formations. Searchlight units now consisted of one company (2
horsed 35-cm., 2 motorized 6o-cm., 2 motorized no-cm, projectors)
per division, as well as a number of similar units under G.H.Q.,
and odd formations; further, each technical company or squadron
of an infantry or dismounted cavalry regiment included a search-
light squad.
Communication Troops. Till May 1912 only one combined rail- way and telegraph regiment existed. This was divided at that date into two. The railway regiment consisted of 3 battalions, depot cadres for personnel, track and for locomotives, and fortress light railway cadres at Przemysl, Cracow and Pola. The companies constituting these battalions were charged in war with the construc- tion, operation and destruction both of standard gauge and of light railways. Consisting at the outset of 30 railway and 4 railway oper- ating companies, this branch had risen at the end of the war to a strength of 39 railway and 32 field railway companies. In occupied territory under Austro-Hungarian control 4 army railway commands were set up (Poland, Serbia, Italy, Rumania) which had at their disposal 8 operating battalions and 28 operating companies. For transport in mountain regions (Alps, Rumania, Albania) there were 40 telpher operating and 9 telpher building companies. The light railway service consisted at the end of the war of 3 locomotive and 21 motor and one horse operating sections, as well as 3 operating sections at Pola. Associated with the railway troops were some bridging detachments provided with iron-bridge equipment.
Lastly should be mentioned armoured trains. The first of these, an armoured locomotive, was improvised in 1914 to reconnoitre the enemy during the Galician retreat. Later five trains were built.
The telegraph regiment consisted of 4 battalions, one radio de- tachment, depot cadre and an administrative unit for stores. This regiment was the parent of all telegraph and telephone units which came into the field, but as with other arms and branches, expansions had to be regularized in the winter of 19178. The reorganization in that period reconstituted all telegraph and telephone units uni- formly as " telegraph companies," of which at the close of the war there were 159, as well as 65 line construction companies and 25 radio companies. Corps, army and higher headquarters had in all 72 radio posts, worked as 14 administrative groups, and there were 7 fixed stations for long-distance work.
Flying Corps. Numerically Austria-Hungary was far behind other states in the numbers of her flying troops." Till a few years before the war only captive and free balloons were in use, chiefly in fortresses, and modern aeronautics in Austria were practically followed only as a sport. However, a reorganization took place in 1913 which enabled the army to begin the war with one flying com- pany of 6 machines at G.H.Q. and at each army headquarters, one dirigible balloon company, and depot units. As in other countries, necessity led to rapid developments from this nucleus. By the end of 1916 there were 37 flying companies allotted to the higher head- quarters. In 1917 a specialization of flying units according to their missions was begun ; thenceforward there were divisional companies for line and artillery work; deep reconnaissance companies, pursuit companies for air fighting, " big machine " companies (bombers), protective companies for escort of divisional machines, and photo- graphic companies for map work. In Nov. 1918 the total of units was 82 flying companies, 32 balloon companies, 12 parks, 9 motor repair units, and 2 construction companies.
Meteorological Service. This was attached to the flying service, but provided for the requirements of all others as well, and was represented in all formations from divisions upwards.
Motor Transport Troops. Before the war the use of motor trans- port for military purposes was limited. For liaison duties between headquarters an Automobile Volunteer Corps and a Motorcycle Volunteer Corps had been formed in Austria and an Automobile Volunteer Corps in Hungary some time before the war. But the first motor troops proper were created in the war itself, when the motorization of the train (ammunition, supplies, medical) and the necessity of regularizing the supply of cars, lorries, parts and fuel imposed this step.
At the outset only a very small proportion of the train was motor- ized, the lorries coming from private firms by way of requisition.
On formation the " Auto troops " were classified broadly as field troops and home service troops. The first named included by the end of the war 31 group commands and 238 auto columns, 39 am- bulance columns, 10 postal columns. The auto troops at home were responsible for the transport of stores and supplies of all kinds to the army and for the training of reenforcements.
Train. The training of the transport corps (Train) in peace-time was thorough. The vehicles designed for mountain and normal ground proved, however, too heavy for the soft morasses of Galicia and Poland, and for the more forward echelons of transport local vehicles had to be requisitioned. On the other hand the special equipment provided for mountain warfare was excellent.
After the abolition of the regimental organization in 1910 the train consisted of 16 train divs. (one per corps), which in peace carried out all transport duties within the corps and its area, and on mobili- zation had to provide horses and drivers for all transport formations and for the transport of bridging, postal, medical and other forma- tions. The " division " itself remained at home as a draft and remount producing centre.
The expansion of the army naturally entailed corresponding developments in the Train Corps, which underwent a considerable reorganization in the winter of 19167. Simplification of supply procedure and the replacement of heavy military wagons by light vehicles of local types were the main features of this reorganization.
