Page - 194 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

194 ‘Thank God, this is the Great War!’ plan was in fact to continue waiting, on 24 August, the so-called ‘battle near Kraśnik’ unfolded, which involved the 1st Army, and which led to victory for the Austro-Hun- garian troops over the Russian 4th Army. This was nothing particularly spectacular, but still something that was very useful in helping to consign to the past the defeat of the Imperial and Royal armies in the Balkans, which had been reported a few days previously. The fact that individual regiments had lost over 40 per cent of their men, such as Infantry Regiment No. 76 (‘Ödenburg’) was not considered worthy of mention. Everyone had fought courageously. However, the majority of the Russian forces was not amassed here in the north. It was located further south, and met with the 3rd Army under General Brudermann, which was situated to the east of Lviv. The army had been subjected to a particularly long journey as a result of the relocation to the rear of the detraining zones, and had only mustered in its deployment zone on 26 August, after a seven-day train journey followed by equally long marches on foot on poor roads.462 The piecemeal integration of the 2nd Army into the front, and attempts to use those parts of this army that arrived to immediately support the 3rd Army, led to nothing. And while the Russians rolled out their main forces, the urgently needed Imperial and Royal divisions were sitting in trains. Reports from the War Press Bureau claimed that Lviv was still ‘firmly in our hands’. But not for long ! It didn’t help much that the Imperial and Royal 4th Army under the former Imperial and Royal war minister, Moritz von Auffenberg, was finally able to push back the Russians between 26 and 31 August and achieve victory over the Russian 5th Army in the Komarów area. This only led to further fragmentation of the Austrian forces, which at this precise moment should have been concentrating as far as possible. The attacking force of the Imperial and Royal armies on the north-eastern front was already flagging on 30 August. Conrad blamed the lack of German support for the situation. ‘As a result’, he wrote to the Chief of the Military Chancellery of the Emperor, ‘we bear the entire burden alone, and to the east of Lviv have a superior enemy around our necks. We do not owe the Germans any particular thanks.’463 Artur Bolfras was shocked. He began to consider aloud whether a separate peace should not be made with the Russians as quickly as possible.464 Clearly, the Chief of the Military Chancellery of the Emperor already wanted to cut and run just two weeks after the start of the war. However, the Emperor would hear nothing of it. He had wanted the war, and so it should be waged. Even so, it was only too evident that the military machine had come to a standstill. While the battle already raged around Lviv, Conrad sought for the first time to obtain assistance from German troops. Two corps were to be moved in the direction of Przemyśl. On 2 September, Archduke Friedrich repeated this request, and sent a telegraph on the matter directly to the Kaiser. This also proved fruitless. Ul- timately, the daily requests for German support troops led to a sense of aversion among