Battle of Limanowa

The Battle of Limanowa took place from 1 December to 13 December 1914, between the Austro-Hungarian Army and the Russian Army near the town of Limanowa (40 kilometres (25 mi) south-east of Kraków).

Battle of Limanowa
Part of the Eastern Front during World War I
Winter battle in the Carpathians
Date 1–13 December 1914 Location Galicia Carpathian Mountains Result Austro-Hungarian-German victory
Belligerents
Austria-Hungary  Germany	Russian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Conrad von Hötzendorf AD. Joseph Ferdinand Svetozar Boroevic	Nikolai Ivanov Radko Dimitriev Aleksei Brusilov
Units involved
III Army IV Army	III Army VIII Army
Strength
90,000	125,000
Casualties and losses
12,000 dead, wounded or captured	30,000 dead, wounded or captured

The Austro-Hungarian high command had assumed that the German success would weaken Russian forces in the north and that the Galician front would remain quiet. Both these assumptions were incorrect.

Though the Habsburg 2nd army offensive opened on 16 November and met early success, the Russians proved stronger than expected and their 4th Army yielded little ground. Meanwhile, further south the Russian 2nd Army advanced across the San river and moved into the Tarnów area by 20 November. Further north, the Habsburg 4th Army, supported by the 47th German Reserve Division, moved onto the offensive in the last days of November.

In fierce battles around the towns of Łapanów and Limanowa, the Russian 3rd Army was beaten and forced to retreat east, ending its opportunity to reach Kraków. To avoid being surrounded, the Russian 8th Army also had to retreat, stopping its advance toward the Hungarian plains.

The confrontation was one of the final battles won unilaterally by the Austro-Hungarian Army. Most of its later victories during the war were dependent on German assistance, and it ceased to exist with the disestablishment of Austria-Hungary at the end of the war.[1]