: Adjustment regulation for the Austro-Hungarian Army, the Imperial and Royal Landwehr, the Imperial and Royal Landwehr, the affiliated institutions and the corps of military officials. Vienna 1911/1912.
  • Heinz von Lichem : Spielhahnstoke and edelweiss. Stocker, Graz 1977.
  • Heinz von Lichem: The Tyrolean High Mountain War 1915–1918. Steiger, Berwang (Tyrol) 1985.
  • Julius Lohmeyer: The military picture book - The armies of Europe. Flemming, Glogau o. J.
  • Hubert Frankhauser, Wilfried Gallin: Undefeated and yet defeated. Publishing bookstore Stöhr, Vienna 2005.
  • Count Bossi Fedregotti: Kaiserjäger. Stocker, Graz 1977.
  • Carl von Bardolff : Soldier in ancient Austria. Diederichs, Jena 1938.
  • Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck : The armed power in the state and society . In: Adam Wandruszka, Peter Urbanitsch (eds.), Die armede Macht (Die Habsburgermonarchie (1848–1918) 5, Vienna 1987) 1–141
  • Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck, Erich Lessing: The Kuk Army. 1848-1914 . Bertelsmann publishing house, Munich 1974, ISBN 3-570-07287-8
  • Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck: The Army History Museum Vienna. Hall VI - The k. (U.) K. Army from 1867 to 1914 , Vienna 1989.
  • Writings of the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum in Vienna (Military Science Institute) Volume 10 Das kuk Heer 1895. Stocker, Graz 1997.
  • Stefan Rest, M. Christian Ortner , Thomas Ilming: The Emperor's Rock in the First World War - Uniforms and Equipment of the Austro-Hungarian Army from 1914 to 1918 , Verlag Militaria, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-9501642-0-0
  • Georg Schreiber : The emperor's cavalry. Austrian cavalry in 4 centuries. With a foreword by Alois Podhajsky . Speidel, Vienna 1967.
  • C. Haager, P. Hoffmann, F. Huter, E. Lang, AH Spielmann: The Tyrolean Kaiserjäger. Tiroler Kaiserjägerbund, Innsbruck, ISBN 88-900107-1-1 .
  • H. Hinterstoisser, MC Ortner, EA Schmidl: The kk Landwehr mountain troops. Militaria, Vienna, ISBN 3-902526-02-5 .
  • Haager - Hoffmann - Huter - Lang - Spielmann "Die Tiroler Kaiserjäger" Persico Edizioni Cremona 2001, ISBN 88-900107-1-1
  • Michael Forcher “Tyrol and the First World War” Haymon, Innsbruck, ISBN 978-3-85218-964-2

Web links

Commons : Austro-Hungarian military uniforms  - collection of images, videos and audio files

References and comments

  1. ↑ István Deák: The k. (u) k. Officer 1848–1918, Vienna - Cologne - Weimer, 1991., s. 72.

    "The two defense laws provided for a common army and a common navy under a Reich Minister of War and three land forces, namely an Austrian, a Hungarian and a Croatian-Slavonian."

    - István Deák
  2. ↑ Günther Kronenbitter: "War in Peace". The leadership of the Austro-Hungarian army and the great power politics of Austria-Hungary 1906–1914 . Verlag Oldenbourg, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-486-56700-4 , p. 148
  3. ↑ de facto he had not noticed it since the debacle of the Sardinian War
  4. ↑ Clothing and personal equipment
  5. ↑ a b Erwin A. Schmidl: The Austro-Hungarian Army: Integrating Element of a Disintegrating State? In: Michael Epkenhans (Hrsg.): The military and the departure into modernity, 1860 to 1890. Armies, navies and the change of politics, society and economy in Europe, the USA and Japan. (= Contributions to military history 60.) Verlag Oldenbourg, Munich 2003, ISBN 3-486-56760-8 , pp. 143–150, here: pp. 144f.
  6. ↑ Fortunato Turrini Ed. La Guerra sulle porta Pejo 1998, pp. 17-18 and Heinz von Lichem Krieg in the Alps, Vol. 1 Athesia Bozen 1993, pp. 10-11.
  7. ^ CH Baer: The battles for South Tyrol and Carinthia. P. 58.
  8. ↑ Forcher, “Tyrol and the First World War”, pp. 132 ff.
  9. ↑ Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck : The Army History Museum Vienna. Hall VI - The k. (U.) K. Army from 1867 to 1914 , Vienna 1989, p. 51 f.
  10. ^ The Tyrolean Kaiserjäger p. 26
  11. ↑ as subaltern the ranks lieutenant / first lieutenant were designated
  12. ↑ as a senior officer the rank of captain, resp. Rittmeister or an equivalent officer in the rank of officer
  13. ↑ There was no career group of NCOs in the Austro-Hungarian Army, they were part of the crew
  14. ↑ so the official spelling
  15. ↑ in battalion strength
  16. ↑ also mountain infantry
  17. ↑ Rest-Ortner-Ilmig "Des Kaisers Rock" p. 23
  18. ↑ Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck : The Army History Museum Vienna. Hall VI - The k. (U.) K. Army from 1867 to 1914 , Vienna 1989, pp. 33–35.
  19. ↑ the two "K" appear in capital letters
  20. ↑ The art group was responsible for taking photos and making battle paintings
  21. ↑ rest / Ortner / Illming "The Emperor's skirt in WW1" pp 464-466
  22. ^ Manfried Rauchsteiner , Manfred Litscher (Ed.): The Army History Museum in Vienna. Graz, Vienna 2000 pp. 56-71