Naslov
Field-Marshal Baron Svetozar Boroević von Bojna on medals

Autori
Mirnik, Ivan

Izvornik
The Medal (London) (0263-7707) 54 (2009); 39-44

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni

Ključne riječi
medals; plaquettes; Boroevic von Bojna Svetozar; World War One

Sažetak
FIELD MARSHAL BARON SVETOZAR BOROEVIĆ OF BOJNA ON MEDALS Ivan Mirnik « ; So!» ; The Count sighed with relief. « ; We have passed the most dangerous part.» ; « ; Hetzendorf lies on the other side.» ; The Emperor pointed to the alley, stretching towards Laxenburg, and then, because the name of this castle reminded him of the aristocratic predicate of the field marshal, asked the Count what Conrad was doing at the moment. « ; Wiping dishes» ; , replied je Erdödy. « ; How do you mean?» ; « ; Wiping dishes, after his wife had washed them. There is most probably not much to wash, therefore neither to wipe. Conrad dries dishes in Innsbruck, other generals are doing this in Vienna. Boroević is wandering around Klagenfurt, because the Yugoslavs refuse to pay him a pension, just as the Rumanians don't pay it to Arz. Other officers paint, make objects out of leather, give lessons, attend courses for shoemakers, whereas several more cunning ones, who did not move from their chairs, sit in retirement offices and hope to stay there lifelong.» ; , Much has been written about Svetozar Boroević (b. Mečenčani, Croatia, December 13.XII. 1856 – d. Klagenfurt, Austria, May 23, 1920), starting with newspapers and pamphlets printed during the First World War, through serious history books written at the time down to those published more recently. For instance he is relatively frequently mentioned by General Edmund Glaise von Horstenau in his memoirs. Boroević was the typpical model soldier from the Croatian Military Frontier (K. u. K. Militärgrenze). Boroević was brave, extremely serious when his profession and work were in question, hard, inflexible, stubborn, loyal to his Emperor and to his country and a very good strategist. As a private person, he of course had his weaknesses. When the Great War ended in a catastrophe, his destiny could not have ended in any way but tragic. He died in exile, in total misery, abandoned by almost everyone. He took part in the First World War almost from the very beginning. When Italy decided to change its allies in 1915, another front was opened, where Boroević excelled as one of the best Austro-Hungarian generals. He was ordered to proceed to the Italian front on May 25, 1915, together with some units of the Third Army and soon became the commander of the Fifth Army. The old Emperor Franz Joseph I – who once sent him a portrait of himself on horseback - trusted him and appointed him commander of the Isonzo (Soča) Front. Unlike Baron (from 1918 Count) Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, Boroević was able to strike identical confidence in the new, young Emperor Karl, who in person came to inspect the Isonzo Front on several occasions. It was also Emperor Karl, who from his Swiss exile, paid for Boroević's second funeral, at the Vienna Central Cemetery. His widow, the long-living Empress Zita, used to say that the most haunting memories of her long life were the images from the Karst Front, where she had had to watch trenches full of decaying corpses of fallen soldiers, infested with rats. They tried to exterminate the rats with poisonous gas, but after a while they reappeared. Boroević's cursus honorum is as follows: Corporal (Korporal, August 1872), Staff Sergeant (Feldwebel, July 1873), Cadet (Kadett, November 1874) ; Lieutenant (Leutnant, May 1, 1875), First Lieutenant (Oberleutnant, May 1880), Captain (Hauptmann 1. Kl., May 1886), Major (Major, May 1892), Lieutenant Colonel (Oberstleutnant, May 1, 1895.), Colonel (Oberst, XI. 1897), Major General (Generalmajor, May 1904), Fieldmarshal-Lieutenant (Under Marshal, Feldmarschalleutnant, May 8, 1908), Infantry General (General der Infanterie, April 28, 1914), Colonel General (Generaloberst, May 1916) and finally Field Marshal (Feldmarschall, May 1, 1918) – there were indeed very few Field Marshals in the entire Monarchy who were not either archdukes, members of the Imperial Family, or not German. On May 2, 1905 Boroević was granted Croatian-Hungarian nobility with the predicate. « ; von Bojna» ; by Emperor Franz Joseph I, recorded in a charter issued in Vienna. Bojna is a village, once in the administrative community Maja, the Glina District, in the former County of Zagreb. Emperor Karl I ennobled his brother colonel Nikola Boroević on March 16 (May 3), 1917. When Emperor Karl I decorated Svetozar Boroević with the Commander Cross of the Order of Maria Theresia (promotion of June 2, 1917), ipso facto he became a Baron. There is an anecdote, according to which Boroević in fact wished become a Count, with the predicate « ; von Isonzo (Soča)» ; . But the title of Baron is on his tombstone in Vienna. ¸ In 1880 Boroević married Leontine (b. July 7, 1877 – d. February 12, 1963), the daughter