FIGHTING AT CRACOW
On November 20, 1914, the Russians were before the outer line of defenses of Cracow, with strong opposition to their further advancement. Meanwhile they were pushing forward minor columns of Cossacks into the passes of the Carpathian Mountains, intending that these should emerge, if possible, upon the Hungarian plains in raids similar to those which were made in the first Russian advance in September.
During the next few days following November 20, 1914, there was constant and hard fighting in the vicinity of Cracow, the Austrians reporting that they had taken three battalions of Russians prisoners. All reports showed a stiffening of the Austrian line, while the energy of Russian attacks was reduced by the diversion of troops to stem the Austrian invasion by way of the Vistula.
The Austrians were obliged, however, a few days later, to evacuate Neu Sandec, fifty miles southeast of Cracow, and an important railroad junction of the River Dunajec and the main line to Cracow. The Russians reported they took 3,000 prisoners and some machine guns. The capture of Neu Sandec revealed a new Russian advance, threatening the right flank of the Austrian army along the Carpathian Mountains. By this capture the Austrians were deprived of an important railway into Hungary. In order to stop this turning move it was necessary for them to weaken their campaign north of Cracow.
In the Cracow region the Austrians advanced on the north to Pilica, Wolbrom, and Miechow, about twenty miles from the Galician border. To the east the Russians advanced to within twelve miles of the fortress. In the fighting at Pilica and Wolbrom the Austrians claimed the capture of 29,000 Russians.
In the latter part of November, 1914, the Russians were successful in attack in Galicia along a line from thirty to sixty milessoutheast of Cracow, taking more than 7,000 prisoners, thirty cannon, and twenty machine guns in one engagement. On November 29, 1914, the Austrians also scored a victory on the front extending from Proszowicz to Onszreniawa, fourteen miles northeast of Cracow, southward through Brzesko on the Vistula to Bochnia and Adsniez.
General Radko Dmitrieff's cavalry kept in close touch with the retreating Austrians, who were attempting to shake off contact with, the Russians and gain time to re-form their ranks back of Cracow. Part of the Austrian troops defeated on the San had retired beyond the Carpathians to recuperate while the Russians attacked the Austrian force southeast of Cracow.
At this stage of hostilities, the Russians estimated that the Austro-Hungarian casualties had amounted to 19,000 officers and 900,000 men. At the same time, it was estimated by the Austrians that the total Russian losses had been 760,000 in dead, wounded, deserters, and prisoners. Of these, 420,000 were attributed to the various battles against the Austro-Hungarian forces, and 340,000 to battles against the Germans.
The losses of the Russians in the campaigns against Austria-Hungary, as estimated for the various engagements, were as follows: Early raids, skirmishes, and frontier fighting, 15,000; Krasnik, Niedzfica Duza, Lublin, 45,000; Zamosz, Komarow, Tyszowce, 40,000; first battle of Lemberg, 45,000; second battle of Lemberg, 30,000; Rawa-Russka, Magierow, 30,000; offensive against middle Galicia, 15,000; offensive around Przemysl, 40,000; raising siege of Przemysl, 15,000; Carpathian invasions, 30,000; battles on the San beyond Przemysl, to date, 25,000; Medyka-Stari, Sambor, 40,000; outposts in the Carpathians, 15,000; last battles of the Vistula from Sandomierz to Ivangorod, 35,000.
On December 1, 1914, the Austrians had been driven from all their positions over a front about thirty-three miles long, which defended the Carpathian passes from Konecha Village, twelve miles north of Bartfield eastward—that is, on all roads leading through the Dukla Pass over the Carpathians. This was the lowest pass anywhere available across the mountain range andbeing also the widest, is in all respects best suited for military purposes. All armies that previously had invaded the present area of Hungary from time immemorial, via the Carpathian Mountains, had used the Dukla Pass.
A number of points along the line mentioned, where the Austrians had established defensive positions, were taken by the Russians, the most easterly being south of Mezolaborez. All were taken by assault. Many guns, Maxims, and prisoners were captured. An energetic Russian advance continued to push the Austrians back toward Cracow. The Austrians evacuated one position after another with large losses.
The Russian advance toward Bartfeld and Hammona, on the south slope of the Carpathians in Hungary, indicated an attempt to push forward a turning force around the south flank of the Austrian position, as it stood at that time. The damage caused by this raiding expedition was calculated to force the Austrians to meet it and so divert them from the main fighting line at Cracow. Evidence of this shift was shown in a reverse which the Austrians administered to the Russians at Hammona.
Early in December, 1914, Russia replied to reports that she was suffering from a shortage of recruits by declaring she could put two corps against every one that Germany brought into Poland and still have enough to carry on the campaign against Cracow as originally planned. Her two armies operating against that important objective point had linked flanks. Investment of the city was daily feared.
