Charge of the Dead Men

August the 6^th, 1915. The Great War is in full swing. A ragtag band of Russian soldiers, numbering less than a 1000 are holed up in Osowiec Fortress in Northern Poland. Comprised of 500 soldiers from the 226^th Infantry Regiment and 400 militia, they have so far held the Fortress against all the odds.

Facing them is a formidable foe. The German forces comprise 14 battalions of Infantry. Around 30 heavy siege guns. 1 battalion of sappers (combat engineers used to breach fortifications, lay mines and prepare field defences). And crucially to our story, 30 batteries of artillery equipped with poison gasses.

They are led by Field Marshal Paul Von Hindenberg. He would go on to be the President of Germany and appoint a certain Adolf Hitler as Chancellor. But that’s another story for another day.

The Russian forces inside the Fortress know they are going to lose. Most of the buildings inside are already reduced to rubble. In March, yes March! They were asked to try and hold the Fortress for another 48 hours to allow civilians time to escape. They have gone above and beyond the call of duty. Each one is a hero. But they can’t imagine the horror to come.

At 4 am the wind changes direction. This is the sign the Germans have been waiting for. They know the Russians don’t have gas masks.

They begin their artillery bombardment. Mixed in with the regular shells are chlorine gas shells. To quote a German soldier there at the time:

“The gas caused the grass to turn black and leaves to turn yellow, and the dead birds, frogs and other animals and insects were lying everywhere. Terrain looked like Hell”.

As the bombardment finished, 12 battalions, numbering over 7000 advanced. They expected very little resistance, if anyone was even left alive.

Chlorine gas in that concentration destroys the body. Your throat, lungs, eyes and internal organs disintegrate and you asphyxiate, choking on your own body parts as the chlorine reacts with the moisture in your lungs, forming hydrochloric acid.

What the Germans didn’t expect to see, was a wall of undead, partly liquefied Russians counter-charging them. Coughing up chunks of their lungs, blood pouring from them as they came.

The German soldiers did what any sensible person would do. They broke ranks and ran.

Running in a blind panic and doubtless scared out of their wits, the German soldiers ran straight into their own barbed wire traps.

The charge of the dead was led by Sub-Lieutenant Vladimir Kotlinsky. Despite being close to death (he would die later that day) he and his men opened fire on the fleeing Germans. It must have been a sight straight from the darkest places of a persons mind. Imagine the scene being so terrifying, so otherworldly, it causes battle hardened men to turn tail and flee.

Within days, the retreating Russians had demolished the Fortress and left. But the memory of this unique and horrific battle would never be forgotten. It even became the base for an amazing Sabaton song called The Attack of the Dead, which you can listen to below: