Battle of Rawa Ruska
Map of the battle
| date | September 6. bis 11. September 1914 |
|---|---|
| place | Rawa-ruska |
| output | Austria-Hungary defeat |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 9 divisions | 9 divisions |
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Battle of Galicia, 1914
Kraśnik - Komarów - Złoczów - Gnila Lipa - Lviv - Grodek - Rawa Ruska
The battle of Rawa Ruska at the beginning of the First World War initiated the last phase of the so-called battle in Galicia between the troops of Austria-Hungary and the Russian Empire near the town of Rawa-Ruska from September 6 to 11, 1914 . It came to the momentous collapse of the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army of General Moritz Ritter von Auffenberg in battle with the Russian 3rd Army under General Nikolaj Russki . Due to the defeat, the counterattack of the Austro-Hungarian 2nd and 3rd Armies on the Wereszyca (a northern tributary of the Dniester ) for the reconquest of Lemberg became pointless, most of Galicia had to be evacuated.
prehistory
After the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army and General Kövess's army group had been defeated in the battle of the Gnila Lipa and were in retreat, Lemberg had to be evacuated on September 2nd.
The Austrian Chief of Staff Conrad von Hötzendorf decided on September 1st, in view of his troops flowing back to Lemberg, to withdraw the 3rd Army in a reception position at the Wereszyca in order to gain the necessary time for regrouping and a counter-offensive. For this he ordered the leader of the 4th Army, General of the Cavalry Moritz von Auffenberg, to break off his offensive at Tomaszow . The bloody-won victory in the battle of komarów was thus useless on September 3 Auffenberg had received orders to solve its central corps of the front and regroup south to the hard-pressed right wing of the 3rd Army Rudolf von Brudermann to relief bring. Conrad started from the false assumption that after the tactical victory at Komarov on the northern front the Russians were sufficiently weakened to be able to pull out the bulk of his 4th Army from the northern front at Tomaszow. With these regrouped forces he wanted to take the enemy advancing to the west of Lemberg again in the flank and win back the lost initiative. During this regrouping to the east, a gap in the front formed between the 1st Army under General Viktor Dankl and the 4th Army. Both the Russian 5th Army (General Plehwe) used this circumstance to advance southwards, as did the 3rd Army (General Russki) to attack Rawa Ruska from the east.
March 6th September
On the Huczwa section, the left and right wing of the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army with the II. And XIV. Corps remained in the previous combat area as a newly formed army group Joseph Ferdinand , while General of the Cavalry von Auffenberg the bulk of the 4th Army with the VI., IX. and XVII. Corps regrouped to the southeast on Rawa Ruska .
The 8th Infantry Troop Division of the XIV Corps had the task of maintaining the connection between the II Corps (4th and 13th Divisions) (General of the Infantry Blasius Schemua ) and the 4th Army, which had moved to Rawa Ruska . The 8th ITD, threatened with being cut off. meanwhile made against the Russian XXI who broke through at Telatyn . Corps front to the east and tried to hold out on the Huczwa sector at Tyszowce . Favorable for the Austrians was the fact that the in Zamosc standing Russian XIX. Corps had not taken up its advance southwards with enough force. In this section the 1st Cavalry Division did not maintain sufficient contact with the X Corps of the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army .
The Austro-Hungarian 2nd Army had already arrived in the Sambor area from Serbia , the Commander-in-Chief Eduard von Böhm-Ermolli now took over the leadership of the disbanded Kövess Army Group in addition to his own IV and VII Corps. According to Conrad's plans, a joint counter-attack on the Wereszyca should be attempted to recapture Lemberg together with the 3rd Army, which was concentrated in the north between Jaworow and Gródek . Commander-in-chief of the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army had meanwhile become General of the Boroevic Infantry . Corps had proven effective in the battle of Komarov.
Course of the battle
Collapse of the army group Joseph Ferdinand
On September 6th the Austro-Hungarian XVII., VI. and IX. Corps reached the Magierow-Wieczbiany line, where they immediately met Russian resistance. On the northern section of the 4th Army, the army group Joseph Ferdinand tried in vain to stop the enemy on the heights west of Tyszowce and had to face pressure from the Russian XVII. Corps draw back. Both the II Corps (Blasius Schemua) to the north and the XIV Corps temporarily lost contact with the rest of the front on both flanks and suffered considerable losses in troops and material when they withdrew.
In the battle of retreat near Hujcze the cut off Kaiserjäger Regiment 2 was smashed on September 6th and 7th, the regiment commander Colonel Brosch von Aarenau was killed. To the south, near Posadow, the 2nd Cavalry Division under FML Emil von Ziegler had a loose connection with the 3rd Infantry Troop Division , which was positioned in isolation to the south in the impassable area between Korczmin and the Solokija . In the days that followed, division leader FML Roth was only able to achieve the encirclement of his division by the Russian XXI. Prevent Corps. The swinging in of the Russian XXI. Corps (33rd and 44th Divisions) under General der Infantry Schkinski from the north Uhnow pushed the kuk XIV. Corps onto the XVII. Corps standing in front of Rawa Ruska. Corps back. The 4th, 10th and 11th Cavalry Divisions had to cover the Zaluze-Wierzbiany area as part of the newly formed cavalry corps, Major General Baron Nagy.