The southern army, which moved directly west on the Tarnow-Cracow line, had fought its way over every inch of the ground, making a record of forty-five battles in forty-five days. At least, according to old measures, these fights would be classed as battles. Under the stupendous conditions which surrounded this modern cataclysm, they probably range as little more than reconnaissances in force.
Back to the banks of the River Raba, the advancing Russians pushed the Austrian foe. Here in a position of considerable defensive value, the enemy made a determined resistance. But the Russians swept on. The Austrians made a stand soon afterward,outside the protecting radius of the fortress guns, in the angle made by the Raba and Schreniawa.
Przemysl about this time was reported to be in dire straits. Monsignor Joseph Sebastian Felczar, Archbishop of Przemysl, said, December 3, 1914, after he had left the city for the Vatican:
"Would to God my cathedral city might be spared the horrors of invasion but I feel I can hope no longer. Our garrison has resisted with stubborn heroism but the Russians outnumber them two to one. I got away only after long hours of wearisome wanderings across the Russian lines; the Muscovites had then already captured several of the outer ring of forts, besides other important vantage ground, and had hemmed round the whole fortress in a circle of steel.
"When I left Przemysl, indescribable desolation reigned there. The houses, palaces, and public buildings were reduced to dust heaps. Despite severe measures taken by the authorities brigand bands prowled among the ruins and pillaged such of the civil population as still remained. A never-ending procession of caravans traversed the streets, which were chock full of wounded and dying. The hospitals were overcrowded and the injured laid out in rows in the churches."
On December 4, 1914, the Russians, by the capture of Wieliczka, gained another step in their campaign for the possession of the broad passes to the south and west of Cracow. Wieliczka is a small town, about nine miles southwest of Cracow and three miles from the line of forts. It is built over salt mines, a short railway bearing the product thereof to the larger city.
On the northwestern side, the Russians were only a few miles from the city. It was only the Austro-German army, sitting in trenches and making occasional attacks on the Czenstochowa-Oilusz-Cracow line that prevented the complete encirclement of the place. The contest between these forces was mostly a slow artillery duel from day to day.
It was now the turn of the Germans to relieve the Austrians, if they could, from a critical position. For months before, the Austrians had been sacrificed in the interest of the German planof winning a crushing victory in France, and during the retreat from Warsaw it was the Austrians who bore the brunt of the fighting as a rear guard. Again, when the Germans found themselves hard pressed between the Warthe and the Vistula, they flung the Austrian reenforcements to fresh defeat at Wienun.
It was the contention of Austrian military writer that in order to maintain an effective resistance to the Russians at this time and afterward, the Germans should continue to withdraw troops from the western front.
The Russians seemed to feel secure at this time in holding back the German forces in Poland and so were passing forward their campaign in Galicia, in an effort to interpose a wedge between the forces of the opposing nations.
Russia also had a special motive for exerting every effort to inflict some signal disaster upon the Austrians. It was only by such means that she could relieve the pressure on Serbia and thus save the smaller Slav state from being overrun by the victorious Austrians.
The Russian campaign against Cracow had been little effected by the fighting going on at Lodz. The Russian forces in the region of Cracow had a clear line of retreat, if retreat should be necessary, and were not needed for strengthening the resistance being made by the Russians at Warsaw, as troops from Central Russia could be moved to that threatened district by the available railroads, much more rapidly than armies could be sent overland from Cracow. The Russian forces in the vicinity of Cracow could best help in the defense of Warsaw, the Russian General Staff believed, by pressing their attack energetically and so keeping busy in that field a large force of Austrians and Germans.
On December 6, 1914, the defense of Cracow was stiffened by the arrival of a large body of German troops. All the magnificent trees which surrounded the place were cut down to afford space for the artillery and various new lines of fortifications and barbed-wire entanglements were constructed.
The Russians perceived a turning movement on the part of the enemy, south of Cracow, directed against the Russian leftwing. Russian reenforcements which arrived found that the bridge over the Dunajec, near Kourove, had been destroyed, and that the heights on the left bank of the river were occupied by the enemy. Under a sustained fire by Germans, one of the Russian regiments crossed the Dunajec at a ford. They made their way through ice water up to their necks, and coming out on the other side, captured the heights by a vigorous assault. This assured and made safe the passage of the river by the other Russian troops.
On the following day, December 7, 1914, the Austro-Germans made an effort to counteract the advance of the Russians to Wieliczka, southeast of Cracow. By a dash toward Neu Sandek, on the headwaters of the Dunajec River, the Austrians attempted to outflank the Russians and thus force them to retreat from their advance position.
The Austro-German forces occupied the valley of the stream Lososzyna, and the fighting front extended from near Wieliczka southeastward to the Dunajec, about fifty miles in length. The Russian attack was successful, the losses inflicted upon the enemy, especially the German Twenty-fourth Corps, being very heavy. Several German heavy guns were knocked out, five field batteries were reduced to silence, guns and prisoners taken, and the Russians continued their attack.
