Page:Edvard Beneš – Bohemia's case for independence.pdf/129

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APPENDIX
115

soldiers in this country devoted to their Emperor and King.

III. Magyar Testimony to the Conduct of Czecho-Slovak Soldiers.

Everybody knows the rôle played by Czecho-Slovak soldiers during this war.

Count Tisza himself admitted in the Hungarian Parliament that they were unreliable. "It is of no use," he said, "to dwell on the reasons why the Czechs cannot be left in the garrisons of Bohemia." As a matter of fact, the Czech soldiers have been sent to garrisons in Hungary in order to be separated from the Czech people and their revolutionary, anti-Austrian influence.

During the same discussion Count Windischgraetz stated that the Chief Staff dared use them only when mixed with Magyars and Germans. But even then they would not run the risk of despatching them to the first line. And yet all these precautions were insufficient, as is proved by the events which took place in Transylvania.

The following is a passage from a speech delivered by M. Urmanczy, deputy of the Magyar Independence Party, during the session of the Budapest Parliament on September 5th, 1916:—

"At the beginning of the Rumanian campaign,