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A breakthrough that was not expected at Headquarters
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.

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By Maria Eleeseva
In memory of the great strategist.

August 31, 2023 marks the 170th anniversary of the birth of the Russian and Soviet military leader Alexei Brusilov. His name is forever associated with the brilliant, most effective strategic operation of the First World War, which went down in history under the figurative name "Brusilovsky breakthrough".

Alexey Alekseevich came from hereditary nobles of the Oryol province, whose ancestors were from the Commonwealth. Many representatives of his family connected life with military labor. Great-grandfather, grandfather and father served in the Russian army for two centuries. Continuing the dynasty, Alexei graduated from the Corps of Pages in St. Petersburg. It was the most privileged military educational institution of the Russian Empire, which trained officers for the Russian guard.

At first, the young man did not study very diligently, but in the senior class, when the classes were already only in military affairs, he began to study with great pleasure. He especially liked the exercises in cavalry riding.

In the summer of 1872, Alexei Brusilov, with the rank of ensign, arrived at his first place of service - in the 15th Tver Dragoon Regiment, stationed near Kutaisi. He was appointed junior platoon officer in the 1st squadron, and six months later - adjutant of the regiment. Soon he was promoted to lieutenant.

The first serious test of officer maturity for Brusilov was the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, in which the Tver dragoons were at the forefront of the Russian troops. The future commander fully knew the heavy battles in the defense and the furious assault on the fortresses, the swift cavalry attacks and the aching bitterness of farewell to the dead friends. During the seven months of the war, he earned three military orders and was promoted to staff captain.

In 1881 Alexei came to St. Petersburg again. As one of the best riders in the regiment, he won the right to enter the St. Petersburg officer cavalry school. Two years of intense study flew by unnoticed, but Captain Brusilov did not part with the "horse academy", as this school was then jokingly called. In August 1883, he was enrolled in it as an adjutant and connected his fate with this educational institution for a quarter of a century. Over the years, he became a major general, head of the school, created a system for training cavalrymen, won wide fame and appreciation in the army. The school he led was considered the best center for training senior officers for the cavalry.

In fact, Alexei Alekseevich at one time, perhaps the only one in the Russian army, called for the consistent implementation of the most important principle of military training: to teach troops to what is needed in war. And he, by the way, was the first to express the idea of ​​the massive use of cavalry in major military operations of future wars, proposing the creation of cavalry armies, which was implemented during the Civil War by his followers.

In 1906, General Brusilov, having passed the rank of regiment and brigade commander, was appointed commander of the 2nd Guards Cavalry Division stationed in St. Petersburg, which included the oldest and most famous regiments in battle - the Life Guards Hussar, Horse Grenadier, Ulansky of Her Majesty and Dragunsky. From this position began the rapid growth of the now army career of the famous cavalryman.

By secular standards, the life of the general was successful: an excellent career, a good family. In addition to what was considered important, he was a member of the royal palace. But everything changes overnight. His wife died. Alexey Alekseevich experienced her loss very hard. Having applied for a new appointment, he left as commander of the 14th Army Corps, which was located on the western border, in the Kingdom of Poland, near the city of Lublin. Soon followed by the highest order for the production of A.A. Brusilov to lieutenant general.

Arriving at the place, he first changed the preparation
troops, in particular, introduced the military-scientific training of officers, and the rank and file began to be taught the basics of modern combat tactics: night combat, an unexpected maneuver to the flank and rear of the enemy, an offensive supported by artillery fire from closed positions.

Like the great Russian commander A.V. Suvorov, Aleksey Alekseevich put initiative, a conscious attitude to military duty at the forefront. In order to get better acquainted with the situation in the units entrusted to him, he often personally attended not only regimental exercises, but also company ones, which was rare for a commander of this rank. As a result, in a relatively short period of time, the combat training of the corps improved markedly.

On May 15, 1912, General Brusilov was appointed assistant commander of the Warsaw Military District. He was struck by the fact that all the key posts in the Warsaw top administration were exclusively Germans. Alexey Alekseevich, as a person dedicated to the cause, did not hide his negative attitude towards the situation in the district. He sent a letter to the Minister of War V.A. Sukhomlinov, in which he reported on the current situation and asked for a transfer to another military district.

In December 1912, he received the highest military rank in Russia at that time - a full general. On August 15, 1913, he was appointed commander of the 12th Army Corps in the Kiev District. This, of course, was not a promotion, but Brusilov reacted to the appointment with great joy.
This unit was one of the best, the largest in the Russian army in terms of numbers and firepower. As in his previous posts, Aleksey Alekseevich delved deeply into the preparation of the units and formations entrusted to him.

In April 1914, the largest staff war game before the war was held in Kyiv. In the presence of a narrow circle of senior military men, a future war with Germany and Austria-Hungary was played out on the map. This game, carried out on the basis of strategic plans for the deployment of Austrian
troops against Russia, obtained by Russian military intelligence, revealed many weaknesses in the plans of the Russian military command. But, unfortunately, they were not taken into account ...

