Battle of Komarów (1914)

Background

In pre-war planning, on 2 August, Helmuth von Moltke the Younger wrote Franz Graf Conrad von Hötzendorf, "The German army corps marching on Kalisz-Czenstochau will in any case begin an advance on Radom-Nowo-Alexandriya via Kalisz-Czenstochau on the 12th day of mobilisation. The commander of the corps is ordered to advance relentlessly into Russia and to join up with the left flank of the leftmost Austrian army." According to Prit Buttar, "...Conrad was keen to take the offensive and needed little urging. He had repeatedly shared with his German counterpart the concept of a huge pincer operation to isolate the Russian salient west of Warsaw."

The Austro-Hungarian armies under Conrad's command included Dankl's First Army, east of Sandomierz, with the I, V, and X Corps of 10 infantry divisions, 2 cavalry divisions, and an infantry brigade. North of Przemyśl was Auffenberg's Fourth Army, with the II, VI, IX, and XVII Corps of 9 infantry divisions, and 2 cavalry divisions. East of Przemyśl was Brudermann's Third Army, with the III, XI and XIV Corps of 18 infantry divisions and 4 cavalry divisions. Heinrich Rittmeister Kummer von Falkenfeld commanded an Army Group on the western flank, with 2 infantry and 1 cavalry divisions. Kövess commanded an Army Group on the eastern flank, consisting of XII Corps, with the Second Army, commanded by Eduard von Böhm-Ermolli.

The Russian Southwestern Front was under the command of Nikolai Iudovich Ivanov. His forces included Saltza's Fourth Army with the Grenadier Corps, XIV and XVI Corps of 6 infantry divisions, 3 cavalry divisions, plus an infantry and cavalry brigade. To the east was Plehve's Fifth Army, with the V, XVII, XIX and XXV Corps of 10 infantry and 5 cavalry divisions. Further east was Nikolai Ruzsky's Third Army with the IX, X, XI, and XXI Corps of 12 infantry and 4 cavalry divisions. On the Russian eastern flanks was Aleksei Brusilov's Eighth Army with the VII, VIII, XII and XXIV Corps of 10 infantry and 5 cavalry divisions.

Following the Battle of Kraśnik, Dankl's First Army had forced the Russian Fourth Army to retreat towards Lublin. As a counterattack, Plehve's Russian Fifth Army attempted to turn the Austro-Hungarian eastern flank. Plehve's XIX, V, and XVII advanced along the River Bug, while his XXV Corps was to the west.