Allen L. Churchill

CAUTIOUS RUSSIAN ADVANCE—RUSSIAN SUCCESSES—CAPTURE OF LEMBERG

On August 23, 1914, the Russians were almost on the heels of the retreating Austrians. After three hours' fighting, they drove them out of Tarnopol. Thereupon they retreated along the line of the Zlota Lipa, which is an affluent of the Dniester and runs almost directly southward.

On August 25 and 26, 1914, there was some heavy fighting along this river, especially at Brzezany. Heretofore, the army under Brussilov had not met with any important resistance, having encountered chiefly frontier posts, skirmishers, and small detachments of Austrians. It seems that no great body of Austrians had penetrated much beyond the Zlota Lipa. On the eastern side of this river was a line of low hills, offering a fine defensive position; the Austrians hastily began to make use of them. They were still constructing trenches when the Cossack cavalry appeared, driving the skirmishers of the Austrians before them.

A fight began on August 24, 1914, which lasted ten days. The Russian cavalry was not strong enough to attempt to take the Austrians' intrenched position, and therefore waited for the main body of the Russian forces to come up. The fight extended over twenty miles of front, stubbornly contested by the Austrians. Finally, by direct assault, the Russians took the position and the Austrians fell back, in good order, toward Halicz, where the Gnita Lipa joins the Dniester.

In the meantime, while Russky was thus pounding at Von Auffenberg's right, Brussilov was attacking his right and center. Having crossed the frontier between Brody and Sokal, Russky extended his forces on a wide front. While the center advanced straight for Busk and Krasne in a direct line toward Lemberg, the right, proceeding almost due west, was attempting to penetrate between the army of Von Auffenberg and that of Dankl on the north, and was pushing powerfully on Von Auffenberg's left. Gallantly resisting, the Austrians were forced back in all directions, slowly but firmly. The fighting on Russky's right and center was especially fierce and severe and resulted in great losses on both sides.

By the time Brussilov had taken the position on the Zlota Lipa, his right was in touch with Russky's left, and the first stage of the campaign was over. That Russia had been able to proceed so far with her plans would seem to indicate that the Austrians had underestimated the rapidity with which she could complete her preparations. It was the fall of Tarnopol that made possible a junction of the Russian armies and enabled them to advance in a united line upon Lemberg.

General Brussilov had to move to the attack without attracting attention. This was accomplished by both Russky and himself throwing out a screen of Cossacks all along the frontier of Eastern Galicia. For an extent of one hundred and fifty miles, the Cossacks skirmished at every border road or bridge between the Bug and the Dniester rivers. They started this immediately after war was declared and soon, so inconsequential did such activity appear, that the Austrians, it seems, came to regard it as lacking any real purpose. After the third week in August, however, the commander at Lemberg sent a force of 2,000 men to make a reconnaissance in Podolia.

These troops arrived at Gorodok, a small town across the border. Their presence there was most inconvenient for the Russians, for General Brussilov was at that time advancing with a big army through Gorodok on toward Galicia. It was imperative that the Austrian reconnoitering troops should be stopped and the only force available for this purpose was nine hundred Cossacks stationed at Gorodok to screen the main army. It was necessary for these Cossacks to repulse the Austrian reconnoitering force, without calling for large reenforcements. If the latter were done, it would excite the suspicions of fugitives from the fight.

Therefore, the Cossacks lined out in the woods far beyond the village and then thirty of them went forward from cover to cover until they came upon the Austrians. Simulating surprise, they fled in apparent panic. The Austrians entered upon a swift pursuit and were led into ambush. Thousands of them were cut down by a cross-fire of rifles and machine guns. The rest were pursued by Cossacks over the border and the invasion of Galicia was begun by the Russian main force.

Then began the perilous part of the enterprise. The army of Russky was advancing on Lemberg from the north and the army of Brussilov was converging on the Galician capital from the east. After they had been united, they would assuredly outnumber the Austrian force which was guarding Lemberg, but in the meantime either Russky or Brussilov was too weak to escape defeat. Each might be met singly and overwhelmed. The skill with which their combined operations were carried out was such, however, that General Brussilov was able to steal into Galicia and occupy a large part of the country before battle actually was joined.

The secrecy with which his great movement was executed was extraordinary. It was executed in daylight, covering a period of thirteen days, from August 19 to August 31, 1915. It was performed in spite of the fact that the Austrians had many spies, a large force of trained cavalry, and scouts in aeroplanes darting over the frontier. Yet not until it was too late did the Austrians discover the real nature of the Russian turning movement in Eastern Galicia.

