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Austria Divided

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upnorth:
Over the next little while, I'll be posting my recently finished alternate history of post WWII Austria.

I'm in the process of editing and reworking sections of it and will be posting the reworked sections as I have them finished.

Along the way, I will also be posting some profiles of some of the subjects that appear in the story. Those profiles were done by Apophenia unless otherwise stated.

Sit back and enjoy  :icon_beer:

All comments welcomed

upnorth:
Introduction:

At the beginning of 1940, Austria found itself in the unfortunate position of not only having been essentially annexed by Germany, but also of watching the eastern front of the war pushing further westward towards it.

The Soviets had managed to position themselves so far west by systematically undermining the governments of the Bucharest Alliance, a tripartite body established in 1937 that consisted of Czechoslovakia, Poland and Romania. In 1939, a deal was struck to allow Soviet “assistance regiments” to be based inside Bucharest Alliance territory as a form of bolstering the existing forces against further German attacks.

In the military context, the Soviet regiments were quite helpful in deflecting and detering German attempts to push further eastward. However, politically, the Soviet presence proved to be the undoing of the Bucharest Alliance. By early 1940, the Soviets had successfully undermined the governments of all three countries. Britain formally cut ties with the Bucharest Alliance and the world formally recognised the body as defunct later the same year.

With nothing to stop them and a well equiped, though quite captive, force of non Soviet militia at their disposal; the Soviets systematically occupied the various countries south into the Balkans. Hungary was the first country to fall and officially surrendered in 1940.

In August of 1941, from bases in southwestern Czechoslovakia and western Hungary, the Soviets launched several heavy bombing missions into eastern Austria and all but flattened Vienna and Graz. German resistance had been pushed back to a point just west of Linz and the entire eastern section of Austria found itself under the Soviet bootheel by December of that year.

The Soviets quickly set up a land blockade that streched from Linz to Trieste to keep the Germans from trying to retake Austria and their former Balkan holdings. A treaty was signed between the allies and the Soviets stipulating that the Soviets would come no further west than that blockade line; they were to deter and deflect German attacks from that point, nothing more. To the surprise of many, the Soviets help up their end of that bargain. The blockade remained firmly in place, and grew more fortified, through the rest of the war and beyond.

At the end of hostilities in 1945, the eastern portion of Austria was still firmly in Moscow’s grasp. Despite several diplomatic attempts on the part of the west; Moscow staunchly refused to give up it’s hold on the territory.

The post war world adjusted to the idea of a divided Austria. An idea that would remain in place for many years.


Aircraft such as this Czechoslovak Avia Hurikan variant were used extensively by Bucharest Alliance forces in the occupation of eastern Austria.

upnorth:
A Strong Foundation:

From it’s establishment in the late 19th century until the occupation of Austria by Germany in the 1930s and 40s; the Social Democratic Worker’s Party of Austria, SDAPO, enjoyed consistant support and influence in Austrian political circles.

In spite of being banned and heavily persecuted from 1934 to 1945, support remained strong and SDAPO reclaimed it’s position in post war Austrian politics.

Post war Austria lay divided into a Democratic west and a Socialist east. The West had quickly come under the wing of NATO and was placed under British and Canadian zoning with Salzburg established as the capital.

Meanwhile, in the east, the old capital of Vienna was largely in ruins and was in no condition to immediately be used as a capital. Members of the pre war SDAPO who had escaped German occupied Austria by being granted refuge in neighboring countries returned shortly after Soviet and Bucharest Alliance forces successfully overtook the eastern section in March of 1942. Linz was proclaimed as the provisional capital of Austria until some degree of order could be brought back to Vienna.

However, the SDAPO of post war Austria was not at all the SDAPO that Austria had known before. Indeed; politically, socially and geographically very little of postwar Austria bore any resemblance to what had gone before.

