Ski warfare is the use of
ski-equipped troops in
war.
History
Early
Ski warfare is first recorded by the
Danish historian
Saxo Grammaticus in the 13th century.[1] During the
Battle of Oslo in 1161, Norwegian troops used skis for reconnoitering. They were also used in 1452 in Sweden, and in the 15th to 17th centuries by various other
Scandinavian countries. Norwegian Captain Jens Emahusen wrote a military ski manual Skiloperegglement in 1733.[2] In 1767, military ski competitions began. They evolved into the
biathlon.[3]
Just prior and during
World War I many combatants deployed ski troops as part of mountain infantry divisions. France created the
Briançon military ski school in 1904. The
Italian Army raised 88
Alpini Battalions. Their purpose was to fight summer and winter in the highest regions of the Alpine Arch. Most of the battalions were dissolved after World War I. Only nine Alpini regiments remain in service today, and only four still train every soldier in ski warfare: the
4th Alpini Parachutist Regiment,
5th Alpini Regiment,
6th Alpini Regiment and
7th Alpini Regiment. France's
Chasseurs Alpins, created in 1888, consisted of 12 battalions.[4] Currently three remain.
Romanian Mountain Corps consisted of three battalions.
The Austro-Hungarian Army had the Kaiserjäger. German
Alpenkorps was founded in 1915 with two brigades.
Ski troops played a key role in the successes of the
Finnish war effort against the
Soviet Union during the
Winter War in 1939.[5] Forested, rural terrain with no roads was used by Finnish ski troops with great success against the advancing mechanized Soviet troops. In the
Battle of Suomussalmi, two Soviet mechanized divisions (45,000 men) were annihilated by three Finnish regiments (11,000 men).[6]
Italian ski troops included the Arditi Alpieri formation, the Monte Bianco formation, the Monte Cervino battalion, and the Monte Rosa battalion. They were deployed in France, the Balkans, and the Soviet Union.
Swedish, Finnish and Norwegian defense forces use skis in cross country skiing but also by pulling squads of soldiers with tracked transport vehicles or snow mobiles. One or two ropes hang from the end of a tracked vehicle such as the famous Swedish Hägglunds
Bandvagn 206 or the Finnish
Sisu Nasu and troops hang onto the ropes with their hands and ski-poles.
Many nations train troops in skiing and winter warfare, including:
Austrian Army — Certain soldiers are trained in ski combat.
Spain — "Brigada de Cazadores de Montaña Aragón I" (Mountain Light Infantry Brigade Aragón I), in Jaca (Huesca) with a specialized section "Compañía de Esquiadores-Escaladores" (Skiing-Climbing Company), in Jaca (Huesca).
[1]
Eimeleus, K. B. E. E., & Allen, E. J. B. (2019). Skis in the Art of War (Illustrated edition; W. D. Frank, Trans.). DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press.[9]
^Chen, Peter.
"Battle of Moscow". Lava Development, LLC. Retrieved 14 May 2015.
^Australia's first ski troops by Col. R.W. Savage in Australian Ski Yearbook, 1942. Reprinted in: Bill Beatty. The white roof of Australia. Cassell, 1958. pp. 77-80.