Service/branch Army Unit Tenth Army Name Alexander Krobatin | Rank Field Marshal Years of service 1869 – 1918 | |
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Born September 12, 1849
Olomouc, Moravia, Austrian Empire ( 1849-09-12 ) Commands held Tenth Army
Eleventh Army
Tyrol Front Battles/wars Caporetto
Vittorio Veneto
Piave Offensive Other work War Academcy Instructor Died September 28, 1933, Vienna, Austria Battles and wars Kobarid, Vittorio Veneto, Battle of the Piave River Allegiance Austrian Empire, Austria-Hungary Similar People Arthur Arz von Strausenburg, Svetozar Boroevic, Armando Diaz, Luigi Capello, Fritz von Below | ||
Alexander Freiherr von Krobatin (12 September 1849 – 28 September 1933) was an Austrian Field Marshal and Imperial Minister for War between 1912 and 1917.
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Early life
Born in Olmütz (Olomouc), Moravia, Krobatin graduated from the Artillery Academy in 1869 before spending a number of years studying the place of artillery in late 19th century warfare. He served as an instructor at the Technical Military Academy from 1877 to 1882 and recognized as an expert in munitions, he was appointed to the War Ministry in 1896 where he successful worked as a head of department and as chief of a section while also promoted to the rank of Major General in 1900.
Imperial War Minister
A close associate of the army chief of staff Conrad Hötzendorf, Krobatin was appointed Imperial Minister for War in 1912 and as an integral member of the "war party" gave his full backing to the hawkish element in the military in their calls for an immediate attack on Serbia following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and the July Ultimatum. With the outbreak of war, Krobatin was responsible for the task of harnessing the economies of industrial Austria and agrarian Hungary to ensure the now mobilised military was supplied with vital arms and munitions as well as increasing industrial efficiency to meet the needs of a state with a large cohort of its industrial population no longer available for industrial and food production given their enlistment for war. According to a number of sources, Krobatin struggled in his task for the first two years of the war, and although he never really threatened to harness the economy efficiently, he succeeded in tripling the level of artillery available at divisional level.
One of the first commanders to be raised to the newly created rank of Generaloberst in February 1916, Krobatin was responsible for dealing with the crisis caused by Romania's entry into the war on the side of the Entente and the sudden cutting off of resources (particularly grain and petroleum) that Romania's declaration of war brought. In Crown council on September 9, 1916, Krobatin sought backing for a proposal which would have allowed the army unrestricted powers to seize foodstuffs and punish hoarders, but this was vetoed by Chancellor Karl Stürgkh and Premier Istvan Tisza. Though occupied Serbia was eventually to produce more grain than Romania, food supplies to soldiers in the field remained a persistent and crucial worry to those at the higher echelons of the War Ministry.
Field Commander
With Conrad's dismissal in March 1917, Krobatin was left isolated in the Crown Council and he was relieved of his tenure over the war ministry in April to be handed command of the Tenth army. It was as a field commander that Krobatin was most successful. Following his role at the Battle of Caporetto in October 1917, during which his force captured two Italian divisions, he was promoted to Field Marshal on November 5, 1917. Redeployed to form part of Archduke Josef's strike force in Tyrol, Krobatin was given command of the entire Tyrol sector following the failure of the Piave Offensive and the Archduke's flight from the front in the face of mutinies on October 26, 1918.
Retirement
Following the rejection of his offer of an armistice to the Italians on October 31, the battered remains of his armies were overrun at Vittorio Veneto a few days latter.
Krobatin retired immediately after the close of the war and was never again to hold a commission. He was an Honorary Doctor of Technical Science at the Vienna Technical Institute, Honorary President of the Kaiser Karl War Welfare Fund, and an honorary member of the "Viribus Unitis" Vienna Riding Association. Krobatin died in Vienna in 1933.