That SDAPO survived the war in any form at all was due largely in part to the Soviet presence and their growing influence in the region. Had Soviet influence not found some foothold in Czechoslovakia and, subsequently, Hungary; the members of SDAPO could very well have been helpless to find any meaningful shelter in either country. Growing Soviet influence and power all but guaranteed that they could find safe havens.

While SDAPO had been an independent and legitimate political entity on it’s own merits prior to the war; the SDAPO that emerged in the wake of the war was little more than a shell of any previous incarnation of the organization. It became undeniably clear that it was nothing more than a front that was taking orders straight from Moscow.

This did not meet with the approval of many of the party members that had come together to reform it. A few early objectors and their families were quickly imprisoned, or worse, and labeled “disidents” to serve as an example to others who might have been thinking of speaking out.

The Linz Line:

Slightly west of Linz, and continuing south along the Italy/Yugoslavia border to Trieste, was the fortified zone established by the Soviet and Bucharest Alliance forces to prevent German forces from returning to Austria or trying to retake any of their old Balkan territories.

The line actually stopped short of the border between Germany,Czechoslovakia and Austria. As the primary purpose of the line was more to keep Germany out of the Balkans than anything else, the northern terminus of it was slightly northwest of Linz. Areas north of that were patrolled regularly by aircraft rather than further fortified.

Many wealthy and well connected Austrians, and Austrian politicians, left Austria’s east portion via the gap north of the Linz terminus. This window, however, closed rapidly after the end of WWII.

In late 1946, the Venice Accord was enacted. The Soviet forces were showing no indication of any willingness to disolve the fortified region, SDAPO had no power whatsoever to order them to leave and the victorious allies had no intrest in aggravating what were already tense relations with Moscow.

Italy, who had actually called for the accord, felt it in their intrests to support a more fortified line between their territiory and the Balkan Peninsula which had, in it’s entirety, come under Moscow’s grip. Not only did Italy wish to protect herself from a potentially very dangerous neighbor, but also to prove herself as a former enemy who could now be trusted.

The Venice Accord formalised the conversion of the fortified line into a much more permanent structure with a demilitarised zone on either side of it. The accord also approved the extension of the structure and zone north to the border of Germany,Czechoslovakia and Austria.

With the formal establishment of the Linz Line, the new states of  West Austria (Federal Republic of Austria) and East Austria (Austrian Socialist People’s Republic) were born and internationally recognized in mid 1947.

Guardianship of “The Twins”:

“The Twins”, as the two Austrias were often informally refered to in western European political circles, quickly became subject to large scale military build up.

West Austria was split into a Britsh zone and a Canadian zone until a national military could be re-established and properly trained. In the most immediate post war years. The border between the provinces of the Salzburg and Tyrol was used to separate the British and Canadian zones. Salzburg and the sections of Upper Austria, Styria and Carinthia that lay to the west of the Linz line would be the British zone while the Canadian zone would consist of Tyrol and Vorarlburg.

Later, the Canadian zone was expanded in response to a period of higher political tension between Great Britain and West Austria in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This later rezoning gave Canada responsibility over Carinthia up to the Linz Line and the section of Salzburg that divided the two parts of Tyrol.

East Austria became signatory to the Warsaw Pact in 1955.

upnorth:
East and West Austrian airpower of the late 1940s and Early 1950s

By no means a full cross section of military aircraft in use in either Austria at the time; here isa sampling of the more common types seen:

East Austria:


Avia Sv-2
Basic training aircraft of the East Austrian Air Force (LOVA) from the end of WWII until approximately 1955. It was also used to carry out a variety of utility tasks.


Yakovlev Yak-11
LOVA advanced trainer from late 1940s to mid 1960s. As with the Avia Sv-2, the Yak-11 found it's way into unit and station hack duties later in it's service life.


Messerschmitt Bf-109
Main fighter of LOVA from immediate post war to 1950 and carried on as a target tug until 1952. Worthy of note is that several LOVA Bf-109s were powered by Soviet Klimov engines.



Yakovlev Yak-23 "Flora"
LOVA's first, if short lived, jet powered aircraft. Exact service dates remain conjectural for the type's LOVA service, though most sources agree it was withdrawn from service in late 1954 or early 1955.
It's most notable role in LOVA hands was as a target tug for the Warsaw Pact's main air gunnery school at Souda Bay, Crete. In 1955, the school was moved to Cyprus and target tug duties were taken over by Il-28 bombers of the Hellenic Socialist Republic Air Force.

West Austria:


Mustang Mk.IV
Used by the West Austrian Air Force (OL) from the late 1940s to the mid 1960s, the former RCAF Mustangs carried out a wide variety of roles after their initial tasking as ground attack trainers was taken over by the DeHavilland Vampire. Several Mustangs found their way into museums and warbird collectors' hands after retirement from OL service.


Canadair Sabre Mk.4 and Mk.6
The backbone of OL air defence from the early 1950s to the mid 1960s, the Sabre replaced the Gloster Meteor completely in OL service. It was eventually replaced by Italian built F-104G variants.

upnorth:
Immediate post-war and the  1950s:

Both Austrias had been very quickly equiped with tired, left over gear from the war. However, more modern equipment was being transferred in as soon as it could be made available.

While East Austria had initially been furnished with Yakovlev 17 and 23 aircraft for it’s air defence needs; the primary fighters for West Austria were DeHavilland Vampires and Gloster Meteors piloted mostly by RAF officers while Austrian pilots were being trained further west.

While the British zone skies buzzed with Meteors and Vampires, the Canadian zone was full of  Vampires and, to a lesser degree, Mustangs. West Austrian fighter pilots received their air to air training from the RAF in Britian and their air to ground training from the RCAF at home in Tyrol.

Soon, however, the Meteors, Vampires and Mustangs gave way to Canadiar Sabres and EE Canberras, The West Austrian air force was quickly furnished with and trained on the Sabre by Canadian crews. No sooner had the first Austrian Sabre units been set up when the British started training them on Canberras. This was just as well; the skies over East Austria had the MiG-15 as their new apex predator. It wasn’t just any MiG-15 either.

The East Austrian MiG-15 was produced by Steyr, who found themselves on the east of the Linz Line. The Steyr version dispensed with the three nose cannon of two different calibres in favor of a 30mm cannon in each wing root. It also had different communications and IFF systems; the mast and line antenna typical to most MiG-15s was absent and replaced by a pair of blade antennae on the fuselage underside below the cockpit and a pair of small blister type devices on the vertical tail.

A slightly later variation of the Steyr MiG included an infrared sighting system for an air to air missile of Austrian design. With this variant of the MiG-15, East Austria byspassed having any form of the MiG-17 in it’s inventory at all, opting to go directly to the MiG-19. The Steyr MiG-15, or St-150 Bolzen as it was properly known, was never exported.

After examining an example of this later Bolzen variant that had been used in a defection and detirmining that it was a cause for genuine concern, priority was placed on getting the new Hawker Hunter to RAF Austria units as quickly as possible.

At the same time, Canada was tasked with taking a more active and direct role in the air defence of West Austria. This was in no small way due to the fact the the Avro CF-100 interceptor was known about and very high priority was given to deploying it in Austrian territory. Not only was the CF-100 to counter the Bolzen, but also to deter the Illyushin Il-28 bombers that were becoming a more and more frequent sight along the border region.

Knowing also that The MiG-19 was on it’s way to East Austrian skies, but not knowing what form it would take should Steyr be tasked with producing it and allowed to take similar liberties with it as they did with the MiG-15, the West Austrian military made the decision that a dedicated interceptor would be a requirement for them. An order was placed for a fleet of CF-100 Mk.4 aircraft. Austria also placed an order for a fleet of Canadair built T-33 trainers at the same time.

