The Campaign in Poland. Autumn, 1914
on Warsaw, were concentrated due west of the fortress, from which they were to resume their advance.
The Russian right wing concentrated round Lodz. Reinforcements from the front of the 2nd and 5th Russian Armies, which were not yet involved, pushed north on Koliuszki and west of Lodz. Here they took the nth Army by surprise, and pressed them hard.
The reinforced 25th R.C., under its trusty leader, General von Schaffer-Boyadel, Chief of Staff Colonel von Massow, had pushed forward far beyond Brsheshiny by the 22nd. Portions of von Richthofen's Cav. Corps had neared Petrikov and Tomassov. The Infantry Divisions south-east of Lodz swung round west ; great things were expected. Then the situation changed.
The 25th R.C. lost touch with the 20th A.C The enemy near Lodz was not thrown back, but, on the other hand, pressed back the 20th A.C., and pushed his way in between the inner wings of the two corps. The Russian forces that had been rallied west of Warsaw pushed forward without opposition from Skierniewice to Brsheshiny. The 25th R.C. and the units with it were cut off, being attacked from the south by the portions of the 5th Russian Army which were marching on Koliuszki Station.
The details of the various engagements which now developed with the 3rd Guard Div., under General Litzmann, the 25th R.C. and von Richthofen's Cav. Corps, have been wonderfully described by Captain von Wulffen in a brochure. I can, therefore, refer to it. From enemy wireless messages we learnt in Posen, far from the battlefield, how hopefully the Russians regarded the situation, how they planned the various battles, how they already exulted at the thought of capturing various German corps. They were preparing trains in readiness for the transport of the prisoners. I cannot describe what I then felt. What was at stake ? Not only the triumph of the enemy and the capture of so many brave men, but nothing less than a lost campaign. After this defeat, the gih Army would have had to be withdrawn. What would then have been the position at the end of 1914 ?
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