Gradually this movement spread until on August 14, 1916, the Russians saw themselves forced to evacuate Jablonitza on the Pruth, which, together with some near-by villages, was immediately occupied by the Austro-Germans. Over 1,000 Russians were captured. Additional territory was regained by the Austro-Germans in this vicinity on August 15, 1916. During the next few days the Russian resistance gradually stiffened. In spite of this fact, and in spite of some local successes gained by the Russians on August 15, 1916, south of Delatyn and north of Kimpolung and again on August 17, 1916, south of Jablonitza near Korosmezo, the Austro-Germans continued to gain ground and increased the number of their prisoners. On August 19, 1916, the Russians reported some additional successes in the Jablonitza sector as well as on the Cheremosh and in the neighborhood of Kirlibaba, northwest of Kimpolung near the Hungarian-Bukowinian-Rumanian border.
On the same day, however, August 19, 1916, the Austro-Germans occupied some heights south of Zabie, which they succeeded in holding against strong Russian attacks launched on the same day, as well as on August 20 and 21, 1916. During the balance of August, 1916, the fighting in the Carpathian Mountains deteriorated as a result of the new developments farther south on the Rumanian border in a number of small local engagements. The results of none of these had any particular influence on the general position of either side, and in most instances amounted to little more than fighting between outposts. The only exception was the fighting in the neighborhood of Nadvorna, a few miles south of Stanislau, where the Russians in the face of stubborn resistance made some slight advance toward the Hungarian border, from which they were, on August 29, 1916, still some twenty miles distant.[Back to Contents]
CHAPTER XIX
THE BATTLE ON THE STOKHOD RIVER
In preceding chapters we have learned of the successful onslaught which the Russians made against the Austro-German lines during the months of June and July, 1916. Along the entire southern part of the eastern front—from the southern base of the Pinsk salient down to the Austro-Russo-Rumanian border—the troops of the Central Powers had been pushed back many miles.
From June 4, 1916, to August 1, 1916, the Russians had regained some 15,000 square miles in Volhynia, Galicia, and the Bukowina. Lutsk, Dubno, and Czernowitz were some of the valuable prizes which had fallen into the hands of the czar's armies. At the beginning of August, 1916, they now threatened the important railway centers of Kovel and Lemberg, the latter the capital of Galicia.
In defending the former the Austro-German armies had made a determined stand on the banks of the Stokhod River. This bit of water has its origin some ten miles west of Lutsk, from which point it winds its tortuous course for about one hundred miles in a northerly direction toward the Pripet River, of which it is a tributary. Its northern part flows through the Pripet Marshes. Its southern part, up to about the village of Trojanovka, forms a salient, with its apex on an almost straight line drawn between Kolki on the Styr and Kovel on the Turiya. This salient, as well as the part of the Stokhod between the southern base of the salient and its origin, formed a valuable and very formidable natural line of defense for Kovel against any attacks from the northeast, east, and southeast. Here the Austro-Germans had thrown up strong defensive works and were resisting with all their might.
On August 1, 1916, the most furious kind of fighting took place in the Stokhod sector. By that time the Russian attack, begun a few days before, had made considerable progress, so that the Russians were at some points some few miles west of the river. Time and again the Russians heavily attacked the German-Austrian lines. In most places, however, the latter not only held, but were even strong enough to permit of repeated powerful counterattacks. This was especially true in the region of the bend of the Stokhod near the villages of Seletsie, Velitsk, and Kukhari. Very heavy fighting also developed at many points north of the Kovel-Sarni railway. Near the village of Smolary the Russians attacked three times, but were thrown back as often, and between Witoniez and Kiselin six Russian attacks followed each other in rapid succession, encountering the most stubborn resistance.
Without abatement the Russians threw themselves against their opponents' lines in this sector on the following day, August 2, 1916. But the Germans protected themselves with such a well-directed and furious curtain of artillery fire that the czar's troops could make no further progress in spite of exceedingly heavy losses. Again Witoniez and Kiselin were the center of desperate fighting which gradually spread to the forest near Ostrow, north of Kiselin, and to the region near the villages of Dubeschovo and Gulevitchie.
As the fighting progressed it became more and more evident that the Austro-German command had determined to make a stand at the Stokhod at any cost. The special correspondent of the London "Times," observing the fighting from the Russian side, described its furiousness and the ever-increasing resistance of the Austro-Germans as follows: