From The Eagle Rising: The Story of Prussia's Arrival On the World Stage, pub. 1989 by Professor Reinicke Herz
The southern front, in Rumania, was surprisingly well contested. With Russia being so vast a country, it hardly seemed worthwhile to remove the soldiers from the Rumanian border to apply to the central defense, as it would take so long to get there and would open the whole of the Ukraine to Prussian seizure. And, so, the Russians remained in substantial force.
The Rumanians advanced to the south, into Bulgaria, and then turned northward along the Black Sea coast. They made significant progress. Another Rumanian division pushed north slowly, toward Lvov.
Meanwhile, a Prussian corps pressed forward against Iasi. There, they were forced to take defensive positions, owing to the large number of Russian divisions nearby.
The central front remained confused, for both sides, though there was never any question who held the initiative or the advantage. A few Russian divisions wandered free while large Prussian corps reduced stationary pockets of resistance.
In the North, as November got underway, General Spree closed on the Russian summer capital of St. Petersburg. Tsar Nicholas II had long since relocated to Moscow, the winter capital, though even that refuge was seeming less certain.
Spree’s approach flushed out the Russian Baltic Fleet, which had been sheltering at St. Petersburg. They faced a hard choice. Winter was fast bringing ice to close the port. If they intended to sortie, they must do it soon. Remaining in port brought the risk – certainty, considering there were no Russian divisions available for the city’s defense – of capture by the Prussians. But going to sea would bring on a clash of naval arms which the Russian sailors and admirals no longer welcomed.
Admiral Unakov led the Baltic Fleet – 2 battleships, 2 armored cruisers, a light cruiser, 3 raiders and a monitor through a gauntlet set up by the Prussian Imperial Navy. Slipping out during the early evening, it was pitch black when the first ships began to pass the Prussian blockade. However, one ship was sighted and fired upon, which alerted the Germans to the likelihood of a breakout. Searchlights stabbed the night, and more ships were located and engaged.
Over the course of three days, the Prussians chased Russian vessels from the Gulf of Finland, sinking the light cruiser and three raiders. The pursuit continued for another few days, as the Russians attempted to fight free into the Baltic. With Prussia in control of Jutland, the Russians were trapped. The next 2 months were a hunt and peck operation to track down the surviving Russian naval units.
A similar desperate gamble was underway in the south. The Russian Black Sea Fleet sortied from Sevastopol in an attempt to defeat Prussian landings nearby. These ships were also engaged, and were gradually hunted down.
To the east, General Ludendorff was driving straight for Moscow with single-minded purpose. He had reached Smolensk on the 27th of October. He arrived at the gates to Moscow only one month later – an incredible rate of speed, even for cavalry, considering that their movements were not entirely unopposed. However, the straggling Russian defenders were very poorly organized after having been chased across vast distances of steppe. Resistance was halfhearted, and was generally pushed aside without difficulty.
It seemed obvious to most observers that a catastrophic defeat was in order for the Russians. It was only a matter of time, even as December brought the Russian winter.