Battles Round Brest Litovsk

"BATTLES ROUND, 1915. BREST LITOVSK - The operations round Brest Litovsk (see 4.500), from July 15 to Aug. 26 1915, formed an important part of Mackensen's campaign in Poland in the north-eastern offensive of the Central Powers that year (see Eastern Front Campaigns).

On the completion of the regrouping of Mackensen's group of armies, which now consisted of the Austro-Hungarian IV. Army, the German XI. Army, the German Army of the Bug and the Austro-Hungarian I. Army, the Central Powers had resumed the offensive along the whole front from the Bug to the Pilica. Mackensen, with three of the armies, was to direct the attack between the Vistula and the Bug. The main body of the I. Army was to cooperate in this attack on the eastern flank by delivering an assault in the direction of Vladimir Volinski, while the remainder of the army was to provide cover along the Bug up to the N. wing of the II. Army. The II. Army and the Southern Army were to cover the attack on the Upper Bug and the Zlota Lipa, and were themselves to attack only if this became necessary for the protection of the neighbouring armies or if the Russians showed signs of any dislocation of their forces. Woyrsch was to fall in with the IV. Army's offensive between the Vistula and the Pilica and, if occasion arose, to attack across the Vistula. Forcing the Dniester, the VII. Army was to push forward E. of the St:rypa towards Czortkow and Buczacz, and to let its cavalry attack in force E. of the Sereth.

Battles of Sokal, July 15-24, and Krasnostaw, July On July July 15 at I I A.M. Mackensen's attack began. On the very first day Puhallo's army made its approach all along the Bug, which, in spite of the high water-level, was forced on the 16th by a division of the I. Corps N. of Sokal. By that time the Army of the Bug had obtained possession of the positions between Terebin and Grabowiec, and Arz's Corps, on the right wing of the XI. Army, had stormed the very obstinately defended positions at Skierbieszow. The Guard Corps and the XXII. Res. Corps won the heights to the S.W. of Krasnostaw. The IV. Army was working steadily up to the Russians' strong main position. In spite of the dogged resistance of the Russians the Guard of the XI. Army succeeded in taking Krasnostaw in the next few days, and in pushing on to the heights N. of the Zolkiewka. The I. Army meanwhile had taken Sokal, which was stormed by its I. Corps, and had constructed a bridge-head on the E. bank of the Bug. Farther N., Szurmay's group gained the right bank of the Bug at Zdzary, and, on the S. wing, portions of the II. Corps the E. bank at Krystynopol.

Mackensen's right flank now appeared to be adequately protected, but for the present the attack on Vladimir Volinski was impracticable, on account of the Russian counter-attacks which soon developed and the limited strength of the I. Army. West of the Vistula, Woyrsch and the army group of Kovess, which had been placed under him, had on the 16th begun an attack which led on the following day to the battle of Sienno of which the object was to break through the Russian lines.

On the 18th this attack ended in a complete victory. The Russian IV. Army evacuated its positions along Woyrsch's whole front, and retired to new defensive positions behind the Jlzanka and S.W. of Radom. But here again the Russians were unable to stand against the powerful forward push, and were thrown back beyond Zwolen by the right wing after heavy fighting. While Kovess on the 10th was occupying Radom and advancing victoriously along the E. bank of the Pilica, the front N. of Zwolen was successfully pierced over a stretch of 2 km., and the Russians were driven back to the Vistula and to a kind of bridge-head position S.W. of Ivangorod. But on the same evening Woyrsch broke through these positions also, E. of Zalasy and at Czarnolas, and took possession of the heights at Janowiec. All attacks launched by the Russians from the fortress zone at Ivangorod proved fruitless. Farther N. the Russian II. Army, being pursued by the German IX. Army, fell back on Grojec and Blonie and the defences of Novo Georgievsk.

