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The war on Polish soil

1914–1915 · 15 articles · about 85 min of reading

From 1 August 1914 the war on the Eastern Front was fought on Polish soil, and Poles served in the armies of all three partitioning powers, on opposite sides. In the first months the Russians took Lviv and besieged Przemyśl, while the Germans came within reach of Warsaw and took Łódź. The breakthrough at Gorlice in May 1915 turned the tide: in June the Central Powers recovered Przemyśl and Lviv, and in the summer the Russians had to abandon the whole Kingdom of Poland. As they withdrew, the Russians carried factory machinery east, laid waste to the country and deported the population, and in the occupied lands the Germans and Austrians set up their own rule. The series runs from the destruction of Kalisz through Galicia, Przemyśl, Łódź and Limanowa to Gorlice, the fall of Warsaw and the wave of bezhenstvo.

1914

  1. 011 August 1914Event3 minFirst fighting on the border of the Kingdom of PolandThe starting point: the partition border becomes a front line, and the destruction of Kalisz opens the list of violence against civilians in this war.On 1 August 1914 the German-Russian border, running through Polish lands, became a front line. In the following days the Germans took Kalisz and Częstochowa.
  2. 0223 August – 11 September 1914Battle11 minBattle of GaliciaThe first great battle fought almost entirely on Polish lands, with Poles fighting on both sides of the front.From 23 August to 11 September 1914 Russia beat the main Austro-Hungarian forces in Galicia and the Lublin region, took Lviv and drove them behind the San.
  3. 033 September 1914Event5 minRussians take LvivThe first occupation regime in the series: the occupied lands of Galicia and Bukovina are placed under a Russian governorate-general based in Lviv.On 3 September 1914 Russian troops entered Lviv, the capital of Galicia, without a fight. An occupation and Russification lasting until June 1915 began.
  4. 0424 September 1914Event5 minFirst siege of Przemyśl beginsThe first siege of Przemyśl begins: more than 120,000 soldiers and over ten thousand civilians are shut in the fortress.On 24 September 1914 the Russian Third Army cut Przemyśl off from the Austro-Hungarian army. The first siege of one of the largest fortresses in Europe began.
  5. 0528 September – 8 November 1914BattleKey moment7 minBattle of Warsaw and DęblinThe war reaches the heart of the Kingdom of Poland: for its inhabitants the battle means the front passing through their homes twice within a month.In autumn 1914 the Germans and Austrians struck through the Kingdom of Poland at Warsaw and Dęblin. The Russians halted them on the Vistula and drove them west.
  6. 0611 November – 6 December 1914BattleKey moment7 minBattle of ŁódźA great battle of manoeuvre is fought around Łódź, and the city itself is shelled: according to the militia, 135 civilians are killed there.In November 1914 the Germans struck the Russian flank from Thorn and almost encircled Łódź. Some were trapped at Brzeziny, but on 6 December they took the city.
  7. 071–12 December 1914BattleKey moment9 minBattle of LimanowaThe Austrian victory pushes the Russians back from Kraków and fixes the front on the Dunajec and the Biała, where it holds until the breakthrough at Gorlice.In December 1914 the Austrians struck from the hills at the flank of the Russians nearing Kraków. After ten days at Łapanów and Limanowa the Russians withdrew.
  8. 086 December 1914Event3 minGermans take ŁódźWhat occupation meant in practice: in Łódź the Germans requisition everything that might be of use to the army and to German industry.On 6 December 1914 German troops entered Łódź, abandoned by the Russians. For its inhabitants an occupation lasting almost four years began.
  9. 0918 December 1914 – 17 July 1915Battle8 minFighting on the Rawka and BzuraThe front freezes in trenches west of Warsaw; Sochaczew suffers most, lying for seven months on the very front line on the Bzura.From December 1914 to July 1915 Germans and Russians fought in the trenches on the Rawka and Bzura. At Bolimów the Germans first used gas on a large scale.

1915

  1. 1022 March 1915Event3 minFall of PrzemyślThe end of the second siege: the starving garrison destroys the fortifications and surrenders to the Russians in one of the largest capitulations of the war.At dawn on 22 March 1915 the Przemyśl garrison blew up its forts and bridges, then raised white flags. About 120,000 men went into Russian captivity.
  2. 111–5 May 1915BattleKey moment10 minBattle of GorliceThe turning point of the series: after the breakthrough the Russians lose Przemyśl and Lviv, and in the summer have to abandon the whole Kingdom of Poland.On 2 May 1915 Mackensen's German and Austro-Hungarian troops broke the Russian Third Army's front at Gorlice. After four days the Russians began to retreat.
  3. 1222 June 1915Event4 minAustro-Hungarians retake LvivIt closes the thread of 3 September 1914: Lviv returns to Austro-Hungarian rule after a Russian occupation that lasted 293 days.On 22 June 1915 troops of the Austro-Hungarian Second Army entered Lviv. After 293 days the Russian occupation of the capital of Galicia came to an end.
  4. 1330 July 1915Event2 minEnd of the Battle of BiskupiceIt shows what the Russian retreat from the Kingdom of Poland looked like: the country laid waste before the enemy arrived and the population forcibly deported.On 30 July 1915, after their defeat at Biskupice, the Russians fell back all along the front between the Vistula and the Bug. The Austro-Hungarians took Lublin.
  5. 145 August 1915EventKey moment5 minGermans occupy WarsawThe end of Russian Warsaw and a new order: the Germans create the Government General of Warsaw under General Beseler.On 5 August 1915 troops of the German Ninth Army entered Warsaw, abandoned by the Russians overnight. Russian rule, in place since 1815, came to an end.
  6. 1526 August 1915Event3 minGermans take BiałystokBezhenstvo close up: most of Białystok's Orthodox inhabitants leave, part of the great refugee exodus that swept the western governorates of Russia in 1915.On 26 August 1915 German troops reached Białystok, wrecked by the retreating Russians. More than a hundred years of Russian rule came to an end.