Eight German military positions about Przemysl and Lemberg.
General von Kneussl pushed the line of his Bavarian regiments from the north closer to the fortress to shut in the foe. About eleven o'clock in the forenoon the heavy batteries began to engage the forts on the north front. In the night from the 30th to the 31st of May the infantry pushed forward closer to the wire entanglements. It awaited the effect of the heavy artillery. This confined the defenders to their bomb-proof shelters, so that our infantry could step out of its trenches and from the top of the breastworks watch the tremendous drama of destruction. The lighter guns of the assailants found ideal positions in the battery emplacements formerly built by the Russians as part of their siege works when operating against the Austrians in Przemysl. So, too, General von Kneussl with his staff found shelter near, and the chief of artillery in the observation station constructed by the Russians near Batycze. From this point, distant from the line of forts only a little more than two kilometers, one could observe the whole front of Forts 10 and 11. On the 31st of May, at four in the afternoon, the heavy guns ceased firing. Simultaneously the infantry, Bavarian regiments, a Prussian regiment and a detachment of Austrian sharp-shooters, moved to the attack. The destruction of the works and advanced points of support of the fortress by the heavy artillery had such a shattering and depressing effect on its garrison that it was not capable of offering any effective resistance to the attacking infantry.
The troops manning Forts 10a, 11a, and 11, such of them as did not lie buried in the shattered casemates, fled, leaving behind their entire war material, including a great number of the newest light and heavy Russian guns. The enemy replied to the assailants who pushed forward to the circular connecting road, only with artillery fire, and in the night made no counter attack of any kind. On the 1st of June the enemy threw several single battalions into a counter attack. These attacks were repulsed without difficulty.
The heavy artillery now fought down Forts 10 and 11. The Prussian infantry regiment No. 45, jointly with Bavarian troops, stormed two earthworks lying to the east of Fort 11 which the enemy had stubbornly defended. On the 2d of June, at noon, the 22d regiment of Bavarian infantry stormed Fort 10, in which all "bombproofs" except one had been made heaps of débris by the action of the heavy artillery. A battalion of fusiliers of the Queen Augusta Guard regiment of grenadiers in the evening took Fort 12. Works 10b, 9a and 9b capitulated.
In the evening the troops of General von Kneussl began the attack in the direction of the city. The village Zurawica and the fortified positions of the enemy situated there were captured. The enemy now desisted from all further resistance. Thus the German troops, followed later by the 4th Austro-Hungarian cavalry division were able to occupy the strongly built inner line of forts, and at 3 o'clock in the morning after making numerous prisoners, to march into the relieved city of Przemysl.
Here, where a battalion of the third infantry regiment of the Guard was the first troop to enter, there was still a last halt before the burned bridges over the San. But these were soon replaced with military bridges. After a siege of only four days the fortress of Przemysl was again in the hands of the allies. The Russians had in vain attacked this fortress for months. Although they brought hecatombs of bloody sacrifices they had not succeeded in taking the fortress by storm. Only by starvation did they bring it to fall, and they were enabled to enjoy their possession only nine weeks. Energetic and daring leadership, supported by heroically fighting troops and excellent heavy artillery, had in the briefest possible space of time reduced the great fortress.
BATTLE OF GRODEK
A semi-official dispatch by the Wolff Telegraphic Bureau, dated Berlin, June 27, reported as follows:
From the Great Headquarters we have received the following telegram about the battle for Grodek and the Wereszyca position: