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Updated: June 16, 2025
Coincident with their attempt to recapture Kovel, the Russians launched a new drive against Lemberg, the ancient capital of Galicia. This movement was a result of the successes which they had gained in the Bukowina and in eastern Galicia during July, 1916.
But first of all the Galician armies had to face north to take their allotted share in the scheme by driving the Russians back across the railway between Lublin and Kovel.
The German army around Kovel continued to make a stubborn resistance, but could not prevent the Austrian rout, and as the Russians approached the Carpathian passes the Austrian prisoners taken by them during the drive reached a total of 200,000 officers and men. Immense quantities of munitions of war also fell into their hands.
The losses on both sides, however, were appalling. By the middle of September, 1916, the fighting in the Kovel sector lost noticeably in violence. On September 16, 1916, however, the Russians again attacked west of Lutsk over a front of about twelve miles.
The bulk of Russia's forces were concentrated in the Polish triangle of which the apex was at Warsaw, the base ran from Kovno by Brest-Litovsk to the Galician frontier, the north-western side in front of the railway from Kovno to Warsaw, and the southern in front of that from Warsaw to Lublin, Cholm, Kovel, Rovno, and Kiev.
Subsequently two regiments of this division were sent to Kovel. Now one of these has been hurried back here. The Ninety-fifth and the Hundred and Ninety-ninth Divisions came in August, and within the past few days the Hundred and Twenty-third Division arrived from the Aisne and the Two Hundred and Eighth from the Somme.
The Russian offensive was shifted September 21 from the Lemberg sector to the east of Kovel and a few days after a fresh offensive began along the entire eastern front, heavy fighting being reported west of Lutsk and in the Carpathians. Turkish troops at this time appeared on the Riga front, with German equipment and led by German and Austrian officers.
Some local successes were gained by the Germans, but generally speaking this offensive movement failed in its chief purpose, namely, to lessen the strength of the Russian attack against the Austrian lines. A more substantial gain was made by the combined German and Austro-Hungarian forces, opposing the Russians west of Lutsk, in order to stop their advance against Kovel.
At the same time at which the Russians advanced against Kovel and Lemberg the Austro-German forces renewed with increased vigor their activities in the Carpathian Mountains, undoubtedly with the object to reduce, if possible, the Russian pressure on their Bukowinian and Galician positions. To a certain extent the Central Powers met with success.
Both sides won local successes at various points, but the outstanding feature of that day's fighting was the fact that in spite of the most heroic efforts the Russian troops were unable to advance any farther toward Kovel.
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