Siege of Przemyśl

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Siege of Przemyśl

Date	17 September 1914-22 March 1915
Location	Przemyśl, present day Poland
Result	Russian victory

Combatants

Russian Empire

Austria-Hungary

Commanders

Radko Dmitriev
Andrei N. Selivanov

Hermann Kusmanek

Strength

300,000

Przemyśl Garrison (126,000)

Casualties

(40,000 casualties were sustained in the first few days of the siege)

at least 16,000 dead, the remaining 110,000 surrendered

Eastern Front
Stalluponen – Gumbinnen – Tannenberg – 1st Lemberg – Krasnik – 1st Masurian Lakes – Przemyśl – Vistula River – Łódź – Bolimov – 2nd Masurian Lakes – Gorlice-Tarnów – Warsaw – Lake Naroch – Brusilov Offensive – Kerensky Offensive

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 Austrian offensive. The siege resumed again on November 9 and the garrison surrendered on March 22, 1915 after holding out for a total of 194 days.

1 Background
2 The First Siege
3 The Second Siege
4 Results
5 Sources
6 External link

[edit] Background

During the Russian offensive out of Galicia and into Lemberg in 1914, General Nikolai Ivanov had overwhelmed the Austrians 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 Austrians as well as the Germans.

[edit] The First Siege

On September 24 General Radko Dmitriev, commander of the Russian Third Army began the siege of the fortress. Dmitriev 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, Dmitriev ordered a full scale assault on the fortress before an Austrian relief force could be sent. For three days the Russians assaulted and did nothing but cause 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 Dmitriev 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.

[edit] 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 Dmitriev's force had been withdraw from the Przemyśl sector and moves north. The Russian Eleventh Army under General Andrei Nikolaevich Selivanov took up the siege operations. Selivanov did not order any frontal assaults as Dmitriev 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 breakout 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.

[edit] 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-German offensive pushed back the Russian front in Galicia.