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Deployment in Echelons and
Packets 173
For the soldiers, the transportation was usually also a unique experience. They were sad-
dled with vast quantities of food – an expression of helpless gratuity. ‘In the carriages,
it began to stink horribly’, noted Landsturm NCO Johann Hartinger. ‘The Hungarians
outdid themselves in bringing provisions. The people were so stuffed full that they
vomited out of the carriages’. ‘There was drinking and singing.’410 In most cases, the
soldiers did not care how long the journey lasted, despite the fact that hardly anyone
particularly enjoyed the days-long railway journey. Understandably, they were curious
as to where they were heading, but this information was only given to them after de-
training, since it had, after all, become a military secret.
If one attempts to follow the events of this railway deployment, one very quickly
comes across a series of inconsistencies, and furthermore, above all a considerable ex-
ercise in deception enacted by Conrad and the two railway specialists, Colonel Straub
and Major Ratzenhofer, after the war. The latter two should be exculpated, at least
partially, since their vehement defence of the deployment and transport in echelons and
packets, as well as the insistence that the deployment already begun should continue,
originated not least from their loyalty to Conrad. He, however, had not in fact over-
looked anything. Yet he could very well be accused of bending to the illusion of a rapid
victory in the south, of having the desire of the Emperor for the overthrow of Serbia in
mind, and of only becoming aware of the reality of the Galician theatre of war when it
was already too late.
With this, we return once more to the consideration of why the deployments to-
wards the Balkans and Russia were so uncoordinated, and why Conrad, at a point
in time when he knew that war would also break out against Russia, in fact took no
measures to redirect the B Echelon and to accelerate and increase the efficiency of the
deployment against Russia. And that was not all : Conrad maintained priority for the
Balkans. He used the information from Colonel Straub and Major Ratzenhofer, to the
effect that it would no longer be possible to redirect the B Echeclon, to continue with
deployment as though Russia would never actually intervene in the war, or if so, then
only much later. And yet to call this an illusion would be an understatement.
On 29 July, Conrad had already reported to the Emperor in writing that ‘tomorrow,
or the day after tomorrow at the latest, it is to be expected that we shall enter the war
against the major powers’. On 31 July, the same Conrad, however, reported to his Ger-
man counterpart, Moltke : ‘Today, we are still not sure whether Russia is only making
threats, which is why we shall not be forced back from our action against Serbia.’411
At the same time, from 28 July onwards, no-one who was halfway informed could
doubt any longer that Russia would intervene in the war. In the early morning of 31
July, news of the general mobilisation spread like lightning, and General of Cavalry
Baron Viktor von Dankl, who was the designated Commander of the Imperial and
Royal 1st Army, noted in Innsbruck : ‘Thank God, this is the great war !’412 This was
THE FIRST WORLD WAR
and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918
- Title
- THE FIRST WORLD WAR
- Subtitle
- and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918
- Author
- Manfried Rauchensteiner
- Publisher
- Böhlau Verlag
- Location
- Wien
- Date
- 2014
- Language
- English
- License
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-205-79588-9
- Size
- 17.0 x 24.0 cm
- Pages
- 1192
- Categories
- Geschichte Vor 1918
Table of contents
- 1 On the Eve 11
- 2 Two Million Men for the War 49
- 3 Bloody Sundays 81
- 4 Unleashing the War 117
- 5 ‘Thank God, this is the Great War!’ 157
- 6 Adjusting to a Longer War 197
- 7 The End of the Euphoria 239
- 8 The First Winter of the War 283
- 9 Under Surveillance 317
- 10 ‘The King of Italy has declared war on Me’ 355
- 11 The Third Front 383
- 12 Factory War and Domestic Front, 1915 413
- 13 Summer Battle and ‘Autumn Swine’ 441
- 14 War Aims and Central Europe 469
- 15 South Tyrol : The End of an Illusion (I) 497
- 16 Lutsk :The End of an Illusion (II) 521
- 17 How is a War Financed ? 555
- 18 The Nameless 583
- 19 The Death of the Old Emperor 607
- 20 Emperor Karl 641
- 21 The Writing on the Wall 657
- 22 The Consequences of the Russian February Revolution 691
- 23 Summer 1917 713
- 24 Kerensky Offensive and Peace Efforts 743
- 25 The Pyrrhic Victory : The Breakthrough Battle of Flitsch-Tolmein 769
- 26 Camps 803
- 27 Peace Feelers in the Shadow of Brest-Litovsk 845
- 28 The Inner Front 869
- 29 The June Battle in Veneto 895
- 30 An Empire Resigns 927
- 31 The Twilight Empire 955
- 32 The War becomes History 983
- Epilogue 1011
- Afterword 1013
- Acknowledgements and Dedication 1019
- Notes 1023
- Selected Printed Sources and Literature 1115
- Index of People and Places 1155