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The Pages of Honour of Lieutenant Ferdinand Nandor Fischmann Officer of the Austro-Hungarian Field Artillery
His time at war from 1914 to 1918
zu den historischen Fotos |
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Lieutenant Ferdinand Nandor Fischmann was born in Budapest in the year 1895. Hungary was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until 1918. He fought as an Artillery Officer at the Judicarien-Front in South Tyrol. When an armistice was signed 4th. of November 1918, he was taken prisoner of war, withdrawn to the Isonzo Area and rebuilt a church named San Negrisia. The bishop of Treviso praised the work done by Lieutenant Fischmann. In 1919 he returned to Budapest, now an independent state, and immigrated in the United States in the year 1926. Mr. Glen Gary from New York/USA gave us the honour to publicize the photographs of his Grandfather. This is totally new and inedited material of the war in the high mountains of South Tyrol from 1914 to 1918. The historical value is incredible, for instance, some pictures are showing the Forts of Ladaro Fortification Belt , which was partially blown up by Austro-Hungarian Forces 1915 due to the fact that these old Forts couldn’t resist against heavy enemy shell fire. There are not any other pictures in the world of these beautiful old Forts! Their armaments were dismantled and put in caverns or concrete casemates to defend the section of the frontline at Ladaro. Lieutenant Fischmann of the royal Hungarian territorial Defence (HONVED) served in the 50.Halfbrigade. This identification was possible, because his postcards were controlled and signed by an official stamp of Field post No. 215. This office belonged to the 50.Halfbrigade and was in service from January 1915 to May 1917. Other postcards, which he wrote constantly to his wife Ella Fischmann were signed with Field post No.432. This military post office was responsible for the 49.Infantry division, former called Pustertal division, and it was active from October 1916 until September 1918. Parts of this division were dislocated in the Judicarien defence section in January 1918, becoming the 98.Infantrybrigade. In all these combat units were serving royal Hungarian troops. Far away from their Home country these troops fought side by side with imperial Austrian units and South Tyrolean Volunteers and in three years of continuous and heavy combat in this area, the frontline was never taken by any enemy attack. One of his artillery positions Lieutenant Fischmann called “ELLALAK”, to memory his wife Ella. Pictures of the combat area are showing the frontline in the high mountains up to 3000m (~ 9000 feet high!). The Judicarien area is a high mountain area were winters are very long and very cold. Snowstorms and temperatures down to -35 degrees Celsius are normal and all defence positions were never given up during wintertime! During the hole year all kind of logistics had to be transported by manpower or some small cable railways to these very high artillery and infantry positions. Today we are not able to imagine the living conditions of the troops located in their trenches, casemates and caverns during these days. Imagine, that one soldier could transport only one shell calibre 15cm and with a weight of 34 Kg on his back on small mountain paths, climbing up a difference of nearby 7000 feet from the valley to the artillery positions on the mountain peaks. Most important was the supplement of wood and food. All casemates and caverns were heated by small stoves and every peace of wood was important to have and to get: Often the small cable railways were destroyed by snowstorms or enemy shell fire, so only manpower assured the possibility to survive, with heavy losses due to continuous avalanches, very deep temperatures and surprising snowstorms. For the royal Hungarian troops the most important thing was: LOYALTY! They never retreated, never they gave up any position which was ordered to held. In January 1918 the royal Hungarian units of this defence area were incorporated in the 49. Infantry division under the command of one of the most famous Austrian officers: Lieutenant-Field Marshall Franz Steinhart. He was a brilliant strategist, a brilliant engineer and construction side manager, too. He was the designer of the modern and most heavy armoured Fortress of Trento which he built under the rock in less than one year. Lieutenant Fischmann with his artillery units in 1914/1915 probably was equipped with guns of the arsenal of the Fortress of Trento. Pictures are showing 15cm/M61 and 9cm/M75 Field guns with their squads. It was a fortune for Fischmann serving under the command of Steinhart. The very intelligent officer never ordered mass attacks against enemy positions, his strategy was to operate in small and well trained combat groups to break enemy resistance, to take prisoners and to get information about enemy forces and their strength. The order for Lieutenant Field Marshall Steinhart was to defend and held the frontline with a minimum of losses and not to prepare any offensive action. He was a well prepared artillery officer, too. He always ordered to build flanking batteries and flanking machine gun positions, very well camouflaged under the rock in caverns which opened their fire in the last moment during an enemy attack. For the Italian troops it was an disastrous effect, every time they suffered very heavy losses during any action against Austro-Hungarian trenches and positions without having any succeed. In this manner Steinhart was able to hold a frontline of nearby 20 Km of extension with only 6000 men in total. You can imagine a direct hit by a 15cm shell with a firing distance of almost 300m in a mass of attacking infantry? Lieutenant Fischmann was one of these well trained and experienced artillery officers under the command of Steinhart. Almost in 1918 when the superiority of Italian troops were 10:1 and the superiority of shells of any calibre of the Italian artillery was 1000:1 the frontline was never broken by any enemy attack. Austro-Hungarian artillery suffered of very small ammunition provision, so any shot must be aimed very well. Steinhart was loved and admired by his soldiers, the war was very hard in the high mountains but he did anything to defend his defence line in an intelligent way and to help his soldiers. And Lieutenant Fischmann was sincerely one of these loyal officers who served in the royal Hungarian army until the last minute of the war in November 1918.
Our duty is to find his artillery position. He called it “ELLALAK”. We are not sure to find it. After more than 90 years it will be very difficult to locate his cavern, to find some traces of Lieutenant Fischmann in the high mountains of the Judicarien Area. Maybe we are able to show the rest of the trenches, concrete casemates and caverns where he fought his war under conditions we are not able to imagine today. We are convinced that no modern army of today have the capability to fight under these conditions like 1915 to 1918. These men were absolutely tough, courageous and full of faith, ready to starve under any condition but holding and defend every meter of the mountains of South Tyrol. We will do our very best to find out something of these days of the life of Lieutenant Ferdinand Nandor Fischmann. All we need is any information of anyone who knows something. It’s a puzzle and maybe it will need a long time to have some succeed. Thanks again to Glen Gary and his family for this material! With Best Regards from:
Trentino (former South Tyrol): Volker Jeschkeit – Villamontagna-Trento Uli Moesslang- Munich/Germany Wendl Pircher- Marling/ South Tyrol
Small mixed Austro-Hungarian combat group, these units were well trained and specialized to break in enemy positions. They were almost high decorated!
Another mixed Austro-Hungarian combat group. Due to these soldiers the front in the Judicarien was hold against any enemy attack. These small groups were highly performed to resolve any situation. It was the very best infantry you can imagine. A Lieutenant (with his officers stick in the right hand) commanded only 8 men, this was his unit! Most time they were acting together with a machine gun unit and only one artillery battery which gave only protection during retreat of the group after having fulfilled their action. These groups were used to infiltrate enemy trenches, blowing up the enemy casemates and commands, taking prisoners and to bring them “Home”. Lieutenant Fischmann´s duty was to protect them during the planned retreat.
Lieutenant Field Marshall Steinhart, here in the uniform of a major general in the year 1915, the builder of the modern Fortress of Trento. He was the commander of Lieutenant Fischmann in the year 1918. This photograph is the only one of Steinhart existing in the world!
The first exploring Ride on Mount Nozzolo
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