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
During April, 1915, a number of changes had taken place among the
commanding officers of the Austro-German armies; the new dispositions
of groups along the battle line differ considerably from those which
obtained during the fighting for the passes. The line was now
enormously strengthened, and more compact. This applies only to the
Germanic side; there is little change on the Russian. At this stage
the Russian front on the west of Galicia extended from Opatovie on the
Polish frontier along the Dunajec, Biala, and Ropa Rivers by Tarnow,
Ciezkovice, and Gorlice down to Zboro in Hungary; from here it runs
eastward past Sztropko, Krasnilbrod, Virava, and Nagy Polena to the
Uzsok Pass, a distance of about 120 miles. Ewarts commanded the army
on the Nida; the Dunajec-Biala line was still held by Dmitrieff,
Commander in Chief of the Eighth Russian Army; Brussilov still
commanded the main army of the Carpathians, and Lechitsky in the
Bukowina in the place of Alexeieff, who had succeeded General Russky
in the northern group. The whole southern group, from the Nida to the
Sereth inclusive, was under the supreme command of General Ivanoff.
Facing Dmitrieff on the Dunajec front stood now the Fourth
Austro-Hungarian Army under the Archduke Joseph Ferdinand, about five
army corps, including a German cavalry division under General von
Besser; then the Ninth and Fourteenth Austrian Army Corps; to their
right, several Tyrolese regiments; the Sixth Austro-Hungarian Army
Corps of General Arz von Straussenburg, with the Prussian Guards on
his left and Bavarian troops under Von Emmich on his right; the
Eleventh German Army Corps under Von Mackensen; the Third
Austro-Hungarian Army under General Boroyevitch von Bojna; the Tenth
Army Corps under General Martiny. This formidable combination now
confronted the Dunajec-Biala positions, which Dmitrieff had held
without exertion for four months. Only a mile or two away he still
inspected his trenches and conducted his minor operations, totally
unconscious of the brewing storm specially directed against him. The
Laborza district was held by the Archduke Joseph with the Seventh Army
Corps; on his left stood a German corps under Von Marwitz, and on his
right the Tenth Army Corps, north of Bartfeld, with some additional
forces in between. Around the Lupkow and Uzsok passes the Second
Austro-Hungarian Army under Boehm-Ermolli was stationed where it had
been since February, 1915. Next, on the right, the Austro-Hungarian
army corps under Von Goglia; in the Uzsok lay an army under Von
Szurmay, nearly all Magyars, of whom the chief commander was Von
Linsingen. Farther eastward stood a Prussian corps, embodying a
division of Prussian Guards and other regiments commanded by General
Bothmer, a Bavarian, who had been reenforced with a Hungarian division
under Bartheldy; then followed the corps of Generals Hofmann and
Fleischman, composed of all Austrian nationalities, intrenched in the
mountain valleys.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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