The Montenegrins who had been for so long--some of them for three
years--leading a congenial life among their rocks, descending now and
then to kill an Austrian and to gather booty, were most active when the
ill-starred Imperial army was retiring. Six hundred Austrians, for
instance, took the road from Kola[vs]in with the intention of marching
to Lieva Rieka, a distance of 45 kilometres. Thirty-five of them arrived
there. Thus the population avenged such incidents as the hanging by the
Austrian authorities of the brother of the ex-Minister General
Ve[vs]ovi['c],[27] the General having taken to the hills and his brother
being executed by way of reprisal. The Austrians had now to pay the
penalty of ruthlessness; on September 1, 1917, Count Clam Martini['c],
the Military Governor, issued Order No. 3110 which stated that: "In
consequence of the recent inquiry having revealed the fact that
telegraph and telephone wires have been cut by civilians, we make the
following order:
"1. Persons caught red-handed in acts of sabotage will be
summarily shot, their houses will be razed to the ground and
their property confiscated by the Military Administration
Authorities.
"2. If the author of the outrage cannot be found, the
procedure will be as follows:--
"(_a_) The commune where the act of sabotage has taken place
will be condemned to a heavy fine. If the sum demanded is not
paid within forty-eight hours, the cattle will be seized.
"(_b_) Hostages will be taken who, if the cases of sabotage
are repeated, will be executed in their commune."
Life under the Austrians had become unendurable. Typhoid fever, marsh
fever, typhus and dysentery assumed such proportions that in the towns
and villages one saw--apart from such notices as Order No. 3110--no
other bills posted up on the walls but those containing advice as to the
correct way of nursing the sick. While poor wretches were dying of
hunger in the hospitals and on the high road for want of bread, the
authorities published a recipe for the making of wheat-butter, which was
a recent discovery of German science, reputed to be very nourishing for
debilitated organisms. But the price of a kilo (2 lb.) of wheat was 12
crowns (about 10s.). When the epidemic of typhus, which broke out in
Cetinje and in the Njegu[vs] clan, reached alarming proportions and
spread to other districts, the medical authorities advertised that
household effects and linen should be washed with water and potatoes. A
kilo of potatoes, in the autumn of 1917, cost a price equivalent to 6s.,
a quart of oil cost L2, 10s., a quart of milk 5s., a kilo of coffee L2,
18s. 4d., a yard of cloth L4, 4s. to L6, 6s., a pair of boots L8, 7s. An
average of 200 persons--mainly women and children--were dying every day
of starvation.
The Austrian army in retreat was incapable of action. It occupied a line
east of Podgorica: Bioce-Tuzi-Lake of Scutari, with very few guns. The
troops were scanty, they were weakened by malaria, etc.; but the
Italians pursued them with great caution. The chief enemies were
Albanians and Montenegrins. The wily Austrians gave rifles to the
Albanians in order that they should attack the Montenegrins, but they
were often used against their former owners. Then the contingents of the
Salonica army came across the mountains, and when the Austrians went
north, as best they could, the Yugoslavs of the Imperial and Royal
army--Bosniaks were well represented--pinned on their tunics the
national colours and were greeted by the inhabitants. Arriving at
Cetinje they heard the incredible news that a Yugoslav State had been
founded, that the Austrian navy had been handed over to the Yugoslavs,
that French and Italians were already at Kotor. During the journey to
that port the commanders were depressed, but the rank and file rejoiced
at the idea of going home. Discipline was at an end. Thousands of
rockets were fired into the air. It was the end of the Habsburg
monarchy.