1914-1915 Training positions

for the technical training of infantry pioneers

This article is largely based on the research of Oswald Mederle, which in detail under
The Klausen-Villnöß barrier 1914-1915 and Pioneers in Teis can be found.

From January 1915, the construction of the new positions around Teis was used for several weeks. Instruction courses for posture construction to hold. Explosives, emergency bridge construction and field fortification are taught and practiced. The pioneers trained here were to apply the acquired knowledge in the field and fortress war and also pass it on within the tribal troops. The k.u.k. military command in Innsbruck has the following:

The level of training achieved by the team in the instruction courses for infantry pioneers, then the number of officers and crews trained per battalion, training conditions, instructors, etc., must be briefly reported to the military command until 20 January 1915.

On January 15, 1915, Oberleutnant Ettmayer wrote such a report. He doesn't just list them. 1. Pioneering course in Teis participating units with their superiors, but also the ‘Teaching subjects’ and assessment of performance. However, the attached request and the final remark point to a certain dissatisfaction on the part of the trainer...
KA. FA. NFA. GAR. Italy Front Group Command Bolzano K. 1258

In consideration of the favorable training conditions prevailing in Theis on the one hand, and the still necessary deepening of the training on the other hand, the application is made to have the entire department united in Theis for another 14 days.

KA. FA. NFA. GAR. Italy Front Group Command Bolzano K. 1258
On January 23, 1915 Field Marshal Lieutenant Kann-Horak of the k.u.k. Military Command Innsbruck answers with the following lines:

The military command has (...) seen with satisfaction that the greatest attention has been paid to technical training on all sides and that the training results achieved fully correspond. The officers trained in the instruction courses are now responsible for the technical training of the entire crew in the simplest technical operations and in the skillful handling of the long-stemmed tools. In the future, it is desirable that there are 8 trained pioneers per company. (....)

KA. FA. NFA. GAR. Italy Front Group Command Bolzano K. 1258
Visits for teaching purposes
The training positions in Teis were inspected by interested visitors from the near and far surroundings and used for teaching purposes. Thus we read in the diary of the k.k. Standschützen-Bataillon Bolzano:

2 March 1915
Several officers, furthermore batches and crews of the pioneering department go to visit the field fortifications in Theis near Klausen.

21 March 1915
There is a second visit to the field fortifications in Theis, involving several officers and stand shooters of the battalion.

Archive Mederle, Bressanone
One course follows the next...

After the 2. The instruction course in Teis ends on April 12, 1915, and the third one begins on April 15. It is composed of departments of the following units:

  • Brigade commando Bolzano
  • Landsturm-Sappeur-Department I/14, Bolzano
  • Spare battalion Landesschützen Regiment No. II, Bolzano
  • Substitute battalion 2. Regiment of Tyrolean Emperor Hunters, Bressanone
  • Sub-Rayon I, pioneering department Prad/Vinschgau
  • Genie directorate Bressanone
  • Innsbruck military command

In the letter of 10 April 1915, the k.u.k Gruppenkommando Bolzano gives detailed instructions:

A total of 22 men and one officer remain as instructors for the new trainees in Theis (in catering at the Landsturm Sappeur Department).
The new apprentices have provided with menage until the 15th, with wages etc. until the 20th of this month, to arrive in Theis near Klausen on the 15th of the month and are to be handed over to the Landsturm Sappeur Department 1/14 there in food.
Equipment: Marshad adjustment without the technical equipment, each man 2 blankets, an empty straw bag with head cushion. These departments receive the technical equipment from the Genius Directorate in Bressanone.

KA, MB, Geniuses, Tyrolean Barriers, 14. Corps, K. 3
KA, NFA, GAK, it-Front, GK Bolzano, K 1258
This is the last training course in Teis that we are aware of. However, we know from the records of Oberleutnant der Reserve Franz Ortner and his entry of

10 May 1915:
Departure 6.30 am through the Villnössertal. Here, solid work is carried out and concreted everywhere in order to complete trenches and gun stands. The war with Italy will be inevitable...

Source: http://www.rainerregiment.at
With Italy's declaration of war against Austria-Hungary on 23 May 1915, the period of training was over. Now every force was needed to hold the positions on the new front. The theory had to make way for practice...
The equipment: Tools and explosives

Pioneers and sappeurs (from the Italian "zappa" i.e. hoe) were responsible for the technical work of the fortress war: Construction of field fortifications, spanning, emergency bridges and bridges, roads and telegraph construction, repair work, explosives... They also had to pave the way for the troops by clearing away obstacles. The necessary tools (‘bullet’) were delivered by means of carts and, if necessary, carried on site by the soldiers in trays on their bodies.

An infantry sapphire squad in full field gear:

Photo: M. Christian Ortner ‘Sturmtruppen’

On 17 February 1915, the k.u.k. Militärkommando Innsbruck ordered the k.u.k. Gruppenkommando Bolzano to reposition the Tyrolean ski jumping columns. The supplements to this arrangement provide information about the equipment and thus about the equipment with which a Sappeur had to learn to deal:

KA, NFA, GAK, it-Front, GK Bolzano, K 1258

The Sappeur officers Not only had to be proficient in all fields of engineering and its practical applications to war technology, but also improvisational talent and quick comprehension were indispensable for a Sappeur officer.