In the next few days in December, 1914, events favored the Austrians. In West Galicia the south wing of the Russian army was defeated at Limanovo and compelled to retreat. The Austrians engaged in hot pursuit and took many prisoners. Austrian forces took Neu Sandec and again entered Grybow, Gorlice, and Zmigrod. The Austrians reported that the Russians had completely evacuated the Zemplin country.
A third incursion of Germans into Galicia was arrested by Russians on the very border of the province. Some maneuvering on the part of General Dmitrieff's corps sufficed to check the invading columns, although they crossed the Carpathians on a wide front extending between Wieliczka and the headwaters of the San River.
During the same week, the garrison of Przemysl made a seriesof attempts at sorties, but each time were driven back with heavy loss. The Russians captured several hundred prisoners and ten Maxims. It was learned later that increasing scarcity of provisions complicated by sickness was responsible for these tentative efforts to lift the siege. An unsuccessful attempt also was made by a force from the garrison to open the railway in the direction of Biercza, on the southwest.
It was asserted at Austrian headquarters that the total number of Russians captured by the Austro-Hungarians in Galicia within three days in the middle of December, 1914, was 33,000. After a battle at Limanowa, it was said, 26,000 were captured. The number of Russians killed was very large, according to report, 1,200 dead being found at Limanowa alone.
The problem of caring for prisoners had by this time become acute both for Austria and for Russia. According to the Russian Department of the Interior, which had charge of the maintenance of prisoners, there were then in Russia, exclusive of the Germans reported captured in operations under way in North Poland, 350,000 Austrian and German prisoners of war. Of this number only 100,000 were Germans, the rest being Austrians captured during the campaign in Galicia.
At Semipalatinek, on the Irtish River, near the borders of Western Mongolia, one small escort of Russian soldiers was serving as guard for 100,000 Austrian and German prisoners, whose prison walls consisted of four thousand miles of frozen steppes, separating them from the borders of their own countries.
The prisoners were brought by rail to Omsk, where they were embarked on steamboats for the thousand mile trip down the Irtish River to Semipalatinek. Here quarters were found for them in the big barracks erected for the mobilization of the Russian army and unoccupied since its departure for the front.
Every morning at eight o'clock the prisoners were released from the barracks and permitted to wander about at will. When they departed in the morning, they were told that unless they reported at the barracks by nightfall they would be locked out. At that time of the year, in such a bleak country, this would mean death, as there was practically no place where they couldobtain shelter. The freedom of the prisoners during the day was absolute, even to the extent of accepting employment from local mining companies.
In the thick of its fighting in Galicia, Russia had another problem to deal with, which was the Russianization of the country. In the middle of December, 1914, arrangements were made under the auspices of a member of the Duma charged with national education in Galicia, for a large number of elementary school teachers in the native schools of Galicia, to attend at certain centers a series of lectures on Russian language and literature. Lember, Sambor, Tarnopol, Stanislavoff, and Chernovtsi were the first towns chosen for the opening of these courses. Besides this measure, Russia, in the following month, opened ten model elementary schools where all teaching was given in the Russian language. These were in small towns and villages.[Back to Contents]
AUSTRIANS AGAIN ASSUME THE OFFENSIVE
On December 14, 1914, the Russian General Staff announced that it had "discovered the enemy trying again to assume the offensive in Galicia." Two days later, Austro-German columns were pouring over the Dukla. It was understood that three new German army corps had been sent to the eastern front, making nine new corps since the beginning of hostilities, and that three Austrian corps were withdrawn from Serbia. The number of troops entering Galicia through the mountain passes was estimated at 175,000 men.
This movement compelled the Russians to withdraw the raiding parties which had invaded Hungary. It is unlikely, however, that Russia had planned to invade Hungary in force, so long as Przemysl and Cracow stood firm. As the situation then was, it would have been a perilous feat to send an army any distance across the mountains. Before such an invasion could be attempted,it was first necessary that the positions of the Russians in western Galicia and Poland should be greatly strengthened.
When the new Austro-German reenforcements arrived in Galicia over the Dukla, the extreme southern end of the Russian line below Cracow was pushed back from advanced positions west of the Raba to and over the Dunajec. But the Russians did not regard the menace from this quarter as a grave one. Announcement was made by General Sukhomlinoff, the Russian Minister of War, on December 23,1914, that it had been stopped "absolutely." We have said before that it was at the Austrians, rather than the Germans, that the Russians wished at this time to strike a telling blow.
On December 28, 1914, General Dankl's army sought to help the main German forces by passing over the Nida near its junction with the upper Vistula above Tarnow. The Russians suddenly were reenforced at this point by troops who swam the ice-filled stream, attacked the Austrians on their flank, drove them back, and took 10,000 prisoners.
