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WarChron - September 1915 - Grand Duke Nikolai to Caucasian Front |
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The Year 1915
On his son's visits to Stavka, the eleven year old Tsarevich wore the uniform of a private soldier with the Order of St. George 4th Class and shared his father's bedroom. The Empress suggested they have a private phone line run from her room to his.
Grand Duke Aleksandr Mikhailovich, who headed the Military Air Fleet, saw General Alekseev as cautious, but a good strategist and experienced general. The Grand Duke felt strongly that the more the Tsar stayed away from Petrograd the more Rasputin would exercise his influence on state affairs.
On 5 September, in the Black Sea, Russian naval forces, including destroyers Bystriy and Pronzitelniy, sank three Turkish coal steamers from Zonguldak. During the action, Turkish cruiser Hamidiye was heavily damaged and forced to withdraw. German submarines UB.7 and UB.8 were active off Odessa and the Crimean coast.
In Zimmerwald, Switzerland, Bolshevik leaders Lenin and Trotskiy attended a seven day International Socialist Conference, along with 33 anti-war socialists from ten countries. The conference issued a manifesto calling for immediate peace and civil war between the classes in Europe. The extreme left, including Lenin demanded more extreme measures.
During September, in North Russia, a narrow gauge railway was operating from Arkhangelsk to Vologda. Supplies were then moved on barges on the Dvina River to Kotlas, where they were distributed to the interior. The port at Arkhangelsk was open only from 1 May to mid-June due to ice conditions.
On 6 September, on the Southwest Front, there was heavy fighting near Brody.
Bulgaria and Turkey finally reached full agreement on territorial concessions. Bulgaria signed a secret military alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary and agreed to attack Serbia.
On 7 September, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich, along with his Chief of Staff General N.N. Yanushkevich, left Mogilev for the Caucasian Front.
On the Southwest Front, the Austro-Hungarians entered Dubno. A counteroffensive by the Russian 11th Army gained some ground against the German Südarmee at Tarnopol and at Trembowla on the Sereth River. The Russians took 150 officers, 8,000 men and 30 guns.
On Caucasian Front, the Russians defeated the Turks at Arkhave River, annihilating an entire army corps at Olti.
On 8 September, on the Western Front, von Below's German 8th Army was engaged in heavy fighting at Vilna. The German objective was to control the Dvinsk - Lida railway.
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The Year 1915
The Council of Ministers met at Petrograd. The newly formed Progressive Bloc (with 300 of 420 Duma members) made public their proposed nine point program, which included demands for formation of a government having “the confidence of the nation,” limit the powers of the bureaucracy, develop civil rights and liberties, abolition of discrimination, and a liberal policy towards the national minorities.
At Petrograd , Russian Foreign Minister Sazonov informed the Allied Ambassadors of the Tsar's decision to take command of the army. At the urging of the Empress, the Tsar was forced to dismiss General Dzhunkovskiy, Commander of the Gendarmerie and representative of the police in the Interior Ministry, simply because he opposed Rasputin.
In the Black Sea, three Russian destroyers laid 240 mines off Varna, the Bulgarian port which would be a base for German submarines.
On 9 September, in the Baltic Sea, British submarines E.18 and E.19 arrived at Revel. The British now had five submarines in the Baltic.
On the Northern Front, von Below's German Niemen Army moved on Dvinsk and Jakobstadt, driving a wedge between the Russian 12th and 5th Armies. Radko-Dmitriev's Russian 12th Army was headquartered north of Friedrichstadt. German airship Z.XII carried out a bombing raid on Vileika.
On the Southwest Front, the Russians fell back beyond Novo Alexandrovsk in heavy fighting in the Kovel sector.
With the support of the Empress, Tsar Nicholas II allowed Bishop Varnava of Tolbolsk in Siberia to hold a Cathedral service recognizing the glorification of Ioann Maksimovich, a local holy man, as a saint in open defiance of the Holy Synod. The controversy played a key role in demoralizing the Orthodox Church, and led the populace to believe that Rasputin's “gang” could behave any way it wished in gaining control of the Holy Synod.
On 10 September, in the Baltic Sea, eight Russian flying boats carried out a bombing raid on the Germans at Windau. The Russians lost one seaplane with a crew of two.
On the Western Front, there were heavy German 10th Army attacks north of Vilna. A German airship had to abort a mission against Revel.
On the Southwest Front, Russian forces made a quick recovery at Tarnopol, taking 33,000 Austro-Hungarian prisoners. The German High Command claimed having taken a total of 913,000 Russian prisoners to date.
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The Year 1915
On 11 September, in the Baltic, German seaplanes carried out a bombing raid on the Russian naval air station at Arensburg on Oesel Island.
On the Western Front, the Russians were withdrawing northwest of Vilna, but opened attacks along the Dvina River.
On the Southwest Front, after three days of heavy fighting the Austro-Hungarians pushed elements of the Russian 8th Army back beyond the Goryin River.
State Duma Chairman Rodzianko visited the Tsar at Stavka. The Tsar informed him that he had decided to close the Duma by the 29th, with all ministers to remain at their posts. On 12 September, on the Western Front, the Russians continued falling back east of Grodno. von Below's Germans captured Novo Svyentsyani Station, cutting the key Vilna - Dvinsk railway, the Russian 10th Army's main supply line.
On the Baltic coast, a Russian gunboat heavily bombarded German batteries and troops near Ragatsem, forcing them to abandon their positions.
On 13 September, there was heavy fighting all along the front from the Dvina River to the Vistula River. German airship Z XII carried out a bombing raid on Lida.
The Romanian High Command ordered partial mobilization as relations with the Central Powers continued to deteriorate. Germany demanded passage of Austro-German troops through Romanian territory.
On 14 September, on the Western Front, heavy fighting continued as von Below's new German 8th Army (former Niemen Army) captured Smorgon, which cut the key Vilna – Molodechno - Minsk railway, the Russian 10th Army's secondary supply line. German aircraft and an airship carried out a bombing raid on railway station at Lida, killing 20 people.
On the Southwest Front, a Russian advance continued in Galicia near Rovno and Tarnopol.
On 15 September, on the Northern Front, the German 8th Army engaged in heavy fighting west and south of Dvinsk. The Russian 1st Army was in the process of transfer to the right of the 10th Army. The Germans occupied Vileika and Krivich, cutting the Bologoe - Lida railway, which supplied the 1st Army. The 1st Army Staff arrived at Molodechno on its way to Lida.
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