Page - 793 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

Operation ‘Loyalty to Arms’ 793 Major General Josef Metzger, the longstanding Chief of the Operations Division of the Army High Command, and commander of the Imperial and Royal 1st Division in the Twelfth Battle of the Isonzo, who was awarded the Knight’s Cross of the Military Order of Maria Theresa, only two subaltern officers, Lieutenant Baron Florian Passetti von Friedenburg and Second Lieutenant Árpád Bertalan, received the medal. They accounted for three of around 120 recipients of the Order who were awarded the deco- ration either during or after the war. Passetti had succeeded in crossing the Piave River with Infantry Regiment No. 26, and had then distinguished himself in the fighting at Monte Tomba ; Bertalan was decorated for the capture of Santa Lucia units of the 7th Mountain Brigade. However, it was almost incomprehensible that not a single German officer was presented with the Order. This was by all means regarded as an insult, and as a result, the Germans refrained from decorating Austrian officers with high awards.1849 General Krafft von Dellmensingen was decorated with the Military Merit Cross 2nd Class, which was entirely inappropriate, and which Krafft felt to be a mistake. Emperor Karl merely commented curtly : ‘[…] I do not decorate the German gentlemen with any higher award than our own generals.’ For the Austro-Hungarian troops, at the moment of the breakthrough it was not only the prospect of being able to punish the Italians that was of importance, although this still played a role, but also the hope of war spoils.1850 To the delight of the soldiers who were storming, and finally merely tumbling, forwards, the Italian hinterland really did emerge as a kind of paradise. There was food available in abundance, including things that they had only been able to remember from years before. This also presented a certain impediment to a rapid pursuit. Everyone wanted to fill his bread bag and all his pockets from the Italian storehouses before moving on.1851 Some were beside themselves with everything there was to be had, and what opportunities there were for ‘boozing’ and ‘guzzling’. And the Italians didn’t even seem to mind. Quite the opposite : the Austrians were received in a friendly way, or at least with understanding. Only ‘They [the Italians] are murderously angry at the Germans, and rightly so’, as Robert Nowak wrote to his mother.1852 The images were not easily forgotten : on the edges of the roads and at their sides, Italian pieces of artillery, dead horses, and hastily destroyed war equipment could be seen en masse. In the villages, the population was afraid of the conquering armies. Oc- casionally, there were excesses : ‘It must be admitted that the men were overtired and half-starving. Now, they have lost all moral sense’, noted Constantin Schneider. ‘The vast quantities of rice and flour that are being scattered over the road should not go un- reported, and neither should the frenzied murders that the livestock and poultry have been the victims of […]. The soldiers wanted only a tasty morsel and left everything else to rot. Unprecedented crimes are being perpetrated here. I have been forced to ask myself : have we earned this great victory at all ? Are we worthy of it ?1853