Battle of Gródek (1915)
The battle at Gródek 17 to 20 June 1915 took place in the First World War on the Eastern Front in Galicia instead. German and Austro-Hungarian troops broke through the positions of the Russian army in the front section near Gródek and forced them to retreat.
prehistory
The city of Gródek had been under Austrian rule since 1772 as part of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria . In the initial phase of the First World War, the troops of the Russian Empire advancing westwards conquered Lviv on September 2, 1914 , and also captured Gródek on September 7 . The defeated Austro-Hungarian armed forces had to give up most of Galicia and retreat behind the San on September 11th (see " Battle of Galicia ").
After the counter-offensive by the Central Powers (i.e. the German Empire and Austria-Hungary ) in the Battle of Gorlice-Tarnów in early May 1915, the front ran along the Dniester and the Wereszyca in June 1915 . While the attacks of the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army on the lower San section near Sieniawa did not advance, the German 11th Army advancing to the northeast was able to defeat the Russian 3rd Army between Lubaczow and Mościska in a three-day battle (June 12-15 , 1915) about to push back on the line Cieszanów - Niemirow -Szklo. The troops of Colonel General von Mackensen thus enabled the German Beskid Corps (General von der Marwitz) and the Austro- Hungarian 2nd Army , which operated south to the Dniester, to resume the advance towards Lemberg .
June 17-20, 1915
On June 17, 1915, a breakthrough offensive of the allied German and Austro-Hungarian troops began between Gródek and Magierów under the overall leadership of the German Colonel General von Mackensen. While the German Guard Corps (General von Plettenberg ) and the German 119th Division (Generalleutnant von Behr) were preparing to break through on Magierów, the Austro-Hungarian 2nd Army ( General of the Cavalry Eduard von Böhm-Ermolli ) had the positions of the Russian 8 Army (General Brusilov ) to break through at the Wereszyca.
kuk 2nd Army
The troops of the Austro-Hungarian 2nd Army Böhm-Ermolli intended to attack on a 40 km wide front included one cavalry and eleven infantry divisions, which were divided into four army corps:
IV Army Corps (General Albert Schmidt von Georgenegg )
- 27th Division, FML Cossack
- 43rd Honved Division, Major General Jordan-Rozwadowski
- 32nd Division, Major General Willerding
- 31st Division, Major General von Lütgendorf
XIX. Army Corps ( FML Ignaz Trollmann )
- 13th Rifle Division, Major General Kreysa
- 34th Division, Major General Birkenhain
- 29th Division, Major General Kroupa
XVIII. Army Corps (General Alfred Ritter von Ziegler )
- 9th Division, FML Alfred von Schenk
- 1st Landsturm Brigade
- 33rd Division, FML Theodor von Hordt
V Army Corps (General Ferdinand von Goglia )
- 14th Division, FML Csicserics from Bacsány
- 4th Cavalry Division, Major General Berndt
- 51st Honved Division, Major General Kornhaber
Course of the battle
During the Battle of Gródek, the advance of the Austro-Hungarian troops took place on the left on Kamieńobrod , in the middle against the lake line between Gródek and Lubien and on the right from Komarno to the Dniester.
On the left wing north of the railway line to Lemberg, the Russian positions in the direction of Janów were arched back to the east and thus inaccessible for a quick bypass. The Austro-Hungarian 29th Division wrested a river crossing north of Drozdowiecki from the enemy west of Cuniow, while the other two divisions of the XVIII. Corps advanced to the heavily fortified heights west of Wielkopole. The Austro-Hungarian IV Corps fought with the 27th and 43rd Divisions north of Dobrostany, while the Beskid Corps passed Jaworów to the north and reached Szkło. The XIX. Corps (13th Rifle Division and 34th Infantry Division) ran into the main Russian resistance line at Wielkopole and was involved in heavy fighting until late in the evening. With the IV Corps to the north, too, the most violent fighting raged north of Stojánce and on both sides of the railway line throughout the day. At Wolzuchy and Dobrzany Russian artillery tried to advance the XVIII. Corps to delay, but the 9th Division penetrated into the area southwest of Gródek. The Beneschau Infantry Regiment No. 102 penetrated into the western part of the still tenacious town during the night.
On June 18, the 14th Division on the right wing was only able to push the enemy back with difficulty from the west bank of the Wereszyca at the corner of the mouth of the Dniester, but the left wing of this division reached the edge of the river at Komarno. To the left of this, the attack by the 33rd Division in the battle for the river crossing west of Lubien was initially unsuccessful. The bulk of the Austro-Hungarian 2nd Army was still stuck in heavy fighting on the Wereszyca that day, and Russian counter-attacks from the western fortress belt of Lemberg were even expected. The left-wing of the German southern army engaging Hungarian group Szurmay could the Szezerek-section of the Dniester bridgehead located in the room a south Mikolajow secure.
The fighting lasted until June 20, 1915, whereby the breakthrough forced the day before by Prussian guard troops near Magierow finally led to the retreat of the left wing of the Russian 8th Army to Lemberg.
aftermath
After also strong Russian counter-attacks in Rava-Ruska in Dobrosin and Zolkiew had been cut off by the German 11th Army, the successful Central Powers two days after the battle at Gródek the reconquest of Lviv (June 22, 1915). The breakthrough of the German Beskid Corps in the Kulikow area had already bypassed the northern Russian fortress front.
See also
literature
- Hermann Müller-Brandenburg: The Battle of Grodek-Lemberg (June 1915) (= The Great War in Individual Representations 8). Verlag Stalling, Oldenburg 1918. ( online )
- Austria-Hungary's Last War , Volume II: "The War Year 1915", edited by Edmund Glaise-Horstenau . Publishing house of the military science reports, Vienna 1930.