Painting depicting the "Attack of the Dead Men", August 6, 1915. Today 108 years ago, on August 6, 1915, the "Attack of the Dead Men" took place between Russian and German forces at the Osowiec fortress on the Eastern Front. The Osowiec fortress was a modern Russian-built fort in Eastern Poland, positioned in a marshland on the one spot easily crossable. This meant whoever wanted to get past had to capture the fortress first. Osowiec protected the important railway hub connecting the cities of Belostok, Lyck and Königsberg, meaning the Russians made sure to protect it as best as possible when the First World War broke out. The Russians had already repulsed two pushes from the Germans in September 1914 and February - March 1915. In July 1915, the Germans launched a third assault. The Russians, being heavily outnumbered, fiercely resisted like the previous times, and the Germans soon realized something else was needed - gas. On the morning of August 6, 1915, the Germa...