Ordered to take the village of Suchodoly, Maj. Gen. Richard Kutschera mounted his horse and drew his pallasch. A Viennese, Kutschera entered the Army at age 16 as an engineer cadet, rising to general despite the lack of an Academy pedigree. He’d commanded his brigade since April 1911, spoke his men’s languages and knew most of them by name. Polacy naprzod! (Poles forward!) he shouted to the Polish infantrymen of the 13th Infantry Regiment. Behind their general, the Krakow-recruited battalions surged toward the Russians at a run.

Kutschera, the only man on horseback in the Austrian ranks, would be the first man killed in his brigade’s attack. Despite a complete lack of artillery support, even field guns, his brigade continued their advance despite the loss of their general and many other officers. Soon they had taken all of Suchodoly at the cost of over 350 casualties. Once again, the Austro-Hungarian army had won a victory it could not possibly sustain. Multi-lingual, highly-trained and dedicated career officers like Kutschera would be replaced, at least in the lower ranks, by products of the one-year volunteer reserve officer training program.