It was about this time, when Radko Dmitrieff was operating so successfully in the neighborhood of Tarnow, that General Brussilov resumed the offensive in Galicia. He was able to feed and munition his army from Kiev. Practically all the railroad system of Galicia could be utilized by him for maneuvering troops and distributing supplies. His troops numbered only about 250,000, but their strength was increased by railway facilities. General Brussilov could afford to send a large force under General Selivanoff to help invest Przemysl.
To the Russians, however, Przemysl was not of immediate importance. The fortress commanded the railroad leading past Tarnow to Cracow, and would have been badly needed, it is true, if the army of Dmitrieff at Tarnow had been attacking Cracow. But the army of General Ivanoff had been forced by this time to retire about fifty miles north of Cracow. Therefore, the smaller force commanded by Dmitrieff was unable to do anything against Cracow from the east; and so it withdrew from the upper course of the Dunajec River and became intrenched along the more westerly tributary of the Dunajec, the Biala.
The Russian line extended from the Biala to the Dukla Pass in the Carpathians. Still farther eastward, all along the lower valleys of the Carpathians, the army of General Brussilov was holding out against a large Austro-Hungarian force. This was under the command of General Ermolli.
The chief offensive movement of Ermolli in December, 1914, was directed toward the relief of Przemysl. As has been indicated, his lines ran through Grybov, Krosno, Sanok, and Lisko, thereby putting a wedge between the army of Brussilov and that of Dmitrieff. He attacked Dmitrieff from the east along the line of the Biala and the Dunajec. In Christmas week Dmitrieff administered a heavy defeat to him, and took nearly thirty thousand prisoners and many guns. In this way he helped prepare for new plans which Grand Duke Nicholas and his staff had prepared for the Russian army in Galicia for the new year.
Cracow had successfully resisted assault, and seemed likely to hold out against the best efforts of the Russians. The gateway to Silesia had been closed. Hindenburg had achieved one of his chief objects in forcing the central Russian forces back. He had paid a huge price in men in order to establish a deadlock of warfare in trenches, about midway in the big bend of the Vistula. Nevertheless, from the German viewpoint, the result achieved was worth it.
If the battle for Silesia had been won in November, 1914, by General Russky and General Ivanoff on the field in front of Cracow, Italy and Rumania might have been brought into the fight by their continued advancing movement. Austria and Hungary thus might have been attacked and overcome by huge forces from three sides. If Austria-Hungary fell, the overthrow of Germany might have been threatened. Hindenburg's strategy had put this out of the range of possibility.
It was such developments as have been mentioned that caused the Russian commander in chief to decide on Hungary as the next object of attack. He planned to bring direct pressure upon Vienna and Budapest and so force first the Hungarians and then the Austrians to ask for terms of peace. If they did not, hecounted on Italy and Rumania entering the war and assuring victory for the Allies.
On Christmas Day, 1914, under such conditions, began the great battles of the Carpathians, which continued for many months to be a crisis of the war. The Russians were outnumbered, but their position was favorable. On December 25 they advanced on the Dukla Pass. Meanwhile fierce fighting continued at various points in Galicia. In the neighborhood of Tuchow, south of Tarnow, the Russians, on observing the advance of the Twenty-sixth Austrian Brigade, slipped past on parallel roads and surprised the Austrian rear. The Russians opened fire with machine guns and virtually annihilated the whole brigade. In two days' fighting in southern Galicia, near the Carpathians, the Russians captured more than 4,000 prisoners, including a major of the General Staff and five other officers, besides three heavy guns and two machine guns. In this region the Russians were moving small detachments through the mountain passes.
Many spectacular engagements took place during the development of the Russian offensive among the mountain spurs of the Carpathians. On Christmas Day, 1914, two Russian infantry regiments, under a murderous fire and wading waist deep in the icy water of the River Jasiolka, dislodged by bayonet charges the Austrians from their line and took as prisoners four officers and 150 men. On the same day an inferior force of Austrians surprised a Russian detachment and took 4,000 prisoners.
In another engagement south of the Vistula, in the region of Tarnow, the Russians drove back the Austrians from the Tuchnow-Olpiny line. The enemy abandoned ten rapid firers and the Russians took prisoner 43 officers and more than 2,500 men. The next day, December 2, 1914, continuing the pursuit of the Austrians, the Russians captured 8 machine guns and about 1,000 prisoners. The Russians occupied the heights near Siedfizka, on the left bank of the Biala River. This gave them possession of a twenty-mile strip of territory separating the two Austrian forces.
Late in December, 1914, all attacks by the Austrians in theterritory between the Pilica and the upper reaches of the Vistula ceased and the Russians assumed the active offensive in this region. They cleared the left or easterly bank of the Nida River by the capture of an obstinately defended Austrian position which was taken by storm.
