The mechanical performance of textile-reinforced concrete (TRC) in tension can be considerably improved by adding short fibre to its matrix. The goal of the study is to understand the mechanisms of the interactions between continuous and short fibres in cement-based matrix and to develop a multi-scale model for the mechanical behaviour of cement-based composites with such hybrid reinforcement. Uniaxial tension tests on TRC specimens as well as multifilament-yarn and single-fibre pullout tests were performed to study the fracture behaviour of the composite material and its components and gain better understanding of the crack bridging mechanisms. Furthermore, visual inspection and microscopic investigation provided deeper insight into the specific phenomena relevant to the characteristic material properties. This article presents experimental findings for some chosen parameter combinations including the type of short fibres and the water-to-binder ratio. Furthermore, failure mechanisms are discussed providing a basis for a multi-scale model, which will be published elsewhere.