As a result of war hostilities which began in the Habsburg Monarchy in 1914, migrations of the civilian population started, resulting from the movement of war refugees from the eastern front, i.e. Galicia, and also since May 1915 from the Italian front. Austria-Hungary had to face relocation and accommodation of hundreds of thousands of civilians, who were put in special refugee camps or outside of them in various towns and cities in the monarchy while being housed with their residents or in specially adapted buildings. The article shows selected aspects of the system of barrack camps created during the World War I in the Habsburg Monarchy, focusing on the efficiency of the system in the face of real challenges of the war period.