December 31st, 1914

- In Champagne the French II Corps recaptures most of the ground lost to the German counterattack of yesterday, but the Germans launch another four attacks along the front held by 4th Army.  With the German counterattacks threatening to turn the French offensive into a series of small back-and-forth battles, the commander of 4th Army orders an emphasis on the use of artillery to maintain pressure on the enemy.

- At Sarikamish the Ottoman attack has faltered due to the heavy casualties incurred not only by fighting the Russians but also the terrible weather.  Today Enver Pasha orders IX Corps to maintain its present lines, understanding that further exertions are now beyond the exhausted infantry.

December 30th, 1914

- In Champagne a sudden German counterattack against the flank of the French II Corps captures three lines of trenches, inflicts heavy casualties on the defenders, and threatens to disrupt the ongoing French offensive.

- With the Ottoman assault on Sarikamish having stalled, General Yudenich, Chief of Staff of the Russian Caucasus Army, senses an opportunity to deliver a devastating counterattack.  The Ottoman IX and X Corps at Sarikamish are dependent on a single line of communication back to Ottoman territory running through Bardiz, and Yudenich concludes that if the bulk of I Caucasian and II Turkestan Corps can hold the line against the Ottoman XI Corps, IX and X Corps can be encircled and annihilated.  To this end, he has ordered two regiments from II Turkestan Corps at Yeniköy to move north towards Bardiz, and today they are able to bring the town under artillery fire.

The Battle of Sarikamish, December 30th, 1914.

- Though the Ottoman effort to capture Sarikamish has stalled, the turn in fortunes is not immediately apparent to the Russian army leadership.  Faced with the prospect of potential defeat in the Caucasus, two important decisions are taken.  First, all Russian forces in Tabriz and northern Persia are ordered to withdraw northwards - now is no time for quasi-colonial adventures if the Turks are advancing into Russia.  Second, Grand Duke Nicholas has a conversation with the British military attache at his headquarters.  He remarks on the implications of a defeat at Sarikamish, and inquires whether the British would be able to mount an expedition against the Ottoman Empire in order to force them to withdraw forces from the Caucasus.  The British attache writes up a report of the request, which is dispatched to London.  The second link in the chain leading to the end of the British Liberal government is forged.

December 29th, 1914

- Winston Churchill is another member of the War Council that is casting about for an option other than continuing the slaughter on the Western Front, as he writes to Prime Minister Asquith today: 'Are there not other alternatives than sending our armies to chew barbed wire in Flanders?  Cannot the power of the Navy be brought more directly to bear upon the enemy?'

- For the past several days, the Ottoman X Corps has been moving south towards Sarikamish, but marching across mountain peaks and through waist-deep snow has seen it lose a third of its strength to the elements.  When it arrives at Sarikamish today alongside IX Corps, the two units can muster only 18 000 soldiers to attack a Russian garrison that now numbers 14 000.  Though the Ottomans manage to sever the rail connection between Sarikamish and Kars, and though elements of 17th Division break into the town after dark, the Russians are able to rally and repulse the enemy assault.

The Battle of Sarikamish, December 29th, 1914.

Russian defenders at Sarikamish, December 1914.

Ottoman infantry marching through the mountains during the Battle of Sarikamish, December 1914.

December 28th, 1914

- In Britain the primary decision-making body regarding the conduct of the war is the War Council, comprised of Prime Minister Asquith, relevant Cabinet ministers, and the service chiefs.  The secretary of the War Council is Colonel Maurice Hankey, whose position gives him more influence over British strategy than most generals.  Today he circulates to some of the members of the War Council a memorandum on the future conduct of the war he had begun to draft two days earlier, and this 'Boxing Day Memorandum' is notable on two accounts.  First, he wonders whether British strength is best concentrated on the Western Front, or whether they should look elsewhere, especially in terms of where British seapower can most usefully be employed.  One of the alternatives Hankey mentions is against the Ottoman Empire, either along the Syrian coast or, significantly, against the Dardanelles.  Second, Hankey has been in communication with Colonel Ernest Swinton, formerly an Assistant Secretary under Hankey and now the official war correspondent on the Western Front.  Swinton had learnt before the war of an American firm that produced farm tractors with caterpillar treads, and while at the front had come to wonder whether a vehicle so-equipped could have military applications.  Swinton passed the suggestion to Hankey, and Hankey has included it in his Boxing Day Memorandum, proposing the following machine:

Numbers of large heavy rollers, themselves bullet proof, propelled from behind by motor-engines, geared very low, the driving wheel fitted with a caterpillar driving gear to grip the ground, the driver's seat armoured and a Maxim gun fitted.  The object of this device would be to rol down the barbed wire by sheer weight, to give some cover to men creeping up behind and to support the advance with machine gun fire. 

