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Eastern Front
Operations in 1915
Winter Battle of Masuria (Feb. 7-21, 1915)
The plan of the Central Powers for 1915 was to drive
Russia from the war. It envisioned an offensive from East Prussia by
the Germans and a simultaneous advance by the Austrians in the Carpathians.
The Germans secretly concentrated their Tenth Army on the Neman River,
attacked, and overwhelmed the Russians. The 3d, 26th, and 3d Siberian
corps escaped, but the 20th Corps was encircled in the Forest of Augustow,
and more than 100,000 prisoners were taken. This was a great tactical
victory for the Germans, but the Austrian attack in the south failed,
so that the over-all strategic gains were nil.
In January 1915, Hindenburg and Ludendorff persuaded
Emperor William II that an effort should be made to knock Russia out
of the war. An Austrian offensive on the edge of the Carpathians in
February failed, but the German Tenth Army, driving southward from the
Neman River, forced a Russian corps to surrender in the Forest of Augustow.
Although three other corps escaped, the Russian casualties totaled 200,000
(of these, half were prisoners). The winter Battle of Masuria thus resulted
in a major victory for the Germans, but their over-all plan to eliminate
Russia from the war did not succeed.
Gorlice-Tarnow Breakthrough (May 2-4, 1915)
The critical Russian shortage of weapons and munitions
led the Germans to believe that another offensive would eliminate the
Russians from the war. The Eleventh Army (from the western front) attacked
in conjunction with the Austrian Fourth Army, gained surprise, and practically
destroyed the Russian Third Army. Continued German and Austrian attacks
compelled the Russians, whose logistical problems were now acute, to
withdraw.
By March 1915, war weariness had set in in Russia. On
the home front food shortages in the cities, incapacities of administration,
and corruption had created a desire for peace that was voiced by both
left and right. On the fighting front the armies were too weak to launch
a major offensive; clothing and ammunition were often in short supply.
Meanwhile, the Germans were secretly developing an offensive base in
the Gorlice-Tarnow area. Infantry and artillery were brought in from
the western front to reinforce the Fourth and Eleventh armies for an
attack. The offensive was launched on May 2 behind a barrage utilizing
950 artillery pieces. Taken completely by surprise, the Russians fled
in panic. A complete breakthrough was scored two days later, and by
June 22 the German juggernaut had rolled over Lemberg. Turning north,
the Germans took Warsaw on August 4-5 and Brest-Litovsk on August 25.
By the beginning of October, German armies had penetrated deep into
Russian territory, the front running from just west of Dvinsk (Daugavpils)
in the north southward through the Pripet Marshes to Kolmea (now Kolomyya).
The Gorlice-Tarnow breakthrough and subsequent campaigns in 1915 cost
the Russians 2,000,000 casualties, of whom half were prisoners. Meanwhile,
on September 5, Czar Nicholas II assumed command of the Russian armies.
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