Hardly ever did they see the men at the front or where the bullets whistled.

During the war the troops learned to _hate_ the General Staff.

It was very different in the German army.
The German General Staffs exacted much, but they also achieved much; above all, they exposed themselves freely and set an example.
Ludendorff, sword in hand, took Liege, accompanied by a couple of men! In Austria archdukes were put into leading posts for which they were quite unsuited.

Some of them were utterly incompetent; the Archdukes Friedrich, Eugen, and Joseph formed three exceptions.

The first of these in particular very rightly looked upon his post not as that of a leader of operations, but as a connecting link between us and Germany, and between the army and the Emperor Francis Joseph.