"There were so many prisoners that the hussar squadrons drowned among them."
On April 27, 1915, the attack of the 3rd Cavalry Corps defeated the enemy's combined arms army. The actions of the Russian cavalry in the First World War were sometimes of strategic importance, but they remain a solid blank spot.
By the beginning of the Transnistrian battle, the 9th Army of General of Infantry P. A. Lechitsky had a significant number of cavalry units and formations in its composition. The 7, 5 infantry division had 6, 5 cavalry. Almost half of the army consisted of mobile, mostly selected troops. This circumstance played a significant role in the unfolding battle. The 3rd Cavalry Corps was supposed to crush the Austrian front south of the Dniester, breaking through the fortified positions of the enemy. This ran counter to both theory and practice during the First World War. The brunt of the operation fell on the cavalry units.
The regiments of Count F. A. Keller, having opened a fortified enemy position, drove the enemy out of a triple row of trenches with barbed wire on the banks of the Dniester. The Russian cavalry broke through to the rear of the Austrians and captured the heights on the right bank of the Onut stream near the villages of Balamutovka, Rzhaventsy and Gromeshti. The most important task was assigned to units of the 1st Don Cossack Division. The 10th Don Cossack Regiment, having broken through a heavily fortified position (powerful trenches, wire barriers in 12-15 rows), captured about 600 prisoners of lower ranks and six officers, four machine guns, four guns and six ammunition boxes. Hundreds of reserve troops in horse ranks, having passed the trenched terrain, began to pursue the fleeing enemy. Following the 1st Don, Keller immediately threw the 10th Cavalry Division into battle.
The battles proceeded with varying degrees of success. The Russian cavalry had to withstand the fierce onslaught of the Austrians. The commander of the 10th Ingermanland Hussar Regiment, Colonel V. V. Cheslavsky, in his memoirs described the enemy attack as follows: my regiment positions in the direction of the village of Balamutovka. I took one squadron from my reserve … During this time, the enemy's chains managed to approach our trenches by 600 steps and, falling under fire from the squadron and eight machine guns, began to suffer heavy losses, which made them lie down and pause. But his new thick chains began to continuously emerge from the forest. It was seen how the soldiers fell like sheaves, the non-fallen ones walked forward quite bravely and, reaching the front chain, poured into it."
The attack was repulsed and the regiment, noticing the beginning of the withdrawal of the Austrians, rushed to pursue them in horse formation. He attacked in the direction of the village of Yurkovtsy and the Okna station, cutting off all enemy units located between Balamutovka and the Dniester. Four squadrons of hussars in the vanguard under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Barbovich were the first to cut into the enemy's infantry. As a result of this attack, more than a thousand prisoners were taken with the commander and headquarters of the brigade, several machine guns.
The regimental commander wrote: “We overtook whole reserve columns of the enemy, who were so frightened by the sight of the rushing cavalry that they dropped their weapons and became crowded in the heaps, raising our hands up. Many, with joy that they were not chopped or stabbed with lances, threw their helmets up and shouted: "Goh."There were so many prisoners in my rear that the hussar squadrons were positively drowned among them."
Having broken through to the rear of the enemy in the course of a swift operation, the divisions of the 3rd Cavalry Corps attacked the main position of the enemy and his infantry, protected by several rows of barbed wire, with many dugouts and communication trenches. During the battle, selected enemy infantry units were overturned and put to flight.
The enemy's cavalry was also defeated. Two Hungarian hussar regiments were crushed by the Cossacks and partly chopped up, partly taken prisoner. During the First World War, only the Magyars tried to withstand the dashing Cossack attacks, but, as history has shown, even such natural-born cavalrymen in most cases were beats. Trophies of the 3rd Cavalry Corps for the day of the battle were four thousand prisoners, 10 guns and 17 machine guns of the enemy.
The cavalry officer wrote: “What is the strength of the Russian cavalry and its Cossacks? First, of course, in the excellent military spirit of the Russian officer and soldier, in the unshakable courage, daring and bravery of our cavalrymen and Cossacks, whom our fellows so fascinated us with even in peacetime at races, fellings, flanking and horse riding. Secondly, in the excellent upbringing and training of our cavalry, and thirdly, in the excellent, powerful, unpretentious, well-marching equestrian structure. And we consider all these three qualities to be equal."
The attack at Balamutovka-Rzhaventsy is interesting for its scale: 90 squadrons and hundreds took part in it. The Russian units, depending on the situation, acted as flexibly as possible. The Don Cossack regiments, having broken through the fortified position of the Austrians on foot, developed this success with a horse attack, thereby completing the defeat of the enemy. The command of the 3rd Cavalry Corps used such tactics as massing attacks and increasing efforts in the direction of the main attack.
In the Transnistrian battle, the Russian cavalry played a strategic role - in the battles at Balamutovka-Rzhaventsev and Gorodenka, the fate of the army operation was decided: the enemy's combined-arms army was defeated. It must be emphasized that the Russian cavalry acted during the positional period of the war, when active operations were expressed in the form of a breakthrough of the enemy front. And it was possible to develop the advantage only through a quick strike from a strong cavalry group. It is the strategic cavalry, acting in significant masses, that solves the corresponding tasks.
Already after the first military clashes, the superiority of the Russian cavalry over the enemy, both in personnel and in combat training, was revealed. It is not surprising that the Austrians (to a lesser extent) and the Germans (to a greater extent), as a rule, avoided massive equestrian battles and in most cases preferred fire or foot combat. At the same time, the history of the First World War is replete with such attacks by the Russian cavalry, moreover, on infantry, machine guns, artillery, and even on fortified enemy positions. Many of these attacks were tactical and operational, and some were strategic.
A horse attack is a very risky combat weapon; only decisive military leaders and seasoned fighters can carry it out. Horse fights are usually fleeting, require high morale and excellent troop training, while firefights are less risky, easier to control, albeit longer.
Unsurprisingly, the cavalry succeeded where there were good commanders. It was once said that her story was made up of the glory of her bosses. And this postulate is not outdated - in the conditions of war at the beginning of the 20th century, a cavalry commander had to have exceptional personal talents and a certain military talent. Such, as you know, are rarely born. But it was F. A. Keller who represented the type of ideal cavalry commander who was in demand in the world war.
In the battles near Balamutovka-Rzhaventsev, large settlements of Zalishchyky and Nadvorna were taken, and the 7th Austro-Hungarian army of General K. von Pflanzer-Baltin was thrown back beyond the Prut. The breakthrough of the enemy front and the rapid advance of the cavalry within two or three days affected the central sector of the army's front. The enemy began hastily to leave the fortified positions against the Russian 30th and 11th Army Corps and retreat to the south - beyond the Prut and into the mountains.
But the main thing is that the course of this attack, unprecedented in history, showed: even in the conditions of trench warfare in a network of barbed wire, when a machine gun dominates the battlefield, the role of cavalry has not been lost. A cavalry attack is not only possible, but under appropriate operational and tactical conditions and with proper leadership it promises an unprecedented success.
The 9th Russian army and its 3rd cavalry corps, even during the hardest spring-summer campaign of 1915, practically did not know defeat.
