Page 276 - Il 1919. Un’Italia vittoriosa e provata in un’Europa in trasformazione. Problematiche e prospettive - Atti 11-12 novembre 2019

274 Il 1919. Un’Italia vittoriosa e provata in un’Europa in trasformazione

becoming a part of the Republic of Germany, which had been proclaimed on
12 November 1918.
There were strong fluctuations in the troop strengths of individual Volkswehr
formations. These fluctuations not only were influenced by geographical differ-
ences in the willingness of former soldiers to join the new army but also how
much support recruiting efforts received from local Social Democratic party
structures. In industrial cities, some battalions had already reached regimental
strength (e.g. Vienna, where scores of workers left the factories to join the Vok-
swehr) whereas in certain rural areas there were not enough soldiers to fill even a
single company (e.g. the district of Zwettl in Lower Austria) or nobody signed
up at all (Enns valley in Upper Austria). This naturally had to with the fact that
in some replacement districts there were almost no men left fit for military service
due to exceptionally high losses of their respective regiments, or that the men
13
had not yet returned from captivity. Only after large parts of the former Aus-
tro-Hungarian Army had flooded back from the frontlines into the generally
bleak economic situation was there an increase of influx into the Volkswehr, since
many soldiers were able to at least find a temporary basis of existence because
of the relatively high army pay.
The difficulties were not limited to reaching the necessary troop strengths.
Volkswehr leadership, already quite cumbersome by the strong federal structure
in the form of provincial commanders, was also in no way uniform. This was
especially perceivable in the strong divergence of political ideas from military ne-
cessities, a common theme throughout the entire history of the Volkswehr. On
one hand, Lieutenant Field Marshal Adolf von Boog had been tasked with taking
military measures to secure the borders, such as in the case of Southern Bohemia
14
and Southern Moravia, these measures having even been approved by the State
Council; on the other hand, Undersecretary of State/Secretary of State Deutsch
revoked the measures by ordering to offer no military resistance to the Czech
forces occupying the territories mentioned above. This led to tensions between
the two most important political and military leaders, eventually leading to con-
tinuous resignation on the part of Boog, who said about a similar order con-

1918 – 1938. Materialien zum Vortragszyklus 1990 HGM/Gesellschaft für österreichische
Heereskunde, Vienna 1990, p. 147
13 Heribert Kristan: Geschichte des Generalstabes des österreichischen Bundesheeres von 1918
bis 1938. Phil. Diss, Vienna 1993, p. 27
14 ÖSTA/AdR Staatsamt für Heerwesen, Präs Zl. 1423/18