Page:EB1922 - Volume 31.djvu/795

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LEMBERG, BATTLES ROUND
755


delivered a succession of fierce counter-attacks against the northern wing of the II. Army.

By this date the Southern Army also had not only repulsed all the attacks directed against its centre, but in the battle of Bukaczowce had occupied the whole left bank of the Dniester from Bortniki to W. of Halicz.

The attack of the VI. Guard and XXII. Corps of the XI. Army pressed forward in to the line Bojanicze-Mosty Mle- Brusno Stary. In the afternoon Mackensen's left wing corps succeeded in defeating the Russians and, carrying with it the adjoining Austro-Hungarian XVII. Corps of the IV. Army, pressed forward. By the evening of the 2yth the Russians were falling back before these corps and on the whole front of the XI. Army. The II. Army had been heavily engaged on both these days, had taken Jaryczow Nowy and driven the Russians behind the Swirz; the Russians evacuated all the right bank of the Dniester before that army's S. wing and the N. wing of the Southern Army, and abandoned Halicz on the approach of Hoffmann's corps.

Next day they fell back behind the Gnila Lipa, followed by the northern wing of the Southern Army and the main body of Bohm's, while the latter's northern wing reached the Bug, S.E. of Kamionka Strumilowa. The XI. Army drove back the Rus- sians north-westwards, its left wing corps and the adjoining XVII. Corps being heavily engaged at Narol Miasto. These corps reached Osuchy and Tarnawatka; the centre of the XI. Army gained the area S. of Laszczow and S.W. of Krystynopol, while the Beskiden Corps filled the gap between Kamionka and the Rata. The IV. Army passed the Upper Tanew.

Early on the 2gth the Russians evacuated their lines facing the last-named army and retired to the ridge bordering the Tanew region to the N. The Archduke's army was in touch with them again by the evening, in spite of the difficulty of advancing over tracks through heavy sand and swamp, the destruction of the bridges and the partial obliteration of the roads, and in spite, too, of having had to fight repeated actions with the Russian rearguards.

The left wing corps of the IV. Army was, meanwhile, on the 3oth, to push forward with all possible speed on Annopol, in order to menace the flank of the Russians opposing the I. Army and force them also to retire. This was successfully accomplished by midday, and before nightfall the main body of the I. Army had reached the Kamiena and the area S. of Tarlow in pursuit, while parts of it were already being prepared for transport away. On the 3oth the whole of the IV. Army was able to begin its advance into the mountainous district of Krasnik and Turobin; little opposition was met with, as the Russians had fallen back to fresh positions on the heights N. of the Wyznica and N. of the For. The left and centre of the XI. Army, driving before them the hostile rearguards, which fell back behind the Wolica and to the area S. of Grubieszow, advanced beyond Szczebrzezyn, Zamosz and Tyszowce.

The Battle on the Gnila Lipa. Meanwhile on the Gnila Lipa front there developed a severe battle which continued till July 4. By the end of June the II. and Southern Armies had, after a series of determined attacks, secured a footing on the heights > to the E. of the river at several points. On July i the offensive of the Southern Army here met with a decisive success. Bothmer and Kosch, advancing against the line held by the Russians' XVIII., XXIII. and XI. Corps on the front Firlejow-Bursztyn, drove them back, despite their fierce resistance and determined counter-attacks, behind the Narajowka. A slight check suffered on the same date by the 5ist Honved Inf. Div. on the south- ern wing of the II. Army was thus fully counterbalanced, and the idea of stopping the pursuit on the Gnila Lipa, which had occurred to the II. Army, was once more abandoned.

The success achieved was increased during the following days. The Russians in face of Bohm's southern wing evacuated their ground under pressure of the Southern Army's advance, where- upon Bohm also began to move forward across the Gnila Lipa. On the night of the 2nd Bohm's centre also assumed the offensive successfully, and drove back the enemy to the heights W. of

the Zlota Lipa, where they were again attacked all along their front on the 3rd.

During the night of the 4th the Russians, unable to hold out against Bohm's and Linsingen's vigorous assaults, abandoned this height also, and took up positions behind the Upper Bug and behind the Zlota Lipa. Here they intended to entrench themselves so strongly as to be able to offer a prolonged resist- ance. Bohm and Linsingen continued their attacks without achieving any conspicuous successes. Both sides, therefore, settled down to trench warfare, using the respite to recuperate and regroup their troops. It was not till the end of Aug. that heavy fighting again developed on the Zlota Lipa front (Cam- paign of Rovno).

In the middle of July Pflanzer-Baltin attacked the Russian

IX. Army's lines between the Sereth and Strypa, in order to assist the main offensive by containing the Russian forces opposed to him. This was known as the battle of the Dniester (July 14-19). At the same time his northern wing advanced across the Zlota Lipa below Zadarow and established itself on the E. bank. The Russians stubbornly held their ground and delivered counter-attacks, so that six days of fighting produced no results worth speaking of. The main object of the operations had, however, been fully secured.

Second Battle of Krasnik, July 1-14. The Austrian IV. Army, pushing forward into the mountainous area of Krasnik and Turobin, had now reached the area already made famous by the successful campaign of Dankl's army in Aug. 1914. The Rus- sians were now established N. of the Wyznica and the For in order to stop, or at least to delay, any further advance of Arch- duke Joseph Ferdinand's army and the left of the XI. Army which was next to it. Strong Russian concentrations had more- over been reported at Vladimir-Volhynskiy and Grubieszow. Gen. Russky, the commander of the Russian N.W. front, ap- peared to be putting up a determined resistance.

The Archduke's troops had reached the Wyznica and the For without meeting with any particular opposition, and, in spite of their exhaustion, at once began their attacks. The Austrian

X. Corps took possession of Krasnik in the first rush. At the same time the German X. Corps of the XI. Army forced the pas- sage of the For after overcoming stiff opposition, while the XXII. and Guard Corps secured the heights on the N. bank of the Labunka after fierce fighting.

On July 2 the offensive was to be continued by both armies at all costs. An assault group composed of five divisions of the XIV. and IX. Corps (IV. Army) was formed under command of Field-Marshal-Lt. Roth for the actual breaking through of the hostile positions E. of Krasnik. The Russians, however, anticipat- ing some such move, had strengthened their forces at Krasnik, and forced the Au_strian X. Corps by very violent counter- attacks to evacuate it. However, when, after the necessary artil- lery preparation, Roth's attacking wedge drove deeply into their front by way of Studzianka on July 3, the Russians had to cease their attacks; whereupon the X. Corps reoccupied Krasnik, while the 47th Res. Div. (VII. Corps) pushed four battalions to the N. bank of the Wyznica. The right wing of the army had also con- tinued its offensive, and with the German X. Corps had advanced completely across the For; while the XXII. and Guard Corps had worked forward nearly as far as the Wolica after heavy fighting. The right wing of the XI. Army had reached the area Terebinn-Krylow and to the S.E. of Sokal, whence the Beskiden Corps continued the line as before to Kamionka Strumilowa. The XLI. Corps was sent back to the army and placed behind its right wing.

Puhallo's army, meanwhile, had given a striking sign of its presence by taking the Russian bridgehead of Tarlow and clear- ing the angle between the Kamiena and the Vistula. After this success the rest of this army was also held in readiness for trans- port elsewhere; Woyrsch assumed command of all the forces on the left bank of the Vistula, and Bredow's division relieved the

I. Army in its positions. It was reckoned that they would finish taking up their positions in the area behind the inner wings of the

II. and XI. Armies by July 13. Mackensen, meanwhile, in view