Fallen Russian soldiers in a trench on the Eastern Front, ca. 1915

Fallen Russian soldiers in a trench on the Eastern Front, ca. 1915.

Photograph belonging to 'Wooway1' on Flickr. Today 108 years ago, on July 13, 1915, the Germans launched the Narew Offensive against the Russians on the Eastern Front. In May 1915 the Central Powers had launched the Gorlice-Tarnów Offensive and forced the Russians some 310 km eastwards, ending on June 22 with the conquering of the city of Lemberg. The Central Powers realized an ambitious, renewed offensive might force the Russians to surrender, thus a three-pronged offensive along the front was planned. In the north the Germans would attack in the Courland region, in the middle across the Narew river towards Warsaw and in the south in Galicia between the Bug and Vistula rivers towards Brest-Litovsk. On June 30, 1915 the Bug Offensive was launched in Galicia and made significant progress, but had stalled by July 9. It was then decided for the other two offensives in the Courland and across the Narew to be launched to force a breakthrough. For the main thrust of the Narew Offensive the German Army Group Gallwitz, later renamed the 12th Army, would attack the Russian 1st Army at the fortified town of Przasnysz. To support this attack, further north the German 8th Army would advance against the Russian 12th Army, and to the south the German 9th Army against the Russian 2nd Army. The Russians at Przasnysz were slightly outnumbered in troops but almost 3:1 as for artillery guns. The Russians were confident however, not expecting the Germans to attack in the swampy and fortified Przasnysz area, where they'd already been repulsed in the First Battle of Przasnysz in February 1915. The Russians also enjoyed fortresses to fall back on, such as Osowiec and Novogeorgievsk. At 4:45 AM on July 13, 1915, a 5-hour-long German artillery bombardment commenced at Przasnysz with staggering success. The artillery crushed the Russian defenders, some units reduced to 1/3 of its strength and an entire Division reduced to half.

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