RUSSIAN CHANGE OF FRONT—RETREAT TO THE SAN

After the Russian troops retreated from the Lower Wisloka northward toward the confluence of that river with the Vistula they held the two important bridgeheads of Sandomierz and Rozvadov. On May 14, 1915, Ivanoff's right was being forced toward the Vistula in the vicinity of Opatow. This right wing was the army under General Ewarts, which since December, 1914, had been stationed in strongly fortified positions on the Nida in Russian Poland. The front extended across the frontier into western Galicia and joined on to the right wing of Dmitrieff's Dunajec-Biala front, which was shattered between Otfinow and Gorlice. The retreat of Dmitrieff's army was in an easterly direction along Tarnow, Pilzno, Dembica, Rzeszow, and Lancut to Przevorsk on the San; from the region of Gorlice and Ciezkovice along Biecz, Jaslo, Frysztak, Krosno to Dynow, Dubiecko, and Sanok, the latter also on the San. The troops that Brussilov extricated from the passes and those with which he held the northern part of the western Carpathians against Boehm-Ermolli were now likewise concentrated on the San. A glance at the map will show that the Russian front on the San from Przevorsk down to Sanok forms a shield between the Germanic advance and the two towns of Jaroslav and Przemysl. It will also be observed that General Ewarts's forces about Rozvadov are on the west side of the San, that is to say, nearer toward the advancing Austrians under the Archduke Joseph Ferdinand.

The retreat in Galicia necessitated modifications in the Russian front in Poland on the way to Warsaw. The line south of the Pilica had to be withdrawn and positions on the Nida abandoned to conform with the retreating line in Galicia. New positions were taken up along Radom and across the Kamienna River. The pivot or hinge from which the line was drawn back was the town of Ivanlodz, about fifty-five miles southwest of Warsaw. North of Ivanlodz the front remained unaltered. While this line shifting was in progress (in Poland) the German troops hung closely to the heels of the retiring Russians, evidently mistaking the motive behind the change of position. Mr. Stanley Washburn thus summarizes the results of these retreating battles:

"Regarding the movement as a whole, suffice it to say that in the two weeks following the change of line one (Russian) army inflicted upon the enemy a loss of nearly 30,000 in killed, wounded, and prisoners. The Russian losses were comparatively trifling." The Austro-German forces were following up leisurely the retreating Russian corps, not expecting any serious fighting to occur until the lines behind the Kamienna were reached.

Instead of that, however, on May 15, 1915, the Russian commander suddenly halted the main body of his troops in front of his fortified positions on a line extending from Brody by Opatow toward Klimontow. Between May 15-17, 1915, a battle developed on this front, which is the more notable as it is one of the few in this war fought in the open without trenches. To quote Mr. Washburn: "In any other war it would have been called a good-sized action, as from first to last more than 100,000 men and perhaps 350 to 400 guns were engaged."

The Austro-Germans came on in four groups. The Third German Landwehr was moving from the southwest by Wierzbnik against Ilza, slightly to the north of Lubienia. Next to it, coming from the direction of Kielce, was the German Division of General Bredow, supported by the Eighty-fourth Austrian Regiment. This body was advancing against Ostroviec, the terminus of a railway which runs from the district of Lodz to the southeast by Tomaszow and Opoczno, and crosses the Ivangorod-Olkusz line halfway between Kielce and Radom. Farther to the south three Austro-Hungarian divisions were also advancing—namely, the Twenty-fifth Austrian Division against Lagow, and the Fourth Austrian Landwehr Division, supported by the Forty-first Honved Division, against Ivaniska; they moved along roads converging on Opatow. The Twenty-fifth Austrian Division, commanded by the Archduke Peter Ferdinand, was composed of crack regiments, the Fourth Hoch and Deutschmeisters of Vienna, and the Twenty-fifth, Seventeenth, and Tenth JÄger battalions. The Russians were outnumbered about 40 per cent. The supposedly demoralized Russians were not expected to give any battle short of their fortified line, to which they were thought to be retiring in hot haste. The Russian general selected the Austrians on whom to spring his first surprise, but commenced by making a feint against the German corps, driving in their advanced guards by vigorous attacks which caused the whole force to halt and begin deployment for an engagement. This occurred on May 15, 1915. On the same day, with all his available strength, he swung furiously with Opatow as an axis from both north and south, catching in bayonet charge the Twenty-fifth Division on the road between Lagow and Opatow. Simultaneously another portion of his command swept up on the Fourth Division coming from Ivaniska to Opatow. "In the meantime a strong force of Cossacks had ridden round the Austrians and actually hit their line of communications at the exact time that the infantry fell on the main column with a bayonet charge, delivered with an impetuosity and fury that simply crumpled up the entire Austrian formation. The Fourth Division was meeting a similar fate farther south, and the two were thrown together in a helpless mass, losing between 3,000 and 4,000 casualties and nearly 3,000 in prisoners, besides a large number of machine guns and the bulk of their baggage. The remainder, supported by the Forty-first Honved Division, which had been hurried up, managed to squeeze themselves out of their predicament by falling back on Uszachow, and the whole retired to Lagow, beyond which the Russians were not permitted to pursue them, lest they should break the symmetry of their own line." It is admitted by the Austrians themselves that their losses were very severe in this battle. An Austrian source at the time stated that on May 16, 1915, not a single officer and only twenty-six men were left of the entire Fourth Company, First Battalion of the Tenth Austrian Infantry Regiment. By the 17th of May the Austrians had withdrawn more than twelve miles from the scene of the disaster.

During the following night, May 25, 1915, an Austrian division was moving from the line of advance of General Bredow's troops along the Lagow-Opatow road where it is separated by a spur of the Lysa Gora, the highest mountain group in Russian Poland. The Russians, elated over their recent victory, crossed the mountains by a forced march, and fell on the right flank of the German formation, while other troops opened a general frontal attack against it. Bredow was compelled to fall back in haste in the direction of Bodzentyn and to call for assistance from the adjoining Fourth German Landwehr Division. The sudden withdrawal of that division had the effect of weakening the German line southwest of Radom near the Radom-Kielce and the Konsk-Ostroviec railway crossings. The opportunity of thinning the enemy's line in that sector was too good to be lost, for a Russian communiquÉ of May 17, 1915, states that "near Gielniow, Ruski-Brod, and Suchedniov our sudden counterattacks inflicted severe losses on the enemy's advance guards." Having thus checked the German advance for the time being, the Russians ceased from further troubling to await developments on the San.[Back to Contents]