End of the Austro-Hungarian retreat in Galicia

At the turn of September and October 1914 the great retreat of the Austro-Hungarian army in Galicia came to an end. Begun on 11 September after the defeat in the Battle of Galicia, it had taken the troops of the Habsburg monarchy more than 150 kilometres westwards, from the San to the Dunajec and its tributary the Biała. On this line, east of Kraków, the armies halted at the end of September. The Russians, exhausted themselves and with their supplies delayed, did not press hard. Their forward units reached the Wisłoka and the Carpathian passes, while behind the front line, in encircled Przemyśl, a fortress garrison many thousands strong held out.

The Chief of the General Staff, Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, used a few days of quiet to rebuild the army. The shattered regiments were brought up to strength with march battalions from home, divisions were reorganised, and weapons, ammunition and uniforms were delivered to replace those lost during the retreat. For the first time in weeks the soldiers could rest, although the shortage of experienced officers and NCOs, killed or captured in August and September, could not quickly be made good.

Most important, however, was that Austria-Hungary was not left alone. To the north, in Upper Silesia and the southern part of the Kingdom of Poland, a new German Ninth Army under Paul von Hindenburg was concentrating, made up largely of corps transferred from East Prussia. On 28 September it set off through the Kielce region towards the middle Vistula. Its right wing was to cooperate with the Austro-Hungarian First Army of General Viktor Dankl, which had been shifted to the north bank of the Vistula.

Conrad decided to use the German offensive for a counter-offensive of his own. His armies were to advance eastwards from the Dunajec, throw the Russians back behind the San and relieve Przemyśl. Preparations went on until the last days of September, and at the beginning of October the Austro-Hungarian troops left their positions. This time it was the Russians, surprised by the German offensive in the Kingdom of Poland, who began to regroup their forces and fall back eastwards.