World War One USA Signal Corps Austro-Hungarian Empire photographs.
The Signal Corps is a military branch, usually subordinate to a country's army, responsible for the military communications. Many countries have a Signal Corps, whose main function is usually communication (in modern times, usually radio, telephone or now digital communications on the battlefield).
Austro-Hungarian troops traveling through a mountain pass.
Austrian military vehicles. The K.U.K. Autotruppe in the beginning of the war included lots of private cars but became more structured later. It grew in strength to over 800 officers. There were many variations of vehicles including armoured cars although armoured cars and tanks did not generate much interest from military authorites.
Austro-Hungarian troops traveling through a town.
Field, medium and heavy guns used by the Austro-Hunagrian Army were the 9 cm FK M. 75/96 · 8 cm FK M 99 · 8 cm FK M. 5 · 8 cm FK M. 17 · 8 cm FK M 18 · 9 cm FK M 75/96 · 10 cm FH M 99 · 10 cm Feldhaubitze M. 14 · 10.4 cm Feldkanone M. 15 · 15 cm sFH M 94 · 15 cm sFH M 14 · 15 cm sFH M.15 · 15 cm Autokanone M. 15/16
Captured photo of cannon transport carriage.
Painting of the cannon being transported with horses.
Austrian troops preparing for action. The Austro-Hungarian Artillery was divided into three branches. The field artillery which included most of the horses and cavalry, the mountain artillery of which the 8cm field guns and mountain howitzers were used, and the fortress artillery with the big guns. Some of the heavier fortress guns were the 24cm, 35cm and the 38cm and 42cm howitzers.
The 35cm was a Naval design and only one saw action on the Italian front. "Lange Georg" is a recent book written on the subject. (Italian text.)
8cm M17 field gun. The 8cm shell was the workhorse of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
7cm M9 field gun
Equipment inspection. Some of the soldiers hat flaps are unfolded and buttoned in the front to keep the ears and faces warm. Soldier on the left carries a binocular case and holster for a 9mm Steyr 1912 automatic pistol. Soldier in dark clothing on the left wears a visorless cavalry style cap. Soldier in the dark trench coat on the right has a pine branch to decorate his hat.
German mountain gun restored.
Infantry and mountain guns used by the Austro-Hungarian Army were the 7 cm Gebirgsgeschütz M 99 · 7.5 cm Gebirgsgeschütz 15 · 10 cm Gebirgshaubitze M 99 · 10 cm Gebirgshaubitze M 8 · 10 cm Gebirgshaubitze M 16
Soldier on guard in a mountain position with a 8cm M5 cannon.
World War One Austro-Hunagrians used were the Mortars 8 cm Luftminenwerfer M 15 · 9 cm Minenwerfer M 14 · 9 cm Minenwerfer M 17 · 10.5 cm Luftminenwerfer M 15 · 12 cm Minenwerfer M 15 · 12 cm Luftminenwerfer M 16 · 14 cm Minenwerfer M 15 · 15 cm Luftminenwerfer M 15 M. E. · 20 cm Luftminenwerfer M 16 · 22.5 cm Minenwerfer M 15 · 26 cm Minenwerfer M 17
9 cm M14 Skoda
Superheavy and siege used by the Austrians were the 12 cm Kanone M 80 · 15 cm Mörser M 80 · 15 cm Kanone M 80 · 18 cm kurze Kanone M 80 · 21 cm Mörser M. 16/18 · 24 cm Mörser M 98 · 24 cm Kanone M. 16 · 30.5 cm Mörser M. 11 · 30.5 cm Mörser M. 16 · 35 cm Marinekanone L/45 M. 16 · 38 cm Belagerungshaubitze M 16 · 42 cm Haubitze M. 14/16
Photo of the 30.5 cm Mörser. It was extremely accurate.
Karl visted many forts and took command of an Army Corps on the Italian front. He was respected by the troops for his integrity. When Franz Josef died Karl assumed control of the monarchy.
