Battle for Przasnysz

Battle for Przasnysz

Part of: Eastern Front , First World War

Course of the battle between February 24 and 28, 1915

date	February 18, 1915 to March 26, 1915
place	Przasnysz
output	Russian victory: the city remains in Russian hands

Parties to the conflict
German Empire	Russia
Commander
Max Hoffmann Max von Gallwitz Curt von Morgen Sigismund von Forester Kurt Kruge Theodor von Wernitz	Nikolai Nikolajewitsch Romanow Nikolai Russki Alexander Litvinow Pawel von Plehwe Michail Pleschkow
Troop strength
Army Group Gallwitz I. Reserve Corps Corps Zastrow 86th Division 3rd Division 6th Cavalry Division	XIX. Army Corps I. Siberian Army Corps II. Siberian Army Corps I. Turkestan Army Corps
losses
approx. 38,000	43,000 prisoners 25,000 dead

The First Battle of Przasnysz (referred to in Russian literature as Prasnyschskaja Operazija ) was fought on the Eastern Front from February 18 to March 26, 1915 during the First World War . The German Supreme Army Command attempted to build a better defensive position to protect the southern border in East Prussia by moving to the Narew . At the same time, on the eastern border of East Prussia , the German 8th and 10th Army fought the winter battle in Masuria in the area north of Augustów . The Gallwitz Army Group had to act to bind the Russian forces on the Narew. During the struggle for possession of the city of Przasnysz from February 24 to 27, 1915, more than 100,000 soldiers were lost on both sides. It ended with the German withdrawal to the starting position and brought the Russian troops a tactical success.

prehistory

Starting position before the battle

After the Battle of Tannenberg and the First Battle of the Masurian Lakes both opponents end of September 1914 at the border of East Prussia were to trench warfare passed. The first German advance towards Warsaw failed at the end of October in the battle of the Vistula .

After the battle of Łódź , the German Supreme Army Command (OHL) decided to renew the attack in the direction of Warsaw in order to forestall an expected Russian attack on Thorn . On February 15, 1915, the I. Reserve Corps was ordered to give up its position at Mława and was subordinated to the Gallwitz Army Group near Willenberg .

By February 20, strong Russian armed forces had deployed east of Łomża : The Turkestan corps was at Przasnysz, and the XIX at Ciechanów . Army Corps, at Pułtusk the 1st Siberian Corps and at Ostrołęka the 2nd Siberian Corps concentrated in order to break through between the German 8th and 10th Armies in the direction of Thorn.

General Curt of tomorrow

First phase of the attack between February 18 and 24, 1915

First phase of attack

On February 18, the commanding General Curt von Morgen crossed the border again at Chorzele . Originally it was planned to bypass Przasnysz to the east, then to enclose the place and then to act on the attacking Russian units to the south. Nevertheless, General von Morgen decided to take the place early in order to acquire possession of the road junction to improve his supplies. The 1st Reserve Division under Lieutenant General Sigismund von Förster was intended for this task , while the 36th Reserve Division under Lieutenant General Kruge covered the external action.

The German front faced in the south: the Russian 1st Army under General of the Cavalry Alexander Litvinov with ten and a half divisions far outnumbered the German attacking troops:

• I. Turkestan Corps (General Scheideman with 1st, 2nd and 3rd Turkestan Infantry Brigade and Siberian 11th Rifle Division)
• XIX. Army Corps (General of the Infantry Gorbatowski with 17th, 38th Infantry and 63rd Reserve Divisions)
• 14th Cavalry Division (General Erdeli ) of the 1st Cavalry Corps (General Oranowski).
• From the south of Makow the 1st Siberian Army Corps (Lieutenant General Pleschkow with 1st and 2nd Siberian Rifle Divisions) was advancing.
• The II. Siberian Army Corps (Lieutenant General Sychevsky with 4th and 5th Siberian Rifle Divisions) of the Russian 12th Army (General of the Plehwe Cavalry ) only intervened later in the fighting.

The Corps " Zastrow " on the right wing of the Gallwitz Army Group was engaged in heavy fighting with the 11th Siberian Division and the 1st Turkestan Corps. The bulk of the 1st and 36th Reserve Divisions now surrounded the city, with the 72nd Reserve Infantry Brigade from the north and east and the 1st Reserve Infantry Brigade leading their main attack from the southeast. On February 23rd, General Morgen sent a resident from Szla to the Russian commandant of Przasnysz, with the request to surrender in order to avoid further bloodshed. The answer, given soon afterwards, was negative, as he did not feel empowered to take such a step. On the following day, February 24th, the Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 21 detected new enemy forces advancing from the east, and the 2nd Siberian Corps intervened in the battle. General von Morgen urged them to hurry and ordered the 1st Reserve Division to take Przasnysz under fire. The churchyard and the barracks at the southeast exit were particularly hard hit. The 9th Landwehr Brigade secured the Orzyc section in the east on its own for the time being, against the not yet deployed 2nd Siberian Corps, but received the promise of an early reinforcement by a brigade of the 3rd Division and the 6th Cavalry Division in the northeast .

Eventful fight for Przasnysz February 24-27, 1915

The Russian counter-attack at Przasnysz, between February 25 and 28, 1915

Russian defenders of Przasnysz

On February 24, around 4 p.m., the commander of the 1st Reserve Division , Lieutenant General von Förster, ordered the city to be stormed and conquered. The Russian 63rd Reserve Division lost around 10,000 prisoners, 36 artillery pieces, 14 machine guns, a flag and 500 horses. The commander of the city, who had waited in vain for this relief, was given his saber as a sign of military recognition.

The Russian counterattack took place on February 25, the Russian relief attack began from the southwest, southeast and east. He ensured that the city no longer had to be secured by the Germans in the south. The Russian attack was mainly directed against the eastern flank of the German front, which was held by the 9th Landwehr Brigade and the newly arrived half 3rd Division . These units were now subordinate to the Gallwitz Army Group and marched in a south-easterly direction towards Bartniki, leaving the Land Defense unit in the area around Karwacz. The vacated gap should now be filled by the Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 59 ; but on the outskirts of the village these units were already under fire from the attacking Russian units. A regimental commander of the Wernitz division , who himself saw the deployment of Russian units in Karwacz, was initially asked in vain to return from Dobrshankowo and join the left wing of the 36th Reserve Division.

General von Morgen then obtained from the AOK that the two divisions of the Zastrow Corps ( Breugel division and von Wernitz division ) were placed under his command. The messenger could no longer reach the cut regiment in Bartniki, whereupon a battalion flag of the Fusilier Regiment "Queen Victoria of Sweden" (Pomeranian) No. 34 and two guns were lost. After Russian troops had advanced threateningly between the 3rd Division and the 1st Reserve Division north of Bratniki, the left wing of the 1st Res. Div. to be included. On February 27 at 11 o'clock the order was given to the 9th Landwehr Brigade from Bratniki (northeast) to return to the southwest entrance of Przasnysz. Although the gathering of the regiments was not disturbed by the Russian artillery, the clearing of the heights near the villages of Smoleń-Poluby had to be carried out quickly. Przasnysz had to leave the 1st Res. Div. be evacuated.

German withdrawal

Since the reinforcements in Willenberg to be transported away could no longer reach the battlefield, General von Morgen decided to immediately detach the I. Reserve Corps, which was partly closely involved, from the enemy and initiate a retreat. On the evening of February 27th, after arriving at the village line Smoleń-Poluby in front of Kranosielc, the 9th Landwehr Infantry Brigade, deployed furthest east, received the order to retreat immediately onto the Rudno-Jeziorowe line. Under pressure from the 2nd Siberian Corps, the Landwehr Infantry Regiment No. 24 had to bring up the rear guard from Smoleń-Poluby to Bartniki. The withdrawal of the 36th Reserve Division under General Kruge, deployed in the southern apron of Przaznyz, took place under pressure from the 1st Siberian Corps through the city to the north. The terrain difficulties during the general retreat of the I. Reserve Corps to the Ulatowka sector could only be overcome with great effort, but were relieved from the left wing by the intervention of the 6th Cavalry Division . In between, an attempt was made an intermediate position and build for trench warfare move. But already on February 28th one had to give in to the pushing back of the Siberian corps and go further north,

Second attack phase

A German counterattack was launched from March 7th to 9th, after which the OHL was still optimistic about the situation. Then the pressure of the XXIII made itself in the Russian 12th Army. Army Corps (General of the Infantry Olochow with the 3rd Guard and 2nd Infantry Division) noticeable, which intervened in the fighting from the reserve.

On March 14, the Russian troops succeeded in repelling Reserve Infantry Regiment No. 24 in the area near Jednorosyetz and captured 16 guns. The counter-attack immediately initiated by the 36th Division, the 6th Cavalry Division and the 11th Reserve Brigade, as well as other still available parts of the 1st Reserve Division and the 70th Res. Brigade only brought partial success. In the end, the Germans lost hope of regaining their lost position or lost guns. The 36th Reserve Division had to withdraw to the line south of Mlawa-Chorzele before the overwhelming Russian forces. The old starting positions were resumed by March 26th.

At the end of March 1915, the 2nd Division and the 75th Reserve Division had to be brought in to stabilize the German front . The army report of July 16, 1915 counts 46 heavy Russian attacks from March 13 to 23, 1915 alone, 25 by day and 21 by night. The Russian 12th Army was able to successfully assert itself in the area north of Przasnysz until the start of the German Narew offensive in mid-July 1915.

The Russian commanders-in-chief, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich and Nikolai Russki, had to refrain from further offensives to occupy East Prussia. On the one hand, after the winter battle in Masuria, the way to the Baltic States was still open to the Germans , and on the other hand, the situation in the Russian front in Galicia on the south-western front had not yet been decided after the battle in the Carpathians had subsided. (see Battle of Gorlice-Tarnów ).

Trivia

On the 100th anniversary of the battle on February 16, 2015, there was a reenactment in Przasnysz with numerous extras.

literature

• Reichsarchiv: The World War 1914-1918 , Volume II: The operations of 1915, ES Mittler and Son, Berlin 1931, pp. 248 f, 287 f.
• Colonel A. Borisov: Przasnyz 'operation (Russian)
• DV Verzhkhowski: Materials on the operation (Russian)

Web links

Commons : Battles for Przasnysz  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ Army report of July 16, 1915
2. ↑ Kurt von Morgen: My troops hero struggles. Berlin 1920, p. 59.
3. ^ According to the army report of July 16, 1915, the booty was: 10,000 prisoners, including 57 officers, 36 artillery pieces, 14 machine guns
4. ↑ Kurt von Morgen: My troops hero struggles. Berlin 1920, p. 60.