The Austrian Field-Artillery in the summer of 1914
By Christian Frech
At the outbreak of World War I in the summer of 1914 the Austro-Hungarian Army had the following field-artillery units:
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42 Feldkanonenregimenter (Nr. 1 – 42) |
= field-gun-regiments |
| 14 Feldhaubitzregimenter (Nr. 1 – 14) | = field-howitzer-regiments |
| 14 schwere Haubitzdivisionen (Nr. 1 – 14) | = heavy howitzer-battalions |
| 8 Landwehr-Feldkanonendivisionen (13, 21, 22, 26, 43 – 46) | |
| 8 Landwehr-Haubitzdivisionen (same numbers) | |
| 8 Honvéd-Feldkanonenregimenter (Nr. 1 – 8) | |
| 9 reitende Artilleriedivisionen (Nr. 1, 2, 4 – 7, 9 – 11) | = horse arty-battalions |
| 1 reitende Honvéd-Artilleriedivision | |
| 10 Gebirgsartillerieregimenter (Nr. 3, 4 – 8, 10 – 14) | = mountain arty-regiments |
| 1 selbständige Gebirgskanonendivision | = mountain gun-battalion |
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| a) The "Feldkanonenregiment": | |
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| These were of two types: | |
| The regiments with the numbers 2, 4, 7, 23, 26, 28, 32 and 40 consisted of 2 divisions (=battalions). The 1st division had 2 batteries with 6 guns each (8 cm M 5/8) and the 2nd division had 2 batteries with 6 guns each (9 cm M 75/99). So the entire regiment had 24 guns. | |
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| In the other 34 regiments the 2nd divison had in addition a 3rd battery with 9 cm guns. | |
| Each battery consisted of 3 platoons (with 2 guns, 2 ammunition wagons and 2 half-platoons each). | |
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| With the beginning of mobilization the FKR 6, 11, 13, 16, 18, 19, 22, 27, 29 – 36, 38, 39, 41 and 42 each formed a reserve field-gun battery with 6 guns. | |
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| b) The "Feldhaubitzregiment": | |
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| Each regiment consisted of 2 divisions with 2 batteries each. They were formed as above with 10 cm M 99 field-howitzers. Each division was attached to an Infanterie-Truppen-Division (= infantry divison) of a corps. | |
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| c) The "schwere Haubitzdivision": | |
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| These were formed of 2 batteries with four 15 cm M 99/4 heavy-howitzers each. The howitzers were organized in 2 platoons (2 each) and the battery had 16 ammunition wagons. | |
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| d) The Landwehr-Feldkanonendivision" and “Landwehr-Feldhaubitzdivision”: | |
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| These were similar to the regular army organisation with 2 batteries each. | |
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| e) The "Honvéd-Feldkanonenregiment": | |
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| The regiments no. 1 , 4 – 7 had 4 batteries, regiments no. 2 and 3 had 3 batteries and regiment no. 8 had 5 batteries, similar as in the regular army. | |
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| f) The "reitende Artilleriedivision" (same as for the Honvéd): | |
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| The mounted arty battalions had three batteries with 4 guns each (2 platoons and 4 ammunition wagons). | |
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| g) The "Gebirgsartillerieregiment": | |
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| The mountain arty regiments had: | |
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| 1 Haubitzdivision with 2 batteries (4 10 cm M 8 or M 9 howitzers each) and | |
| 1 Kanonendivision with 4 batteries (4 7 cm M 99, M 8 or M 9 field-guns each) | |
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| 10 additional batteries were formed by the garrison arty regiments on mobilization day. | |
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| All in all the A-H field-artillery mobilized in 1914: | |
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397 field-batteries and 74 mountain-batteries with 1,934 field-guns and 628 howitzers of all calibres. |
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