Seite - 323 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

Of Heroes and Cowards 323 At first, the troops had thrown themselves into battle almost without exception. They were still too unfamiliar with the effect of the weapons, and did not want to accept the fact that no progress was being made, were driven forward and not least were so infused with the example set by their commanders and NCOs that they appeared to know nothing other than fighting and fending off the enemy. The result was high, in- deed excessively high losses. Gradually, the parameters shifted, and from the winter of 1914/1915 onwards at the latest, clearer differentiations could be made. From the sum total of all these experiences and factors, which were in some cases highly personal, an overall picture of a kind emerged. The problem was only that even those people who had provided descriptions and made judgements were not free of prejudice. At any rate, caution was required. ‘Our infantry, without any differences between the nationalities, has fought hero- ically while suffering huge losses among its officers and troops, and has withstood Herculean levels of exertion ; since we had to fight without reserves, all troops were on the march or in battle without pause. The degree of pluck and bravery was un- surpassable. We bore like a heavy burden the false opinion disseminated in northern Germany that we lacked energy, and proved that the opposite was true through exag- geration’,753 wrote the lieutenant colonel of the General Staff Corps, Baronet Theodor von Zeynek, who later became chief of the base high command of the Imperial and Royal Army. What he wanted was clear : that any form of distinguishing of or slight to Austro-Hungarian troop bodies and branches of the military be avoided. His com- ment referred only to the first weeks of the war. Even so, it corresponded with other observations, which were formulated by Lieutenant Constantin Schneider in his diary as follows : ‘[…] one was tempted to plainly request of the men that they perhaps shoot more.’ A higher-ranking officer, whom he does not name, said that at the beginning of the war, he had the impression ‘that it would not have taken much for the men to have thrown away their weapons and fought the enemy with their bare fists’.754 And the officers ? Countless had fallen, were wounded, and were no longer fit for active service. ‘Far too many were deployed in the field. But who would have wanted to stay behind at that time ? […] Only sick officers and untrained reserve officers stayed at home. That was the reservoir from which we would have to draw if the war were to last for a longer period of time.’755 In the initial battles of the war, the troop and army bodies were decimated, and it came almost as a shock to officers and men that this was turning into a very different war to the one that had been envisaged. ‘Almost every command was obeyed that was issued by a high commander from far behind in the rear. […] It was ordered and carried out to the limits of possibility, and then the people stood their ground until only a few survivors remained. […] We suffered too greatly from the blind obedience that had been drilled on the parade grounds and during manoeuvres.’756