My War Memories, 1914-1918
off from her colonies in North Africa. These arrangements were in force for some time—but subsequently lapsed. Then at the express wish of General Pollio, Chief of the Italian General Staff, these plans were once more worked at.
General Pollio died in the summer of 1914—shortly before the outbreak of war. There was not the least necessity for France to leave even a single soldier on her south-east frontier; she could employ every soldier against us, for she knew perfectly well that Italy would not come into the war on our side. Our former ally thus did us untold harm. Her attitude towards England was not to be misunderstood. Animosity certainly existed between Italy and Austria-Hungary, but although this was of long standing, it did not prevent Italy entering into an alliance with us and Austria-Hungary. This alliance brought Italy many advantages and we naturally expected that she would feel under an obligation to us.
A healthy national egoism is easy to understand, and exists in every nation. But there are certain ethical laws which must not be violated, and that is precisely what Italy did. So she cannot complain of the adverse criticism we levelled at her during the four years of war.
The critical position of the Austro-Hungarian Army at the end of August, opposed by greatly superior Russian forces, was not to be misunderstood. General von Conrad, Chief of the Austrian General Staff, insisted, quite properly, from his point of view, that we should cross the river Narew. But seeing that the 8th Army was still inferior in numbers to that of General Rennenkampf, it was impossible to accede to this request. An advance in the direction of Mlawa-Pultusk could at any time be stopped by the advance of General Rennenkampf towards the Allenstein-Elbing line. There was, therefore, no alternative but to deal first with the Russian Niemen Army.
Still under the influence of the Battle of Tannenberg, Rennenkampf had apparently withdrawn his advanced units several kilometres, but he seemed to intend a stand between the river Pregel and Lake Mauer. The 8th Army was compelled to fight a second battle, and had to use all its available strength
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