Battle of Lake Narocz

[frankby]

I'm researching the Battle of Lake Narocz on the Eastern Front in 1916 which was then in Russian controlled Poland. It is now called Lake Naroch and is modern day Belarus.

I'd be grateful for any information and any especially pictures. I include a small summary of the battle :

At the height of the war One with French forces under heavy attack at the fortress town of Verdun, the French Commander in Chief Joseph Joffre appealed to his allies in early 1916 to launch offensive operations of their own in order to divert German resources and ease pressure on Verdun. Russia responded quickly and identified an area of perceived weakness in the German line just to the east of Vilnius. The plan was to assault it with a much larger force in the hope that they could break through and cause the Germans to relocate troops and resources from Verdun. Tsar Nicholas II and the Russian chief of staff, General Mikhail Alekseyev planned an offensive at Lake Naroch itself, where 1.5 million Russian soldiers would face just 1 million combined German and Austro-Hungarian troops, under the command of General Eichhor's German Tenth Army.

The Russian offensive, led by General Smirnov's Second Army (part of General Alexei Evert's estern Army Group) launched on the 18th March 1916, began with a two-day-long artillery bombardment (the longest yet seen on the Eastern Front) against the Germans that for the most part failed to do the planned damage due to inaccuracy. Russian infantry troops from the Tenth Army, commanded by General Alexei Evert, then moved forward across no-mans land in groups rather than spreading out against a heavily fortified German defence, suffering heavy casualties. Due to the spring thaw,

the ice on the lake was thin and it is believed thousands of men perished falling through the ice, in addition many of the approaching infantrymen also became bogged down in the thick mud, slowing the offensive. The lack of an effective supply system also hampered the Russians, as the battle

stretched on for almost a month. The floundering attack gained several kilometres of land in some places but made little impact on the German defences, or to their troop allocations.

[varifleman]

Hello frankby: I have an illustrated war diary of a German machinegunner who fought in the battle of Lake Narocz which contains many rare photos and commentaries on the Battle. I'm in the process of moving to a new home and all my diaries etc are in storage but as soon as the diary is available I'll post photos and commentaries.

[phil andrade]

Somewhere - perhaps in Norman Stone's history of the Eastern front - I remember reading that the Germans claim to have counted and removed five thousand Russian corpses from their wire entaglements alone : this would only have been a fraction of the total number of Russian dead on the field. There were also, apparently, six thousand deaths from frostbite in the Russian ranks.

Phil (PJA)

[John Gilinsky]

This battle was a fundamentally demoralizing one for the Russians who had carefully prepared men, small arms ammunition and artillery for it. Moreover they attacked on a relatviely small front with masses of infantry. Bad luck and bad timing in the weather department, questionable senior leadership and good German defences combined to produce huge Russian casualties. If the Russians couldn't advance very much with after such careful preparations how could the army then overthrow or punch a big enough hole(s) in the German lines generally?

John (aka Ivan)

[frankby]

Hello frankby: I have an illustrated war diary of a German machinegunner who fought in the battle of Lake Narocz which contains many rare photos and commentaries on the Battle. I'm in the process of moving to a new home and all my diaries etc are in storage but as soon as the diary is available I'll post photos and commentaries.

Hi,

I would be extremely grateful for this information, I have written an article for a small circulation WWI magazine I can send draft copies if you are interested. Thanks - Frank

[varifleman]

Hi Frank. Please send the draft copies to varifleman@aol.com; I'm very anxious to read them. I should move into my new home late Sept or early Oct and will send you info from the diary then. Cheers, George

[isanders]

Our March Lecture will be:

The Battle of Lake Narocz 1916

Tuesday 12th March 2013 at 7.30pm

Frank Plezak details the little known Battle of Lake Narocz.

Under pressure from the Germans at Verdun in early 1916, the French Commander-in-Chief Joseph Joffre pressed his allies to launch offensives of their own to draw forces away from Verdun wherever possible and to place Central Powers forces under increased pressure Russia, under Chief of Staff Alexeev, responded with an offensive drive in the Vilna-Naroch area (Lithuania today). 1.5 million Russian forces facing just 1 million combined German and Austro-Hungarian the Russian prospects appeared good...

More info here

[waldo]

See for the German side: Flex, Die russische Frühjahrsoffensive 1916, available here:

http://babel.hathitr...age/n0/mode/1up

for the Russian side:

Podorozhny NE Narochskaya operation in March 1916, M. 1938

waldo

[James A Pratt III]

The Russians in the picture look more like Russo-Japanese war not WW I. Note the white tunics which even in the R-J war they dyed some shade of khaki. this looks like an intersting lecture.

[isanders]

Thanks for info on the tunics, I did struggle to find a decent image to advertise the talk.

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