Since 2012, the Jägerbataillon Niederösterreich has borne the traditional name “Kopal” and its soldiers are known as Kopaljäger. The largest militia exercise in Lower Austria this year was called “Kopal24” and ended with the Handover of command to the Kopaljägers. But who was the namesake of this unit? Militär Aktuell tells the story of a courageous officer of the old Austria, whose name is still part of the tradition of the Federal Army lives on today.
When Carl von Kopal (today’s spelling: Karl von Kopal) was born on February 3, 1788 as Carl Kopal (he was not elevated to the nobility until many years later) in Schidrowitz (Czech: Ctidružice) in southern Moravia, around ten kilometers northwest of Znojmo (Czech: Znaim) as the son of an estate manager, Austria did not yet exist as a state in its current form. Joseph II (motto: “Virtute et Exemplo – by virtue and example”), a son of Maria Theresa, ruled as Roman-German emperor de facto over several countries or regions of Central Europe with more than 50 million inhabitants, from which the Austrian Empire emerged in 1804, which in turn (until the end of 1918) became the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1867. Monarchy (also known as Austria-Hungary). https://militaeraktuell.at/kommandouebergabe-jaegerbataillon-burgenland/ The young Carl von Kopal attended the grammar school in Znojmo and the secondary school in Nikolsburg (Czech: Mikulov). In September 1805, Kopal joined the infantry regiment no. 22 “Friedrich Josias Prinz Sachsen-Koburg-Saalfeld” at the age of just 17 – quite common for the start of a soldier’s career at the time – with which he took part in the Battle of Austerlitz on Pratzeberg between Brno and Slavkov u Brna in December of the same year. The battle ended with a victory for the French Emperor Napoleon, and the Austrian Empire asked for an armistice. Little is known about Carl von Kopal’s subsequent years. What is known is that in 1809 he received further training in the cadet company of Theresienstadt, named after Empress Maria Theresa, and was appointed a sub-lieutenant in the 6th Jäger Battalion. With this unit, he took part in battles between Napoleonic and Austrian troops in April 1809, where he proved his worth. This was followed by an extraordinary promotion to first lieutenant. Kopal was 21 years old at the time. When the Battle of Leipzig raged from October 16 to 19, 1813, Kopal once again proved his courage and fighting ability. A short time later, he was promoted to captain. The next 20 years or so were characterized by a period of peace, which Kopal spent in various garrisons in Bohemia and Moravia. In 1835 Kopal was promoted to major in the k.k. Infantry Regiment No. 8, followed in 1836 by command of the Feldjäger Battalion 7 in Fiume (the Hungarian name for the Croatian port city of Rijeka). A year later, the imperial family ennobled the deserving officer, who was henceforth known as Carl von Copal.
In 1841, a further step in his career: promotion to lieutenant colonel at the age of 53, accompanied by a transfer to the Tyrolean Kaiserjägern. Five years later, Carl von Kopal already held the rank of colonel and commanded the Feldjäger battalion number 10, which was based in Milan at the time and moved to Varese in October 1847. When the first Italian War of Independence broke out, Carl von Kopal led his troops into battle against the rebellious Italians and earned fame and glory on May 6, 1848, defending Santa Lucia, a village that is now part of the city of Verona. What hardly anyone knows is that the later Emperor Franz Josef I (from December 2, 1848) also experienced his baptism of fire as a 17-year-old soldier in these battles. Field Marshal Count Radetzky reported on this battle on 9 May: “The 10th Jäger Battalion under its brave Colonel Kopal had the most difficult task of all, defending that part of the village against which the enemy was deploying its full strength. A company of this battalion, posted in the churchyard, repulsed three fierce assaults by the Piedmontese Guards.” Emperor Ferdinand I awarded Carl von Kopal the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Leopold for his heroic efforts.
Around a month later, on June 10, 1848, the fate of Colonel von Kopal was fulfilled. Although he was already suffering from dysentery and had been advised against it by both doctors and Count Radetzky, this dashing Austrian officer from Moravia, despite his advanced age of 60 (the average life expectancy at the time was significantly lower, namely 35.6 years!), did not miss the opportunity to personally lead his troops in the capture of Vicenza. According to contemporary reports, von Kopal rode ahead of his men at the head of the attacking units, even dismounting from his horse during the fighting for the assault on Monte Berico and receiving a serious gunshot wound to his right upper arm. While Colonel von Kopal was taken to the dressing station, his men successfully continued the assault and did their colonel proud. Their commander learned of this in the military hospital. The wound suffered during the assault was so unfortunate that the 60-year-old’s right arm had to be amputated. Despite this, the doctors were initially full of hope that the sprightly officer would recover. The brave soldier was awarded the Austrian Imperial Order of Leopold for his services to the emperor, people and fatherland while still on his sickbed. However, on the night of June 16-17, a severe fever suddenly set in, Carl von Kopal’s condition deteriorated and he eventually died of a wound infection. On June 18, Colonel Carl von Kopal was laid to rest in the German cemetery in Vicenza with full military honors and led by his officers and men. In November 1848, the Emperor posthumously awarded him the Military Order of Maria Theresa, the highest military decoration of the entire Imperial and Royal Monarchy. Monarchy. On his death, Carl von Kopal was survived by his children Karl (1833-1891), Viktorine (1835-about 1910), Viktor (1836-1892), Ernestine (1839-1915) and Robert (1842-1866), who were raised to the rank of barons in 1852. His sons also served as officers in the k.u.k. army.
