Lake Naroch Offensive

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Date	March 18 – April 1916
Location	Lake Narač area, present-day Belarus
Result	German victory

Combatants

Russian Empire

German Empire

Commanders

Alexei Kuropatkin
Alexei Evert

Hermann von Eichhorn

Strength

Parts of two army groups (350,000 men + 1,000 guns)

Tenth Army (75,000 men + 400 guns)

Casualties

78,000

20,000

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Eastern Front
Stalluponen – Gumbinnen – Tannenberg – 1st Lemberg – Krasnik – 1st Masurian Lakes – Przemyśl – Vistula River – Łódź – Bolimov – 2nd Masurian Lakes – Gorlice-Tarnów – Warsaw – Lake Naroch – Brusilov Offensive – Kerensky Offensive

The Lake Naroch Offensive was a battle mainly fought in March 1916 to relieve the German pressure against the French at Verdun.

As the French situation there was becoming more and more severe, General Joffre appealed to the other Allies for a diversionary action someplace else in order to compel the Germans to withdraw part of their forces from Verdun.

Nicholas II acceded to the French request, choosing the Lake Narač area in White Russia because there 350,000 Russians (parts of two army groups) faced just 75,000 Germans (X Army under General Eichhorn).

The Russian initial artillery bombardment was quite long (it lasted two days), but inaccurate, and the Russian troops, who made the mistake of crossing no man's land in groups rather than scattered about, were easy targets for enemy machine guns. The attackers gained a few kilometers, but did not inflict any serious damage to the German defenses — which were well organized and fortified — although the Russians greatly outnumbered their adversaries.

The Russian offensive petered out in April 1916. All gained territory was lost to subsequent German counterattacks.

A secondary attack mounted near Riga on March 21 had no better luck.

The whole operation was an utter failure, as it abated the Russians' morale without providing any help to the French.