Page:EB1922 - Volume 30.djvu/914

 The Army High Command ordered the XI. Army to continue its advance, with its reenforced southern wing moving in the direction of Dukla-Krosno-Strzyzow, the III. Army's left moving on Tylawa, its centre and right continuing to hold fast the enemy in their front. The time for the assumption of the offensive was to be at the discretion of the army commander himself. The neighbouring army under Böhm was already assigned as a reënforcement of the left wing, to operate in harmony with Boroević's right wing.

The left wing of the IV. Army was heavily attacked on the night of the 4th-5th, and little progress was made by it or by the German 47th Res. Div. in the course of the following day. On the other hand, the Russians opposed to the XIV. Corps, in the centre of the IV. Army, fell back before dawn; both divisions of the corps followed them up closely, and by nightfall had reached the line of the Biala. The right corps captured the heights N.E. of Tuchów and Dobrotyn hill. The XI. Army made very rapid progress on this day, driving the enemy back step by step as far as the Wisloka, and establishing itself at Pilgrzymka Osobnica and Olpiny in close touch with the IV. Army.

On the left wing of the III. Army the 21st Landwehr Inf. Div. occupied the heights of Watkowa after heavy fighting.

On the 5th, however, the resistance of the Russian III. Army was still unbroken. The IX. Corps, indeed, captured the heights of Obzar and Wiszowa, thus securing possession of the whole of the Dobrotyn ridge, while Szende's brigade and the 106th Inf. Div., in the face of stubborn resistance, cleared all the area E. of Tuchów as far as Zalasowa and the heights of Trzemesna W. of it, while the 3rd Div. succeeded in crossing the Biala; but the 8th Div., which finally followed the 3rd over the river, and the whole of the northern wing of the IV. Army, were unable to gain any success.

On the right wing of the XI. Army, however, Gen. von Emmich's corps, which had pressed far forward, again met with great success, throwing the Russians back behind the Jasiolka in the direction of Dukla, while the left wing of the army advanced to Jodlowa.

This rapid advance naturally facilitated the task of Boroević's army. As early as the morning of the 5th the front of the XXIV. and XII. Russian Corps, before the centre and left of that army, began to yield. Pursued by the Austro-Hungarian X., XVII. and VII. Corps in the direction of Jasliska and the upper valley of the Laborcza, they were driven into the area W. of Tylawa behind the valley of the Ondava and onto the heights N.E. of Nagybakocy. Only the XXI. Russian Corps held its ground at great cost against the German Beskiden Corps, fighting on Boroević's right wing.

On the N. wing of the IV. Army the enemy's resistance was at length broken on the night of the 6th by the repeated assaults of Stöger-Steiner's Div. and the German 47th Res. Div. While the Russians evacuated their positions below Tarnów as far as the Vistula, the Austro-German troops occupied Tarnów and initiated a pursuit in the area W. of Pilzno.

The right wing of the IV. and the left and centre of the XI. Army had meanwhile reached the Wisloka. Emmich penetrated as far as Wietrzno with his corps, and in the Dukla area blocked all the lines of retreat leading N. and N.E., along which Radko Dimitriev's defeated columns were now retiring in wild disorder. At Tylawa the Austro-Hungarian X. Corps, advancing from the W., encountered the 48th Inf. Div. of the Russian XXIV. Corps under Gen. Kornilov, and, in conjunction with Field-Marshal-Lt. Berndt's Cavalry Div., forced the greater part of it to surrender and scattered the rest, who were captured some days later by Emmich's troops.

By the evening the Austrian XVII. and VII. Corps had reached the Dukla pass and the Laborcza valley, driving before them Radko Dimitriev's broken right wing, which took refuge behind the Jasiclka and the Carpathian ridge, leaving behind many prisoners and vast quantities of war material.

In view of these successes, it was to be expected that the Russian XXI. Corps would shortly be compelled to evacuate the Lupków pass which would shake the whole Russian front along the Carpathians to the E. of it. The rolling-up of this line seemed to ensure the complete strategic success of the five days' "breakthrough" battle of Gorlice-Tarnów in which Radko Dimitriev's army had been driven back more than 20 m. on a front of 100 m., with a loss of 50,000 prisoners, 50 guns and much other material.

The Pursuit and Battles at Sanok and Rzeszów (May 6–11).—After his severe defeat, Radko Dimitriev's plan was to hold the Lupków pass with his left wing, and, supported upon this, to bring the pursuit to a stand on the line Nowotaniec-Besko-right bank of the Wislok, where there were positions favoured by the lay of the ground, and then, between the Vistula and the Wislok, on the line Wielo-pole-Zassow-Malec. Here he proposed to reconstitute his units, which had fallen into great disorder, and to strengthen them by bringing up reserves. Troops were sent to him from other fronts, and by the 8th he could again dispose of 18 inf. divs., 5 cav. divs. and 5 Reichswehr bdes. The orders were that the offensive was to be continued with all possible vigour. Mackensen's army was to push forward over the stretch of the Wislok between Besko and Frysztakon Mrzyglód and Tyczin, and the Archduke Joseph Ferdinand on Rzeszów, while Boroević was to roll up Brussilov's VIII. Russian Army in the direction of Sanok. Böhm's II. Austrian Army was to join up corps by corps from the left wing in proportion to the progress of the attack.

