Page - 834 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

834 Camps data was used not only to quantify suffering but also to express particularly inhumane conduct, victories, defeats, bravery and cowardice in figures. Scarcely any of the members of the Imperial and Royal Army will have given serious thought in July 1914 to what would happen if they were taken prisoner. There were hardly any codes of conduct for such an eventuality. When the predominantly Czech Imperial and Royal Infantry Regiment No. 75 in Salzburg was mobilised, the possibil- ity of captivity was broached during an officers’ discussion. The regimental commander, Colonel Wiedstruck, argued that, since nothing good could be expected of the Serbs, every officer should carry a dose of poison with him. Hardly anyone took this seriously, however, and thus went to war without any thoughts of being taken prisoner, and without poison.1984 Depending on the course of the fighting, the leadership and the de- votedness of the officers and the troops, a greater or smaller number of soldiers fell into enemy hands. None of the regiments deployed escaped such losses. What then took place in countless variations was described by Wenzel Ruzicka of the aforementioned Infantry Regiment No. 75 : if one fell unwounded into the hands of the Serbs, a march away from the direction of the front began that lasted for hours. Frequently, one was ‘relieved’ of one’s cash and, to a greater of lesser extent, one’s valuables : watches, money, gaiters. Then the march continued for days. The men slept in the open air and the of- ficers on the floor of some form of accommodation. Occasionally, it was possible  – for those with money  – to buy something. The food was very poor. Whilst en route, the respective paths crossed of the prisoners of war and Serbian refugees fleeing from the Imperial and Royal troops, who had been advancing since November 1914. The fail- ure of the third offensive against Serbia in December allowed most of the refugees to return home. For the prisoners of war, the march continued southwards to the labour camps, since the prisoners of war were to be put to work as soon as possible, primarily in the construction of roads. On 21 December, Ruzicka learned the fate of the mem- bers of his company and ‘how badly off our men are. The accommodation is so crowded that there are scuffles over the places on an evening ! The night is passed on some straw, without blankets. The vermin is out of control. The mortality rate is high : twice a week the men receive some meat, and otherwise half a portion of bread and 15 grams of bacon.’ Then the division according to nationalities took place. Hungarian- and Ger- man-speaking soldiers were deployed in the construction of roads and railways. Czechs and Serbs were given preferential treatment. The officers of the Slav nationalities were also treated better. Regardless of which ethnic group the prisoners belonged to, how- ever, their treatment by the Serbs  – aside from cases of caprice  – remained relatively correct, and occasionally downright lax. Officers and enlisted men were given a little money, not quite the sums they should receive according to the Convention on Land Warfare, but enough to be able to buy something ; newspapers, for example. Officers  – regardless of their nationality  – also had a certain freedom of movement. Many of