The successful battles of the XI. Army, the obstinate attacks by the IV. Army, and, not least, Woyrsch's menacing position on the left bank of the Vistula, induced the Russians, although they had obtained all the reinforcements available, to retreat on the 19th. Pursued by the Army of the Bug, the IV. and the XI. Armies, they once more took a firm footing in new and wellprepared positions on the heights N. of Grubieszow, Rozana, Gardzienice, and N. of the Chodel, thus covering the railway line Ivangorod - Lublin - Chelm. In the days that followed they made all possible efforts, reenforced by the XIII. Rifle Div., to drive the Austro-Hungarian forces at Sokal back across the Bug, but all their attacks, vigorous as they were, failed. All their assaults against the fronts of the XI. Army and the Army of the Bug - whose right wing had gained ground beyond Grubieszow towards the N. - were also unsuccessful, and they were driven back from the heights N. of the Chodel by the IV. Army along a front of about 40 kilometres..

The general effect of these successes on the allied attack was to bring about a short pause in the fighting. The Russians had established themselves in strong positions, and brought up fresh forces. It seemed equally urgent to overhaul the allied forces, and fresh preparations were also necessary before the renewal of the attack. While the pause lasted the allies strengthened their positions against new Russian counter-attacks.

Within the next few days the right wing of the Army of the Bug pushed forward up to the carriage road running from Horodlo to Wojslawice. The Russians renewed their embittered attacks on the bridge-head at Sokal, but without [any success whatever. Certain portions of the I. Army succeeded in taking the obstinately defended height of Gora Sokal. The II. Army was able to establish its 32nd Infantry Div. to the E. of Kamionka Strumillowa on the right bank of the Bug.

Meanwhile Woyrsch's army was making due preparations for the crossing of the Vistula. Kovess's group, the XII. Corps and the 7th and 9th Cavalry Divs. remained beside the Vistula from Janowiec to the Pilica estuary, while the Landwehr Corps with the Bredow Div. moved behind the left wing of the army. Aided by the self-sacrificing efforts of the AustroHungarian and German pioneers, who suffered many losses through the heavy artillery fire, the Landwehr Corps and the Bredow Div. crossed the river on the 28th in five places between Kobylnica and Tarnow, fighting fiercely, and established themselves at Maciejowice on the opposite bank.

Battles of Chelan (Kholna) and Lublin: Capture of Ivangorod and Warsaw (July 29 - Aug. 4). - On the 29th the offensive was resumed on Mackensen's whole front. The main blow on Biskupice was to be delivered by the XI. Army, on whose right the Army of the Bug was to continue the attack on Chelm. The IV. Army was to cooperate with the attacking group of the XI. Army by pushing its strong right wing through to Lublin. The assault, led by Gen. von Emmich, broke through the Russian front in the battle of Biskupice (July 29-30), and an advance was made to beyond Olesniki, where the right bank of the Wieprz and the bridge of the railway leading to Chelm were taken. North of Krasnostaw the Guard Corps joined in the battle, but without winning any immediate success. The IV. Army was for the time being able to come only as far as the Russian wire entanglements.

In consequence of the reviving offensive, and also probably of the ever-increasing pressure of the German armies on the Bobr - Narew front, the Russians once more evacuated their positions E. of the Vistula early on the 30th, their only stand against the pursuit being made at Grubieszow. The XVII. Corps of the IV. Army, after overcoming the seven-fold wire entanglements, made five successive assaults on the Russians during the night of the 30th. In the afternoon the cavalry of the XVII. and IX. Corps rode into Lublin unopposed. The XIV. Corps advanced to the heights N. and N.E. of the town, and the IX., X. and VIII. Corps captured the heights S. of Snopkow and approached the road running through Markuszow Konskowola and Nowo Aleksandrya. On the following day these successes were everywhere extended by violent fighting. In the IV. Army the German 47th Res. Div. at Kurow flung itself across the road named above, and the left army wing reached Nowo Aleksandrya.

