Trento fortress

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Coat of arms of the city and fortress of Trento
The Buco di Vela roadblock
The former prince-bishop's Castello del Buonconsiglio in the city center of Trento was the seat of the Austro-Hungarian High Command

The Trient fortress was part of the chain of barriers of Austrian fortifications on the border with Italy .

Due to the loss of large areas in Italy ( Lombardy , Veneto , Tuscany ) in the 19th century, the dominant fortresses of the fortress quadrangle ( Verona , Mantua , Peschiera del Garda , Legnano ) on the southern border of the Habsburg monarchy were also lost. To protect this uncovered border of the country, the Trento fortress was expanded between 1860 and 1900. The main task was to prevent a breakthrough through the Etschtal or on the left flank through the Suganertal (Val Sugana) - here there were advanced works on Lake Caldonazzo . After the right flank against Milan , Trento was covered by the Riva fortress .

The expansion phases

The expansion of Trento into a fortress took place in several stages.

First fortifications 1848–1859, 1860–62, 1870–1873

The Doss Trento was fortified as early as 1848–1859 and was sometimes referred to as the citadel in the following years. After the loss of Lombardy, the Buco di Vela and Doss di Sponde roadblocks in the west were built in 1860–1862 to secure the road from Riva on Lake Garda shortly before Trento; After the loss of Veneto in 1866, the Civezzano group of works followed in 1870–1873 to block the road from Valsugana .

Expansion to the belt fortress 1878–1884

From 1878–1884, Trento was expanded to create a belt fortress with numerous new works . Most of the plants were built in the so-called "Trientine style", which is a comparatively light and economical construction method. The guns were mostly on open ramparts, the crews were housed in accommodation blocks made of natural stone. As the last and at the same time most modern plant, San Rocco was built on the particularly endangered south side from 1880–1884, which was equipped with an armored turret made by Grusonwerk AG Buckau with two minimal-chart cannons.

New standard works 1890–1894 and 1896–1900

1890-1894 the Brenta valley was fortified by the Tenna lock on Lake Caldonazzo with the works Tenna and Colle delle benne , which was clearly in front of the group of works Civezzano, 1896-1900 the south side of the fortress of Trento was reinforced by the works Romagnano and Mattarello . These were standardized works of the "Vogl Period" , armed with 12 cm minimal charter cannons in armored casemates and 15 cm mortars in armored rotating domes.

The expansion during the First World War 1914–1915

The fortress of Trient was expanded by the director of the Genius of Trient, Major General Franz Seraphin Edler von Steinhart from October 9, 1914 to one of the largest and most heavily armed fortresses in Europe . In his supplementary order of December 9, 1914, he made all defenses of the safety armouring disappear under the protective rock of the surrounding mountains (cavern batteries and self-propelled howitzer batteries ) and thus won the race against the heavy artillery . By the end of 1915, the Trento fortress, which was buried in a bombproof position, had 295 artillery pieces of the safety armor, along with more than 100 machine guns and more than 50 rapid-fire cannons. In the expanded positions and caverns around the city of Trento there was space for two complete infantry divisions .

The old works and positions described above were completely disarmed as they were not bulletproof. In the ammunition magazines of the fortress that awaited the Italian attack, a total of more than 110,000 grenades of all calibres were stored together with around 5.6 million rounds of infantry ammunition for machine guns and rifles as the initial charge. In terms of armament and size, the fortress was three times the size of the Verdun fortress in France. It could never have been conquered, as its defensive lines as an inner belt of fortifications were completely set up on the surrounding mountain ranges as a continuous defensive line. From these vastly superior positions it would have thwarted any preparation for an attack on the part of the enemy.

Major merit of Major General Steinhart, one of the most brilliant and capable officers in the Austro-Hungarian Army , was the consistent introduction of reinforced concrete in fortress construction as early as 1915; he introduced this technology for the first time using an industrialized and rationalized methodology. The reinforced concrete is high-strength and bulletproof even against heavy calibers. The expansion of the fortress of Trento was known to the Italian opponent. General Cadorna avoided any offensive through the Adige Valley towards the Brenner Pass ; The Italian army was neither armed nor able to conduct such an attrition offensive against this mighty fortress. The Trento fortress thus fulfilled its politico-military strategic purpose. She never fired a grenade at the enemy; their very existence was enough.

On the other hand, it was a bloodletting and enormous resource hog for the Austro-Hungarian monarchy; the material used and their military equipment would have been more important at the front. Due to its stable location on the southern front of Rayon III – Tirol, it was disarmed at the end of February 1916, just two months after its completion; the war material was taken to the front. Major General Steinhart became the commandant of the Pustertal Division (later the 49th Infantry Troop Division) and successfully defended Tyrol as a field marshal lieutenant until the end of the war. He is buried in Wilten near Innsbruck . He did not leave his troops and became a prisoner of war .

Garrison 1914

  • Headquarters 16th Infantry Brigade Command
    Brigade Commander: Major General Emil Herzberg
  • Staff 121st Infantry Brigade Command
    Brigade Commander: Major General Eduard Schatzl-Zlinsky von Mühlfort
  • Staff / I. / II. Battalion of the Tyrolean Jäger Regiment No. 1 ( Kaiserjäger )
    Regimental Commander: Colonel Guido Novak von Arienti
  • IVth Battalion of the Tyrolean Jäger Regiment No. 3 (Kaiserjäger)
    Regimental commander: Colonel Heinrich Vonbank
  • Staff / I. / III. Battalion of the Tyrolean Jäger Regiment No. 4 (Kaiserjäger)
    Regimental commander: Colonel Ernst Dietrich
  • Staff / I. Bataillon Imperial and Royal Landesschützen Regiment Nr.I
    Regimental commander: Colonel Adolf Sloninka von Holodów
  • Riding Tyrolean Rifle Division (battalion strength)
    Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Moritz Srnka
  • Fortress Artillery Battalion No. 5
    Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Hugo Müller
  • Mountain Artillery Regiment No. 14
    Commander: Colonel Ernst Edler von Terboglaw
  • Sapper Battalion No. 14
    Commanding officer : Major Ferdinand Korb

Artillery - War Occupation 1914

literature

  • Erwin Anton Grestenberger: Imperial and Royal fortifications in Tyrol and Carinthia 1860–1918. Verlag Österreich ua, Vienna 2000, ISBN 3-8132-0747-1 .
  • Gian Maria Tabarelli: I forti austriaci nel Trentino e in Alto Adige. TEMI Editrice, Trento 1990.
  • Wilhelm Nussstein: Military history travel guide. Dolomites. Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg 1997, ISBN 3-8132-0496-0 .
  • Kurt Mörz de Paula: The Austro-Hungarian fortification building 1820-1914 (=  Austrian military history . Special volume [1995]). 2nd Edition. Stöhr, Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-901208-11-9 .
  • Austrian State Archives / Vienna War Archives

Web links

Commons : Trento Fortress  - Collection of images, videos and audio files