The white Russian bear, dyed red with Austro-Hungarian blood, triumphs over the Habsburg Eagle. Russian was victorious in Galicia in 1914 and early 1915. A postcard by Bianchi.
l'orso biancothe white bearReverse:Proprieta artistica riservata - N. 88Artistic ownership reserved - No. 88
"A combined Austro-Hungarian-German force advanced against Przemyśl and on 3 June [1915] Bavarian units entered the fortress. Captain Otto Kohler of the 9th Pioneer Company, Bavarian 11th Infantry Division, remembered the assault that dawn in bright sunshine. His men advanced over fields littered with dead soldiers, their guns and their kits. The troopers of the 11th Division decorated themselves with oak leaves and made bouquets in the Bavarian blue-white colors from corn-flowers and wind-flowers. Unfurling their regimental banners and Bavarian flag, they entered Przemyśl lustily singing. The remaining German residents threw flowers at their feet."
Begun on May 2, 1915, the German-Austro-Hungarian Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive continued to push back the Russian Army on an increasingly broad front, and threatened to encircle the Russians holding the great fortress of Przemyśl in Austria-Hungary's northeast province of Galicia. The Russians, who had taken the city on March 23, 1915, evacuated it on June 2, evading capture. On June 3, German and Austro-Hungarian forces entered, welcomed by ethnic Germans, less so by Polish.
The First World War: Germany and Austria Hungary 1914-1918 by Holger H. Herwig, page 142, copyright © 1997 Holger H. Herwig, publisher: Arnold, publication date: 1997
Przemyśl, Przemysl, 1915-06-03, 1915, June
