The great common event of the First World War has employed on the military plan the populations of Trieste, Istria, and Friuli,  mainly on the eastern front: a high tribute of blood and indescribable sufferings, have been the price of a relationship of solidarity and friendship which came up between the soldiers of the two opposite armies, Austro-Hungarian and the Tzarist, on  the Galician fields, on the Carpatian ridges and on the huge Russian steppes.

In August 1914, many Triestinians, istrians and friulani of  Italian and Slavic nationality found themselves not intentionally involved in an unexpected war. Organized in several regiments of the 3^rd Army Corps (K.u.K. I.R. 97 , 47, 27, 7 etc.) making part of the 2^nd  Army under the command of  Gen. Böhm-Ermoli, they were sent, after a short period of operations in Serbia, in the desolated Galician plains in order to contain the Tzarist armies, that smashed in several positions the battle front in direction of Lemberg, and threatened to go around the entire Austro-Hungarian military alignment. On the 26^th of October of that year the 97^th Infantry Regiment and the other above cited regiments engaged their first battle, But, as it is remembered in the memorial of Major General Arthur Brosch in the 1950’s, this was the beginning of the long trouble in which the 97^th IR got through: " Launched in an unfortunate situation the regiment  like all the other soldiers of the 3^rd Army Corps went  to the attack like on a drill ground, and has been very soon arrested on all the line. In the late afternoon of this most unfortunate day the commander of the regiment had a complete collapse of nerves and had to be taken away from the front. At the first twilights with the beginning of the night in several sectors panic and fear made the Regiment withdrew like others did... the Regiment has been re-united at east of Lemberg and on the 29^th of August 1914 it has been brought to the attack, this was the day on which begun the first serious disciplinary infractions, that were immediately punished at the place ".

The disgregation of the Austrian army will happen with the military and political decay of Austria after the first three years of war: on the 23^rd  of May 1918, sure of being next to the end of the war, the Italian and Slovenian soldiers of 97^th Infantry Regiment rebelled in the barracks of Radkesberg (then in Stiria, today in Slovenia with the name of Gornja Radgona) with the acclamation " Viva l’Italia! " and " Viva la Slavia"; this rebels will be silenced in the blood: two Italians and six Slovenians will be shot before the Emperor stops all the death sentences made by the court martials. The memorial of Major General Brosch reveals the dimension of the denigration of the 97^th  Regiment among the Austro-Hungarian Army Commanders  which culminates with the public insult of the Commander of the Army Corps, Count Pflanzer-Baltin, towards the whole Regiment and its General Staff. It will be just Brosch that together with other Officers will be able to get at the Court of Kaiser Franz Josef I, to ask for help and to let the Count Pflanzer-Baltin take back the words he said.

The district of recruitment of the 97^th  Infantry Regiment  " Freiherr von Waldstätten " was the city of Trieste with its territory and  Istria. At the same time this was also the complementary main district for the K.u.k Kriegsmarine which of course obtained the best human material from all the enlisted people. All the rest of people were assigned  to the Artillery; the technical troops, the Cavalry etc. as well as  to the 20^th Jager Battalion, which also had its complementary district there. What remained was recruited in the 97^th  Regiment. These soldiers were for the bigger part Italian speaking people and  Slovenian speaking people of the Carso, and like all the inhabitants of southern semi-mediterranean countries endowed with very few military qualities, difficultly to disciplinate and devoted to the nice “make nothing”. In order to obtain from these good soldiers a strong iron fist was necessary, only this could transform them in magnificent soldiers, not inferior to some other Regiments. From 1890 to the beginning of the new century the Regiment was of garrison in Pola and in those years its commander was  Colonel Gerba, a Croatian of the old military  territory (Croatia/Bosnia). In 1899 the Regiment was transferred to Trieste. The Commander of the Regiment became Colonel Bernath von Bosutpolje, a strong Croatian that behaved in a draconian way and sometimes in a brutal way with Officers and soldiers. In the same period Konrad von Hötzendorf was a Major General (later on Feldmarschall). Konrad got the special protection of his Imperial Highness the Hereditary Archduke and has been promoted to Brigadier General. He followed von Bosutpolje  in the command of the  97^th IR until he was replaced