A gleeful Russian Cossack skewers Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph in Galicia, the Empire's northeastern region isolated from the rest of the country by the Carpathian Mountains. The caption is a play on words echoing the name of the mountain range in telling Franz Joseph, 'it seems your soldiers took to their heels.' After twin defeats in the Battles of Gnila Lipa and Rava Russka, the Austro-Hungarian Army lost the great fortress at Lemberg, and was being driven out of Galicia and back through the Carpathians. Russia's attempts to break through the Carpathians continued through April 1915, with heavy losses on both sides. The Austro-Hungarians, with German support, held.
Parait que tes soldats se CarapathentSeems that your soldiers took to their heelsDix 701Reverse:Dixo-Couleur Paris, Visé Paris, Numéro au Verso.
"In the present case, generals assumed that with crushing numerical superiority and one heavy shell for every square yard of the front—both of them now attained—all would be well. The artillery would pulverise Austrian defences, and the infantry would easily pick up the wreckage. Nine infantry and two cavalry corps were mustered for attack, beginning on 27th December [1915] in eastern Galicia. The attempts when on for a fortnight, in which 50,000 men were lost."
The Russians launched a new offensive in eastern Galicia on December 27, 1915. During the year Russia's production of weapons and shells had finally begun to meet the demands of the war. Despite the improved weaponry, the Russian preparations for the battle were poor.
The Eastern Front, 1914-1917 by Norman Stone, page 223, copyright © 1975 Norman Stone, publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons, publication date: 1975
1915-12-27, 1915, December, Galicia, Bessarabia, Russian offensive, map, Bukovina
