On May, 1915, the Russian lost their station in Gorlice to Austria-Hungary and Germany's forces.
During the First World War, Gorlice played a strategically significant role in the 1915 Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive. On May 1, 1915, the combined forces of Austria-Hungary and Germany initiated artillery barrages against Russian soldiers stationed on the battle line stretching from Gorlice to Tarnow. The following day, Austro-German infantry units launched an unsuccessful attack near Tarnow. In Gorlice, the weakened Russian forces were unable to defend against the Austrian and German attackers. On May 6, General Radko-Dmitriev, commander of the Russian Third Army, ordered his troops to retreat. An attempt by General Radko-Dmitriev to counterattack on May 7 and 8 resulted in disaster for the Russians, as German reinforcements outnumbered the defenders. 
