The Battle of Lemberg was a major battle between Russia and Austria-Hungary during the early stages of World War I in 1914 in which the Russians captured the fortress of Lemberg.

Background

With the Russians defeated in East Prussia, Austro-Hungarian commander Conrad von Hötzendorf decided to launch an offensive into Galicia before Russian numerical advantage became too great. Nikolai Ivanov , the Russian commander of the Southwest Front, was expecting an Austrian offensive near the fortress of Lemberg. He brought up two Russian armies from the south and two more armies would strike from the north.

Northern Front

The Austrian First Army under Viktor Dankl was moving in the north towards Brest-Litovsk to cut the Warsaw-Kiev Railroad. Dankl struck and drove back Baron Salza's Russian Fourth Army in what would be known as the Battle of Krasnik. To the right of Dankl the Austrian Fourth Army drove back the Russian Fifth Army under Pavel Plehve .

Southern Front

As the Russians were being driven back along the northern front the Austrian Army Group Kovess made a simultaneous advance against Ivanov's left wing. Along the southern front Ivanov had the Russian Third Army under Nikolai Ruszky and the Russian Eighth Army under the capable Aleksei Brusilov. Brusilov and Ruszky routed the Austro-Hungarians so thoroughly that even though poor roads necessitated that the Russians halt for two days, the Austrians could not regroup to halt the Russian drive. This attack became known as the Battle of Gnila Lipa.

Lemberg

With the entire Kovess Group in full retreat, Conrad pulled forces away from northern front which he believed had been sufficiently defeated. In fact the Russians north of Lemberg were still a potential threat. Ivanov ordered Plehve's Fifth Army to attack and drove the Austrians back as they began to shift forces to the south in an engagement known as the Battle of Rava Ruska. The Austrian Second Army was quickly recalled from Serbia but it was too late and the entire Austrian front collapsed in Galicia and the Russians took control of Lemberg.

Results

As the Austrians retreated many Slavic soldiers in the Austro-Hungarian Army simply surrendered and some even offered to fight for the Russians. A total of some 130,000 prisoners were taken by the Russians by the time the battle subsided on September 11. The Russians had pushed the front 100 miles into the Carpathian Mountains and left the Austrian fortress of Przemyśl completely surrounded and a siege of the city lasted for over a hundred days. Austro-Hungarian moral was crushed as was their potential military ability. Russian moral was raised after the recent defeat at Tannenberg.

See also

• Siege of Przemysl

Source

• Tucker, Spencer The Great War: 1914-18 (1998)