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528 Lutsk : The End of an Illusion (II)
General Pflanzer-Baltin. Here, as in the case of the adjoining formations to the north,
there had been initial confidence that the Russian onslaught could be successfully with-
stood, but then the same happened as with the 4th Army. ‘The woeful Ruthenians have
deserted once more in droves’, observed the German side.1239 The decisive breakthrough
of the Russians had in fact succeeded against the 79th Honvéd Infantry Brigade, which
had replaced troops that had been withdrawn to Tyrol because of their particular apti-
tude in battle. Of the 5,200 men in the brigade, 4,600 fell, were wounded or were taken
prisoner. It was a similar story with the 42nd Honvéd Infantry Division, which had a
high proportion of Croats. Around 7,000 soldiers surrendered.1240 ‘Our position south
of the Dniester was transformed into a heap of rubble and wreckage as a result of the
barrage of heavy artillery lasting several hours across an expanse of more than 6,000
m. […] Our brave Honvéd troops were literally buried, and when the barrage ended
and the curtain fire began, entire columns could be seen being marched off into Rus-
sian captivity’, established the army chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Zeynek.1241 The
troops melted away ; there could be no thought of an orderly, staggered retreat. A large
part of the troops in the first line were taken prisoner, and after contact had been lost
between the individual units, a unified battle command ceased to exist. Pflanzer-Bal-
tin’s army was leaderless. A new front could not be established until 11 June.1242
A few days earlier, the Adjutant General of Archduke Friedrich had been called
to Vienna to submit a report to the Military Chancellery of the Emperor.1243 General
Bolfras was to tell him at the request of the Emperor that the latter wished to be in-
formed of events more promptly and more comprehensively. He could read more in
the daily newspaper Fremdenblatt than in the so-called imperial reports of the Army
High Command. Herberstein, however, was only able to report of a catastrophe in the
making. He had no knowledge of the details. On 13 June, the Deputy Chief of the
Military Chancellery, Major General Marterer himself travelled to Cieszyn. There were
murmurings that this mission would end in the same way as that of Lieutenant Colonel
Friedrich von Beck following the Battle of Königgrätz. It had also been Marterer who
had initiated Potiorek’s dismissal. For the time being, however, there were no further
dramatic personnel measures. Marterer may, however, have been informed of the ac-
cusations made behind closed doors against the ‘household’ of Cieszyn. The formula
‘hibernation, women, hunt, concerts’ sought to explain why catastrophe threatened in
the east, although the Russians had already long since been denied the capacity to
attack.1244 Some commanders, such as that of the 7th Army, General Pflanzer-Bal-
tin, had been joined by his wife, whilst others had brought their entire family to the
headquarters. This did not necessarily mean that anyone had lost sight of his duties as
a result, but it certainly left behind a bad impression. And when the family members
of various high-ranking personalities were hurriedly returned with automobiles, whilst
the wounded were left behind, then it was nothing short of a scandal.1245 The following
THE FIRST WORLD WAR
and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918
- Titel
- THE FIRST WORLD WAR
- Untertitel
- and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918
- Autor
- Manfried Rauchensteiner
- Verlag
- Böhlau Verlag
- Ort
- Wien
- Datum
- 2014
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-205-79588-9
- Abmessungen
- 17.0 x 24.0 cm
- Seiten
- 1192
- Kategorien
- Geschichte Vor 1918
Inhaltsverzeichnis
- 1 On the Eve 11
- 2 Two Million Men for the War 49
- 3 Bloody Sundays 81
- 4 Unleashing the War 117
- 5 ‘Thank God, this is the Great War!’ 157
- 6 Adjusting to a Longer War 197
- 7 The End of the Euphoria 239
- 8 The First Winter of the War 283
- 9 Under Surveillance 317
- 10 ‘The King of Italy has declared war on Me’ 355
- 11 The Third Front 383
- 12 Factory War and Domestic Front, 1915 413
- 13 Summer Battle and ‘Autumn Swine’ 441
- 14 War Aims and Central Europe 469
- 15 South Tyrol : The End of an Illusion (I) 497
- 16 Lutsk :The End of an Illusion (II) 521
- 17 How is a War Financed ? 555
- 18 The Nameless 583
- 19 The Death of the Old Emperor 607
- 20 Emperor Karl 641
- 21 The Writing on the Wall 657
- 22 The Consequences of the Russian February Revolution 691
- 23 Summer 1917 713
- 24 Kerensky Offensive and Peace Efforts 743
- 25 The Pyrrhic Victory : The Breakthrough Battle of Flitsch-Tolmein 769
- 26 Camps 803
- 27 Peace Feelers in the Shadow of Brest-Litovsk 845
- 28 The Inner Front 869
- 29 The June Battle in Veneto 895
- 30 An Empire Resigns 927
- 31 The Twilight Empire 955
- 32 The War becomes History 983
- Epilogue 1011
- Afterword 1013
- Acknowledgements and Dedication 1019
- Notes 1023
- Selected Printed Sources and Literature 1115
- Index of People and Places 1155