Battle of Strzelce
- Category:
- Military operations
- Front:
- Eastern Front
- Date:
- 31 July 1915
- Author:
- Łukasz Skowroń
On 31 July 1915 the German XXIV Reserve Corps of General Friedrich von Gerok broke through the Russian positions on both sides of the village of Strzelce, about 30 kilometres south-east of Chełm. The British chronology of the war records under this date a one-day battle at “Strelcze”. This is the German spelling of the name, which the chronology took over from the German list of battles. The village in question is Strzelce, then in Hrubieszów county and today in the Białopole commune of Chełm county. According to that list, the Prussian 1st Infantry Division and the 107th Infantry Division fought there.
The day before, the Russian 13th Army of General Vladimir Gorbatovsky had begun to fall back from Hrubieszów and Wojsławice. Its rearguards, however, halted on new positions, and by the evening of 30 July Gerok’s corps, fighting all the way, had only reached the hills south of Strzelce. Field Marshal August von Mackensen concluded that the Russians intended to make a stand. He did not want to give them time to dig in. For 31 July he ordered the wings of his army group to attack: the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army in the west, towards Łęczna, and the Bug Army of General Alexander von Linsingen in the east, towards Chełm.
According to the Austrian official history it was Gerok’s corps that struck the decisive blow on 31 July. It broke the Russian lines at Strzelce and won the start of the road to Chełm. The Beskid Corps on the left wing of the Bug Army essentially stayed in its positions and only pushed forward its left flank to keep contact with the neighbouring 11th Army. On the right wing General Arnold von Winckler’s XLI Reserve Corps advanced along the Bug towards the bend of the river at Ustilug. The German communiqué of 1 August reported that on 31 July the Germans had driven the Russians from positions south-west and south of Chełm and south-west of Dubienka.
The breakthrough at Strzelce forced the 13th Army to retreat northwards and to give up the west bank of the Bug on this sector. On the night of 31 July–1 August the Russians abandoned their positions facing the Bug Army and the 11th Army and began to fall back to fortifications south of the Włodawa–Ostrów line. At 10 a.m. on 1 August the German 4th Infantry Division of the Beskid Corps entered Chełm. In the following days Gorbatovsky, to conserve his strength, also gave up the salient on the Bug between Żdżary and Ustilug.
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Meanwhile
(04)Elsewhere in the same days.
- 30 July 1915 · DiplomacyBenedict XV appeals for peaceOn the first anniversary of the war Benedict XV appealed to the warring peoples and their rulers to end the "horrible slaughter". It went unanswered.
- 29 July 1915 · Middle EastEast Persian Cordon is formedAt the end of July 1915 the British and Russians began to form a cordon in eastern Persia to stop German missions from getting through to Afghanistan.
- 29 July 1915 · Balkan FrontEntente warns MontenegroAt the end of July 1915 the Entente ministers in Cetinje declared that their governments did not recognise Montenegro's occupation of Scutari and north Albania.
- 3 August 1915 · Middle EastRussians abandon VanOn 3 August 1915, after the defeat at Malazgirt, the Russians withdrew from Van. Tens of thousands of local Armenians fled with them to the Caucasus.
Related events
(04)The same battle, people or subject.
- 30 July 1915 · Eastern FrontBattles of Hrubieszów and Wojsławice endOn 30 July 1915 the Russian 13th Army began to retreat from Hrubieszów. After twelve days of fighting the Bug Army reached Strzelce and Leszczany.
- 19 July 1915 · Eastern FrontBattles of Hrubieszów and Wojsławice beginOn 19 July 1915 the Russians fell back to a new line running west from Hrubieszów. The Army of the Bug followed them and stopped before more trenches.
- 18 July 1915 · Eastern FrontEnd of the battles of Masłomęcz and GrabowiecOn 18 July 1915 the Russian Thirteenth Army still held off the Bug Army near Hrubieszów and Grabowiec. It fell back that night as the front broke at Krasnystaw.
- 13 July 1915 · Eastern FrontBattles of Masłomęcz and Grabowiec beginOn 13 July 1915 the German Army of the Bug took up positions between Hrubieszów and Grabowiec. The attack on the Russian Thirteenth Army began on 15 July.