Page - 973 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

D’Annunzio over Vienna 973 suspected by Czechs and Poles due to poorly directed fire.2369 The level of mistrust and aversion increased sharply. The gunners bore the least blame for the problems with the artillery, and to a far greater degree, the quality of the artillery ammunition deteriorated with practically every delivery, and the batteries had to fire very high in order to avoid shooting at their own lines. Yet who really knew whether the shots that then fell on to their own positions might not have been aimed deliberately ? At the same time, the guns now only had four shots available per day on average ;2370 the Allies fired at least three times that amount.2371 This minor example alone shows how many petty jealous- ies, accusations and even enmity had now taken hold in the Imperial and Royal Army. Some things could not even be further exaggerated by the enemy propaganda and, above all, could not be depicted more drastically. The soldiers were almost dramatically undernourished, and it was unlikely to be of any comfort at all to them that the people living in the interior of the Monarchy, where the flour ration had intermittently been reduced in June to 82.5 g per day were possibly faring even worse. In the summer of 1918, the epidemics among the troops began to increase to a horrific degree. The first harbingers of the deadly influenza pandemic of the winter of 1918/1919, the so-called ‘Spanish flu’, made themselves felt. Infantry Regiment No. 73 reported that the average weight of its soldiers was 55 kilograms.2372 In their state of desperation, more and more soldiers committed suicide.2373 Diseases spread uncontrollably with increasing frequency. In the coastal regions, in the area of the Piave River estuary, malaria began to spread. There were times when Army Group Boroević reported 700 new malaria cases daily.2374 Of the 15 divisions of the Isonzo Army, on 1 September, seven had been reduced to less than a third of their previous strength. The number of troops over the entire Italian front had been reduced to just over 500,000 men.2375 The Allied troops totalled around three times that amount, and their numbers were increasing ever more, since they were now being joined in Italy by Americans after all. While they only accounted for one regiment, there were rumours circulating that they comprised two or three divisions.2376 In mid-August 1918, Emperor Karl again travelled to Spa with his Chief of the General Staff to meet Kaiser Wilhelm. After the ‘black day for the German Army’, on 8 August, Emperor Karl had called the German Plenipotentiary General attached to the Army High Command, von Cramon, and expressed the wish to meet with the German monarch for a face-to-face discussion as soon as possible. In Karl’s view, the ‘failure on the Piave River’ had not made the same impression in Austria as the turn of events in the west. Cramon commented on this to the effect that, in his view, Emperor Karl was becoming increasingly ‘limp’.2377 Karl wanted Kaiser Wilhelm to come to Austria, but the Kaiser declared that he was needed in Germany. Karl should visit him again. On 13 August, the Austro-Hungarian delegation departed from Baden. This meeting had nothing more to do with ‘eating humble pie’, since Karl was now meeting a German