This proposal contains the core elements of what will become the tank, and Hankey's circulation of this suggestion is one of the first steps in its development.

- The German occupation of most of Belgium and northeastern France has meant that a significant amount of industrial resources, including everything from coal mines to locomotives to river barges, is now under German control.  The exploitation of these resources, however, has been problematic.  As a KRA report of today notes, nobody knows who actually owns these resources, which makes coordinating their exploitation next to impossible.  Private businesses in Germany proper want to secure a share of the booty for themselves, while alternatively not wanting utilization of these resources by KRA and other state agencies to, for example, drive down the price of coal in Germany.  The exploitation of the occupied territories is far from a straightforward proposition, a theme that will recur in other lands conquered by Germany and ensure that it never receives the full economic benefit from its conquests.

- In German Kamerun the French column that occupied Baturi on December 9th has advanced westward to Bertua, but over the past few days has been halted in a series of engagements with German forces.

December 27th, 1914

- After several days of attacks in Artois General Pétain's XXXIII Corps manages to capture seven hundred yards of German trenches today, but most of the gains are lost to subsequent enemy counterattacks. Meamwhile in Champagne Joffre moves IV Corps into the vicinity of 4th Army, which allows the commander of the latter to commit all of I Corps to the fight.  Thus when 4th Army resumes the attack today, the French are able to feed more troops into the battle to maintain the pressure on the German lines.

Elsewhere the secondary attacks ordered by Joffre to distract the Germans also continue to have negligible effects: today XI Corps of 2nd Army advances against the German line opposite without the benefit of a preliminary artillery bombardment, with the results one would expect.

In addition to the ongoing offensives in Artois and Champagne, Joffre continues to deal with a range of other issues, reflecting his attention to detain and tight control over all aspects of the French army.  Today a message goes out to all army commanders emphasizing the 'necessity' of organizing the 'first line of trenches in a manner to make them absolutely inviolable in order to reduce personnel placed in the trenches' and to 'permit the forming in the rear of important reserves required for future operations.'  The emphasis on finding additional reserves also demonstrates his continued commitment to the offensive, regardless of the outcome of the current operations.

- In Germany four new corps (XXXVIII to XXXXI Reserve Corps) and one new division (8th Bavarian Division) have been formed, and although consisting largely of inexperienced wartime volunteers and under-equipped as compared to pre-war formations, their deployment will allow for the execution of a major offensive.  The crucial issue now is whether these new units will be sent to the Western or the Eastern Front, in an attempt to secure a major victory.  In the draft of a letter to Hindenburg that he ultimately does not send, Falkenhayn reveals that he believes they should be sent West, along with one or two corps transferred from the East, and that an offensive should be launched by the end of January.  Here Falkenhayn once again demonstrates his belief that the primary enemies of Germany are on the Western Front, while a decisive victory cannot be achieved over Russia.  Though he is Chief of Staff of the German army, his opinion is hardly the last word in the matter.

- During the Cuxhaven Raid of Christmas Day, the Grand Fleet had been a hundred miles north of Heligoland Bight, hoping the operation might tempt the High Seas Fleet to sortie, but given the lack of reaction Jellicoe had ordered the fleet home.  In the predawn hours of this morning, the Grand Fleet is struggling through heavy seas as it approaches Scapa Flow when the dreadnought Monarch suddenly spots a patrol trawler dead ahead.  It turns sharply to miss the trawler, but steers directly into the path of Conqueror, another dreadnought, and the latter's bow drives into the stern of Monarch.  Both ships suffer significant damage, and although neither is in danger of sinking, they are both in need of time in drydock for repairs.

The temporary loss of two of the Grand Fleet's most powerful dreadnoughts leaves the British with just eighteen dreadnoughts, as compared to seventeen in the High Seas Fleet.  It is the moment of parity the Germans have dreamt of but, riding at anchor day after day, the Germans have no idea that the opportunity to engage the British on practically level terms even exists.

