On the front line of Galicia, due to Kant's greed and reckless advance, the three armies of 650,000 Austro-Hungarian army were defeated under the counterattack of the Russian army, which had an advantage in numbers.

In the early stages of the Battle of Silesia, the Austro-Hungarian 1 and 4th Army and the Russian 4th Army launched a fierce battle around the border town of Krasnik. Under the attack of the Austro-Hungarian superior forces, the Russian 4th Army suffered heavy losses. On August 27, the Austro-Hungarian army broke into the city of Krasnik. Due to the breakthrough of the central front, the Russian army was forced to retreat. The Austro-Hungarian army broke into Russia's territory 120 kilometers, threatening the Lublin and Haiwum front line, and began to shell the Kiev-Warsaw railway, which is crucial to Russia. The Austro-Hungarian 4th Army turned to the right and drove General Pravi's Russian 5th Army across the Bug River, forcing it to retreat into Russia's mainland. Then he turned around and confronted the Russian 3rd Army, preparing to cooperate with the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army to siege Lublin.

The Russian army sent the 9th Army from Warsaw to reinforce Lublin. The commander of the Southwest Front of Russia, Ivanov, despite Lublin being besieged by the Austro-Hungarian army, decided to use the 8th Army of the new force and the 3rd Army, which had little loss, to take advantage of the opportunity that the 2nd Army of the Austro-Hungarian Army had not yet been in place to directly attack the rear center of the Austro-Hungarian Army and Limburg (Lviv), the capital of Galicia.

On August 28, the Russian army began a full-scale counterattack. At this time, the 3rd Austro-Hungarian Army of the 3rd Austro-Hungarian Army had a total of 12 divisions, scattered on the nearly 200-kilometer-long front, which was very weak. The Russian army divided the 3rd Austro-Hungarian Army from the middle, and the 3rd Army swept southeast, trying to suppress eight Austro-Hungarian divisions to Romania. Brusilov commanded the 8th Russian Army to concentrate 15 divisions to attack Limburg, and the Austro-Hungarian defenders in Limburg had only 4 divisions.

The Austro-Hungarian defense line collapsed under the attack of the superior Russian army. The Romanians of the 12th Army of the 3rd Army collapsed first. They abandoned their weapons and fled to their national motherland, Romania, like flocks. Then the Italians of the 3rd Army of the Austro-Hungarian Army and the Ukrainians of the 11th Army also began to flee.

General Bodman, the commander of the 3rd Austro-Hungarian Army, ordered the elite 14th Army to defend Limburg to the death. This decision ultimately ruined the elite Austrian troops. 200,000 Austro-Hungarian defenders were surrounded by Russian troops in Limburg. While the Russian army besieged Limburg, the follow-up troops poured into the Galician area like a tide.

The Austro-Hungarian Staff Headquarters ordered the 2nd Army, which had just arrived in Galicia, to counterattack quickly and lift the siege of Limburg.

This was another very stupid decision. The Austro-Hungarian 2nd Army had just arrived and was extremely tired. The Russian 3rd Army had just been repaired, and the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army had collapsed. At this time, a rush to counterattack was equivalent to using a 2nd Army to launch an attack on the Russian 3rd and 8th armies.

General Brushinov, commander of the 8th Army of the Russian Army, showed his talent as a famous general. He left five divisions to continue to surround Limburg, then turned 10 divisions to the southwest, and fought with the 3rd Army to fight the Austro-Hungarian 2nd Army. The result was no suspense. Under the advantageous Russian army, the Austro-2nd Army was defeated, with nearly 40,000 casualties and captured.

As the rear route was cut off, the Austro-Hungarian 1st and 4th Army abandoned the siege of Lublin and began to retreat. The Russian 4th and 5th Army followed and pursued. At this time, the Austro-Hungarian army carried out a relatively beautiful maneuver, bypassing Krazvik and retreated from northwest of Limburg into Galicia.

On September 3, the hopeless Limburg defenders surrendered.

Due to the defeat on the Eastern Front, on September 17, just over a dozen days after the war of Sermia, His Royal Highness announced that he would serve as the commander-in-chief of the Austrian army on the Eastern Front and began to set out to the Galician front. He also acted with him as the 6th Army and the 7th Army, which had just added four Croatian garrison divisions.

Admiral Kovis ran to Vitica specifically to ask Li Haidn for the next action plan, and he felt something was wrong. Now he only had the 5th Army composed of third-rate troops, and he was not sure about attacking the Seychelles-Black coalition, which had more than 200,000 people.

"You have to do nothing, General." Lee Hayden understood his concerns, "just don't let the Serbs cross the Danube. Thanks to their excellent defense, you will receive a medal after the battle on the Eastern Front."

"But what should I do if Baron Hetsendorf ordered an attack?" Coves was worried about it.

"Arson shot is also an attack, General." Lee Haydn blinked, "I believe you have enough shells."

"Yes, yes, I understand." Coves breathed a sigh of relief. As long as he didn't let him attack, everything would be easy.

...

The situation on the entire Eastern Front has been deteriorating.

When Lieutenant General von Stelz met the Grand Duke of Istria, the Crown Prince and the newly appointed commander-in-chief of the Austro-Hungarian Army was standing beside a long list of military trains and losing his temper.

This is a small station in Moravia called Brodir. The soldiers are jumping out of the carriage and piled rifles and backpacks next to the railway tracks. Then several people gather together and shrank their necks and chatted in the cold autumn wind. The railway is surrounded by soldiers, and the field cooks are busy making fires and cooking.

"Report to General, Cavalry Lieutenant General von Stelz reports to you!" The new chief of staff of the Austrian General of the Eastern Front saluted to the crown prince with a serious face, but then his face became casual. "Thank God, I finally caught up with you." The crown prince's former chief of staff Bolojevic went to the 3rd Army, and Li Haidn asked the General Staff to transfer his friends who served in the 2nd Army to his side.

"Okay, Walgon, if you still sit on it, I guess you have to wait for me in Galicia for ten days." Li Haydn glanced at the Stevet convertible car that Stelz was riding, and continued to complain, "The men in charge of logistics in the General Staff should be replaced. Look, this train is not as fast as the carriages. The 2nd Mountain Infantry Division of Tyrol, who marched in carriages and cars, has arrived in Velca. I am now two days behind them. Look at these troops, there are no food trucks on them, and my soldiers have to stop and cook on both sides of the railway every six hours. In order to gain military strategic initiative, the Empire built six railways across the Carpathians to Galicia. Could it be used to race against carriages?"

"There is no need to be so excited, Your Highness, this is reality." Stelz shrugged his shoulders and looked at both sides. The 7th Army built by His Royal Highness is really interesting. Apart from being on the playground, he has almost never had the habit of ranking, and looks more like a group of mobs.

I heard that a few days ago, General Condra encountered a unit of the 7th Army Marine Division on the road. He once asked the officers why they did not let the soldiers line up. Unexpectedly, the Marine officer replied: "Report to the sir, Your Highness, the Crown Prince, forbids us to line up in neat rows during the march, but to maintain a fighting posture at all times." Condra was so angry that he complained at the front-line headquarters that the Crown Prince was "making trouble" and using war as a joke.

Stelz was very curious. The force that Kondra denied "nonsense" was extremely brave on the battlefield of Sermia. According to statistics, one of their regiments had only less than four hundred men left in the defensive battle and still insisted on fighting on the positions. This situation is unimaginable in any army.

Stelz followed the 7th Army to the Galician front amid the complaints and accusations of the crown prince.
Chapter completed!