Russians occupy Czernowitz
- Category:
- Military operations
- Front:
- Eastern Front
- Date:
- 15 September 1914
- Author:
- Natalia
- Tags:
- Russia, Austria-Hungary, Bukovina
The British chronicle of the war recorded under 15 September 1914 the occupation of Czernowitz by Russian troops. According to local sources, the Russians had entered the capital of Bukovina nearly two weeks earlier. Most of them give 2 September, when the mayor handed the city over to them, and some even the end of August.
The capital of Bukovina
Czernowitz, in Polish Czerniowce and today Chernivtsi in Ukraine, lay on the Prut at the eastern edge of Austria-Hungary, close to the borders with Russia and Romania. Bukovina had belonged to Austria since 1775, and from the middle of the 19th century it was a separate crown land with its own diet. Czernowitz, its capital, had some 87,000 inhabitants before the war.
It was one of the most multinational cities of the monarchy. Jews, who formed the largest group, lived side by side with Germans, Romanians, Ukrainians and Poles. The language of the offices, schools and the university, founded in 1875, was German. The Poles had their own associations in the city and the Polish House (PL), which is still the centre of the local Polish community today.
The occupation of the city
At the turn of August and September 1914 the Austro-Hungarian armies lost the battles in eastern Galicia and were retreating west. On 3 September the Russians took Lviv. Bukovina, defended only by a few units, was left without cover. The provincial authorities and some of the inhabitants left Czernowitz, and the mayor, Salo Weisselberger, surrendered the city without a fight. The Russians occupied Czernowitz and most of the province. During the occupation they deported several prominent citizens, including the mayor himself, into the interior of Russia as hostages.
The city changes hands
The first occupation did not last long. Around 20–22 October the city was recaptured by a small Austro-Hungarian detachment of gendarmes, Landsturm and volunteers, commanded by Colonel of Gendarmerie Eduard Fischer. At the end of November the Russians returned, and the Austrians regained Czernowitz in mid-February 1915. Russian troops occupied the city for the third time in June 1916, during the Brusilov offensive, and held it the longest, until August 1917. Sources give the exact dates of the individual changes somewhat differently.
The frequent passing of the front, requisitions and deportations bore heavily on the inhabitants. After the break-up of Austria-Hungary in 1918 Czernowitz and the whole of Bukovina became part of Romania.
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Related events
(04)The same battle, people or subject.
- 22 October 1914 · Eastern FrontAustro-Hungarians retake CzernowitzAround 20–22 October 1914 Austro-Hungarian forces recovered Czernowitz, the capital of Bukovina, which the Russians had taken at the beginning of September.
- 28 October 1914 · Eastern FrontRussians retake CzernowitzThe British chronicle records the Russians' return to Czernowitz on 28 October 1914. Other sources say they entered the Bukovinian capital a month later.
- 17 February 1915 · Eastern FrontAustro-Hungarians retake Czernowitz againOn 17 February 1915 Karl Pflanzer-Baltin's Austro-Hungarian troops entered Czernowitz. The second Russian occupation of the Bukovinian capital was over.
- 12 June 1915 · Eastern FrontBattle of Rarańcza beginsOn 12 June 1915 the Legions' Second Brigade took Rarańcza in Bukovina unopposed, but was held up by Russian trenches on the hills above Rokitna in Bessarabia.