The Battle of Lutsk
June 4th-6th, 1916
The battle of Lutsk was where the Russians launched the very successfully Brusilov Offensive in early summer. The town of Lutsk was victimized by the Austro-Hungarian's so called 'Black-Yellow' Offensive in 1915 where it was heavily fortified and became a position for Austro-Hungarian reserves. The local commander at Lutsk and the 4th Austro-Hungarian army station was the unpopular General Archduke Josef Ferdinand. Josef Ferdinand was very contempt with his beliefs that his defensive lines were unbreakable and confident in his troops(200,000 men) numerical supremacy over the Russians(150,000 men).
But Josef Ferdinand's confidence was shattered when the Russians under General Alexei Kaledin broke through his defensive line on June 4th. Due to Russian artillery fire, 50 breaches were made in the Austro-Hungarian barbed wire defences causing the Austrians to flee from their positions. But the fleeing Austrians weren't able to escape and were taken prisoner because of the extensive amount of barbed wire defences around their positions. In the first two days the Austro-Hungarians lost 130,000 troops causing Austria-Hungary's ally, German, to request the dismissal of Josef Ferdinand which because of these losses happened.
The Brusilov Offensive didn't just harm the Austro-Hungarian 4th army but also to its 7th army too. Because of the offensives overall success, Austria-Hungary was almost knock out of the war lossing 1.5 million men along with lossing 40,250 miles of territory.
But Josef Ferdinand's confidence was shattered when the Russians under General Alexei Kaledin broke through his defensive line on June 4th. Due to Russian artillery fire, 50 breaches were made in the Austro-Hungarian barbed wire defences causing the Austrians to flee from their positions. But the fleeing Austrians weren't able to escape and were taken prisoner because of the extensive amount of barbed wire defences around their positions. In the first two days the Austro-Hungarians lost 130,000 troops causing Austria-Hungary's ally, German, to request the dismissal of Josef Ferdinand which because of these losses happened.
The Brusilov Offensive didn't just harm the Austro-Hungarian 4th army but also to its 7th army too. Because of the offensives overall success, Austria-Hungary was almost knock out of the war lossing 1.5 million men along with lossing 40,250 miles of territory.