Mountain Warfare Organization. In Austria-Hungary the or- ganization of mountain troops had been carried further than any other state. At the outbreak of war there existed, as has been men- tioned earlier, five mountain regiments of Austrian Landwehr (16 battalions) which were intended as a frontier guard in face of the Italian Alpini. But in 1914 they were used against Russia, Serbia and Montenegro like any other regiment without regard to their special character, and although they in due course returned to the Italian theatre, they were not, as a special arm, augmented during the war, though reenforced by a number of locally raised units. 1 In fact, the generally mountainous nature of the frontiers and war theatres of Austria-Hungary required rather that all troops, and not merely a specialized fraction, should be adaptable to hill warfare.
Thus the troops normally quartered in Dalmatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, though not essentially mountain units, possessed a special organization in peace-time. The operations unit was the
mountain brigade " which consisted of battalions detached from their regiments, of Bosno-Herzegovinian units, and of mountain artillery. There were 14 such brigades on the south-eastern front at the opening of hostilities, constituting the four divisions of the XV. and XVI. Army Corps. The brigade consisted of 4-6 battalions, sometimes one frontier company, a troop of cavalry and 12 bat- teries, and its engineer and administration services were organized for mountain work. The division had 2 additional mountain bat- teries, and its headquarter services were partly on the mountain and partly on the normal basis.
As, however, all but one of the theatres of war in which the army was called on to operate were mountainous, this organization was evidently insufficient. Even as early as the winter of 19145 there were many improvizations for example in the Carpathians battle, in which both Austrian and German divisions sent to reenforce von Pflanzer-Baltin had to be reconstituted with mountain transport and towards the end of the war practically three-quarters of the whole army stood in hill country. Naturally, therefore, a pro- cedure was arrived at whereby any formation on going to a moun- tainous theatre automatically took on the required form. In the reorganization of 19178, indeed, the mountain brigades proper, which meantime had increased in number to 33, became normal infantry brigades, there being no longer any need for them to retain their special character.
Totals of Units in 1914 and 1918. A general comparison of the organization by units at the beginning of the end of the war sum- marizes clearly the changes which had taken place. In Aug. 1914 the front line strength of the army in units was about 1,000 bat- talions, 400 squadrons, and 2,800 mobile guns. In the summer of 1918 the detail is as follows: 262 infantry regiments, also 241 Ersatz battalions, and 170 battalions and 80 companies of volunteers, coast defence troops, etc. ; 12 mounted and 48 dismounted cavalry regi- ments; 132 field artillery regiments, 12 horse artillery regiments, 14 mountain artillery regiments, 66 mountain artillery groups, 14 mortar regiments, I gas projector unit, etc.; 60 sapper, river-mining and bridging battalions, etc.; 140 bridging trains; 1 12 boring sec- tions; 82 flying companies, 32 balloon companies, 4 electro battal- ions, 240 telegraph companies, 8 battalions and 800 companies of railway troops, 10 searchlight companies and 400 searchlight squads, etc. The sum, as regards front-line strength, totals 1,200 battalions (including adapted cavalry), 72 squadrons, 7,000 mobile guns.
Higher Formations. At the beginning of the war there were 1 6 corps headquarters, and 32 divisions of the Common Army, 8 of the K.K. Landwehr and 8 of the Honved, with 9 army and 2 Honved cavalry divisions. On mobilization, 14 " march " brigades, 2 Austrian Landsturm divisions, 10 Austrian and 8 Hungarian Landsturm brigades, 17 Austrian Landsturm territorial brigades, 9 Hungarian Landsturm L. of C. brigades and 5 Austrian Landsturm. march brigades, were formed in addition. During the strategic con- centration a XVII. Corps was formed, and in Dec. 1914 an XVIII. In Jan. 1915 the combined Corps Krauss in the Balkan theatre (formed Sept. 1914) became the XIX., and for the spring offensive of 1916 against Italy the XX. and XXI were formed. Later in the same year the XXII. and XXIII. came into being, and in 1917 the Szurmay, Hofmann and Hadfy groups became the XXIV., XXV., XXVI. Corps. These 26 corps remained as such to the end of the war. All other temporary groupings, such as cavalry corps, were dissolved when this special reason for their existence ceased. The custom of temporary grouping followed by dissolution prevailed also at the next lower echelon. Many temporary divisions existed especially in the earlier part of the war. But the order of battle was regularized in the winter of 1917-8, in connexion with the internal reconstitution of the division, and finally there were 44 army, 10 Schutzen (ex K.K. Landwehr), 12 Honved divisions, and 9 army
1 Of these the best known were the village riflemen of the Alps; these, known as Standesschutzen, formed the South Tirolese, Tiro- lese, Carinthian, Salzburg and Vorarlberg battalions. Volunteer rifle units were raised also in other parts of the Dual Monarchy.
