It was launched at the request of Marshal Joseph Joffre and intended to relieve the German pressure on French forces.

[12] Under the terms of the Chantilly Agreement of December 1915 Russia, France, Great Britain and Italy were committed to simultaneous attacks against the Central Powers in the summer of 1916.

[13] The Lake Naroch offensive was launched at the request of France, in the hope that the Germans would transfer more units to the East after their attack on Verdun.

[16] On either side of Lake Naroch was the German Tenth Army, commanded by Hermann von Eichhorn.

Russian assault columns found the German defenses mostly intact, and suffered terrible flanking fire.

On 21 March, the Russian assault continued with the I, XXVII and I Siberian Corps, and were able to capture the German front line.

Eventually, the attack on the German positions was brought to a halt because, as General Evert noted in his order issued on 30 March, it had not led to "decisive results" and "the onset of warm weather and abundant rains" had turned much of the area into swamps.