Page - 452 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

452 Factory War and Domestic Front, 1915 people who were suitable for fighting at the front in the base area and in the hinterland. Since the second contingent of the Landsturm had until then not yet been enlisted, this measure also signified a further increase in the war effort. At the same time, the large-scale staging operations around Vienna and Budapest in the bridgeheads located there were also completed. The soldiers in the protective position in Vienna had anyway already been used for all possible purposes, although now only in some cases for military objectives. In 1915, they had gathered a large nettle harvest, for example, from which the stems were then delivered to a spinning factory in Komárom (Komorn), where the fibres were used to make fabric. Now, however, the bridgehead garrisons were marched to the front. Conrad calculated that despite all the shortages for his ‘black-yellow’ offensive, he would not only have sufficient troops, namely 38½ infantry and 8½ cavalry divisions. They totalled around half as much again as the Russians in the 8th Army.1077 In order to provide coverage, countless labour battalions were again put to use. Wherever no men were available now, since in some areas the Austrians were on enemy territory, women were also used to a greater extent. The ‘requisitioned’ female farm workers constructed reserve fortifications. They dug the trenches through fields and forests, ‘staunchly and without a sound with their heavy shovels’, as the painter Ludwig Hesshaimer wrote. ‘Here, the women dug coverage ; as the war willed it, their own men would die behind it.’1078 On 26 August 1915, the attack began. The Imperial and Royal armies took Rivne and were able to capture Lutsk on 31 August. Brusilov withdrew across the Styr River. The Imperial and Royal 2nd Army (under Böhm-Ermolli) joined the advance. Conrad urged the army commanders not to attack frontally, but to encircle on one side. Now, the aim was to implement old operational principles of the Imperial and Royal Army and to attack the flank. The Imperial and Royal 1st Army under General of Artillery Puhallo and the army group under General of Infantry Roth were to realise this sin- gle-sided encirclement, which extended far to the north. However, Conrad was dissat- isfied with the progress of the operation, and the withdrawal of the Russians eastwards confirmed him in this view. On 28 August, his aide-de-camp already noted : ‘In East Galicia, the Russians are retreating from our attack. One does not have the impression that fierce fighting is taking place, the effect of the operation against Lutsk is making itself felt. Puhallo and Roth are operating so poorly, so frontally, that [the] Chief is furious in the evenings.’1079 The Army High Command then attempted to interfere ever more strongly in the command of the 1st Army and Army Group Roth. The Commander of the 4th Army, General of Infantry Archduke Joseph Ferdinand, received the command over the entire north flank, and Puhallo was from now on to command the 1st Army. Even so, the Russians appeared to be not in the least deterred, established their positions time and