The Battle of the Somme, also known as the Somme offensive, was a major battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and the French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place between 1 July and 18 November 1916 on both sides of the upper reaches of the river Somme in France. The battle was intended to hasten a victory for the Allies. More than three million men fought in the battle, of whom more than one million were either wounded or killed, making it one of the deadliest battles in all of human history.
The Brusilov offensive, also known as the June advance, or Battle of Galicia-Volhynia, of June to September 1916 was the Russian Empire's greatest feat of arms during World War I, and among the most lethal offensives in world history. The historian Graydon Tunstall called the Brusilov offensive the worst crisis of World War I for Austria-Hungary and the Triple Entente's greatest victory, but it came at a tremendous loss of life. It was arguably the most successful offensive in the entirety of the First World War. The victory contributed to a morale upsurge among the Russian troops, in 1917, Nicholas II planned a general offensive along the entire front in order to end the Central Powers. After the victory, the Petrograd conference was held at which the post-war structure of the world was discussed. Even despite the losses, the Russian armies were still being reinforced with new forces, the number of weapons increased, and new railways were being built. The offensive's success led Russia's allies to reconsider their positions on postwar territorial concessions, including the status of Anatolia and the Bosphorus Strait.
Aleksei Alekseyevich Brusilov was a Russian and later Soviet general most noted for the development of new offensive tactics used in the 1916 Brusilov offensive, which was his greatest achievement.
In warfare, infiltration tactics involve small independent light infantry forces advancing into enemy rear areas, bypassing enemy frontline strongpoints, possibly isolating them for attack by follow-up troops with heavier weapons. Soldiers take the initiative to identify enemy weak points and choose their own routes, targets, moments and methods of attack; this requires a high degree of skill and training, and can be supplemented by special equipment and weaponry to give them more local combat options.
The first day on the Somme was the beginning of the Battle of Albert (1–13 July) the name given by the British to the first two weeks of the Battle of the Somme in the First World War. Nine corps of the French Sixth Army and the British Fourth and Third armies attacked the German 2nd Army. The attack was from Foucaucourt south of the Somme, northwards across the Somme and the Ancre to Serre and Gommecourt, 2 mi (3.2 km) beyond, in the Third Army area. The objective of the attack was to capture the German first and second defensive positions from Serre south to the Albert–Bapaume road and the first position from the road south to Foucaucourt.
Shock troops or assault troops are special formations created to lead military attacks. They are often better trained and equipped than other military units and are expected to take heavier casualties even in successful operations.
The 1st Army was a field army-level command in the ground forces of Austria-Hungary during World War I. The army fought in Galicia and Russian Poland in 1914–15 before being briefly dissolved in the summer of 1916. Shortly afterwards, it was reformed and sent to fight in the Romanian Campaign for the next two years. The 1st Army was demobilized in April 1918 due to its heavy losses, following Romania's surrender.
The Battle of Galicia, also known as the Great Battle of Galicia, was a major battle between Russia and Austria-Hungary during the early stages of World War I in 1914. In the course of the battle, the Austro-Hungarian armies were severely defeated and forced out of Galicia, while the Russians captured Lemberg and, for approximately nine months, ruled Eastern Galicia until their defeat at Gorlice and Tarnów.
The Kerensky offensive, also called the summer offensive, the June offensive in Russia, or the July offensive in Western historiography, took place from 1 July [O.S. 18 June] to 19 July [O.S. 6 July] 1917 and was the last Russian offensive of World War I. After the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II during the February Revolution, the Russian Provisional Government pledged to fulfill Russia's existing commitments to the Triple Entente, which included launching an offensive in the spring of 1917. The operation was directed at capturing Lemberg and the rest of Galicia from Austria-Hungary.
The Gorlice–Tarnów offensive during World War I was initially conceived as a minor German offensive to relieve Russian pressure on the Austro-Hungarians to their south on the Eastern Front, but resulted in the Central Powers' chief offensive effort of 1915, causing the total collapse of the Russian lines and their retreat far into Russia. The continued series of actions lasted the majority of the campaigning season for 1915, starting in early May and only ending due to bad weather in October.
Alexander Adolf August Karl von Linsingen was a German general during World War I.
Georg Bruchmüller was a German artillery officer who greatly influenced the development of modern artillery tactics. He was nicknamed Durchbruchmüller, a combination of the German word Durchbruch (breakthrough) with his name.
The Rovno offensive — the operation of the Austro-Hungarian Northern armies against the armies of the Russian Southwestern Front — the so-called campaign on Rovno, or Lutsk-Rovno offensive operation. The purpose of the offensive was the liberation of Eastern Galicia, but by the end of the operation, a small part of Eastern Galicia was still held by the Russian Imperial Army.
Viktor Graf von Scheuchenstuel was a colonel general in the Austro-Hungarian Army. He was a general staff officer and division commander until World War I broke out. During World War I he was a Corps and Army commander serving in Serbia, Albania and Italy. During World War I he was promoted to Graf in the Austrian nobility. Following the end of World War I and the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Scheuchenstuel retired from the military. He died in Vienna.
The Battle of Komarow was a battle on the Eastern Front during World War I. It would prove a victory for the Austro-Hungarian forces, but one they would not be able to reproduce in the coming months of the war.
The Army Group Mackensen which operated in Poland between 22 April 1915 and 8 September 1915 during World War I under the command of Field Marshal August von Mackensen, was an army group of the Imperial German Army.
The Battle of Lutsk took place on the Eastern Front during World War I, from June 4 to June 6, 1916. This was the opening attack of the Brusilov Offensive under the overall command of Alexei Brusilov. The Russian 8th Army made a decisive breakthrough in the defenses of the Austro-Hungarian Fourth Army in the area of the city of Lutsk in Ukraine.
The Carpathian Front, sometimes referred to as the Carpathian Winter War of 1915 was one of the largest military operations on the Eastern Front in terms of scale, duration, the number of troops involved in it and the losses of the parties.
The Vistula–Bug offensive from July 13 to August 28, 1915, was a major Central Powers offensive with the decisive role of the German Imperial Army during World War I on the Eastern Front to defeat the forces of the Russian army in South Poland and Galicia.
The Second Brusilov offensive took place in July–August 1916 on the Eastern Front during the First World War. As a result of the First Brusilov offensive in May–June 1916, the Imperial Russian army defeated the Austro-Hungarian troops and captured a large number of prisoners. But Imperial German army came to the aid of its ally. In July 1916, all Austro-Hungarian troops were subordinated to Paul von Hindenburg and Erich Ludendorff and Hindenburg became commander-in-chief of the entire Eastern Front. The weakest sections of the Austro-Hungarian front were reinforced by German divisions, and most importantly, in the direction of the impending main attack of the Russian Southwestern Front, the defense was mainly occupied by German troops. The offensive was ambiguous, in central Galicia and on the Dniester, the Russians achieved decisive results, but the attacks on Kovel failed. At the same time, the Russians practically stopped losing soldiers captured and killed, but the central powers suffered losses mostly irretrievably.
Austria-Hungary 
German Empire 
Russian Empire