Just one year after his death, Znojmo citizens Franz Dolezal, Cassa Controlor, Wilhelm Haßenfurter, Chief Forester of the town of Znojmo, and Franz Pernitza, Cooperator in Lispitz, launched an initiative with the aim of erecting a memorial to the fallen hero in Kopal’s birthplace of Schidrowitz on the imperial road between Vienna and Prague. At that time, the greater Znojmo area had for centuries been predominantly populated by German-speaking Austrians, the so-called Sudeten Germanspopulated for centuries. The monument was to be a 4.74 meter high obelisk made of polished granite with the inscription: “To the hero of St. Lucia and Vicenza Karl v. Kopal, k.k. Obersten des 10. Feld-Jäger-Bataillons, Ritter des Militär Maria Theresien- und des österreichischen Leopold-Ordens, Patricier der freien Städte Fiume und Buccari. Born in Schidrowitz on February 3, 1788, died of wounds received from the enemy in Vicenza on June 17, 1848”. An appeal for donations appeared in the “Brünner Landeszeitung” in August 1849 and the municipality of Schidrowitz had already made a plot of land available.
But then everything changed. After the first 845 guilders were received, the flow of donations dried up. The Viennese citizen and merchant Matthäus Elsinger came into contact with the committee during a visit to Znojmo (South Moravia was the granary of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy). Further appeals for donations in the imperial and royal capital Vienna followed. In the end, the planned location for the memorial was moved to Znojmo at the request of many Znojmo citizens and the town council itself. The initiative was also supported by a letter from Field Marshal Count Radetzky, as a result of which the donation capital gradually grew to 10,094 guilders. Among the architects who worked on designs for the monument was the well-known Professor Eduard van der Nüll, after whom a street in his home town of Vienna is named today. However, the final design came from Paul Sprenger and Anton Fernkorn, after whom a street in Vienna is also named. https://militaeraktuell.at/heeresmeisterschaften-im-schiessen-2024/ On October 16, 1853, by which time Franz Josef had become Austrian Emperor, the monument was ceremoniously unveiled. This pompous ceremony was attended by delegations from the 10th and 21st Jäger battalions, an honorary battalion of the infantry regiment from Znaim and other military units from the Imperial and Royal Army. Army were present. The civic rifle corps and high-ranking representatives of Znojmo society also took part. 41 years later, in 1894, an alley was named in honor of Carl von Kopal in Vienna’s 11th district: Kopalgasse. This was followed in 1911 by the unveiling of a magnificent tomb in the German cemetery in Vicenza. Seven years later, in 1918, the monarchy had come to an end with Austria’s defeat in the First World War history and parts of the monument in Znojmo were removed. After the expulsion of the remaining Sudeten German population from the city of Znojmo in 1945 the monument was not destroyed but, like the entire city, was left to “real socialist decay” in Czechoslovakia for over 40 years. It was not until 2010 that the badly damaged memorial was gradually restored. The expulsion of the former Sudeten German Austrians from Czechoslovakia also affected the descendants of Colonel Carl von Kopal. The former family seat in Kirchenbirk (Czech: Kostelní Bříza) in northern Bohemia, in the Karlovy Vary region (Czech: Karlovarský kraj), is now largely derelict. When the German cemetery in Vicenza was abandoned in 1978, the officer’s remains were exhumed and transferred – along with the tombstone – to the cemetery in the Lower Austrian provincial capital of St. Pölten. Colonel Carl von Kopal rests here in a grave of honor.
The Austrian Armed Forces honored Carl von Kopal on several occasions: As early as 1920, during the First Republic, the Motorized Infantry Battalion No. 3 was given the honorary name Kopal. In the Second Republic, the barracks in St. Pölten (no longer in existence since 2006) were named after him. The Jägerbataillon 11 continued the tradition of the k.u.k. Jägerbataillon 10 (whose soldiers were still called Kopaljäger in imperial and royal times) and the motto “Monte Berico, Kopal ruft”. Jäger Battalion 11 of the Austrian Armed Forces then also formed the nucleus of today’s Jäger Battalion of Lower Austria. And this is where the circle closes: on June 10, 2012, the official adoption of the traditional sequence of the Jägerbataillon Niederösterreich as Kopaljäger took place at a ceremony at the grave of Colonel Carl von Kopal in St. Pölten: “Kopal calls!”
