I had a very strong fellow feeling for the Austrian army and its
officers. They were so very much like our own, but far more amateurish
in their knowledge and methods of leading; as old-fashioned as the
hills, and liable to make mistakes at every turn.
The only one who seemed to realise this was the aged Emperor himself,
and when he came flying along it was very like the Duke of Cambridge
at his best with a thunderstorm raging.
The army was then commanded by Arch-Dukes, aged men as a rule, and all
intensely nervous as to what the Emperor would think of them when he
came along. One could tell when he was coming by watching the feathers
in their helmets. An Arch-Duke would look very brave in all his war
paint, but if you watched the green feather above him closely you
might notice it trembling with a distinct shiver when the Emperor was
anywhere in the neighbourhood.
Their old-fashioned methods and amateurish leading seem to be paying a
heavy price in the present campaign.