The Air Service began in 1893 as a balloon corps.The first officers of the air force were private pilots with no military aviation training. Kaiserliche und Königliche Luftfahrtruppen or K.u.K. Luftfahrtruppen was the name of the air force of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the end of the war. It saw fighting on both the Eastern Front and Italian Front. The Austrian pilots were issued parachutes. On August 22, 1918, Friedrich Hefty became the first A-H pilot to save his life with a parachute. It performed with tenacity and bravery during the war. In the photo below Kaiser Karl visits with some of the pilots.
Top 5 Austro-Hungarian Aces:
1- Godwin Brumowski - 35 kills. 2- Julius Argia - 32 kills. 3- Benno Fiala - 28 kills . 4- Frank Linke-Crawford - 27 kills. 5- Josef Kiss - 19 kills. On Jan 27, 1918, he was shot through the abdomen. He recovered and went back into combat then was shot down on May 24, 1918.
Pigeons were important during World War One. They were extremely reliable in sending messages. More than 100,000 were used in the war with a good success rate of over 90% getting through with their messages.
For Austro-Hungarians Christmas and New Year's lots of times are celebrated with a roasted pig. Eating a roast pig on New Year's Day was supposed to bring good luck.
Soldiers in the trench doing clothing repairs, drinking wine, notice the camp stove/heater in the background.
The use of searchlights in the field was an area in which Austria-Hungary played a leading role. They search light crews were called Scheinwerferformationen. Mostly they would use acetylene/oxygen search lights but they also used electric search lights.
Austrian troops faced terrible conditions in the muddy trenches, sharing with rats and lice. Photo below shows equipment used to sanitize clothing.
On the way to Venice?
Special Cable to THE NEW YORK TIMES. October 30, 1917.
THOUSANDS OF CANNON SMASHED ITALIAN LINE; German Writer Says the AustroHungarian "Iron Curtain"Was 20 Miles Long. Gas Shells Aid the Attack.
Austrian Storm troop training. These elite troops had the job of removing enemy obstacles such as barbed wire machine gun nests and guards in battle using hand grenades, daggers, and clubs. The purpose was to help attacking troops get to their objectives. They were equipped with steel helmets, short rifles, hand grenades, M17 trench knives and supported by machine guns, and infantry guns.
The Schwarzlose M.07 was a water cooled, belt fed weapon designed by a German named Andreas Wilhelm Schwarzlose. It was usually mounted on a tripod.The Schwarzlose featured an unusual, delayed blowback mechanism which contained only a single spring. The initial variants of the M.07/12 had a cyclic rate of about 400 rounds/m, but this was later increased to 580 rounds/m during World War I by fitting the mechanism with a stronger spring. The Schwarzlose was a reliable weapon in its use as an infantry gun. Machine gun crews were ususally armed with automatic pistols either the 8mm Roth-Steyr 1907 or the 9mmSteyr model 1912.
Austrians in a machine gun position fighting Italian forces with a 7.62mm Maxim M1910 machine gun on original Sokolov type wheeled mount with shield and legs extended to provide higher line of fire. They are using metal trench shields for protection against bullets. The rifles are 8mm GEW 1888 commission rifles.
Italian armored vehicles abandoned on the roadside. During World War One, the Italians designed many armored cars. However, due to the difficult terrain of the Austrian front, most of the Italian armor was shipped to Africa. During the war Austrians used captured armored vehicles including some Russian armored cars manufactured in England.
Wounded Austrain soldiers. On the shelves in the background are cups and mess tins.
1918 photos of Austrian soldiers captured on the Western Front near the end of the war. Soldier has the typical cloth rucksack and trench coat.
Austrian soldier is wearing a M17 helmet painted Austrian brown with cloth chin strap.
Austro-Hungarian prisoners wearing trench coats to keep warm. Soldier in the front has a shoulder roll on the outside of his trench coat to help hold his rifle on his shoulder when marching.
Roland Peters with a photo of his war booty taken back to the USA. Includes a today rare Berndorf helmet, Austrian and Italian fighting knives, bayonets,M95 short rifle, belt and buckle, decorations, shells, cartridges, coins and photos.
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