kuk 8th Infantry Troop Division

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The kuk 8th Infantry Troop Division (abbreviated: 8th ITD) was an association of the Joint Army within the Austro-Hungarian Land Forces . The troop division was subordinate to the XIV. Corps in Innsbruck , the headquarters were in Bozen . On December 9, 1916, Emperor Karl gave the 8th Infantry Troop Division the name Kaiserjägerdivision .

Associations subordinate to the peace and mobilization of 1914

The peace structure did not last long after the beginning of the war, as units were constantly being subordinated to other subordinates. In Austria-Hungary the large units were called infantry or cavalry troop divisions. In contrast, strong battalion units of the artillery and the train were called " Division ".

15th Infantry Brigade Bolzano

Brigade Commander: Major General Theodor Stipek

16th Infantry Brigade Trento

Brigade Commander: Major General Emil Herzberg
  • kuk Feldjäger Battalion No. 1 / Tione - Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Richard von Vittorelli
  • kuk Feldjäger Battalion No. 14 / Welschmetz - Commander: Major Alfred von Hankenstein
  • kuk Feldjägerbataillon No. 16 / Levico - Commander: Major Karl Lerch
  • kuk Feldjäger Battalion No. 18 / Trient - Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Maximilian Lauer
  • kuk Feldjägerbataillon No. 22 / Borgo Valsugana - Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Wenzel Ort
  • 1 company of the Engineer Battalion No. 2

96th Infantry Brigade Rovereto

Brigade Commander: Major General Richard Meyer
  • Tyrolean Jägerregiment (Kaiserjäger) No. 3 / Rovereto - Commander Colonel Heinrich Vonbank
  • Sapper Battalion No. 8 / Rovereto - Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Franz Schmidt
  • Sapper battalion No. 9 / Riva - Commander Major Josef Lichtblau

121st Infantry Brigade of Trento

Brigade Commander: Colonel Adolf Brunswick von Korompa
  • Tyrolean Jägerregiment (Kaiserjäger) No. 1 / Trient - Commander: Colonel in InfRgt 73 Karl Hollan
  • Tyrolean Jägerregiment (Kaiserjäger) No. 4 / Riva - Commander: Colonel Gustav Rubritius
  • kuk Feldjäger Battalion No. 27 / Hall in Tirol - Commander: Major Friedrich Nürnberger
  • Sapper battalion No. 14 / Trient - Commander: Major Ferdinand Korb

122nd Infantry Brigade Bruneck

  • Infantry Regiment "Reichsgraf Browne" No. 36 / Bruneck - Commander: Colonel Rudolf Müller
  • kuk Feldjäger Battalion No. 2 / Lienz - Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Hugo Mayer
  • kuk Feldjäger Battalion No. 6 / Sillian - Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Franz Kahler

Divisional artillery

  • Field cannon regiment No. 41 / Salzburg - Commander: Colonel Viktor Primavesi
  • Field Howitzer Regiment "Knights of Krobatin" No. 14 / Innsbruck - Commander: Colonel Karl Petersilka
  • Heavy Haubitz Division No. 14 / Vill near Neumarkt in Tirol - Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Josef Homberg
  • Mountain Artillery Regiment No. 8 / Brixen - Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Franz Dobner von Dobenau
  • Mountain Artillery Regiment "Kaiser" No. 14 / Trient - Commander: Colonel Ernst Edler von Terboglaw

history

With the beginning of the First World War the Kuk 8th Infantry Troop Division belonged to the "A - Squadron", which had to march on the Eastern Front in Galicia in the event of a war on two fronts (war case "R") against Russia . Division commander was FML Johann von Kirchbach auf Lauterbach , while Captain Richard Schilhawsky von Bahnbrück acted as chief of staff . The 8th ITD. stood with its sister division, the 3rd Division (formed from the 5th and 15th Infantry Brigade including the 2nd Kaiserjäger Regiment) in the kuk XIV Corps under the commanding General Archduke Joseph Ferdinand . The kuk 8th ITD. joined the fighting after the mobilization from August 1914 in the Grodek area east of Lemberg in the following war organization:

  • 16th Infantry Brigade (1st, 13th, 14th and 16th Feldjäger Battalion)
  • 96th Infantry Brigade (3rd and 4th Kaiserjäger Regiment)
  • 121st Infantry Brigade (1st Kaiserjäger Regiment and 27th Feldjäger Battalion)
  • 8th field artillery brigade (field cannon regiment 41 and I./Feldhaubitzenregiment 14)
  • 3rd and 4th squadrons of the mounted Rifle Regiment 6

While the left wing (II. And IX. Corps) and the center (VI. Corps) of the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army attacked in the direction of Zamosc in the Battle of Komarów , the right wing (XIV. And XVII. Corps) moved only more hesitantly the Rawa Ruska area across the Solokija to the north. The 8th ITD, accompanied on the left by the 41st and on the right by the 3rd Division, stood on August 28 in the area east of Uhnow in front of Belz. After the defeat of the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army on the Gnila Lipa , the XIV. Corps had to dismantle its northern front and, because of the break-in of Russian forces in the direction of Lemberg, set up a new front as soon as possible in the now threatened rear. The 8th ITD. made from September 5 against the Russian XXI, which broke through at Telatyn . Corps front to the east and stopped at the Huczwa sector at Tyszowce . The 8th ITD had the task of maintaining the connection between the II Corps (General of the Infantry Blasius Schemua ) of the army group Joseph Ferdinand and the 4th Army, which was rearranged to Rawa Ruska. During the following Battle of Rawa Ruska on September 9th at Lubycza Krolewska and forced to retreat via Jaroslaw after the general defeat , the division's new position under its new commander Ludwig von Fabini was established on the western bank of the San in mid-September .

