A hold-to-light postcard of the German and Austro-Hungarian victory (shortlived) over the Russians in the Uzroker Pass in the Carpathians on January 28, 1915. Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, Chief of the Austro-Hungarian General Staff, launched an offensive with three armies on January 23, including the new Austro-Hungarian Seventh Army under General Karl von Pflanzer-Baltin.
KarpathenSiegreiche Kämpfe am Uzroker-Paß28. Januar 1915 The CarpathiansVictorious fighting at the Uzroker PassJanuary 28, 1915Reverse:Message dated and field postmarked September 7, 1916, 29th Infantry Division.
"Russian attacks [in the Carpathian mountains] came in a series of short jabs through the valleys, broken off for lack of force after they had won initial successes. This, in mountain-conditions, was an excellent way of proceeding, for the Russians completely confused Austrian reserves without, themselves, running into insuperable supply-difficulties. Yet the Austrian commanders could not afford the general retreat that might have saved things: once they lost the mountains, they thought, they would be pushed back on Budapest. Their armies stayed in the mountains, losing thousands of prisoners. An attack on III Army produced crisis; appeals went from Conrad to Ludendorff and Falkenhayn; by 6th April a new German force — Beskidenkorps, under Marwitz — was made up of troops from Ludendorff's front and Südarmee (two and a half divisions). Its intervention, together with the problems of supply brought by the Russians' advance, brought the Carpathian offensive to a halt."
Both Russia and Austria-Hungary launched offensives in the Carpathian Mountains in the first months of 1915, the Russians in an attempt to break through the mountain passes to the Hungarian plain and capital of Budapest, the Austro-Hungarians in an attempt drive the Russians from the mountains and from Galicia and Bukovina, Austria-Hungary's northeastern provinces. Unable to entrench in frozen ground, under-supplied, repeatedly launching attacks with no hope of advancing, both sides suffered heavy casualties. Erich von Falkenhayn was Commander in Chief of the German Army, Conrad von Hötzendorf his Austro-Hungarian counterpart. With General Paul von Hindenburg, Erich Ludendorff commanded German forces on the Eastern Front. The Südarmee was a German-led, primarily Austro-Hungarian army.
The Eastern Front, 1914-1917 by Norman Stone, pp. 120, 121, copyright © 1975 Norman Stone, publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons, publication date: 1975
1915-04-06, 1915, April, Carpathians, Carpathian Mountains, Conrad, Marwitz
