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!
"The fortress of Novo-Georgievsk, the last Russian rampart in Poland, is in the hands of the Germans. The whole garrison, approximately 85,000 men, has been captured."
Entry for August 20, 1915 from the memoirs of Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia. German forces had taken the fortress of Novo-Georgievsk the prior day. The success of the German-Austro-Hungarian Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive — begun on May 2 — had broken the Russian line, driven Russian forces from the Carpathians, and nearly driven Russia from its Polish lands. Russian supplies of shells, rifles, and ammunition were inadequate, and their retreat was not yet over.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. II by Maurice Paléologue, page 53, publisher: George H. Doran Company
1915-08-20, 1915, August, Novo Georgievsk, Poland
