But the Croats, as is shown by other documents from the Zagreb
archives, were faithful to their race. The extracts, by the way, reply
to those foolish Italians who persisted for years in shouting that the
Croats had been the fiercest foes of the Entente. That they were the
foes of Italy is not surprising, for the provisions of the wretched
Treaty of London, concluded behind the back of the British Parliament
and without even the Cabinet being consulted, were by this time public
property, and it was seen that the Italians had succeeded in
persuading the Entente to promise them the reversion of a great slice
of Yugoslav territory, very large portions of which were as completely
Yugoslav as the island of Scedro (Torcola), whose population consists
of one Slav woman called Yaka[vs], over eighty years of age. Save for
their sentiments towards the Italians, it is clear that a large number
of Croats were very warmly and very actively on the side of the
Entente. I am sure that the unfortunate Italians of the Trentino who,
like them, were enrolled in the Imperial and Royal army were as eager
to desert, and no doubt if they had been more numerous we should have
had an Italian contingent fighting with the Russians, in association
with the Czecho-Slovak and the Yugoslav brigades.
(G)
IMPERIAL AND ROYAL MILITARY COMMAND IN _Sealed._
ZAGREB. CHIEF OF STAFF.
INT. DEP. ARMY G.H.Q. 1 To be dispatched in
COMMANDER ON THE S.E. FRONT. two envelopes, K.N.
F.P.O. 11. 2 to be written on the
5 op. by H.Q.F. P.O. 305. 3 one inside and N.
5 A.E.C. F.P.O. 81. 4 alone without K. on
Evid. O. Vienna. 5 the outer; seal!
ZAGREB, _July_ 10, 1915.
In spite of the ten months' war with Serbia, in spite of the notable
executions of native citizens for assisting the enemy at the time of
his incursion into Syrmia and Bosnia, there has latterly been an
alarming increase in the number of cases of grossest insult to the
person of H.M. the Emperor and King; outbreaks of deeply felt, only
forcibly controlled hatred against everything friendly to the dynasty
and the Monarchy, curses upon the exalted wearer of the Crown,
glorification of King Peter and the Serb realm, expressed by men and
women alike, are of daily occurrence....
(H)
In this document we return to the subject of desertions:
ROYAL HUNGARIAN 42ND INFANTRY OF THE LINE.
Op. No. 1312/6.
TO THE IMPERIAL AND ROYAL CORPS
COMMAND IN SADAGORA.
CZERNAWKA, _August_ 12, 1915.
In the period from the 8/8 to the 9/8 two men of the 10th company have
deserted (of whom one is probably wandering somewhere behind the
front, as he is mentally deficient, having even gone away without a
cap and being a Roman Catholic); likewise four men of the 12th company
and all the men recently enrolled from the village of Dolnji Lapac, of
the Greek Orthodox religion, have apparently deserted to the foe.
The impressions which I had of these men--impressions based on a
personal intercourse of several hours while they were being marched to
the recruiting depot--was unfavourable. And this I immediately made
known in writing to the regimental command, with a brief note on this
point on the 6/8 to the 11th Corps command. Unhappily my impressions
were correct; there are scoundrels in these ranks. I have for the
present instituted a most thorough and severe examination, wherein I
am already myself participating; for I am inflexibly determined, at
the very smallest sign of a recurrence, to apply to these traitors the
military judicial procedure and, if necessary, to have the men
decimated, as I was unfortunately compelled to do with the
Bosnian-Herzegovinian line regiment No. 4 last winter, which method
had the most excellent results. That regiment has thenceforward been
blameless.... I am so very well informed as to conditions in the south
that I cannot be deceived, and I know that, in spite of all--including
some misguided--measures, there are still a number of traitors, some
of them occupying a high social position, moving about freely in
Croatia-Slavonia instead of being strangled.
So that steps may be taken against the families of guilty persons, I
enclose a list of the men who have deserted from the middle of June,
this year. I beg that I may be supported to the uttermost, without the
slightest wavering, and in a short time--so my experience tells me--we
shall be in a most satisfactory position.