South of the Vistula, or astride it on the front from Opatow across the Biala River to Biecz, the Russians took prisoners 200 officers and 15,000 men in their sweeping process. A retreat of Austrians in Galicia along the Lisko-Sanok-Dulka-Zmigrod front was precipitate, the nature of the country favoring them, the corridor-like valleys and passes preventing the Russians from pursuing them over parallel roads or harassing their flanks. Only six roads cross the Carpathians, two of which are little more than mountain trails. Owing to the unbroken character of this region, the Russian cavalry was able to do little scouting, while the extreme cold interfered with the work of aeroplanes.
In western Galicia the Russians made progress in spite of the almost impassable condition of the country due to mud, driving the enemy from the front of Stromnik-Gorlice-Jasliska, taking guns and a large number of machine guns.
The year of 1914 closed with the Russian troops advancing in western Galicia, having stormed several fortified works of the enemy, east of Zakliczyn, making prisoners of 44 officers and 1,500 soldiers, and capturing 8 machine guns.
Southwest of Dukla Pass the Russians had dislodged the Austrians from positions they had strongly fortified. They had also realized an important success south of Lisko and had repulsed counterattacks by the enemy in the Carpathians at Uzsok Pass and renewed sorties by the garrison at Przemysl.
Early in January, 1915, the Russians developed great activity in Bukowina and the Carpathians, without making much impression on Austrian positions which they attacked on the Sucwaza River, in the Upper Csermosz territory, and also further west, on the ridges of the Carpathians. In the district of Gorlice and to the northwest of Zakliczyn determined Russian attacks were repulsed. During the fighting at Gorlice the Austrians stormed and captured a height south of there.
During the second week in January, 1915, heavy rains put a stop temporarily to the Russian offensive southward in the direction of Neu Sandek, and at the same time to the Austrian offensive in Russian Poland. A thaw following rain converted the whole country into a vast morass. It was physically impossible for the Austrians to bring up heavy artillery, without which the Russian position along the Nida River could not be forced.
The Russian lines on the east bank of the Nida followed the heights, which were admirably suited for intrenchments and well covered with positions for the Russian artillery fire. There was little firing, however, except an occasional artillery duel when the fog permitted and sporadic local infantry firing. Conditions were similar east of Cracow, the adversaries being well intrenched on opposite sides of the Dunajec River.
During this time another determined sortie was made by the garrison at Przemysl, preceded by extensive cavalry reconnaissance. The Austrian infantry then advanced in force in the direction of a wood near the city. The Russians opened fire, but the Austrians rushed forward and gained the cover of the woods. They continued to push forward and the Russians permitted them to advance close to their position before making a serious attempt to halt them.
With the fighting thus at close range, the Russians opened a terrific fire from rifles and machine guns. The battle raged for several hours, with heavy losses on both sides. The Austrians then retired to the fortress.
From the middle to the end of January, 1915, fierce snowstorms and bitter cold interfered with the activity of both Russians and Austrians. There were few engagements. Toward the end of the month, concentration of Austrian troops in Bukowina became stronger. On January 21, 1914, an Austrian force, including an infantry division with artillery, attacked the Russian front in the region of Kirlibaba, but was repulsed.
On the night of January 27, 1914, the Russians were driven back in the Upper Ung Valley from their positions on both sides of Uzsok Pass. This was one of the most important of the Carpathian passes, for the possession of which many importantengagements had been fought since the beginning of the war. It was strongly intrenched and stubbornly defended in several good positions, one behind the other. It fell into the hands of the Austrians after three days of hard fighting. West of the Uzsok Pass, Russian attacks were repulsed with heavy losses. Near Vezeralles and Volovco battles ended with the Russians being driven from the heights of the pass. The Austrians took 400 prisoners.
During the latter part of January, 1915, there were no developments of importance in Galicia.[Back to Contents]
FIRST CLASH ON PRUSSIAN FRONTIER
The first clash of arms between the Russian and German armies occurred on August 6, 1914, near Soldau, East Prussia. In this chapter we will follow the events which were taking place on this frontier, simultaneously with the movements of the German invasions of Belgium and France, the Austro-Serbian campaigns, the Russian invasion of Austria, and the campaigns in the other parts of the world. The general causes preceding the outbreak of the war have been fully narrated in Volume I, while the theatre of the following campaign is clearly described in the chapter on that subject. It is necessary at this time, however, to review the fighting lines before we bring the mighty German army and the Russian hosts into combat on their first battle ground.
We have seen that for many years previous to the outbreak of the great European War all the countries involved had been forced by political, economic, and social conditions to work, each country in its own way, toward the same main object—military preparedness. Many factors, of course, determined not only the means for achieving this result, but also the degree to which it was finally accomplished. At this time we are interested only in the results so far as they affected Russia and Germany at the beginning of the war.
When the armies gathered on the Russo-German frontier, both of these countries had reached a high degree of military efficiency. Germany, which for decades had been the acknowledged leaderamong the great powers as far as army development was concerned, had practically concluded the increases and improvements for the accomplishment of which its people had only recently submitted to a special scheme of very extensive taxation, the "Wehrbeitrag." By the results of this move, we find that the western defenses against France and indirectly against England profited much more than those in the east against Russia.