While the first group of West Austrian CF-100 crews were in Canada training. A wing of the aircraft was established at RCAF Lienz. The first three Austrian CF-100 squadrons were set up at the newly opened air base at Reid, north east of Salzburg.

An additional three squadrons of the aircraft, now officially dubbed CF-100 Mk.4O, were established at Bischofshofen.

The CF-100 Mk.4O had a number of distinguishing features of local design that set it apart from the standard RCAF Mk.4B that it was based on. Chief among these were two hardpoints under each wing and improved wing tip rocket pods. It wasn’t unusual to see an Austrian Clunk sporting six of the locally designed and produced rocket pods at a time or a combination of four rocket pods under the wings and long range tanks on the wing tips.

The Austrians also successfully married the CF-100 to the DeHavilland Firestreak missile. It was a difficult marriage but, with the MiG-19 appearing in larger numbers in East Austria’s inventory in the late 1950s, an air to air missile of some sort was deemed essential by the West Austrian Defence Ministry. The Aim-7 Sparrow was showing quite limited performance in it’s early stages while the Firestreak was rather more sound.

The sale of the Firestreak to Austria did create a good deal of tension in relations with Britain. Initially, Britian insisted that the Firestreaks could not be purchased without an order for the Gloster Javelin aircraft. The Austrian crews were quite happy with their CF-100s and were in no hurry to give them up in favour of the Javelin, which had left Austrian pilots who had been sent to Britain on exchange to train on the type quite cold and underwhelmed.
After a good deal of wrangling, Britain agreed to a counter proposal in which they would sell the Firestreak to Austria in conjunction with an Austrian offer to purchase the Bloodhound SAM. However, damage in relations between the countries had been done and would be remembered.

The Firestreak armed CF-100 was a rare sight and the small fleet of aircraft that had been modified were distributed among the six Austrian squadrons. Part of the modifications was the replacement of the fuselage gun pack with a an avionics package for the missile. Typical configuartion would be fuel tanks on the wing tips with four missiles on the underwing pylons for rapid reaction scrambles or two missiles under the wings for standard patrols.

The most common duty for the Austrian CF-100s was shadowing Illyushin Il-14 aircraft that routinely flew along the border. The Illyushins were usually East Austrian or Soviet, but West Austrian crews more than once reported Czechoslovak ones as well. Frequently the Illyushins were in airline livery, but the suspicious lack of a predictable schedule for their flights indicated they weren’t always on airline business.

The MiG-19s were occaisionally encountered at a distance and were, for the most part, unprovocative. As with the Bolzen, the Steyr MiG-19 was first seen via a defector’s example. The pilot had set his aircraft down on a strip of road near Wels. He’d set out on a routine border patrol from his base at Selzthal and used the opportunity for his defection. The aircraft was quickly transported to Reid. The aircraft was based on the MiG-19S day fighter and had similar modifications to it’s communications and IFF systems as Steyr had made to the MiG-15’s, beyond that, the Austrian MiG-19, or St-190 in official terms, was much closer to the Soviet standard version than their MiG-15 had been to it’s Soviet counterpart.

According to the pilot, the St-190 had not been so radically modified as it had been built under much tighter supervision than the Bolzen had been. Styer had gotten themselves into some hot water with Moscow over the liberties they took with the MiG-15 modifications, the top management at Steyr was seriously restructured  prior to MiG-19 production starting . The task of supervising the Styer St-190 production line was given to Czechoslovak inspectors from the Avia company, which was producing most MiG-19s after the MiG bureau switch it’s emphasis to developing and producing the MiG-21.

This news was of no small relief to West Austria and western intrests in general. If their Bolzen was anything to go by, who could guess what a MiG-19 would come out like had Steyr been left to build them unsupervised.

While the 1950s had been a decade of intense development of the air and infantry elements of the West Austrian military; the armor and artilery aspects were left underdeveloped and in need of modernization. That, however, would change with the visible influx of more modern Soviet armored vehicles entering East Austrian service in the early 1960s.

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