The Story of the Great War, Volume 3: History of the European War from Official Sources
History
The Story of the Great War, Volume 3: History of the European War from Official Sources
World War, 1914-1918
One more battle on a big scale remains to be chronicled from the far
eastern sector; it may also serve to illustrate the wide divergence
that not infrequently exists between official communiques recording
the same event. Early in April, 1915, a Russian force threw a bridge
across the Dniester near the village of Filipkowu and moved along the
road running from Uscie Biskupie via Okna and Kuczurmik on to
Czernowitz, the intention being to turn the Austrian positions south
of Zaleszczyki from the rear. We will let the rival communiques
relate what happened:
_Austrian Version_
Annihilated two battalions of Russian infantry belonging to the
Alexander Regiment; took 1,400 prisoners, and drove Russians back
beyond the Dniester.
_Russian Version_
Annihilated two battalions of the Honveds; captured 21 officers, over
1,000 rank and file, and 8 machine guns.
The curtain was about to rise for the next act, wherein will be played
one of the most terrific reversals of fortune ever produced in
military history.
For quite a month it had been an open secret that considerable masses
of German troops were being transported to the Carpathian front. What
was not known, however, was the magnitude or the plan of these
preparations. Never was a greater concentration of men and machinery
more silently and more speedily accomplished. All along the south of
the range, on the great Hungarian plains, there assembled a gigantic
host of numerous nationalities. But it was away to the west, in that
narrow bottle neck where the Dunajec flows from the Polish frontier
down to the Tarnow Pass, that the mighty thunderbolt had been forged.
Thousands of heavy guns were here planted in position, and millions of
shells conveyed thither under cover of night. Countless trains carried
war materials, tents, pontoons, cattle, provisions, etc. Finally the
troops arrived--from the different fronts where they could be spared,
and new levies from Germany and Austria-Hungary. Smoothly and silently
men and machines dropped into their respective places: All was ready;
not a detail had been overlooked; German organization had done its
part. The commander was Von Mackensen, nominally Commander of the
Eleventh German Army, but in reality supreme director of the whole
campaign.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account