AUSTRIA-HUNGARY’S LAST WAR, 1914-1918 (ÖSTERREICH-UNGARNS LETZTER KRIEG, 1914-1918) EDITED BY THE AUSTRIAN FEDERAL MINISTRY OF THE ARMY AND WAR ARCHIVE Under the Direction of Edmund Glaise-Horstenau Edited by Josef Brauner, Rudolf Kiszling, Franz Mühlhofer, Ernst Wisshaupt, and Georg Zöbl Translated by Stan Hanna Vol 3 (1915) FROM THE CAPTURE OF BREST-LITOWSK TO END OF YEAR With 32 leaflets and 20 sketches 1932 Publisher of Military Science Releases Vienna © 2005 Stan Hanna. All Rights Reserved. Austria-Hungary’s Last War, 1914-1918 Vol 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS TO THE THIRD VOLUME (1915) I. Plans and Deployment for the Fall of 1915.............................................................................................................1 A. The situation of the Central Powers at the end of August.....................................................................................1 1. Plan for a new offensive against Serbia; completion of the alliance with Bulgaria..........................................1 2. Military measures against Russia......................................................................................................................9 B. Order of battle of the allied and enemy armies on the Aus-Hung. fronts for the fall actions of 1915................12 II. The Rovno Campaign............................................................................................................................................66 A. The offensive of the Aus-Hung. Army in Volhynia and east Galicia.................................................................66 1. Preparations of the armies under the k.u.k. high command............................................................................66 2. The general situation of the Russians..............................................................................................................68 B. The advance to the Styr and the Strypa, 26-31 August.......................................................................................71 1. Actions of the k.u.k. 1st Army at Zaturcy........................................................................................................71 2. The Battles of Gologory and of the Zlota Lipa...............................................................................................72 3. The Capture of Luck.......................................................................................................................................74 4. The pursuit in east Galicia...............................................................................................................................80 5. The Battle of Zloczow-Strypa River, 29 August-1 September.......................................................................83 C. The advance toward Rovno and Dubno, and to the Sereth.................................................................................89 1. The fighting on the Putilowka, 1-6 September...............................................................................................89 2. Further advance in east Galicia, 2-6 September............................................................................................100 3. The Battle of Podkamien...............................................................................................................................104 4. Actions of the k.u.k. XII Corps under the German Eastern armies, 27 August-7 September.......................108 D. Counterattacks by the Russian Southwest Front...............................................................................................112 1. The Battle of the Sereth, 6-12 September.....................................................................................................112 a. The Russians break through at Trembowla..............................................................................................112 b. 2nd Army intervenes in the Sereth battle...................................................................................................116 c. Further Russian advances against Corps Marschall and the left wing of 7th Army..................................119 d. 2nd Army's attack stalls; further danger for the South Army....................................................................121 2. Striving for a decision in Volhynia, 7-13 September....................................................................................125 a. The advance to the Stubiel and to Dubno.................................................................................................125 b. The Battle of the Stubielbach...................................................................................................................129 c. Conrad decides to halt the offensive.........................................................................................................133 d. The last attack of FML Martiny's Corps...................................................................................................134 3. The Russian attack continues in east Galicia, 12-17 September...................................................................136 a. Actions at Zaleszczyki and Nw. Aleksiniec.............................................................................................136 b. The Russian attack toward the Strypa......................................................................................................139 c. The situation changes in east Galicia........................................................................................................142 4. Brussilov's counteroffensive to Luck, 13-24 September...............................................................................147 a. The Russians break through at Derazno...................................................................................................147 b. Measures to relieve the k.u.k. 4th Army....................................................................................................154 c. The fighting at Luck.................................................................................................................................155 d. New Russian thrusts on the Ikwa and at Nw. Aleksiniec, 19-23 September...........................................160 E. The second offensive toward Rovno.................................................................................................................167 1. The flank attack by Gerok's Group, 23-28 September..................................................................................167 2. The Russians evacuate Luck.........................................................................................................................169 3. The war of movement comes to an end.........................................................................................................173 a. Events north of the Pripyat, 8-27 September............................................................................................173 b. Establishment of a permanent front south of the Pripyat, 29 September-2 October................................175 4. New Russian attacks are fended off, 2-15 October.......................................................................................179 F. Analysis of the fall operations against Russia...................................................................................................189 ii Austria-Hungary’s Last War, 1914-1918 Vol 3 III. The Conquest of Serbia......................................................................................................................................199 A. Mackensen's Army Group crosses the rivers....................................................................................................199 1. Development of the operational plans...........................................................................................................199 2. Counter-measures in the enemy's camp........................................................................................................205 3. The military situation in Serbia and Montenegro at the start of October......................................................208 4. Final preparations to cross the Danube and Sava, 29 September-5 October................................................210 5. Crossing the rivers, 5-11 October.................................................................................................................215 a. The crossing into the Macva, 6 October...................................................................................................215 b. XIX Corps crosses the Sava, 6-8 October................................................................................................216 c. The capture of Belgrade, 6-11 October....................................................................................................217 d. 11th German Army crosses the Danube, 6-12 October.............................................................................227 e. Actions at Visegrad, Bijeljina, Jarak and Progar, 7 to 11 October...........................................................229 6. The main body of 3rd Army fights its way out of the loop in the rivers at Belgrade, 12-17 October...........231 7. Gallwitz's Army advances on both sides of the Morava, 13 to 17 October..................................................237 8. Intervention of the Bulgarians, 14-17 October..............................................................................................238