Vorlage:Infobox Military Conflict Vorlage:Campaignbox Russian Front
The Siege of Przemyśl was the greatest siege of the First World War, and a crushing defeat for Austria-Hungary. The investment of Przemyśl began on September 24, 1914 and was briefly suspended on October 11 due to an Austro-Hungarian offensive. The siege resumed again on November 9 and the garrison surrendered on March 22, 1915 after holding out for a total of 133 days.
Background
During the Russian offensive out of Galicia and into Lemberg in 1914, General Nikolai Ivanov had overwhelmed the Austro-Hungarians under Conrad von Hötzendorf during the Battle of Lemberg, and the whole front fell back over 100 miles to the Carpathian Mountains. The fortress at Przemyśl was the only Austrian post that held out and by September 28 was completely behind Russian lines. The Russians were now in a position to threaten the German industrial region of Silesia, making the defense of Przemyśl of importance to the Austro-Hungarians as well as the Germans.
The First Siege
On September 24 General Radko Dimitriev, commander of the Russian Third Army began the siege of the fortress. Dimitriev was without sufficient siege artillery when he began the investment and instead of waiting for the Russian high command to send him the artillery pieces, Dimitriev ordered a full scale assault on the fortress before an Austrian relief force could be sent. For three days the Russians assaulted and accomplished nothing at the cost of 40,000 casualties. While this was going on General Paul von Hindenburg launched an offensive against Warsaw in the north. In conjunction with the German attack on Warsaw, General Svetozar Boroevic von Bojna led a relief force towards Przemyśl. On October 11 Dimitriev lifted the siege and withdrew across the San River. Conrad had hopes that a combined assault from Boroevic's army and the Przemyśl garrison would inflict a severe blow on the Russians.
The Second Siege
By October 31 Hindenburg had been defeated at the Battle of the Vistula River and withdrew from his assault on Warsaw. This caused Boroevic to pull back from the San River line, and abandon Conrad's proposed offensive against Russia. On November 9 the Russians resumed the siege of Przemyśl. Radko Dimitriev's force had been withdrawn from the Przemyśl sector and moved north. The Russian Eleventh Army under General Andrei Nikolaevich Selivanov took up the siege operations. Selivanov did not order any frontal assaults as Dimitriev had, and instead settled to starve the garrison into submission. In February, 1915 Boroevic led another relief effort towards Przemyśl.
By the end of February all relief efforts had been defeated and Conrad informed Hermann Kusmanek von Burgneustädten that no further relief would be sent to Przemyśl. Selivanov was given sufficient artillery to reduce the fortress. The Russians overran the northern defenses on March 13. An improvised line of defense held up the Russian attacks long enough for Kusmanek to destroy anything left in the city that could be of use to the Russians once captured. On March 19 Kusmanek ordered attempted to break out but his attacks were repulsed and he was forced to retreat back into the city. Now with every useful thing destroyed within the city, Kusmanek had no choice but to surrender. On March 22 Kusmanek surrendered the remaining garrison of 110,000 to the Russians.
Results
The Fall of Przemyśl led many to believe that Russia would now launch a major offensive into Hungary. This speculated offensive never came, but the loss of Przemyśl was a serious blow to Austro-Hungarian morale. A further blow to Austria-Hungary was that the garrison at Przemyśl was only supposed to be manned by 50,000, yet over 110,000 Austrians surrendered with the fortress, a much more significant loss. The Russians held Przemyśl until the summer of 1915 when the Austro-Hungarian and German offensive pushed back the Russian front in Galicia.
Sources
- Tucker, Spencer The Great War: 1914-18 (1998)
- http://www.geocities.com/veldes1/kusmanek.html
- http://www.adam.com.au/triag/wwi.html