On Aug. i the Russians continued their retreat step by step, losing heavily. They also left the Bug below Krylow. In the pursuit Puhallo's whole left wing pushed forward over the Bug below Zdzary, and up to the hollow S. of Ustilug. The Army of the Bug established itself along the Bug from this point to Dubienko, while the Beskiden Corps, fighting on its left wing, pursued the Russians beyond Chelm. The XI. Army came upon fresh opposition in the line Kulik - Leczna, and in front of the IV. Army the Russians were able to maintain the positions to which they had retired after the abandonment of Lublin.

West of the Vistula great events were in preparation at this time. K6vess's Transylvanian troops captured, by a vigorous attack on Aug. 2, eight concrete entrenchments on the front of Ivangorod, of which four were taken by the 50th Infantry Regt. The Landwehr Corps, too, penetrated into the enemy's positions at Domaszew. The successes of this group assumed for the Russians an ever more threatening aspect. On the one hand the railway between Warsaw and Ivangorod would be in serious danger if the Landwehr Corps pushed their advance any farther; on the other the enveloping of Ivangorod's N. front would admit of considerable pressure being brought to bear on its defenders.

In the next few days Mackensen's group of armies by their tenacious attacks ousted the Russians from one position after the other. The forces of the Russian III. and IV. Armies, which were being hemmed in more and more closely, tried in vain by counterattacking to obtain breathing space and relieve the pressure.

While Mackensen continued his irresistible advance between the Bug and the Vistula, and Prince Leopold of Bavaria and Woyrsch were on the point of taking Warsaw and Ivangorod, there were signs in the N. also that the fortresses on the BobrNarew front were doomed. Pultusk and Rozan had been taken by Gallwitz's Army, and Ostrolenka was seriously threatened. Farther N. the VIII. Army (Scholz's) was equipping itself to attack Lomza and Ossowiec, while the X. Army (Eichhorn's) and Below's Army of the Niemen were advancing on Kovno and Riga. The Russians were, no doubt, considering the abandonment of their front on the Vistula; and they had begun to send off their war material and the enormous food supplies needed to support the armies during a retreat which was to be only gradual. But in spite of all the strength they displayed they were being constantly forced backward. On the 3rd, Leczna was captured by the left wing group of the XI. Army. The cavalry of the I. Army entered Vladimir Volinski, and Szurmay was nearing the Luga. Aug. 4 crowned all previous successes. The German IX. Army under Prince Leopold of Bavaria threw the Russians out of both the outer and inner ring of Warsaw's forts, and, after the Russians had evacuated the town and withdrawn to Praga on the right bank of the Vistula, made their entry into the town. Simultaneously the western quarter of Ivangorod on the left bank of the Vistula was taken by the XVI. Infantry Div. of Kovess's group, while the garrison retired to the right bank and blew up the Vistula bridge.

The IV., XI., and Bug Armies, continuing the pursuit, forced back the Russians, in spite of violent resistance, behind the line Sawin - Baranowka - Kurow. The left wing of the IV. Army advanced to the heights N. of Konskowola.

The Battle at Lubartow, Aug. 5-8. - When the Russians began their retreat from the Vistula position between Warsaw and Ivangorod it fell upon Mackensen to deliver his blow on the left flank of the retreating army. His desire was to push forward with all possible speed beyond Parczew to the railway line running from Warsaw to Brest Litovsk. The I. Army and the Bug Army were to cover the attack by holding the bridgeheads constructed on the E. bank of the Bug. The Bug Army removed its right wing to Dubienka and was to advance with its left on Wlodawa and across the Wlodawka. The IV. and XI. Armies, whose attacks were to be continued, were to reach the Tysmienica and Wieprz section as quickly as possible. As a guiding line for the inner wings of both armies Mackensen selected the river bed of the Wieprz.

The shifting of the XI. Army, which now became necessary, was made possible by the transference of the Beskiden Corps from the Bug Army to the rear of the XI. Army's right wing.

The troops occupying the stretch of the Bug below Ustilug could now gradually loosen their hold, for here the Russians, under pressure of what had occurred, were retiring by successive stages on Kovel. They were being pursued for the moment only by the I. Army cavalry.

