Battle of Rawa

Infobox Military Conflict
conflict = Battle of Rawa
partof = the Eastern Front during World War I


caption = Eastern Front, September 1914.
date = September 2-11, 1914
place = Near Rava Ruska (Russian Poland, today Ukraine)
result = Russian victory
combatant1 = flagicon|Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary
combatant2 = flagicon|Russia Russia
commander1 = flagicon|Austria-Hungary Moritz von Auffenbergflagicon|Austria-Hungary Rudolf Brudermann
commander2 = flagicon|Russia Nikolai Ruzsky
strength1 = Austro-Hungarian Third Army and Austro-Hungarian Fourth Army
strength2 = Russian Third Army
casualties1 = 350,000 and equipment
casualties2 = ?

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

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 Nikolai Ruzsky. Near Rava Ruska (Russian Poland, 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 (350,000) 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, Rawa-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.