Countryside and Cities Plundered; Rape and Murder Widespread Bolshevik Propaganda Reaches Front Special to The Great War Project (21-25 June) The Russian Army in Poland continues to fall back, suffering heavy losses in the process. Disillusionment with the war begins to spread in Russia, on the battlefield, and on the home front. The Germans retain…
Tag Archive for Eastern Front
AUSTRIAN ARMY SHATTERED, DESPITE RUSSIAN RETREAT
by Mike Shuster
Austrian Troops Throw Down Their Weapons, Then Surrender. Germany in Control of Eastern Front Special to The Great War Project. (Editor’s note: Catastrophe, A Blog of World War One, will take a short break. It will return next week.) (16-20 June) By now, in the spring of 1915, Austria-Hungary’s army is coming apart. On the…
RUSSIAN ARMY COLLAPSES
by Mike Shuster
Germany Takes Control of Eastern Front, Rescues Austrian Forces. Chaotic Russian Retreat Special to The Great War Project (10-12 June) The Eastern Front is seeing a dramatic reversal of fortune, with Russia losing much of the territory in Eastern Europe it seized earlier in 1915. Austria-Hungary, which looked to be on the brink of collapse…
THE SLAUGHTER GRINDS ON
by Mike Shuster
Stalemate is Deadly on Western Front; Russia Collapsing in East. Secret Orders for Mass Murder of Armenians in Turkey Special to The Great War Project (25-27 May) Thousands of soldiers are dying every day, and the news is dismal from all corners of the war’s battlefields. On May 25 a century ago, the Second Battle…
HUGE GERMAN GAS ATTACK AT YPRES
by Mike Shuster
German Offensive in West a Ruse; Russians in East are Main Target. The War in Verse Special to The Great War Project (18-20 May) Over the course of the past two weeks a century ago on the Western Front, fighting intensifies at the Belgian city of Ypres. It’s being called the Second Battle of Ypres.…
RUSSIA FACESS ‘GREAT DISASTER’ ON EASTERN FRONT
by Mike Shuster
Retreating Russian Troops Burn Towns, Farms; Thousands of Non-Russians Uprooted Special to The Great War Project (15-17 May) On the often ignored Eastern Front, the German army is engaged in an enormous attack on the Russian forces in control of much of western Ukraine and Poland. “In May 1915,” observes historian Adam Hochschild, “on the…
AUSTRIANS SURRENDER KEY FORT ON EASTERN FRONT
by Mike Shuster
Thousands of Austrians Taken Prisoner; Starvation in Fort; Russian Officer: ‘Most Horrible Sight I’ve Ever Seen.’ Special to The Great War Project (21-23 March) While the British focus most of their attention on northwestern Turkey – the Dardanelle Straits and the Gallipoli Peninsula — the war between Austria-Hungary and Russia on the Eastern Front continues…
AUSTRIA FACES COLLAPSE UNDER RELENTLESS RUSSIAN PRESSURE
by Mike Shuster
On Eastern Front, A String of Austrian Defeats; Germany on Its Own. Special to The Great War Project (22-24 February) Stalemate remains the order of the day on the Western Front, but on the Eastern Front, the war is more fluid. “The scale of battle remained a formidable one,” reports historian Martin Gilbert. Consequently, there…
THE TERRAIN OF DEATH
by Mike Shuster
Letters from the Frozen, Blood-Soaked Battlefield. Every Man Wants it Ended “At Once.” Special to The Great War Project. (4-5 December) In these days of freezing temperatures and mounting fatalities, an extraordinary exchange of letters takes place involving Winston Churchill, the British First Lord of the Admiralty and one of Britain’s most aggressively pro-war senior…
FROZEN EARTH, FROZEN WAR
by Mike Shuster
Germans Dig in for Long Haul; In the Trenches: Paneled Walls, Even Carpets; Ottoman Threat to Kill Allied Hostages. Special to The Great War Project. (24-25-26 November) In the central zone of the Eastern Front a century ago, as the battle around what is now the Polish city of Lodz comes to a close, the…