Life Guards 3^rd Rifle Regiment in the Battle of Stokhod, July 1916

   The article is devoted to an important episode of the 1916 campaign on the Russian front of the World War I - the Kovel operation, when the troops of the Bezobrazov group tried to capture the line of the Stokhod River. The Life Guards 3^rd Rifle Regiment of His Majesty is one of the participants in the socalled “Slaughterhouse of the Guards”: the events that occured on July 15-27, 1916 during the offensive of the Bezobrazov group in the Kovel direction. We will consider the 1^st period of the offensive, which occurred in the period of July 15-19. In addition to reviewing the actions of the Guards Riflemen in these events, we will take a look at the general panorama of the operation, as well as briefly highlight the main reasons for the Stokhod failure. Among the latter: the wrong distribution of forces, ignoring the terrain in the development of such a serious operation and excessive intrusiveness of higher command authorities in relation to the army. In addition, the enemy had a new prepared line of defense in the rear, which was occupied by the approaching reserves. The advantage of surprise strike disappeared, everything was put into action - and there were not enough reserves to break through new "plugs" in the depths of the enemy defense. More than seriously affected by the limited nature of the success of the Guard, in addition to difficult terrain, the complete absence of heavy artillery. In many ways, this explained the limited nature of the success of the Russian guards. The events we have considered became an important stage in the military chronicle of His Majesty’s 3^rd Infantry Regiment, and the exploits of its ranks during this period are inscribed in golden letters in the chronicle of the glory of Russian weapons.

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