Russia, as its army stood ready to strike its first blow at Germany, had drawn to the fullest extent the obvious conclusions impressed upon it by its defeat in the Russo-Japanese War. Graft, which had played such great havoc during its last war, had been stamped out. The artillery equipment had been brought up to date and the troops in charge of it had increased vastly their skill in its use. Everywhere formations had been rearranged, increased and improved, and this rearrangement had affected especially the distribution of the empire's forces. Never before in its history had Russia concentrated so many troops in its eastern and central provinces.
In setting its armies into action, Germany faced by far the easier problem. Its territory was much more compact, its means of communication were vastly greater and superior, and racial differences between its various parts were practically nonexistent. With a total area of 208,825 square miles, the German Empire possessed 39,532 miles of railroad, whereas the Russian Empire in Europe, with 2,100,000 square miles had only 35,447 miles of railroad. The Germans had the further advantage of having brought all their means of transportation to the very acme of perfection, while the Russians were lacking in equipment as well as in organization.
The remarkable quickness and effectiveness with which the Russian army operated at the moment of war indicates not only an unexpectedly high state of preparedness, but also a remarkably high degree of leadership on the part of its generals.
The general staffs of both Russia and Germany were as well prepared to meet on the battle ground as far as it had been within human power and foresight. Each side had collected all available information concerning the other. The German genius fororganization had proved itself especially valuable and fertile in this direction. On the basis of this knowledge, well-defined plans of campaign had been worked out, and the leaders of both sides had many opportunities to exercise their strategic abilities, not only by solving problems created by these plans theoretically across the tables in their respective war colleges, but also practically during the annual periods of maneuvers.
As the armies faced each other in the first week of August, 1914, the strategy of both sides was determined chiefly by three factors: (1) by the obstacles and defenses which nature itself had placed in the localities in which the fighting was likely to take place; (2) by the means of defense and offense which were available; (3) by political conditions.
At the beginning of the war all but the last were absolutely known quantities, and as far as Russia and Germany were concerned this last factor could be figured out comparatively easily. For it was clear that if Germany would become involved in a war with Russia, Austria would be found fighting by its ally's side andvice versa. It was also fairly reasonable to assume, and had immediately become a fact, that under such conditions Germany would find itself involved with France too, which would mean that Germany's available fighting strength would have to be divided into two parts at least. It was, of course, a matter of fairly common knowledge that Germany's concentration was much more powerful on its western border than on its eastern, so that Russia could count with reasonable certainty on a comparative weak, even if well organized, resistance on the part of Germany at the beginning of war.
Germany's strategy in the east was influenced chiefly by its plan for the western campaign, which we have already considered in the preceding chapters. The fight against France seemed to be of greater importance and urgency to Germany than that against Russia. Why German strategy reached this conclusion does not concern us here. In passing, however, it may be well to remember that the German provinces adjoining France directly, or indirectly behind Belgium and Luxemburg, were of much greater importance and value to the Germans than theirprovinces adjoining Russia, and that even the temporary loss of these would probably have spelled disaster to Germany. Then, too, it was on the western side that England's influence was being felt; and, furthermore, the French army, though much less numerous than the Russian, was a more formidable adversary on account of its greater effectiveness, as well as of the certainty of its much quicker movements.
Russia had a preponderantly large advantage in numbers over Germany. The result of this fact, from a strategic point of view, was that Russia could dare much more than her adversaries. She could strike stronger, quicker, and with greater frequency in more directions, and could risk to extend her operations much farther. The fact that means of transportation, as has been pointed out, were much better developed in the German frontier provinces than in those of Russia, was a disadvantage only as long as Russia fought on its own territory, though even then, necessarily, the invading enemy would be hampered at least equally by the lack of transportation facilities.
Russia's natural advantage of greater numbers pointed clearly to an immediate offensive which would bring with it the promise of more advantages, while both German and Austrian conditions indicated with equal clearness as the safest and sanest strategy a policy of "watchful waiting," at least until such time when large enough forces could be spared from the western front or concentrated from available reserve sources to promise to a more aggressive policy a fair chance of success.
Thus Russia decided to strike immediately against Germany as well as against Austria. With the latter campaign we are not concerned here. How she devoted herself to this twofold task with all the power and means at her command we shall see in the following narrative.
The hosts of Russia were standing on the German frontier. In the four provinces adjoining Austria-Hungary a total of sixteen army corps, or one-half of all the Russian army in European Russia, were available. By July 31, 1914, the czar had ordered the general mobilization of army and navy. The German Ambassador in Petrograd was instructed to notify the Russian Governmentthat unless this order was countermanded within twelve hours, Germany would immediately respond by mobilization of her army and navy. As the Russian mobilization had continued, Germany officially took the same step in the late afternoon of August 1, 1914, after a state of war had already been proclaimed for the entire empire on July 31, 1914.
