Trakl had a deeply traumatic experience having to care for the wounded, as there was no doctor present. Trakl, a pharmacist with … The title refers to the site of the Battle of Grodek/Rawa Ruska of early September 1914, one of the largest battles on the Eastern Front in the initial stages of the First World War. Assigned to oversee a makeshift ward in a barn near the battle of Gródek, in Poland, he found himself responsible, with limited medical supplies, for ninety grievously wounded soldiers. After the battle of Grodek, ninety badly wounded men were left in a barn for him to care for. This location and the river Piave are particularly interesting in the scenario of the three main battles of the last year of the Great War: the First Piave Battle (November 1917), the Battle of the Solstice (known as Battle of Middle June 1918) and the final Battle of Vittorio Veneto, that led to the Armistice between Italy and Central Powers. Because of his pharmaceutical knowledge – he had completed a three-year period of practical training at a dispensing chemist’s in Salzburg, Trakl volunteered to serve as a lieutenant in the medical corps. A few weeks later he died of an overdose of cocaine (Trakl1). It is in those weeks that he wrote “Grodek”. That night he attempted to kill himself, but was prevented by friends. The original poem "Im Osten" (which follows the English here) was probably written in the aftermath of the Battle of Grodek. During the retreat he attempted suicide and was subsequently hospitalised. After the battle of Grodek, ninety badly wounded men were left in a barn for him to care for. That night he attempted to kill himself, but was prevented by friends. Grodek (Poland) his unit saw battle for the first time. The last poems in this selection were written during this time, and the sense of his own approaching death is …

After the battle, Grodek surrendered himself to EFF command for discipline. Grodek refers to the name of a place, today in Ukraine, where a battle with Russian troops ended in a devastating defeat for the Austro-Hungarian army. The last poems in this selection were written during this time, and the sense of his own approaching death is The battle of Gródek Jagielloński or battle of Horodok took place during the Russo-Polish War (1654–67) on 29 September 1655.