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BREST LITOVSK


pursuit Puhallo's whole left wing pushed forward over the Bug below Zdzary, and up to the hollow S. of Ustilug. The Army of the Bug established itself along the Bug from this point to Dubienko, while the Beskiden Corps, fighting on its left wing, pursued the Russians beyond Chelm. The XI. Army came upon fresh opposition in the line Kulik-Leczna, and in front of the IV. Army the Russians were able to maintain the positions to which they had retired after the abandonment of Lublin.

West of the Vistula great events were in preparation at this time. Kovess's Transylvanian troops captured, by a vigorous attack on Aug. 2, eight concrete entrenchments on the front of Ivangorod, of which four were taken by the $oth Infantry Regt. The Landwehr Corps, too, penetrated into the enemy's positions at Domaszew. The successes of this group assumed for the Russians an ever more threatening aspect. On the one hand the railway between Warsaw and Ivangorod would be in serious danger if the Landwehr Corps pushed their advance any farther; on the other the enveloping of Ivangorod's N. front would admit of considerable pressure being brought to bear on its defenders.

In the next few days Mackensen's group of armies by their tenacious attacks ousted the Russians from one position after the other. The forces of the Russian III. and IV. Armies, which were being hemmed in more and more closely, tried in vain by counter- attacking to obtain breathing space and relieve the pressure.

While Mackensen continued his irresistible advance between the Bug and the Vistula, and Prince Leopold of Bavaria and Woyrsch were on the point of taking Warsaw and Ivangorod, there were signs in the N. also that the fortresses on the Bobr- Narew front were doomed. Pultusk and Rozan had been taken by Gallwitz's Army, and Ostrolenka was seriously threatened. Farther N. the VIII. Army (Scholz's) was equipping itself to attack I/omza and Ossowiec, while the X. Army (Eichhorn's) and Below's Army of the Niemen were advancing on Kovno and Riga. The Russians were, no doubt, considering the abandonment of their front on the Vistula; and they had begun to send off their war material and the enormous food supplies needed to support the armies during a retreat which was to be only gradual. But in spite of all the strength they displayed they were being constantly forced backward. On the 3rd, Leczna was captured by the left wing group of the XI. Army. The cavalry of the I. Army entered Vladimir Volinski, and Szurmay was nearing the Luga. Aug. 4 crowned all previous successes. The German IX. Army under Prince Leopold of Bavaria threw the Russians out of both the outer and inner ring of Warsaw's forts, and, after the Russians had evacuated the town and withdrawn to Praga on the right bank of the Vistula, made their entry into the town. Simultaneously the western quarter of Ivangorod on the left bank of the Vistula was taken by the XVI. Infantry Div. of Kovess's group, while the garrison retired to the right bank and blew up the Vistula bridge.

The IV., XI., and Bug Armies, continuing the pursuit, forced back the Russians, in spite of violent resistance, behind the line Sawin-Baranowka-Kurow. The left wing of the IV. Army advanced to the heights N. of Konskowola.

The Battle at Lubarlow, Aug. 5-8. When the Russians began their retreat from the Vistula position between Warsaw and Ivangorod it fell upon Mackensen to deliver his blow on the left flank of the retreating army. His desire was to push forward with all possible speed beyond Parczew to the railway line running from Warsaw to Brest Litovsk. The I. Army and the Bug Army were to cover the attack by holding the bridge- heads constructed on the E. bank of the Bug. The Bug Army removed its right wing to Dubienka and was to advance with its left on Wlodawa and across the Wlodawka. The IV. and XI. Armies, whose attacks were to be continued, were to reach the Tysmienica and Wieprz section as quickly as possible. As a guiding line for the inner wings of both armies Mackensen selected the river bed of the Wieprz.

The shifting of the XI. Army, which now became necessary, was made possible by the transference of the Beskiden Corps from the Bug Army to the rear of the XI. Army's right wing.

