Born on June 27th, 1899 in Bad Reichenhall (Salzburg, Austria), Viktoria Savs would be destined to be one of the few Western woman to see active combat. 

When she was 4 years old she lost her Mother. Her father, Peter Savs, took her with him to Arco, near Riva del Garda, and then shortly before the war broke out, to Merano-Meran. In 1914 Peter Savs was drafted and served with the Kaiserjagers in Russia. He was badly wounded there, but when healed he volunteered for the Landsturm. 

Although the K.U.K. Army was reluctant to have women serving in it, the Landsturm was more inclined to accept women in non-combat roles. They served in munition dumps and as orderlies in hospitals. Viktoria was able to obtain special permission from Archduke Eugen of Asburgo to enlist together with her father in Landsturm-Infanteriebataillon Nr. II (Innsbruck). She enlisted on June 10th, 1915 aged 16.

Viktoria however was not satisfied with her non-combatant role in base-camps and was more often then not seen in the frontline, volunteering for dangerous patrols. In the frontline only a few senior officers knew she was a woman. She was for example active in the fighting of April 11th, 1917 against the Sextenstein. There she alone escorted a group of 20 Italian prisoners, under Italian shellfire to the rear.

 

On the left the Toblinger Knoten, on the right right the Sextenstein.

 

 For her bravery and for her exemplar military behavior she was awarded with several decorations, among which the Bronze Bravery Medal, the Merit Cross of Emperor Karl and the Silver Bravery Medal. Her service and actions are mainly associated with the Drei Zinnen front.

Her front service suddenly ended on May 27th, 1917. In a bombardment a boulder came down on her, crushing her right foot. She later told that the unbearable thought of having to leave the Dolomiti front was more on her mind then the loss of her foot.

 

Drei Zinnen.

 

Only when her comrades in the little field hospital of Sillian began to prepare her for amputation did they discover she was a woman.

Viktoria Savs died on December 31st,  1979 in Salzburg, aged 80.

 

An Unfortunate Region 2001