World War I military cemetery in Slawecin (in the hamlet of Życkie) No. 26 in the cemetery district No. II Jaslo built in 1916-1917 according to the design of JohannJäger . Resting here are 62 Austrians, 285 Russians killed on December 20-21, 1914 and May 5, 1915 during the fighting to break through Russian defensive positions. This is a sad reminder of one of the largest and most important battles fought during World War I on Polish territory. The Battle of Gorlice, because of its significance, is called the Gorlice breakthrough and is increasingly referred to as Little Verdun. The positional fighting near Gorlice lasted almost half a year, but the decisive clash began with a surprise attack by German and Austro-Hungarian troops on May 2, 1915. On May 2-5, 1915, the Russian front was broken. About 20,000 soldiers were killed in the fighting. The cemetery in Slawecin were located on the "Route of the Eastern Front of World War I", which runs through eight provinces, viz: Warmińsko-Mazurskie, Podlaskie, Mazowieckie, Świętokrzyskie, Lubelskie, Łódzkie, Małopolskie and Podkarpackie. It is also worth visiting the cemeteries from this period in Święcany, Siepietnica, Bączal Dolny, Harklowa and Jabłonica.
28.08.2013
