The Year 1915

On 2 January, the Russian 4th Army, led by General A.E. Evert, was holding the line on the Pilitsa River on the Southwest Front.

The Russian 9th Army, with three corps, headed by General P.A. Lechitskiy, with HQ at Sandomir, was holding the line on Nida River front south of the 4th Army.

The Russian 3rd Army, commanded by General R.D. Radko-Dmitriev, was holding the line on the Dunajec River on the Southwest Front.

On the Southwest Front, the Russian 8th Army, led by General A.A. Brusilov, was making progress near the Uzsok and Rostoka Passes in the Carpathians.

In Poland, the Germans carried a key position at Borimov, only 60 km from Warsaw.

On the Caucasian Front, heavy fighting continued at the Battle of Sarikamish. The British received an urgent Russian request from Caucasian Front Chief of Staff General Yudenich for Allied action against the Turks, specifically a British naval threat at the Dardanelles.

In the Black Sea, a Turkish torpedo boat was disabled on a Russian mine after leaving the Bosporus.

The French Foreign Office received a telegram from British Ambassador Buchanan in Petrograd stating that the Russian government desired the Allies to make a demonstration somewhere. On the 3rd, Buchanan was authorized “to assure the Tsar's government that such a demonstration would be carried out against the Turks. This decision would lead to the disastrous Allied campaign at Gallipoli in an attempt to force the Dardanelles.

German commander in chief von Falkenhayn telegraphed his Austrian counterpart, Conrad von Hoetzendorff, at Teschen that German troops could not presently be transferred from the Western Front to the east.

On 3 January, on the Southwest Front, the Russians occupied Suczawa, 30 km southeast of Radautz in Bukovina.

On the Caucasian Front, the Turkish 3rd Army attacked Russian lines at Sarikamish and Ardaban. During the battle and ensuing Russian counter-attacks, the 3rd Army suffered 75,000 casualties, 30,000 to frostbite alone, losing 90% of its troops, about one fourth of the entire Turkish Army.

In the Black Sea, elements of the Russian Fleet left Sevastopol to search for the Breslau and Turkish warships off Trabizond.

The Year 1915

On 3 January, German Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg, in agreement with Hindenburg, proposed to the Kaiser that he remove von Falkenhayn from Supreme Command.

On 4 January, on the Caucasian Front, the Russians scored victories at Sarakamish and Ardaban. Enver Pasha pulled his remaining 3rd Army troops back through icy mountain passes, ending an immediate threat to Russia in Transcaucasia.

Conrad received a report from the Austro-Hungarian military attaché in Rome stating that Italy was preparing to enter the war on the Allied side and that the Italian Army would be fully ready by the end of March.

Conrad began preparations for an offensive in Galicia, urgently requesting that Hindenburg and Ludendorff send four to five German divisions to the east. It was turned down by Falkenhayn. Without consulting Falkenhayn, Hindenburg and Ludendorff promised Conrad several German divisions.

On 5 January, Archduke Friedrich wrote to the Austro-Hungarian Emperor that an attack by either Italy or Romania would place the Habsburg Monarchy in a militarily untenable position.

The Germans established a civil government in the occupied regions of Russian Poland.

On 6 January, on the Southwest Front, Russian forces occupied Kimpolung in Bukovina, reaching the Hungarian frontier.

German aircraft began carrying out bombing raids on Warsaw.

In the Black Sea, Russian warships lightly damaged the Turkish cruiser Hamidiye southeast of Yalta.

On 7 January, in Poland, heavy German attacks on the lower Ravka River were repulsed.

On 8 January, during a conference in Berlin the Kaiser decided in favor of Conrad's Carpathian plans. The Kaiser ordered formation of the German Südarmee, under General von Linsingen. Ludendorff refused an appointment to be his Chief of Staff.

The German Südarmee, with HQ at Munkacs, was ordered to prepare for a new offensive in southern Poland on the right of General Boroevic's Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army.