Independent Bohemia: An Account of the Czecho-Slovak Struggle for LibertyNosek, Vladimir
History
Independent Bohemia: An Account of the Czecho-Slovak Struggle for Liberty
Nosek, Vladimir
Czechoslovakia -- History; World War, 1914-1918 -- Czech Republic -- Bohemia
On the other hand, many Czech troops succeeded in surrendering. The 35th
Regiment of Pilsen went over to the Russians in a body half-an-hour after
arriving at the front. Soon after, the 28th Regiment of Prague surrendered
_en masse_, having been "fetched" by the Czechs fighting on the Russian
side. Immediately afterwards the Austrian commander-in-chief issued an
order of the day in which he declared.
"On April 3, 1915, almost the whole of the 28th Regiment surrendered
without fighting to a single enemy battalion.... This disgraceful act
not only destroys the reputation of this regiment, but necessitates its
name being struck off the list of our army corps, until new deeds of
heroism retrieve its character. His Apostolic Majesty has accordingly
ordered the dissolution of this regiment, and the deposition of its
banners in the army museum."
And indeed "new deeds of heroism" did follow. A fresh battalion was founded
composed of Czech youths who were sent to the Isonzo front and exposed in a
dangerous position to deadly artillery fire. Almost the whole battalion was
thus unscrupulously wiped out. Only eighteen of them survived. This was
followed by a new imperial order saying that the disgrace of the 28th
Regiment was "atoned for" by the "sacrifice" of this regiment on
the Isonzo.
As regards Italy, over 20,000 Czechs surrendered voluntarily on the Italian
front up to 1917, and 7000 during the last offensive on the Piave in June,
1918. Of recent cases we need mention only the "treachery of Carzano,"
where, on September 18, 1917, some Czech officers went over to the
Italians, communicated to them the Austrian plans of campaign and led them
against the Austrians whose front was thus successfully broken through.
This incident was not the only one of its kind. It has been repeated
several times by Czech officers whenever they found an opportunity of going
over to the Italians. During the offensive of June, 1918, the Austrian
press openly attributed the Austrian failure to "Czech treachery,"
asserting that the plan of the offensive was communicated to the Italian
headquarters staff by Czecho-Slovak officers. This the Austrian military
authorities themselves admitted later, when they published the following
official statement, which appeared in the German press on July 28:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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