of the Austrian officer Friedrich von Rosner. Their only son Fritz (b. February 15, 1901 – d. November 28, 1918) tragically drowned in the Drava in November 1918, as he was crossing over a partially destroyed bridge near Maribor by night. His body was not discovered until two days later. With his careful tactics and actions Boroevic became an idol, but at the same time the greatly feared ogre of his soldiers. But he was greatly popular all over the Monarchy and with all the allies. Post cards with his picture were sold everywhere (Figs. 1-2), and medals and badges with his portrait were struck in Austria and Germany, to be sold for charity. He was in fact one of the generals most frequently depicted on medals and badges. On these medals and plaquettes, issued in the course of three years (1915-1917), we can follow one part of his career, and he has the ranks of a Feldmarschalleutnant, General der Infanterie and Generaloberst. When he was promoted to the rank of a Feldmarschall, there was no time left, because the war was soon lost and the Monarchy destroyed. The existing medals and badges were made by good engravers, struck at respectable mints in Austria and Germany. We ignore the names of the authors of several badges or emblems (Abzeichen). The only outstanding artist who made a portrait of Boroević on a relief was Robert Frangeš-Mihanović. Although it does not bear the portrait of Boroević, but that of the Emperor, there is a badge of the Fifth Army from 1915. (Fig. 3). R. Bachmann from Vienna struck a fine portrait medal of Boroević in the same year 1915 (with the rank of a Generaloberst) on the obverse and the figure of an Austrian soldier standing in an Alpine landscape. There are silver and pewter (« ; Kriegsmetall» ; ) specimens (Fig. 4). The best known is the plaquette « ; Isonzo Armee» ; , also made in 1915, with an excellent portrait of Boroevićev on the obverse and a battle scene on the Isonzo (Soča) – there were twelve most bloody battles on the Isonzo (Soča) – on the reverse. This plaquette exists in two dimensions (24x44 mm and 48x70 mm ; Figs. 5-6, 8-10), and two metals (silver, bronze, possibly pewter) and the reverse was also used for a badge. The badge was also struck in two dimensions (24x44 mm ; Fig. 11) and two different metals (silver, bronze, possibly pewter as well). The boxes for the medals, bearing an inscription, telling us about the charitable purpose of the plaquettes, were also made in two dimensions (Figs. 7, 10). On this plaquette Boroević has the rank of an infantry general, and on the reverse there is a scene of a battle in a mountaineous scenery, where four Austrian soldiers are either shooting or hurling rocks from cliffs upon the enemy. In the air there is an airplane. An identical badge was attached on the famous sabre Boroević received from his soldiers. The author of this plaquette and badge was the Viennese master Georg Hermann. In 1916 G. Hermann struck a similar badge with the scene of a battle in alpine landscape ; it is known to exist in silver and pewter (Fig. 15). There is also a version of the 1915 badge, made in 1917, as well as a considerable number of different Abzeichen of the Isonzo Army dating from 1916. On them Boroević carries the rank of a Generaloberst. There is also one more badge of the Karst Front, yet there must be more. The medallist K. Schwarz modelled an unusual uniface medal with the portrait of Boroević in 1916. His bust is incorporated into a disc, whose background is covered by laurel-leaves. Boroević's rank is visible from the two stars on his collar and it is also written on the medal (Generaloberst) (Fig. 12). The same year of 1916 also saw the minting of another good silver medal with the portait of Boroević (Fig. 13), this time in Nuremberg, at the old and well-known firm continued by Ludwig Christian Lauer (b. 1842 – d. 1873), it was by Otto Hoppe (b. Höhscheid, October 11, 1882 - d. Cologne, May 18, 1967). Boroević is here described as an Imperial and Royal General Major. A symbolic scene can be seen on the reverse: a chain bridge, situated in hilly scenery, with an eagle with closed wings, standing on each of the pillars. There is an inscription « ; Gorizia and Trieste» ; on the right front pillar. On the left side there is a soldier standing, his rifle grounded. In the exergue is the inscription: « ; Closed for Italians» ; . The signature can be seen on both sides of the medal. Another well-known firm, Wilhelm Mayer and Franz Wilhelm of Stuttgart – issued a fine medal commemorating the second anniversary of the Great War (1914-1916), bearing the bust of Boroević facing left on the obverse, and the coat-of-arms of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, as it looked during the short reign of Emperor and King Karl I (IV). The inscription is both in German and Hungarian and means the World War, 1914-1916. On this medal Boroević figures as a Field Marshal Lieutenant (Feldmarschalleutnant), although he had been promoted twice in the meantime. (Fig. 14). There