Russian General Staff reports of those days give a tragic picture
of the condition of the VII. Army and the S. wing of the VIII.
Army at that time. It was clearly out of the question to main-
tain a hold on East Galician soil in this area. The decision was
therefore made at Mohilev to withdraw the VII. Army and
those parts of the VIII. Army pursued by the enemy behind the
river Zbrucz on the frontier.
Capture of Czernowitz by the Austrians. More cheering were the reports received by the Russian Supreme Command from the VIII. Army now commanded by Cheremissov, which was retiring S. of the Dniester. This army could, with some hope of success, be charged to hold Czernowitz and as much as pos- sible of the Bukovina. Further relief was expected from the results of the Russian-Rumanian attack in the valley of the upper Susita in Rumania, which had commenced on July 23 and was accompanied by demonstrations along the whole Tran- sylvanian east front. This attack had really succeeded by July 27 in forcing back the numerically very weak defenders to a not inconsiderable distance. But the fate of the Bukovina was nevertheless sealed. Between the Dniester and the Carpathians Cheremissov's troops several times put up a good resistance; in fact, the Austro-Hungarian III. and VII. Armies (the latter under Gen. von Kb'vess) had even to deliver counter-blows. But on the morning of Aug. 3 1917 the Russians, threatened on the N. and the S., had to surrender Czernowitz, and soon to retire from the Bukovina into the frontier area. The Austro- Hungarian III. Army pursued between the Pruth and the Dniester and the VII. S. of the Bukovina.
East Galicia had also been swept clean of the Russians, apart from the area N.E. of Tarnopol which had remained untouched by the offensive. Advanced detachments of the German South- ern Army had set foot on Russian soil on the middle and lower Zbrucz. But here the soldierly characteristics of the Russian people, which had survived even the unnerving influence of the revolution, came to the fore again. The Russians not only cleared the E. bank of the Zbrucz, but roused themselves in an amazing manner to renewed resistance E. of Czernowitz and in the southern part of the Bukovina. It was undoubtedly to their advantage that the enemy in his rapid advance had come dangerously far away from his railways. The Austro-Hunga- rian III. Army at Czernowitz for instance was 120 km. removed from its main detraining station lying W. of Stanislau. This was particularly serious in view of the meagre means of transport supplied to the Austro-Hungarian troops. Had the armies been crossing a less fertile area the pace of the offensive must soon have slowed down very considerably. As it was the troops could subsist largely on the resources of the country and the rich booty left behind by the Russians. But now, on the frontiers of East Galicia and the Bukovina, the advance of the Imperial forces was arrested.
The Battle of Marasesti (Marasheshti). For some weeks past the Allied Higher Commands had been considering the idea of combining with the East Galicia offensive an attack on the Rumanians in Moldavia, which should drive them behind the Pruth, thus gaining a particularly useful defence section in which troops could be economized. Accordingly, on Aug. 6 1917 Mac- kensen advanced to the offensive against the Rumanians N. of Focshani. The battle of Marasesti ended unfortunately for the forces of the Central Powers. In view of this, and of the difficulty of obtaining fresh drafts in the Bukovina, the Central Powers abandoned the idea of occupying Moldavia for the present, and dropped it completely when, at the end of Aug. and the begin- ning of Sept. the Isonzo battle led to the combined Oct. offensive against Italy. Ludendorff lays stress, in his memoirs, on his own reluctance to give up the Rumanian campaign.
In the Bukovina and on the Transylvanian-Rumanian front minor operations lasted until the middle of September. Local attacks and counter-assaults were distributed on both sides. Then gradually the fighting died down.
German Capture of Riga. Meanwhile, in the extreme N., the Germans had won a fresh victory over the Russians. During the second half of Aug. they had been quietly preparing to cap-
ture Riga. By order of Gen. von Hutier, supreme commander of the German VIII. Army, 6 divs. were placed in readiness for crossing the Dvina opposite t)xktill, to the S.E. of Riga. Other forces were to follow. Altogether there were 14 divs. available for the undertaking, including the Guard and other units brought from East Galicia.
The crossing at Uxkiill was carried out most punctually on Sept. i 1917., By now 3 bridges had been built. The Russian XII. Army (Parski), 20 inf. divs. strong, made only a slight resistance, and by the 2nd had evacuated all the positions S. of Riga. On the following day the 2nd Guard Div. and the ist Res. Div. were able to enter the ancient Baltic trading-centre, the one from the east, the other from the west. The Russians now evacuated the whole N. bank of the Dvina up to beyond Friedrichstadt. On the 4th the German infantry reached Hinzenberg railway station, 40 km. N.E. of Riga. The perma- nent position was now formed along a line drawn from Uxkiill to Hinzenberg and thence westwards to the sea. Only the German cavalry now pursued the enemy, who first came to a stand 20 to 40 km. E. and N. of the German line.
The occupation of Riga needed to be supplemented for the Germans by the capture of the Baltic islands, Osel, Moon and Dago, and this was duly achieved in the middle of October. For the first time in the war, on the side of the Central Powers, the navy was present in some strength to assist in the operations of the land army. The landing corps consisted of the German 42d Inf. Div. and the Cycle Bde., and was commanded by Gen. von Kathen. The spot selected for the landing was Tagga Bay on the N.W. corner of Osel Island. While Adml. Erhard Schmid's German squadron penetrated through the Domesnas straits, after silencing the coast batteries, the torpedo boats went round Osel in a northerly direction, in order to bring their guns to bear on the mole connecting Osel with Moon and to cut off the retreat of the Russian troops on Osel. From the N. they were to press on into the Moonsund. On Oct. 13 the German troops landed in Tagga Bay. The enemy, about one div. strong, tried to effect their escape, some southwards to the Sworbe Peninsula, others over the mole to the island of Moon. By evening on Oct. 16 the whole of Osel was in possession of Gen. Kathen. Ten thousand Russians were taken prisoners, among them one divisional and three brigade staffs. On the i8th Lt.-Gen. von Estorff, advancing over the mole, occupied the island of Moon, and on the 2ist Dago had also been taken by the Germans. In the waters of Moon it came to fighting engagements between Ger- man and Russian ships, in the course of which the Russian battleship " Slava " was set on fire.
The Armistice. On Nov. 7 the Bolshevist Revolution broke out in Russia. On Nov. 9 the congress of the " Workmen's and Soldiers' Council," meeting at Petrograd, issued its proclamation of peace " to all." In vain did Kerensky and Kornilov attempt to give matters a different turn. An army corps sent by them against Petrograd on Nov. 12 was defeated at Tsarkoye Selo. On the zoth the Council of People's Commissaries gave instruc- tions to the new Russian Supreme Commander, Dukhonin, to offer an armistice to all the belligerents. As Dukhonin hesi- tated to carry out the order he was replaced by Ensign Krylenko. On Nov. 28 the troops of the Imperial forces on the eastern front intercepted a wireless message in which Lenin and Trot- sky invited the earliest possible preliminary arrangements for the armistice and peace negotiations. On Dec. 2 the armistice negotiations between the Imperial forces and Russia were begun at Brest-Litovsk, at Prince Leopold of Bavaria's headquarters. The only questions which caused serious difficulty were that of the Baltic islands, which the Russians wished the Germans to evacuate at least in part, and that of the transference of German troops to the west. On the first point the Germans refused to give way; on the second they compromised. After a formal 10 days' truce had been agreed to on Dec. 5 an d the armistice had set in on the Rumanian front on the loth, the cessation of hostilities for one month on all the Russian fronts against the Central Powers was declared on Dec. 15. On Dec. 22 the peace negotiations of Brest-Litovsk began. (E. G.-H.)
