Map of the the Balkan Front — Germany's Southeast Front — with the mountain passes between Austria-Hungary and Romania. From the Reichsarchiv history of the wars in Serbia and Romania, Herbstschlacht in Macedonien; Cernabogen 1916.
The capitals of Belgrade (Serbia), Bucharest (Romania), Sofia (Bulgaria), and Constantinople (Turkey) are prominent, as is Salonica, Greece, the Allied entry port into the country.

Übersichtskarte der Süd-Ost-Front

Skizze I.

Erklärungen:

Oesterreich Ungarn

Landesgrenzen



Overview map of the south-east front

Sketch I.

Explanations:

Austria-Hungary

Borders

Other views: Larger, Larger

Tuesday, August 7, 1917

"It was a dull morning. We packed our belongings, wrote letters and mended some of our torn clothing. Our head doctor arrived, and told us that plans had been altered and that our flying detachment was to go south into Roumania. We were delighted! Roumania was our ally and Russian troops had already joined forces with the Roumanian Army and were carrying on a slow but successful campaign. So once again, we were buoyed up with high hopes, knowing that a new period of work was about to begin for us. But we did not overlook the stern fact that the Germans had driven the Russian Armies out of Galicia and beaten them back over the Russian frontier. It was the truth — a terrible tragic truth, and had to be faced. All day long we heard distant firing, despite the fact that the Russian retreat had reached an end."

Quotation Context

Entry for August 7 (July 25, Old Style) from the diary of Florence Farmborough, an English nurse serving with the Russian Red Cross. On July 31, her unit had at first unwittingly crossed from Austria-Hungary into Russia in the retreat following the collapse of Russia's Kerensky Offensive. A week earlier, on July 24, the Romanians, with Russian support, had launched their Mărăşti offensive in Moldavia, the only part of the country not occupied by Central Power forces. The German counter-attack, the Battle of Mărăşeşti, began on August 6, 1917. Galicia was the northeastern region of Austria-Hungary.

Source

Nurse at the Russian Front, a Diary 1914-18 by Florence Farmborough, page 297, copyright © 1974 by Florence Farmborough, publisher: Constable and Company Limited, publication date: 1974

Tags

1917-08-07, 1917, August, Romania, Galicia, Macedonia, Reichsarchiv, Autumn battle in Macedonia, Cernabogen 1916, Balkan Front, The Balkan Front