is also an interesting, small, uniface pewter medal (diameter 23 mm) with a loop and ring made by an unsigned medallist. Boroević's portrait is facing right. (Kat. br. 15). One of the most unusual events in the history of the Zagreb University, i.e. in those days the Croatian University of Franz Joseph I in Zagreb, was the doctorate honoris causa, granted to the defendors of the Isonzo Front, Archduke Eugen and Svetozar Boroević. One of the curious details of these doctorates, as told by Eugen Pusić, member the Croatian Academy of Science and Arts, was the fact that the only member of the University Senate who voted against this proposal was Dr. Fran Milobar (b. Petrinja, December 19, 1869 – d. Zagreb, October 9, 1945), professor of national economy at the University of Law. When, very soon following upon the cessation of the First World War, the University Senate decided to anull these two honorary doctorates, the only vote against this decision was by Professor Milobar, who asked for an explanation what the offences of the two doctors honoris causa against the dignity of the University were. The entire story dealing with the degree ceremony is really unique. The Zagreb University rector magnificus Dr. Fran Barac (b. Šemovec/Virje, July 27, 1872 – d. Zagreb, September 29, 1940), Dean of the Faculty of Divinity, accompanied by Professor Milorad Stražnicki, Dean of the Faculty of Law and the promotor Dr. Josip Šilović, set off on a journey towards the Italian Front, while the war was in full swing, in order to promote two celebrated Austrian generals as doctors honoris causa of law and statesmanship. On January 30, 1916 they promoted Archduke Eugen (b. May 21, 1863 – d. December 30, 1954), and on February 1 Svetozar Boroević. Some excellent photographs witness these events (Fig. 17). The Rector and his colleagues were accompanied by the great Croatian sculptor and medallist Robert Frangeš-Mihanović (b. Mitrovica, October 2, 1872 – d. Zagreb, January 12, 1940), who can also be seen on photographs. His task was to study the generals and portray them. Immediately upon their return to Zagreb Frangeš-Mihanović made two reliefs with portraits of the two doctors. They were cast in bronze and exhibited at the Rectorate of the Zagreb University. (Fig. 18). They were also shown at the War Art Exhibition in Zagreb in 1916. Late in 1918 the reliefs were removed. For the first time after 1918 Boroević's relief could be seen within the frame of the exhibition dedicated to the First World War at the Croatian History Museum in 2006. god. One version of this relief with the portrait of Boroević, with a different lower third part, was unveiled by the Brethren of the Croatian Dragon on October 28, 1917 on the house of the Field Marshal's father at Mečenčani, as the house he was born in was no longer standing (Fig. 19). Of course, this relief too was taken off late in 1918, although, according to some rumors, it was reported that this happened as late as 1945. Frangeš-Mihanović also made a statue of Boroević on horseback (bronze, height 0.879 m), and a plaster cast exists at the Glyptotheque of the Croatian Academy of Science and Arts. On the occasion of the joint Austrian – German offensive in November 1917 an engraver of Nuermberg, A. Hummel issued a medal with the portraits of four military leaders of the Great War, von Below, von Hötzendorf, von Boroević i von Krobatin in 1917. god. (Fig. 20). This can be considered as the last known medal showing Svetozar Boroević. During the last years of the Great War – in those years the World War had no number yet – a particular popularity was attained by a heliogravure by Oton Iveković depicting the headquarters of the Soča (Isonzo) Army (54.5 x 36.5 cm ; Fig. 21), which also showed portraits of all the officers, while their signatures figure on the margin. On December 13, 2006 the Field Marshal's 150th birthday was marked by an international conference dealing with Boroević and the part he played in the First World War, organized by Marino Manin of the Institute of Croatian History in Zagreb, held in the village of Mečenčani where he was born, with 15 papers read. To mark the end of the conference a TV documentary film « ; Lion of Isonzo» ; by Mladen de Trnski was shown. In addition exhibitions dedicated to Boroević were shown at Mečenčani in the school building, where the conference was held, and at the Croatian State Archives in Zagreb, whose experts, particularly Milan Pojić, organized the exhibition. As a curiosity we might add that Mrs Neda Prpić, who knew Boroević's widow Leontine (« ; Tante Leo» ; ) well, also attended some parts of the conference. Between the two world wars Mrs Prpić used to meet Baroness Boroević at Medlog (in German Freiberg) in Slovenia, the manor house, owned by a relative of hers, Slavko Kvaternik, one of the officers serving at Boroević's headquarters and his personal friend.

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Arheologija

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