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WarChron - July 1917 - Romanian Front Offensives - Stavka Conference |
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The Year 1917
At Petrograd, Bolshevik leaders Lenin and Zinoviev left the city and went into hiding near the Finnish border.
At Petrograd, the Provisional Government issued a proclamation, charging that disorders had been precipitated to bring about a counter-revolution by enemies of the country.
On 23 July, on the Northern Front, the Russian 10th Army offensive from Jakobstadt, driving on Kovno, ended in complete failure.
On the Southwest Front, the Russian retreat in Galicia continued. Stanislau was evacuated. Halicz fell to the Austro-Germans. Austro-Hungarian troops occupied Kozowa, a key base for Russian supplies and ammunition. They took 600 railway wagons, a sanitary train, many locomotives and large quantities of munitions and other supplies.
On 23 July, on the Romanian Front, the Romanian 1st Army laid down a very heavy artillery barrage in preparation for the offensive, but received word from the Russians that Kerenskiy had called a halt to all offensive actions. The Romanian General Staff ordered a retreat across the Sereth River. The Russians ordered their 4th Army to move from Moldavia to the Bukowina sector. The Romanian 1st Army's front in the Putna region was very thinly stretched.
General A.E. Gutor took over as commander of the Southwest Front, but served only eight days before being removed. On 6 August, Kerenskiy appointed General Kornilov as commander of the Southwest Front. Kornilov accepted the post, but demanded the re-introduction of the death penalty and summary courts-martial in all sectors connected with the war front. Kerenskiy was forced to agree because of the desperate situation.
On the Southwest Front, the Austro-German offensive captured Tarnopol. The Kaiser briefly visited Zloczow, then went on to Tarnopol on the 26th, leaving on the 28th for Vilna.
In Poland, Josef Pilsudski resigned his seat on the Polish State Council.
On 24-25 July, on the Romanian Front, a primary thrust was made by the Russian 6th Army and Romanian 1st Army in the south at the Namoloasa bridgehead on the Sereth River, moving against the German 9th Army. A supporting role was assigned to the Russian 4th Army and Romanian 2nd Army further north against the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army. Bad weather delayed operations in the south. In two days of heavy fighting they captured about 100 square km and more then 3,000 prisoners.
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The Romanian 2nd Army took Marashti. After five days they stalled having advanced only 19 km on a 40 km front. On the 25th, the Russian 4th Army's VIII Corps announced they would go no further on orders from the “Revolution.”
On 25 July, on the Southwest Front, the Austro-German offensive captured Stanislau.
On the northern Romanian Front, Austro-German forces crossed the Sereth River and seized Kolomea on the 27th.
At Petrograd, the Provisional Government decreed the death penalty for desertion, for any violence against officers, for refusal to obey orders, or establishing “military-revolutionary” courts, which consisted of three officers and three enlisted men. Kerenskiy had threatened to resign unless this was done.
In East Prussia, German army airship LZ.120 took off from its base at Seerappen, west of Koenigsberg, in an abortive raid in the West Baltic Sea . She returned on 31 July after a flight of 101 hours.
On 25 July, at Kiev, the Ukrainian Rada announced the inclusion of national minorities.
At Paris, during Inter-Allied Conference, France suggested that a Japanese expeditionary force be sent to the Russian Front sometime in October, but the Japanese Army rejected such a “European expedition.”
On 26 July, on the Northern Front, the Finnish Jaeger Battalion arrived at Libau from Germany.
On 27 July, Kerenskiy ordered a halt to a successfully developing offensive by the Russian 4th Army and the Romanian 2nd Army.
In the Black Sea, German airship SL.10 was wrecked after attempting an attack on the port at Sevastopol.
At Paris, a meeting of Allied governments received a memo from French General Foch, which noted the possibility of Russia's defection from the war and Germany's move of large numbers of troops to the Anglo-French front.
On 28 July, on the Southwest Front, the Russians continued falling back from Kolomea. Brusilov's front was broken at Zloczow. The Russians began evacuation of Czernowitz.The Russian retreat would finally halt on the line Brody - Zbaraz – and the Zbrucz River. Austro-Germans captured much war material.
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On the Romanian Front, the Romanian 3rd, 1st and 6th Divisions, along with the Russian 14th, 15th, and 3rd Turkestan Divisions continued advancing between Putna and Soveja in Moldavia.
On 29 July, at Stavka, Kerenskiy presided at a one day conference, during which General Denikin called for the revocation of the Declaration of Rights of the Soldiers in order to re-establish army discipline and restore authority, and introduce the death penalty in the rear. Kerenskiy stated that to do so would invite anarchy and massacres of officers
Denikin was supported by Alekseev and the other Generals. A written report by General Kornilov suggested broadening the role of commissars by giving them the authority to confirm sentences passed by military courts-martial and purge the army of all undesirable elements. Kerensky was forced to agree to their proposals.
On 30 July, at Stavka, General Lavr Kornilov was offered the post of Supreme Commander in Chief, replacing General Brusilov. As a condition of retaining command, he demanded that the Provisional Government should have executive control of the army without any interference from soldier's committees, the end of all Bolshevik agitation, plus the arrest of Lenin and his associates. Kornilov took up his command on 5 August, with General A.S. Lukomskiy as Chief of Staff at Stavka.
On the Southwest Front, Austro-German forces captured Zaleszczycki and Sniatyn. By the end of July, the Germans had received reinforcements of 13 divisions added to the 72 others already facing the Russians and Romanians, which relieved some pressure on the Allied Western Front.
On 31 July, on the Southwest Front, the Austro-Germans now stood on the west bank of the Zbrucz River in Galicia. The Russians were retiring in the Czernowitz region.
General D.P. Parskiy replaced General R.D. Radko-Dmitriev as commander of the Russian 12th Army.
At Petrograd, the Provisional Government rejected a Finnish proposal for autonomy and ordered the Finnish Parliament dissolved, with new elections to be held in early October.
Caucasian Front commander General M.A. Przhevalskiy submitted his resignation, but it was not accepted. He continued to serve in the post until 10 January 1918. During July, small groups of Ukrainian soldiers in front and rear units began forming all-Ukrainian units within the Russian Army.
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