On May 23, 1915 Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary, its former ally as a member of the Triple Alliance. Clasping the hands of the German and Austro-Hungarian emperors Wilhelm II and Franz Josef, Italy's king Victor Emmanuel III conceals the tattered document behind his back.
Image text: Ihr Völker merkt für jetzt und späterSo schwor zum Dreibund der VerräterYour people note both now and later,Thus swore to the Triple Alliance the traitor.Reverse:Militäramtlich genehmigt (Officially approved by the military)Logo: EMM No. 9
Field Marshall August von Mackensen at the map table. General von Mackensen was promoted to Field Marshall on June 23, 1915 with the fall and occupation of Lemberg, Austria-Hungary during his successful Gorlice-Tarnow offensive.
Image text: General August Generalfeldmarschall von Mackensen am KartentischSteinborn, Neuenahr Phot.Field Marshal von Mackensen at the map tableSteinborn, Neuenahr PhotoReverse:Wohlfahrts-PostkarteHerausgegeben vom Deutschen Verein für Sanitätshunde Oldenburg i/Gr.Verkaufspreis 10 Pfennig, 3 Pfennig Reinerlös für den VereinWelfare PostcardPublished by the German Association for Red Cross dogs Oldenburg i/Gr.Sales price 10 Pfennig, 3 Pfennig net proceeds for the Association
German photograph of Russian soldiers at Baranovitchi (Baranawitschy), 'slaughtered by stick grenade.' Baranovitchi was the site of Stavka, the Russian High Command, until August 8, 1915, when it was relocated to Mogilev in the face of the continued German-Austro-Hungarian Gorlice-Tarnow advance. Baranovitchi was also the site of Russia's July 1916 offensive, ostensibly coordinated with Brusilov's begun a month before, that lost 80,000 Russians between July 2 and 8, at a cost of 16,000 Germans. The stick grenade was introduced in 1915.
Image text: Reverse:After attack of the Russians at Baranawitschy in front of our trenches. Slaughtered by stickgrenades (translation by Thomas Faust, eBay's Urfaust)
Will's Cigarettes card of General Aleksei Brusilov (Brusiloff).
Image text: Will's CigarettesGeneral BrusiloffReverse:No. 41 of the series Allied Army Leaders, a series of 50 from Will's CigarettesPassed for publication by the Press Bureau, 28.12.16.General Brusiloff.Gen. Alexey Alexeyevitch Brusiloff, the brilliant Russian leader in Galicia, is about 64 years of age, and first saw active service in the Russo-Turkish war of 1877. Before the present war he was widely known as a daring cavalry officer of exceptional ability. In 1915 he led the Russian dash over the Carpathians, and in 1916 commanded the four Armies of the Russian left-wing which broke through the Austrian front and reconquered Galicia, inflicting very great losses on the Austro-Germans.W.D. & H.O. WillsBristol & LondonIssued by the Imperial Tobacco Co. (of Great Britain & Ireland) Ltd.
1917 photograph of Austro-Hungarian soldiers posing on the ruins of a destroyed plane, likely a pusher with the engine facing the rear of the plane.
Image text: 1917 photograph of Austro-Hungarian soldiers posing on the ruins of a destroyed plane, likely a pusher with the engine facing the rear of the plane.
"Tschirschky has just left me, who told me that he had received a telegram from Berlin, by which his Imperial master instructs him to declare emphatically that in Berlin an action of the Monarchy against Serbia is fully expected and that Germany would not understand why we should neglect this opportunity of dealing a blow." ((1), more)
". . . At Krasnik on July 2nd [1915], the army of Archduke Joseph of Austria, while advancing toward Lublin, was halted by a Russian Army under Gen. Loische. Three days later, the Archduke fell back upon an intrenched position north of the town, losing 15,000 men. The Russian losses were 8,000. The army of Gen. Mackensen also was stopped near Krastnostav on July 7th." ((2), more)
". . . there was only marsh. There was no time to sap forward, no time for guns to register properly. A huge force of cavalry clogged the supply-lines. Twenty-one and a half infantry, five cavalry divisions were gathered. A thousand guns opened the bombardment, with a thousand rounds each. This was not effective. Two German divisions were brought in as reserves just before the attack began; the bombardment, though lasting for several days, achieved nothing in particular. A few initial tactical successes came—3,000 prisoners, a few guns. On 4th July one of the two Austrian divisions collapsed, and the line was held by reserve Germans. Then the attack stopped—resumed again with bombardment on the 7th July, and again stopped. By 8th July the Russians had lost 80,000 men, and the Germans 16,000. Yet this attack had used up more shell than the whole of Brusilov's front in the first week of his offensive." ((3), more)
". . . the Offensive, under our intrepid General Brusilov, might, so far, be regarded as highly successful. It had taken place along a 50 — or more — verst line and the many divisions concentrated on that part of the Galician Front had had little difficulty in ousting the Austrians from their trenches and driving them far back into their hinterland. The Russians had better guns, more men, and enormous supplies of ammunition. Everything was in our favour; if only the morale of the soldiers endured, Russia might soon see the complete collapse of the Austrian Army." ((4), more)