On the IV. Army devolved the task of attacking the strong positions at Lubartow within the next few days. By the 6th it was able to take the Russian trenches S. of that place, and at Brzostowka and Krasny German troops penetrated into the Russian positions. On the 7th the decisive blow was given by the attacking group on the army's right wing, composed of seven divisions of the XIV. and XVII. Corps, commanded by Lt.-Field-Marshal Roth. The enemy was driven out of several lines, lying one behind the other, during the morning, and in the afternoon and evening this group, with the XLI. Honed Infantry Div. and the XI. and III. Infantry Divs., pushed their way to beyond Firley, driving a wedge into the Russian front. The Russians fell back in complete disorder across the Wieprz. Meanwhile the X. Infantry and XLV. Light Infantry Divs. had crossed the Wieprz to the N.E., at and N. of Baranowka, in order to join in the battle of the XI. Army, which was also being assisted by heavy artillery fire in the direction of Brzostowka. West of the Rudno - Kamionka road the XVII. and IX. Corps also joined in. Here the Russian XXV. Corps had advanced from the area S. of Michow to a counter-attack on the Austro-Hungarian X. Corps, which after a hard struggle succeeded in forcing the enemy back to the Lower Wieprz and snatching from him some of his points d'appui. The immediate effect of these battles was the evacuation by the Russians of the Vistula bank N.W. of Ivangorod also. Thereupon Kovess and Woyrsch took up the pursuit on both sides of the SololewZelechow road. On the 8th and 9th the pursuit of the hurriedly retreating enemy was vigorously carried on. The IV. Army crossed the Wieprz close to its estuary and also at Leszkowice. On the 9th, too, the Bug Army and the XI. Army penetrated the enemy's lines at several points after extremely heavy fighting, but on the 10th they again encountered the greatest resistance.

Woyrsch and Kovess crossed the Warsaw - Lublin road and went in pursuit of the Russian IV. Army, which was falling back on Lukow and Radzyn. The Archduke Josef Ferdinand's Army now advanced also on the N. bank of the Wieprz, and, on the loth, reached the region N.W. of the Lower Tysmienica and the area in the bend of the Tysmienica; the Emmich group, fighting on the left wing of the XI. Army, approached the Upper Tysmienica in its pursuit of the Russian IV. Army's left wing. On Woyrsch's left were the German IX. and XII. Armies, the latter of which, coming from Gallwitz's Army, had penetrated to the Bug and the area of Sadow, Kaluszyn, and Ceglow. Up to Ossowiec all the fortresses of the Bobr - Narew line had fallen. Novo Georgievsk alone still held out, but around it Gen. von Beseler was drawing his siege-ring ever closer.

The Brest Litovsk Offensive

The IV. Army's flank attack on the Russians retreating eastwards had in the last few days changed into a frontal pursuit in a north-easterly direction, carried out in conjunction with Prince Leopold of Bavaria's group of armies. For the XI. and Bug Armies, however, Mackensen still held to the proposed flank attack, to be delivered in a northerly direction.

The S. wing of Hindenburg's group of armies (the German VIII. and XII. Armies) and the two groups of Prince Leopold of Bavaria and Mackensen were forcing back the Russian main force ever farther towards the Bialystok - Brest Litovsk railway line. This main force was composed of the XII., I., II., IV., and III. Armies, and counted roughly 60 infantry and 7 cavalry divisions. Mackensen's part in the great scheme of operations was to attack the southern portion of this section of the railway, which had the support of the powerful Brest Litovsk fortress. Within the area which it sheltered, down the Bug as far as Janow, the Russian III. Army, with about r42 infantry and 2 cavalry divisions, made its retreat, while the Russian IV. Army took the direction of Janow and approached the Bug from the north-west. On the 12th the III. Army, between the Bug and the Tysmienica, gave up the resistance and fell back step by step through Macoszyn, Hola and Parczew, followed by the XI. Army and the left wing and centre of the Bug Army. The right wing of the IV. Army remained in the bend of the Tysmienica, the centre and left wing crossed the Bystrycza and came towards the Bialka section and Radzyn. Kovess and Woyrsch advanced by way of Lukow and Siedlce.

