Bug offensive

Bug offensive

Part of: First World War

Soldiers of the First Brigade of the Polish Legions cross the bow

date	June 29 to August 26, 1915
place	Galicia
output	Victory of the Central Powers

Parties to the conflict
German Empire Austria-Hungary	Russia
Commander
Erich von Falkenhayn August Mackensen Alexander von Linsingen Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf	Nikolai Romanow Mikhail Alexejew Leonid Lesch
Troop strength
41.5 infantry divisions, 5 cavalry divisions	33 infantry divisions, 6.5 cavalry divisions

The bug offensive was of German and Austria-Hungarian supervised troops advance against the Russian army in the north of Galicia in the First World War .

Battle planning

In the summer of 1915, the German troops carried out three offensives on the Eastern Front at the same time . The northernmost advance was in the direction of Courland , while in the north-east an advance was aimed at Warsaw . A third offensive was planned between the Bug and Vistula rivers . Although Erich Ludendorff had ambitious plans to encircle Russian troops, Erich von Falkenhayn and August von Mackensen prevailed with their limited plan to push the Russian troops out of Russian Poland with little use of material .

Starting position

The plan of June 19, 1915 envisaged Mackensen's advance from the Austro-Hungarian border north towards Brest-Litovsk . The Mackensen Army Group comprised 33.5 infantry divisions and two cavalry divisions of the 11th German Army and the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army . Furthermore, 8 infantry and 3 cavalry divisions of the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army were under his command on the right flank . Opposite them were 33 infantry divisions and 6.5 cavalry divisions of the Russian 3rd , 4th and 8th armies . Although the Russian army had poorly developed positions and also suffered from supply shortages, the Russian headquarters did not consider a strategic retreat. Instead, they relied on the fortress complexes built before the war. On June 27, a newly inserted Russian army began a counter-offensive on the Lubaczowka, which threw the Austro-Hungarian 10th Corps back onto the San .

Course of operations

Withdrawal from Russian Poland from mid-July to late August 1915

General Alexander von Linsingen, Commander in Chief of the Bug Army

On June 29th the German and Austro-Hungarian deployment in the northern apron of the regained Lemberg was completed. The offensive began on June 30th with massive German bombardment and artillery fire . This was extremely effective against the strongly contracted Russian associations. Some associations have already been reduced to half or a third of their combat strength. The German 11th Army attacked from the Rawa Ruska area with the Guard Corps , the X. Army Corps and the XXII. Reserve Corps to the north. Nevertheless, the advance stalled when a Russian counter-offensive was launched on July 3. The Austro-Hungarian 4th Army under Archduke Joseph Ferdinand advancing on the left wing was thrown back on July 6 in the Krasnik area. Field Marshal von Mackensen had to strengthen himself for the further advance, for this purpose the newly formed Bug Army was formed to the right of the 11th Army under General of the Infantry von Linsingen . Linsingen had to accompany the advance on the western Bug to the north, his army was made up of the Beskid Corps under General von der Marwitz (from July 21 under General Hofmann ), the XXIV. ( Gerok group ) and the XXXXI. Reserve Corps ( Winckler Group ) formed. On the eastern bank of the Bug the kuk 1st Army under General Puhallo , which had become vacant on the western bank of the Vistula, was deployed and was supposed to try to advance on Sokal , where a newly formed Russian 13th Army was deployed. While the Russian 3rd Army maintained its position against the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army until July 9, the breakthroughs of the German troops in the middle of the attacking front forced the Russians to retreat again. The Woyrsch Army Detachment to the west had advanced from its old front line between Opatówka and Radomka to the Vistula before Ivangorod . After the surrender of the Guard Reserve Corps , Woyrsch was on the left wing through the kuk XII. Corps under General Kövess has been reinforced.

After the Narew offensive launched by the Gallwitz army group on July 13th in the southern apron of East Prussia quickly proved successful, Mackensens also had his troops attacked again on July 15th. On July 18, the 11th Army tore a new hole in the Russian front near Krasnystaw and took 15,000 prisoners. The Russian 3rd Army again suffered high losses - some divisions shrank to 4,000 men. On July 23, the advance of the Bug Army reached the Horodlo-Annapol-Teratyn-Jaroslawiece line. On the same day the 11th Army was engaged in heavy fighting on the Uchanie-Krupe line, while the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army, supported by the German 47th Reserve Division, advanced on Lublin and reached the Borzechow-Chodel and Opole line. Due to the difficult supply situation, the bug offensive made slow progress at times, but the situation soon changed again.

On July 28th Mackensen attacked again with all three armies, the Bug Army was assigned to Dubienka- Cholm , the 11th Army to Lenczna and the Army of Joseph Ferdinand to Lublin-Kasimierz. The Central Powers conquered Lublin on July 30th and Cholm on July 31st. The Russian 3rd and 4th Armies sat down again on the Opalin line on the Bug - Lencza - Novo-Alexandria on the Vistula. On August 4th, the German 5th Cavalry Division, operating in the kuk 1st Army, was able to occupy Vladimir-Wolynski . On August 5th, the Polish capital Warsaw fell into the hands of the German 9th Army in the north , which resulted in the dismantling of the front positions of the Russian 2nd Army. The German XXV. Reserve Corps, which carried the brunt of the attack here, was only able to force the complete passage to the eastern bank of the Vistula at Praga on August 9th . Also on August 4, General Kövess had forced the surrender of the Ivangorod fortress on the Vistula.

