Page - 511 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

The ‘Punitive Expedition’ is Prepared 511 was to equip the heir to the throne at least outwardly with the qualities of a tried and tested military leader, and since the ability to lead an army was deemed an essential virtue in a ruler, Conrad’s objections would have had no effect but to cause his rela- tionship with the heir to the throne to deteriorate further. Ultimately, Conrad was not only being asked to agree to giving the Archduke command of a corps. The Archduke was furthermore assigned probably the best corps in the south-western theatre of war, namely the XX Army Corps mentioned above, which consisted of the 3rd (‘Edelweiß’) and the 8th (‘Kaiserjäger’) divisions. The fact that the Army High Command was not happy with the outcome was made clear by the diary entry of the Italy specialist, Lieu- tenant Colonel Schneller : ‘I now have the task of explaining the whole caboodle about the south-western front and Tyrol.’1203 The improvement works to the barrier forts that had in some cases been severely damaged in 1915 were driven forward with great urgency. (It is indeed extraordinary that prior to an offensive, work was conducted on the reinforcement of the defensive positions). Away from the front, command posts were built in the forests on the plateau and blasted into the rocks, most extensively where the heir to the throne was to set up his headquarters near Virti. Hundreds of kilometres of conducting wire were laid. Dur- ing the day, and particularly at night, thousands of people were on the move. At the beginning of March 1916, there had again been heavy snowfall  – a not un- usual occurrence for the time of year and the region. In the depressions, the snow was four metres high. Even when frontline troops were used to deal with the snow masses, the only achievement was that they and the labour battalions were able to shovel free some of the most important roads by mid-March. However, during this time, 1,237 men were buried by avalanches ; only half could be brought out alive.1204 At the begin- ning of April, it began to snow again. Once more, the snow reached a depth of two or more metres. It was therefore now obvious that the next planned date of attack, 11 April, had also become illusory. Gradually, all attempts at camouflaging the deployment turned into a farce. When troops began to be withdrawn from the Isonzo in order to bring them to South Tyrol, it was claimed that the formations were being sent to Russia. In Maribor (Marburg an der Drau), it was made to appear as though a new headquarters was being estab- lished for Archduke Friedrich, with the aim of creating the impression that an offen- sive operation was again being planned for the Isonzo. The cover-up manoeuvres went so far that General Kövess, who had arrived from the Balkans and who was to take command of the 3rd Army in the South Tyrol offensive, was only told about his new command at the last minute. Even the Germans were to be misled. By the beginning of March, everything was indeed proceeding very well. However, the Command of the South-Western Front was then placed under the army group command of Archduke Eugen, and his area of authority was extended to that covered until then by the Tyro-