- General Ivanov of South-West Front decides today to call off the pursuit of the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army, except for advance guards designed to keep the enemy off-balance.  The Russians have prevented the Austro-Hungarians from exploiting their victory at Limanowa-Lapanow, and will be able to hold a line well west of the San River.  Advancing through the winter weather has taken its toll on the Russians, though, and Ivanov has concluded that the time has come to rest and recuperate.  4th Army will hold the line of the Dunajec River to Gorlice, and 8th Army from Gorlice eastwards roughly on the north face of the Carpathian Mountains.

- With the arrival of 17th Division today, Enver Pasha orders IX Corps to attack Sarikamish, even though X Corps has not yet arrived, and despite IX Corps having lost 15 000 of its starting 25 000 men over the past five days to the weather.  Moreover, since December 25th the Russian garrison of Sarikamish has grown from two battalions of infantry to ten, and though the Ottomans press their attacks with great courage and tenacity, they are unable to break through the Russian lines and occupy the town.

The Battle of Sarikamish, December 27th, 1914.

December 26th, 1914

- The British Expeditionary Force implements a reorganization today with the creation of 1st and 2nd Armies, under the command of Generals Haig and Smith-Dorrien respectively.  1st Army includes I, IV, and the Indian Corps, while 2nd Army includes II and III Corps, plus the newly-arrived 27th Division, consisting of regular battalions recalled from overseas.  The BEF's cavalry, consisting now of the Cavalry Corps under General Allenby and the Indian Cavalry Corps, are under the direct control of Field Marshal French, who remains the overall commander of the BEF.

- Many senior commanders on the Western Front are dismayed by yesterday's Christmas Truce, as they fear that soldiers who are friendly with the enemy will be less willing to kill them in battle.  In order to avoid recurrences artillery barrages are ordered by both sides, not only keeping the infantry from fraternizing in No Man's Land but also emphasizing that the soldiers in the other trench are the enemy.

- The Ottoman 29th Division reaches the outskirts of Sarikamish this morning, its march being delayed from Bardiz owing to inaccurate maps.  The previous night had been particularly cold, and by today the division has lost half of its men to frostbite and exposure without having yet attacked the Russian lines.  Given the weakness of 29th Division, Enver decides to delay the assault on Sarikamish until tomorrow, when 17th Division and X Corps should arrive.

The Battle of Sarikamish, December 26th, 1914.

December 25th, 1914

- Along certain stretches of the Western Front remarkable scenes play out today.  In what will become famous as the 'Christmas Truce', soldiers on both sides cease firing and for a time congregate in No Man's Land.  These episodes are most common in Flanders, where British soldiers (as of yet less prone than the French to hate the Germans, as it was not their country that had been invaded and occupied) and Germans from Saxony and Bavaria (it being generally accepted that Prussians were more war-like).  On both sides, Christmas Eve had seen the arrival of all kinds of care packages and donations from the home front, and some trenches were decorated with whatever greenery or 'ornaments' one could find.  At night the sounds of singing often echoed across the trenches as one side, then another, would sing Christmas carols.  In the daylights hours signs appear over the trenches, often proclaiming in the language of the other side: 'You no shoot, we no shoot.'  Soldiers then climb out of the trenches, first cautiously, then eagerly, and move out into No Man's Land.  Often the first task undertaken was the burying of the dead, who had lain out of reach for weeks and months.  Once completed, the two sides would mingle, frequently trading cigarettes, tinned-meat, and other recent gifts from the home front, while attempting to converse.  In some places they even play an improvised game of soccer across the mud and ruin of No Man's Land.  Diary entries by soldiers today often speak of sympathy with those on the other side, sharing as they did the terrible conditions of life in the trenches.  These 'truces' often continued for much of the day, neither side being in any great rush to return to their lines.  When they do depart, it is often with an informal agreement not to immediately resume firing.

German and English soldiers in No Man's Land on Christmas Day, 1914.

The Christmas Truce is the most prominent example of the 'live and let live' attitude that is emerging along stretches of the front - outside of major battles, there is a desire among the common infantry to avoid unnecessary shelling and rifle fire whose only effect can be to prompt reprisals.  In other words, for some the attitude is 'if you don't make our lives any more miserable, we won't make yours any more miserable.'

