Austrian Rocket Men, Part 1

Early days

The armies of the early 19^th century had infantry, cavalry and cannon, like their Napoleonic predecessors. But some had another arm entirely, rockets. And few had more than the Austrians. 

The British were the first of the Napoleonic powers to really incorporate rockets into their forces, following their experiences in India. It took a little tinkering, but by the time of the siege of Copenhagen over 300 rockets were ready to fire into the city, setting about 2/3 of the city alight. This obviously made a huge impression on the Danes, who started their own rocket research, but also on the Austrians.

By the next year, the Austrian army had rockets, of a sort, but apparently they were not very good, and the army commander, Archduke Charles, suggested that they ask their allies, the British for help. The British though were reluctant to give up the secrets of their new wonder-weapon, and in fact the Austrians went to the Danes, sending an engineer, Vincenz Augustin, with an offer of political support at the upcoming Congress of Vienna in return for technical help. How much this helped Denmark is debateable as they lost formerly Swedish Pomerania to Prussia at the conference, but the Austrians had enough to set up a rocket factory at the Austrian army arsenal in Wiener Neustadt, and within 2 months they had assembled 2,400 rockets, and even set up a special Corps with dark green uniforms. The Corps was sufficiently advanced to serve in the Hundred Days campaign, present at the siege of the fortress city of Hunigue, though not actually used.

 Vincenz Augustin (in 1850)

 

Augustin seems to have been quite a strong character, and his rocket corps expanded after the war, with improved designs. Signal rockets developed could be seen over 40 leagues away, and by November 1820 there were two artillery batteries, one of heavy “12 pdr” rockets and one of “light” 2 inch types. Each battery had 6 firing frames, and an additional 6 in reserve. At this time the corps was based at “Raketendorf”, 6 miles from Vienna.

Despite being desperately inaccurate compared to cannons, rockets did have some advantages. For one thing they were cheaper, a contemporary comparison was 8 guilders per shot from a 12pdr howitzer vs 4 guilders per shot from an equivalent rocket. They were also much lighter, an important consideration given the roads of the time, and packed quite a powerful punch, and when the target was large, such as during a siege, they could be very effective as shown by the siege of Copenhagen above. Last, but not least, they looked awfully impressive, and against poorly trained troops they could be much more frightening than their actual battlefield effect would suggest.

On active service 1820-1829

The rocket corps had their first taste of active service in 1821, when they formed part of the Austrian army which marched the length of Italy at the request of the Neapolitan king Ferdinand to “restore order”. Apparently the rocket troops were still not completely trained and had to practice on the journey down. The batteries played major roles in the battles of Androdocco and Aquilo, and the storming of the monastery of Monte Casino, but were too late for the decisive battle at Rieti. A report in the Monthly Magazine of June 1826 suggests the effect was mainly psychological, causing the rebels to run away, but it also stresses the importance the Austrians gave to their rockets, and the care they took that the designs were kept secret, and how the public were kept away from the factories and stores at Raketendorf. In the years after the Neapolitan expedition the corps was expanded to 4 batteries, 2 light and 2 heavy, each of 12 launchers.

It was not just the army who were interested in rockets, the Austrian navy were too. Historically the Austrians hadn’t bothered much with a navy, but that changed after they inherited the Venetian navy after the Congress of Vienna. A separate depot for rockets was established in Venice and almost all the vessels in the, admittedly not large, fleet were equipped with rockets. According to the Monthly Magazine, the rockets could be attached to pre-existing cannon, but again the details were kept quite secret.

Increased maritime trade bought the Austrian Empire into conflict with the almost continuous piracy and slave raiding from the Muslim North African States. Almost all the European States, and even the USA, were forced into retaliatory attacks on the Barbary Coast during the early years of the 19^th Century, and Austria’s turn came in 1829. An Austrian vessel was seized by Moroccan pirates/privateers and vessels were dispatched to bombard Moroccan towns on the Atlantic coast and mount an attack on Larache on the Moroccan Atlantic coast, burning several Moroccan ships. Rockets were apparently useful for this kind of bombardment warfare. 

The Guerrierea at Sidon (centre)

A similar expedition took place in 1840, but this time in conjunction with the Royal Navy, in support of the Ottoman Empire against a breakaway Egypt. A British squadron with the Austrian 48 gun frigate Guerrierea bombarded Sidon and Beirut and then attacked the city of Acre. A small Austrian/ British/ Ottoman landing party, under the command of the Austrian Archduke Friedrich, landed and took the Egyptian citadel. During this campaign, an Austrian rocket troop had been landed to support 3 battalions of Turks and a battalion of Royal Marines attacking Egyptian forces outside Sidon.

