The Year 1915

On 30 April, on the Northwest Front, the German advance reached railway stations at Muravievo and Radziviliski.

On the Southwest Front, von Mackensen's German 11th Army moved to battle positions along with the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army. Facing them between Gorlice and Tarnow was General Radko-Dmitriev's 3rd Army, which had been weakened by the easterly move of its XXI Corps from positions west of Tarnow to the region of the Mezo-Laborcz Pass. German aircraft carried out many valuable reconnaissance missions spotting enemy weak points. Balloons spotted artillery fire.

At Petrograd, U.S. Ambassador to Russia, G.T. Marye, wrote in his notes, “Under the present arrangement the Emperor is very far removed from the people and he is further separated from them by a permanent official class over which the people have no authority and over which he himself has incomplete control. Of course, if he gives a command it receives instant obedience, but if it be in the nature of an innovation and is distasteful to officialdom, while there is outward compliance, there is a passive resistance in carrying it out that makes it fall of its own weight. The system is faulty.”

At Petrograd, a massive explosion at the Okhta munitions works that produced shell fuses dealt a very serious blow to munitions production.

During April, the Tsar's Special Conference on Munitions Supply drew up a comprehensive scheme of mobilizing industries for immediate munitions production. The plan was laid aside until August “to wait for the Duma Committee.” An offer of one million rifles from Japan was declined because they were of different caliber from the Russian, and might take business away from Russian manufacturers.

During March and April, German airships carried out raids on Ciechanow and Bialystok.

On 1 May, von Falkenhayn appealed to Conrad to use his influence on the Austro-Hungarian Emperor and Foreign Minister to conclude concessions with Italy to keep them out of the war.

On the Northwest Front, von Gallwitz's German forces moved north between the Weichsel and Sawka Rivers driving on Libau.

On the Southwest Front, von Mackensen's Austro-Germans opened the Battle of the Dunajec in Galicia. The offensive began with a massive artillery bombardment, over 700,000 shells, on Russian 3rd Army positions between Gorlice and Tarnow, shattering their communications lines and morale. This action marks the beginning of the “Great Retreat of 1915.”