THE TERRIBLE STORY OF THE SKULL OF THE FALLEN SOLDIER " FRENCH OR GERMAN
French soldier in a trench posing for a photograph with the skull of a fallen soldier, French or German, 1917.
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Who knows which poor bastard that skull belonged to once...
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Russian soldiers from the 267th Dukhovshchinsky Infantry Regiment posing for a photograph in a forest during the Brusilov Offensive, June 29, 1916.
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Today 108 years ago, on June 4, 1916 the Brusilov Offensive, began on the Eastern Front, a Russian campaign through the summer of 1916 - their most successful one, yet also one of the bloodiest campaigns of the First World War.
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In June 1916, the French were on the brink of collapse at the Battle of Verdun, and the Italians were being pushed back in the Battle of Asiago.
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To relieve pressure off their allies, alongside the British on the Somme, the Russians planned a huge offensive against the Austro-Hungarians in Galicia on the Eastern Front, and a secondary attack further north against the Germans. It was planned and executed by Russian General Aleksei Brusilov.
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On June 4, 1916, the Russians opened their guns on the Austro-Hungarians trenches, at some places just 100 m from the Russian lines. The bombardment was quick but accurate, completely catching the Austro-Hungarians by surprise.
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The Russians enjoyed a significant numerical superiority in troops, so the Austro-Hungarian lines completely collapsed. Soon the Russian Infantry advanced along a huge 480 km front.
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By June 8, the Russians had taken the city of Lutsk as well as 200,000 Austro-Hungarian prisoners. The offensive was extremely bloody for both sides, and the Austro-Hungarians requested reinforcements from the Germans, who quickly sent 19 Divisions.
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Brusilov's forces were starting to run low on supplies and were exhausted. He requested the attack on the Germans further north to be launched by General Evert commanding the Russian 4th Army.
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Evert delayed the assault and finally attacked on June 13 in the so-called Baranovichi Offensive, but by then the Germans were well prepared and repulsed the attack, at the cost of 80,000 Russian casualties.
Brusilov attacked the Austrians again on July 28 and had reached the Carpathian Mountains by September 20. Being low on supplies and his troops exhausted, having suffered immense casualties, Brusilov called off the offensive
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The Brusilov Offensive is regarded as Russia's greatest feat in the First World War. Although it didn't knock the Austro-Hungarians out of the war, it forced them to transfer troops and call off the Battle of Asiago on the Italian Front, and the same for the Germans at the Battle of Verdun on the Western Front.
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The Russians had all in all advanced 80 - 120 km along a 480 km front and also convinced Romania to join the war on Allied side.
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But success had come at a cost. In the Brusilov Offensive the Russians had suffered some 478,000 casualties, although some estimate up to 1,000,000 Russian casualties. Of these were at least 62,155 killed and another 38,902 soldiers went missing.
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Estimates for Austro-Hungarian and German casualties also vary a lot. The Austro-Hungarians suffered some 200,000 - 800,000 casualties and another 327,000 - 417,000 prisoners captured. The Germans had suffered 148,000 - 350,000 casualties with another 20,000 prisoners captured.
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