The fighting forces on the German side at the beginning of the war on or near the east front included the First Army Corps at Königsberg, the Twentieth at Allenstein, the Seventeenth at Danzig, the Fifth at Posen, and the Sixth at Breslau. These mustered a total of forty-four infantry, twenty-one cavalry, and twenty-five artillery regiments, augmented by four battalions of rifles (Jaeger), and twelve formations of technical troops. The entire peace effectiveness of these formations was about 150,000 men, which at full war strength undoubtedly meant at least not less than 500,000 men, of whom about one-half were of the first line, the balance being made up of reserves and Landwehr troops.
The Russians drew up, in the face of the Germans, two armies: the Army of Poland and the Army of the Niemen. The latter in peace time centered in Vilna and consisted of five army corps; the former used Warsaw as its base and consisted of at least as many army corps. It now held a wide front from the Narev in the north to the valley of the Bug River. These two armies together had an effectiveness of almost twice as many men as the German forces, supported as they were by a series of well-garrisoned fortresses: Grodno, Osowiec, and Bialistock in the north; Lomza, Novo Georgievsk, and Warsaw in the center; and Ivangorod and Brest-Litovsk in the south. In its entirety the mobilization of these forces was completed about the third week of August, 1914, but by the end of the first week the Army of the Niemen had completed its mobilization, and it was from there that the first blow was struck.
This army was commanded by General Rennenkampf, one of the few Russian generals who had succeeded in coming through the Russo-Japanese War, not only with an untarnished, but even with an enhanced reputation. Its task was to invade the northern part of East Prussia, striking directly at Königsberg.
Small engagements, of course, took place all along the Russo-German border between the advance guards of the two armies from the day war had been declared.
On August 6, 1914, a Russian cavalry division crossed over into the enemy's country south of Eydtkuhnen. The next ten days saw many isolated advances of this nature, all of them initiated by the Russians, and most of them accomplishing their respective objects. One small force ventured as far north as the immediate proximity of Tilsit of Napoleonic memory.[Back to Contents]
ADVANCE OF RUSSIANS AGAINST THE GERMANS
On August 16, 1914, within seventeen days after the official beginning of the Russian mobilization, everything was in readiness for the general advance. The next day immediately developed the first strong German resistance. At Stallupoehnen the German First Corps from Königsberg, under General von François, supported by two reserve corps, attempted to stem the Russian flood. Though they succeeded in taking 3,000 prisoners and some machine guns, they had to fall back upon Gumbinnen. The pressure of the superior Russian numbers—four active and two reserve corps—proved too strong. The battle front now was about thirty-five miles long, extending from Pillkallen on the north to Goldap on the south, with Gumbinnen in the center.
On August 20, 1914, the first real battle on the eastern front was fought before this pretty country town, which was founded in the beginning of the eighteenth century, and had gradually acquired about 15,000 people. General Rennenkampf used his numerical superiority for a powerful onslaught against the enemy's center. Fourteen hours of the most stubborn fighting—beginning at dawn and ending only with the coming of night—resulted in the final withdrawal of the German center. Thoughartillery did some preparatory work, it was the slashing thrust of glittering bayonets in massed formations and the tearing devastation of hand grenades that carried the day. The German wings kept up their resistance for the next day, but finally joined the main army which had withdrawn through Gumbinnen to Insterburg. The losses on both sides probably were about even, amounting to at least 5,000.
The certainty of the Russian numerical superiority undoubtedly was responsible for Von François's continuation of his retreat to his main base, Königsberg. The Russians lost no time in following and reached Insterburg on August 23, 1914. Practically without further opposition all of northern East Prussia as far as the river Memel was in General Rennenkampf's hands, Tilsit, Labiau, Tapiau, Gerdauen, Korschen, Rastenburg, Angerburg, and Goldap indicate the limits of his conquest. With it went four of the six railroads centering in Königsberg, leaving open only the two lines running to Allenstein and Danzig, which, of course, meant serious danger to this important German fortress.
The Russian Army of the Narew had, in the meantime, pushed its advance with equal rapidity and success from the south. Its commander, General Samsonoff, had won laurels in Manchuria, and had acquired considerable military reputation as a commander in Turkestan and as a member of the general staff. He had approximately as many men at his disposal as his colleague—about 250,000. His task, however, was more difficult. For his entire front would face, almost immediately after crossing the border, the treacherous lake district in the south of East Prussia. For his advance he used the two railroads from Warsaw into East Prussia, on the west through Mlawa and Soldau, and on the east through Osowiec and Lyck. From the latter town he pushed his right wing forward in a northwesterly direction, and sent his center toward the southwest to Johannisburg.
