The Year 1914

French Ambassador Paleologue was informed by Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich of the need to suspend Russian operations due to excessive troop losses and lack of artillery shells. The Russian Army Chief of Staff at the War Ministry, General M.A. Belyaev, told Paleologue that the Army needed 45,000 artillery shells per day, but current maximum daily output was only 13,000. Belyaev was hopeful that by mid February 1915 Russian output could reach 20,000 per day, and that in March deliveries from abroad might begin arriving.

On 18 December, on the Southwest Front in Galicia, the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army was able to recapture the Lupkow Pass over the Carpathians, forcing the Russian 8th Army to fall back.

The Tsar stopped briefly at Rostov on his way to Novocherkassk, where he inspected a military school and troop units.

On 19 December, in Poland, German Armeeabteilung von Woyrsch was engaged in heavy fighting on the Lososina and Tsarna Rivers.

On the Southwest Front in Galicia, the Russian 11th Army repelled a desperate sortie by the besieged garrison at Przemysl.

The Tsar visited a monastery hospital at Voronezh.

On 20 December, in Poland, the Russians held the Bzura River line against heavy German assaults toward Warsaw.

On the Southwest Front in Galicia, the Russians began counter-attacks in an effort to recover the Carpathian Passes.

On the Caucasian Front, the Turkish IX Corps advanced on Sarikamis, while their X and XI Corps moved on Trabizond.

On 21 December, in Poland, the German 9th Army continued vain attempts to cross the Bzura River. The commander of the Russian 1st Army became aware of socialist propaganda showing up with arrival of reservists, taking quick steps to stamp it out.

In the Black Sea, four Russian minelayers laid two barriers with a total of 680 mines off the entrance to the Bosporus.

The Tsar arrived in Moscow, spoke to the town Duma, inspected young recruits and visited the wounded in hospitals. He left there for Stavka on the 25th, arrived the next day and stayed there until the 29th.

The Year 1914

On 22 December, in Galicia, the Russian 11th Army again repelled an Austro-Hungarian sortie from Przemysl.

On 23 December, in Poland, the Germans finally succeeded in crossing the Bzura River at two points.

On the Southwest Front in Galicia, the Russians were forced to raise the siege of Krakau.

On the Caucasian Front, the Russians defeated a Turkish 3rd Army offensive near Lake Van. In heavy blizzards and blinding snow the Turkish X Corps lost 30% of its men on the way over the mountains to Sarikamis.

In the Black Sea, three Turkish transport steamers, convoyed by the German cruiser Goeben and Turkish cruiser Hamidiye, safely reached Trabizond.

On 24 December, Russian Stavka issued a report claiming to have captured 134,000 German and 225,000 Austro-Hungarian prisoners to date. There were three processing centers for prisoners reception, Petrograd, Moscow and Kiev. There were 75 prisoner of war camps, mostly in the Urals and Siberia. Over 40,000 prisoners were recruited to serve in ethnic units within the Russian Army. During the entire war less than 3% of the Germans and less than 1% of Austro-Hungarian prisoners managed to escape captivity.

During December there were reports of an uprising by Romanians in Transylvania within the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

On 25 December, German airship PL.19 arrived at Koenigsberg, East Prussia, from its base at Kiel, Germany. Her mission was to search for minefields off Libau and Memel, bomb the naval bases there, as well as other military and industrial facilities at Riga and Vilna.

In the Baltic Sea, the Germans lacked enough minesweepers to clear the extensive Russian barriers. This had a rather adverse effect on German Baltic trade. Germany was being heavily blockaded by the British Navy in the North Sea.

In Poland, the Russians drove the Germans back beyond the Bzura River.

On the Southwest Front in Galicia, the Russian 3rd Army defeated the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army at Tarnow, bringing the Austro-German offensive to an end.