In part, this was attributable to the fact that the territory in which Brussilov was operating was an ancient Russian duchy which had been wrested from the ancestors of the czar. Eastern Galicia might be compared to Alsace-Lorraine, which had been torn from France. Peopled by a Slav race, Eastern Galicia had the same language, religion, and customs as the soldiers in Brussilov's army. When at the beginning of operations, Russia first assumed a general offensive on August 17, the Grand Duke Nicholas issued the following proclamation addressed to Russian inhabitants of Galicia:

"Brothers—A judgment of God is being wrought. With Christian patience and self-annihilation, the Russian people of Galicia languished for centuries under a foreign yoke, but neither flattery nor persecution could break in it the hope of liberty. As the tempestuous torrent breaks the rocks to join the sea, so there exists no force which can arrest the Russian people in its onrush toward unification.

"Let there no longer be a subjugated Russia. Let the country which forms the heritage of Saint Vladimir throw off the foreign yoke and raise the banner of united Russia, an indivisible land. May the providence of God, who has blessed the work of the great uniters of the Russian lands, be made manifest. May God aid his anointed, the Emperor Nicholas of All the Russians, to complete the work begun by the Grand Duke Ivan Kalita.

"Rise, fraternal Galician Russia, who have suffered so much, to meet the Russian army for you and your brethren, who will be delivered. Room will be found for you in the bosom of our mother Russia without offending peaceable people of whatever nationality. Raise your sword against the enemy and your hearts toward God with a prayer for Russia and the Russian Czar!"

This proclamation was received in Galicia with acclaim. When the Russian soldiers came, priests and people came out from the villages with flowers and banners to meet their "little brothers." Flowers were thrown on their heads from the upper balconies of houses, as they marched through the streets. Whatever could be done by pretended ignorance or silence to mislead the Austrians regarding the Russian advance was done by peasants.

Meanwhile, General Brussilov was making the most of his opportunities. He passed over the tributaries of the Dniester and without revealing his strength pushed back the Austrian cavalry screen. For this work he used large bodies of Cossacks, with all necessary infantry and artillery support.

Field Marshal von Hindenburg

While appearing to be merely a border raider, the Cossack had to veil his main army and clear its path through bridgeheads, forts, and blockhouses, and he was well suited to this kind of work. Moving at the rate of eight miles a day in advance of the infantry and the big guns, he maintained a continual skirmish with cavalry scouts, infantrymen, and gunners in places that had been fortified, and even armored trains.

In all, the Cossack in the Galician campaign, proved himself not only a most efficient soldier but well behaved. Previously, his reputation had been an evil one. Naturally, there were reports of brutality and savagery, but none were proved. In fact, neither on the part of the Russians nor the Austrians was there manifest any of the "frightfulness" attributed, rightly or wrongly, to combatants in the western theatre of war.

It was, of course, not to the interest of the Russians to mistreat the people of Galicia. They came, in their own estimation at least, as deliverers, not as despoilers. As for the Austrians, they were in their own country when in Galicia. When they penetrated north into Russia, it appears that they did little wanton damage. On their return, it is true, they laid waste a large part of the province of Volhynia, burning villages and farmsteads as they proceeded. But this was dictated by military exigencies, in order to delay and inconvenience their pursuers.

There was an occasion when it might have been supposed there would have been excesses. This was when after an Austrian defeat, the Russian van, composed of three divisions of Cossack cavalry, pushed through Halicz in pursuit of the enemy. The victorious troops swept through a country, full of Jews, and utterly undefended. It was a garden of plenty, a rich and fertile country. Instead of presenting a picture of desolation and ruin after the Russian army had passed, its cattle still grazed in the fields, the fields were full of shocks of grain, and chickens, ducks, and swine wandered about the streets of the town.

There was not a single wrecked house in the town itself, only a few buildings, such as warehouses near the railway station, having been demolished by the Russians in order to hasten the departure of the enemy. There was another significant incident at the neighboring town of Botszonce. Here the retiring Austrians attempted to make a stand, but were shelled out by the Russians with their heavy guns. There were only three buildings in the city which were not reduced to ruins. These were two churches and the Town Hall, which, having a church-like spire, the Russians evidently took for a church of worship, also. In this connection, we may quote here a second proclamation which the Grand Duke Nicholas, as Commander in Chief of the Russian forces, distributed in the districts of Austria captured by the Russians. It was designed to prevent ill feeling between the people and the invaders. It was dated September 17, and read:

"To the inhabitants of Austria-Hungary:

"The Government of Austria declared war against Russia because the great empire, ever faithful to its historical traditions, could not forsake inoffensive Serbia, nor acknowledge its enslavement.

"On entering the Austro-Hungarian territory, I declare to you in the name of the great Emperor, that Russia, which has spent its blood many times for the emancipation of nations from the yoke of foreigners, only seeks the rehabilitation of right and justice.

"Russia also brings liberty and the realization of your national views. For many centuries the Austro-Hungarian Government planted among you discord and enmity, for it knew that as a result of this strife its dominion over you would continue.

"On the contrary, my sole aim is that each and every one of you may grow and prosper and keep at the same time the precious inheritance of language and faith of your fathers.

"Let every one of you, united to his brothers, live in peace and harmony with his neighbors, respecting their national rights. Being convinced that you will cooperate with all your strength to realize this, I call upon you to welcome the Russian troops as faithful friends who are fighting for the realization of your greatest ambitions."

Now, to return to the campaign which had been waged by Von Auffenberg: While he may be said to have lost this preliminary campaign, his army was unbeaten. Immediately it fell back into the powerful and carefully built line of defenses in front of Lemberg, extending over a front of seventy or eighty miles, from the vicinity of Busk on the north to Halicz on the Dniester, on the south. An irregular extent of volcanic hills, some containing extinct craters, extended along the greater part of its length, and ended on the south in a ridge parallel to the Gnita Lipa as far as the Dniester. The northern end of this territory was skirted by the railway running due east of Lemberg. The Austrian left rested north of the railroad on the River Bug and the lake district around Krasne. Artificial fortifications improved these natural defenses. There were many miles of trenches with barbed-wire entanglements, and at different points massive fortifications of concrete and steel. The position was difficult to take at any point.

On August 26 and 27, 1914, after the forces of Russky and Brussilov had been joined, the Russians immediately began their attack along the entire front. The days that followed were replete with furious charges. Positions were taken only to be surrendered. Bayonet fighting figured largely in the clashes. After two days, though the Austrian lines were still intact, the Russians claimed a victory. Events came about in this way: After he had forced the crossing of the Zlota Lipa on August 26, and his right wing had connected with Russky on the north, Brussilov had extended his left, by forced march through a country almost devoid of roads, as far to the south as the valley of the Dniester. On August 31, 1914, the main body of this flanking body arrived in front of Halicz. On the day following, September 1, 1914, a furious attack began. More guns were brought up and a fierce attack was concentrated near the little village of Botszonce, where the enemy had taken a position. Afterward, the condition of the field, which had been literally plowed up with shell fire and strewn with the dÉbris of cannonading and accouterments, showed how terrific the conflict had been. The final assault was made by the Russian Ninth and Fifty-ninth Infantry under cover of a heavy shell fire. Enormous losses were sustained, but the Russians were enabled to make a breach some kilometers wide in the Austrian line.

Then the entire Austrian line began to give way. A desperate stand was made as a last resort in the village of Botszonce itself, but this was turned into a useless sacrifice when the Russians, pushing forward heavy guns, unlimbered them on the same hills where the Austrians had fought so determinedly and quickly reduced the town to ruins.

On September 3, 1914, the Austrian retreat began in earnest. Where the fighting had been hottest around Botszonce and Halicz, the Russians claim they buried 4,800 Austrian dead and captured thirty-two guns, some of which had been mounted by the Austrians but taken before they could be brought into use. The Austrian reports deny such figures, while claiming heavy losses by the Russians.

There was a fine steel bridge across the river Dniester at Halicz, and the extreme right of the retiring Austrian army crossed this, with, the Russian cavalry pursuing. The bridge was destroyed and also the only other bridge in that region of the Dniester at Chodorow. In such wise was the pursuit southward delayed until pontoons could be thrown across the stream by Russian engineers.

This was done on the following day, whereupon Cossack cavalry to the strength, it was reported, of three divisions, crossed the river and came up with the retiring enemy. Behind the cavalry at a short distance came several divisions of Brussilov's infantry, which rapidly pushed across the south of Lemberg toward Stryj.

After the extreme right of the Austrian line had been shattered and Russky had been victorious in his attack on the other extreme, the whole line fell apart quickly and while the entire front was exposed to attack, the Austrian left was being enveloped from the direction of Kamionka by a flanking movement. One end of the Austrian line was being broken and the other bent back. The Russians increased the fury of their attack and it was not long before the entire Austrian army was in retreat.

