"Osowiec, then and again
Attack of the dead hundred men
Facing the led once again
Hundred men,
Charge again,
Die again"
-"The Attack of the Dead Men" performed by Sabaton, 2019
Let's deviate from the chaos that is the 2022 Oscars, when Will Smith, allegedly out of anger slapped the living being out of Chris Rock for an alopecia joke directed at Jada Pinkett-Smith (who contracted the condition herself), and dive into some war time stories. Yes, the subjects of this story are taking the opposite side during this time of war in Ukraine, where Russia is the aggressor. But back then, during the events of the Great War (or the First World War as it's now known), Germany was allied with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, while the Russians were at the Allied side.
It is important to stress that the Great War itself was triggered by the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, present day Bosnia-Herzegovina during the summer of 1914. The German Empire, specifically Kaiser Wilhelm II sided with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which at the time, had massive sphere of influence and respect in Europe. There is one counter history scenario where the Archduke was never assassinated, but that is for another time. During the crisis leading up to the war, many diplomatic measures were taken to calm the situation, one of which involving Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and the Kaiser trying to calm things down. Both sides eventually would find themselves on the opposite sides. With the Russians joining the Allies, and Germany forming the central powers with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Turkish Ottomans, and Bulgaria.
The date was 6 August 1915, roughly one year on since the start of the war. The battle took place on the Osowiec Fortress, on present-day Poland. The fortress in question was held by the Russian troops, made of roughly 900 men, 400 of those were militias as their main defense line. The Germans on the other hand, made of 7.000 soldiers strong and heavy artillery tried their desperate efforts to take the fortress to no avail. Thanks to some technological innovations developed during this time, The German army, led by Paul von Hindenburg whipped up perhaps one of the most devastating weapons in modern history: A poisonous concoction made of chlorine and bromine spread in gas form. At this stage, The Germans' attempted advance to Osowiec had been going since July, often times met with heavy artillery bombardment by the Russians. On the morning of August 6, when the wind direction was on their favor, the German unleashed the green smog of gas to unsuspecting Russian troops. There were 30 gas balloon batteries used to carry out the attack. And the result was immediate and deadly in nature. To better explain the scale of damage these poor men have to suffer, the chlorine gas, along with the moisture of the lung created something called hydrochloric acid, in which, starts to dissolve their lung tissue. As a result, there are many Russian troops died coughing blood and bits of their lungs. The bromine itself acted as a respiratory irritant. But the chlorine effects are not restricted to respiratory damages either. Other soft tissues like the skin and eyes were also chemically burned from the gas attack. This, in turn gave the world one of the most horrific sights of death ever witnessed in human history. But for those who were further away have to resort to cover their nose and mouth with wet rags in order to at least minimize the gas effect, but to little result. The gas not only attack the soldiers, but also their entire surroundings. Leaves and flowers turned yellow and black to death, insects and other animals also died due to the inhalation of the deadly gas. food supplies deemed inedible due to contamination.
When the gas finally dissipated, the German troops went to hopefully secure the fortress, expecting little to no resistance. Little did they know, from 900 troops, 100 of them actually survived the initial attack, although still pretty much badly wounded. The remaining 100 soldiers, with all their scarred appearance, heavy breathing with bits and pieces of their lung spitting out, with bloody rags covering their nose and mouth made the final push, along with heavy machine gun firing to dissipate the horrified German army, who started to retreat. This attack was led by sub-lieutenant Vladimir Kotlinksy, who later died from his wounds. The countercharge successfully broke the German line, causing heavy loss, and rendered the gas attack pretty much useless. From the German's perspective, it's like when the dead had risen with vengeance. From horror, panic sets in. As they retreat, they got caught by their own wire traps. It is reported that they suffered moderate to heavy casualties during the Russian counterattack. But the success of the countercharge was short-lived. After threats by the Germans by capturing Kaunas and Novogeorgievsk, the Russians finally evacuated from Osowiec, not before destroying the fortress to rubbles on 18 August. Eventually, the German army failed to seize the asset. This event, and with the reference of the appearance of scarred Russian soldiers, was remembered as "the Attack of the Dead Men".
It is fascinating to think that despite different eras of human history, war seems to be present in all of these eras. From ancient warfare to two world wars (and we might knock the door for a third one), humans find themselves inside many conflicts motivated by race, religion, and ideology. This piece serves as a reminder that war, in any shape or form, cannot be justified. It will only bring struggle, crisis, and turmoil to those who involved. Let there be peace and may those brave souls who have died defending their homeland rest in peace.
Let peace be upon this world, free of subjugation, prejudices, and discrimination.
-Unknown writer
