The Darkest hour of the Russian Empire
Chapter Four: 1917
Part XXIV: Our flag waves
Vzveites', sokoly, orlami
Polno gore gorevat'
To li delo pod shatrami
V pole lagerem stoyart'.
Tam, edva zarya nastanet
Stroi pekhotnyi zakipit,
Barabanom v nebo gryanet
I shtykami zablestit.
Slava matushke-Rossiye,
Slava russkomy tsaryu,
Slava vere pravoslavnoi,
I soldatu-molodcu.
Falcons, fly like eagles
Stop being sad
It's not like to stand
Under a tent in the camp
There, at the dawn
Infantry line would wake up
The drum would strike in the sky
The bayonets would start shining.
Glory to Mother-Russia,
Glory to the Russian Tsar,
Glory to the Orthodox faith,
And to a brave soldier.
Russian offensives in spring didn't go well. There were a lot of reasons for it - Central Powers mobilized everything they had to save their countries. Russian soldiers were tired and started losing the battle initiative. One more fault at Chust caused one more defeat in Carpathians...
Turkish soldiers keep Chust Austrian
Brusilov wasn't impressed at all - both Western and Galizian fronts didn't manage to break through the enemies' trenches - all assaults were stopped. These failures of Russian army gave the Austrians a good opportunity for a comeback - Stavka suddenly realized that Russo-Romanian border, that was captured by the Austrians, were defended only by Japanese volunteers. Troops of Odessa Military District and 5th Army Corps had to be immediately transferred to Bessarabia.
The Russians are trying to spoil Austrian gambit
Western front had other objectives. Separate offensive on Stolp and Deutsch-Krone failed, so general Ewert offered another plan - to attack Deutsh-Krone from two points. Combined power of 33 divisions would certainly convert into the success...
Joint attack on Deutsh-Krone
Brusilov in Stavka with one of the ministers
On 4 of April Deutsh-Krone fell. At the same moment Austrians tried to capture Tarnow (which was accidentally without any defense), but the Russians pushed them out very soon.
Another victory in Eastern Prussia
Russian cartoon dedicated to victory at Deutsh-Krone.
After Deutsh-Krone Stolp had no chances to stand, on 6 of April 42 divisions of Russian Imperial Army stormed the city, broke the fortification lines and started city-fighting.
2nd battle of Stolp - Russian victory seems to be inevitable
Russian Army always was famous because of its engineers - during Napoleonic Wars Russian Engineer Corps was probably the most modern and capable. But during the Great War Russian engineers (who had to do a lot of work in trenches, with machines and planes) had outdated equipment. The Tsar was a fan of engineering himself, so he ordered to create new modern devicec for them.
The Tsar's request
Three days passed and Stolp's garrison capitulated. The fortress was finally in Russian hands - now Russian Imperial Army had only three cities before Berlin - Stavka had three routes for that:
Stolp-
Stettin-
Frankfurt-on-Oder-
Berlin or
Poznan-Meseritz-Frankfurt-on-Oder-Berlin. These two routes were debatable, though.
Stolp is captured
Stolp is close, guys!
So, with these two cities taken, the situation changed a bit.
April 1917, frontlines of Europe - Entente success against Germany, Romania is close to death, Russia gets one more front in Bessarabia (hopefully the Austrians hadn't try to cross the border yet)
So, the Great Day came. By 16 of April strategic plans of General Offensive were prepared by Brusilov and Alexeev. Stavka had a session of great importance. All corpse, army and front commanders were there together with the Tsar and crown prince. Brusilov had a 3-hour report about his offensive. And after that he shake everybody's (except the Emperor of course) hand and said: "Good luck, gentlemen. We have to succeed". The plot of new offensive (mostly designed by Alexeev) was simple and brilliant. Russian army had to use properly all her might to push the front westwards. One army group "Sever" ("North") attacked Stettin. Another one - "Yug" ("South") had to reach Breslau.
New Alexeev's operation, Russian general offensive
Russian army corps marching
The battles of Oppeln and Stettin began together. Russian armies in both battles were led by skillful and capable commanders - for example, Oppeln operation was under Zabelin's command. Russins totally outnumbered their enemies...
We are going to win!
On 21 of April the Austrians made their move - they entered Russian territory and captured Moldavian town of Cahul. Romanian army's performance was just awful - Serbia and Montenegro had less chances to survive, but they fought brilliantly. Romanians didn't.
Bad news - we have no troops to secure our southern flank! All these damn Rommies...
Russian reinforcements were quite far from the battlefield - for example, 5th Army Corps was in Kamenets, when Cahul was invaded.
You'd better hurry, general Savvich
But Stavka had bright news too - on 23 of April Stettin fell!
Russian triumph at Stettin
The war continues
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Next update: December, 2