The establishment of the military training grounds at Nové Benátky
1866 – 1904
Insufficient training was one of the reasons for the defeat of the Austrian army in the battle at Hradec Králové in 1866. The soldiers mainly practiced orderly preparation and weapons drills.
Causes for the foundation of the military training grounds at Milovice are needed to be searched for in the Austria-Prussian war of 1866, which the Habsburg monarchy lost mainly due to archaic battle tactics and the incapability to coordinate different types of weapons (infantry, calvary and artillery). The leadership of the Austrian army came to the conclusion, that they lack suitable training grounds for modern training. While the Austria-Hungarian military had to rent out privately owned lands for manoeuvres, meanwhile in Germany, already 23 permanent training grounds existed.
Uniforms of Austro-Hungarian soldiers and officers in training from the time of the establishment of the Military Training Area near Nové Benátky.
The Imperial and Royal ministry of war made great efforts to create a training area for the units of the 8th and 9th Corps, which were stationed in Bohemia. For a long time, they could not find a fitting land, that would satisfy the needs of the army. The solution came in the year 1901, when K. und K. Privilligerte Österreichisches Länderbank offered the Ministry of War land near Nové Benátky.
The army modified buildings in the abolished village of Mladá according to their needs. On the picture are artillerymen of the 8th Corps in Mladá.
Subsequent investigation revealed that the offered land was sufficient for training all types of weapons and only the village of Mladá, which was located in the middle of the intended training area, needed to be evicted. The plan was approved by Emperor Franz Joseph I on June 6, 1903, and by the end of the month a purchase contract was concluded, on the basis of which the army acquired 2,161 hectares of land from the Länderbank for 1,550,000 Austro-Hungarian crowns. The bank also undertook to buy out the land and real estate from private owners.
A postcard depicting the extend of the military training ground.
Some inhabitants of Mladá refused to sell their property under pressure. Their property was expropriated at a price determined by the state and they themselves were evicted to a village square in Lipník. The army acquired a training ground with a total area of 3,465 ha for a favourable price of 3,300,000 Austro-Hungarian crowns. The training ground was ready for handover on March 31, 1904.
Austria-Hungarian soldiers in the middle of training with the Schwarzlose M.07 machine gun.