Postcard report and map of an Austrian victory at Krasnik on August 26, 1914. The three-day Battle of Krasnik, an Austro-Hungarian victory, began on August 23, 1914 when General Dankl leading the Austro-Hungarian First Army, advancing, struck the Russian Fourth Army, and drove them back towards Lublin. Russia is shown in green, Austria-Hungary yellow, and Germany blue.

Österreichische Siege, 26. 8. 1914

Das österreichische Kriegspressequartier meldet: Westlich der Weichsel errichten unsere Kräfte im Anschluß an die deutschen Verbündeten unter kleinen Kämpfen gestern den Abschnitt des Komionka Flussen zwischen Kielce und Radom. Oestlich der Weichsel warfen unsere Siegreich vordringenden Kräfte am 23 August bei Krasnik auf dem Wege nach Lublin eine starke Gruppe zweier russischer Korps zurück. Ueber 1000 Russen, darunter viele Offiziere, fielen unverwundet in unsere Hände. Eine Anzahl Fahnen, Maschinengewehre und Geschütze wurden erbeutet. (19)



Austrian victories, 26 8th 1914

The Austrian war press bureau reports: West of the Vistula our forces were increased by the addition of our German allies in fighting yesterday at the section of the Komionka River between Kielce and Radom. East of the Vistula our victorious forces advanced on 23 August at Krasnik, and drove a strong group of two Russian corps back to Lublin. About 1,000 Russians, including many officers, fell uninjured into our hands. A number of flags, rifles and machine guns were captured. (19)



Reverse:

Message dated February 7, 1915. Field postmark 9 Res. Div.



B.Z. Kriegskarte

Verlag der B.Z. am Mittag, Berlin



B.Z. War card

Publishing the B.Z. at noon, Berlin



SEE HERWIG, PP. 92, 93

Other views: Larger, Larger, Back

Wednesday, September 29, 1915

"The next morning at first light, reconnaissance flights revealed that the Turks had abandoned their positions on both sides of the river, and the naval flotilla easily breached the boom and pressed on as far as Kut, arriving off the town at 1000. . . .

The battle for Kut cost the Turks around four thousand men, of whom 1,153 were made prisoner, together with fourteen guns and a large quantity of stores. British losses were just ninety-four killed, but over 1,200 were hospitalised. This large number of wounded put a severe strain on the medical teams operating with the army, and even more on the scant resources allocated to evacuating the injured men to Basra and the single hospital ship available there."

Quotation Context

The British, protecting an oil pipe line that ran from Ahwaz and the oil fields in Persia to Basra, a commercial and communications center on the Persian Gulf, expanded their foothold in Mesopotamia, part of the Ottoman Empire, as the war went on. In the November, 1914 Battle of Basra, British and Indian troops defeated Turkish forces that retreated up the Shat el-Arab to Qurna (Kornah or Kurna) at the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The British took Qurna on December 9, 1914. In July, 1915 the British continued up-river and took Nasiriya. Kut, and Baghdad beyond it, lured them on. Abandoned by the Turkish defenders, Kut el Amara on the Tigris River was occupied by the British on September 29.

Source

Eden to Armageddon: World War I in the Middle East by Roger Ford, page 36, copyright © Roger Ford 2010, publisher: Pegasus Books, publication date: 2010

Tags

1915-09-29, 1915, September, Kut, Kut-el-Amara, Mesopotamia