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...