Defeat of the Auffenberg Army
The flank thrust of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the direction of Lemberg to the east. Corps (now under FML Arz von Straussenburg ) in the Magierow area did not bring the hoped-for relief of the situation. The thrust proposed here was easily repulsed by the Russians. The Russian XI. Army Corps (11th and 32nd Divisions) under General of the Cavalry Sakharov pushed further against Rawa Ruska from the east. The southern following Russian IX. Army Corps (5th and 42nd Divisions) under General of the Infantry Shcherbachev ran into the resistance of the Austro-Hungarian 15th and 27th Divisions at Magierow. Subsequently, the Russian X. Army Corps (9th and 31st Divisions) under General Sievers' cavalry went against the Austro-Hungarian IX at Wiszenka. Corps (FML Friedel with the 10th, 25th and 26th Divisions). Even further south occupied the Russian XII. Army Corps without a fight Janow and only encountered the following day again on the vanguard of the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army, which had receded at the end of August.
Battle sequence from September 8th
The small town of Janow northwest of Lemberg now formed roughly the army border between the Austro-Hungarian 3rd and 4th Armies, as well as the dividing line between the Russian 3rd and 8th Army, which was charging westwards. While the army group Joseph Ferdinand in the area north of Rawa Ruska the front against the Russian XVII. and XXI. Army corps to the northeast and east, the front of the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army to the south collapsed.
On September 8th, the Russian 3rd Army started with four corps from the east for the decisive push against Auffenberg's 4th Army. The kuk 3rd Army in the center tried meanwhile with the XI., III. and XII. Corps to stop the Russian 8th Army advancing south of Lemberg in the Battle of Gródek by a desperate counterattack on the upper Wereszyca . General of the infantry Colerus (kuk III. Corps) unsuccessfully put the 28th and 6th divisions at and south of Mszana to break through. Although reinforced by fresh marching brigades from the Krakow fortress , the attempt failed due to the resistance of the Russian VII Army Corps. To the north of it, the kuk XI failed at the same time. Corps (30th Infantry and 44th Rifle Divisions) in front of Janow and Stradez.
On September 9, the Austro-Hungarian 2nd Army tried to stop the advance of the Russian 8th Army on the lower Wereszyca by counter-attacks by the Tersztyánszky Corps Group . The IV Corps pushed the Russian XXIV Army Corps back over the Szczerec brook onto the Dornfeld-Szczerec line; further north, the 35th Division under FML Krautwald stormed flat highlands near Mostki. On the right wing the Karg group (38th Honved Division) had crossed the Dniester near Terszakow , but were held down by the far-reaching fire of the Russian crew from the Russian bridgehead near Mikolajow while attempting to cross the lower Szczerec .
The crumbling front of the Austro-Hungarian 3rd and 4th Armies was threatened by a dangerous pincer operation from the north-west and south-east. The XI. Army Corps of the Russian 3rd Army broke through the front of kuk XVII, defending near Rawa Ruska. Corps (19th and 41st Divisions) of FML Karl Kritek and forced the Austrians to fight back with heavy losses. The attack of the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army on the central Werescyca since September 8 also collapsed with great losses, in the counter-attack Russian Cossack regiments overran the Austro-Hungarian positions and were already operating in the rear of the shattered Austro-Hungarian units. The entire Austrian front in Galicia was thereby dissolved. On September 12th, General Sakharov's troops occupied the evacuated town of Rawa Ruska.
consequences
With the victory of the Russian 3rd Army at Rawa Ruska, Lemberg and Eastern Galicia were lost to the Austrians. The defeat claimed heavy casualties in terms of teams and equipment, and the retreat to the San became inevitable. General Auffenberg was blamed for the heavy defeat, although the order to come to the aid of the 3rd Army had come from Chief of Staff Conrad von Hötzendorf himself, who had completely neglected the problems of the partly swampy terrain in his planning. The supreme command of the 4th Army was ultimately transferred to Archduke Joseph Ferdinand. The Central Powers were only able to recapture the city of Rawa-Ruska after the breakthrough battle of Gorlice-Tarnow on June 21, 1915.
literature
- Nikolai Golovin: The Great Battle of Galicia - A study in strategy (PDF; 58 kB) first: Slavonic Review, vol. 5, 1926-27
- Hermann Stegemann : History of the World War . Volume I, Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Stuttgart 1917
- Austria-Hungary's Last War Volume I. The war year 1914, editor: Edmund Glaise-Horstenau Verlag der Militärwissenschaftlichen Mitteilungen, Vienna 1930, pp. 269–294
Individual evidence
- ↑ Austria-Hungary's Last War, Volume 1, Vienna 1930, p. 304