Page - 224 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

224 Adjusting to a Longer War quite inconspicuously but then more noticeably, those white gaps began to appear in the newspapers that made it clear that the censorship had demanded the removal of a block of text. But there were of course other adjustments that were most noticeable where it concerned the advertising business. It was no wonder that all firms that dis- posed of a suitable product range endeavoured to extol the virtues of their goods.535 Those advertisements now appeared in which ‘war uniform trousers’ were advertised, which were ‘of inestimable value for the winter campaign, prevent all colds outdoors, [with a] double clasp at the back, opened and closed using a grip without changing position or the seat of the trousers’ ; or : ‘Knitted gloves, knitted cardigans, knitted socks, knitted wrist-warmers, knitted knee-warmers, knitted scarves, knitted snow bonnets’, or even the military winter underwear equipment advertised by the firm Wilhelm Löbl, which included blankets and abdominal bandages made from camelhair, woollen shirts and hygienic silk underwear, namely ‘everything for the cold season’. However, the war economy on the home front and in the field were also offered other things, for example, as a substitute for oats, the ‘St. Marx blood meal’, which, when mixed in with horse feed, was supposed to work wonders and also reduce the cost of the feed. There were no known cases of ‘horse madness’, or at least not as a result of being fed with blood meal. However, the war would only too quickly demonstrate that horses were capable of reacting in exactly the same way as humans when they ran into artillery fire during their first engagement, heard the blasting and the screaming and found it increasingly unbearable. This subject was also absent from the army reports. Battles were being fought with good chances of success. ‘Our left flank is currently on the offensive and is advancing strategically’.536 ‘8-day battle. Droves of prisoners and 160 cannons captured. Dankl’s attack on Lublin. Lviv in a difficult position’,537 etc. In its official reports, the War Press Bureau prescribed a vocabulary about which the then captain in the General Staff Glaise von Horstenau waxed lyrical in his private notes because the diction was so extraordinarily subtle. The thrust of the 1st Army in the direction of Lublin was reported, which was in fact meaningless in view of the centre of gravity of the Russian forces. At precisely the moment when the capital city of Galicia was to be surrendered following heavy losses, it was reported : ‘In East Galicia, Lviv is still in our possession.’ Information about major losses was passed on only with a time lag ; difficulties were normally expressed by the dispatches being even shorter than usual. And when there was nothing, and above all nothing positive, to be reported about the Imperial and Royal troops, then attention was given to the German troops and it was reported how they were advancing in the direction of Paris and how General Hinden- burg had defeated the Russian army under General Rennenkampf near the Masurian Lakes. Something was always suitable to be emphasised in this way, so that the im- pression could be created that there might be difficulties but that defeats on one front were completely offset by the extraordinary successes on other fronts. On 4 September,