Poland, an ancient land with flat terrain and abundant resources, accounts for 10% of the world's copper reserves. In terms of land and water, it is a central hub connecting the east, west, south and north, so Poland is also known as the crossroads of Europe. It was this topography and geographical location that led to years of war in Poland, and the map of Poland changed over the centuries.

From the middle of the 17th century, Poland began to decline, serfdom was strengthened, and feudalism was serious; The "free election of kings" (the king was elected by parliament and foreigners were eligible to run for election) led to frequent changes of thrones, with many foreigners being kings, with 7 out of 11 kings between 1572 and 1795 having foreigners; The system of the "free veto" (parliamentary resolutions could not be passed if only one person opposed them) made it impossible for Poland to rule effectively, and 48 of the 55 parliaments held in about 100 years from the mid-17th century onwards failed to make any resolutions. Poland, which was politically chaotic, became the object of contention among its powerful neighbors, and its eastern neighbor, Russia, saw Poland as an obstacle to Western Europe, and became Poland's biggest aggressor after the Northern War. Tsarina Catherine II inherited a policy of weakening Poland, and its neighbors to the west were also Prussia to the west and Austria to the south also had territorial ambitions for Poland. In August 1772, January 1793, and January 1795, Poland was partitioned three times by Russia, Prussia, and Austria.

In the process of the three partitions of Poland, the territory seized by Tsarist Russia accounted for about 62% of the territory of the original Poland, totaling more than 460,000 square kilometers; Prussia captured about 20 per cent, or about 141,100 square kilometers, and Austria took about 18 per cent, or about 121,800 square kilometers. After these three partitions, Poland was destroyed, and Poland disappeared from the map of Europe as an independent state.

Beginning in August 1914, the land of Poland was once again filled with smoke, with millions of foreign soldiers fighting each other on Polish soil, but innocent Poles suffered the most.

On this day, the Poles living near Lodz had just sent off a group of dejected invaders from the East with blank and helpless eyes, and soon welcomed a new group of masters from the West.

On a small hill, several general-like people stood on high horses, inspecting the marching columns of soldiers like a military parade.

Among the generals, a gray-haired veteran stood out from the crowd, wearing a marshal's uniform of about the last century, wearing a traditional Austrian blue military cap, the golden cockade occupied almost the entire front of the military cap, the collar was covered by two striking bright red collar badges, the tunic was inlaid with two rows of bright metal buttons, and the gray trousers were embroidered with gold stripes on both sides; The uniforms of the other officers were also almost the same, except for the stripes on the collar badge and trousers, and a cavalryman stood beside them with a solemn expression holding a large golden flag.

The Austrian soldiers marching below were in a row of 4 people, forming a long rectangular queue. The soldiers mostly wore blue military caps inlaid with large emblems, blue tops, gray trousers very similar to the previous Prussian army, and the collar badge and cuffs were traditional bright red.

The white-haired marshal was one of the main commanders of the Austrian army, Archduke Friedrich. At this time, as far as the eye could see, there were deep blue waves surging everywhere, and the Grand Duke couldn't help but feel full of pride in his heart, and the million-strong army of the four armies under his command was closely chasing General Ivanov's Russian Southwest Army Group. It was this group of Russians who had barely fought back against the Austro-Hungarian army half a month earlier, and Friedrich vowed to get out of this bad breath. However, if the German East Prussian Army had not suddenly fought out from the rear of the Russian army, he and his soldiers would have been completely defeated by the Russian army if nothing else, and at the same time, after the loss of a large number of excellent and experienced officers and soldiers in Galicia, the Austro-Hungarian army never recovered, and the entire empire was also divided by the great powers after the war, leaving the Austrian army with only some vague impressions in the minds of future generations.

According to statistics, at the beginning of the war, the ethnic composition of the Austro-Hungarian army included 31% Croats, 20% Hungarians, 16% German-Austrian, 14% Italian, 12% Czechs and Slovaks, 4% Poland and Romanians, and 3% Slovenes. An officer of the Austro-Hungarian army is not competent if he does not speak more than four languages.

