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
On June 16, 1915, the Teutonic allies forced the Russians to fall back
upon Tarnograd from north of Siemandria, thus pushing this section of
the front across the boundary into Poland about to the line of the
Tanev. Tarnograd itself was occupied by the Teutons on the 17th, and
on the 18th the Russians retreated behind the Tanev. There was little
change in this particular sector during the fighting which was crowned
for the Austro-Germans by the capture of Lemberg on June 22, 1915.
Further to the east, however, to the south of the Pilica and west of
the Vistula, Von Woyrsch was exerting pressure, and on the 20th of
June Berlin announced the capture of several Russian advance posts by
these troops. By the 24th the Slavs had begun to retreat before Von
Woyrsch in the forest region south of the Ilza on the left bank of the
Vistula; thus rear guards had been thrown across the Kamienna, and
Sandomir was occupied by the Austro-Hungarians. On the 25th the
fighting developed on the line Zarvichost-Sienno-Ilza, to which the
Russians had fallen back.
Defeats of the Russian rear guards on June 29, 1915, to the northeast
and west of Tomaszow, where Teutonic forces had now also crossed into
Poland, caused the Slavs to begin the relinquishment of the Tanev
forest district and the lower San. Tomaszow itself was occupied by the
pursuing troops. By the 30th the Teutonic allies had swept forward
beyond the Tanev region to Franpol, Zamoez, and Komarovo, and on the
same evening they threw the Russians out of their strong defenses on
the Zavichost-Ozarow-Sienno line, west of the Vistula. The pursuit was
pushed energetically on both sides of the Kamienna. The important
bridgehead on the Vistula, Josefovo, was taken on the 1st of July.
The Russians between the Bug and the Vistula were now offering strong
resistance with large forces on the line Turobin-Krasnik-Josefovo, the
rivers Por and Wyznica forming roughly their defensive front, as
previously pointed out.
In its daily bulletins of July 1, 1915, the German Great Headquarters
made this announcement for the eastern theatre of war (from the Baltic
to the Pilica): "The booty for June is: Two colors, 25,595 prisoners,
including 121 officers, seven cannon, six mine throwers, fifty-two
machine guns, one aeroplane, also a large amount of war material." For
the southeastern theatre of war (from the Pilica to Bukowina) the
headquarters announced: "The total booty for June of the allied troops
fighting under the command of General von Linsingen, Field Marshal von
Mackensen, and General von Worysch is 409 officers, 140,650 men, 80
cannon, 268 machine guns." The Austro-Hungarian General Staff on the
same day reported: "The total booty for June of the troops fighting
under Austro-Hungarian command in the northeast is 521 officers,
194,000 men, 93 cannon, 364 machine guns, 78 ammunition wagons, 100
field railway carriages, etc."
CHAPTER LVII
BATTLE OF KRASNIK--CAPTURE OF PRZASNYSZ
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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