As the offensive progressed the allies' front had become considerably shorter. For whereas the length of front in the middle of July, at the beginning of the offensive, had been about 720 km. long from the German VIII. Army's left wing at Ossowiec to Mackensen's right wing, it had by the middle of Aug. been curtailed to the extent of 480 km. The armies drew closer together, and it thus became possible to relieve the fighting troops more frequently and also to withdraw whole corps and throw them into the battle at another point.

On the r3th the vigorous pursuit S. and W. of Brest Litovsk gained considerable ground. The IV. Army advanced in the general direction of Biala, the XI. steered straight for Brest Litovsk and fought its way to the region round Opole, and the Bug Army pushed forward its left wing as far N. as Hanna on the Bug. On the following day the Russians offered renewed resistance, but fell back again still farther early on the 5th, after the Guard Corps, reinforced by the XIX. Infantry Div. and the X. Reserve Corps, had penetrated their lines S.E. of Razwiedowka and at Gorodyszeze respectively on the i 4 th, and the IV. Army had also successfully attacked their positions. The German X. Corps came in to reinforce the ever-lengthening front of the Bug Army and, taking up its position on the army's right wing, undertook the protection of the Bug in conjunction with the I. Army at Dubienka.

On the r 5th the XI. and IV. Armies reached to Tuczna and the area S. of Biala in their pursuit. The left wing corps of the Bug Army gained the cross-roads N.W. of Slawatycze. Early on the r6th portions of the IV. Army crossed the Krzna hollow and established themselves N. of the road leading westward from Biala. To the N. of the IV. Army Prince Leopold of Bavaria's group of armies, with Woyrsch's Army and the Kovess group, reached the Bug N. of Konstantynow, and the IX. Army crossed over in the direction of Leniatycze.

On the r7th the XI. Army had come up so near to the outlying positions of Brest Litovsk that the Guard and the Austro H ungarian VI. Corps, who were to invest it, could now move into the blockade position S.W. of the fortress on the line OkczynDobrynka - Lachowka. The X. Reserve Corps established itself E. of Janow on the Bug, and the XXII. Reserve Corps pushed in between that corps' right wing and Lachowka on the front facing east. At Wlodawa the Bug Army built out a bridgehead. The main body of the IV. Army was echeloned N.W. of Janow and crowded together on the S. bank of the Bug. The left wing was opposite Niemirow, where the VIII. Corps was fighting its way across the Bug. Adjoining was Kovess, who had taken the N. bank of the Bug between Niemirow and Mielnik, and was continuing the advance in conjunction with Woyrsch and with Prince Leopold of Bavaria's group of armies, which had reached Zerdycze.

The Bug Army, to which Arz's Corps had been added, and which now stretched as far as Krzna with its left wing, took the offensive across the Bug in a N.E. direction starting from the Wlodawa area. In the battle of Wlodawa the German I. Infantry Div. broke through the Russian positions on the rgth and pushed forward, followed by the XXII. Infantry Div. to Piszcza. The XXIV. Reserve Corps attacked Dubok and Czersk - for the time being without success. At Slawatycze on the E. bank of the Bug the Russians put up a very strong resistance. They were concerned at this point to delay the advance as long as possible.

The Russian XXIX., XXIII., and II. Caucasian Corps were to take advantage of the protection of the lakes E. of Wlodawa to bar the approach to Brest Litovsk. But the retreating movements of their train columns, and the withdrawal of troops in the general direction of Kovel, Kobryn and Pruzany, pointed to a fight to gain time, which would have to be cut short by the I. Army and the Bug Army in a vigorous attack. On the N. wing of the Bug Army no change took place that day. as regards the Russian positions at Brest Litovsk, but the XI. Army gained ground N. of the Krzna in the direction of Kolczyn. The Russians attempted, by repeated counter-attacks, to delay the pressing pursuit of the allies until they should have had time to cross the Bug. The IV. Army succeeded in advancing as far as the Pulwa.