On September 2, 1914, Lemberg was in the hands of the Russians. This city, otherwise known as Lwow or LÖwenberg, was first known as Leopolis, being founded in 1259 by the Ruthenian Prince Daniel for his son Leo. His history had been a checkered and stormy one. In 1340 it had been captured by Casimir the Great; it had been besieged by the Cossacks in 1648 and 1655, and by the Turks in 1672; it had been captured by Charles XII of Sweden in 1704, and bombarded in 1848. As capital of the crownland of Galicia, it had come to be a handsome city, of many parks, wide boulevards, three cathedrals, many churches, and a great number of important public monuments. It was the seat of a university which contained a highly valuable library of books and manuscripts and a great many treasures of historic and antiquarian interest. Its population was about 200,000.

The Austrians declared that Lemberg had been evacuated in order to save all these treasures from destruction. It is certain that the civil population of the town was strongly opposed to its being defended. It was cosmopolitan and contained elements, doubtless in the minority, who sympathized with Russia and who welcomed the Russian troops with great enthusiasm. Whatever other reasons may be given for its abandonment, however, the fact remains that any attempt to hold it would have been futile.

After the Russians had taken possession of Lemberg, tranquillity again prevailed. Although it was crowded for a considerable time thereafter with Russian soldiery, there was no violence, disorder, or confusion. On every hand were seen Russian soldiers of all branches of the service fraternizing with the people of the place. If a soldier even jostled a civilian accidentally he saluted and apologized. No drunkenness was permitted. A considerable number of Austrian policemen continued to patrol the streets, with a Russian badge on their arms, however.

Austrian surgeons and nurses, left in the town when the Austrian troops retreated, continued to help care for Austrian wounded, also left there, and received the same pay for their services as their Russian associates of the same rank. Austrian Red Cross attendants were allowed to walk about the streets at will, unmolested.

After its occupation by the Russians, Lemberg at once became a huge hospital base. For the care of wounded that daily came in from the front, there were forty-two immense institutions.

The inhabitants of Lemberg welcomed the Russians as deliverers. A deputation came to General Russky and requested him to make known to the czar the readiness of the whole Slav population of the city to be loyal "sons of Russia." In surrendering the government to Count Bobrinsky, whom the czar appointed Governor General of Galicia, M. Rutovsky, Mayor of Lemberg, said:

"Not without our cooperation have the Austro-Hungarian troops left Lemberg, without firing a shot. There was no struggle here, thanks to our efforts. We believe your excellency has been informed that your troops found here cooperation and a cordial reception.

"In proffering the government of this capital, allow me to express my gratitude to the former military governor, who lessened our hardships."

In his reply, Bobrinsky outlined the principles of his policy:

"I consider Lemberg and East Galicia the real origin of Great Russia," he said, "since the original population was Russian. The reorganization will be based on Russian ideals. We will immediately introduce the Russian language and Russian customs. These steps will be taken with the necessary care.

"We shall at first limit this to the appointment of Russian governors and other officials. Many of the present officials will not be replaced. We shall forbid the convocation of your Legislature during the war. All social and political organizations must be discontinued, and may resume their activities only by permission. These precepts obtain only in East Galicia; West Galicia will be treated differently."

The Russians considered Lemberg to be of great strategical importance. Railroad lines radiated from it in all directions giving its captors direct communication with Kiev and Odessa, with their fortified positions at Dubno and Rovno and thence to Petrograd, with Brest-Litovsk and Warsaw—save only for the inconvenience of changing the gauge at the frontier. Soon after crossing the frontier, the Russians had changed the gauge of many of their engines and cars to fit the Austrian gauge. They found at Lemberg thirty locomotives and a large number of railway cars left there by the Austrians.

When on September 3, 1914, the Russians entered Lemberg, the official Russian announcement of its taking was as follows:

"Seven days of the most stubborn fighting in Eastern Galicia have resulted in a complete victory for the Russians. Five Austrian Corps were completely routed, and in retreating in disorder westward, abandoned their arms and baggage.

"Besides an enormous number of killed, the Austrians lost not less than 40,000 prisoners, including many generals. The roads of retreat of the Austrians are so encumbered with carts, guns, and impedimenta that the pursuing troops are unable to use the roads. Panic is spreading among the Austrian troops. During the seven days the Russians have taken over 200 guns, several colors, and about 70,000 prisoners. Lwow (Lemberg) is in our hands."

Russia received this report with great joy. The news of the occupation of the town was conveyed by Grand Duke Nicholas to the czar. The Fourth Class of the Order of St. George was bestowed on General Russky for "his services in the preceding battles." The Third Class was given him for the capture of Lemberg. The Fourth Class of the same Order was bestowed on General Brussilov. Throughout the empire, Thanksgiving Services were held to celebrate "the reunion with Galicia." General Count Bobrinsky was appointed Governor General of the province.[Back to Contents]