unusually kind man. His solicitude for his subordinates, for
prisoners, and for the wounded was touching, yet he saw the
horrors of the war unflinchingly and without weakening, for were
they not the consequences of the devotion of men to their cause?
The whole thing seemed quite natural to him. The man was clearly
in his element and dominated it.

After having inspected the outposts, I went back, bedded myself in a
soft sand-heap, covered myself up, and was soon fast and
peacefully asleep. During the night the dew moistened the sand,
and when I awoke in the morning I found myself encased in a
plastering which could not be removed for days.



III



Our hopes of getting a little rest and respite from the fighting were
soon shattered, for a scouting aeroplane brought news that the
Russians were again advancing in overwhelming strength. Our
commanding general, coming to the conclusion that with the
reduced and weakened forces at his command he could not
possibly offer any effective resistance to a renewed onslaught, had
determined to fall back slowly before their pressure. The
consequence was a series of retreating battles for us, which lasted
about ten days and which constituted what is now called the battle
of Lemberg.