Pöcher, Harald Ausgewählte Rechtsgrundlagen für einen Assistenzeinsatz des Bundesheeres der Ersten Republik

According to the peace dictate, the Republic of Austria was only allowed to set up a professional army of 30,000 personnel, which was not permitted to have battle tanks and aircraft until the mid-1930s. Until the mid-1930s, the authorised personnel strength of 30,000 was never reached and the army was able to recruit just over 22,000 people. It was therefore severely limited in its operational value and unable to defend the borders of the Republic. The situation was different, however, when it came to the Federal Armed Forces' mandate to assist in maintaining internal security and order, as well as disaster relief. At the time, the term "assistance" was only intended for internal operations to maintain security and order. Orders were issued at ministerial level, which the commands and troops had to observe in preparation for possible deployments. After the missions in 1934, an experience report was finally published as a decree, which also served the commands and troops to improve the production of the operational value. An essential part of the book is the reprinting of these decrees, which can also provide food for thought for the organisers of today's armed forces. In a concluding chapter entitled "Conclusions for the present day", the author describes the political discussion that arose as a result of a critical article he wrote on armaments for domestic missions.