Page - 997 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

The Dissolution Begins 997 On 23 October, Croatian soldiers of Infantry Regiment No. 79 had rebelled in Rijeka (Fiume), disarmed the Honvéd (Hungarian standing army) and brought the city under their control. It was a simple, bloodless process. What had happened in Rijeka contin- ued like wildfire. Emperor Karl reacted unusually quickly and purposefully. Since the excesses also spread to the naval district commands and the war ports, the Emperor resolved to simply transfer his war fleet to the newly founded southern Slav state. The Danube Flotilla was to be given to Hungary, and all sailors who did not belong to southern Slav nationalities or to Hungary, were to be disbanded without delay.2466 Al- most overnight, Austria-Hungary no longer possessed a navy. The death of the land army was a slower process. The Emperor’s manifesto of 16 October had hugely increased agitation within the army, though it did not provoke a wave of desertions. It was rather the case that the na- tional groups wanted to remain together within the army : In uncertain times, support and unity is always sought. The Landsturm (reserve forces) Regiment No. 27 (Slove- nian/German) was to be deployed in Kladovo against Serbs. The soldiers refused. The regiment was surrounded and placed under guard by imperial German troops. This was regarded as a disgrace. The Poles made their way home ; they did not want to have anything more to do with the Austrian and Hungarian troops. Soldiers who had fought with one another up to this point now began to shoot at each other.2467 On the south-western front, the Italians understandably did everything to promote the decomposition. They showered the Austro-Hungarian lines with leaflets in which they called on them to mutiny and promised a rapid return home, peace and self-de- termination in the event of desertion.2468 They did not have much success with this, however, since the national decomposition manifested itself in this final phase of the war above all through non-compliance. In the case of Army Group Belluno, the sol- diers refused to move to the front from the base zone. They did not want to die at the eleventh hour.2469 In cases where superiors still stressed their rank and insulted soldiers, the soldiers yelled back at them.2470 On 22 October, the Zagreb Honvéd Infantry Reg- iment No. 25 refused to obey. On 23 October, Hungarians and southern Slavs from Army Group Boroević announced that they would no longer fight. For them it was a question of defending their homeland. And this was no longer the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy.2471 There was also non-compliance in the hinterland. The Army High Command initially regarded this only as a ‘phenomenon’. It in- formed the army commands that 200 Czech soldiers in the Vienna region had refused to remain in their barracks. They skilfully argued in this way that they were no longer subordinated to the Army High Command and no longer bound by their oath, but had to instead obey the new Czech government. This was a legal problem. The Army High Command informed the senior commands about this ‘phenomenon’ and instructed them to undertake everything to ensure that the front was spared similar occurrences.2472