During the course of World War 1, a bloody battle played out between Russia and Germany at the Osowiec Fortress in Poland.

August 6, 1915.

At dawn, German soldiers put on gas masks---which the Russians didn't have---and shot poisonous gases (mixed with chlorine) into the fort.

The Russians took wet rags and used them to make a makeshift gas mask.

When the gas entered the fortress, Kotlinsky's forces collapsed to the ground.

The Germans assumed their own victory---believing the Russians had been wiped out.

The chlorine gases the Germans launched caused the skin on the Russian soldiers' faces to peel. When the gas got into their lungs, it began to melt them, causing the Russians to cough up blood and parts of their own lungs. The rags that the Russians had been using as gas masks had been stained red with blood.

Just when the Germans thought they had won, the Russians rose from the ground, launching a counter-assault with heavy artillery.

The Germans---in their panicked state---believed that the Russians had come back from the dead, or were zombies. (This is how the battle got its name.)

The Germans fled the battlefield, terrified for their lives---resulting in a Russian victory; though, many of the Russian soldiers died soon after.

This battle was known as "the Attack of the Dead Men".

{This is a fictional account of the battle and everyone in the story is made up besides Lieutenant Vladimir Kotlinsky.}