The troops occupying the stretch of the Bug below Ustilug could now gradually loosen their hold, for here the Russians, under pressure of what had occurred, were retiring by successive stages on Kovel. They were being pursued for the moment only by the I. Army cavalry.

On the IV. Army devolved the task of attacking the strong positions at Lubartow within the next few days. By the 6th it was able to take the Russian trenches S. of that place, and at Brzostowka and Krasny German troops penetrated into the Russian positions. On the yth the decisive blow was given by the attacking group on the army's right wing, composed of seven divisions of the XIV. and XVII. Corps, commanded by Lt. -Field-Marshal Roth. The enemy was driven out of several lines, lying one behind the other, during the morning, and in the afternoon and evening this group, with the XLI. Honved Infantry Div. and the XI. and III. Infantry Divs., pushed their way to beyond Firley, driving a wedge into the Russian front. The Russians fell back in complete disorder across the Wieprz. Meanwhile the X. Infantry and XLV. Light Infantry Divs. had crossed the Wieprz to the N.E., at and N. of Baran- owka, in order to join in the battle of the XL Army, which was also being assisted by heavy artillery fire in the direction of Brzostowka. West of the Rudno-Kamionka road the XVII. and IX. Corps also joined in. Here the Russian XXV. Corps had advanced from the area S. of Michow to a counter-attack on the Austro-Hungarian X. Corps, which after a hard struggle succeeded in forcing the enemy back to the Lower Wieprz and snatching from him some of his points d'appui. The immediate effect of these battles was the evacuation by the Russians of the Vistula bank N.W. of Ivangorod also. Thereupon Kovess and Woyrsch took up the pursuit on both sides of the Sololew- Zelechow road. On the 8th and gth the pursuit of the hurriedly retreating enemy was vigorously carried on. The IV. Army crossed the Wieprz close to its estuary and also at Leszkowice. On the pth, too, the Bug Army and the XL Army penetrated the enemy's lines at several points after extremely heavy fighting, but on the zoth they again encountered the greatest resistance.

Woyrsch and Kovess crossed the Warsaw-Lublin road and went in pursuit of the Russian IV. Army, which was falling back on Lukow and Radzyn. The Archduke Josef Ferdinand's Army now advanced also on the N. bank of the Wieprz, and, on the loth, reached the region N.W. of the Lower Tysmienica and the area in the bend of the Tysmienica; the Emmich group, fighting on the left wing of the XL Army, approached the Upper Tysmienica in its pursuit of the Russian IV. Army's left wing. On Woyrsch's left were the German IX. and XII. Armies, the latter of which, coming from Gallwitz's Army, had penetrated to the Bug and the area of Sadow, Kaluszyn, and Ceglow. Up to Ossowiec all the fortresses of the Bobr-Narew line had fallen. Novo Georgievsk alone still held out, but around it Gen. von Beseler was drawing his siege-ring ever closer.

The Brest Litovsk Offensive. The IV. Army's flank attack on the Russians retreating eastwards had in the last few days changed into a frontal pursuit in a north-easterly direction, carried out in conjunction with Prince Leopold of Bavaria's group of armies. For the XL and Bug Armies, however, Mackensen still held to the proposed flank attack, to be delivered in a northerly direction.

The S. wing of Hindenburg's group of armies (the German VIII. and XII. Armies) and the two groups of Prince Leopold of Bavaria and Mackensen were forcing back the Russian main force ever farther towards the Bialystok-Brest Litovsk railway line. This main force was composed of the XII., I., II., IV., and III. Armies, and counted roughly 60 infantry and 7 cavalry divisions. Mackensen's part in the great scheme of operations was to attack the southern portion of this section of the railway, which had the support of the powerful Brest Litovsk fortress. Within the area which it sheltered, down the Bug as far as Janow, the Russian III. Arrny, with about 14! infantry and 2 cavalry divisions, made its retreat, while the Russian IV. Army took the direction of Janow and approached the Bug from the north-west. On the i2th the III. Army, between the Bug and