In mid-October 1914, the XIV. Corps with the 8th and 3rd ITD was at Leżajsk and was drawn north to Rudnik during the second phase of the Battle of the San . The 8th ITD took part during the Battle of Cracow . during the counterattack by the FML Roth corps group north of the Vistula on the Szreniawa in the direction of Klimontow. On November 23, the fighting on the Szreniawa subsided , but on the following day the 3rd and 8th ITD from Klimontow by the XXV. Corps of the Russian 9th Army thrown back on the Vistula. At the beginning of December 1914, the corps was relocated to the Carpathians as part of an Austrian counter-attack that had begun in the area east of New Sandez and intervened in the fighting against the Russian 3rd Army during the Battle of Limanowa near Lapanow.

Between March 26 and 27, 1915, the 8th ITD. during the Carpathian Battle in the defensive battle of the hard-pressed III. Corps (FML Krautwald ) intervene. As a result of the breakthrough battle of Gorlice-Tarnow, the division moved from the Biala back to the San (May 6 to June 25, 1915).

In mid-July 1915, the 8th ITD. after the outbreak of war with Italy transferred to the front on the Isonzo in Tolmein . The 8th ITD came from October 1915. to the mountain front in the Dolomites and fought in the sections Col di Lana , Sexten and Lagazuoi .

In April 1916 the division moved to South Tyrol , where it was part of the XX. Corps ( Archduke Karl Joseph ) on the plateau of the seven communities was used. From May 15, 1916, the 8th ITD, coming from the Vielgereuth area , took part in the South Tyrol offensive; it consisted of the four Kaiserjäger regiments, which were combined to form the 58th Mountain Brigade and 180th Infantry Brigade. After the breakthrough battle near Folgaria (May 15-18, 1916), she reached the Arsiero area together with the 3rd Division . On May 29th, the 180th Brigade (Major General Verdroß) captured Monte Aralta and Sojo Rotto, and on May 30th they captured Monte Priaforà. The 58th Mountain Brigade (Major General Merten) got stuck on the Posina -Castana line and failed in the attack against Monte Alba. Between May 31st and June 13th the subordinate Kaiserjäger struggled in vain for the heights of Posina and Monte Giove. On June 11, the division managed to storm Monte Giove in a struggle with the Italian Brigada Ancona .

On December 9, 1916, the 8th ITD. Standing under the leadership of FML Ignaz Verdroß , awarded by Kaiser Karl with the addition of Kaiserjäger-Division , the subordinate 58th Mountain Brigade and 180th Infantry Brigade were renamed the 1st and 2nd Kaiserjäger Brigade. The superior XIV. Corps was also honored with the addition of "Edelweiss Corps". In close agreement with the 3rd "Edelweiss" Division, the fighting in 1917 was characterized by a general positional war on the mountainous south-eastern front of Tyrol. The Monte Pasubio and the Monte Meletta in particular became places of suffering for the Kaiserjäger.

At the end of the war in October 1918, the Kaiserjäger division was engaged in trench warfare in the Asiago area together with the 19th division . In the night from November 1st to November 2nd, as a result of the Italian breakthrough at the neighboring kuk III. Corps (Gen. Inf. Hugo Martiny ) received the order from the superior AOK 11 ( Scheuchenstuel ) that all troops of the XIV. Corps had to return to the line of defense held in May 1916 on the Vielgereuth plateau. It was here that the 8th Division and most of the Tyrolean Army Group fell into Italian captivity.

Commanders

Rank Surname date
Field Marshal Lieutenant Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf September 8, 1903 to November 18, 1906
Field Marshal Lieutenant Hermann Kövess November 1906 - April 1910
Field Marshal Lieutenant Johann von Kirchbach on Lauterbach August 1914 to September 1914
Field Marshal Lieutenant Ludwig von Fabini September 1914 to August 12, 1916
Field Marshal Lieutenant Ignaz Verdroß Edler von Drossberg August 13, 1916 to February 2, 1918
Major general Prince Felix of Schwarzenberg February 3, 1918 to November 1918

Remarks

  1. ↑ Headquarters
  2. ↑ today Tione di Trento
  3. ↑ Schematics for the Austro-Hungarian Army and for the Austro-Hungarian Navy 1914 , accessed on December 13, 2017.
  4. ↑ all information relates to July 1914
  5. ↑ Austria-Hungary's Last War, Volume I, War Year 1914, Vienna 1930, p. 74
  6. ↑ Austria-Hungary's Last War, Volume I, Operations Fall 1914, Vienna 1930, pp. 240–550

literature

  • Austro-Hungarian War Ministry: Dislocation and division of the Austro-Hungarian Army, the Austro-Hungarian Navy, the Imperial and Royal Landwehr and the Imperial and Royal Landwehr. In: Seidel's small army scheme. Published by Seidel & Sohn, Vienna 1914.
  • Anton Graf Bossi-Fedrigotti: Kaiserjäger - Fame and End. Stocker, Graz 1977.
  • Austrian War Archives (Ed.): Austria-Hungary's Last War 1914–1918. Register volume , Verlag der Militärwissenschaftlichen Mitteilungen, Vienna 1938.
  • Ernst Wißhaupt: The Tyrolean Kaiserjäger in the World War 1914–1918 , Verlag Franz Amon, Vienna 1935.