Page - 921 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

The Attack 921 locations that it was hoped would be reached, local commanders were nominated as a precaution. There was already a ‘Governor of Treviso’. Several booty commands were formed, and now all that was left was to wait for the attack. Censorship of letters was intensified. Even General Staff officers were forced to spend hours rummaging around in correspondence. Usually, there was nothing there, ‘only harrowing stories of ruptured souls and tragic family fates’, as Constantin Schneider recorded. The collection of weapons, ammunition and, above all, people, entailed the usual problems, although now, questions as to how long such an amassment could be main- tained were substituted for concerns as to how long the troops would prove resistant to nationalist and peace propaganda, and how long they could continue to be fed at all. With regard to the 5th Infantry Division, for example, Colonel Karl Schneller, the for- mer Italy specialist at the Army High Command, noted : ‘Indications from all sides that the Czech and southern Slav propaganda is penetrating ever deeper into our army […] the people have had a corrupting influence on our troops and the Russian prisoners of war.’2225 This last comment threw light on an additional aspect of this offensive, which had not been taken into account at all during the preparations : since as a result of the peace treaty of Brest-Litovsk Austria-Hungary was obliged to repatriate the Russian prisoners of war, but this was accomplished according to categories, it was probably the last time that the work capacity of the Russian prisoners of war would be able to be used. It was therefore also the obligations set out in the peace treaty that made it unadvisable to delay the offensive, since by the autumn all the Russians would have to be transported back home. On 13 June, the attack began on the Tonale Pass that was intended to divert the Italians’ attention. Army Group Conrad moved into action. Since 11 June, it had been pouring with rain. The troops that formed up were wet and without much enthusiasm. Shortly before, soldiers from the 4th ‘Kaiserjäger’ Imperial Rifles had deserted to the Italians. As it was then discovered, with disparagement but also with a sense of relief, the soldiers in question had been Czechs. Even so, most of the troops appeared not much impressed by the order of the day issued by Army Group Commander Field Marshal Conrad. It had only been issued immediately before the start of the attack, and began in the same way as the famous order by Napoleon of 1796, when the commander presented to the soldiers the beauty of the Italian lowlands.2226 The attack on the Tonale was a complete failure. The Italians felt so unthreatened that they did not even take any noticeable steps to relocate troops in order to strengthen their forces in this section. Then, the focus of the fighting moved elsewhere. However, it was not the Austro-Hungarians but the French troops who opened up artillery fire on the enemy artillery positions shortly before midnight on 14 June. They had such precise information regarding the point in time of the attack and the troop distribution that just before the attack began, the French redirected their artillery fire on to the staging