Page:EB1922 - Volume 31.djvu/842

802

to Mlynow; (4) the German groups of armies under Linsingen, to which were assigned the Austro-Hungarian IV. Army (Arch- duke Joseph Ferdinand) with Szurmay's Corps and the X. and II. Corps (8 inf. divs.), from Mlynow to Kolki on the Styr; Path's Austro-Hungarian Corps (2} inf. divs.) on the Styr up to Kolodia, with, to the N. of it, Hauer's Austro-Hungarian Cav. Corps (3 cav. divs. and 3 bdes. Polish legions) and Gronau's German groups (3 inf. divs. and 2 cav. divs.), on the Wiesiolucha- Strumien-Pinsk-lower course of the Jasiolda and Oginski canal. As regards reserves, Linsingen was given the half of the 4Sth Schutzen Div. at Kolki, and the loth Cav. Div. engaged in constructional work in the line-of-communications area.

Counting by the number of divisions the Russians had only a slight majority in this particular battle area. But their divisions were larger, and in addition they had a considerable number of drafts placed in readiness behind the attacking front, to make good the losses in the regiments as they occurred.

From the methodical pushing forward of the Russian trench system right up to the obstacles of the enemy, it became clear by the end of May that the Russians were proposing to exert their strength especially against the N. wing of Benigni's group at Okna, the XIII. Corps S. of Buczacz, the N. wing of the South Army N.W. of Tarnopol and the IV. Army W. of Olyka. It was accordingly easy for the command on the Austro-Hungarian side to place the reserves behind the parts that were threatened.

In the IV. Army the i3th Schutzen Div. was pushed in behind the X. Corps (2nd and 37th Inf. Divs.), posted astride the Olyka- Luck road, and the nth Inf. Div. behind the Szurmay Corps (th and 7oth Inf. Divs.) S. of that road, so that each of these corps had a brigade from the reserves placed at its disposal.

The Break-through Battle of Olyka-Luck. On June 4, from 4 A.M., the Russians opened battle on the whole section of the front from the Pruth to the Pripet with drum-fire of a violence hitherto unknown in the East. Their artillery systematically battered the enemy's foremost positions and the locality occupied by the higher staff, which was accurately known. The defence system suffered severely, and communication between command and troops was in many cases destroyed. Owing to the dry weather, high whirling clouds of dust and smoke arose, and even on the first day it became an anxious question whether the breaking loose of the enemy's storming columns could be detected in time. At several points the Russians " felt " the enemy first with infantry detachments, but no infantry attack occurred on that day (June 4). In the evening the Russians ceased fire. After a comparatively quiet night, spent by the defenders in making the most essential preparations in the trenches and restoring the badly damaged obstacles, drum-fire was resumed on June 5, with increased violence. During the morning, attacks were launched by the Russian XL. Corps, with the 2nd and 4th Rifle Divs., against the Austro-Hungarian 2nd Inf. Div. to the W. of Olyka, and by the VIII. Corps, with the I4th and isth Inf. Divs., against the 7oth Honved Inf. Division. The blow of the XL. Corps fell upon the men of the Hungarian 82nd Inf. Regt., who, owing to the destruction by drum-fire of all means of observation and communication, were surprised in their dug-outs and either taken prisoners or killed. The fate of the 4oth Inf. Regt., to the S. of them, was no better. For with wonderful rapidity the Russians rolled up all the lines of the 2nd Inf. Div. first position, and only fractions of the garrison could escape.

Towards noon the battalions of the Austrian i3th Schutzen Div. (25th Schutzen Bde.), lying in reserve in the second position, suddenly found the Russians upon them without knowing what had happened to the first-position garrison.

The Russians proceeded systematically to the capture of the second position, in which the battalions of the Viennese ist and 24th Schutzen Regts. were as islands stemming the Russian tide which poured in from all sides. They were too weak to occupy the position completely, and were surrounded and forced back by the Russians after a gallant defence, who advanced through the gaps and communication trenches before the belated 2nd Bde. of the i3th Schutzen Div. could come to their aid. By evening the I3th Schutzen Div., in a state of great exhaustion,

and the scanty remainder of the 2nd Inf. Div. had occupied the third position, which was but weakly organized.

