The 3rd Army was formed in August 1914 as part of Austria-Hungary's mobilization following its declaration of war on Serbia and Russia, carrying out the prewar plans for the formation of six field armies.[1] Just as all Austro-Hungarian field armies, it consisted of a headquarters and several corps, along with some unattached units.[2] The 3rd Army initially consisted of the XI and XIV Corps, based in Lemberg (modern day Lviv, Ukraine), and Innsbruck, respectively. In addition there were several divisions that were attached directly to army headquarters. It was placed under the overall command of General der KavallerieRudolf Ritter von Brudermann.[3] Early on in the war the formation took part in the Battle of Galicia in the northeastern part of the Dual Monarchy, where it was part of the Austro-Hungarian force advancing from Lemberg towards the Russian Southwestern Front's positions.[4] On 25 August 1914, they received word of advancing Russian forces near Zlota Lipa river and 3rd Army was ordered to engage them. The clash began on August 26, with what the Austrians believed were small Russian units, but turned out to be eight corps. It was not long before they were forced to retreat, reaching Lemberg on August 27. Although 3rd Army had the time to form a defensive line near the Gnila Lipa river, the advancing Russians outnumbered Bruderman's army three to one and drove them back on August 30, before seizing Lemberg itself in early September. Thus the Austro-Hungarian line had to retreat back to the Carpathians, losing the country's territory east of the mountain range to the Russians.[5][6]
In September 1914, in the aftermath of the defense of Galicia, Bruderman had been replaced as the army commander by Svetozar Boroević von Bojna.[7] Under his command the 3rd Army spent the remaining winter months of that year defending important mountain passes throughout the Carpathians.[8]
1915
Cap badge for 3rd Army soldiers, depicting their offensive in the Carpathians
The 3rd Army, with support of the GermanSouth Army, spearheaded the offensive against Russian positions in the Carpathian Mountains in January 1915 in an attempt to reverse the losses during last year's Galicia debacle. By then it had been built up to include fifteen infantry and four and a half cavalry divisions for the assault, which began on January 23 with the goal of securing the rail and communications hubs of Medzilaborce, Sambir, and Sanok. Despite some early successes against numerically inferior enemy units which allowed them to advance about 38 kilometers, the Habsburg troops suffered from a lack of reinforcements and logistical problems. The mountain winter weather also turned for the worse as the overstretched 3rd Army had to defend its line from Russian counteroffensives, as it occupied a large gap between two important passes on January 26. By early February, the Austro-Hungarian offensive had stalled without reaching the besiegedPrzemyśl fortress, and the Russians remained in control of the strategically important passes while 3rd Army divisions had been reduced to the size of brigades and lower. Thus it ended up losing its numerical advantage. By mid-February the Russian army had regained the initiative while the Austro-Hungarian troop strength had been badly depleted. The remaining men of 3rd Army were subjected to below freezing temperatures and other environmental dangers, lack of supplies, and no possibility of relief. By late February, it lost around 88,000 men—about 75% of its initial strength—and had to finally be reinforced by the newly-formed 2nd Army.[9]
After the fighting in the Carpathians, the 3rd Army was assigned to take part in the Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive in southern Poland and Galicia. It was entrusted with seizing Przemyśl fortress as in the failed offensive earlier in 1915.[8][10] The 3rd and 4th armies ended up retaking the Carpathian passes and took the fortifications outside of Przemyśl in the early days of June, with the fortress itself finally being retaken on 3 June 1915.[11] The 3rd Army was briefly disbanded as its component units were broken up to reinforce other formations.[12] Afterwards, from June until September, the formation was temporarily deactivated.[4]
The 3rd Army was reactivated in early October 1915 for the second invasion of Serbia, as part of Army Group Mackensen, this time under the command of Hermann Kövess von Kövessháza.[4] This army group crossed the Sava–Danube line into Serbia on October 5. The Habsburg troops, along with the Bulgarian forces of the 1st Army, were tasked with driving the main Serbian force into the awaiting German 11th Army. However, Field Marshal Radomir Putnik met the attacking forces while executing a series of retreats that kept most of his strength intact. August von Mackensen's 11th Army entered Belgrade on October 9, while Kövess's 3rd Army pursued the retreating Serbs. The campaign resulted in about 18,000 Habsburg casualties. The Serbs entered Montenegro in an attempt to reach Allied ships on the coast, and Austro-Hungarian supreme commander Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf gave the 3rd Army orders to not stop and to invade the small country as well. Their forces occupied Cetinje, the capital, on 13 January 1916.[13]
1916–18
In mid-1916, the 3rd Army was redeployed to the Italian Front, where it was part of Army Group Archduke Eugen (commanded by Archduke Eugen of Austria), once again led by von Kövess.[4] In the spring of that year, Hötzendorf decided to attempt an offensive in a part of the front away from the Isonzo river area where the main fighting had been occurring. It saw action against the Italians in the Battle of Asiago alongside the 11th Army, which began on 15 May 1916. The assault was initially very successful, pushing 8 kilometers on a front 70 kilometers in length, and then another 10 kilometers before reaching Asiago. However, the Brusilov Offensive in the east forced the Habsburg army command to withdraw some units there, and thus Archduke Eugen's force retreated just 5 kilometers ahead of where they had begun. In total the 3rd and 11th armies had taken some 150,000 casualties.[14]
Anton Ludwig Friedrich August von Mackensen, ennobled as "von Mackensen" in 1899, was a German field marshal. He commanded successfully during World War I of 1914–1918 and became one of the German Empire's most prominent and competent military leaders. After the armistice of November 1918 the victorious Allies interned Mackensen in Serbia for a year. He retired from the army in 1920; in 1933 Hermann Göring made him a Prussian state councillor. During the Nazi era (1933–1945), Mackensen remained a committed monarchist and sometimes appeared at official functions in his First World War uniform. Senior NSDAP members suspected him of disloyalty to the Third Reich, but nothing was proven against him.
