Bloodier than Verdun, the Battles for Fortress Przemyl were pivotal to victory on the Eastern Front during the early years of World War I.
Tunstall is Senior Research Lecturer in the Department of History at the University of South Florida and author of Blood in the Snow: The Carpathian Winter War of 1915..
About the Author: Graydon A.
Tunstall argues that the besieged garrison kept the Russian army from advancing farther and obliterating the already weakening Austro-Hungarian forces at the outset of the War to End All Wars.
The fortress, however, had served its purpose.
By the time the Fortress finally fell to the Russians on March 22, 1915, the Hapsburg Army had sustained 800, 000 casualties; the Russians, over a million.
Tunstall tells of the impossible conditions facing the garrison: starvation, "horse-meat" diets, deplorable medical care, prostitution, alcoholism, dismal morale, and a failed breakout attempt.
Drawing on myriad sources, historian Graydon A.
In 1915, the Austro-Hungarian armies launched three major offensives to penetrate the Russian encirclement and relieve the 120, 000 trapped in the besieged fortress.
Control of the Fortress changed hands three times during the fall of 1914.
Bloodier than Verdun, the Battles for Fortress Przemyl were pivotal to victory on the Eastern Front during the early years of World War I
