The Darkest hour of the Russian Empire

The Darkest hour of the Russian Empire​

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Chapter Three: 1916
Part XXI: Finished reconquest​

Kogda my byli na voine
Kogda my byli na voine
Tam kazhdyi dumal o svoei lyubimoi
Ili o zhene.

I ya by tozhe dumat' mog,
I ya by tozhe dumat' mog,
Kogda d na trubochku glyadel,
Na goluboi ee dymok.


When we were at war
When we were at war
Everybody there thought about his girl
Or about his wife.

And I could think about it,
And I could think about it,
When I was looking at my pipe,
At her blue smoke.


25 of August was another victorious day of the Russian Imperial Army. Wloclawek was again under their control.


Only after two days the offensive continued - another target was Sosnowiec, a city that fell first in German hands. Russia had to retake this city to restore her lost prestige and finally reconquer Poland. General Zabelin was a man who lost Sosnowiec in 1914. Now his personal revenge began...


In the south with Russian help things went much better - Romanian army stood against the Bulgarians, defeated them and answered with a good counter-attack. By 1 of September Bulgarian cities of Ruse, Gabrovo and Plovdiv were under Romanian occupation.


After that, the front stabilized for more than 20 days - Russian army needed rest after such terrific offensives. So, next operation in Galizia began only on 23 of September.


Troops of Kievan Military District attacked Nowy Sacz, and won the battle soon. Austrian army was in the worst shape - without proper artillery support, uniforms and ammunition they lost all their courage. Russian army had no difficulties.


On 27 of September in Romanian front the Bulgarians successfully attacked and Romanian army failed again - a lot of her forces were in giant Pleven-Gabrovo-Plovdiv-Hrabrovo pocket. But Bulgarian army didn't manage to keep the pocket and lost...Some notable Russian commanders called war in the Balkans "One giant madness".


On 28 of September the Tsar had a speech in Stavka, where he said that Russian army desperately needed new equipment to be competent in the modern war. He proposed to use new machineguns and unique Fedorov's assault rifle together with classic Mosin-1890 and Mosin-1910 rifles.


But development and rearming of giant Russian Imperial Army needed too much time. New equipment would be probably implemented only in elite divisions like Imperial Guards, Grenadier Corps and St.Petersburg's Miltiary District. On 10 of October the Russians besieged Czestochowa, the last occupied city of Russia.


After 12 days the Germans lost the battle and had to retreat. They were leaving the Russian soil forever!!!


In the Turkish front everything was really good, GD Nicholas reported that Trabzon was finally captured as well as others. Now, Russian front in Anatolia was a great menace for the Turks.


So, Russian commanders didn't wait for long - 1st and 3rd Caucasian Corps attacked Samsun on 22 of October.


Meanwhile, in the West Germans managed to chill down the Entente forces, but they realized that counter-offensive would be impossible. So, the French stopped in Fulda, waiting for the good moment.


In Italy French divisions launched a massive expedition, that helped Italians to liberate Parma. With the help of FEC (French Expeditionary Corps) Italy got a chance to save the front. Central Powers started losing the war everywhere...


On 28 of October Russian flag was raised in Czestochowa. The reconquest of Poland, a desperate and bloody counteroffensive lasted more than two years after the Great Retreat in 1914 was finished. Russia lost more than a million soldiers and officers trying to save their land, and their efforts were finally successful. The war was changed...


The defensive war against Germany was won. It was time to enter the German lands (like in Eastern Prussia) and finally crush the enemy.

@ARC1997: Thanks. Wrangel? I don't remember him as a current commander, so he's probably in free commanders' list.

@Avadian: Many thanks
@Deus Eversor: Yeah, messy Balkans are so messy...
@SovietAmerika: Probably not Italians, but French that fought together with Italians
@Asalto: Yes, a great day for the Russian military history, but we still have a long-long way to go :laugh:
@DoomBunny: Thanks, I agree with your point of view

Everybody, thanks for comments, next update will be posted today, but a little bit later.

The Darkest hour of the Russian Empire​

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Chapter Three: 1916
Part XXII: To the west​

Pust svischut puli, lietsya krov'
Pust' smert' nesut granaty
My smelo dvinemsya vpered
My - russkie soldaty.

V nas krov' otcov-bogatyrei
I delo nashe pravo
Klyanemsya Rus' my zaschitit'
Il umeret' so slavoi


Let the bullets whistle, let the blood run
Let the grenades to kill
We'll move out with courage
Cause we are Russian soldiers.

We have legendary warriors' blood in us
And our target is right
We promise to defend Russia
Or to die with glory


On 7 of November Russian army corps' started invasion in Western Poland. Polish front was renamed into Western front (cause no more Russo-Polish lands were occupied by the enemies) and general Ewert got new orders. Troops of Warsaw Military District, Wilno Military District, St. Petersburg Military District, 17th, 20th and 25th Army Corps had a short rest in Czestochowa and started marching.