With the beginning of the Great War, as the First World War was then called, during the mobilization of A.A. Brusilov took command of the 8th Army of the Southwestern Front, formed from two corps of the Kyiv and two corps of the Odessa military districts. Already in the first months, he showed that the Austro-Hungarian intelligence was cruelly mistaken about him, describing in one of the reports to the high command as a narrow-minded general who "can hardly cope with the position of corps commander." His army occupied the southern flank of the front from the Romanian border to Proskurov (now Khmelnitsky).

On August 5, literally on the second day after the poorly trained armies of the North-Western Front under the command of Generals A.V. Samsonov and P.K. Rennenkampf invaded East Prussia, listening to the desperate cries of the French for help, General Brusilov also launched offensive operations, only much more successful. Having quickly crossed the Sbruch River, which served as the state border, the troops of the 8th Army broke the resistance of the Austrians and rapidly advanced to the rivers Zolotaya Lipa and Rotten Lipa, where the battle took place.

At the right moments, using infantry and artillery reserves and using a roundabout maneuver, Alexey Alekseevich won this major clash with the enemy. For a military leader who did not have a military academic education, this was the first exam in a combat, rapidly changing environment. And he bore it with dignity. At the right moments, using infantry and artillery reserves and using a roundabout maneuver, Alexey Alekseevich won this major clash with the enemy.

For a military leader who did not have a military academic education, this was the first exam in a combat, rapidly changing environment. And he bore it with dignity. At the right moments, using infantry and artillery reserves and using a roundabout maneuver, Alexey Alekseevich won this major clash with the enemy. For a military leader who did not have a military academic education, this was the first exam in a combat, rapidly changing environment. And he bore it with dignity.

As a result of the successful actions of the troops of General Brusilov, the 8th and 3rd armies united and moved to Lvov, and so swiftly that the enemy, fearing encirclement, left the city. They also captured Galich, opening the way for the further advance of the Russian troops. So the Galich-Lvov operation of the left wing of the Southwestern Front, an integral part of the Battle of Galicia, one of the largest in the First World War, ended victoriously.

Brusilov's merits were awarded the Order of St. George 4th and 3rd degree - the highest military awards in Russia.

However, in May 1915, the enemy struck at the right flank of the Southwestern Front, and the 8th Army had to retreat with heavy fighting. To the credit of the commander, she retreated in an organized manner, under the cover of strong rearguards. In addition, for the first time in world practice, on a large scale, the Brusilovites used the destruction of bridges, ferry crossings, railroad tracks and other transport facilities on the enemy’s path, which significantly reduced the pace of his offensive.

In addition, they captured many prisoners and even carried out a counterattack, temporarily returning Lutsk and holding Rivne.
The successes of General Brusilov caused a surge of envy towards him in St. Petersburg.

In early 1915 he was awarded the rank of Adjutant General. But, as the tsar himself said, it was not given to him for military merit, but, it turns out, “for the highest visit” to the 8th Army and a good dinner at headquarters.

The Brusilovsky breakthrough is considered the only successful offensive operation of the First World War, and the commander of the Southwestern Front, Alexei Brusilov, went down in history as an offensive strategist, an innovative commander who made a great contribution to the development of military art

On March 17, 1916, Alexei Alekseevich was appointed commander of the Southwestern Front instead of the deposed General N.I. Ivanova. At that time, Russia's allies - the French, British and Italians - found themselves in a difficult position and began to implore the Russians to intensify operations on the Eastern Front in order to divert enemy forces from the western sector of the war.

On April 1, 1916, in Mogilev, at a meeting of front commanders and their chiefs of staff at the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General M.V. Alekseev proposed to strike the main blow with the troops of the Western Front, where there was a double superiority over the Germans. The Southwestern Front was assigned a supporting role: M.V. Alekseev believed that these troops were not capable of a serious offensive.

But Aleksei Alekseevich categorically disagreed with the Chief of Staff of the Stavka and declared, that his troops not only can, but must advance. There are few examples in history when a military leader, putting his authority at stake, sought to complicate the task. The final word was with the Supreme Commander. Emperor Nicholas II, on the whole, did not mind, however, he warned that General Brusilov should rely only on his own strength.

Aleksey Alekseevich was destined to be the first in the world to successfully break through the enemy defenses in a positional war. The plan he developed was fundamentally different from the accepted methods of attack. Instead of the main blow with a "fist", it was proposed to act with "spread fingers" - simultaneously attack along the entire front in four points in order to disperse the attention, forces and means of the enemy, to prevent him from maneuvering reserves: units of the 8th army - in the direction of Lutsk, 11th - Zolochev, 7th - Stanislav (now Ivano-Frankivsk) and 9th - Kolomyia.

It was expected that the enemy troops remaining in the dead zones between the indicated four breakthrough vectors would inevitably abandon their positions under the threat of falling into the encirclement boilers or surrender. As a result, the Austro-Hungarian front, opposing the Southwestern, will completely collapse, Brusilov's plan, which many military leaders advised him to abandon right up to the start of the offensive, was never guessed by the enemy.

