Kuk military cable cars
The Austro-Hungarian military cable cars were entered the war in Italy the in May 1915 to supply the now suddenly incurred high mountain front Imperial Army became imperative. The few civilian cable cars that already existed were only suitable to a limited extent, as they could often be seen by the enemy and therefore shot at. The same applied to the mule tracks and climbs to the high Alps and mountain huts .
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tasks
Heeresfeldbahnen was first built in the side valleys leading to the front. Here, however, the difficulties at the terminal stations began. Carriers or pack animals would only be able to carry out the further transport of the required enormous amounts of ammunition , food, building and fuel material to a limited extent - also due to adverse weather conditions. So one had to resort to the construction of cable cars as a way out - especially when it became apparent that the fighting would have to continue through the winter.
So-called “cable car formations” were hastily put together from skilled workers from relevant companies and assigned soldiers. Among the latter were a large number of standing marksmen familiar with the location .
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The construction of the cable cars was not an easy matter, however, if the terrain was chosen in peacetime according to the best possibilities and with the least difficulty, it could no longer be taken into account. The cable cars had to be built where they were needed most, regardless of the nature of the terrain. The unfriendly counterpart was no longer just steep, rockfall and avalanche-prone terrain, but also targeted and accurate fire. The lines and the positioning of the railways had to be covered if possible; the crossing of large glaciers such as the Ortler and Adamello areas required field lengths that were previously unknown.
As early as the turn of the year 1915/16 the first high-performance material ropeways were able to go into service - one of them led from Dürrensee to the hard-fought Monte Piano . Further war ropeways were built in the Julian Alps , on the Isonzo Front and in the Carpathian Front.
Organization and technology
The cable car formations, soon renamed “Cable Car Companies”, were organizationally affiliated with the Austro-Hungarian Railway Regiment. They were responsible for the construction and operation of the cable cars. Responsible replacement troop for the cable car companies was the "kuk Eisenbahn-Ersatzbataillon" in Korneuburg .
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According to the secret guide "Reorganization during the war" of 1917, the following subdivision was planned for the cable car formations:
- Feldseilbahnen:
- Length from station to station up to 2.5 km
- Cable lifts:
- Length from station to station up to 1.5 km
- The models from the German companies Adolf Bleichert & Co. and Gesellschaft für Förderanlagen Ernst Heckel were used for the field cable cars as a single cable car in circulation . The conveying capacity was 200 to 300 tons of material in 24 hours. The drive was ensured by gasoline , crude oil , electric or steam engines with an output of 25 hp . The largest field length in free tension was 500 meters.
- Austrian models from Hinterschweiger , Aktien-Gesellschaft R. Ph. Waagner - L. and. Were used for field ropeways as two-way ropeways, which were equipped with suspension and towing ropes in shuttle operation and could be operated both single-track and double-track with full and empty cable J. Biró & A. Kurz , Zuegg , Köllensperger and Rüsch – Ganahl used. The drive took place with gasoline, crude oil or electric motors, which provided outputs of 8 to 14 hp.
For sections with increased material requirements, heavy ropeways were built as two-way ropeways with a daily capacity of up to 500 tons, while single-cable cars in circulation reached an effective daily capacity of up to 100 tons. Even on single-track cable lifts, up to 40 tons could be transported daily in high mountain positions.
When building these cable cars, it was possible to fall back on the experience of the Lana - Vigiljochbahn and Kohlernbahn passenger cable cars, which were already built in peacetime and which have spans of up to 200 meters.
In addition, so-called brake cable cars without their own drive were used on some sections. These could only be used for downhill transport, the containers were moved downwards by gravity, this movement was controlled by rope brakes.
Small manual lifts were operated by the combat troops themselves, the length of the route was still between one and 1.5 kilometers. The transport volume here was around 100 kilograms per transport container.
commitment
In 1918 a distinction was made between supply, distribution and position tracks. The valley stations of the heavily frequented and accordingly designed supply cable cars were located at the endpoints of streets or light rail lines. They were mostly two-lane (detachable) single cable cars. During partial operation, the rooms in the intermediate stations had to be bridged by freight carts. After arriving at the relay station, the load was placed on the cart, the automatic gripper disengaged from the rope and the cart was moved by hand to the point of departure of the next section. Here the gripper engaged again and the rope journey continued. Passenger transportation was prohibited.
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The distribution ropeways that continued from the supply ropeways were mostly one or two-lane rope elevators in shuttle operation and jammed transport equipment (transport containers, etc.). These facilities were also approved for the evacuation of the wounded.
From the stations of the distribution cable cars, the position railways led directly to the front section. Here, gorges, steep walls and areas prone to avalanches were often spanned. Manual windings were mostly used here. Single-track systems were usually operated by crank winches with four to eight operators. In the case of two-lane systems, operation was made easier by loading rubble or other material into the transport container moving downhill.
The great importance of the cable car system appears in a report by the Austro-Hungarian Army High Command of June 30, 1918 which states:
“The most important means of supply, which alone enables permanent stay and warfare at these altitudes, is the cable car. It is the be-all and end-all of existence. But it would be a mistake to believe that even the most abundant design of a section with cable cars ensures its supply just in case ... "
furthermore it says in the general staff work "Austria-Hungary's last war":
"Cable cars are extremely important in high mountain position warfare, because especially in winter the regular maintenance of the height positions would be almost impossible without them ... Cable cars relieve the troops of tedious porter services and prevent excessive stress on the horses."
On August 25, 1918, the number of personnel in the cable car operating force was 6665, who were responsible for 1735 kilometers of cable cars.
literature
- Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck : The Austrian cable cars on the Tyrolean front during the First World War. In: Sergio Benvenuti (ed.): La Prima Guerra Mondiale e il Trentino. Comprensorio della Vallagarina, Rovereto 1980.
- Hermann Hinterstoisser: The cable cars in the war. In: Hinterstoisser-Ortner-Schmidl: The kk Landwehr Gebirgstruppe , Verlag Militaria, Vienna 2006 pp. 294–297 ISBN 3-902526-02-5 .
- Luigi Longhi, Antonio Zandonati: Teleferiche dell'11ª Armata Austro-Ungarica dall'Adige al Brenta (1915-1918). Museo storico italiano della guerra , Rovereto 2013.
Web links
Footnotes
- ^ Walter Schaumann "The cable car system 1915-1918 on the Alpine Southwest Front"; in: Seilbahnen, 5, volume no. 2/86 Eugendorf 1986; Pp. 10 to 16
- ↑ Tomaz Budkovic: Wochein / Bohinj 1914–1918 “The deployment area of the Insonzofront”; Klagenfurt 2001: p. 53 ff
- ↑ KM (Ministry of War) Section 5 No. 11000 res. from 1917, p. 202 ff
- ↑ The carrying rope was also the pulling rope here; Clamped or detachable driving equipment has already been used
- ^ Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck: The Austrian cable cars on the Tyrolean front during the First World War. P. 401
- ↑ The Mountain War, Part 1/9. Booklet "Routes and Roads, Wegversicherungen, Roll- und Seilbahnen" published by kuk Oberkommando Wien 1918 (Seilbahnen 28 ff)
- ↑ Like all prohibitions, this was circumvented whenever possible
- ↑ General director by Franz Glingenbrunner: Director's service in the mountain wars: Supplementary booklet No. 8 on the work of Austria-Hungary's last war. (Verlag der Militärwissenschaftlichen Mitteilungen, Vienna 1933, p. 19 ff)