So far rockets had proved useful, but the major test of the rocket corps, and the whole Austrian army, was to come in 1848 ......

Further reading

Mario Christian Ortner. Die Entwicklung moderner Kriegsraketen im19. Jahrhundert. (In German). http://www.bundesheer.at/pdf_pool/publikationen/20100609_et_raketen_weltraum_ethik_ortner1.pdf

Progress on the continental production of Congreve Rockets. The Monthly Magazine. Apr 1826. Google Books.

The war in Syria. Commodore Sir Charles Napier, K.C.B. 1842. Project Gutenburg.

The mid Victorian Swiss Army

For Switzerland, the Europe of the mid 19th century was a dangerous place. France under the glory seeking Napoleon III to the west, a Prussia bent on becoming a superpower to the north, the traditional enemy Austria to the east and a fiercely ambitious Italy to the south. Switzerland was very much a federation of cantons, each mostly self governing, though since 1848 the Federal Assembly had responsibility for defence. The problem with this was that they were especially vulnerable to salami tactics, cantons picked off one by one. With French, German and Italian speaking cantons, and Prussia and Italy determined to unite the German and Italian speaking peoples, Switzerland was especially vulnerable. This is their response.

 Swiss uniforms 1857

1855 - The Swiss Army (Putnam's Magazine)

In Switzerland no national standing army exists. Every Swiss is compelled to serve in the militia, if able-bodied; and this mass is divided into three levies according to age. The young men, during the first years of service, are called out separately for drill, and collected from time to time in camps; but whoever has seen the awkward gait and uncomfortable appearance of a Swiss squad, or heard the jokes they crack with the drill-sergeant while under drill, must at once see that the military qualities of the men are but very poorly developed. The organization of the militia is almost entirely in the hands of the various cantonal governments; and, though its general form is fixed by federal laws, and a federal staff is at the head of the whole, this system cannot fail to create confusion and want of uniformity, while it must almost necessarily prevent a proper accumulation of stores, the introduction of improvements, and the permanent fortification of important points, especially on the side where Switzerland is weak, toward Germany.

The Swiss, like all mountaineers, make capital soldiers when drilled; and, wherever they have served as regular troops under foreign banners, they have fought exceedingly well. But being rather slow-headed, they need drilling much more, indeed, than either French or North Germans, to give them confidence in themselves, and cohesion. It is possible that national feeling might possibly replace this in the case of a foreign attack upon Switzerland, but even this is very doubtful. An army of 80,000 regular troops, and less, would certainly bo a match for all the 160,000 and more men which the Swiss say they can congregate. In 1799, the French finished the business with a few regiments.

 A Swiss sharpshooter 1852 (New York Digital Library)

The Swiss boast a great deal of the rifles of their sharp-shooters. There are, certainly, in Switzerland, comparatively more good shots than in any other European country, the Austrian Alpine possessions excepted. But when one sees how these dead shots, when called in, are almost all armed with clumsy common percussion muskets, the respect for the Swiss sharp-shooters is considerably lessened. The few battalions of rifles may be good shots, but their short, heavy pieces (stutzen) are antiquated and worthless, and their awkward, slow method of loading, with loose powder from a horn, would give them but a poor chance when opposed to troops armed with less superannuated weapons.


Altogether, arms, accoutrements, organization, drill, everything is old-fashioned with the Swiss, and very likely will remain so as long as the cantonal governments have anything to say on the subject.

The Neuchatel Crisis of 1856

Swiss troops at Mamertshofen castle in the winter of 1856/7

There were very few states that faced down Prussia in the 19th century, but Switzerland was one of them.
To understand the Neuchatel crisis you have to remember that Switzerland was not a unitary state, but a loose federation of semi-independent cantons. One of these, Neuchatel, was ruled by the King of Prussia, but as head of state, not as part of Prussia, Neuchatel was still part of Switzerland. In 1848 Neuchatel had rebelled and kicked out the Prussians, but in 1856 Royalists attempted a coup, to bring back the Prussian king, William. It failed, and the plotters were captured, but Prussia made its move. William demanded the release of the rebels and backed that up with a threat of military intervention. Thirty thousand Federation troops were mobilised and stationed along the Rhine, the border, against 110,000 Prussians.
Faced with opposition from Britain, France and Russia, Prussia backed down. In 1862 Count Otto von Bismarck took over, and from then on Prussian conquests were much more sure footed.

