Battles of Hrubieszów and Wojsławice begin

On the morning of 19 July 1915 German soldiers on the Huczwa (PL) and the Wolica saw empty Russian trenches. During the night the Russians had broken contact with the enemy and fallen back to a new, previously prepared line of defence. On the right flank of Field Marshal August von Mackensen’s army group, General Alexander von Linsingen’s German Army of the Bug set off after them. By evening it again stood before Russian trenches. The German list of battles, on which the British chronology of the war is based, dates two battles from this day: at Hrubieszów on the Huczwa, near the Bug, and at Wojsławice, a former small town about 25 kilometres south of Chełm.

The retreat from Krasnystaw

Since 15 July the Army of the Bug had been attacking General Vladimir Gorbatovsky’s Russian 13th Army. At Masłomęcz and Grabowiec it had taken several fortified villages, including Werbkowice, but by the evening of 18 July it had nowhere broken through the Russian front. The decision came from the west. The German 11th Army at Krasnystaw had driven a wedge 32 kilometres wide and 12 kilometres deep into the front of the Russian 3rd Army and taken about 15,000 prisoners. The Prussian Guard had taken Krasnystaw and crossed to the eastern bank of the Wieprz. It thus stood in the rear of the Russian positions on the Wolica and on the flank of the positions on the Wojsławka (PL).

To keep the front between the Vistula and the Bug from falling apart, on the night of 18–19 July the Russians left only rearguards in the trenches. The main forces withdrew to positions long prepared south of the Chełm–Lublin railway. According to the Austrian official history the new line ran from Hrubieszów along the northern bank of the Siennica stream, through Fajsławice and Chmiel, to the hills north of Chodel. The eastern sector of this line, from Hrubieszów to the area of Wojsławice, fell to the Army of the Bug.

Pursuit and a new line

On the morning of 19 July the troops of Mackensen’s three armies set off in pursuit along the whole front. By evening they had reached the new Russian position and dug in before it. On the right flank of the Army of the Bug, towards Hrubieszów and the Bug, General Friedrich von Gerok’s XXIV Reserve Corps attacked, reinforced by the Prussian 1st Infantry Division. On the left flank, towards Wojsławice, came the Beskid Corps. According to the German lists of battles, Gerok’s divisions fought from this day in the Battle of Hrubieszów, and the divisions of the Beskid Corps in the Battle of Wojsławice.

On the same day Mackensen reinforced the Army of the Bug. He judged that the Russians concentrated between the Vistula and the Bug no longer threatened his eastern flank. He therefore took from the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army, which was covering the attack from the Bug, General Arnold von Winckler’s German XLI Reserve Corps and the Austro-Hungarian 11th Honvéd Cavalry Division. He handed both formations over to Linsingen. They were to be followed by the German 103rd Infantry Division, which was only just arriving from the Serbian border. As a result the 1st Army stopped advancing towards Vladimir-Volynsky.

The decision at Siedlce

On 19 July the commander-in-chief of the Russian army, Grand Duke Nicholas, conferred at Siedlce with the commander of the North-Western Front, General Mikhail Alekseyev. At Krasnystaw the front was cracking in the south, beyond the Vistula General Remus von Woyrsch’s troops had broken through it at Sienno, and in the north Gallwitz’s army had for six days been pushing the Russians back to the Narew. Alekseyev was given permission to withdraw his armies from the Vistula eastwards on his own authority, as the situation required. According to the Austrian official history this meant the final decision to give up Warsaw and Ivangorod.

The Russian armies in the south, however, were to defend for as long as possible the Ivangorod – Lublin – Chełm railway, along which the troops were leaving the Kingdom of Poland. For the Army of the Bug this meant weeks of laborious fighting for every village. On 21 July its right flank had already got beyond Hrubieszów, but further on, towards Chełm, it advanced slowly, amid constant Russian counter-attacks. The battles of Hrubieszów and Wojsławice lasted until 30 July.