With the defeat of Serbia in 1915, the German Empire established a rail link through Austria-Hungary and the Balkans to Constantinople and beyond using the Hijaz railway. This land connection made helping the Ottoman empire possible, as they were fighting the British, French and Russians on multiple fronts. While Germany had colonial ambitions in the middle-east, the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy viewed its Palestine adventure as “an investment that would pay off in the future, in the post-war period”. Kaiser Franz Josef observing the departure of his troops to the Middle East, said, “I believe we will never see them again.”
The Austro-Hungarian units that taken part of the mission were:
▶️ 9th Motor Mortar Battery
▶️ 36th Howitzer Battery
later followed by the
▶️ 4th Mountain Artillery Regiments
▶️ 6th Mountain Artillery Regiments
The fighting begun on the Middle-East front in January 1915 when German and Turkish joint army invaded the Sinai Peninsula controlled by the British. From here the joint forces attacked and crossed the Suez Canal trying to establish a permanent bridgehead, however this operation was unsuccessful. From this point the German Asia Coprs which also included the Austro-Hungarian units, were in a constant fight with the British Commonwealth forces.
While the German units were focusing on the front line, the Austro-Hungarian units were mainly in support given the fact of the type of units were present. The Monarchy's detachments also tried to do their best to act as peacekeepers instead of an occupation force on the Holy Land, hence they are remembered for their support of the local population. For example they distributed bread daily in Bethlehem in the winter of 1916/1917 to prevent starvation caused by a locust plague. The Austro-Hungarian military’s medical unit attended to the civilian population’s health, as well its soldiers, trying to contain the outbreaks of few epidemics. Military hospitals were established in Jerusalem and Nazareth. The Austro-Hungarian military presence included a brass band that played frequent concerts and provided musical accompaniment for the silent films shown as propaganda. All these actions greatly improved Austro-Hungarian’s prestige among the local population.
In the final months of the Great War, the Austro-Hungarians suffered many casualties, most were left unburied. Some estimates the total losses in the neighbourhood of 600 soldiers which was almost the fifth of the expeditionary force. As of today only 12 of the fallen Austro-Hungarian soldiers grave marked in the German War Cemetery in Nazareth.
In the Battle of Megiddo, the Ottoman forces west of the Jordan River were engulfed by the Entente offensive. The surviving German and Austro-Hungarian detachments fought their way northward towards Damascus surrounded by the routed Turkish armies. At the End of the war the captured units were returned to their home country, marking the end of an interesting adventure of World War I.
As this is a very neglected subject of World War I, we don't know exactly how many Austro-Hungarian soldiers were lost or missing in action in Palestine. It also did not help that Austria sealed its military records until 2018, so researching this topic also was almost impossible until recent years.