Page - 221 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

The Home Front Becomes a Fortress 221 and then to march on the enemy’s capital city. This knowledge regarding possible events had thus led Austria-Hungary to pay particular attention above all to the fortification of the Danube frontier. Both Vienna and Budapest, after all, are located on the Danube. Other large cities and important places on the Danube, however, were also to be for- tified. Krems was to receive a defensive belt on both sides of the Danube, and likewise Tulln, for which there should also be a fortified core zone (noyau). As a bridgehead on both sides of the Danube, Vienna should be equipped with a noyau north of the river, whilst Bratislava should receive a fortified defensive belt to the north and a noyau to the south of the Danube, Komárom (Komorn) a northern defensive belt and Budapest a complete defensive belt but no noyau. On 22 August 1914, Emperor Franz Joseph ordered the immediate commencement of field fortifications. Vienna had not waited for this order but had instead started the work even before the declaration of war against Russia.531 Initially, the earthworks were to be dug, defences built and obstacles laid. Only later was thought given to installa- tions in the manoeuvring areas. Even in the case of an expansion in stages, however, shortages very quickly made themselves felt and cuts had to be made in men and ma- terial. Russian successes in Galicia gave rise to the fear that the Tsar’s armies might after all succeed in a short space of time in advancing as far as the Danube. Thus, efforts were doubled. The garrisons of the bridgeheads, labour battalions and civilian firms saw no possibility, however, of building the requested covers by mid-October 1914, which should also provide protection against the shelling of heavy Russian artillery. It cannot be established even approximately how many people in total worked on the fitting out of the Danube frontier. If we take the Vienna bridgehead, however, with its eleven sectors, half of which were more or less well developed, and take stock of the prepared positions, the caverns, the infantry lines with overhead protection, the accommodation for the men, the ammunition depots, the observation platforms, the telephone exchanges and much more besides, we can at least estimate the extent of the work. In Vienna, up to 30,000 soldiers and military employees were occupied with this project. The artillery equipment, however, was not only uneven but also in some cases obsolete, since the artillery types 1861 and 1875 were still in use. There was a total of many hundreds of pieces of artillery. For the protection of the Danube frontier, hun- dreds of kilometres of telephone wires were also laid. In the cities and towns affected in this way by the fortification of the country, one could go and ‘watch the war’, though not too intensively. The territories in which for- tifications and military installations were built were restricted zones. It was no longer permitted to climb observation and church towers. It was of course forbidden to take photographs. Even road markings and signposts could not be renewed or re-affixed.532 There was, however, a fourth area in which field positions were being built on a long-term basis, beyond current requirements. This was along the border with Italy