South of the XL. Corps, the VIII. Corps had penetrated the first position, held by the Landsturm of the 7oth Honved Inf. Div., and here the battle raged backward and forward. As the 7oth Div. was too weak to expel its more powerful enemy un- assisted, the 4th Inf. Bde. of the nth Inf. Div. was sent to be placed under it. But these East Galician regiments, the 8gth and 9oth, advanced but half-heartedly to the counter-attack against their Russian kindred, and the attack was not pushed home. The 7oth Div. was still holding the second line of the first position in the evening, but in consideration of its exposed N. flank, al- ready threatened, it also was withdrawn to the third position in the night of June 5-6. This division, too, had suffered heavy losses, having indeed shrunk to one-third of its fighting strength.

Despite the warning of Generaloberst von Linsingen, the com- mander of the group of armies, not to put in the reserves too soon in case of an enemy break-through, but only to employ them in a uniform, concentric counter-attack, they were at Olyka thrown into the battle, dispersed, and were therefore unable to make any stand against the Russian onslaught. Carried away in the fatal rush of the retreat, they not only lost their fighting power, but, in effect, did practically nothing towards turning the battle. It was also a calamity that the best troops in the section where the attack was awaiting with cer- tainty, the 82nd Inf. Regt. (5 batts.), should have been placed in front. There they could have no chance of developing their own power of attack, but must necessarily sustain heavy losses, while the less-capable regiments, consisting of Ruthenians of the nth Inf. Div., held in reserve, broke down in the counter-attack.

On June 6 no special effort was required on the Russian side to overcome the troops of the X. Corps and Szurmay Corps who were mixed up in confusion in the third position. The inner wings of the 37th Honved Inf. Div. and the 7th Inf. Div., which lined the N. and S. corners of the pocket respectively, wore sucked into the tide of the retreat. The X. Corps made an at- tempt at resistance, in an intermediate position W. of Romanow, in the hope of covering the stream of transport flowing back in the direction of Luck, but in vain.

The IV. Army Command now decided to withdraw the Szur- may Corps behind the Ikwa and the Styr, the X. Corps to the bridgehead of Luck, and the II. Corps to a position 6-8 km. E. of the Luck-Kolki road, to insure the protection of the Kivercy railway station. Here 5 German batts. of the Gronau group and half of the Austrian 45th Schutzen Div. had already been detrained, and it was proposed to use them for a counter-blow in a southerly direction. Besides these the 2oth Inf. Div. from the II. Army, a guard cav. bde. from the German group, and 6 batts. with artillery from Prince Leopold's group of armies were being brought up by train to the IV. Army.

On June 7 the Russian VIII. Corps, reinforced by the loist Inf. Div., pushed forward against the S. side of the Luck bridge- head, and the XL. Corps against the N. side. The bridgehead was unknown to the troops to be defended in the southern section by the nth Inf. Div. and parts of the loth Cav. Div., in the northern section by the remnants of the 2nd and i3th Divi- sions. Towards evening the Russians, advancing from the S.E. and cutting off the southward-facing salient at Krupy, forced their way into the bridgehead, captured part of the nth Inf. Div., and forced the X. Corps to evacuate it. The counter-attack led by General von Bernhardi, with half the 4oth Schutzen Div. and the 5 German batts., did not get through. This group now retired at Roziszce to the W. bank of the Styr, and was joined there by the II. Corps. The 7th Inf. Div. was handed over to the I. Army for convenience of supply.

In the morning of June 8 the Russians were able again, without appreciable effort, to force the broken-down troops of the X. Corps to relinquish the W. bank of the Styr. The Russians then swept on in broad masses over the fourth, and so far as the IV. Army was concerned last line of defence.

The X. Corps retired with the 37th and i3th Divs. behind the Sierna, while the 2nd Inf. Div. and loth Cav. Div. to the E. and

.1