Battle of Rawa

Battle of Rawa
Part of the Eastern Front during World War I
Eastern Front, September 1914.
Date September 2-11, 1914 Location Near Rava-Ruska (Austrian Poland, today Ukraine) Result Russian victory
Belligerents
Austria-Hungary	Russia
Commanders and leaders
Moritz von Auffenberg Rudolf Brudermann	Pavel Plehve
Units involved
Austro-Hungarian Third Army Austro-Hungarian Fourth Army	Russian Fifth Army
Casualties and losses
50,000 casualties 70,000 prisoners	60,000 casualties

Battle of Rawa (also written as -Rava, -Rawa-Ruska, -Rava-Ruska, or -Rava-Russka) was an early stage World War I battle between Austria-Hungary and Russia, between September 3-11, 1914.

Information

The Russian armies had defeated their opponents and threw them back to the Carpathian mountains. The battle was part of the series of engagements known as Battle of Galicia.

The Fourth Army commanded by Moritz von Auffenberg, victorious at the Battle of Komarow, was given order to turn south to aid the Third Army (Rudolf Brudermann) which had suffered heavy casualties. This had created a gap between the First (Viktor Dankl) and Fourth Armies and the gap was exploited by the Russian Third Army commanded by Pavel Plehve. Near Rava-Ruska (Galicia, today Ukraine) 9 Austro-Hungarian divisions clashed with 9 Russian divisions. The units commanded by Auffenberg were barely able to escape encirclement for the price of lengthy retreat and large loss of men and equipment.

Blame for the defeat was put on Auffenberg though the movement to help the Third Army was an order by Conrad von Hötzendorf. Later during the war, Rava-Ruska was re-captured by the Central Powers armies on June 21, 1915.

Literature

• Nicholas Golovin. "The Great Battle of Galicia, 1914: a Study in Strategy". Slavonic Review, vol. 5, 1926-27. (online: The Great Battle of Galicia - A study in strategy )
• Map of the Battle of Rawa
• Rickard, J. (23 February 2001), Battle of Rava Ruska, 3-11 September 1914