 Swiss troops during the crisis

1861 (The New American Cyclopedia)

The Swiss army consists entirely of militia, and is divided into 3 classes: 1, the regular army, composed of men between 20 and 33 years of age, to the number of 3 per cent, of the population; 2, the reserve, consisting of men between 33 and 40 who have served their time in the regular corps; 3, the landwehr, comprising all men under 44 years of age who are fit to bear arms and are not serving in either of the other divisions. The strength of the army in March, 1860, was as follows: regular force, about 90,000; reserve, 51,000; landwehr, 43,000; total, 184,000. Probably over 100,000 could be brought into the field at a few days' notice. The organization is very complete, and for celerity of movement and concentration the Swiss army will compare favorably with any in the world.

1862 (From the Stateman's Yearbook of 1865)

The army numbers 80,000 men, and 120 companies of "sharpshooters," comprising 8,712 picked riflemen. The cavalry comprises 2,911 men, divided into 35 companies, and the artillery, 12,400 men, with four "mountain batteries," of 10 guns each, and eight "rocket batteries", besides twelve companies of sappers and miners.

1864 (The Eclectic Magazine: foreign literature, Volume 63)

It would not be fair to omit Switzerland from this comparative list, especially as the organization of her army, like that of Great Britain, possesses special and peculiar features of its own. Switzerland, in fact, disclaims the idea of having a standing army; her constitution prohibiting the existence of one within the limits of the Confederation. However, not to leave the commonwealth without a system of defense, every one is expected to be trained to arms, and nearly every one is so trained. Children from the age of eight are regularly instructed at the upper and middle schools in military exercises, undergo special examinations, and are frequently paraded and reviewed with all the pomp and eclat of veteran troops. When they have gone through their infantry exercises, and have become expert in the use of the rifle—Wimbledon has witnessed some of the excellent shooting of these gallant and keen-eyed sons of the Oberland—the young Tells practice gunnery, two and four pounders being supplied by the government for that purpose.  The total amount of this patriotic force—like the Spartans of old, every Swiss feels he fights, when he does fight, for his institutions, and therefore fights with the purest feelings of patriotism—is 339,926 men; a large number for so small a commonwealth. Only the Bundesausug, however, is on active duty, and the service of these is light and easy.  The policy of the government has invariably been unaggressive, and rarely has the army of Switzerland been called into the field. The arrogant claims of the late King of Prussia on Neuchatel was the last occasion on which the Swiss spirit was roused; but a show of popular indignation sufficed to puff out the ambition of a Pourtales and the pretensions of the crowned Hohenzollern.

 Carabiniers 1860 (New York Digital Library)

1869 - The Vetterli Rifle

Military technology made huge strides during this period, and so did infantry fire power. Rather than buy from outside the Swiss designed their own, the Vetterli rifle. Johann-Friedrich Vetterli (1822–1882) had worked in both England and Frenace before becoming director of the Schweizerische Industrie Gesellschaft's armament factory.
The 1869 Repetiergewehr (repeating rifle) Vetterli came on stream in 1869 It combined the magazine of the American M1866 Winchester rifle, the bolt system of the Prussian Dreyse needle gun and a novel self cocking action and at the time it was the most advanced in Europe. It was soon followed by the 1871 version, and continued in use until 1890.

1869 (Reflections on the Formation of Armies, With a View to the Re-organization by Walter James Wyatt)

The Swiss Army.
The thirteenth Article of the Constitution of September 13th, 1848, forbids the maintenance of a standing army within the limits of the Confederation. To provide for the defence of the country, every citizen has to bear arms, in the management of which the children are instructed at school, from the age of eight, and they pass through regular exercises and public reviews. Such military instruction is voluntary on the part of the children, but is participated by the greater number of pupils at the upper and middle-class schools. They not only go through the infantry exercises, but practice gunnery, the necessary rifles and cannon—-the latter 2 and 4 pounders— being furnished by the Federal Government.


The troops of the republic are divided into four classes, namely:—


1. The " Bundesauszug," or Federal army, consisting of all men able to bear arms from the age of 20 to 34. All cantons are obliged, by the terms of the Constitution, to furnish at least 3 per cent, of their population to the "Bundesauszug."
2. The army of reserve, consisting of all men who have served in the first-class, from the age of 35 to 40. The numbers are calculated to amount to 1J per cent, of the population.
3. The "Landwehr," or militia, comprising all men from the 41st to the 45th year.
4. The "Landsturm," or army of defence, including all men above 45, till the term when they are disabled by age from military service.

Swiss Federal Infantry (New York Digital Libray)

1871 (The Franco-Prussian War)

The first ever complete mobilisation of the Canton forces came in 1871, a defensive measure during the Franco Prussian war, to make sure neither side strayed across the border. Apart from anything else, they had responsibility for disarming 87,000 French soldiers of the French Armee d'Est, who asked for asylum and were interned for 6 weeks. It didn't help that the internees were arriving through Neuchatel, and the pursuing Prussian army might well seize the chance to take it back. But they didn't, and the enormous military and humanitarian operation did a lot for Switzerland's reputation in Europe.

