Page - 188 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

188 ‘Thank God, this is the Great War!’ The Serbs recognised the direction of attack of the Imperial and Royal Balkan forces, namely Valjevo, and began to encircle the city. This made it necessary to use an in- creasing number of formations of the 2nd Army, and as a result, the corps of this army were caught up in severe fighting just at the time at which they were due to depart for Galicia. However, even this was unable to save the 5th Army. It began to withdraw and was thrown back to the borders of the Monarchy. By 24 August, it had returned to its original positions. In the space of less than two weeks, 600 officers and over 22,000 men in the Imperial and Royal Army had been killed, wounded or taken prisoner. The 6th Army, which was positioned to the south of the 5th Army, had only been able to take up the offensive on 20 August due to difficulties with the terrain, and was also intentionally held back by Potiorek in order to then conduct an operational attack on the flank of the Serbian Army. Yet this was not to be. The 6th Army achieved a first success on 19 August by taking Pljevlja during the advance on Montenegro. However, its offensive then came to a standstill and the Montenegrins forced the Imperial and Royal troops back out of the country. Within just a few days, therefore, the vision of a revenge campaign had come to nothing. However, a severe dispute arose between the command of the Balkan forces and the Army High Command, during which it tran- spired that the Military Chancellery of the Emperor was also willing and indeed keen to play a role in the parallelogram of power. Here, the question was whether the Army High Command should have unlimited authority, or whether a second and third power would be involved. Conrad, who had already become aware of his strategic mistake at the beginning of August, had from the middle of the month sent sharp-worded telegrams urging the removal of the Imperial and Royal 2nd Army and demanding that aside from the Bu- dapest IV Corps and the 29th Infantry Division, no formation of this army in the Bal- kans should continue to be thrown into the battle. It was of no use. Potiorek reported time and again that it was vital that the troops of the 2nd Army be used if defeat was to be avoided. On 20 August, he finally demanded full deployment of the army. If all parts of the 2nd and 6th Armies were not to go on the offensive immediately in order to compensate for the victories achieved by the Serbs, there were likely to be catastrophic consequences for the territories of the Monarchy inhabited by Serbs. The response from the Army High Command stated succinctly that the suggestion for using the 2nd Army in the Balkans could not be considered further, and that the IV Corps and the 29th Infantry Division could also be provided only temporarily.446 However, the Army High Command was unable to assert its authority over the Bal- kan High Command. In Vienna, too, the vision of a revenge campaign and the rapid overthrow of the troublemaker in the Balkans had not yet been abandoned. Since the Army High Command so clearly met with resistance, however, and remained restricted in its powers of authority, while the Viennese central authorities were quite obviously