Today 109 years ago, on August 23, 1914, the Battle of Galicia began, also known as the Battle of Lemberg, a key battle on the Eastern Front between Russian and Austro-Hungarian forces.
Austro-Hungarian Chief-of-Staff Conrad von Hötzendorf sought to defeat the Russians quickly. He planned to attack at the Russians' weakest point, that being in the region of Galicia, allocating some 950,000 troops for the offensive. To meet the anticipated assault, the Russians deployed some 1,200,000 of their own troops in Galicia.
Despite being heavily outnumbered, on August 23, 1914, the A-H attacked the Russians at Kraśnik, at the northern part of the front, pushing them back. On August 26, the A-H attacked at Komarów, also in the north, and also achieving a breakthrough here. They took 26,000 Russian prisoners.
At Gnila Lipa, at the southern part of the front, the A-H attacked on August 29, despite being outnumbered by 60,000 troops and 500 heavy guns. This resulted in a Russian victory, forcing the A-H to fall back.
Believing the Russians had been thoroughly beaten in the north at Kraśnik and Komarów, von Hötzendorf sent troops from the north to the south, where the A-H were retreating. He was terribly mistaken.
On September 2, just as the A-H were relocating their troops, the Russians attacked at Rawa in the north and completely broke through the A-H lines. The fighting was fierce and bloody; the A-H suffered 120,000 casualties and the Russians 60,000.
Von Hötzendorf quickly withdrew troops from the Serbian Front, but it was too late. The A-H lines completely collapsed and by September 11 the Russians had advanced 100 miles to the Carpathian Mountains, the last obstacle before the Hungarian border.
In the Battle of Galicia, the A-H had suffered up to an immense 450,000 casualties: 220,000 wounded, 130,000 prisoners and 100,000 killed. The Russians had suffered 250,000 casualties, 40,000 of these being prisoners.

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