In the course of the 8th the Russian positions were once more attacked along the whole front, and in the sector of Mackensen's army were stormed along the whole E. bank of the Wislok. Both here and in the front of the centre and right of the IV. Army the fighting was heavy; the Russians were driven by the latter from Pilzno and Brzostek and pursued beyond Debica and the hill of Chelm. In front of the newly formed group under Gen. von Kirchbach, composed of Stöger-Steiner's Div., the German 47th Res. Div. and certain Landsturm formations, on the left wing of the IV. Army, the Russian IX. Corps fell back in the afternoon to the new line prescribed.

Meanwhile, Boroević had also pressed the Russians hard and by 3 forced them to abandon the Lupków pass as well as the strong Bokuwica ridge, and to retire to the line Zarszyn-Bukowsko-Szczawne, where they once more took up strong positions. As a natural result of the retreat of the III. Russian Army, the whole of Brussilov's VIII. Army began to give ground, and Böhm's army, with the W. wing of Linsingen's, at once took up the pursuit.

On the 9th, however, violent resistance was once more encountered, particularly on the fronts of the German Southern Army and the Austro-Hungarian II. and III. Armies, from the Ostry hill to Besko. The Russian point d'appui at the latter place was much en- dangered by the withdrawal of the Russian front fighting against Mackensen to the left bank of the Stobnica; but it was urgently necessary to hold it, as also the strong front Bukowsko-Szczawne, in order to secure Brussilov's undisturbed retreat. Despite a violent counter-attack delivered by three newly arrived divisions astride the Sanok road between Besko and the left flank of the Russian line on the Stobnica, the Russians were forced to abandon Besko on the evening of the 9th.

When on the 10th Böhm's left wing, pressing forward by Baligrod and the San, captured Szczawne, and the gallant X. Corps on Boroević's left took Zarszyn, the strong position of Bukowsko became untenable; and by the evening of the 11th the Russians had fallen back behind the San. The III. Army followed them up to the area Sanok-Zagorcz. Meanwhile the XI. Army had stormed the Stobnica position and advanced its front. Of the Archduke Joseph Ferdinand's army Kirchbach's corps on the evening of the 11th reached the Lower Wislok while the centre took Sedziszow. During the night of the 12th the IX. Corps secured Rzeszów.

The Russians, after some minor rear-guard actions, had also fallen back along the whole front before the II. Army, so that on the 11th the Austrian left wing had reached the Lisko area, while the right had passed the Upper San, where the Southern Army was.

At this point may be said to have ended the battle of Rzeszów-Sanok, the effects of which were quickly seen in the retirement of the enemy line N. of the Vistula. The Russians now prepared to make a fresh stand on the strong defensive line of the San below Przemysl, where they had constructed strong lines of defences, with their flanks resting on the Dniester marshes at Wielki Bloto, and the angle made by the Vistula and the San. Up to this point they had lost 130,000 prisoners, 100 guns and 300 machine-guns.

Events up to the Battle of Przemysl (May 12–23).—The Russians, foreseeing the possibility of a further retreat, had chosen as their next position the line of the San below the fortress of Przemysl, which had again been placed in a state of defence, as far as Nisko, and they had strengthened this line by the construction of bridge- heads at Radymno and Jaroslaw. Below Nisko the line enclosed the angle formed by the Vistula and the San, whence a particularly strong line of defence led to Tarnobrzeg and was continued on the far side of the Vistula to Klimontów and Opatów. The southern front was connected by an equally strong fortified line through Husaków and Krukienice with the Dniester, which served as the next natural line of defence for the Russians. At first, however, they did not make full use of this river as an obstacle, since they advanced their IX. Army against Pflanzer-Baltin to the Pruth.

The immediate object of the Austrian and German High Commands was to force the San below Przemysl, and to attack that fortress. The following objectives were assigned to the armies. The IV. Army was to force the Lower San, and the XI. to pass that river on either side of Jaroslaw. The N. wing of the III. Army was to push forward S. of the San against the W. and S. fronts of Przemysl, and secure that place by a coup de main, while its S. wing advanced by Dobromil on Mosciska. To the II. Army was assigned the direction Chyrow-Sambor, while the Southern Army's objectives were Drohobycz and Stryj. The VII. Army was to maintain its positions, while on the N. of the Vistula the armies of Dankl and Woyrsch were to follow up the enemy, with their inner flanks moving by Daleszyce on Slupia.

After breaking off the battle the Russians had rapidly fallen back to the San, and were as rapidly pursued. The pursuers encountered in the main only a few small rear-guards during the next few days; the II. Army, however, had violent fighting at the San crossings; and on the III. Army front, the 27th Div., in conjunction with the German Beskiden Corps, dispersed a hostile rear-guard on the heights of Magiera, S. of Przemysl.

On the 14th the German Guard Corps found itself face to face with the strong fortifications of the bridge-head at Jaroslaw. After a short but intense preliminary bombardment the Guard infantry, assisted by those of Field-Marshal Arz's Corps advancing from the