Battle of Komarów

The Battle of Komarów was fought on 26 August – 2 September 1914 in the Zamość region, between Zamość, Komarów and Tomaszów Lubelski. At the time these were lands of the Kingdom of Poland under Russian rule. Here the Austro-Hungarian Fourth Army of General Moritz von Auffenberg defeated the Russian Fifth Army of General Pavel Plehve and very nearly encircled it. It was Austria-Hungary’s greatest victory in the Battle of Galicia.

It should not be confused with the Battle of Komarów of 1920, a great cavalry battle of the Polish–Soviet War, fought almost on the same spot six years later.

Conrad’s plan

The Chief of the General Staff, Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, wanted to forestall the Russian offensive and strike north from Galicia, deep into the Kingdom of Poland, between the Vistula and the Bug. On the left wing advanced the First Army of Viktor Dankl, which on 23–25 August won a victory at Kraśnik. To its right, towards Chełm, Auffenberg’s Fourth Army was to advance. The risk of the plan lay in the fact that much weaker forces were left to cover eastern Galicia and Lviv.

The Russians, meanwhile, were planning an attack of their own. Their Fifth Army under Pavel Plehve was marching south from the Chełm and Hrubieszów area towards the Galician border. The two armies were thus advancing towards each other without knowing exactly where the enemy’s main forces were. According to Polish literature, Auffenberg had 12 infantry divisions and 2 cavalry divisions, and Plehve 13 infantry divisions and 5 cavalry divisions, although not all of them entered the fighting from the first day.

Course of the battle

On 25 August Conrad ordered the Fourth Army to advance north. Auffenberg was additionally given the XIV (Tyrolean) Corps of Archduke Joseph Ferdinand from the Third Army. He intended to outflank the Russians on both sides: on the left wing marched the II (Viennese) and IX Corps, in the centre the VI Corps of General Svetozar Boroević and the newly formed XVII Corps, and on the right wing the XIV Corps.

On 26 August the Austro-Hungarian II Corps attacked the Russian XXV Corps near Zamość and forced it to retreat north, towards Krasnystaw.

On 27 August the IX Corps met fierce resistance from the Russian XIX Corps at Tarnawatka. The next day the Russians, supported by the V Corps, themselves went over to the attack on the Tomaszów–Tarnawatka line. One of Boroević’s divisions was shattered, and from the direction of Hrubieszów the Russian XVII Corps was advancing on Auffenberg’s right wing. For a moment it was the Fourth Army that was in serious danger.

On the evening of 28 August the situation was reversed. The XVII Corps, made up of reservists and formed only a week earlier, struck east of Tomaszów into the flank of the attacking Russians. At the same time Joseph Ferdinand’s Tyrolean regiments routed the Russian XVII Corps, which had been threatening the army’s right wing.

On 29–31 August both Austro-Hungarian flanks advanced and began to close a pincer around the Russians. Plehve lost Komarów, and his troops were pushed back towards the Huczwa (PL) river. It seemed that the Austro-Hungarians would repeat what the Germans had done to Samsonov’s army a few days earlier at Tannenberg.

On 1–2 September, however, the trap did not close. The commanders on both wings, alarmed by reports of Russian forces threatening their own flanks, halted their march. On the night of 1–2 September the Russian Fifth Army withdrew through the gap to the north-east, towards the Bug, saving itself from complete destruction.

Losses

The loss figures given in the literature vary widely. According to various estimates the Russians lost from 20,000 to more than 25,000 killed and wounded, and from 10,000 to 20,000 soldiers were taken prisoner. The Austro-Hungarians captured from about 100 to 150 guns. The Fourth Army’s losses were also heavy: according to some studies they reached about 40,000 men, including many taken prisoner.

Significance

Komarów, together with Kraśnik, was a success for Conrad: on the northern sector of the front the pre-emptive offensive had succeeded, and the Austro-Hungarian army had shown that it could beat a stronger enemy on his own territory. Auffenberg became a hero of the monarchy. In April 1915 he was made a baron with the predicate “von Komarów”, thus permanently linking his name with the battle.

The victory, however, was not decisive. At the same time the Russians were routing the weaker Austro-Hungarian armies in eastern Galicia, in the battle on the Złota Lipa. Immediately after Komarów Conrad turned Auffenberg’s exhausted army south, towards Rawa Ruska, to save Lviv. That fighting ended in failure, and Plehve’s Fifth Army, though battered, quickly returned to the fight. In mid-September the entire Austro-Hungarian front had to withdraw behind the San. Auffenberg lost his command at the end of September 1914, and his place was taken by Archduke Joseph Ferdinand.

The battle was fought on Polish soil, and many Poles served in the ranks of both armies. War cemeteries in which those who fell in that fighting are buried survive to this day around Tomaszów Lubelski and Komarów.