The preparations were kept secret. On June 4 (May 22, old style), 1916, at four in the morning, Russian artillery opened fire on the positions of the Austro-German troops, and only on reconnoitered targets. The algorithm of actions of the gunners was very skillfully planned: as soon as the fire stopped, the enemy left the shelters, filled the trenches, and then the Russian batteries opened fire again at the same sight settings. And so several times. And only at noon the Russian infantry went on the attack in waves (10-20 human waves).

Each company had an assault group of the most dexterous soldiers. Walking at the head of the attack, they eliminated firing points with grenades and massive machine-gun fire, clearing the way for the advancing comrades. The third-fourth waves quickly rolled over the first two, with fresh forces they took the third trench and artillery positions. This method then became widely used under the name "roll attack".

For the first time, batteries were allocated to accompany the advancing infantry, which immediately increased its independence and survivability. The role of escort was performed by mountain three-inch models of 1909. They were one and a half times lighter than a field gun, and the crew easily moved them behind the attacking infantry.

Artillery preparation proved to be extremely effective. For the first time, a front-line fighter aviation group was formed to fight for air supremacy on the Southwestern Front. She delivered bombing strikes and fired machine guns at enemy targets in the rear and on the battlefield.
The general offensive lasted until the twentieth of August. The enemy was driven back to a distance of 120 kilometers, Russian troops occupied Volhynia, almost all of Bukovina and part of Galicia. Their losses amounted to about 600,000 people.

But the number of killed, wounded and prisoners of the Austro-Hungarian army exceeded 1.5 million people. The combat readiness of the enemy was finally undermined. The Austrians had to suspend the offensive on the Italian front, which, in fact, saved Italy from defeat. The position of the Anglo-French units on the Western Front was significantly eased, and after the battle on the Somme, where 75,000 British were killed, the scales in this war finally tipped to the side of the Entente powers. Neutral Romania decided to enter the war on the side of this alliance.

The next act of the war was to be the complete defeat of the German troops standing against our Western and Northwestern fronts, where the Russians had a double numerical superiority. And what? But nothing. The commanders of these fronts did not support the success of the armies under the command of A.A. Brusilov, obtained at the cost of great blood. Due to the blatant lack of will of the high command and personally of Nicholas II, the strategic success achieved was not realized. Russia did not take advantage of a real chance to withdraw Austria-Hungary from the war and failed to benefit from the favorable operational-strategic situation created for its own purposes.

For the successful conduct of the offensive, Alexei Brusilov, by a majority vote of the St. George Duma at the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander, was presented with the Order of St. George, 2nd degree. However, the emperor honored him only with the St. George's weapon with diamonds, which was a less significant reward. And very humiliating in the eyes of the public.

Alexei Alekseevich clearly realized the general weakness, almost the doom of the monarchy, which he had faithfully served for so many years. He accepted the February Revolution, if not enthusiastically, then at least with great optimism. Together with other military leaders, General Brusilov put pressure on the tsar, convincing him of the need to abdicate.
And in March, the headquarters of the Southwestern Front swore allegiance to the Provisional Government, and Alexei Alekseevich was the first to utter the words of the oath.

When the question of a new Supreme Commander-in-Chief arose before the leadership of the country, everyone agreed: the only one who combined in himself, according to the Chairman of the State Duma M.V. Rodzianko, "brilliant strategic talents ... a broad understanding of the political tasks of Russia and is able to quickly assess the current situation, this is exactly ... Brusilov." The talented commander, who enjoyed great popularity and impeccable reputation in Russia, was appointed to the highest military position on a memorable day for him on May 22, 1917 - the anniversary of the famous breakthrough.

However, due to disagreements between the general and Prime Minister A.F. Kerensky about strengthening discipline in the armed forces, he was replaced by L.G. two months later. Kornilov (later one of the organizers of the White movement) and was recalled to Petrograd as an adviser to the government. Soon he left for Moscow, where he settled near the center. During the October armed uprising of 1917, when many of its districts became the scene of fierce battles between the Red Guards and supporters of the Provisional Government, one of the artillery shells hit the general’s apartment, seriously injuring him in the leg.

After a long treatment, in the spring of 1920 he became a member of the Military Historical Commission for the study and use of the experience of the World War at the All-Russian General Staff. Later he headed the Special Meeting under the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, then held a number of responsible positions in the leadership of the Red Army.

Alexey Alekseevich died on March 17, 1926 from pneumonia at the age of 73 and was buried with general honors on the territory of the Novodevichy Convent, remaining in the people's memory as the personification of all the best that was in the Russian army at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries.

The Brusilovsky breakthrough is considered the only successful offensive operation of the First World War, and the commander of the Southwestern Front, Alexei Brusilov, went down in history as an offensive strategist, an innovative commander who made a great contribution to the development of military art.


Posted by: badanov 2023-09-01
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=677403