 Swiss troops recieving French zouaves 1871

1871 (The American Annual Cyclopedia and Register of Important Events)

SWITZERLAND, a federal republic in Europe. Area, 15,722 square miles; population, in 1860, 2,510,494; of which 1,476,982 aro Protestants, and 1,023,430 Roman Catholics.
The staff of the army, on April 15, 1870, was composed of 76 colonels, 93 lieutenantcolonels, 130 majors, 226 captains, and 292 lieutenants.


Immediately upon the outbreak of the war between France and Germany, and notwithstanding the friendly assurances of France and Prussia that the neutrality of Switzerland was to be strictly respected, the Federal Government determined to place such a force on its frontiers as would render a violation of Helvetic territory a more difficult undertaking than if it were only defended by a respect for existing treaties. In little more than a week's time, through the military organization of the republic, in which every man is a soldier, either in the active contingent, or in the reserve, or the landwehr, five divisions were called to arms, and marched to the most threatened part of the frontier, the line separating Switzerland from Baden. These corps formed an effective force of 50,000 men. The Government issued treasury bills to the amount of 5,000,000 francs, bearing interest at the rate of four and a half per cent, per annum, and the money was immediately furnished by Swiss bankers and capitalists. During the latter part of August, the Government consulted with General Herzog, commander-in-chief of the Swiss Army, and, upon his advice, recalled the entire military force on the frontier, leaving only two battalions of sharp-shooters as a corps of observation.

Mr Hales´s Rockets and the Kossuth Affair

In April 15th 1853 a large building in Lower Deptford Road, Rotherhithe belonging to a Mr Hale was raided by the police, finding 257 lb of "gunpowder", and "... upwards of seventy cases, closely packed, containing, apparently for transmission to some distance, several thousand rockets, not such as are used at Vauxhall, but for the purpose of war". The rockets "were of great size, formed of cases with cast iron heads, and filled with powder."

Rockets were made in the building in the centre and stored on the shed on the left. The large factory behind was a rice mill and unconnected.

Hales and his son, who was also arrested, were taken to Bow Street Police Court and charged with possession of more than 200lb of gunpowder within 3 miles of the City of London (less than 200lb was apparently ok) and the illegal manufacture of rockets or fireworks. There was a vigorous argument whether it was actually gunpowder, Hales claiming it was "rocket composition" and if ignited would only "fizz like the Devil" whilst the laboratory of the Woolwich Arsenal counter claimed it would work exactly like gunpowder if loaded into a pistol, which they proved, The magistrate, Mr Henry, ruled that Hale was clearly guilty on both counts but the charge of rocket manufacture was withdrawn by the Crown whilst the gunpowder charge was referred to a sessions court.

Witnesses in the case included " some foreigners who were employed by Mr. Hales were witnesses. They were Hungarian refugees, who had been recommended by M. Kossuth, who seemed to take much interest in the manufacture." (Annual Register 1854) - it was this Hungarian connection which led to questions in the House, and it was also this that threatened to cause a major international incident between the British Empire and the Empire of Austro Hungary.

The Hungarian Revolution of 1848

In 1848 revolutionary fervour wept across Europe - in the sprawling Austro Hungarian Empire this was expressed as a revolt by the Hungarian part and a desperate bid for independence. There were victories against the Austrians, and even against a Russian Expeditionary force at the battle of Hermanstatt, but the forces ranged against them were simply too large. The Hungarians lost their capital Pest (Budapest is historically Buda and Pest, two cities on opposite banks of the Danube) and although they retook it and actually forced the Austrians back towards Vienna, they had to surrender at Vilagos in 1849.

Austrian trooper in the Raketen Korps (New York Public Library)

The Hungarian leader, Lajos Kossuth, escaped via Turkey and became the Hungarian voice in exile. Energetic, charismatic, he was a big hit in France and in October 1851 he landed in Britain. He received a hugely popular reception, with even a procession through London and a crowd of 75,000 people in Birmingham. He was also sympathetically received by the foreign secretary, Lord Palmerston, though they didn't officially meet, and there were many speeches against both the Austrians and the Russians.

After a wildly successful tour of the United States Kossuth returned to England, and formed part of a vocal Hungarian emigrant community.

