6 December 2013
The Battle of Galicia
The Battle of Galicia took place during the early stages of the World War I and became one of its most dreadful battles. From August 5th to September 8th of 1914 the Russian army fought relentlessly for the freedom of its Motherland.
The Battle of Galicia has started with the two separate military operations - the Lublin-Cholm and the Galich-Lvov. General Nikolai Ivanov, the Russian commander of the Southwest Front, was expecting an Austro-Hungarian offensive in eastern direction.
"Four Russian armies and four Austro-Hungarian armies participated in the operation. The latter were led by Archduke Friedrich and chief-of-staff Conrad von Hötzendorf. The German forces fought under the command of general Remus von Woyrsch. The opposing sides had about equal amount of soldiers. The total number of troops reached two million, says Konstantin Pahaluk, leading researcher for the Russian Military-Historical Society.
"It was one of the major front-line operations of the First World War. Each party had about one million soldiers and officers but the battle ended with the severe defeat of the Austro-Hungarian army. They suffered 400,000 casualties against 300,000 that the Russian forces lost. Some 100,000 prisoners were taken by Russians. The operation revealed the great leadership abilities of the Russian commanders such as general Alexeev, general Sakharov, general Brusilov and general Lechitzky. It also demonstrated the skills of Russian officers and ordinary soldiers who surpassed the servicemen of the enemy. It is important to mention the high morale of the Russian troops after defeating the Austro-Hungarian army, which is especially significant given the fact that the army wasn't ethnically common and some of the Slavic divisions had gone over to the Russian side,"Konstantin Pahaluk said.
According to the plans of the Austrian commandership, the attack was supposed to start at the region of Lublin and Cholm. The operation was carried out by the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army under Viktor Dankl and 4th Army under general von Auffenberg. They were supported by the Army group of general Kummer and the German corps of general von Woyrsch.
On the left flank of the Southwestern Front the Galich-Lvov operation started. On the right flank of the Austrian forces the 3rd Army of general Rudolf Brudermann and the Army group of general Kövess positioned, says Oleg Chistyakov, the head of the scientific department of the Russian State Military-Historical Archive.
"In accordance with the prewar plan, two fronts were created - the Northwestern front against East Prussia and Germany, and the Southwestern front against Austro-Hungary and Galicia. General Zhilinsky commanded the Northwestern Front and general Ivanov was in charge of the Southwestern front. The first front consisted of the armies of general Rennenkampf and general Samsonov. They approached in the direction of Koenigsberg. At first, Russian troops carried the palm - the first army defeated Germans in the battle of Gusev, the troops led by Samsonov triumphed too, but, unfortunately, in the chaos of the combat, the 13th and the 15th corps of the army had been surrounded by the enemy and forced to capitulate," Oleg Chistyakov said.
The crushing defeat of Samsonov's army in East Prussia gave German troops the opportunity to advance in the Southern direction towards the Austro-Hungarian forces attacking Liblin and Cholm. The possible alliance of the two armies near Warsaw could lead to the encirclement of the Russian armies in Poland. But Germans concentrated on freeing East Prussia from the Russian forces.
Having lost faith in the support of the allies, Hötzendorf tried to stop the Russian offensive heading from the Western direction of Galich-Lvov. The colonel used a clever maneuver - he left a moderate covering force against the 5th Russian army near Cholm and shifted the 4th army to Lvov. Attacks from the north and south were supposed to crash the left flank of the Southwestern front and help recapture Lvov. There was only the 1st army of general Dunkl and part of the 4th army forces left of the Lublin-Cholm line. They were ordered to take on the defensive and contain the Russians coming from the north.
On August 17th general Ivanov directed both armies to attack Lvov. The goal was to hold the enemy on the Lvov-Mikolaev position. The next day the situation changed. Now the 3rd army was needed in Lublin. General Alekseyev worked out a plan to encircle the main Austro-Hungarian forces. To make that happen the 8th army of general Brusilov had to hold the enemy to the east of Lvov and the 3rd army - to take in the rear. However, on August 18th general Ruzsky makes orders to prepare for the assault of Lvov.
After the fight on the river Gnila Lipa the defeated Austro-Hungarians abandoned their ammunition and disorderly retreated in the direction of Lvov, Nikolaev and Galich. The 3rd army achieved a victory too. The 21st Corps attacked the enemy from the right flank and defeated the military group under the command of Dempf, putting them to rout. On August 21 Russian forces seized Lvov and the next day - Galich.
The Russian army was confident of the future victory. The correlation of forces and the position of the army on the battlefield looked promising. The 4th and the 5th armies received reinforcements, and the 9th army under the command of general Lechinsky was based nearby on the Vistula River. Russian headquarters ordered all the armies to launch an attack.
The 4th army started the offensive defeating the enemy at the battle of Suhodol. The 5th and the 9th armies followed. The only chance for the Austrians to escape was to crush the 3rd and the 8th Russian armies. The Austrian 2nd Army was recalled from Serbia for support but it was too late. Having numerical superiority, Russians launched a direct attack, pushing the enemy to the Carpathians.
At the battle of Tarnavka on August 26-27 the three Russian armies defeated the 1st Austrian army and Archduke Joseph Ferdinand's military group. On August 25, the 8th army of general Brusilov held out against the two Austrian armies at the battle of Gorodok. All that brought Russians a glorious victory.
Conrad had to cover the retreat with a cannonade and numerous counterblows. The withdrawal of troops was also protected by five cavalry divisions. The 2nd Austrian army stretched out at the extended front locking up the Carpathians' pass.
On the 1st of September the Austrian high command ordered further retreat to the river Dunajec and a preparation for the counter-offensive together with Germans. The Russian army was facing problems providing food for the troops and disorder in the rear so they were forced to stop the pursuit near the Austrian fortress of Przemysl, which Russians then sieged for over a hundred days. The next day the armies of the Southwestern front regrouped for the defensive warfare. Only the 9th army went after the retreating enemy. The 5th army was preparing for the transfer to the Middle Vistula River. The 3rd army sieged the Przemysl, while the 4th and the 8th armies shielded it, says Yuri Bahutin.
"At the Battle of Galicia the Russians suffered 230,000 casualties. The Austro-Hungarians lost approximately 100,000 more, including some 130,000, which equals one third of their armed forces. The battle severely damaged the Austro-Hungarian Army, destroyed a large portion of its trained officers, and crippled Austria. Henceforward it couldn't achieve success at the Russian front except for when supported by Germany. The victory of the Russian Imperial Army at the Battle of Galicia somewhat made up for the defeats at the early stages of the war such as the rout of the Russian forces in East Prussia. This also helped Serbia to repulse Austro-Hungarian attacks that year," Yuri Bahutin said.
Fonte:
http://voiceofrussia.com/radio_broadcast/254124597/254732715
Mais:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrWPsj6fVbeWE9ZqDmJm6pcT7h17h10_f
