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From Dukla westward to the Dunajec-Biala line and the Carpathian foothills a new link is formed by the Fourth Austrian Army, commanded by the Archduke Joseph Ferdinand, with two and a half army corps and one German division. In the Central Carpathians a fifth army, under the command of the Austrian General von Bojna, appears between the forces of Boehm-Ermolli and those of Von Linsingen.
The continuous series of reverses suffered by Boehm-Ermolli and Von Linsingen exerted an important effect on the end of the Galician campaign: it frustrated the plan of eliminating the Russian forces. The battle lines in France and Flanders could wait a while till the Russian power was annihilated.
On the same day Stryj fell to Von Linsingen and on 7 June he forced the Dniester at Zurawno. But he had advanced too far ahead of his communications and reserves, and on the 8th Brussilov drove him back over the Dniester with severe losses.
Army B, under the German General van Linsingen, who also had some German troops with him, was to assail the next section eastward, from the Uzsog to the Wyszkow Pass; and Army C, under the Austrian General von Pflanzer-Baltin, likewise supplied with a good "stiffening" of German soldiers, was accredited to the far-eastern section the Pruth Valley and the Bukowina.
If only the ponderous advance of Von Mackensen could have been arrested, Brussilov would have had little difficulty in sweeping Von Linsingen back to the Carpathian barrier. A somewhat similar condition existed in the north, where the Austrians were at the mercy of Ivanoff's strong right wing.
To the west of Lutsk in the direction toward Kovel, now apparently the main objective of General Brussilov, the Austro-Hungarians had received strong German reenforcements under General von Linsingen and successfully denied to the Russians a crossing over the Stokhod and Styr Rivers. June 17, 1916, was a banner day in the calendar of the Russian troops.
However, General Boehm-Ermolli's mission proved a failure. Army B, under Von Linsingen, succeeded in traversing all the passes in its appointed section. Crossing by the railway pass of Beskid and the two roads leading through Vereczke and Wyszkow, they pushed forward in the direction of Stryj and Lemberg, but never reached their destination.
In the northern sector of the eastern front, along the Dvina, activity was restricted to extensive artillery duels during this day. An extensive offensive movement was developed on June 19, 1916, by General von Linsingen.
General Mishtchenko led his Cossacks on the Austrian trail, taking several towns on their way to Nadvorna, which they captured after a fierce fight. From here they took possession of part of the railway line from Delatyn to Kolomea, and completely severed the connection between Von Pflanzer-Baltin's forces and those of Von Linsingen lying along the north of the range.
Von Linsingen was forging ahead toward Stryj and the Dniester; he had finally worked through the ill-fated Koziova positions, and was now able to rest his right upon Halicz. From there his connection with Von Pflanzer-Baltin had been broken by Lechitsky, and was not repaired till June 6, 1915.
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