Archduke Joseph August of Austria - World War One

World War One

August was highly decorated before World War I broke out. Some of his awards include The Bronze Military Merit Medal, Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Joseph, The Marianer Cross of the Deutscher Ritterorden, The Order of the Black Eagle, The 1st Class of the Order of the Red Eagle, The Grand Cross of the Victorian Order of Great Britain, the Grand Cross of the Order of Karl III, and the Grand Cross of the Bulgarian Order of Cyrill and Methodius.

In 1914 August he was involved in combat in the Galician theatre and took command of the VII Corps and was involved in fighting in the Carpathian Mountains. After Italy became involved in the war he was transferred to the Carinthian border and involved in fighting the Isonzo army. August remained on this front until the 9th battle of the Isonzo in 1916 a period in which once again he was highly decorated. August was highly liked by his troops, especially those of Hungarian nationality.

In November 1916 August was put in command of the Heeresfront fighting against Russian and Romanian forces. In January 1918 he was put in command of the 6th army in the Southern theatre and that July took over the Armeegruppe Tirol, which was the 10th and 11th Armies. Finally he was put in command of the Heeresgruppe Kövess in Balkan theatre. He became the last field marshal (Generalfeldmarschall) of the Austro-Hungarian Army on October 24, 1918, as an attempt by Kaiser Karl to calm Hungarian nationalists.