Great Retreat (Russia)

The Great Retreat was a strategic withdrawal and evacuation on the Eastern Front of World War I in 1915. The Imperial Russian Army gave up the salient in Galicia and the Polish Congress Kingdom. The Russian Empire's critically under-equipped military suffered great losses in the Central Powers' July–September summer offensive operations, which led to the Stavka ordering a withdrawal to shorten the front lines and avoid the potential encirclement of large Russian forces in the salient. While the withdrawal itself was relatively well-conducted, it was a severe blow to Russian morale.

Great Retreat
Part of the Eastern Front of World War I

Russian withdrawal in 1915.
Date13 July – 19 September 1915
Location
Result Central Powers victory
Territorial
changes
Central Powers capture Congress Poland, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria
Belligerents
 German Empire
 Austria-Hungary
Russian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Erich von Falkenhayn
Paul von Hindenburg
Erich Ludendorff
August von Mackensen
Grand Duke Nikolai
Mikhail Alekseyev
Nikolai Ivanov
Strength
Initially:
Central Powers
2,411,353 men
Including:
1,165,352 Germans
Initially:
2,975,695 men
Casualties and losses

13 July – 28 August 1915:
358,634 KIA, MIA, WIA
lost:
38 machine guns
203 guns


German Empire:
239,975 KIA, MIA, WIA
Austria-Hungary:
118,659 KIA, MIA, WIA
13 July – 28 August 1915:
Total: 1,005,911
96,820 KIA
429,742 WIA
479,349 MIA
lost:
1,115 machine guns
3,205 guns
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