On May 8, 1915, the Third Russian Army and the Forty-eighth Division had reunited with Brussilov's main army in the neighborhood of Sanok, twenty miles north of the Lupkow. When the commanders of a retreating army lose their heads the rank and file will inevitably become demoralized and panic-stricken. The retreat became a rout, and the possibility of making a stand, and to some extent retrieving the lost fortune of war, was extremely remote. A deeper motive than the mere reconquering of Galicia lay behind Von Mackensen's plan--he aimed at nothing less than the complete overthrow and destruction of the Russian armies. It was a gigantic effort of the Germanic powers to eliminate at least one of their most dangerous enemies. Once that was accomplished it would release some millions of troops whose services were needed in the western theatre of war. The original plan had fallen through of crushing Russia quickly at the beginning of the war, before she would have had time to get ready, and then to turn against France in full force. The Austro-German Galician campaign was planned and undertaken with that specific object, and now, although defeated and in full retreat, the Russian troops still formed an army in being, and not a fugitive, defenseless rabble. So long as an army is not captured or annihilated, it can be reorganized and again put in the field. It is on this consideration that so much importance attaches to the handling of an army in retreat. The Russians did not, of course, run away; on the contrary, they fought desperately and stubbornly throughout the retreat, for their pursuers did not average more than six miles per day--a fact which testifies to the steady and orderly character of the Russian retirement. They suffered from the consequences of inadequate preparation and lack of foresight on the part of their leaders.