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| Lt. Balck, Just After the War |
During the First World War, Lt. Hermann Balck, who would later become a notable Panzer commander in the Second World War, saw action on nearly every front. In October 1918, he found himself leading a company of Alpenkorps troops in the Battle of Caporetto. As is wellknown, the combined Austrian-German attacking force achieved a tremendous breakthrough against the demoralized Italian Second Army. In his outstanding 1981 memoir about his experiences in both World Wars, Order in Chaos, Balck matter-of-factly includes a description of the plundering and pillaging carried out by his soldiers as they went charging into northern Italy after the successful opening attack. I can't remember reading such a candid description of such events, so I thought I should share it with our readers.
Along the whole front line white sheets popped up and three hundred men came running and jumping toward us. “Eviva Germania, la Guerra finite, la Guerra finite! A Milano, a Milano!” Laughing, they slapped us on the shoulders. The only one real danger was being trampled to death by them. “Mort a te Cadorna” was written in large letters in countless spots in the Italian trenches. The Italians were completely demoralized. They fled toward the rear, leaving everything behind—artillery piece next to artillery piece, supply wagon next to supply wagon, and as many rations as we could have wanted. Prisoners by the thousands marched toward us, constantly yelling “Eviva Germani! Eviva Germania!”
We descended the steep hillsides and into the plains. The situation remained one of total collapse, with fleeing automobile convoys and at one position a battery firing off its last rounds. We could see the crews servicing the guns, and then it was every man for himself. White flares were being fired off to the right and to the left as far as one could see. They marked the forward line of our troops, aggressively advancing along a wide front. . . There was no stopping us now. The morale was fabulous. Everything had the aura of an event of world historical significance. Added to that, our losses had been minimal—only 224 dead, wounded, or sick in the entire Alpenkorps. The bag for the first day alone was forty howitzers and thirteen thousand POWs.
We reached the plains. Italy was supposed to be the best supplied front line of the Allies, and it certainly was. After a few days there were no more skinny horses in the company. My company became unrecognizable, with everyone decked out in the newest, best-quality Italian trousers, boots, and clothing. Our quarters were excellent, often in substantial castles.
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| The Conquering Invaders Arrive in Udine |
[At first] the weather conditions meant a few days of rest for us. I took advantage to make a small detour to Udine, which had been cut off by a German brigade. Actually, no one was allowed to enter the town, but I finally got permission. It was the most maddening sight I had ever seen. Every window was broken; all the stores were looted; and there were heaps of broken glass everywhere. You could not even identify the original purpose of any of the stores. Everything was a black, tamped-down mass, covered with the stench of vomit and red wine.
In March 1918, I [would later sit] on a court-martial board in Mörchingen in Lorraine. A supply NCO from the logistics command of the Alpenkorps had brought goods back to Germany from Udine valued at 50,000 marks. He was caught in Munich. When he had arrived in Udine, tens of thousands of people were looting, half of them Italians and the other half Austrians. The NCO bought a truck full of fabrics worth 20,000 marks by paying 20 kronen 42 and one hundred cigarettes. Truck drivers were earning between 20,000 and 30,000 kronen on the road from Udine to Bled. Along the railroad lines commercial companies had sprung up that were making incredible profits—thankfully all without German participation. [Note: This does not exclude Austrian involvement, and label me skeptical about zero German participation. MH] But because the trucks were being used for other things, ammunition did not get forward.
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| German Troops in Udine, Apparently After Discipline Had Been Restored |
[Back to the court martial:] Reaching a verdict proved difficult. The defense argued that when the man reached Udine, he saw tens of thousands of people looting and breaking into the stores. How could this one man stop anything? We finally acquitted the NCO, because in Udine the principle of “unclaimed merchandise” could be applied, and because the defendant had not acted with criminal intent. He just had a different perspective on business matters. It was a somewhat convoluted rationale, because war booty technically belongs to the state. But the verdict was just. The judges. . . concurred.
[Heavy rains during the post-Caporetto breakthrough did not hinder the looting] We would slosh ahead for three minutes, then stop for a half an hour, then move ahead for another minute, and then stop for an hour. This went on for three days and the rain just kept pouring down. But soldiers are inventive. After a little while everybody had a chair and an umbrella and sat down happily during longer halt periods under the cover of the umbrella. When it came time to march on, they moved the couple of steps that the column would actually move, taking their chairs and umbrellas with them. This was the famous “night chair march” of the Alpenkorps across the Tagliamento River.
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| Spoils of War at the Tagliamento River Bank Left by Retreating Italian and Pursuing Central Powers Forces |
In his memoir, besides a brief segment on looting and drinking during Operation Michael in 1918, Balck also included a related strong endorsement of military-operated brothels:
We did have our own abuses that were the signs of a long war. There was pillaging and a number of rapes. Bordellos were established only very late. Wherever that had been done early on, no problems existed. As St. Augustine wrote a long time ago, “Whoever chases the whores out of town drives everything into a morass of passion.”
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