My War Memories, 1914-1918
lently for so long, needed to be relieved by those divisions from the old front of the Commander-in-Chief in the East on which less heavy demands had been made. The work of carrying out the relief meant a very tedious business, as it could only be done train for train. Our forces everywhere were so weak that, in view of the critical situation, whole divisions could not be taken at once from any one place. This was impossible in any case, as the Commander-in-Chief in the East had continually to release more and more troops for Rumania.
Archduke Charles' new army group comprised the troops in the Carpathians, which were formed into the Austrian 7th Army, and the two armies to be formed in Transylvania. The northern one, the 1st Austrian Army, under General von Arz, was to be deployed on both sides of Maros Vasarhely as far back as Klausenburg, and the southern, the German Qth Army, under General von Falkenhayn, between Karlsburg and Miihl-bach, with small detachments further south as far as Orsova. In this most important sector General von Falkenhayn had an opportunity of giving practical proof of his military ability as a leader of troops in the service of his country.
At the end of August and the beginning of September, in East Galicia and the Carpathians the Russians were putting heavy pressure on what was then the Army Group of the Archduke Charles. The result was the gradual withdrawal of General Count von Bothmer's army from the Zlota Lipa behind the Narajovka, and a further loss of ground by the Austrian troops in the Carpathians, particularly near the Tartar pass and on the frontier of the Bukowina. As the security of this front was a vital necessity for any operation against the Rumanian army in Transylvania, there was nothing for it but to send at least three divisions, which were on their way from the hard-pressed Western front, to Transylvania, Boehm-Ermolli and the Archduke Charles' Army Groups on the Dniester and in the Carpathians. I agreed to this with a heavy heart, I remember the bitter feelings which surged up within me against the Austrian army at the thought of our difficult position in the West and the ' East, and the tasks our troops were called upon to perform on
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