Military service was compulsory for all male citizens of the Austro-Hungarian Empire between the ages of 20 and 43, so at the outbreak of the war, the Austro-Hungarian army was one of the largest armies in Europe at the time, with 3.7 million troops mobilized, second only to Tsarist Russia with 6.5 million and Germany with 4.5 million.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire, which once dominated Europe, was still a prominent power at the beginning of the 20th century, and at the beginning of the war it was the sixth largest industrial producer in the world, accounting for 4.4% of the world's total industrial output. The Austro-Hungarian Empire has a developed arms industry, and the Skoda Arsenal is one of the largest arsenals in the world and enjoys a good reputation in Europe, but Austria-Hungary has many nationalities and contradictions; Education is backward, and there are many illiterate soldiers in the army. As a result, the Austro-Hungarian military machine was inefficient and as strong as Tsarist Russia.

Although the Austro-Hungarian Empire had a large number of troops, in order to avenge the assassination of the crown prince in Sarajevo, they threw a considerable part of their troops into the Serbian battlefield, but the three army groups that invaded Serbia at the beginning of the war were defeated by the Serbian veteran Putnik with illness, and in September 1914, the second Austrian army launched a second attack and was defeated. It was for this reason that, despite the support of the German reserves, the Austrians were often undermanned in the face of the Russians, and they were not able to receive enough reinforcements in time after the defeat in late August, and they were almost defeated again and again.

Now Archduke Friedrich and his army pursued the Russian army in the posture of a victor and marched on the road to Warsaw. The world was so beautiful for these Austro-Hungarian officers and soldiers that autumn was already coming, and they rushed to the Russian hinterland before winter came, hoping to end this cruel war as soon as possible.

Lodz, the second largest city in Poland, has now become the center of gravity of the forward position of the Russian Southwestern Army Group, and the commander of the Russian army, General Ivanov, has been very depressed in the past month, his army group was in a good situation, but the mysterious German army suddenly inserted itself from East Prussia into his back, and the two troops sent by him one after another - 230,000 troops commanded by General Ruzsky and drawn from various army groups, and 230,000 troops of the complete 9th Army commanded by General Retzsky, It was surrounded and routed by the German troops, which gave the Austrians a chance to breathe. Now even the Guards troops led by Grand Duke Aglini have been repulsed by that German force, and more than 100,000 German troops have already arrived under the city of Warsaw. Ivanov was in a dilemma as to whether to retreat to Warsaw to join the 9th Army, or to engage the Austrians in a decisive battle here and leave the 9th Army alone against the Germans.

Although he still has more than 900,000 officers and soldiers in his hands in four group armies, Ivanov also has his own unspeakable secrets. In the battle with the Austro-Hungarian army, his southwest army group and the opponent's strength is equal, are just over 1 million soldiers, after a fierce battle his troops gradually gained the upper hand, the opponent's losses are nearly twice as much as him, and the Russian army support forces are much more than the Austro-Hungarian army, after August has been more than 400,000 Russian troops have arrived in Poland, but most of those backup troops are temporary recruits, lack of combat experience and weapons, artillery is even less pitiful, Now this Southwestern Army Group is very different from the one two months ago. Most of the old men with fighting spirit and combat experience have been lost, one-fifth of the soldiers are unarmed, and since the Germans occupy one of the main railway lines, Ivanov can only rely on the next railway line for logistical supplies, but now he is far less than half of the previous ones. Due to the lack of preparation for the civil war, most of the Russian troops lacked not only guns and ammunition, but also food, which forced the Russian soldiers to continue to plunder the Poles, so that the Poles gradually sided with the Allies, and some Poles even began to report to the German and Austrian troops, or directly destroy the communication facilities of the Russian army and provide false information about the Russian army.

At the same time, Ivanov sent a telegram to Moscow asking for help, in which Moscow agreed to the abandonment of Poland by Army Group Southwestern and ordered Aglini to meet it. Agrene said his troops would leave Minsk immediately, but it would take at least a week for his troops to reach the vicinity of Warsaw to accommodate Army Group Southwest's retreat.

"A week ......" looked disappointed on Ivanov's wrinkled cheeks, but Aglieni's attitude was beyond reproach, and it was good that he could come to meet their retreat after the loss of his troops.

"The 3rd, 4th, 5th and 8th armies were informed to withdraw to Warsaw in parallel along all fronts, with the armies taking care to cover each other's flanks and strive to withdraw to Warsaw the day after tomorrow, that is, by 30 September, after which the troops would withdraw in an orderly manner to the Belarusian region via the Warsaw-Minsk railway. Inform General Letzsky and his 9th Army that they will hold there anyway before we retreat to Warsaw! Ivanov did not expect that this simple order to retreat caused misunderstanding among many officers, and the retreat almost turned into a disorderly rout.

