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Chapter 8. The Germans and Austrians Organize
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chapter 8 The Germans and Austrians Organize One must wonder that it has taken so long for the ski to come to us.—A forester, 1894 Enchanted by nature, in love with sport, convinced of the necessity to establish in the Arlberg a constant meeting point for the friends of this noble activity, the following ex-tempore members of this excursion felt themselves moved to found the Ski Club Arlberg. —St. Christof, January 3, 1901 France’s children were in training to halt the German foe again, the response to Germany’s increasing militancy. The French, and other powers, had taken note of the development in Germany of ski troops. What they did not know was the full extent of the German programs as troops on skis became part of the overall military thinking among certain members of the German military leadership. As it became increasingly obvious that Austria-Hungary would be Germany’s ally in any forthcoming war, neighboring powers also worried about the developments among the Emperor’s ski troops. Ski troops in all countries may have provided a panache to civilian skiing, but they made military leadership nervous about maneuvering over snow country and in the mountainous terrain. the military takes up skiing After successful experiments by Hauptmann Langenheinrich with the 82nd Infantry stationed at Goslar, Germany, in 1891–92,1 the War Office became serious about outfitting ski troops. Orders for equipment went out to Max Schneider whose publication, Der Tourist, the official organ of the German Tourist Association (Deutscher Touristen-Verein) had lobbied for the formation of ski troops. This civilian monthly journal propagated skiing while market- ing Schneider’s skis. Chief of Staff Paul von Hindenburg ordered equipment for the Jägerbattalions from Mecklenburg, Pomerania, the Rhineland, and Hannover who were sent to Colmar, Culm, and Schlettstadt in the 1893–94 season.2 Von Hindenburg also obtained equipment from Todtnau in the Black Forest.3 A total of seven battalions with ski troops were deployed over snow- covered Germany: Kirchberg, the Harz, Bavaria, and, most prominently, the the germans and austrians organize 123 Freiburg area on the borders of the Black Forest where the energetic univer- sity professor Dr. Wilhelm Paulcke delighted in raising a volunteer troop. Ski troops were a novelty among the already militarized society. At home they were patronized, even lionized, especially in middle-class publications like Das Buch für Alle (The Book for All, sometimes translated as Literature for All). They received publicity abroad in the Illustrated London News and L’Illustration.4 In a militant Germany, just when high society was taking to winter games with the Crown Prince in the lead,5 here was yet another role for the most feared military of Europe. Or that is how it appeared. In fact, with the Vosges, the Alps, Carpathians, and the Eastern front to worry about, the battalions with ski troops were spread thin. There was surprisingly little knowledge until about 1910 of the fighting capabilities of men on skis. Prowess on skis was on dis- play during military patrol races, often featured events at local meets, and long marches were reported in the newspapers. Norwegian instructors were made available. In 1913, the Swedish War Ministry presented the “Swedish Trophy,” which became part of the National Championships,6 all part of the military- social mix of the pre–World War I years. The German War Ministry started equipping artillery regiments in 1910 and sent out an order for ten thousand pairs of skis for the 1912–13 winter. The War Ministry had taken some of Hauptmann Hermann Czant’s analy- sis to heart.7 Czant had been an observer to the Russo-Japanese War and his book was written as if war was about to come to Europe where “the passes of our mountains will play even a greater role”8 and, like many, wondered what Napoleon would have been able to do if his troops had been equipped with skis. Curiously, no one seems to have recorded how the Emperor’s retreating forces had been harassed by Russians on skis during the retreat in 1812.9 In spite of all this activity and the publicity that skiing received via the many drawings and photos appearing in the weekly journals, specialist papers, and magazines, German troops were not experienced enough to keep the Swiss in sight, so it would be “totally useless” to compete at Pontresina in 1914. They were issued with poor equipment, complained the Münchener...