Viktor Weber from Webenau

Viktor Maria Willibald Weber Edler von Webenau (in the literature partly also Victor or Vittorio) (born November 13, 1861 at Neuhaus Castle in Carinthia near Lavamünd ; † May 6, 1932 in Innsbruck ) was an officer, most recently General of the Austro-Hungarian Infantry Army in World War I and chairman of the Austro-Hungarian Armistice Commission , which agreed the armistice of November 3, 1918 with Italy and the Entente .

Viktor Weber Edler von Webenau

Life

Viktor Weber Edler von Webenau was born on November 13, 1861 at Neuhaus Castle in Carinthia near Lavamünd and spent his childhood in Graz .

After finishing secondary school in Graz, he completed training at the nearby infantry cadet school in Liebenau (Graz) . On November 12, 1878, he was the 27th Military Police - Battalion assigned and was on 18 August 1879 Oberjäger transported.

On November 1, 1880, he became a lieutenant and remained in the same battalion until October 1893. In the meantime he was promoted to lieutenant on May 1, 1886 and to captain on November 1, 1892 . On October 1, 1893, the entire 27th Feldjäger Battalion was incorporated into the Tyrolean Kaiserjäger Regiment as the 16th Field Battalion; As a result, from this point on, Captain Weber was an officer in the Kaiserjäger.

On January 10, 1895, he was transferred to the 20th Feldjäger Battalion, which was then stationed in Tarvisio . On May 2, 1898, he was transferred to the General Staff , successfully passed the major examination and was appointed Major in the General Staff on November 1, 1898. At the same time he became chief of staff of the 27th Infantry Division in Kosice .

After three years in this position, he was appointed second general staff officer in the headquarters of the 2nd Corps in Vienna on November 1, 1901, and a lieutenant colonel on May 1, 1902 . In order, as is customary with general staff officers, to serve with the troops from time to time, Weber was appointed battalion commander of the 68th Infantry Regiment stationed in Sarajevo , and on May 1, 1905, was appointed colonel . In 1905 he received the Military Merit Cross. On 18 April 1907 he was in Pecs regiment commander in the 69th Infantry Regiment of General Johann Mörk of Mörkenstein .

Like the soldiers under his previous command, this consisted almost without exception of Magyars. After his successful time as the commander of an infantry regiment, he was appointed commander of the 4th Mountain Brigade in Dubrovnik , which belonged to the 47th Infantry Division of the 16th Army Corps.

He was promoted to major general on May 1, 1911 , having previously received the Officer's Cross of the Franz Joseph Order and the Order of the Iron Crown III. Class had been awarded.

Before the First World War broke out, Major General Weber was assigned to the Supreme Military Court in Vienna on April 27, 1914 , and its vice-president on June 20, 1914.

First World War

Signing of the armistice between Montenegro and Austria-Hungary on January 25, 1916 (far right: Viktor Weber Edler von Webenau)

Knight's Cross of the Military Maria Theresa Order

After he was appointed Lieutenant Field Marshal on August 1, 1914 , he replaced Lieutenant Field Marshal Friedrich Novak and was given command of the 47th Infantry Division , which was stationed in Cattaro . With his division he was responsible for the defense of this important Austro-Hungarian naval base near the Montenegrin border against land and sea attacks. Under the overall command of the General of Infantry Stephan Sarkotic , he led in the XIX. Corps of Field Marshal Lieutenant Ignaz Trollmann formed the 47th Infantry Division in January 1916 in the campaign against Montenegro , which began with the storming of the strategically important Montenegrin mountain Lovćen , which lies above the Bay of Cattaro.

On the morning of January 8, 1916, the opening fire of the supporting artillery (including sea gun fire ) began and at the same time the assault of the four mountain brigades of his reinforced 47th Infantry Division began.

In quick succession, under the personal direction of division commander Weber, important landmarks were captured. When the assault was interrupted by the enemy's machine gun fire and the advance overtook the supporting artillery fire, Weber personally stationed a mountain gun battery that destroyed the Montenegrin gun emplacement. The advance continued and within 48 hours the Krstacsattel and the Lovćen summit were conquered. For this success and for leading the 47th Infantry Division during the Lovćen operation, Viktor Weber Edler von Webenau was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Maria Theresa Order at the 189th award by the Chapter on June 27, 1922 for extraordinary bravery .

After the armistice was signed with Montenegro on January 25, 1916, Weber, who had also led the armistice negotiations, became military governor-general in occupied Montenegro on February 26, 1916 . He held this position until July 10, 1917. In February 1916, Field Marshal Lieutenant Rudolf Braun replaced him as commander of the 47th Infantry Division . His successor as the Montenegrin military governor general was the Austrian Prime Minister Heinrich Graf Clam-Martinic , who had just been recalled by the emperor .

