Attack of the "dead", or How the poisoned Russian soldiers fought back the Germans and held the Osovets fortress

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

During the First World War, the German siege of the Osovets fortress near the border with East Prussia lasted for about a year. The most striking of the history of the defense of this fortress was the episode of the battle between the Germans and the Russian soldiers who survived the gas attack. Military historians name a number of reasons for the victory, but the main one is the courage, fortitude and fortitude of the defenders of the fortress.

What value was the Osovets fortress for the Germans

The First World Fortress Osovets is an important strategic facility located along the southern border of East Prussia (23 kilometers from it) and consisting of 4 forts. It was built at the end of the 19th century and became a means of permanent fortification on the left bank of the Bobra River, two kilometers from the railway bridge. Behind it there was a large transport junction of railways and highways - Bialystok.

The capture of the fortress opened the shortest route to the east for the Germans. The German blockade corps - the 11th Landwehr division (German militia-type troops), which engaged in the siege of the fortress, had a numerical superiority in the number of infantrymen and artillery means (their number, caliber and range) in front of its defenders. The main trump card of the German side was super-heavy siege weapons ("Big Bertha"), designed to siege strong fortifications. The weight of the shells is 800 kg, the rate of fire is one per 8 minutes, the range is 14 km. The Russians could oppose them with only two long-range naval guns "Kane" with a caliber of 15 mm, with a rate of fire of 4 rounds per minute and a firing range of 11 km.

But the location of the fortress on the terrain was advantageous precisely for the latter: the fortress could be reached by the only narrow path, to the left and right of which there were swamps 10 km long. Therefore, the Germans relied on well-camouflaged and powerful artillery, which they installed near the Podlesok station and in the Belashevsky forest.

Hurricane fire on the fortress was conducted from February 25 to March 3, 1915, producing a grandiose external effect: powerful explosions of shells threw up huge earth and water columns, leaving craters 4 m deep and more than 10 meters in diameter. The earth trembled, huge trees uprooted flew up. The fortress was shrouded in smoke, through which flashes of fire broke through. It seemed that no one would survive after such a massive bombing. But a large number of shells fell into a swamp or water ditches. Yes, dugouts, machine-gun nests, brick buildings were destroyed, but the main fortified structures were preserved, there were almost no losses in the infantry regiments of the fortress.

The soldiers, exhausted by the battles preceding the bombardment and the work to strengthen the defenses of the fortress, soon got used to the terrible ruptures and took the opportunity to sit out and rest. Moreover, aerial reconnaissance of the fortress discovered huge German guns, two of which were destroyed by the Russians with targeted fire from the Canet cannons. With another well-aimed hit, they blew up a German ammunition depot.

Having spent a significant number of shells, the Germans did not achieve the main thing. The fortress withstood and did not surrender. The Germans withdrew the remaining heavy guns to Grajevo, and the shelling gradually ceased. In April, Russian intelligence established that the enemy was actively working to strengthen its infantry positions and prepare for the assault.

The fortress lived at that time a quiet life, since the shelling did not resume, and access to it was impossible - the Beaver River overflowed, filling the swamps with water. But the commandant of the fortress realized that this was a temporary lull, and serious preparatory work was needed. By the beginning of August, the Russians had thoroughly consolidated their forward positions. But the Germans approached the positions of the Russians by 200 meters with their trenches and continued to carry out some kind of earthwork. Only later it became clear which ones they were preparing to attack the Russian garrison with poisonous gases.

How the Germans prepared and carried out a chemical attack on Osovets

During the First World War, German military chemists conceived the creation of a substance capable of striking entire enemy armies at a time. The Germans began to successfully use this barbaric weapon of mass destruction at the front (the French troops were the first to suffer - 15 thousand people died). It was useful to them this time too, especially since other opportunities to open their way to Bialystok had already been exhausted.

The calculation of the Germans turned out to be correct - the Russians did not have special means of protection against the gas attack. At 4 o'clock, a huge dark green cloud was noticed from the fortress. The suffocating gas wave reached 15 meters in height and spread over 8 km in width. On the way of her movement, all living things perished: the grass turned black, the leaves on the trees withered and fell off, the birds fell dead.

The defenders made attempts to protect themselves: the soldiers poured water over the parapet, sprayed lime mortar, burned straw and tow. Someone wore gas mask bands, and someone simply wrapped a wet rag over their face. But all these measures were ineffective. Three companies were killed entirely, from the other four companies, about 900 people remained alive. Some survived, closing in barracks and shelters, pouring water on tightly closed windows and doors. Soon after the chlorine attack, shelling of the Zarechny Fort and the road leading to the Sosnenskaya position began. Under cover of fire, the Landwehr's 11th Division launched an offensive.

Unsuccessful "attack of the dead" and miscalculations of the Germans

Along the highway and the railway, the 18th regiment went on the attack, quickly overcoming the first two lines of barbed wire, it took one of the important points from a tactical point of view and began to move towards the Rudskoy bridge. At the Sosnenskaya position, half of the personnel remained, and that at that time was demoralized by the attack with poisonous gases, so their attempt to counterattack did not become effective. There was a threat of a breakthrough by the Germans and an assault on the Zarechnaya position. The 76th German regiment occupied one of the sections of the Sosnenskaya position, but at the same time it lost about a thousand of its soldiers, they died from gas strangulation and fire opened by the remnants of the 12th Russian company.

The attack of the 5th Landwehr Regiment was repulsed by the defenders of the Bialogrond position. The artillerymen, despite heavy losses in their ranks, by order of the commandant of the fortress, were able to open fire on the advancing German soldiers. In addition, Lieutenant General N. A. Brzhozovsky ordered all the survivors to prepare for a counterattack. The soldiers of the Russian garrison accumulated anger against the enemy: from the inhuman use of poisonous gases, not only soldiers suffered, but also civilians in nearby villages, in addition, the Germans behaved lowly, mocking the corpses of poisoned soldiers in Pines.

Kotlinsky's counterattack - a feat of Russian soldiers

The fortress artillery halted the advance of the German regiments. Following this, the head of the 2nd defense department K. V. Kataev, on the orders of Brzhozovsky, led several companies of the reserve of the 226th Compatriot Regiment into a counterattack. The 13th company, the command of which, after the death of the commander, was assumed by the military topographer Vladimir Karpovich Kotlinsky, launched a swift attack on parts of the 18th Landwehr regiment.

This attack shocked the German soldiers, since they believed that there was no one in the position but the dead. But the "dead" gathered strength and rose "from the graves." The Germans did not accept the battle and left their positions with horror. Although they were opposed by only three companies weakened and suffered heavy losses. When Kotlinsky was mortally wounded, he was replaced by Vladislav Maksimilianovich Strzheminsky, a military engineer of the fortress. He made two more successful attacks. Kotlinsky died in the evening of the same day.

The attack of the "dead" is a miraculous monument to Russian soldiers who gave for the freedom of the peoples of Europe the most valuable thing that each of us has - life.

But Russian soldiers fought not only on the Eastern Front, but also helped France to contain the German onslaught. But the French repaid for this help with terrible actions.