Battle of Schaulen (1915)
Course of the battle on July 20, 1915 before the conquest of Schaulen
| date | April 27, 1915 to July 21, 1915 |
|---|---|
| place | Schools |
| output | German victory |
| consequences | Fight in Courland |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
|
I. Reserve Corps 6th Cavalry Division 3rd Cavalry Division Bay. Cavalry Division 78th Reserve Division 8th Cavalry Division 2nd Cavalry Division |
XIX. Army Corps 3rd Siberian Army Corps |
| losses | |
|
unknown |
unknown |
.svg){kind=small}
.svg){kind=small}
The battle for Schaulen initiated the further fighting in Courland . In several attempts, German troops were able to occupy the Lithuanian town of Schaulen (Šiauliai) on July 21, 1915.
preparation
On April 27, 1915, the Supreme Commander East , Field Marshal von Hindenburg , gave General Otto von Lauenstein the order to attack Schaulen. The small town had about 22,000 inhabitants and a rich leather factory. In addition, the army group "Lauenstein" had the 3rd Cavalry Division and the Bay at the end of March . Cavalry divisions , which could hardly intervene effectively in the west, received reinforcements. The advance on Schaulen was staggered in three columns:
- On the right were 3rd Cavalry Division and the Bay. Cavalry Division set out from Jurburg together with 36th Reserve Division .
- In the middle the 78th Reserve Division from Tauroggen .
- On the left the 6th Cavalry Division and the 6th Reserve Division from Memel and Bajohren .
First attack on Schaulen
The 3rd Cavalry Division reached Skaudville on April 27 , while the Bavarian Cavalry Division had advanced to Rossieny . The Russians, whose main forces had remained unchanged north of Tauroggen since the end of March, evaded to Kelmė after the 3rd Cavalry Division did not act decisively . On April 28, the two divisions, together with the 6th Cavalry Division, reached the area east of Kelme, covering 75 km in two days. On April 30th, Schaulen, which had been set on fire by retreating Russian forces, was occupied. The 6th and 3rd Cavalry Divisions continued their attack in the direction of Mitau . But they could not break the enemy resistance and settled first south, then east to Windau .
The infantry forced themselves to great marches. The 36th Reserve Division was advanced to protect against Kovno ; the 78th and 6th Reserve Divisions united in Schaulen. But now the enemy intensified and this led to a series of skirmishes in the northwest and around Schaulen that dragged on until June 1915. Further troops had to be brought in from the German side for reinforcement. In order to be able to hold the gained area, the 8th Cavalry Division and the 2nd Cavalry Division , as well as the 1st Reserve Division and the weak division "Beckmann" were brought in. The reinforcement was so extensive that these troops and those of the Lauenstein Army Group were combined to form the Nyemen Army under the command of Otto von Below . Nevertheless, the city of Schaulen could not be held. The 78th Reserve Division had a conveniently located and well-developed defensive position, but the 6th Reserve Division had not yet reached the city. It came too late because the Russian 56th Reserve Division was already approaching from the southeast and the Russian 38th Infantry Division from the northeast. Part of the leather supplies could be secured, but the town had to be given up again on the evening of May 10, 1915.
Preparations for the second attack
Based on a suggestion from Max Hoffmann , Erich Ludendorff planned a coup against the Russian sea fortress Libau . Only with the 3rd Cavalry Brigade under Colonel von der Schulenburg and a few battalions of reserve divisions, which were already there, should the city be seized from the east, while torpedo boats from the sea side and weak storm battalions from the south launched a mock attack. The coup was successful on May 7, 1915, the fortifications were still blown up by the occupation, but the coastal batteries turned out to be outdated models. The capture of Libau now allowed the German troops, since there was no longer any danger from the West, to make a more extensive renewed attack on Schaulen.
Battle for Schaulen
Battle of Kuršėnai (Kurschany) from 15-20. May 1915
The 78th Reserve Division took up position again seven kilometers southwest of the city; on May 12th they tied up the advancing enemies with their artillery, while the 6th Reserve Division advanced with its left wing on a comprehensive attack, in which about 1,400 prisoners were taken. But now the Russian 17th Infantry Division (XIX. Koprs) was advancing from Mitau, while the approaching 1st Reserve Division was not expected at Kuršėnai until May 13th . Therefore, the left wing was withdrawn in the evening so that it could hold the oncoming enemy in the flank. The left wing of the 1st Reserve Division met the right wing of the Russian 38th Division on May 14 at Kužiai and Noreikiai . The 6th Cavalry Division was able to skilfully bypass its north wing and get into the rear. This is how the first fierce fighting took place on the Kužiai-Noreikiai line. When air reports reported the advance of strong Russian units from Joniškis , the 78th and 6th Reserve Divisions returned to their old positions and the 1st Reserve Division, which had arrived, moved east of Kuršėnai, unmolested by the enemy. On May 16, Russian troops crossed the Dubissa near Raseiniai . Therefore, the 78th Reserve Division had to be sent there, which meant that the 6th Cavalry Division had to occupy the entire area from Lake Rėkyva to Abszurj, about 26 km. The enemy proceeded cautiously against this weak front in the next few days, but attacked the position of the 1st Reserve Division at Kuršėnai and the northern wing of the 6th Reserve Division sharply and reached Menta. Meanwhile the 3rd Cavalry Brigade from Libau had arrived on the left wing of the 6th Cavalry Division. Enemy gatherings in Joniškis, Akmenė and Frauenburg were reported through renewed air reports on May 18 and 19 . It was now the task of the I. Reserve Corps to hold the Kuršėnai road to Schaulen until the enemy could be thrown back at Raseiniai. On May 19, the Russian 17th and Ussurian 39th Divisions began to attack the Windau , reinforced by the Ussurian cavalry brigades . In the end, the defenders of the city, the Grenadier Regiment "King Friedrich Wilhelm IV." (1st Pomeranian) No. 2 , had to give up and withdraw the place on May 20th; their position had become untenable.
“Without a doubt, the order to give up Kurschany was given at the right moment, but also at the last moment. If they hesitated for a long time, the grenadiers - the Windau in the rear, surrounded on three sides by a far superior enemy in a planned attack - would very likely succumb to destruction. "
Battle of the Windau
Since parts of the 1st Reserve Division had to be used to support the 6th Cavalry Division, General Curt von Morgen decided in the course of May 19 to reunite them in a backward movement on the Szyrminy (Širminiai) -Podworniki line (Pamockė) (approx. 6 km) and to evade with the 6th Cavalry Division to Rawdsjany. When the enemy ventured in a south-westerly direction via Kuršėnai, General von Morgen decided to attack him on May 22nd at dawn at 1:30 a.m. on the right wing in the forest north of Berzany. The attack of the 1st Reserve Division joined the 6th Cavalry Division and threw the enemy back west over the Windau and north over Kuršėnai. More than 1,000 prisoners and seven machine guns were brought in. However, the forces were too weak to be able to continue the attack. On May 26, Russian troops were able to attack the 6th Cavalry Division again, whereupon the right wing had to go back to the line Biata-See-Kurtowaiany-Bulany. The Russian forces did not push in vigorously:
“It was good that my counterpart, the commanding general of the XIX. Corps, was a very careful gentleman. He suspected a trap in every retreat of part of my strength. He always felt carefully, dug himself in at every height and only attacked when he had deployed with all his might. This saved us time, and that was the purpose of my job. "
On May 31, the “Morgen” corps was reinforced by further units over Bajohren : Detachement “Zanke” (leader of the 72nd Reserve Brigade of the 1st Reserve Division), including the Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 18 , Guards Rifle Battalion , Reserve Jäger Battalion No. 3 as well as a field artillery division and a squadron were deployed on the left wing. On June 1, an attack via the Venta-Dubysa Canal was repulsed . On June 5, the counterattack took place across the canal. On June 6th, Colonel Groß succeeded in advancing to Bubie with Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 18, and Lieutenant Colonel Modrow with Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 59 followed suit . On June 8th a retreating movement of the Russian troops became noticeable. All expendable troops were now the 1st Res. Div. fed on the left wing. In addition, another cavalry division was added via Bajohren to the 6th Cavalry Division, which now had the strength of a corps and was named after its leader, Eberhard von Schmettow . This was mainly used against the Ussuri cavalry brigades, the Russian 4th cavalry division and the Cossack divisions. Gradually the Russian contingents also increased. The 3rd Siberian Army Corps under Lieutenant General Trofimov occupied Schaulen. On June 12th, Kužiai was stormed and occupied. On June 13, 1915, the 1st Reserve Division occupied Kuzowimia , northwest of Schaulen. But the Russian forces also increased. So the 3rd Siberian Army Corps was mainly supplied with Caucasian and Turkmen regiments, so that the 6th Cavalry Division had to go back again and be reinforced by parts of the 1st Reserve Division. A continuation of the attack was out of the question.
“So far we had inflicted heavy, bloody losses on the Russians off Szwale and captured 13,000 prisoners. Our people looked like dwarfs next to the tall, stocky Russian prisoners. But you could rely on them. The sense of duty had taken the place of the enthusiasm of 1914. "
Storming the city
The second half of June and the first half of July passed without any special events. On July 14th, however, the attack that had long been planned on the German side began. From the left wing came: Libau external division (three battalions), 8th Cavalry Division, “Schmettow” cavalry corps, 41st Infantry 6th and 78th Reserve Divisions. The last three divisions formed the North Corps under General Lauenstein, while the I. Reserve Corps consisting of the 1st Reserve Division under the reinforcement of the "Homeyer" brigade should reach the city north. It should tie up the opponent and take the strong position of Schaulen. The southern group, consisting of the 80th Reserve Division, 36th Reserve Division, the Detachment "Esebeck" and the Higher Cavalry Command No. 1 should not go beyond the Dubissa . On July 20, the attack began along the Bubie -chaulen road. After two 21 cm mortars with three heavy and three light field howitzer batteries had fired the Russian position ready to attack, it was stormed at 3:30 a.m. by Reserve Regiment No. 18. On July 21st the southern edge of Lepary and Gigary was reached and at 4 o'clock in the morning the first troops of the replacement regiment Koenigsberg II, which later became Infantry Regiment No. 378, entered the city. This was followed by the grenadier regiment "King Friedrich Wilhelm IV." (1st Pomeranian) No. 2 and the replacement battalion 8. The 1st Reserve Division had thrown back the enemy standing in front of it and crossed the forest northwest of Schaulen. Despite heavy losses, the opponent faced again on the heights east of Schaulen. However, it was finally thrown on the evening of July 21 by an encircling attack by the replacement regiment Königsberg II and the grenadier regiment No. 2. If the first day of the fighting was clear and sunny, a heavy rain shower began on July 21st. Nevertheless, the pursuit of the defeated opponent was consistently pursued. The conquered city of Schaulen became the headquarters of the Army High Command of the Nyemen Army on July 28, 1915.
Trivia
The Kurtuvėnai Regional Park is located on the battlefield today . There are still scattered military cemeteries around the battlefield.
.JPG)
literature
Reichsarchiv: The World War 1914-1918 , Volume 8, ES Mittler and Son, Berlin 1932, p. 110 f
Individual evidence
- ↑ Erich Ludendorff: My War Memories 1914-1918. Berlin 1919, p. 110.
- ↑ Erich Ludendorff: My War Memories 1914-1918. Berlin 1919, p. 112.
- ↑ Döring von Gottberg: Memoirs of German Regiments, Volume 256, The Grenadier Regiement King Friederich Wilhelm IV, (1st Pomeranian) No. 2 in the World War, Oldenburg 1918, pp. 164-165.
- ↑ Steel storm
- ↑ Kurt von Morgen: My troops hero struggles. Berlin 1920, p. 70.
- ↑ Steel storm
- ↑ Kurt von Morgen: My troops hero struggles. Berlin 1920, p. 72.
- ^ Hermann Cron: History of the German Army in World Wars 1914-1918. Berlin 1937, p. 80.
