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LE DONNE NEL PRIMO CONFLITTO MONDIALE 188
The remaining women were classified as widows or divorced.
18
The major reasons for punitive dismissals were theft, offences against service in-
cumbencies and staying away from service. There were many cases in which dismissals
resulted from alleged or proven ‘immorality’. That in many cases not the punished
women but soldiers or male employees initiated those ‘immoralities’ was not taken
into account. 19
Female auxiliary personnel in the Army in 1918 20
Month Total k.u.k. 11th Army
April 35807 3066
May 38514 3459
June 38057 3543
July 36311 3649
August 36418 3796
September 31975 3817
October Precise figures not available 3734
3. Women as combatants
Generally the use of women as combatants was not intended in the Austro-Hun-
garian army. As already mentioned above female medical personnel could still get into
situations – especially during the war of movement in 1914 and 1915 on the Eastern
front - where they found themselves in the range of enemy fire. Not uncommonly
women even exposed themselves to the fighting albeit not as active fighters. This was
the case for example when female telephone operators didn’t leave their posts despite
enemy grenade shelling or when women took care of Austro-Hungarian soldiers close
to or at the front line. The Austro-Hungarian propaganda picked up such instances
willingly and thus created ‘heroines’ or ‘heroic-girls’. Well known is the fate of the then
only twelve year old Rosa Zenoch, who became known as the ‘Heroic-girl of Rawa
Ruska’. She brought water to soldiers fighting close to her native village, was hit by
artillery fire and injured by a grenade splinter and lost a leg. 21
18 Ibid., p. 133.
19 Ibid., p. 154.
20 Ibid. p. 185.
21 Christoph Hatschek, Von der „wehrhaften“ Frau zum weiblichen Rekruten – Entwicklungshis-
torische Per-spektiven der österreichischen Soldatinnen, Phil. Diss., Vienna 2009, p. 97 -98.
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