The Austrian army had not made as much progress in aeronautics as those of other nations. There was a depot for dirigibles at Fischamend, about eleven miles southeast of Vienna, but only a few dirigibles were ready for service. These were of the Parsefal type. There were a number of captive balloons. The number of aeroplanes available was very small. A school for teaching aviation had been established at Vienna-Neustadt.
The faces of the soldiers of the Austria-Hungarian army on the Russian frontier denoted many races, but it possessed considerable solidarity. Officers and soldiers recognized alike that they were all under a single head—the emperor. The officers were drawn from all classes of society, and this was also a unifying influence. They were on more intimate relations with their men than the Prussian leaders, and "led" instead of "drove" them. Commands for the whole army were given in German, but otherwise the language varied according to the composition of the various regiments as regarded races. The use of the German language for commands undoubtedly aided in unifying the army.
CHAPTER LXII
GENERAL STRATEGY OF THE CAMPAIGN
The Austrian army faced the Russians on August 11, 1914, with a well-organized strategical plan. Austria, realizing the importance of unity, cohesion, and harmony in her own forces, proposed at the outset of the war to dissipate the strength of her enemy, Russia, by causing an uprising in Poland. The vanguard of Austria's advance along the Vistula consisted of the Galician army corps, made up of Polish soldiers. Along the border, arms and ammunition had been collected for the anticipated insurrection. A proclamation was sent by the Polish associations of Galicia and Posen to their "brethren of Russian Poland." In this, the Poles of Russia were urged to prepare for a rising, but not to attempt it until the Austrian vanguard had arrived and won a first battle. Then arms would be provided for them.
Russian strategy checkmated this plan. The czar issued a proclamation promising home rule to Poland as soon as Germany and Austria had been repulsed. With this home rule he also offered self-government and freedom of law and religion, and the reconstitution of the old Polish territory by means of the annexation of Posen and Galicia. This move divided the Polish leaders and stifled the incipient revolution.
The spy system won and lost the first strategical battles before a shot was fired. There is no doubt that the Austrians before the war knew almost as much about Russia's preparations as did the Russians themselves. The Austrian system of espionage was elaborate and accurate, and the Austrians profited by that of Germany also. Nevertheless, Russia surprised her foes and allies alike by the rapidity with which she got her troops into action on the offensive once war was on.
The Russian army was handicapped by lack of railroad facilities, but she made the most of them. Her total mileage was about 25,000, her system being inferior to that of Germany or Austria. Germany's was by far the best of the three. Many of the Russian roads had but one line of track, their construction was inferior, stations were farther apart, and the speed of trains was comparatively slow. They could not carry as much traffic as those of either of her two adversaries. The gauge of the Russian roads was 5 feet, so that the rolling stock could not be used on German and Austrian roads, which had a uniform gauge of 4 feet 8-½ inches. The management of Russian railroads was too complicated for army purposes. But Sukhomlinoff simplified it and instituted schools in which army officers were instructed in putting soldiers on cars rapidly and routing trains to the best possible advantage. This and other activities of Sukhomlinoff, along the line of reform and improvement, were in no small measure responsible for the rapidity with which Galicia was invaded.
Austria's military problem was a difficult one from the start. Her ally, Germany, could not extend much military assistance until a decisive blow had been struck in the western theatre of war, but Austria, having a million men in readiness and being strong in artillery, was expected to assume the offensive from the start and attack the imperfectly mobilized Russian forces in western Poland. An immediate offensive was required, because she must hold Galicia at all cost.
There were three places where Russia might cross the frontier of Galicia—west of the point where the waters of the San empty into the Vistula, between the Upper Bug and the San, or along the line of the River Sereth on the east. There was great danger in a combined movement by Russia against the first and third sections of the frontier which would cut off and surround the forces of Austria which were based on Przemysl and Lemberg. In order to avoid this peril, apparently the safest as well as boldest plan was to proceed northward against the fortresses of Warsaw. Such an advance would in all probability prevent the armies of Russia from crossing the Vistula and postpone any attack against the Sereth from the east.
Austria was staking the success of such tactics on the incompleteness of mobilization by the Russians, and therein she proved to be in error. Indeed, the quickness of Russia's military movements amazed the entire world, with the exception of her Generalissimo, Grand Duke Nicholas, and his aides and advisors.
At the outbreak of the Great War, Nicholas was in command of the St. Petersburg military district. Under him was a Corps of Guards, and the First and Eighteenth Army Corps from 120,000 to 150,000 men. He was a soldier of the first rank and an able strategist. He had familiarized himself with the armies of other European nations. He long had planned for the emergency that now confronted him.
In the rapid movement of the Russian forces, he was aided chiefly by General Vladimir Sukhomlinoff. The latter saw that one of the chief defects in the Russian army, as disclosed by the Japanese War, was the slowness of her railroad operations, and some time before war was declared he had set himself to improving conditions. He established a school of railroading for officers where the rapid loading of troops on cars and the general speeding up of transportation were studied scientifically. The good results of such work were apparent at the very outset of hostilities.
As we have seen, France was saved in the first campaign in the west by the sturdy resistance of little Belgium to the advance of the Germans through her territory, so Russia now helped to save France a second time by the rapidity of her campaign. While German troops still were investing Liege in Belgium, the Russian troops were registering their first triumph at Eydtkuhnen, and upon the very day that Ghent fell into the hands of the Germans, Russia began her strong offensive in East Prussia. By such means were a large part of the German forces, intent on taking Paris, diverted from attack on the western war arena to protect the eastern frontier from Russian menace. The relief which Russia thus gave her Allies was invaluable. The battle of Mons was over in Belgium and the retreat to the Marne in France had begun, and the Germans were almost in sight of the French capital, when, save for Russia's timely blow on the Polish frontier, the Germans, many war critics believe, would have reached Paris.
When the Germans in the west were striving toward Calais on the English Channel as their goal, it was the Russian offensive in Galicia that forced Germany to transfer more army corps to the eastern front in order to stop the tide that threatened to overflow Austria. Thus the French and British were able to stop the advance that threatened to engulf them on the western front and given time to organize themselves for a strenuous contest.
The strategic problem which confronted Russia was much more complicated than that which had to be solved either by Germany or Austria. It was quite evident to her General Staff that at least during the first few months of hostilities Germany would devote her whole time and attention to attack in the western arena, the French being at the time her most dangerous enemy. Except for a small part of the Austrian forces left to oppose the Serbians and Montenegrins, the whole army of Austria was depended upon to oppose the Russian advance.
The important strategic condition that confronted Russia was this: Her most dangerous enemy was Germany, but in order to attack Germany it was necessary that Austria's army should first be destroyed.
The eastern theatre of the war has been described in a preceding chapter and it will be recalled that for about two hundred miles from east to west