In face of the right wing attacks of the Bug Army the Russians had established themselves on the 10th along the Kapajowka. Arz's Corps, before Brest Litovsk, forced the Russians back on both sides of the road leading from Biala to the fortress, to beyond the area N. of Dobrynka. In the zone of the XI. Army the angle of the Bug at Krzna was almost completely cleared by the XXII. Corps. The X. Reserve Corps pushed across the Bug at Ogorodniki without meeting with any great opposition. The Archduke Josef Ferdinand's Army and the Kovess group encountered renewed violent resistance on the line WolczynWolka - Tymianko. After hard fighting the Russians were driven farther back. The investing troops of Brest Litovsk also gained some ground.

On the 22nd the XLI. Reserve Corps of the Bug Army, after making their way through the lake defiles, reached the region E. of Oriechowo, and on the 24th, together with the XXIV. Reserve Corps, advanced to the line Zbunin - Mielniki after fierce fighting. The Beskiden Corps and Arz's Corps meanwhile were working their way step by step up to the particularly powerful positions and forts of Brest Litovsk. The XXII. Reserve Corps and the X. Reserve Corps of the XI. Army were also fighting hard to repulse the Russian counter-attacks. On the 2 4 th Arz's Corps and the Beskiden Corps succeeded in penetrating the Russian lines in several places and in forcing back the Russian garrison (III. and V. Corps) behind the permanent ring of forts. In the meantime the XI. Army, fighting furiously, advanced over the Bug to the line NepleMinkowice, and threatened the fortress from the north. Meanwhile the XII. Corps of the Kovess group had broken through the Russian front, already greatly shaken, at Riasno, and had wrested from it the Pulwa position. A vehement fighting pursuit was carried out by the IV. Army and Leopold of Bavaria's Army group as far as Minkowice - Babinka. The S. wing of the German XII. Army pushed forward with the IX. Army to the swampy valley of the Orlanka.

Capture of Brest Litovsk (Aug. 25-6). - On the 25th the XXXIX. Honved Infantry Div. of Arz's Corps broke through the outer ring of forts at Kobylany, S.E. of the railway leading from Biala, and took the fort from the rear. The positions on both sides of the road coming in from Biala were also stormed. The XII. Infantry Div. of this corps captured a fort S. of Koroszczyn, and the XXII. Reserve Corps took the place itself and several forts on the N. front of the fortress, after which the Germans advanced to the railway bridgel and drove the Russians back into the citadel.

Farther N. the Guard Corps and the X. Reserve Corps pushed the Russians back to the Lesna, which river was crossed by the Guard Corps on the 25th to the N. of Brest Litovsk. The IV. Army and Prince Leopold's group beat the Russians back to Kamieniec Litowsk and the Lesnaja marshes.

After the hard battles fought on the 25th around the forts of the fortress, which culminated in the capture of the redoubt by the XXII. Reserve Corps and Arz's Corps, the Russians, on the 26th, abandoned the fortress and withdrew to the Ryta and the Muchawiec section, closely pursued by the Bug Army and the XI. Army. In the Bug Army the XLI. Reserve Corps and XXII. Infantry Div. pushed forward on both sides of the road from Wlodawa to Kobryn, to beyond the road leading E. from Brest Litovsk. Gerok's Corps gained the Ryta section, and the Beskiden Corps, advancing along both sides of the road from Brest Litovsk to Kobryn, reached the Szebryn region. The VI. Corps remained in the fortress and was once more put under the XI. Army command. The XI. Army advanced in the area N. of Brest Litovsk as far as the line Saki - Poliszcze, and by hard fighting drove out the Russian rearguard. In the IV. Army, portions of the XXXVII. and XLI. Honved Infantry Divs. had occupied a sort of bridge-head position E. of Kamieniec Litowsk on the Lesna. The main body of the army (the VIII. and XVII. Corps) concentrated at Monaczki and Zadworzany in readiness to withdraw bodily from the front as soon as its troops stationed E. of the Lesna should be relieved.

