Fallen Russian soldiers after an attack, photo, 1916
The Calamity of the Tsarist Army Fallen Russian soldiers after an attack, photo, 1916 The photo shows the “forest of death” after a failed Russian attack on the positions of the German and Austrian armies at Kiseline near Luzk (Volhynia). From: Der Weltkrieg in seiner rauhen Wirklichkeit, Munich 1926, p. 419 At the beginning of May 1915, the Russian front began to totter as a result of the German-Austrian breakthrough near Tarnów-Gorlice. Galicia, which had been occupied by the troops of Tsar Nicholas II, was reclaimed after just a few weeks. The ensuing forays by the German High Command in the East led to the conquest of Russian Poland and parts of the Baltic States. Despite the fact that in the ‘East’ there were usually fewer troops and weapons, for a short period of time the highest firepower of the entire First World War was concentrated in this area. In the spring of 1915 the Central Powers of Germany and Austro-Hungary employed 334 heavy guns against just four on the Ru...