by  Staff Officer Colonel Wagner who left his command, in 1906, to Colonel Count Stürgh. It was a person who was very far away from the troop and so sight weak that he had to use very strong lenses. He was neglected in dressing and disordered in saluting. In addition to this he also had a very delicate personality and everytime he had to punish asoldier he felt morally very bad  As a result of that the discipline of the Regiment unfortunately declined . For the drill and the public order the Regiment remained still Trieste. At the Command of the Triestinian Regiment came in 1910   Colonel Thaler who only remained for a year when he retired. He was substituted  by Colonel Baron Knopp von Kirchwald who conducted the Regiment  in the War. The mobilisation went on without any trouble: the reservists presented themselves punctually, there were no deserters, everybody was enthusiastic. On the 11^th of  August 1914 the 97^th  Infantry Regiment  left Trieste by train and reached  Zydaczow making part of the 3^rd  Army Corps, and here it remained until the 19^th  of August, and later on, after a long but fast march, it engaged its first battle at Lemberg on the 26^th of August 1914. The day after in Gliniany, a town on the main road to Lemberg, the worst of the things happened. Sanitary Units, Artilleries and columns of ammunition porters retreating and vehicles of Officers driving in the opposite direction  in order to find their troops, created a traffic jam that was impossible to resolve. Everybody wanted to maintain the discipline with the guns in hand, everybody screamed louder than the other provoking therefore more confusion. Skidded troops of all the Regiments and among them many of the 97^th Regiment that tried to retreat, regimental bands that threw their large trumpets and drums in street pits: this was the picture of a lost battle. The 97^th  Infantry Regiment was re-united at east of Lemberg and on the 29^th of August 1914 it has been brought to the attack, this was the day on which begun the first serious disciplinary infractions, that were immediately punished at the place ". That time Major Giraldi let shoot one of the deserters in front of  the whole  Battalion. Lieutenant Krainovich murdered personally two or three men, while executions occurred here and there. When the soldiers realized how serious the situation was, and recovered from the choc of their first battle in  Gliniany, their sense of duty returned, and discipline and order was restored, the Regiment could draw up his men again. But all of a sudden the 97^th Regiment became the scapegoat of the defeat: many Officers of the General staff pressed to let the Regiment being split up. The Regiment was really without any guide, every moment changed the Commanders. In the second battle of Lemberg (Grodek) the Regiment drew up the whole of its men, and had many serious losses. In the two battles of Lemberg the Regiment lost: 1 Commander of Battalion, died -- 8 Officers, died - 5 Officers seriously wounded – more than 70 NCO’s dead and wounded - approximately 1000 men died or were wounded. Despite of this the critics against the Regiment did not finish, indeed they were still strengthened more. During the retreat  towards the Carpati a sudden order of the 3^rd  Army Corps said to put together all the P.U.(Politisch Unverlässlich- politically suspicious) and to transfer them to the inner lines. When the Regiment moved to Bielanka at south-east of Neusandec, every Company  was taken away of several, mainly Italian, men. These approximately 400 men at the command of Lieutenant Keilwerth were transferred to  the inner frontline and employed here for the construction of the bridgehead to Krems on the Danube for later on being transported to their depot (Kader); at New Year's Day they reached their Regiment again. Certainly this was not a clever move to increase the combative spirit and the troops’ morale. In the end of September a new Commander of Regiment, Colonel Adamovich from Pola , took his duty. On the 4^th of October continued the advance towards Przemysl to save it from the Tcarist besiege. Later on with the retreat towards the Carpazi the Regiment accomplished to all its duties. To the end of November another the Commander of Regiment was replaced again. His name was Colonel Gheri, he was not new to the Regiment, as in time of peace he was a Staff Officer for special duties in the Regiment. He was a courageous tirolean  and he guided the Regiment for 15 months. The Regiment was in position on the Carpazi near Zdynia at the extreme left wing of the 3^rd Army. On the 27^th of January followed an attack of the Russians in the deep forests of that region in which a Lieutenant of Czech nationality passed with its squad to the Russians. The situation was very critic when a counter-offensive of the 47^th Infantry Regiment with sections of the 97^Th  Infantry Regiment restored the situation but had 200 soldiers captured by the Russians,  this event did start again the slander critics against the 97^th Regiment.  A secret order from the head of the 28^th  Infantry Division said that if this should have happened again  they would have placed machine guns behind the Regiment in order to eventually shoot deserters.  In the night between the 9^th and the 8^th of February 1915, next to the 22^nd  Jager Division  in the region of Kiskurima the Russians broke through and Major Giraldi even if the snow was high and the fight conditions not very good led his Battalion to the counter-offensive and succeeded having only a hundred man captured but re-establishing  the situation. Despite of this magnificent result nothing changed.  The opinion of the General Staff about the 97^th Regiment was always the same, the consideration for the Regiment and its Officer Staff was always very low. At the left wing of the 97^th IR the front folded vertically towards north and it was connected ready with the next Army.  After the breking of the front at Gorlice the Regiment takes part at all the events in which the 3^rd Army has been involved to and receives from the 36^th Infantry Regiment (which was of Czech nationality) 200 men and some young Officers. This Regiment has been split up for punishment at south of Przemysl. This Regiment had the same colour of the collar tabs of the 97^th Regiment, they were only distinguished by the color of their uniform buttons which were golden instead of silver as those of the 97^th. In the end of August/September 1915 while the 3^rd Army Corps was transferred to the southern front against the Italian armed forces, the 97^th Infantry Regiment was kept in his position on the northern front against the Russians. In November 1915 several Russians deserted and joined the Austro-Hungarian lines but the same happened the other way round, about 30 deserters were count in this period, among them there was even an Officer. Obviously all these “losses” had to be let known to the Army’s general Command in Kolomea; immediately and soon it was said that the 97^th IR is a Regiment of deserters. Of course it never has been possible to certify if these men were really deserters or simply were captured by the enemy. In the night between the 31^st of December 1915 and the 1^st of January 1916 the whole Regiment has been removed from its positions and transferred to Zalezyki as reserve because, as it was said on a telephonic order of the 4^th of January, it had to pass the review of the Commander of the Army His Excellence General of the Cavalry von Pflanzer-Baltin at the eastern city gate of Zalezyki. Commander von Pflanzer-Baltin arrived with the Commander of the Division and Colonel Gheri presented himself and his Regiment to these high Generals. The first question of the Commander of the Army was: “ How many deserters do You have in Your Regiment Colonel Gheri?”, Gheri answered: “I can’t tell exactly, I do not know. Your Excellence.” Pflanzer-Baltin began to review the Regiment and gave a look to all those soldiers as he says to Gheri: “Colonel Gheri!, would you come here please? Do you really think this is a Regiment?…this is a bunch of dirty pigs!!” he continued his review and continued: “Look at these men!… it’s scandalous!!”. He went on saying other horrible things to these poor people that fought for months in trenches and dirt when he finished his review and ordered to all the Officers Staff to assembly in a semi-circle in the middle of the Regiment and said the following words: “I cannot accept this presentation of the Regiment given me by these Officers until it is not better presented. I will refrain you from deserting. If I will be told again of deserters in this Regiment I will split it up and integrate its parts among my Hungarian Regiments so that the Hungarians can kill You!… In the next days I will let You know my disciplinary punishment”. Swears and rude words followed. He turned towards the Commander of Division and then turned back to Colonel Gheri and said: “ I should spit on an Officers Staff like Yours!! What a shame! …to hell!” As a matter of fact after that he spit. After this review Colonel Gheri acted in the most wise way and replaced himself with the oldest in service of the Battalion Commanders, Major Giraldi. Gheri reached the nearest Infirmary and disappeared for a while in order to ricover from this chock. Two days later arrived the telegram of the 30^th Infantry Division with the punishment disposals of Pflanzer-Baltin: 1) All holiday permits either for Officers or for soldiers are suspended until new order. 2) No Officer or soldier can be promoted to the next rank or for medals. More orders would have been communicated as soon as possible. The day after Major Giraldi called all the Officers Staff in a secret council in order to prepare a protest message to be sent to the Army’s High Command, even if this was prohibited by military law. Major Giraldi said:” You all know, Sirs, what happened. As temporary Commander of the Regiment I want to prepare with You a protest message, we must do it for all our fallen comrades, for their honour and our honour. Are you with me?” Of course everybody was. Major Giraldi asked everybody to keep this secret and to always deny if it comes out that there was a secret council. He asked all the Officers to pretend that they came spontaneously to their Regiment Commander to present their disappointment for the outrageous things which were said about the Officers Staff. The duty to prepare the message was given to Captain August Renelt, a strong and valorous Officer. He prepared the message in a so perfect diplomatic and military way  that no military judge could ever find any politically un correct word. On the 8^th of January there was another secret council, in which the message was read to all the Officers and in which it was decided that it would have been delivered personally by Major Giraldi directly to the Commander of Division. When, on the 10^th of January, the Division Commander got the letter from the hands of Major Giraldi, he called immediately an Officers Council and presented the protest very heavily suggesting to think about what could happen if this would be of public domain. It is known that von Pflanzer-Baltin has been informed about this protest message and blame about him and that all his General’s Staff laughed about him. On the 19^th of the same month the 97^th Regiment was alarmed at 4 a.m. and put on march towards Sniatyn in the battles of Toporoutz and Rarancze. In the end of January a new Regiment Commader took his duty, he arrived with some instructions of the Army Commander. In the first days of February the Regiment was removed from its positions and transferred to Sadagora near Czernowitz for disciplinary reasons. The daily activity was based on drill in the morning from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and the same thing in the afternoon from 2 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. During all these drill hours the whole Officers Staff and the Regiment’s Commander had to be present, independently of the weather conditions. Finally at the end of February arrived a telephonic order in which was said that the Regiment had to be presented in the city of Czernowitz for the 26^th or 27^th at 11 a.m. When His Excellence von Pflanzer-Baltin arrived all the Officers presented themselves in a semicircle. Von Pflanzer Baltin arrived there only with a Major of his Officers Staff and Warrant Officer. He spoke to the Regiment with the following words: ”A really outrageous thing has happened in the whole world’s history. You dared to send a protest to Your highest Commander. I will read now the decision of the Commander of the Army”…a lot of diplomatic and un comprehensive words followed which were far away from the main topic which was the honour and valour of the men and the Officers of the 97^th Infantry Regiment. When he ended his speech he only said:” I will accept the presentation of the Officers and their staff”. Every single Officer, junior Officer and even cadets presented to personally to the Commander of the Army His Excellence General of the Cavalry von Pflanzer-Baltin. He shacked hands and complimented with everyone of them, only who knows von Pflanzer-Baltin, a person that did not even shake hands with Generals, knows what it meant for this man to have to shake his hands even to a junior Officer or a cadet and make his compliments. All the disciplinary disposals have been revoked on the same day. The situation on the eastern front remained calm from Brest-Litowsk to the Rumanian border and for weeks not a single bullet was shot until the Austro-Hungarian attack of Brussilow in June 1916. During this period in April 1916 the Regiment was transferred to Buczacz for a review of the Commander of the 3^rd Army. The Regiment received the highest honours from the Commander who saluted personally every single Company and at the end of the review he called together all the Officers Staff and made his compliments to each Officer. This nice but tragic episode shows how hypocritic the General Staff of the Austro-Hungarian Empire was and how strong can be a word of the Army’s High Command. Later on Major Giraldi has been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and in October 1917, chosen among several Lieutenant Colonels and Colonels, nominated to Commander of the 97^th Infantry Regiment. He guided his Regiment until his sad and cruel end, as a matter of fact when on the 13^th of March 1918 after a short fight against the Bolsheviks in Radjelnaja it entered in Odessa, it already had a good and respected reputation amongst all the other Commands and Regiments.