_A semi-official report dispatch by the Wolff Telegraphic Bureau from
Berlin, June 28, reads:_
From the Great Headquarters we have received the following telegram
about the taking of Lemberg:
The Russians entered Lemberg, the capital of Galicia, a city of
250,000 inhabitants, in the beginning of September, 1914. They at once
restored to the city its Polish name, Lwow, and during their reign in
the beautiful town made themselves exceedingly well at home. They
began promptly to develop Lemberg into a great fortress and for the
further protection of their new possession to construct the fortified
lines of Grodek and Wereszyca. The protective works of Lemberg built
by the Austrians were strengthened and extended by the Russians,
especially along the south and southwest fronts. The existing depot
facilities were enlarged and a number of railways, both field and
permanent, extended throughout the domain of the fortress. To
guarantee the maintenance of the fortress of Lemberg, even in case the
Grodek position should be penetrated and have to be given up, a
strongly fortified supporting work had been built. This ran along the
heights to the west of the Lemberg-Rawa-Ruska railway to the vicinity
of Dobrocin.
After the armies of General von Mackensen had broken through the
Grodek and Wereszyca position, German divisions and allied troops
struck these supporting works. The centre of the Army Boehm-Ermolli
simultaneously approached the west from Lemberg. The main body of this
army attacked sections of the hostile army which had prepared for
renewed resistance behind the Szczerzek and Stavczonka streams and in
contact with the fortress on the south. This position on the evening
of the 21st of June was successfully penetrated at several points and
the attacking troops were pushed closer to the defenses on the west
front of Lemberg. German connecting troops under the leadership of
General von der Marwitz on the same day stormed the most important
points of the stubbornly defended supporting position. They thus
compelled the enemy to evacuate this position in the whole of its
extent and opened for the adjacent Austrian troops the road to the
defenses on the northwest front of the fortress. In consequence the
Austro-Hungarian troops were able on the 22d of June to take the works
on the northwest and west fronts.
At five o'clock in the morning fell the fortification Rzesna, soon
thereafter Sknilow, and toward eleven Lysa Gora. This work was
conquered by infantry regiment No. 34, "William I., German Emperor and
King of Prussia." In the Rzesna fortification alone, besides gun
limbers and machine guns, 400 prisoners were taken who belonged to no
less than eighteen different Russian divisions. In the work there was
found, besides masses of weapons and ammunition, a large number of
unopened wooden boxes containing steel blinders (Stahlblenden).
At noon of that day the victorious troops set foot in the Galician
capital in which the Russians had ruled for nearly ten months. About
four o'clock in the afternoon the Austrian commander made his entry
into the city, which was quite undamaged and decked with flags. In the
streets, in the windows and on balconies stood thousands and thousands
of the inhabitants, who enthusiastically greeted their deliverers and
showered the automobiles with a rain of flowers. The next day the
commander-in-chief, General von Mackensen, congratulated in Lemberg
the conqueror of the fortress, the Austrian General of Cavalry von
Boehm-Ermolli. The German Emperor, on receiving the announcement of
the fall of Lemberg, sent the following telegram to General von
Mackensen:
"Accept on the crowning event of your brilliantly led Galician
campaign, the fall of Lemberg, my warmest congratulations. It
completes an operation which, systematically prepared and executed
with energy and skill, has led in only six weeks to successes in
battles and amount of booty, and that, too, in the open field, seldom
recorded in the history of wars. To God's gracious support we, in the
first instance, owe this shining victory, and then to your
battle-tried leadership and the bravery of the allied troops under
you, both fighting in true comradeship. As an expression of my
thankful recognition I appoint you field marshal.
(Signed) "Wilhelm I.R."
At the same time the commander of the Austrian army, Grand Duke
Frederick, was appointed a Prussian general field marshal. The
faithful working together of the allied armies had borne rich fruits.