The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1915-07-17
FORMER GENERAL
HELD IN PRISON

the fall of General Baron Auffenberg
from his position as commander of
one of the most powerful of the Aus
tro-Hungarian armies to an incom-
municado cell in an unnamed prison
is one of the most closely guarded
secrets of Vienna. Austrian news
papers are not allowed to even men
ton his name, and inquirers even in
the Hungarian house of deputies
have been advised to let the matter
drop. From information which has
lust reached Venice it appears that
the general was summarily arrested
as he was about to leave for Switzer-
land, and has not since been allow
ed to communicate eve with his
family or lawyers. His object in go
ing to Switzerland was the publica-
ton of a volume of memoirs, in
which he hoped to establish his in
of mismanaging the Austrian
campaign against Serbia by putting
the blame upon the shoulders OF the
Austrian commandments, the
Archduke Frederic.
The following explanation of Gen.
eral Auffenberg's rise and fall comes
from personal friends of the general.
1t is a general agreement with such
facts of the case as have been previ-
ously established:
General Auffenberg, as a former
minister of war and one of the great
soldiers of the empire, was placed in
command of the armies which under
took the invasion of Serbia at the be-
ginning of the war. The invasion
ended disastrously; the Austrians
were defeated with tremendous loss
es and retired back across the from
tier in disorder. There was a hasty
investigation in Vienna, and the in
vestigators reported that General
Auffenberg was mainly responsible,
owing to the gross mistakes of
strategy in planning and carrying out
his offense. They recommended that
he be suspended from his command.
But it seemed unwise to the mil
tary powers to thus draw public at
tention to the extent of the disaster
in Serbia, so it was decided that Auf-
fenberg's retirement should be at
tributed to i'll health brought on by
the strenuous exertions of the cam
paign and that the title of baron
should be conferred on him to sup
port the impression that after all
nothing really serious had happened
to the Austrian forces in Serbia. The
new baron was ordered home and
placed on the retired list among of
ficers at the disposition of the en-
peror for future military service
The general came home reluctant
and mystified and began some quiet
Investigations of the situation. AS
o 20 as he found out that he was
blamed for the failure of the Serbian
campaign he demanded that his side
of the story should be heard. He
got no encouragement in official
circles, but it became generally
known among military men that he
planned to re-establish his W rep
utation by showing that the blame fol
the failure must be attributed to the
Archduke Frederic.
I'm one case, for example, the
general declared to a group of mill
tary men, 4 will not be made the
scape goat for an archduke who
ought lever to have been entrusted
with the supreme command of the
imperial forces, but who ought rath.
ace in Vienna to prevent his med.
ding in the conduct of the war;
This remark, together with 9th.
ers Of similar nature, reached the
ears of the archduke. and the latter's
influence was exerted to bring about
the downfall of the general. The
climax came when Auffenberg assert.
ed that, having failed to secure 9
hearing in official circles. he would
prove his OWL innocence and the
archduke's blameworthiness by writ.
ing a book on the war and having il
published in Switzerland.
ITO prevent his flight into
Switzerland and the publication OF
the threatened book, Emperor Fran.
els Joseph himself stepped in and or.
dered him arrested and placed in
solitary confinement until the end OF
the war. He was committed tC
prison by imperia order without the
semblance of a trial or investigation
and was not allowed to communicate
with the outside world. Questions
addressed to the government in the
Hungarian house of deputies were an
swered with the statement that the
government could not at this time
deal with a purely military matter
in parliament"