Battle of Arys
| date | September 7th and 8th, 1914 |
|---|---|
| place | Arys , formerly East Prussia , now Poland |
| output | German victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 20000, 1st Division of the 8th Army | 10th and 11th Finnish regiments |
| losses | |
|
450 |
unknown |
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The battle of Arys was the decisive breakthrough through the Masurian Lake District within the Battle of the Masurian Lakes .
Historical classification
After the Battle of Tannenberg , southern East Prussia was liberated from Russian troops. The Russian 1st Army did not intervene in the course of the battle in favor of the 2nd Army . She had but cautiously advanced groping slowly to the south-west, was in early September 1914, the Mazury Lake and besieged Giżycko ( Giżycko ), and the Boyen fortress . At this point all units of the 8th Army faced the Russian troops after a successful battle. The 8th Army advanced on a broad front towards the (1st) Nyemen Army. These battles, which lasted from September 6 to 14, 1914, went down in history as the Battle of the Masurian Lakes . The 16 German divisions involved were spatially separated from one another and fought in isolation from one another. One of these skirmishes was the Battle of Arys.
The battle
General of the infantry Hermann von François had broken through with his 1st Army Corps in the Tannenberg Battle near Usdau. The 2nd Division had completed the cordoning off of the Russian 2nd Army and was standing at Neidenburg . The 1st Division blocked the relief attempts of the First Russian Army Corps and stood further south at Soldau . In this position, François let both formations march on. So the 2nd Division circled the Spirdingsee from the west towards Nikolaiken and the 1st Division moved east around the lake. After the liberation of Johannesburg , on her way north to Arys , a town of approx. 5000 inhabitants, where the Arys military training area was located, one of the largest military training areas in East Prussia. What was special about the battle was the fact that the First Division had held a four-week exercise at this location (from April 27 to May 26, 1914) and was therefore well prepared.
"For the attack of the 1st Inf. Div. it was advantageous that it was on the familiar ground of the military training area, where the tree and bush were known to the subordinates. A few weeks before the start of the war, a two-day combat exercise took place here in the corps. General v. Conta against General Otto v. Below (then commander of the 2nd Inf. Div). General von Conta took the same route as the attacker as he did today against the fortified position of the Russians. "
The First Division marched along the Johannisburger Chaussee to Arys. The left side to the Spirdingsee was covered by the infantry regiment "von Boyen" (5th East Prussian) No. 41 . The right side towards the military training area was taken over by the grenadier regiment "Kronprinz" (1st East Prussian) No. 1 on the right wing and the infantry regiment "Duke Karl von Mecklenburg-Strelitz" (6th East Prussian) on the left, inside wing No. 43 and retrospectively Grenadier Regiment "King Friedrich Wilhelm I." (2nd East Prussian) No. 3 . The two front regiments were prevented from advancing on September 7th and had to take up positions on the military training area. On the left side of the Chaussee, the infantry regiment “von Boyen” (5th East Prussian) No. 41 was able to take Arys on this day .
The city was deserted, the houses destroyed and looted. The capture of Arys threatened the Russian troops with confinement. Some units could still be withdrawn during the night. On September 8th the storm began on the barracks at the military training area. In the afternoon, which reached Grenadier Regiment "Crown Prince" (1st East Prussian) No. 1 Wiersbinnen on Aryssee and at night the barracks was completely from the Infantry Regiment "Duke Charles of Mecklenburg-Strelitz" (6 Ostpreußisches) No. 43 taken . The defeated Russian forces withdrew northwards via Lyck .
The dead were buried in the Arys Memorial Cemetery.
literature
- Max Hoffmann : Tannenberg as it really was. Verlag für Kulturpolitik, Berlin 1926, DNB 57479316X .
- Friedrich von Schellwitz: The battle of Arys on September 7th and 8th, 1914. Open words, Berlin 1928, DNB 577403869 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Erich Weise (ed.): Handbook of historical sites . Volume: East and West Prussia (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 317). Kröner, Stuttgart 1966, DNB 456882979 , pp. 6-7.
- ↑ General of the Infantry von François: Battle of the Marne and Tannenberg. Berlin 1920, p. 258.