Poland in Nov/Dec 1914
Jan. 7th, 2021 02:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nebrisThe German thrust against Łódź was assigned to Scheffer’s XXV Reserve Corps. One of its infantry brigades had been assigned elsewhere, and it was now reinforced byLitzmann’s 3rd Guards Infantry Division. The group was to march on Brzeziny, about 12 miles (20km) due east of Łódź. For Litzmann, it was a welcome move, as his division was no longer part of the Guards Reserve Corps; he had not enjoyed the experience of working with Gallwitz as his corps commander. He had served as a young officer in the Guards in his youth, and as his men marched to the front, he felt proud of their attitude:
"Determined to take part in the decisive fighting, we force-marched an average of 50km (30 miles) a day and in doing so crossed the ‘black earth’ country, where the ground was sodden from the rain, guns and other vehicles sinking up to their axles and being laboriously set in motion again by the efforts of the men. From sunrise to sunset we marched on with the utmost exhausting efforts. But the morale of my solders was wonderful! They were advancing again!During these days, my magnificent troops endeared themselves to me forever."
Such comments are almost completely absent from the memoirs of senior officers in the armies of Russia and Austria-Hungary, and say a great deal about the differences in military culture between the various nations on the Eastern Front.
Prit Buttar, 'Collision of Empires'
"Determined to take part in the decisive fighting, we force-marched an average of 50km (30 miles) a day and in doing so crossed the ‘black earth’ country, where the ground was sodden from the rain, guns and other vehicles sinking up to their axles and being laboriously set in motion again by the efforts of the men. From sunrise to sunset we marched on with the utmost exhausting efforts. But the morale of my solders was wonderful! They were advancing again!During these days, my magnificent troops endeared themselves to me forever."
Such comments are almost completely absent from the memoirs of senior officers in the armies of Russia and Austria-Hungary, and say a great deal about the differences in military culture between the various nations on the Eastern Front.
Prit Buttar, 'Collision of Empires'
