Artillery Transport on Carpathian slope - A sketch by Jamie, taken from an original image
that can be seen at: http://www.historynet.com/carpathian-war-sidebar-eyewitness-to-agony.htm
I
Still winter war
raged on for the Russians,
With forces in the
foot holds of the Carpathians.
The plan of
Russian command had been
To displace
Austria Hungary, from out of the war -
With their
objective for the Hungarian Plains.
In anticipation
of the Russian campaign, Germany
Had sent six
divisions of their southern army
To assist Austria
Hungary - as winter unfolded
On the San River,
sat Przemysl fortress - a gate
That blocked the
Northern way to the Carpathians.
With the garrison
besieged in a huge fortress,
Their Dual
Monarchy sought to stop Russians
Enter the
mountain ranges - that formed an arched
Barrier - a width
of 75 miles and 3,600 feet high -
Two attacks on
Russians had already failed, from
23 January and 27
February - now came a third.
28 March still
saw harsh conditions, as Russia
Pushed into the
Carpathians - two days before
Their progress
towards Czernowitz and Bartfield -
And to the Rayons,
Lutoviska and Baligrod - then
The gaining of
Galicia into Russian administration,
With 2,500
prisoners, suggested Austria might fall.
The belief being
how the Austrian army was going
From attrition to
disintegration - with 3,000 captives
Daily captured, a
total estimate of 600,000 Austrians
Taken - to knock
the Monarchies union of armies
Back into a critical
point - their army was losing dash.
The ardour of the
Austrian campaign was losing
Value in their
men - along with the ability to arm
Them in the field
- such was the allied optimism.
A belief held for
the Russian allies readiness in
Pushing into the valley's
channels and Hungary.
II
Anticipation soured
with illusions of a short war,
As geography could
only lead to catastrophe.
Mountainous
regions required troops trained
For such terrain,
altitude and varied weather.
With limited
passes and poor maintained roads
Could lead to
errors and disasters for both sides.
With challenges
to artillery transport across
High uneven
grounds - batteries were restricted
To the lower
terrains to hinder attacks of troops
The Austrian belief
was not just to deflect Russian
Invasion, but
also to make a great, strong victory
Of central powers
- so was the Habsburg ambition.
With the normal
wintery descent on the mountains
Of Carpathians,
the command of the Hapsburg's
Were ill prepared
for the long drawn out situation
For fighting in
subzero temperatures across open
Plains - troops
were faced with lack of necessities.
Extremes of heavy
rainfall, crossings of icy waters,
Vicious
snowstorms and the lack of winter uniforms
Would lead to
sodden uniforms, frozen to a man's
Body - with
erratic food supplies, if at all received
Could be frozen -
frostbite and ailments led to death.
Many soldiers
floundered under feeble equipment -
As in cardboard
soles and exposure for long periods;
Exhaustion was
quick in moving through deep drifts,
In need shovel
snow, to make patrols or assaults;
Low morale,
physical exhaustion for horse and man.
As the horses
might die, in halting the supply chains
Men too would find
death from snow - to stay awake
From a freezing
death, or choosing their end by giving
Into enemy fire
or taking their own life - in the dark
Nights were the
lowest hours as dark temperatures
Fell to freezing
eyelids closed within biting winds.
Men marched in
darkness for untold hours - shadows
Would cross their
paths, as wolves ate on wounded
And ill men's
screams - So If you were a Austrian
Hungarian
soldier, you might not last till light - to fight
Against hardier
Russians - whose tactics involved
Waiting out
Hapsburg offences pauses before attacks.
Russian manourves
of the commanders favoured
Nighttime strikes
- retreating at last moments - then
To re-establish
again, ensuring Hapsburgs remained
In attack
formations - made to stay in the bitter cold,
As they struggled
over terrain - Russians on higher
Ground having
superior artillery to gain numbers.
III
With Russian
General staff communications
Coming through -
on 29 March 1915 would state
How little
changes had been then made beside
The river edges -
on left bank of Vistula and right
Bank of Narew,
were no important advancements.
With Austria
falling back, as Russia moved
Forwards to
Bartfeld, found Zboro village alight.
In the listed
names, the battles raged about
Ravorjetz, in an
easterly height towards Baligord;
To fight back
Austrians of near Russkedydiuva.
With the days
fight at Koziuvka 2,500 men
Forty Austrian
officers - along with seven
Machine gunnery
were taken while a German
Presence twice
captured Russian trenches
At Tartak and
Serafin villages while enemies
Efforts were
renewed between Pisa and Szkwo.
Still the Germans
were driven back leaving
Them with big
losses - one German practice
Having been to
strip any dead Russian from
Their greatcoats
- an act that offered targets
To Russian
infantry. Attempted German actions
Suffered - downed
or silenced by the Russians.
IV
By night of 28
March, a commander in chief
Of Russian allies
stated, how on the Friday,
A Russian offence
took a new high line, above
A front of 23
miles - how 3 Austrian Battalions
East of Mlimaroc,
were cut out in bayonet fight.
The 26th had seen
exchanges about the fort
Of Ossowieces, as
an onslaught for German
Trenches resulted
in 600 prisoners - officers
To number five
and two machine guns - this
Had been in the
Wach, Tartak and Zawdy region
The Russian
communications went on to say,
How their
opposition had attacked about
Munkacs-Stryi -
with enemy attempts to throw
Grenades into
allied trenches; all being stopped.
All such
manouvres suggested Russian superiority,
Were easily
battering back the Austrian army.
Battles though,
are never quite how they may
Seem to be - As
the Russian March offence
Opened out
Against German Southern Army
And the Austrian
Third - advancing to Ungvár -
Being
forced to halt some 30 Kilometers short -
Only
to face a force of German Beskid Corps;
So
carried on the bloody Carpathian battles.
by Jamie Mann.
Anon.,1915. Campaign
of the Russian Army - Continued Advance - Huge Austrian Loses. The Daily
Telegraph, [online] 29 Mar. P.8.
Col.7. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11499936/Daily-Telegraph-March-29-1915.html
[Accessed: 29 March 2015].
Source.,1915. The
Carpathian Winter War, 1915. By Graydon A. Tunstall Originally published by
MHQ magazine. Published Online: May 13, 2014 [online] Available at: http://www.historynet.com/carpathian-catastrophe.htm
[Accessed: 29
March 2015].
Source.,1915. The
Carpathian War Sidebar: Eyewitness to Agony Originally published by MHQ magazine.
Published Online: May 13, 2014 [online] Available at:
http://www.historynet.com/carpathian-war-sidebar-eyewitness-to-agony.htm
[Accessed: 29 March 2015].
Source.,1915.
Carpathian Operation of 1915. A. V. Kudritskii. The
Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group
[online] Available at:
http://www.historynet.com/carpathian-war-sidebar-eyewitness-to-agony.htm
[Accessed: 29 March 2015].
Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal
communication, 1 March 2015).
#WW1 #WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #WW1centenary
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