"In Germany and Austria the early days of July were a time of scarcity, of explosions of pacifist sentiment in the Reichstag, and of open defiance of edicts of the Imperial Government. The Brest-Litovsk peace and resulting measures taken to include the old dominions of the Czar in the Mittel-Europa trading complex only resulted in spreading the Bolshevik contagion through the kingdoms, dukedoms and city states of the central empires. The imperial confederation that Bismarck cemented was shaking apart. Even Prussia, the cornerstone was cracking.The Kaiser had assured his subjects that Ludendorff's spring offensives would bring peace with victory, but all the German workingpeople could see was an immense new butcher's bill, and hunger and stringency. It was the turn of the Germans to get tired of being killed. They were beginning to listen to Bolshevik agitators whispering that peace lay in defeat." ((5), more)
(1) Excerpt from a private letter of July 8, 1914 from Austro-Hungarian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Berchtold to Hungarian Premier Tisza. Tisza had been the sole opponent of war against Serbia at the meeting of the Austro-Hungarian Council of Ministers for Common Affairs the previous day. Berchtold is trying to overcome Tisza's opposition. Tschirschky was the German Ambassador to Austria-Hungary.
July, 1914; the Outbreak of the First World War; Selected Documents by Imanuel Geiss (Editor), page 102, copyright © 1967 Imanuel Geiss, publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons, publication date: 1967
(2) German Commander in Chief Erich von Falkenhayn approved and General August von Mackensen led the joint German, Austro-Hungarian Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive that broke through the Russian line in the beginning of May, 1915, driving Russian forces from the Carpathian Mountains and Galicia in north-eastern Austria-Hungary, and penetrating into Russian Poland. With severe shortages of artillery, shells, rifles, and ammunition, the Russians could do little more than retreat, dig in, attempt to hold a position, then resume their retreat. But on July 7, they halted, briefly, both the German and Austro-Hungarian armies.
King's Complete History of the World War by W.C. King, page 173, copyright © 1922, by W.C. King, publisher: The History Associates, publication date: 1922
(3) In his offensive launched on June 4, 1916, Russian General Alexsei Brusilov had demonstrated the results that could be achieved with careful preparation and adequate weapons. Generals Alexei Evert and Alexander Ragoza, like their fellow commanders, did not learn Brusilov's lessons, such as that of digging trenches (saps) toward the enemy front line to minimize the open ground over which soldiers needed to advance to reach the enemy trench. Brusilov preceded his infantry assault with a bombardment of hours, not days. He did not rely on cavalry to exploit a breakthrough, but on well-coordinated artillery and infantry. Brusilov also had the advantages of facing primarily Austro-Hungarian troops rather than German, and of having more time to prepare. The Russians were unable to exploit Brusilov's success.
The Eastern Front, 1914-1917 by Norman Stone, pp. 260-261, copyright © 1975 Norman Stone, publisher: Charles Scribner's Sons, publication date: 1975
(4) Excerpt from the entry for Sunday, July 8, 1917 (June 23 Old Style) from the diary of Florence Farmborough, an English nurse serving with the Russian Red Cross, her unit then attached to the Russian 7th Army, and writing of the Kerensky Offensive launched on July 1, Russia's last offensive of World War I. Alexsei Brusilov was Russia's most successful commander during the war, and he had attacked along a front of about 33 miles in Galicia, Austria-Hungary. (A verst is roughly two-thirds of a mile.) Throughout the war the Russians were frequently successful fighting Austro-Hungarian troops, less so against the Germans. Russian industrial output had increased dramatically during the war, and it was less reliant on imports form the United States and Japan than it had been in previous years.
Nurse at the Russian Front, a Diary 1914-18 by Florence Farmborough, page 280, copyright © 1974 by Florence Farmborough, publisher: Constable and Company Limited, publication date: 1974
(5) German Commander Erich Ludendorff mounted four offensives on the Western Front between March 21 and June 14, 1918. They bent but did not break that Allies, and did not end the war with a German victory. There would be one more beginning in mid-July. The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed between Russia and the Central Powers in March, 1918 following Russia's Bolshevik Revolution in November 1917.
Mr. Wilson's War by John Dos Passos, page 347, copyright © 1962, 2013 by John Dos Passos, publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
