First Battle of Przasnysz

The First Battle of Przasnysz was the most important episode of the fighting that took place in February 1915 in northern Masovia, south of the border of East Prussia. While the Winter Battle was under way in Masuria, the German army group of General Max von Gallwitz struck at Przasnysz, an important junction of roads leading to the Narew. The Germans encircled the town and took it on 24 February, capturing thousands of prisoners. Within a few days, however, the Russians brought up fresh Siberian corps, went over to the counter-attack and retook Przasnysz on 27 February. According to Polish works, the Entente press called this victory “the Marne of the Eastern Front”.

Name and dates

On this page we adopt the dates 22–27 February 1915, in line with the British chronology of the war. They cover the fight for the town itself: on 22 February the German divisions began to close the ring around Przasnysz, and the Russian Twelfth Army received orders to strike at their flank. On 27 February the Russians retook the town and Gallwitz ordered a retreat.

Other frameworks are equally justified, because the fighting on this sector of the front went on intermittently from the beginning of February to the end of March. The Polish Wikipedia describes the Battle of Przasnysz as lasting from 18 February to 26 March 1915, linking it with the German attempts to resume the offensive in March. Russian historiography speaks of the Przasnysz operation, usually dated 15 February – 3 March. The English Wikipedia dates the battle to 7–28 February, counting from the first clashes in the approaches. On top of this there is calendar confusion: Russian documents and some works give dates according to the Julian calendar, 13 days earlier. The name “first” distinguishes this fighting from the Second Battle of Przasnysz, fought in July 1915.

Background

At the beginning of 1915 both sides were planning offensives on the northern wing of the Eastern Front. The Russian high command intended to strike from the Narew line into East Prussia with the First Army of General Aleksandr Litvinov and the Twelfth Army of General Pavel Plehve, which was then being formed. The Germans forestalled them. On 7 February Field Marshal Paul von Hindenburg began an offensive in Masuria against the Russian Tenth Army. A few days earlier, to tie down the Russian reserves, the German Ninth Army had attacked on the Rawka, in the Battle of Bolimów.

Covering the southern flank of the Masurian offensive was entrusted to Gallwitz’s newly formed army group. It was made up of Landwehr and Landsturm corps, including units from the garrisons of Graudenz and Thorn, and of divisions brought in from other sectors. Around 15 February it was joined by General Kurt von Morgen’s I Reserve Corps, with the 1st and 36th Reserve Divisions, brought by rail to Mława. Gallwitz was to pin down as many Russian forces as possible south of the East Prussian border and prevent their transfer to Masuria.

Forces

Estimates vary, because both sides were bringing up reinforcements the whole time. According to the most frequently cited figures, at the start of the fighting the Germans had roughly a twofold superiority in infantry on the Przasnysz axis. Przasnysz was defended by the I Turkestan Corps, and the town itself was held by the 63rd Infantry Division, made up of reservists. The Russians suffered from a severe shortage of artillery shells. In the final phase of the fighting, however, the Russians gained the upper hand, throwing the I and II Siberian Corps into battle. According to Russian works, five Russian corps then faced four German ones.

Course of the battle

The approach (to 21 February). From 10 February Gallwitz’s right wing advanced in the west, towards Sierpc and Drobin, drawing a considerable part of the Russian First Army there. On 17 February the left wing moved off, towards Chorzele, Jednorożec and Przasnysz. On 18 February Gallwitz, in accordance with Hindenburg’s wishes, ordered Morgen’s corps to go round Przasnysz from the east and General Wernitz’s division from the west. A thaw soon set in. The roads turned into mud, in which heavy guns and wagons got stuck, and the advance slowed markedly. Litvinov long believed that the main danger threatened his left wing, and did not strengthen the defence of Przasnysz.

Encirclement and fall of the town (22–24 February). On 22 February Wernitz’s division cut the road from Mława to Przasnysz, and the German 36th Reserve Division, advancing from the south-east, reached the area of Wola Wierzbowska, cutting off the defenders’ line of retreat to Ciechanów. The same day Plehve sent the II Siberian Corps from Ostrołęka against the Germans’ flank. On 23 February the ring around the town closed. The Germans broke into the southern suburb and into the barracks in the eastern part of Przasnysz. According to Russian works, Morgen offered the defenders surrender terms, but Colonel Barybin, commanding one of the regiments, replied that he was not authorised to negotiate. On the morning of 24 February the 1st Reserve Division took the town by storm. According to German figures, about 10,000 soldiers were taken prisoner, including several dozen officers, and the Germans captured 36 guns and a dozen or so machine guns.

The Russian counter-attack (25–27 February). The victory proved short-lived. The commander-in-chief, Grand Duke Nicholas, feared that the Germans would reach the Narew, and ordered the commander of the North-Western Front, General Nikolai Ruzsky, to counter-attack at once. On 25 February the I Siberian Corps struck from the south and the II Siberian Corps from the east, threatening the rear of Morgen’s corps. The I Turkestan Corps attacked from the west. The exhausted, soaked German units, cut off from supplies, had to go over to the defensive. On 26 February the Russians approached the town, and at night the first Siberian units broke into its suburbs. On the Russian side armoured cars also went into action. On 27 February Gallwitz, in agreement with Hindenburg’s staff, ordered a retreat. That day units of the 1st and 4th Siberian Rifle Divisions broke into Przasnysz, and by the evening the town was in Russian hands again. The Germans fell back northwards, towards Chorzele and the East Prussian border.

Casualties

The losses of both sides are hard to establish. The Russians announced that during the counter-attack they had taken from several thousand to over ten thousand Germans prisoner. The figure of 14,000 prisoners given in Russian communiqués probably covers the whole operation, including the fighting in the approaches. The Germans, for their part, counted the Russian prisoners taken in Przasnysz and earlier at about 10,000–12,000. Estimates of total losses vary widely: according to the Polish Wikipedia the Russians lost about 67,000 and the Germans about 38,000 men, whereas the Russian historian Aleksei Oleinikov gives about 40,000 Russian and about 60,000 German losses. Both figures refer to a longer period than the six days of fighting for the town.

Przasnysz itself and the surrounding villages suffered badly. According to Polish works, most of the town’s buildings were destroyed. Among the Russian officers fighting at Przasnysz was Colonel Józef Dowbor-Muśnicki, later commander of the I Polish Corps in Russia and of the Greater Poland Uprising, who commanded the 14th Siberian Rifle Regiment here and was badly wounded.

Significance

Przasnysz was one of the few clear Russian victories of the winter of 1915. It came at a moment when in Masuria the Tenth Army had suffered a heavy defeat and its XX Corps had capitulated in the Augustów Forest. The recapture of the town raised spirits in Russia and among its allies. The Germans managed neither to reach the Narew nor to cover the Mława–Przasnysz line permanently.

The Russians, however, did not exploit their victory. The pursuit was slow and the cavalry lagged behind, which allowed the Germans to break contact and occupy fortified positions near the border. In March both sides still attempted attacks around Przasnysz, but without result, and the front in northern Masovia froze into positional warfare. The plan of marching into East Prussia, with which the Russians had entered 1915, ceased to be realistic. The Germans returned to Przasnysz in July 1915, during the great offensive that drove the Russians out of the Kingdom of Poland.