On the same day Woodrow Wilson was re-elected in the United States.


Two days later, admiral Kolchak (commander of Pacific Fleet) had a meeting with naval supreme commander, admiral Grigorovich, and accepted his proposal to create a new raiders' tactics for the Russian navy.


Offensive operation against Bydgoszcz took 14 days and faced no resistance. Russian soldiers just came and took the city.


On the same day Eastern-Prussian front launched an offensive against weak German garrisons in Stolp and Deutsch-Krone. Stavka called that operation "The Baltic offensive", and its main target was German capital, which was so close...


On 21 of November Franz Joseph I, 'the last old-school monarch of Europe', passed away. It was his personal fault to start that destructive war. He realized that his old empire wouldn't survive a global war. But he started it.


Meanwhile, Russian offensives went very well - 12 vs. 7 in Chust, 7 vs. 3 in Nowy Sazs (Carpathian mountains), 17 vs. 9 in Deutsch-Krone and 14 vs. 6 in Stolp (East Prussia).


On 8 of December last battleship - Imperator Alexander III - was finally ready for battle.


Suddenly, on 12 of December the situation changed - Austrian army got a lot of fresh reinforcements in Nowy Sasz and the battle was lost. The Russians had to stop the offensive - that was unexpected, Russian commanders already considered Austria-Hungary was dead...


Encouraged by their allies' victory, the Germans moved all their forces to the east to save Berlin, and they managed to defeat advancing Russians, even with terrible casualties. General von Val, who lost the battle of Stolp, said: "Their victory was heroic. Germans can defend, not only attack". The Baltic offensive was delayed...

Successes, successes and successes! New Russian supreme commander Brusilov did a great work to crush the strongest enemy units, used right moments to launch offensives, implemented a lot of new doctrines in the Russian Imperial Army. Together with Yanushkevich and Alexeev he managed to supply the giant army properly - "Ammo hunger" was no more. Tsar's army liberated all the lands that were occupied by their enemies in 1914-1915 and even invaded enemy provinces. But the Germans showed their teeth and stopped huge Russian armies near Stolp. So, there's much work to do.

The biggest victory: Brusilov's strike (battles of Danzig, Gdynia, Wloclawek and Lodz)
The biggest defeat: Battle of Stolp

The most successful commander:

General Ewert, commander of Polish (later Western) front. Wasn't a good commander in 1914-1915, but together with Brusilov he showed his tactician skills and was one of the authors of "Brusilov's strike" and "Baltic offensive". After that he became known as a supplier and planner, not a strategist - maybe it wasn't so prestigious in Russian army, but very important for the successful warfare. Ewert was just a right man to help Brusilov and to coordinate the corps. He participated in all main land battles against the Germans in 1916.


War in Galizia and Carpathian mountains become secondary in 1916. Anyway, Russian armies were successful there too - fortress of Stanislawow and Cernauti fell, and whole Galizia was occupied by the Imperial Army. However, in Carpathians the battles were terrible and bloody - without any experience of mountainous warfare the Russians suffered brutal casualties. It was the main reason of defeat at Nowy Sasz - but with defeats in Italy Austria should fall soon.

The biggest victory: 3rd battle of Stanislawow
The biggest defeat: 2nd battle of Nowy Sasz

The most successful commander:

General Berkhman was probably the most unsuccessful Russian commander of WW1, but the things changed radically after 5th battle of Tarnow, when he started behaving as a careful military leader. He wasn't as talented and legendary as Brusilov, but when general Brusilov left Galizian front and became a Commander-in-Chief no other generals were equal to Berkhman there. He wasn't a man of luck, he was a tough fighter


The exhausting stalemate was broken with effective offensives - the Russians invaded Anatolia and rapidly captured a lot of Turkish provinces - Erzurum, Trabzon, Sivas, Elazig, Samsun...The Ottoman army was strong in 1914 and managed to keep the front even in 1915, but Russia was simply more powerful. With joint operations of Entente forces in the Middle East Russian commanders defeated Turkish army totally.

The biggest victory: Siege of Erzurum
The biggest defeat: No

The most successful commander:

General Plewhe - extremely brave and skilled general, commander of 1st Caucasian Corps. His crossing of the Caucasus became a soldier's song, and GD Nicholas personally awarded him for that fantastic operation. After crossing the Caucasus he captured a lot of major cities like Sivas and Samsun and didn't lose any battles that made him very famous in Stavka. Plewhe would probably never achieve the successes of Brusilov and Alexeev, but his operations in Turkey had already become a history.

The war will continue in 1917
Waiting for your comments
Next update: November, 27-28​

@SovietAmerika: Yes, it's William Bryan