Brusilovsky breakthrough: briefly about the offensive

Brusilovsky breakthrough, in short, is one of the most interesting episodes of Russian military history. And an important event of the First World War. In this article, we recall the main events associated with this heroic attack.

Brusilovsky Breakthrough: Briefly on the Prerequisites

The first two years of the war were not particularly successful for the Russian army. Defeat caused the Russians to retreat for several months, which led to the loss of a significant number of territories of the empire. By 1916, the enemy had advanced far enough to the east, occupying part of the territories now belonging to Ukraine. To correct the situation and inflict a painful blow on the enemy, which would have thrown him to the west of the front line and called for an operation that later received the name "Brusilovsky Breakthrough". Briefly describe its course, paying attention to all significant events, is not so simple. However, we will try.

Brusilovsky breakthrough: summary

On the eve of this famous event, the enemy's entire defense line was photographed from the sides of reconnaissance planes. This made it possible to put Specific tasks for every Russian regiment and battery. An important maneuver was the concealed control of troops and the uniform preparation of troops. This ensured the suddenness of the offensive along the entire front line for enemy generals. To ensure successful attacks, all trenches were close to the edge of the opponent's defense for a distance of up to hundreds of steps. It was planned that the Russian army would begin its offensive on June 15 (it was 1916). Brusilovsky breakthrough, in fact, was started even earlier. The southwestern front, in connection with the rearrangements in the enemy camp, started the artillery fire on June 4. Multiplicity of false transfers of fire ensured the universal success of Russian batteries and the constant advancement of infantry. And even though the enemy had at his disposal quite strong position reinforcements made of reinforced concrete and wire fences, which the Austro-Hungarian military commanders considered impregnable, the maneuvers used by the Russian army had already produced excellent results.

On the very first day of the Brusilov offensive, a number of positions succeeded in mastering certain positions of the enemy. In the next two days the breakthrough was completely completed. As a result, more than 200,000 enemy officers and soldiers were captured. Such a significant success of the armies of the South-West Dandy became a complete surprise not only for the enemy, but also for the Russian supreme commanders. To further the development of success, it was necessary to urgently replenish the reserves of the front. However, there were no such reserves in the reserve. The clumsiness of the command led to the fact that the regrouping of forces occurred only in July 1916. And this significantly slowed down his further success.

Brusilovsky breakthrough: briefly on the results

As a result of the breakthrough, the Russian troops defeated the Austro-Hungarian and managed to advance at the same time an average of 100 km deep into the enemy territories. Now Brusilov's armies occupied almost all of Volhynia, Bukovina and a significant part of Galicia. An important result of this operation, as well as the battle on the Somme (Western Front) was that the strategic initiative in this war finally passed to the Entente states.