Rockets

Congreve rockets had been used by the British in the Napoleonic wars, even mounted on ships. They looked, basically, like huge versions of the fireworks we use today, mounted on long sticks. William Hale, an English inventor, thought he could do better, and in 1844 patented a new type of rocket. Basically, his rockets vented part of their gases through little holes at the side, spinning the rocket like a rifle bullet and doing away with the need for a stick altogether. Not only did this make the rockets much more accurate, but they were also more portable, easily carried by mules. This made them ideal for expeditionary warfare. By 1846 the US army was using 6 pound Hale Rockets in their invasion of Mexico, firing hundreds during the siege of the port of Vera Cruz. They were also used at the battles of Cerro Gordo, Churubusco & Chapultepec.

US artillery outside Veracruz, with rockets in the background

The British army tried out the rockets, but didn't take any (although they were later to adopt an improved version in 1867) and so Hale looked around for other markets. His son declared in 1853 that patents had been sold to the US, Denmark, Switzerland "and other foreign powers".

These included the Austrian Empire. The Austrians had experimented with Congreve rockets as early as 1808, establishing a factory at Wiener-Neustadt and establishing one of the largest rocket corps in Europe.By 1856, the rocket corps contained 3,865 men (and 2,460 horses) , with 20 batteries, each of 8 rocket frames. In the campaigns of 1848/9 rockets of the Feuerwerk Corps (!) were used to considerable effect, in mountain warfare against the Italians, and in Hungary, the unit commander Field Marshall Franz von Hauslab declaring that "During the Hungarian campaign enemy cavalry always fled when rockets were used against them".

The Austrians were therefore not best pleased to hear that the Hungarians might be acquiring rockets of their own.

The Kossuth Affair

Lajos Kossuth

As a guard against industrial espionage, and possibly because they were cheaper, Hale preferred to employ foreign labour. A man named Usener had previously presented himself to Kossuth asking for work, and Kossuth directed him to Hale. How Hale and Kossuth knew each other is even now unclear, and there have been documents found in Hungarian archives suggesting that Hale and Kossuth were at least considering some sort of deal. That Usener had apparently served in the Hungarian artillery is also suggestive. On the other hand, Usener almost immediately went to the Austrian embassy and told them Hale was supplying rockets to the Hungarians, implying a certain amount of espionage on the Austrian side. Whatever Usener`s motives were, it was at the Embassy's request that British police searched both Kossuth´s house, and Hales's factory. They found no evidence of collusion, nor had there been any from previous police surveillance of Kossuth, and so, at the insistence of Palmerston, the matter was dropped. Palmerston's pro-Hungarian sympathies were well known, and he was forced to claim in the House that..

"I can assure my hon. friend that he is mistaken in supposing that the government are acting in this matter upon any pledge, promise, or engagement given to any foreign government, except that given in the face of parliament, viz., that we should use our utmost exertions to enforce the law in this country, for the purpose of preventing that shelter, which I trust will always be given to foreign exiles who may come here from any political cause whatever, being abused for the purpose of organising or carrying on hostile proceedings against other countries."

It has to be said that these claims were not universally accepted.

In fact the affair damaged neither Hale nor Kossuth. William Hale and his son continued developing and selling rockets, eventually winning a British army contract which saw Hale rockets used around the Empire, from the Abyssinia to the Zulu war. Kossuth continued as the unofficial head of Hungarian resistance, even organising Hungarian foreign legions for the Crimean and Franco Austrian war, although neither saw action. But the infighting so common in expatriate groups took its toll, and the leadership back in Hungary gradually came to terms with Vienna and signed an accord in 1867. Kossuth moved to Turin, and died in Italy in 1894.

Further Reading

Hungary & it's revolutions (1854)

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=vnEIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PR20&lpg=PR20&dq=austro+hungarian+%22hale+rockets%22&source=bl&ots=0qr5SQDu8D&sig=cl9zOBA6uNRc-DAosY67k8KvWFc&hl=pt-BR&ei=kdWmTqqXO4qdgQf46ckz&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQ6AEwADgK#v=onepage&q=hale&f=false

The New Monthly Magazine (William Harrison Ainsworth) 1856

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=XjoFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA181&dq=austrian+rocket+batteries&hl=pt-BR&ei=wyWoTtXcPIacgQervJ0E&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CEsQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=%20rocket%20batteries&f=false

Blazing the trail - the early history of rocketry (Mike Gruntman) 2004

http://books.google.ca/books?id=2XY9KXxF8OEC&pg=PA58&lpg=PA58&dq=hales+rockets+mexico&source=bl&ots=gFEaxjc_ti&sig=jxuWhurmBQCc3uRfXwloj3VWphw&hl=en&ei=AyzgTvmWKILcggfcnuDyBQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=hales%20rockets%20mexico&f=false