"The Carpathian Winter War, 1915" Topic

Anyone has wargame this…?

"DURING THE DEVASTATING OPENING MONTHS of World War I through the fall of 1914, the Habsburgs suffered numerous defeats against numerically superior Russian forces pushing into Galicia and the Carpathian foothills in the northeast corner of Austria-Hungary. In early November 1914, for the second time in as many months, the Russians had besieged the venerable Fortress Przemyśl, an enormous but obsolete 1854 stronghold on the San River that blocked the northern entrance to the Carpathians. The Russians bottled up the Austro-Hungarian garrison and utilized the region around it as a staging ground to control the vital routes into the heart of Habsburg territory. Their ultimate goal: to drive the Austro-Hungarians out of the war.

With some 130,000 troops under siege at Przemyśl and fearing a threatened invasion of Hungary, the Dual Monarchy simply had to take immediate steps to force the Russians from the Carpathian Mountains. In the winter of 1915, they launched three separate and equally ill-conceived offensives: an initial effort on January 23; a second uncoordinated assault on the Russians on February 27 and a third and final effort to liberate Fortress Przemyśl in late March.

The geographical reality of the Carpathians would play a key role in the military catastrophe to come. The mountains along the contested front formed an arcing barrier roughly 60 to 75 miles wide with a median elevation of some 3,600 feet. In 1914–1915, only a handful of poorly constructed roads and a few railroad lines traversed the main passes in that area. Cold and damp, the mountains are often rainy in September and usually witness snowfall by November. They can remain covered in deep snow until spring, though sudden rises in temperature may also result in widespread flooding in the valleys…"
Full text and maps here.
link

Amicalement
Armand

See Conrad's Carpathian Capers here:

link

though not set in Winter.

Robert

Prit Bhuttar's book 'Germany Ascendant' has a very good account of the campaign.
Kind regards
Robin

See also "Blood on the Snow – The Carpathian Winter War of 1915" by Graydon A Tunstall.

B

Many thanks for your guidance boys!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Agreed, Blutarski, I have that book – depressing but covers it well.