Archduke Joseph's north wing now joined in a movement which had commenced to the south of the Dniester. There was strong Russian firing activity along that whole front.
In the north the fighting, too, was severe. In some places the Russians made decided gains, only to lose them again by the refusal of certain troops to obey their commanders. Southwest of Dvinsk Russian detachments, after strong artillery preparation, occupied German positions on both sides of the Dvinsk-Vilna railway. After this success entire units, without any pressure on the part of the Germans, voluntarily returned to their original trenches. A number of these units refused to carry out military commands during the battle.
Detachments of the Twenty-fourth Division, the Tulsk, Lovitsky, and Saraosky regiments, and the "Battalion of Death," consisting of women, acted especially heroically, and as at other points the gallantry of the officers was noteworthy. Their losses were large. In the direction of Vilna and in the region north of Krevo the Germans delivered a number of counterattacks, and succeeded in occupying one of the heights north of Bogush, which had been captured by the Russians on the previous day, July 22, 1917. Heroic exertion by the Russian officers was required to restrain the men from withdrawing to the rear in great numbers.
The German successes became more and more important and the Russian route more and more complete. Stanislau and Nadvorna were now in German hands and German forces were rapidly approaching Buczacz.
In the Carpathians, too, the Russians began to give way.
Prime Minister Kerensky had rushed to the Galician front as soon as news had reached him of the Russian débâcle. However, even his presence could not stem the Austro-German advance and the Russian flight. It was reported that he had even risked his life in this attempt.
On July 25, 1917, the Austro-German successes were still farther extended. During stubborn engagements Austro-German divisions gained heights west of Tarnopol and the Gniza River sector to the Trembowla-Husiatyn road. Farther southwest Buczacz, Tiumacz, Ottynia, and Delatyn were taken.
The Russian Carpathian front, owing to the pressure on the north of the Dniester, now commenced to weaken to the south of the Tartar Pass. The Russians were retreating there in the direction of Czernowitz.
In the north, south of Smorgon, concentrated German artillery fire partly closed up the breach in the German lines made by the Russians. The latter were compelled to retreat, and the Germans regained almost all of their former positions.
July 26, 1917, brought still further defeats to the Russian forces in Galicia. In a bitter struggle near Tarnopol, German divisions extended their gains by a powerful attack at the bridgehead on the eastern bank of the Sereth, which recently had been contested hotly. Farther south, in spite of stubborn resistance of Russians, who were sent forward regardless of the fact that thousands upon thousands of them were being mowed down under destructive German fire, the Germans captured the Gniza and Sereth crossings from Trembowla to Skomorocze. They were also advancing rapidly on both sides of the Dniester. Kolomea was captured by Bavarian and Austro-Hungarian troops. In the northeastern portion of the wooded Carpathians Austrian troops were following on the heels of the Russians who retreated in the direction of the Pruth.