kuk pioneers

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Captain in parade adjustment

The kuk pioneers were part of the technical troops of the Austro-Hungarian land forces . The prefix kuk identified them as part of the so-called Common Army .

Original tasks

In 1893 the Austro-Hungarian War Ministry issued organic provisions (regulations) in which the task of the 15 pioneer battalions existing at that time was precisely defined: (in full)

  1. Construction of war bridges from the equipment carried for this purpose from war bridge equipages as well as emergency and semi-permanent bridges
  2. Carrying out crossings with the equipment of the war bridge equipages as well as with other means of crossing.
  3. The fortification and technical preparation of the theater of war and the fortification of positions and battlefields.
  4. The construction and destruction of paths and roads, the destruction of bridges and railways, and participation in the construction of railways.
  5. Participation in the defense of and attacking entrenchments and fortified places, and when attacking mainly to overcome obstacles and to immediately strengthen a captured object or part of the terrain.
  6. The work involved in the demolition, siege or defense of fixed places.
  7. All blasting work
  8. The more important technical work that occurs in the camp, in the cantons and on the march.

remodeling

After the reform of the engineer troops in 1912, the engineer battalions were reduced to eight, and the surplus personnel and a large part of the previous tasks were handed over to the newly established sapper battalions (a ninth battalion was set up in 1914 ). All that remained for the pioneers was the construction of war bridges (including floating bridges as semi-permanent bridges) and temporary bridges made from the bridge-building equipment they carried with them (not the construction of emergency bridges - the pioneers, in contrast to the sappers, only worked with prefabricated material), and all kinds of crossings (ferry service on rivers) , as well as supporting the railway regiment in building railway bridges. All engineer battalions were subordinate to the 121st Infantry Brigade in the XIV Army Corps.

Workforce

In the peacetime state, the pioneer battalion was composed of:

  • Battalion headquarters
Staff officer as battalion commander
1 battalion adjutant (subaltern officer), 1 regimental or senior physician, 1 accounting officer (senior officer), 1 staff officer, 1 battalion hornist (corporal), 1 gunsmith, 1 accounting assistant ( corporal ), 4 officer servants. TOTAL: 4 officers 9 men
7 captains, 21 subaltern officers, 2 cadets or ensigns, 12 sergeants, 7 accounting officers, 20 platoon leaders, 42 corporals, 30 privates, 157 senior pioneers, 250 junior pioneers, 5 buglers (senior pioneers), 28 officer servants. TOTAL: 28 officers, 553 NCOs and men.

The pioneering production

Since the organic regulations of 1893, the pioneer production system had been restructured and attached to the pioneer group. It had the task of producing and procuring all the materials necessary for the pioneer and (later) sapper service. This included war bridge material, explosives and detonators, tools, props, instruments and special equipment. Furthermore, the respective institutions were responsible for the proper safekeeping, management and repair of the existing supplies and equipment.

The pioneering production system was divided into:

as well as the subordinate:

The personnel of the pioneering equipment consisted of officers of the pioneer troops and (later) also the sappers , of technical officials of the engineering equipment and the engineer equipment team.

The technical officers were supplemented by suitable masters from the stuff team. Their rank designations were: Oberwerkführer 1st and 2nd class (captain rank), works leader (first lieutenant rank) and assistant works leader (lieutenant rank). The technical officials were primarily entrusted with the management of the technical production facilities. The offspring of the engineer equipment teams came largely from trained members of the engineer battalions and (later also) the sapper troops. The corresponding ranks were: foreman, sergeant, platoon leader, corporal, private, senior pioneer and sub-pioneer.

Uniformity

The pioneers wore the uniform based on the pattern of the German infantry, but made of pike-gray cloth with a row of white, smooth buttons. The leveling color was steel green. The officers' pantaloons had steel-green lampasses on the sides with the same passepoils , the men only had passepoils. The footwear of the pioneer teams consisted of shaft boots.

badge

Paroli with troop pioneer badge

Badges were awarded for special achievements. There was the helmsman's badge, consisting of a steel-green cord with two ball tassels, and the work badge made of a brass disc with a black circle in the middle. Inside was the pioneer badge made of two crossed shovels and a staple. The troop pioneers assigned to the infantry wore a separate troop pioneer badge on the parolis of their unit.

Engineer Battalions 1914

  • Engineer Battalion No. 2
Established: 1893
Supplementary district: II. + XIV. AK
Nationalities: 98% German - 2% other
Garrison: Linz
Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Franz Berger
  • Engineer Battalion No. 3
Established: 1893
Complementary district: III. AK
Nationalities: 48% German - 45% Slovenian - 7% other
Garrison: Pettau
Commanding officer: Lieutenant Colonel Eduard Appel
  • Engineer Battalion No. 4
Established: 1893
Complementary district: IV. AK
Nationalities: 74% Magyars - 20% German - 6% other
Garrison: Budapest
Commanding officer: Lieutenant Colonel Albert Eisenbach
  • Engineer Battalion No. 5
Established: 1893
Supplementary district: V. AK
Nationalities: 55% Magyars - 27% German - 18% other
Garrison: Pozsony
Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Rudolf Sydor
  • Engineer Battalion No. 7
Established: 1893
Complementary district: VII. AK
Nationalities: 57% Magyars - 28% Germans - 15% other
Garrison: Szeged
Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Ignaz Mjk
  • Engineer Battalion No. 8
Established: 1893
Supplementary district: VIII. AK
Nationalities: 56% Czech - 41% German - 3% other
Garrison: Klosterneuburg
Commanding officer: Lieutenant Colonel Rudolf Pratl
Pioneer sergeant in march adjustment
  • Engineer Battalion No. 9
Established: 1893
Complementary District: IX. AK
Nationalities: 54% Czechs - 43% German - 12% other
Garrison: Melk
Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Franz Fiedler
  • Engineer Battalion No. 10
Established: 1893
Complementary district: X. - XII. AK
Nationalities: 50% Poles - 30% Ruthenians - 20% other
Garrison: Przemyśl
Commanding officer: Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Watzek
  • Engineer Battalion No. 15
Established: 1914
Complementary District: XV. - XVI. AK
Nationalities: 92% Serbs / Croats - 8% other
Garrison: Sarajevo
Commander: Lieutenant Colonel Leopold Schmid

Web links

Commons : Official patterns of Austria-Hungarian uniforms  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Details of military uniforms of Austria-Hungary  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

  • Johann C. Allmayer-Beck, Erich Lessing: The Kuk Army. 1848-1914 . Bertelsmann publishing house, Munich 1974, ISBN 3-570-07287-8 .
  • The Austro-Hungarian Army 1895 . A series of images by Oskar Brüch , commented by Günter Dirrheimer. Leopold Stocker Verlag, Graz et al. 1997, ISBN 3-7020-0783-0 ( Writings of the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum 10).
  • Rest, Ortner, Ilmig: The emperor's rock in the 1st World War . Verlag Militaria, Vienna 2002, ISBN 3-9501642-0-0 .
  • kuk war ministry “Dislocation and division of the kuk army, kuk navy, kk landwehr and ku landwehr” in: Seidel's small army scheme - published by Seidel & Sohn Vienna 1914