On August 23 and 24, 1914, to meet this advance, the Germans had available only one active army corps, centered in Allenstein, the Twentieth. Local Landwehr formations found the taskof delaying the Russians far beyond their power. In quick succession Samsonoff took Soldau, Neidenburg, Ortelsburg, and finally Allenstein. At Frankenau, just west of the Mazurian Lakes, his right wing connected with the Twentieth German Corps, which, supported by strongly prepared intrenchments, managed to hold up the Russian advance, but finally had to give way and fall back on Allenstein and Osterode. This gave to the Russians command of one more railroad to Königsberg, that from Allenstein. Though the two Russian armies had not yet formed a solid connection, they were in touch with each other through their cavalry, and the Russian front was in the form of a doubly broken line running from Friedland through Gerdauen to Angerburg (Niemen Army) and from there through Frankenau and Allenstein to Soldau (Narew Army). The former, facing southwest, in connection with the latter, now threatened not only Königsberg, but the defensive line of the Vistula from Thorn to Danzig. The greater part of East Prussia seemed securely in the possession of more than 500,000 Russian soldiers, chiefly of the first line, and under apparently very able leadership.
The occupied territory suffered severely. Bombardment and fire had laid waste, at least partially, some of the towns and a great many of the villages. Requisitions for the support of the invading army necessarily brought great hardships and losses to the unfortunate inhabitants. The avalanche-like success of the Russian arms, the clearly displayed weakness of German numbers and the rapid retreat of their forces naturally added to the terror of the peasants who make up the largest part of East Prussia's population. By thousands they fled from their villages and hamlets, carrying on their slow oxcarts or on their shoulders whatever they had gathered as their most precious possessions in their first hours of fear and terror. To them the word "Cossack" still called up pictures of the wild hordes that had overrun their country during the Seven Years' War, and later again in the Napoleonic wars. The large, strongly fortified cities of Königsberg and Danzig seemed to hold out the only hope for life and security, and toward these they flocked in ever-increasing masses. Even Berlin itself had brought home to it some of themore refined cruelties of war by the arrival of East Prussian refugees.
We have already seen that at the outbreak of the war only five active German corps were left on the eastern front. Two, the First and the Twentieth, had, so far, had to bear the brunt of the Russian advance; one other, the Sixth, had been sent from Breslau to detract, as much as possible, the Russian onslaught against the Austrian forces in Galicia; and the other two, the Fifth and Seventeenth, stationed in Danzig and Posen, were too far back to be immediately available.[Back to Contents]
BATTLE OF TANNENBERG AND RUSSIAN RETREAT
When on August 22, 1914, the full strength of the Russian attack became evident, the German General Staff decided on heroic measures. An immediate increase of the German forces to the point where they would match the Russian seemed out of the question, and the solution of the problem, therefore, clearly lay in the ability of the general staff to find a general who could, with the forces on hand, meet the requirements of the situation—free East Prussia of the invader.
Fortunately for Germany, its hour of need on the eastern front brought forth this man. There had been living for a number of years in the west German city of Hanover a general who had been retired in 1911 as commander of an army corps. His name was Paul von Hindenburg. He was at that time in his sixty-seventh year, but having been an army officer since his youth, he was "hard as nails," and from a military point of view still in the prime of his years as a leader.
It was well known in military circles that Von Hindenburg had acquired the most thorough knowledge of the difficult lake district south of Königsberg. He had devoted his time andenergies for years to a most exhaustive study and investigation of the Mazurian lakes and swamps. Again and again he had tramped through them on foot, picked his way along their treacherous paths on horseback, and finally put their few roads to the supreme test of the motor car. He knew their every shortcoming and advantage. His topographical information included fording places for men and guns, and quicksands.
Much of this knowledge he passed on to younger officers to whom he lectured at the General Staff College in Berlin, and when, only some years ago, practically all arrangements had been concluded by powerful financial interests to drain and cultivate his beloved lakes and swamps for agricultural purposes, he succeeded in overthrowing these plans at the last moment. It is said that so powerful were these interests that Von Hindenburg succeeded only by going, at last, to the emperor himself, and convincing him that the natural defensive possibilities outweighed in value any amount of increased acreage of reclaimed land.
We have already shown the problem which faced Von Hindenburg. To drive the Russians out of East Prussia he had to defeat two armies composed of at least 500,000 men, whose offensive momentum had been raised to a very high power by a highly successful advance of more than a week's duration. He, himself, could count only on far inferior numbers, not more than the equivalent of four army corps. These he had to assemble without loss of time and with as much artillery equipment as could be spared from all directions. From Königsberg came the biggest part of the beaten First Corps and its reserves. What was left of the Twentieth Corps, of course, was right on the ground. Undoubtedly the fortresses of Danzig, Graudenz, Thorn, and Posen had to yield parts of their garrisons. However, most of these were troops of the second line.
On August 23, 1914, Von Hindenburg arrived at Marienburg, about seventy miles southwest from Königsberg and almost as far to the northwest from Allenstein, and assumed command of the East Prussian forces. Only three days later, on August 26, 1914, he was ready to put in execution the plans on which he had worked for almost a lifetime.