Page - 784 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

784 The Pyrrhic Victory : The Breakthrough Battle of Flitsch-Tolmein fact only lead one to conclude that there was not much more that could be put right by ‘boosting morale’. In the autumn of 1917, the regiments were supplemented by March Battalions XXXI to XXXIV, and in September, young men born between 1897 and 1899 were mustered.1828 Thus, the number of men enlisted since 1914 approached the eight million mark. However, the figures spoke for themselves. Following a high point in 1915, the soldiers had steadily decreased in number. The figures for newly mustered soldiers were as follows : 1914   528,408 1915 1,565,544 1916   599,524 1917   548,044 1918   139,3731829 At the same time as the new soldiers were being mustered, the oldest, who were born in 1867 and 1868, were in the process of being released. However, they only totalled 37,000 men, in other words, 18,500 soldiers for each year of birth. Fresh cohorts ac- counted for around 100,000 men. The difference between these two figures was 81,500 men, a type of human wastage figure. Eleven Battles of the Isonzo had already been waged ; at the last one, the Italians could be seen in many places to have at least four times as many troops.1830 The Italians had more aeroplanes, artillery and mine-launch- ers. The Austro-Hungarian troops had expanded several fortifications in succession. The furthest forward of these comprised three lines, albeit often only shallow trenches, since they had still not dug deep into the karst. In front of the trenches, hundreds of kilometres of barbed wire had been laid. The soldiers suffered even when the fighting had died down. During the summer, they had to endure the unbearable heat. Then there was malaria and other diseases on a massive scale. Water was supplied in lead pipes, which were frequently ruptured by fire. Then, the heat was accompanied by thirst. In the autumn, it rained endlessly. And it was necessary to prepare for the next battle.1831 The soldiers feared the barrage of the artillery. In the caverns, the air had become pestilential through gas, smoke, dust, faeces and the stench of corpses. Some soldiers had been unable to cope with the nervous tension and had already committed collec- tive suicide in the caverns. Yet once the barrage was over, it was felt that the worst had passed. In close combat, the Italians were less feared. Hand grenades, bayonets, knives as well as truncheons and spiked mace-like clubs were used until this phase of the eternal battle of attrition was also over. ‘We keep our clubs and daggers to hand’, in case the Italians attack, noted an NCO in the Slovenian-German Landsturm (reserve forces) Regiment No. 27, Hans Hartinger.1832 And time and again, there was one hope