Start of the battle of Przasnysz
- Category:
- Military operations
- Front:
- Eastern Front
- Date:
- 22 February 1915
- Author:
- Natalia
- Battle:
- First Battle of Przasnysz
- Tags:
- Germany, Russia, Kingdom of Poland
A British chronology of the war records under 22 February 1915 the start of the first battle of Przasnysz. On that day German divisions began to close the ring around this small town in northern Mazovia, and the Russian command threw new forces against them. Fighting in this sector, however, had already been going on for several days, and according to some studies even since the beginning of February, so other sources date the start of the battle earlier, for example to 7, 15 or 18 February.
Covering the Masurian offensive
Since 7 February the Germans had been conducting the winter offensive in Masuria in East Prussia against the Russian Tenth Army. Its southern flank was guarded by the army group of General Max von Gallwitz, made up largely of Landwehr and Landsturm units. Around 15 February it was joined at Mława by the I Reserve Corps of General Kurt von Morgen. Gallwitz was to pin down as many Russian troops as possible south of the East Prussian border and, if possible, threaten the line of the Narew.
Przasnysz was a good target for this. It lay at a crossroads of routes from East Prussia towards the Narew, Ciechanów and Ostrołęka. The Russians had surrounded it with field fortifications and dense barbed-wire entanglements, but garrisoned it weakly: the town was defended by the 63rd Infantry Division, made up of reservists, supported by part of the I Turkestan Corps. The commander of the Russian First Army, General Alexander Litvinov, believed that the main danger threatened him further west, at Drobin and Raciąż, where Gallwitz’s right wing had been attacking since 10 February.
A noose around the town
On 18 February Gallwitz ordered Morgen’s corps to outflank Przasnysz from the east, and General Wernitz’s division from the west. The advance was slowed by the thaw: the snow turned into mud in which guns and wagons got stuck. Even so, on 20 February the German reserve divisions went round the town from the east and south-east, and on 21 February pushed the defenders out of their forward positions.
On 22 February Wernitz’s division cut the road from Mława to Przasnysz, and the German 36th Reserve Division emerged in the rear of the town near Wola Wierzbowska, cutting the defenders’ road to Ciechanów. The Russian garrison was trapped. The commander of the I Turkestan Corps bent back his right wing to cover Ciechanów.
The Russian response
The Russians, however, had fresh forces nearby. The new Twelfth Army of General Pavel Plehve, intended for an offensive into East Prussia, was just then concentrating on the Narew sector. From Ostrołęka Plehve sent the II Siberian Corps, which from 22 February was to strike the flank of the Germans who had pushed through between Przasnysz and the river Orzyc. The I Siberian Corps was approaching from the south.
A race against time began. The Germans had to take the town before the Siberian corps arrived, and the defenders of Przasnysz had to hold out until they came. The next day the ring around the town closed, and the fighting entered its hardest phase.
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Related events
(04)The same battle, people or subject.
- 27 February 1915 · Eastern FrontEnd of the battle of PrzasnyszOn 27 February 1915 Russian Siberian corps retook Przasnysz, captured by the Germans three days earlier. Gallwitz ordered a retreat towards the border.
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