The campaign to Brest-Litovsk

Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich and Tsar Nicholas II in 1915

Campaign to Brest-Litowsk and through the Bialowiezer jungle in 1915

In mid-August the German 11th Army and the Bug Army were advancing north on both banks of the Bug. On August 14, the Bug Army and the 82nd Reserve Division took Wlodawa and built a bridgehead over the Bug there. In front of the left wing of the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army, the 11th Cavalry Troop Division reached the area east of Dubienka. The German Guard Corps, the kuk VI. Corps and the X Reserve Corps were on the Tuczna-Biala line. The kuk 4th Army (XVII. And VIII. Corps) crossed the Krzna west of Biala while the Woyrsch Army detachment caught up with Klukowka. The Russian Supreme Commander Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich ordered the troops on the western front to move east of the Brest-Litovsk- Osowiec line . The bulk of the western armies were able to withdraw from Poland over the Bug without losses through well-conducted retreat battles. Signs of disintegration among the Russian troops could not be ascertained despite the tactical retreat. To the east of the Bug, the newly formed 13th Army was fully capable of fighting and was able to stop the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army on its intended advance north.

The 11th Army reached the southern apron of the Brest-Litovsk fortress on August 16 , the guard corps and the kuk VI. Corps stood on the Koden-Dobrynka-Horbow line. The Kuk 4th Army reached the area north of Biala between Komarno and Nosow. The Kosch group reached the Bug near Janow on August 17, while the Falkenhayn group stood on the heights of Rokitno. The kuk VI. Corps under General Arz von Straussenburg was assigned to the Bug Army and deployed against the southern and western fronts of Brest Litovsk. Proceeding north of the Krzna, the 11th Army tried to initiate enclosure in the north. On August 17th, the XXII. and X. Reserve Corps set up the new Russian positions between Krzna and Bug. The Austro-Hungarian 4th Army and the German 105th Division followed at Janow over the Bug. The Landwehr Corps of the Woyrsch Army Department forced the transition and established itself on the heights of Niemierow - Mielnik. West of Janow, the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army with the XVII. and VIII. Corps crossed the bow and reached the Koterka section between Wolczyn and Tokary. On August 20, the German Guard Corps followed the X Reserve Corps across the Bug, and the Pulwa section was reached together with the Guard Cavalry Division . The German-Austrian cavalry corps Heydebreck took the Kovel traffic junction on August 23 without a fight. With the guard corps that followed, the Pulwa sector was opened on August 24th and the advance to Lesna was forced. Joseph Ferdinand's army and Woyrsch's army division broke through the Russian positions east of Wysoko and pursued the line between Wierchowicze and Omieleniec.

The German Army Group, Prince Leopold , advancing in the area north of the Bug had orders accelerated against the Bielowiezer Forest and through Horodyszcze in order to cut off the Russian retreat routes. The attack by Army Group Mackensen on the Brest-Litovsk fortress was no longer necessary; on the night of August 25, the Russians withdrew through the fortress to the northeast. On August 26, the inner wings of 11th Army and Bug Army took the southwest forts and pushed east over the Bug. Despite heavy conflagrations, large quantities of food and ammunition were captured. In the meantime, Woyrsch's army detachment fought its way north through the inaccessible Bielowiezer forest to the Jasiolda. The fall of the Brest-Litovsk fortress forced the Russian army command to retreat to Pinsk by mid-September , which took place on September 16 from XXXXI. Reserve Corps was occupied. The Russians also retreated from the Jasiolda and across the Oginski Canal. After the surrender of several troop formations, the forces of the newly established Linsingen Army Group were also exhausted.

Finale

The high losses confirmed the Russian army leadership under Alexejew in the decision to have initiated the necessary great retreat . The Stawka succeeded in stabilizing the shortened front again in the long term. Although the German attack continued to threaten the entire Russian front in eastern Poland, the further advance was stopped at the end of August on the instructions of General von Falkenhayn.

The Austrian chief of staff, Conrad von Hötzendorf, wanted to seize the opportunity to regain the still Russian-occupied areas on the Dniester and in Bukovina . He therefore pleaded for the attack from Galicia to be extended to the northeast across the border to Volhynia . However, these operations failed due to tough resistance from the enemy, and the serious supply problems were completely underestimated. The campaign to Rovno , initiated by the Austrian 1st and 4th Armies on August 27, failed completely: the important traffic junction Lutsk (Lyck) was captured on August 31, but the city ​​was returned to the Russians on September 22 lost. The counterattack of the Russian 8th armies against the left flank of the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army, which was now regrouped to Volhynia, the attack by the Austro-Hungarian 2nd Army in the Brody area , and the simultaneous offensive of the Austro-Hungarian 7th Army over the Strypa came up to the end of September 70,000 Austrian soldiers in captivity. On September 26th, however, after the intervention of German troops ( Gerok group ) in the Styr section, Lutsk was retaken and the front of the Russian 8th Army was pushed back behind the Ikwa in this section. The German army command was glad to have stabilized the front in Volhynia and, after the onset of the enemy attacks in Champagne and Artois, urgently needed reinforcements for the troops-stripped western front . Some of the troops were transferred to the Balkan front for an offensive against Serbia .

swell

• Stone, Norman: Bug-Offensive , in: Hirschfeld, Gerhard / Krumeich, Gerd / Renz, Irina (eds.): Encyclopedia First World War, Paderborn 2004, p. 398f.
• Weiler, Thomas: Bug-Offensive , in: Tucker, Spencer / Roberts, Priscilla Mary (eds.): The Encyclopedia of World War I: A Political, Social, and Military History , Santa Barbara 2006, pp. 386f.