Space defense
Space Defense is one of the Austrian General Emil Spannocchi (1916-1992) in the late 1960s developed military concept which, unlike the border defense as part of the so-called comprehensive national defense , a defense of the territory by fighting in key areas and area protection zones by the Austrian army provided for .
Key zones
The magazine of the Austrian Armed Forces gives the following definition for the concept of key zones, which is essential for the concept of spatial defense :
"Those parts of the terrain that an aggressor absolutely had to take possession of in order to achieve his military goal were defined as key zones."
concept
The concept of space defense (known as the "Spannocchi doctrine" after the army commander) consisted of not defeating a possible aggressor in a major defensive battle, but instead through a combination of strong defenses in key areas on the one hand and guerrilla warfare such as constant raids on supply lines and on the other hand to hinder and wear off other goals in the enemy hinterland. The delay achieved in this way and the excessively high "walk-through price" were intended to prevent potential opponents from attempting a walk through the territory of Austria, which would only have made sense if NATO or the Warsaw Pact had been surprised by speed.
The fight in the key zones should take place by defending key rooms and restricted areas , which were protected with thousands of "fixed installations" ( bunkers ), prepared barriers , field barriers , blasting systems , Landwehr camps etc. and strong units. Most of the key zones and barriers were in the Danube region and in the alpine, i.e. H. Easier to defend area and were directed especially in the eastern half of the country against the Warsaw Pact, in Tyrol mainly against NATO from Germany and Italy .
The federal government should have withdrawn to the base room operations center . Outside the key zones there were the so-called spatial security zones , in which a potential attacker (who, according to the planning at the time, was NATO or Warsaw Pact or Yugoslavia ) should pay the highest possible entry price into neutral Austria through guerrilla-like small-war tactics by hunting battalions and then also take action against his Supply lines and rear units would have been fought (see also for example warfare in Afghanistan ). A strong defense outside the key zones directly from the state border was planned for the Yugoslav case .
Deterrent effect
The spatial defense concept, as has since been published by the former potential opponents, has been taken seriously abroad. For example, the Hungarian People's Army planned 50 to 70 artillery pieces and grenade launchers, 10 to 15 tanks and 15 to 20 artillery pieces (direct fire) per kilometer for an area that was only slightly protected. With such a deployment of forces, the speed of advance within the space protection zone would be 2.5 to 3 kilometers per hour. At that time the Hungarians did not see themselves prepared for an advance in the key areas.
A NATO invasion from Italy could have been effectively hindered thanks to the barriers and demolition plans prepared in the valleys. Critical objections with regard to the possible use of nuclear weapons by the enemy could be countered by the fact that close contact with the enemy is to be established through the various combat methods of spatial defense, which makes the use of nuclear weapons impossible. In addition, it could be assumed that it could not be in the tactical interest of the opponent to sustainably contaminate the area that he had to use for the march through and ultimately for his own supplies.
organization
Various scenarios were practiced in large space defense exercises - spies were also arrested several times ; 1979 also one from Switzerland.
The army, organized in Landwehr main regiments, had a very high but well-trained militia component (300,000 men planned). As in neighboring Switzerland, militiamen of the Vorarlberger Jagdkampfbataillon (JaKB) 911 even had assault rifles with ammunition at home. An extension of this regulation to other units in western Austria was planned, but was no longer implemented due to the foreseeable end of the Cold War . With the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, the concept of space defense was also outdated. From 1992, therefore, the regiments of the Landwehr main regiments were reorganized into hunter and staff regiments and there was a significant reduction in personnel.
Web links
- Horst Pleiner: The Development of the Military Strategic Concepts of the Austrian Armed Forces from 1955 to 2005 . In: Austrian Federal Ministry for National Defense (Ed.): Austrian Military Journal, Edition 3/2005 . ( bmlv.gv.at [accessed on March 14, 2010]).
- Gerd Millmann: That stayed with the Cold War. The time k August 7, 2008.
- Andreas Stupka and Thomas Lampersberger: Operation in the Alpine Foreland Part 3 . In: Austrian Federal Ministry for National Defense and Sport (Ed.): Troop Service, Edition 3/2016 . ( truppendienst.com [accessed September 23, 2018]).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Andreas Stupka and Thomas Lampersberger: Operation in the Alpine Foreland - Part 3 . Article dated November 8, 2016, accessed November 20, 2018.
- ↑ Andreas Stupka and Thomas Lampersberger: Operation in the Alpine Foreland - Part 3 . Article dated November 8, 2016, accessed November 20, 2018.
- ↑ http://www.bundesheer.at/truppendienst/lösungen/artikel.php?id=1139
- ^ Lecture by General i. R. Georg Bautzmann, organized on June 11, 1997 by the Military Science Office of the BMLV, summary in "Information on Security Policy No. 20", July 1999