The 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 8th armies of the Russian Southwestern Army Group lined up from north to south, and the 8th Army in the south was the first to appear in confusion. At this time, a reconnaissance cavalry unit of the Austro-Hungarian army appeared not far to the west of the 8th Army, which made several other infantry corps of the 8th Army think that the main force of the Austrian army had arrived, and they threw down their artillery and baggage and turned around and fled east. After this, an infantry division of the 5th Army and the Austrian vanguard exchanged fire near a wood, as a result, the battle intensified, both sides called in reinforcements, the Austrian vanguard only had 1 cavalry division and a tin truck regiment, seeing that the other side was far outnumbered, they retreated in panic, and the Russian commander counterattacked with his own troops, and finally half of the troops of the 5th Army were attracted to this area.

General Ivanov himself retreated in parallel with the 3rd and 4th armies, not noticing what was happening in the 5th and 8th armies, and as a result, an interesting scene occurred in the area between Lodz and Warsaw: one group of Russian troops was still exchanging fire with the Austrian troops near Lodz, and the two groups of Russian troops marched slowly eastward in a line in the spirit of solidarity and friendship and mutual assistance, while the other group of Russian troops rushed to Warsaw desperately. This state of affairs is not only the mistakes of the commanders of the Russian army, but also the backward means of communication of the Russian army is also a very important factor.

Soon after, German reconnaissance planes discovered this phenomenon, and in the headquarters of the East Prussian Army, Chen Tian and his generals were all happy to keep their mouths shut, which was undoubtedly a good opportunity to inflict heavy damage on the Russian Army Group Southwest. They quickly made arrangements and informed the Austro-Hungarian Allies of the situation, and the Austrian commander, Archduke Friedrich, also smelled the fighters and immediately decided to cooperate fully with the Germans to flank the Russian Army Group Southwest.

The German troops on the outskirts of Warsaw moved quickly, all the heavy artillery began to bombard the Russian fortifications around Warsaw, and the 2nd Infantry Corps under the command of General Mackensen moved back and forth on the German positions, making it appear that they were actively preparing for the attack. Olg's Panzer Corps and the Third Infantry Corps led by Chentian himself bypassed Warsaw from the north and quickly swooped down on the retreating Russian Southwestern Army.

Although the mistakes in the coordination of the Russian army caused a gap between the various group armies, Chen Tian knew very well that any Russian group had more than 200,000 troops, and if he and Olge's more than 100,000 troops could not get too much advantage if they fought hard, so they decided to take the Austrian army as the main attack in this combat operation - for the time being, let go of the Russian 8th Army that fled in the desert, and the German army would intersperse and divide the Russian 3rd and 4th armies, and the Austrian army would be responsible for digesting the divided Russian army units.

Archduke Friedrich's 4 Austro-Hungarian armies from north to south were the 2nd, 1st, 3rd, and 4th armies, and their approximate positions were basically parallel to the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 8th armies of the Russian army. Grand Duke Friedrich quickly ordered his 3rd Army to continue to contain the Russian 5th Army, and to draw one army from the 1st and 4th armies to surround the Russian army, which did not know whether to live or die, while the rest of the troops pursued the Russian 3rd and 4th armies at full speed.

The commander of the Russian 5th Army, General Pleve, was a tall middle-aged man, a distant relative of the royal family, who had a resolute and stubborn character, and after seeing an opportunity in the previous engagement with the Austrian vanguard, he put Ivanov's orders aside and prepared to lead his troops to fight a beautiful counterattack before speeding up to catch up with the large army. When he found that he had been surrounded by Austrian troops, he tried to break out alone, but was met by twice the Austro-Hungarian army, and after the loss of troops, Plevé had to send a plea for help to Ivanov, leaving Ivanov and the 3rd and 4th armies in a dilemma.

After struggling and struggling in his mind, Ivanov decided to lead his troops back to the reinforcements of Army Group Pleve, but he soon ran into his old rival head-on. The banner of Archduke Friedrich appeared before him, and the two armies encountered again after the Battle of Galicia. Ivanov hoped to be able to meet the breakthrough of the 5th Army, Archduke Friedrich hoped to restore the glory of the Austrian army, and the Chentian Division, which quietly appeared on the back of the Russian army, hoped to end the battle on the Eastern Front as soon as possible, so as to free up his hands to show his strength on the Western Front. In any case, this was a decisive battle that would decide the situation on the Eastern Front, but the German-Austrian army had a much greater chance of winning, and the overwhelming German planes also added a lot of weight.