The German-speaking soldiers of the replacement battalion of the k.u.k. Infantry Regiment No. 47 under the command of First Lieutenant Oskar Fröhlich trudged along the Reichsstraße from Marburg towards Leibnitz. On their march, they were repeatedly fired upon by southern Slavic soldiers and engaged in skirmishes. When they passed the village of Straß on November 2, 1918, the inhabitants of the small town welcomed the unit with great cheers. It was to be the last time a military unit was cheered in Straß for a long time. The South Slavic troops soon followed. The replacement battalion reached its destination of Leibnitz and was subsequently reorganized into Volkswehr Battalion No. 5 (Leibnitz).
Southern Styria 1918/19
Straß on the southern Styrian border is today the garrison of Jäger Battalion No. 17, which is housed in the local Archduke Johann Barracks. This barracks was already used for military purposes by the Austrian army during the First Republic and is the only Styrian barracks from the interwar period that is still used as a garrison by the Austrian army today. This article will now take a closer look at the history of this garrison during the establishment of the Austrian Armed Forces in 1920. In order to better understand these events of 1920, the events in Straß from the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy onwards must also be taken into account. Monarchy must also be taken into account. Until the fall of 1918, the building complex was used as a military secondary school (MUR). The town of Straß also experienced the chaotic consequences of the collapse when a group of 50 Straß citizens stormed the MUR on the night of November 18, 1918. The principal and the economic officer were abused by the attackers and the buildings were looted. The school was closed in the course of November. The advance of the South Slavic troops led to the occupation of the neighboring village of Spielfeld on November 25, 1918, and for a few hours even the village of Straß itself. South Slavic troops disarmed the Strass militia, but retreated southwards again. The South Slavic troops stopped their advance roughly along today’s state border. The lack of a binding border and the loss of self-determination of the border population resulted in two military incidents: On January 14, there was a skirmish near Arnfels when a Volkswehr unit dared to advance on the village occupied by southern Slavs on its own initiative. At the beginning of February, Lieutenant Mickl led an unsuccessful attack on the town as part of the Radkersburg peasant uprising.
Although both actions ended without military success, they nevertheless influenced the diplomatic negotiations between the Styrian provincial government and the Slovenes. On February 13, 1919, a demarcation line was drawn in the south of Styria with the so-called “Marburg Agreement”, which ran from Soboth to Radkersburg. This provisional border was to remain in force until a peace treaty was signed and provided for a neutral zone, which also included the village of Straß with the MUR. Border towns such as Radkersburg and Spielfeld were occupied by South Slavic units, the already thin railroad network was cut through, and the population in the border area was upset and in constant unrest due to the humiliating treatment by the South Slavs on the one hand and by their own federal government on the other. On the southern border of Styria, various Volkswehr formations were on border guard duty, including Volkswehr Battalions No. 5 and 12 (Deutschlandsberg). The latter was deployed near Eibiswald and Arnfels to secure the border. This was intended to give the frightened border residents a sufficient sense of security.
The Straß garrison in 1919/20
In the summer and fall of 1919, the almost completely empty buildings of the former MUR were used as a vacation home for needy and lung-sick young people from Graz. The fresh air of southern Styria was supposed to have a regenerating effect on the health of the afflicted war children. The municipality of Graz would also have liked to see the MUR continue in this function. However, domestic and foreign policy constraints demanded its military use. With the signing of the peace treaty of St. Germain on September 10, 1919, the Marburg Agreement became invalid, as the final borders of the state of Austria and the province of Styria had now been drawn. The Graz People’s Army Command therefore relocated Border Guard Battalion No. 12 (commanded by Mjr Wilhelm Wraschtil) as well as parts of People’s Army Battalion No. 5 and the Styrian People’s Army Artillery to Straß on October 8th, as the MUR was very suitable as winter accommodation without the need for costly adaptation measures. Unfortunately, there were incidents with the Volkswehr soldiers and the local population during this time. The sad highlight was a bloody pub brawl on November 9, 1919 in Straß, which contributed to the population increasingly distancing themselves from the Volkswehr. It was thanks to the diplomatic skills of Major Wraschtil that the dust settled and relations with the population returned to a more or less normal level.
The establishment of the federal army in 1920
On May 26, 1920, the Military Act of 1920 provided for the establishment of the federal army formations in Styria and the stationing of the III Battalion of the Alpine Infantry Regiment No. 9 in Straß. There are many different names for the barracks itself in the records. In the early phase of the Federal Army, the barracks was called the former Military Lower Secondary School in accordance with its purpose until the end of the monarchy. In 1926, the Ministry officially renamed it the School Barracks. The unofficial name Alpenjägerkaserne was also used, as the Alpenjäger were stationed there. The original plans even envisaged the permanent accommodation of a company in Radkersburg for the Strass battalion. Although the garrison in Radkersburg was renovated, it was not occupied by the army due to cost-cutting measures. However, this intention was realized decades later in the Second Republic. The Jäger Battalion No. 17 had a company stationed in Bad Radkersburg until September 2008. The first soldiers to move into the former MUR came from the border guard battalions no. 5 and 12 of the Volkswehr. On the day of formation, the battalion (target strength: 516 soldiers) had a strength of nine officers, three non-commissioned officers and a further 35 soldiers of the enlisted ranks, divided into the 7th Company and MG Company III. With these small ranks, the two companies were only regarded as cadre units. Those soldiers who had signed up for the army and had already served were called up at the beginning of July 1920. Undeployed soldiers had to report for duty on July 15, 1920. By December 25, 1920, however, the numbers in Strass had only increased to 20 officers, 26 non-commissioned officers and 173 soldiers in the enlisted ranks. The III Battalion had four more officers, but eight NCOs less than the target number. However, the situation with the enlisted ranks was particularly dramatic in the border garrison, as it only reached 33 percent of the target level. The figures show that the professional army did not succeed in recruiting enough volunteers in the first six months of its existence. On the contrary, the number of ranks was far below the target.
While the registered non-commissioned officers and enlisted men received their definitive transfer from the ministry relatively quickly, the transfer of officers was a complex procedure. It took until the fall of 1920 for all the necessary confirmations to be issued. The regimental and battalion commands were not even assigned until July 1, 1921, and until then all assigned commanders were considered provisional. Unfortunately, the Strass garrison lacked important military infrastructure such as a firing range in 1920. This part of the training was therefore carried out at the Felieferhof firing range in Graz, which involved time-consuming and costly train journeys. It was not until 1926 that the garrison finally had its own permanent training ground. Until then, the garrison had to rely on the generosity of the surrounding farmers and landowners. Oath
Every soldier had to confirm the following oath in writing with their signature:
“I swear as a man, as a citizen of the Republic of Austria and as a soldier that I will defend the fatherland at all times and in all places, that I will be faithful and obedient to the laws passed by the National Assembly and the provincial parliaments and to the lawful authorities, in particular the government appointed by the National Assembly, that I will follow all orders of my superiors punctually and precisely, obey all their instructions and serve the Republic of Austria and the Austrian people to the best of my knowledge and belief in the interests of the welfare and security of my fellow citizens with all my strength.”
