Battles of Hrubieszów and Wojsławice end

On 30 July 1915 the Russian 13th Army began to withdraw from its positions north of Hrubieszów and Wojsławice. The order to retreat for all three Russian armies between the Vistula and the Bug was issued during the night, after the breakthrough at Biskupice. The German list of battles closes on this day the battles of Hrubieszów and Wojsławice, which General Alexander von Linsingen’s German Bug Army had been fighting since 19 July.

These were twelve days of heavy fighting for small scraps of ground. On 21 July, as the German communiqué reported, the troops of the Central Powers stormed wide sections of the Russian positions between the area south of Rejowiec and the Bug. The right wing of the Bug Army then advanced beyond Hrubieszów. From 22 July General Arnold von Winckler’s XLI Reserve Corps, sent by Mackensen from the Austro-Hungarian First Army, and the Austro-Hungarian 11th Honvéd Cavalry Division also fought there. On 25 July, according to the German communiqué, the Germans pushed the Russians further north of the Wojsławice–Hrubieszów line and took almost 1,500 prisoners. The next day they drove them out of several villages north of Hrubieszów and took another 3,941 prisoners. The Russians replied with fierce counter-attacks, throwing fresh reserves into the fighting. By 27 July the Bug Army had reached Husynne, Ubrodowice and Teratyn.

While the Fourth and Eleventh Armies were preparing a new blow, the Bug Army went on fighting and regrouped its troops only with difficulty. On 29 July it was to attack northwards through Uchanie with the right wing of the Beskidenkorps, and with General Friedrich von Gerok’s corps towards Teratyn. According to the Austrian official history it met stubborn resistance and advanced only step by step. The German communiqué issued on the morning of 30 July, however, already reported that the Russians were holding on only north of Hrubieszów.

On 30 July the Russian trenches facing the Bug Army were mostly empty, but rearguards resisted along the whole front. The Beskidenkorps reached Leszczany in the centre. Gerok’s corps, with the Prussian 1st Infantry Division, fought its way to the heights south of Strzelce. Winckler’s corps turned north-east and tried to push the Russians back across the Bug. Only there, by the river, did the Russians still hold their old positions. In the evening Field Marshal August von Mackensen ordered the Bug Army to attack Chełm the following day.