Sventiany Offensive

The Sventiany Offensive (now Švenčionys) was a military operation mostly undertaken by the Imperial German Army's 10th Army against the Imperial Russian Army's 10th Army on the Eastern Front during World War I.

Sventiany (Švenčionys) Offensive
Part of the Eastern Front during World War I
Eastern Front in the second half of 1915.
Date 26 August (N.S. 8 September) to 19 September (N.S. 2 October), 1915 Location Sventiany, Russian Empire (Now Švenčionys, Lithuania) 55°09′N 26°10′E Result German victory
Belligerents
German Empire	Russian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Hermann v. Eichhorn	Alexei Evert Evgeny Radkevich Pavel Plehve
Units involved
German 10th Army	Russian 10th Army Russian 5th Army

On 9 September 1915, the Germans broke through the Russian defences and four German cavalry divisions, reinforced from 13 September 1915 by two others, went into the breach to gain the rear of the Russian 10th Army. Later the German cavalry operations, devoid of infantry and artillery support, weakened; and on 15–16 September 1915 the newly formed Russian 2nd Army finally stopped the German attack. The Russians attempted to push the Germans back and eliminate the Sventiany breach, however, on 2 October 1915, German reinforcements held against the Russian attack and inflicted heavy casualties on the Russians.