Ernst Joly

“ After the completion of the assembly of the XI. Army, the distribution of the Austro-German forces in West Galicia and the Carpathians was as follows: In West Galicia, on the Lower Dunajec, the heights of Wai, and the Biala as far as Ciȩzkowice, was the Austrian IV. Army under Archduke Joseph Ferdinand (7 inf. divs.) . To the right of this, the XI. German Army, under Gen. von Mackensen (10 inf. and i cav. divs.) , lay by Luzna and Gorlice as far as Malastów. The Austrian III. Army, under Gen. von Boroević (14 inf. and 2 cav. divs.) ”

“ On the 2yth the strongly reenforced III. Caucasian Corps (Gen. Irmanov) delivered a surprise attack upon the Sieniawa bridge-head. The Austro-Hungarian loth Div., consisting in part of untrust- worthy Czech troops, gave way, and was thrown back to the W. bank of the San and the Lower Lubaczowka, losing 9,000 prisoners, 9 guns and 4 machine-guns. Strong reenforcements hurried forward from other divisions succeeded in stiffening the badly weakened right wing of the army on the W. bank of the San, and in averting the menace to Mackensen's left flank. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ During the pause in the fighting here, violent fighting took place in the bend of the Vistula on the front of Dankl's and Woyrsch's
armies. The pursuit, which had been begun on the I2th by the for- mer army, had been successively taken up by Woyrsch's armies and by Kovess's army group. The right wing of Dankl's army encoun- tered strong resistance on the 1 6th on the line Koprziwnyca- Klimontow, advanced to the attack but failed to break through ; the same fate befell the II. Corps on his left wing, which had to relinquish its initial gains in face of a violent Russian counter- attack. ”

“ Pflanzer's Army was compelled to withdraw before the Russian IX. Army (Lechit- ski) to the Pruth between Czernowitz and Kolomea, and there made preparations to hold this line, while cooperating with its reenforced left wing in the offensive of the Southern Army.
N. of the Vistula the Russian IV. Army was forced back by the armies of Dankl and Woyrsch to the line Nowe Miasto-Mniszek- Ilza-Opatow Klimontow, after heavy fighting in the Czarna and Lysa Gora areas, and smair rear-guard actions elsewhere. Before the IX. German Army the Russians held their ground. ”

“ 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. ”

“ At the same time the II. and III. Armies were to advance in a N.E. direction along the Mosciska-Przemysl road, with the object of driving the Russian field army away from the fortress from the S. The IV. Army, secur- ing the San crossing at Sieniawa, was to direct its main effort against the strong Russian positions in the angle between the San and the Vistula about Rudnik and Machow, while the Southern Army was to continue its attacks in the Drohobycz-Stryj area. As early as the 24th the XI. Army forced back the enemy along all the front of attack. ”

“ The III. and II. Armies were mean- time to pursue their attacks.
During the following days, from May 30 to June 3, Przemysl was stormed (see PRZEMYSL) . Throughout this period hard fighting was also taking place immediately S.E. of the fortress and on the San between Przemysl and Rudnik. In the latter area it was the Rus- sians who took the initiative. Since the capture of the Sieniawa bridge-head by the III. Caucasian Corps, it became clear that strong forces were being concentrated against the XI. Army, and that the Russian IX. Corps in the LHanow-Rudnik area was being reenforced. ”

“ He determined to make use of the breathing- space for a thorough preparation of the attack. Reserves had to be brought up to strengthen the armies, which in the matter of material also had to be made again fit to take the field by bringing up a suffi- cient store of munitions and by establishing a new base of supplies. Mackensen's Army Group was organized on June 10 as follows: The IV. Army (Archduke Joseph Ferdinand) stood on the front held by it during the Russian counter-offensive; the VIII. and XIV. Corps on the left wing to S. of Tarnagora ”

“ The Austro-German troops were engaged on their front in securing favourable condi- tions for their impending attack, while the Russians endeavoured, in a series of powerful counter-blows, to check the progress of their pursuers and even to prepare the ground for a possible offensive. ”

“ Their losses since the commencement of the spring campaign in Galicia had already amounted to no less than 971 officers and 391,000 men captured, with 304 guns, 763 machine-guns, and vast quantities of other material. ”