Returning to field duties, he followed Colonel General Karl Křitek as commander of the X. Corps on the Eastern Front (until he was temporarily relieved by Lieutenant Field Marshal Franz Kanik in February 1918 ) and was finally appointed General of the Infantry on November 1, 1917 . The X. Corps was renamed the 4th General Command and Weber received the command again in April 1918 for a few weeks before transferring it to Feldzeugmeister Heinrich Goiginger in May . Weber was then in May 1918 as the successor of Lieutenant Field Marshal Ferdinand Kosak to the commanding general of the XVIII. Corps appointed, but in July 1918 commander of the VI. Corps, where he replaced General of the Infantry Ernst Kletter Edler von Gromnik , and remained in this command until October 1918. His erratic, short-term transfers in the last two years of the war indicate leadership uncertainties in the Army High Command, which was headed personally by Emperor Karl I at the time has been.

Head of the Austro-Hungarian Armistice Commission

During the Battle of Vittorio Veneto Weber was appointed head of the Austro-Hungarian Armistice Commission, which had the task of agreeing an armistice with the Italians. The monarchy was exhausted militarily and in terms of supplies, the peoples of the monarchy struggled apart and further struggle seemed hopeless: Austria-Hungary could no longer win the war against Italy, although the troops occupied large parts of northeastern Italy after the twelfth battle of Isonzo .

The commission, formed at the beginning of October, moved to its headquarters in Trient in what was then Welschtirol on October 28, 1918 . The armistice of Villa Giusti (near Padua ), which she signed on November 3, 1918 and which came into force on November 4, was more like an unconditional surrender due to the harsh conditions of the war opponents . The opponents, aware of Austria-Hungary's weakness, did not want to negotiate their terms; the later Prime Minister and Mussolini's successor Pietro Badoglio led the Entente delegation. The Austro-Hungarian side agreed to the evacuation of Tyrol up to the Brenner and Reschenscheidecklinie, as well as the evacuation of the Canal Valley , Trieste , Istria and Dalmatia . Against General Weber's protest, she agreed that Entente troops were allowed to move freely on Austro-Hungarian territory.

The announcement that the armistice had been concluded prompted parts of the Austrian troops to rest their weapons immediately and thus for up to 36 hours before the Italian troops. This was due on the one hand to the enormous exhaustion of the monarchy's troops, which resulted in wishful thinking, and on the other hand to the fact that the chain of command from the army high command to the troops no longer worked properly. As a result, the Italian army was able to occupy large areas without a fight and in this way captured around 350,000 Austro-Hungarian soldiers before the ceasefire came into force, which cost many their lives over the next few months due to the lack of supplies. Only the Isonzo Army was able to withdraw successfully and thereby for the most part avoid capture.

General Weber signed the armistice before the approval of the Army High Command was received. He later explained his actions as follows (editorial comments in italics) :

“With the manifesto S. Majesty of October 17, 1918 (correct: October 16) the federalization of the monarchy was decreed without the foundations for joint action up to the end of the war having been laid beforehand. This tore the bond which had linked the nations of the monarchy within the army for common struggle. Thereupon some successor states arranged the direct recall of their army contingents from the front. ... Although every hour of the delay cost the people new and unnecessary blood sacrifices, the State Council declared that it did not want to take on the responsibility. (What was meant was the Council of State of the new state of German Austria , which, despite the invitation of the Emperor, did not participate in the decision on whether to accept or reject the armistice, so that the Emperor had to decide alone.) As I, in this distress of the fatherland, no further instructions in Padua approached (they arrived hours later by the army high command) , I decided as chairman of the Austria-Hungarian armistice Commission to take responsibility alone ... "

post war period

After the end of the war, General der Infanterie Weber retired in January 1919. Although he kept his Hungarian citizenship, he lived mainly in Merano , Wiesbaden and Switzerland . He died in Innsbruck on May 6, 1932 .

family

From 1886 to 1899 he was married to Therese, nee Baumgartner. The marriage had two children:

1. Norbert (born July 7, 1886 in Tarvis, † August 26, 1914), first lieutenant, killed in Galicia
2. Guido (born September 13, 1887 in Tarvisio), Lieutenant of the Kaiserjäger, pharmacist in Innsbruck

After his divorce, he married Anna Hebenstreit in 1901.

literature

• Edmund Glaise von Horstenau : The catastrophe. The destruction of Austria-Hungary and the emergence of the successor states. Amalthea, Zurich / Vienna 1929.
• Heinz von Lichem : Karl I. An emperor seeks peace. Tyrolia, Innsbruck / Vienna 1996, ISBN 3-7022-1993-5 .

Web links

• Short biography with certificate of service
• Armistice - The story of the truce (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Manfried Rauchsteiner : The Villa of Senator Giusti. In: Die Presse of October 30, 2008.
2. ^ G. Stefanovics: Austrian Commanders
3. ↑ genealogy of the family Weber Noble of Webenau (1752-1929) from: G 108 genealogy collection of Heraldic and Genealogical Society, Eagle '(Vienna)