Seite - 541 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

Poison Gas 541 tente. Thanks to the now almost effortless deciphering of the radio dispatches between Petrograd and Rome, hardly any uncertainties remained. Whatever was read in Cieszyn was also received at once by the German Supreme Army Command.1276 On 9 August, a radio dispatch was intercepted that stated that Romania would sign a treaty with the Entente powers on 14 August. It could thus be calculated that hostil- ities would commence after 20 August. But which troops should be used to fight Romania ? The replacement personnel that had joined the Austro-Hungarian regiments were simply described as ‘shirkers, old men or children’.1277 Now two divisions of Turkish troops also arrived on the eastern front of the Central Powers, where they were to be transferred to the region around Chelm, in order to fight shoulder to shoulder with the Austrians and Germans. Wher- ever the situation became precarious, German troops were slotted in. For Austria-Hun- gary, however, in the meantime the situation on the south-western front had also again become perilous, since the Italians had gone on the offensive on the Isonzo River and the fall of Gorizia (Görz) threatened. Poison Gas The system of temporary assistance was hardly clearer than in the moment when the Austro-Hungarian troops were hit head-on by the Brusilov Offensive and they had to break off the ‘punitive expedition’, shortly after which they were forced into another battle by the Italians on the Isonzo, and they were furthermore required to prepare themselves for the entry of Romania into the war. The troops could simply not be shifted back and forth too quickly whenever they were needed at the blazing hot spots of the Great War. Everything was intertwined : events at the fronts, foreign policy, do- mestic policy, economics and social policy. And the fighting and dying on the fronts happened at the same time as negotiating, worrying, working, sinking into poverty and hoping. The South Tyrol offensive and then the breakthrough of the Russians at Olyka and Lutsk had distracted attention from the Isonzo. Scarcely had the Italians repelled, with some good fortune, the onslaught from the north, when they attempted once more to become active in the old direction of attack. Similarly to the situation after the first weeks of war, the unbending will was first of all demonstrated to strengthen discipline and morale by really making heads roll. For insufficient preparations for the defence against the Austrian attack or grave weakness in leadership, 13 generals and one colonel were placed before and sentenced by a military court.1278 The serious crisis also made itself felt on the political stage, and led to the replacement of the head of govern- ment Antonio Salandra with the aged Paolo Boselli. The Chief of the General Staff