Page - 340 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

340 Under Surveillance proposed measures, instead by contrast pointing out that the majority ‘were fulfilling their patriotic duties’, the Army High Command continued to collect material and declared in increasingly sharply-worded statements that matters could not continue in this way. In particular, the Czechs time and again fared badly when compared to the troops of the different national origins. Then came the Croats, for example. They had already made no secret of the fact, even before the war, that they aimed to resist any attempts at Magyarisation with all their strength, and that they were at one with the southern Slavs of the Monarchy, the Serbs and Slovenes, in their efforts to obtain greater rights and influence. However, quite clearly, the Croats did not hesitate to wage war against Serbia and Russia. They constituted the overwhelming majority of the troops in Imperial and Royal Infantry Regiments No. 16, 22, 53, 79 and 96, Uhlan Regiments No. 5 and 12 and Landwehr In- fantry Regiments No. 23 and 37, and in particular the Honvéd Infantry Regiments No. 25, 26, 27 and 28. Their will to fight was regarded as being one hundred per cent, and the performance of the predominantly Croat troop bodies was repeatedly considered worthy of particular mention. There was no word of unreliability and tendency to desert. Theodor von Zeynek noted for example of the Croats on the right flank of the Car- pathian Front : ‘The real fighting power of the ‘East’ Corps was the Croat 36th Infantry Troop Division, which consisted of 4 first-class regiments with fighting experience.’799 The Slovenes, like the Croats, were regarded as being unconditionally willing to fight and as loyal. And this was not only due to the fact that in 1915, they found themselves increasingly confronted with Italian demands in relation to Austria-Hungary, which they also regarded as a threat in the national sense. The Slovenes constituted the ma- jority of the Imperial and Royal Infantry Regiments No. 17 and 87, and the ‘Feldjäger’ Light Infantry Battalion No. 7. They formed the major part of the Landwehr Infantry Regiment No. 27, with an 86 per cent share, and were also strongly represented in the artillery. The Slovaks and Bosniaks were regarded as being no less reliable than the Croats and Slovenes. The former constituted the majority of the troops in the Imperial and Royal Infantry Regiments No. 67 and 71 and ‘Feldjäger’ Light Infantry Battalions No. 19, 29 and in particular, 32. They formed 65 per cent of the Imperial and Royal Uhlan Regi- ment No. 11. Furthermore, the Honvéd Infantry Regiments No. 14 and 15 could also be regarded as Slovak, and naturally, Slovaks were also to be found in varying numbers among the artillery and in all other branches of the military. It was impossible not to notice that in contrast to the Czechs, no complaints were made against Slovak troop bodies, and that they created no problems, either at the front or in the hinterland. However, there were initially quite a number of concerns when it came to the behav- iour of the Bosnian-Herzegovinian troop bodies. However, at the start of the war, the