The Great War by Cyril Falls

Author:Cyril Falls [Falls, Cyril]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780399501005
Google: pVaRoAEACAAJ
Publisher: Capricorn Books
Published: 1959-08-14T14:00:00+00:00

Chapter V

BRUSILOV’S IMMORTAL DAYS

The Emperor Nicholas II was a weak man. As commander in chief of the Russian armies he could not even fulfil the easiest task of an absolute monarch in war, that of arousing enthusiasm when he reviewed his troops. They had in them a deep store of enthusiasm, but he did not know how to tap it. Yet his loyalty as an ally was a quality which should stand to his credit when his melancholy reign and tragic end are reviewed. He had every intention of fulfilling his pledge to Joffre by setting on foot a big offensive in June, 1916. Earlier than that his chief of the general staff, Alexiev, did not believe it possible to strike with good prospects of success. The reorganization after the disasters of 1915 went a long way during the winter and spring. The ranks were filled; the troops were well fed, well clothed, and generally in good heart; there were rifles and cartridges for all, even if of several types; machine guns were more numerous; field artillery ammunition was adequate. The worst remaining shortages were in heavy artillery, though here too some improvement appeared, and in aircraft.

In February the north-south front established after the defeats and retreats of the previous year was held by three vast groups of armies; Kuropatkin — the defeated commander in the Japanese war — from the Gulf of Riga to Dunaburg; Evert thence to south of the Pripet marshes; Ivanov thence to the Rumanian frontier. Immediately after the opening of the German offensive Joffre appealed to the Emperor to launch a diversionary attack. It was a situation in which a commander like Haig, thinking of his own plans and determined not to sacrifice his troops by sending them forward unready, might have refused. The Emperor not only accepted but opened the offensive as early as March 18.

It was a big thing too, though to have thrown in the same force on a narrower front would probably have been preferable. The inner flanks of Kuropatkin’s and Evert’s groups were to attack on a front of ninety miles. The whole of this front was not to be assailed simultaneously, but in sections, with the main weight on either side of Lake Naroch, which has given its name to the battle. Numerically, the Russian superiority was great, about five to two, but as on the Somme, though on a simpler pattern, the Germans had strongly fortified their front. The ground had of course been frozen to the consistency of rock, but on March 18, though the ice on the lake and the rivers remained unbroken, up to a foot of water overlay it. This was not good weather for an offensive.

The tragic story can be shortly told. The artillery preparation troubled the defence far less than when most ineffective on the Somme. The troops of the armies of Scholz and Hutier were fully on the alert. One after another of the disjointed Russian attacks rushed into their fire and broke down completely with heavy slaughter.

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