The fall of the Brest Litovsk fortress and the simultaneous capture of Bialystok by the German VIII. Army compelled the main force of the Russian N.W. front to retreat.

The Austro-Hungarian I. Army's Offensive at Kovel (Kowel).- The arrival of the reinforcements transferred from the IV. Army (the IX., X., and XIV. Corps) to the I. Army gave the signal for a renewed offensive advance by the I. Army. If an advance in the direction of Kovel were made, and the Russians were driven E. and W., the result would be to divide the Russian N.W. from the S.W. front. The impassableness of the Polesie, lying between the two fronts, was an appreciable aid to this separation. The offensive was opened on the 19th against the Russian XXXI. and IV. Cavalry Corps by Heydebreck's Cavalry Corps, of which the Austro-Hungarian IV. Cavalry Div. reached the Dubienka area and the XI. Honved Cavalry Div. the locality of Luboml. On the 20th, in a further advance, the German V. Cavalry Div. reached Bobly, and the Austro-Hungarian IV. and XI. Olesk and Ruda, while infantry detachments of the IX., X., and XIV. Corps followed, moving concentrically up to Mokrec and Luboml.

On the following day the Russian XXXI. Corps took up a position to meet them on the line Turyjsk - Nowosiolka - Ruda, whereupon the whole II. Infantry Div. was brought forward to Solowicze. On the 22nd, together with the Cavalry Corps, it engaged in fierce fighting at Maciejowa and Turyjsk, and drove back the XXXI. Corps on Kovel. The main body of the Russian XXXI. Corps attempted to join the Russian III. Army to the N. by way of the Pripet. The Russian IV. Cavalry Corps was aiming at a similar junction through Kamien Kaszyrskiy. In their retreat the Russians had undertaken a regrouping of the N.W. front's S. wing in the area N. and S. of Polesie. The XIII. Army, which had been fighting on the S. wing, was disbanded. The army command with three of the corps were transferred to other fronts, and the remaining four corps incorporated with the III. Army defending Brest Litovsk.

On the 24th the German V. Cavalry Div. and the Hungarian XI. Honved Cavalry Div. took up the pursuit to the N., the IV. Cavalry Div. to the east. The separation of the N.W. from the S.W. front had been accomplished. Up to the end of Aug., Mackensen, who after the fall of the fortress had again been placed under the Supreme Army Command, carried the pursuit up to Kobryn and Pruzany; Prince Leopold of Bavaria's and Hindenburg's S. wing (the XII. and VIII. Armies) advanced along the roads to Wolkowica and Grodno on to the line Pruzany - Jalowka - Nowinka Nowydwor and Sopockinie, and the Austro-Hungarian armies attacked the S.W. front together with the German S. Army.

On the 25th the Austro-Hungarian IX. Corps of the I. Army had begun an enveloping advance against the N. wing of the Russian VIII. Army. On the 26th their offensive was in full swing. The XIV. Corps and the IV. Cavalry Div. advanced on Zydyczyn from Kovel, the IX. and X. Corps won the area N. and N.W. of Lokaczyn by fighting, and Szurmay's N. wing crossed the Bug at Markostaw. By the end of Aug. the main body of the Archduke Josef Ferdinand's army, which had been set at liberty N. of Brest Litovsk, had been brought over to the N. wing of the I. Army. On the arrival of the army command, the two armies, under the Archduke's Higher Command, continued the offensive begun by Puhallo against Luck and Dubno. The advance which followed, with which the II. and Southern Armies were associated in their attack across the Zlota Lipa, led to the Rovno campaign. (E. J.)

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