Page - 732 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

732 Summer 1917 duced to the status of almost entirely an occupied territory, and its worth was primarily assessed in terms of its mineral deposits and crop yields. The image that presented itself in 1917 was anything but rosy. The results and the gathering of the harvest had fallen far below expectations. Of the potatoes, around thirty per cent were inedible following a severe frost. Lupine flour was used in order to make the bread cereals go further. To do this, the lupine seeds in concentrated feed factories were ‘de-bittered’, then dried and ground before being added to the flour. In Przemyśl, birch flour had been tried, and now it was joined by lupine flour  – and all this was still called ‘bread’. While in Russian Poland, the Austro-Hungarian and German military presence had not yet developed the bitterest aftertaste of an occupation, but to a small degree also that of liberation, this element was missing entirely since the presence of troops in Serbia and the establishment of the military administration there at the beginning of 1916. When on 7 January Major General Count Johann Ulrich Salis-Seewis took office as the Military Governor General, he was acting as representative of the Emperor and of the Army High Command. Legislative measures, fundamental regulations and all types of rights to freedom were issued by the Emperor and were then subject to the Army High Command.1678 As in Poland, in Serbia, also, the working language of the Imperial and Royal Army, in other words, German, was the official language. In Serbia, first 12, and then finally, 13 regional command centres were established, which were then converted into 57 district commands. The Government General installed by the Austro-Hungarian Military Administration essentially extended to the region west of the Morava Valley and through to Macedonia. The old Serbian territory to the east of the Morava  – Macedonia and Kosovo Polje  – had also been transferred to Bulgaria for administration. It was precisely in the north and west of Serbia that a great deal had been destroyed by the offensives of 1914 and the campaign of 1915. Since the priva- tions were so severe, the most essential provisions first had to be brought in so that the population could at least be offered a chance of survival.1679 Since Major General Sa- lis-Seewis attempted to exert as little pressure as possible, he was even willing to waive the collection of taxes. This led to the curious circumstance that Serbia was probably the only country in the world, in which for a period of time in the middle of the war, there was no taxation. After Count Tisza had travelled to the three north-western regions of the Military Government General of Serbia, he then reported to Emperor Franz Joseph that the ‘administration [was] too Serbophile and economically incompetent’, and requested that the military leaders be recalled. As early as July, the military administration of the Government General of Serbia was dismissed. The new Governor General was General of Infantry Baron Adolf von Rhemen. Now, Austria-Hungary’s own troops were disciplined and the occupation zone came under the control of centralistic, au- thoritarian military administration, which however also held authority itself. A civilian