Rudolph planned to hold on to a stronger defensive line, which could be called fortifications, unlike the trenches that other troops hastily dug out.

In the case of unequal artillery fire, he could only rely on fortified positions. The Russians may have exhausted their reserves of shells, and for two days they were reinforcing the positions they had just occupied.

Later, the Russians launched a week of continuous on-and-off offensives. In the end, it was Rudolph who retreated on his own initiative, and on the second line, Rudolph paid the price of a thousand casualties. The losses of the Russians were even more severe, and according to Rudolph's understanding, the Russian attacking forces had already changed the numbers of three divisions.

The Russian tide of attacks would eventually overwhelm Rudolph and them, and the broken Austro-Hungarian First Army alone held off an enemy four times its size. The First and Fifth Armies in the North collapsed first, and the two army commanders retreated at the same time.

The Russian Ninth Army immediately occupied Yanuw and blocked the north. The Fifth Army began to attack the Austro-Hungarian line of defense on the San River, while blocking Rudolph's path to the west and south. To the east, the hinterland of the Russians, in which the Fourth Army was still offensive.

Rudolph and Commander Lake were caught in the encirclement. Now the 79th Brigade and the 15th Division are completely dead. According to the original plan, they were supposed to break through. At the moment of the collapse of the northern line of defense, the command of the army group gave them the order to retreat. The commander of the Tenth Army succeeded in evacuating from the northwest with the remnants of his 10,000-strong men, but just as Rudolph and Lake were concentrating their forces and carrying out orders, their rear roads were copied. The Fourth Army, stationed on the east bank of the San River, withdrew directly to the west bank, handing over their retreat to the Russians.

Rudolph met Lake at the headquarters, and before the two could denounce the Fourth Army, they were crushed by despair. Lake lit a cigarette, and the young division commander had a haggard face and red eyes.

"There are only 3,000 people left in the 15th division, and we lack everything."

Rudolph pondered as he replied mechanically: "I have five thousand people here, the wounded have been sent away before, and the food in the warehouse is quite sufficient. ”

Lake took a deep puff of his cigarette, "The army group ordered us to break out, and they met on the west bank of the San River. ”

Rudolph did not answer, and the two knew that the command had no strength to save them.

Neither spoke, and the two commanders made eye contact, as if unwilling to pronounce the humiliating word "surrender".

After a long silence, Lake threw away the burning cigarette butt in his hand. "Breakout!" It was as if he was telling Rudolph and as if he were telling himself.

"We can't get through the west, and the positions we built are now Russian."

Lake remained silent, he understood Rudolph's words. His fingers twitched across the map, each line pointing south.

Rudolf confirmed to the command that the Third Army was still holding out in Lemberg to the southeast, and at the same time, the command also told them that the German Eighth Army, under the command of Hindenburg and Ludendorff, had defeated the Russian 1st and 2nd Armies in East Prussia, and that the main forces of the 9th and 4th armies were now planning to move north.

Rudolph and Lake were completely determined to break out this time, they turned off the radio station, destroyed warehouses and roads, and destroyed supplies and weapons that could not be taken away.

During this time, the Russians really did not attack, and they seemed to be waiting for Rudolph's surrender.

On September 28, led by the 41st Regiment, this lone army of 8,000 men launched a breakthrough to the southeast.

Rudolph cautiously sent out scouts, and the two previous cavalry companies also went to reconnoitre. Rudolph bypassed the defensive zone of the two regiments and marched in the direction of Komarów in Austria-Hungary, which not so long ago had been a battlefield but was now the rear of the empty Russian forces. The Russians had already discovered Rudolph and they had withdrawn from their positions, and they began to search the area vigorously.

Some of the scouts sent did not return, and some brought news of the Russians. After three days of inspection, the Russians found Rudolph's location. By this time, Rudolph had already moved fifty kilometers to the south, and along the way there were only exchanges of fire with some reconnaissance units.

The Russian Fourth Army began to gather forces, and they began to pursue from two directions, northwest and northeast. Rudolph had already come out of the siege and began to flee at full speed, in order to stop the Russians' footsteps, Rudolph constantly sent small troops, in companies as units, to attack the Russian army at dangerous places.

The march of the Russians was miserable, and when passing through forests and gorges, there were always Austro-Hungarian troops in ambush, firing at them with mortars. When they began to search carefully, Rudolph's soldiers turned to night raids again.

Rudolph threw off the Russians, and after only two more days of rapid marching, he could reach the Third Army's garrison at Xeniava. Rudolph had turned on the telegraph and made contact with the Third Army, but the bad news came again.

The Third Army had abandoned Lemberg four days earlier, on 2 October. Lemberg was the fifth largest city in the empire and the center of Galicia. To abandon it is to abandon the factories and railways there. The defeat in the Battle of Lemberg not only allowed the Russians to enter the territory, but also allowed the Austro-Hungarian army to completely switch to defensive operations.

Ferdinand immediately dismissed the commander of the Third Army, Brudemann, who had been hailed as a "prodigy" and "hope for the future", but his poor command in Lemberg immediately relieved him of his command and sent him back to Vienna, where he was replaced by the commander of the Seventh Army, General Borojevich.

Rudolph could not help but feel the inertia of history, even though the combat effectiveness of the army was improved, the course of the war still did not change, only more than a month later than in history.

Brudman could have buried a third of the Austro-Hungarian army, he led the Third Army and the Second Army, did not deploy flanks, he mistook the Russian Eighth Army for an army, and was attacked by Brusilov, a brilliant commander, and the Russian Third Army, also led by Ruzsky, constantly attacked the retreating Austro-Hungarian army. Colonel-General Elmolli had already returned from the Serbian front and directed the retreat of his Second Army.

Now only the Serbian battlefield in the south has been victorious, Marshal Conrad has occupied the western region, this time Stepanovich has not been able to defend the territory, and the weak Serbian army has now retreated into the mountainous areas.

Every army was at war with the Russians, and the Austro-Hungarian Eastern Front was in jeopardy. Archduke Friedrich began to send telegrams to the Kaiser asking Germany to fulfill its "allied obligations," and the lieutenant-commander, Archduke Eugen, and the chief of staff, General Straussenburg, began to draw the Second Army from Serbia, and every train to the East was full of the newly drafted troops.