bombardment and sent them to the lower Vistula, with the ob- ject of enveloping the enemy. There were now nine and a-half infantry and two cavalry divisions left behind for the blockade of the fortress. Three of these divisions were posted on the N. front, half a division on the S., while the main force of six di- visions encircled the E. and S.E. front, which was the point of attack actually fixed upon by Radko Dimitriev, and the two cavalry divisions were encamped on the W. and S.W. front. Counting the Russian infantry division at 16 battalions and the cavalry division at 24 squadrons, the Russians employed no fewer than 150 battalions and 48 squadrons, 800 guns of the field army and the heavy guns of the siege-artillery parks in the siege of Przemysl.
Rokietnica \
PRZEMYSL
First Sie|e 18 3 I4-9-IO-I4
1,2. etc. Defence Commands
Armouredforts Other works
^ Investment line
C3 etc Russian troops
Sector limits
The First Siege, Sept. i8-Ocl. 9 1914. On Sept. 18 1914, when the Austro-Hungarian armies had marched off westwards from the San and the area of the Przemysl fortress, the fortress was left to itself, with orders issued to Kusmanek on the i6th to resist " to the uttermost." The building of the ring of forts and the distribution of the fortress garrison in the defence zone had now been completed. Only one correction had to be made in the line of defence on the S.W. front, where it lay too near to the town itself, thus exposing the town and the San bridges to the danger of a direct bombardment. Kusmanek therefore selected a position in the foreground, 2 to 3 km. in front of the ring of forts, running from Krasiczyn over the height of Pod Mazurami to that of Helicha, and had this rapidly fortified and occupied by four battalions. This measure obliged the Russians to fix their line of investment at a corresponding distance from the town at this point also.
The Grand Duke allowed only a very cautious pursuit of the retreating Austro-Hungarians by the Russian armies. The IV. and V. Armies advanced toward the N. of the fortress and across the San; the VIII. Army was ordered to push forward through the Chyr6w and Sambor area, and S. of the fortress to the ridge of the Carpathians; the III. Army was to take up a position immediately in front of the E. front of the fortress. On Sept. 20 the first Russian detachments crossed the San at Walawa, to be followed at once by other troops coming from Radymno and Jaroslau, where the bridgeheads had been surrendered to the Russians. These troops surrounded the N. front of the fortress.
Portions of the III. and VIII. Armies now advanced towards the S. and S.W. fronts, while on the W. front two cavalry divisions by Sept. 24 completed the hemming-in of the fortress. By means of numerous very vigorous sorties and by violent artillery fire, Kusmanek succeeded in his task, which was to draw as many Russian forces on to himself as possible. He turned the Russian investiture into an exceedingly difficult undertaking.
PRZEMYSL
Sorties during the first and second Sie
Nov 14 Dec 14 Fob 15 raxB&>. March 15
note: The Sortie of 27' was in some direction as on /f V
Bykow 50 Bn. o
f> So.
Hit.
liqgp oKormam
- Szybenice 1
The first great sortie was executed by Maj.-Gen. Weher,
Commandant of the VI. defence zone, with five battalions and
two batteries, on the Grodek road and S. of it, to force back the
Russian line of investment between Medyka and Bykow. Taken
entirely by surprise, the Russians fell back from the first position,
and two infantry divisions brought up to their support suffered
heavy losses from the artillery fire which now began.
Kusmanek's next opportunity was when he learned that considerable forces were concentrated in the Nizankowice- Kurmanowice-Fredropol area, with the intention of passing along the S. side of the fortress to push forward towards the west. On Sept. 29 he sent Field-Marshal-Lt. von Tamassy with the 23rd Honved Inf. Div. to attack them by way of Halicha in the direction of the Szybenica height. Here the result was the forced deployment of considerable Russian forces against the 23rd Honved Inf. Div., and consequently the delaying of the Russian westward advance.
Minor sorties on other fronts were also successful, and every- where a lively artillery battle was kept up in order to rivet the enemy's attention on the fortress. The Russians, for their part, maintained a violent bombardment of the forts in the ring. On Oct. 2 an interruption occurred in the Russian gunfire on the E. front. A parlementaire distinguished by a white flag brought a message from Radko Dimitriev demanding the surrender of the fortress. He was sent back as quickly as he had come bearing Kusmanek's written answer to Radko Dimitriev: " Herr Kom- mandant, I consider it beneath my dignity to give your insulting demand the reply that it deserves." Thereupon the hail of steel on the forts began afresh.
Kusmanek's refusal had hit Radko Dimitriev hard. It was scarcely possible to fulfil the Tsar's wish and bring about the speedy fall of Przemysl. A coup de main was impracticable, because the siege artillery material was still too far away and could not be fetched up quickly enough on account of the bottom- less roads. In the first days of Oct., too, the Austro-Hungarian offensive was launched, and this might within a very short time bring Przemysl the looked-for relief. Radko Dimitriev therefore found himself obliged to revert to a curtailed form of attack, and now tried to make up for the defectiveness of his artillery and technical preparations by reckless onslaughts. As the Austro- German general offensive had necessitated the removal of some of his N. front divisions to the mobile armies, he made up for
