Zweibund — the Dual Alliance — Germany and Austria-Hungary united, were the core of the Central Powers, and here join hands. The bars of Germany's flag border the top left, and those of the Habsburg Austrian Empire and ruling house the bottom right.
Schulter an SchulterUntrennbar vereintin Freud und in Leid!'Shoulder to shoulderInseparably united in joy and in sorrow!
"16th July [1915], MakovIt is raining heavily. Shells are already exploding nearby. Refugees are walking and driving from all directions. We are ordered to pull out of Makov immediately. It turned out that two of the injured are actually dead, so they were taken to the cemetery and I think they managed to bury them. The battle is raging, everything is shaking. In Makov there is a crush of people, an endless procession of carts, no way to get out of here fast. Screaming, noise and crying, everything is confused. We are supposed to be retreating, but in two hours we only make it down one street. In the end, we hardly make it to the bridge, where the longest queue is. Everyone is desperate to avoid being taken prisoner by the Germans. We cross the bridge and just about reach the road when the shells start exploding all over town. Several fall next to the bridge. We march six and a half miles in an hour and turn off to the side of the road to await further orders."
Entry for July 16, 1915 from the journal of Vasily Mishnin, part of the Russian forces and refugees retreating before the German offensive launched on July 13.
Intimate Voices from the First World War by Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, page 106, copyright © 2003 by Svetlana Palmer and Sarah Wallis, publisher: Harper Collins Publishers, publication date: 2003
1915-07-16, 1915, July
