Page - 686 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

686 The Writing on the Wall barbed wire so essential for use at the front would have to be restricted.1563 More subtle was that in the Operations Division of the Army High Command, intense planning was underway for the spring, and attempts were being made to interest the German Supreme Command in a major offensive against Italy. If this were to succeed, one could have argued that precisely during this important phase of the preparations for such an offensive, it would be necessary to avoid interrupting communications with the Ger- man Headquarters in Pszczyna (Pless). But it was of no use : on 3 and 4 January 1917, the Army High Command was ordered to relocate to Baden and Bad Vöslau. The Operations Division was installed in a grammar school, however, while the Emperor set up accommodation in a villa on the main square in Baden. The Quartermaster Division was installed in Bad Vöslau. However, the disempowerment and metamorphosis of the Army High Command to become the exclusive instrument of the Emperor and King continued. First, Conrad lost his support in the Military Chancellery, since General Baron Bolfras, who was due to turn 80, requested to be relieved of his post. His successor, Major General Marterer, had repeatedly acted as Bolfras’ deputy, and had not least been obliged to take on the less gratifying tasks of dismissing commanders and implementing disciplinary meas- ures. However, Marterer had also been a fulcrum for all types of personnel and political intrigues, and he was certainly no supporter of the Army High Command. Theodor von Zeynek called him a ‘hothouse plant of the Hofburg Palace’.1564 On 8 February 1917, the Commander of the Fleet, Admiral Haus, died of pneumonia, which he had caught during a cold overnight train journey from Pszczyna to Pula. This suddenly opened up this post for reappointment, and the man named as Haus’ successor was Vice Admiral Maksimilijan Njegovan. On the same day, Karl created the post of ‘Chief of Replacement Services for the Entire Armed Force’, entrusting the role to the cur- rent Honvéd Minister, Baron Hazai. Conrad protested vehemently, causing Marterer, whom we also have to thank for an informative diary for 1917, to note ‘[…] that Con- rad [feels] insulted in his godlike self-image’.1565 The next step was the removal of Archduke Friedrich from his post of Deputy Army Supreme Commander on 11 February 1917. The ‘Archduke Friedrich Crisis’, as Mart- erer termed it, had been brewing since January,1566 or, rather, since 24 November 1916, when the Emperor had taken over the Army Supreme Command himself. According to the concept envisaged by the Military Chancellery, Friedrich was to become inspec- tor of all replacement and new formations on the home front, yet this prospect did not appeal whatsoever to the Emperor and he promptly placed him at ‘the disposal of the Supreme Commander’. Until the end of the war, Friedrich was only occasionally sent on tours of inspection. Ultimately, there was still one change left to be made, and this was the most im- portant one. The Emperor wished to remove Conrad from his post. One might have