Imperial-Royal Mountain Troops

The Imperial-Royal Mountain Troops (German: Kaiserlich-königliche Gebirgstruppe) were founded in 1906 as part of the Austrian Landwehr, the territorial army of the Cisleithanian half of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Proposed in a memorandum by Conrad von Hötzendorf, in February 1906 the War Ministry in Vienna convened a session on Alpine border security.

On 1 May 1906 the two state rifle regiments with their HQs stationed in Bozen and Trient (now Bolzano and Trento, both in Italy) and the 4th Landwehr Infantry (Klagenfurt) were nominated as "high mountain troops" (Hochgebirgstruppe) and, in 1909, a third state rifle regiment, with its HQ stationed in Candido, was added.

III)[2] Mounted Tyrolean State Rifle Division The regiments began with high alpine training and moved into so-called summer stations in mountain inns, Alpine Club huts and tented camps, where they carried out intense training.

In 1907, the gamecock spray of white and black feathers that had been worn on the cap until 1887 by the state rifles was re-introduced.

They were issued with additional equipment adapted to the requirements of mountain warfare; including skis, ropes, crampons and ice axes.

Portable field stoves (Schwarmöfen) and heated tents assisted troops to operate in inhospitable conditions.