The 1st Army was a field army-level command in the ground forces of Austria-Hungary during World War I. The army fought in Galicia and Russian Poland in 1914–15 before being briefly dissolved in the summer of 1916. Shortly afterwards, it was reformed and sent to fight in the Romanian Campaign for the next two years. The 1st Army was demobilized in April 1918 due to its heavy losses, following Romania's surrender.
The Battle of Galicia, also known as the Battle of Lemberg, was a major battle between Russia and Austria-Hungary during the early stages of World War I in 1914. In the course of the battle, the Austro-Hungarian armies were severely defeated and forced out of Galicia, while the Russians captured Lemberg and, for approximately nine months, ruled Eastern Galicia until their defeat at Gorlice and Tarnów.
The Gorlice–Tarnów offensive during World War I was initially conceived as a minor German offensive to relieve Russian pressure on the Austro-Hungarians to their south on the Eastern Front, but resulted in the Central Powers' chief offensive effort of 1915, causing the total collapse of the Russian lines and their retreat far into Russia. The continued series of actions lasted the majority of the campaigning season for 1915, starting in early May and only ending due to bad weather in October.
Generaloberst Arthur Freiherr Arz von Straußenburg was an Austro-Hungarian colonel general and last Chief of the General Staff of the Austro-Hungarian Army. At the outbreak of the First World War, he commanded the 15th Infantry Division. Soon, he was promoted to the head of the 6th Corps and the First Army. He participated on the Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive in 1915 and the countryside of Romania in 1916. In March 1917, he became Chief of the General Staff until his resignation on 3 November 1918.
Hermann Albin Josef Freiherr Kövess von Kövessháza was the final, and completely ceremonial, Commander-in-Chief of the Austro-Hungarian Army. He served as a generally competent and unremarkable commander in the Austro-Hungarian Army and was close to retirement in 1914 when the First World War broke out and he was given a command post.
The 48th Reserve Division was a unit of the Imperial German Army in World War I. The division was formed in September 1914 and organized over the next month, arriving in the line in October. It was part of the first wave of new divisions formed at the outset of World War I, which were numbered the 43rd through 54th Reserve Divisions. The division was part of XXIV Reserve Corps. It was disbanded in 1919 during the demobilization of the German Army after World War I.
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The Battle of Gnila Lipa took place early in the World War I on 29–30 August 1914, when the Imperial Russian Army invaded Galicia and engaged the defending Austro-Hungarian Army. It was part of a larger series of battles known collectively as the Battle of Galicia. The battle ended in a defeat of the Austro-Hungarian forces.
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The 11th Army was an army level command of the German Army in World War I. It was formed in March 1915 in Kassel originally to serve on the Western Front but was transported to Galicia for service on the Eastern Front. The army was dissolved on 8 September 1915, but reformed on 23 September 1915 for the Serbian Campaign. It was finally dissolved on 7 January 1919.
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The 2nd Army, later designated East Army, was a field army-level command of Austro-Hungarian Army that was active during World War I. It was initially formed to take part in the Balkans Campaign before being transferred to the Eastern Front. In the final stages of the war, the army was evacuated from Ukraine before demobilizing in November 1918.
The Austro-Hungarian Fourth Army was an Austro-Hungarian field army that fought during World War I.
Eugen von Falkenhayn was a German General of the Cavalry, commanding officer of the XXII Reserve Corps in World War I and Lord Chamberlain of Empress Auguste Viktoria.
Karl Freiherr von Kirchbach auf Lauterbach, from 1917 Count von Kirchbach auf Lauterbach, was a colonel general of the Austro-Hungarian Army.
The Balkanstreitkräfte, also known as the Balkan Army, was the force raised by Austria-Hungary for its offensive action against Serbia in August 1914, at the start of the First World War.
Andreas Karl Franz Fail, from 1875 Fail-Griessler was an Austro-Hungarian General of Infantry. He was born 25 February 1857 in Graz and died 6 March 1919 in Graz. At the beginning of the First World War he was commander of the 32nd Infantry Troop Division in Syrmia during the Serbian campaign, then from September to November 1914 commanding general of the VII Army Corps, which during this time was deployed with the k.u.k. 2nd and 3rd Armies at the Carpathians.
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