- A half hour before dawn this morning, Commodore Tyrwhitt's force reaches its launch position in the Heligoland.  By 630am the seaplanes are in the water, and at 659 the signal is given to take off.  Two seaplanes suffer engine failure before takeoff, so seven in total lift into the air and head southeast towards Cuxhaven.  At sea the visibility is perfect, but as the aircraft pass over the coast they discover the landscape below covered by thick fog.  In good weather the Zeppelin hanger at Nordholz would have been visible a dozen miles away, but today the fog obscures it completely.  The seaplanes split up searching for the hanger, but none are able to find it - one drops its bombs on fish-drying sheds by mistake.  Only two seaplanes come close to inflicting harm on the Germans.  The first, passing over German warships in the Jade estuary, aims its three bombs at the light cruisers Stralsund and Graudenz; the closest falls 200 yards from the latter.  The second passes over German warships anchored in the Schilling roads, and though it suffers damage from anti-aircraft fire, its observer, Lieutenant Erskine Childers, is able to pinpoint the location of seven dreadnoughs and three battlecruisers below.

The German North Sea coast targeted by the British seaplanes.

Having failed to accomplish anything, the seaplanes head back out to sea.  Running low on fuel, only two reach the seaplane carriers.  A third lands beside a British destroyer which takes aboard its crew, and three more come down near British submarines positioned by Keyes near the coast for precisely this reason.  The crew of the seventh, meanwhile, is picked up by a Dutch trawler, and are able to convince the Dutch authorities that they are 'ship-wrecked mariners', not combatants, and are thus able to return to Britain.

The British seaplane carrier Empress, one of three to attack the German coast today.

As the British force recovered the seaplanes and aircrew, they came under sporadic attack by German Zeppelins and seaplanes.  Though there were some near misses, no British warship is damaged.  The German fleet, meanwhile, remains in port the entire time.  Convinced that only the entire Grand Fleet would dare approach this near the German coast, the High Seas Fleet stays in port fearing that it is a British trap to lure them out to destruction.  By the time they realize that Tyrwhitt's small force is by itself, they have already departed for home.  This is another blow to morale in the German navy - the British have been able to sail close enough to launch airplanes with impunity.

- In the Carpathians Russian attacks continue to batter the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army.  The latter are short on ammunition and lack sufficient infantry to cover the entire front.  When Russian units push through Jaslo between two of 3rd Army's corps, its commander accepts the inevitable and at 10pm cancels the proposed offensive of his eastern wing and informs his corps commanders that they are permitted to withdraw to the Carpathian watershed if hard-pressed by the enemy.

- Though Albania has existed for less than two years, it has already become a 'failed state'.  A recent rebellion has driven out the old monarch, the German Wilhelm of Wied, who had been appointed by the agreement of the Great Powers before the war.  A central government, for all intents and purposes, does not exist in Albania, and thus though it is formally neutral, it is entirely unable to defend its sovereignty.  Today Italy takes advantage of Albanian disorder to occupy the port of Valore, Albania's second largest city and close to the narrowest point in the Adriatic Sea before it empties into the Mediterranean.  The occupation of Valore gives Italy greater control over the Adriatic, which Italian nationalists view as an Italian lake.  Such an action would normally have provoked the ire of the other Great Powers, especially Austria-Hungary, but given not only the ongoing war but also the desire to secure Italian support, neither side in the Great War objects.  Thus Italy is not only using the war to secure territorial bribes to end its neutrality, but also as a cloak for unprovoked aggression against other states.

- Today the 'Ottoman' battlecruiser Goeben strikes a Russian mine at the entrance to the Bosporus after returning from a sortie in the Black Sea.  Though the warship is never in danger of sinking, it will be out of commission for some time.

- The elimination of the German East Asiatic Squadron removes the major impediment to British amphibious operations in the south Atlantic, and today a South African force lands at Walvis Bay on the coast of German South-West Africa.

- A small British detachment of four Indian companies occupies the coastal town of Jasin, located at the mouth of the Umba River and sitting on the border between British East Africa and German East Africa.  The occupation is not directly intended as a threat to the Germans - being sixty-four kilometres to the north, it is remote from Tanga, and the move is primarily designed to stabilize the frontier tribes in the Umba Valley inland.

December 24th, 1914

- Three days after the first attempt to bombard England from the air, at 1045am a single German Friedrichshafen FF 29 seaplane appears over Dover, flying at fifty miles per hour.  At the limit of its fifty-mile range, it carries only four 2kg bombs, which it drops near Dover Castle.  Instead of striking the landmark, they fall nearby and destroy the vegetable garden of local auctioneer Tommy Terson, who suffers minor injuries.  For the first time enemy bombs have exploded on English soil.

A German Friedrichshafen FF 29 seaplane.

- At 5am this morning, Commodore Tyrwhitt's force, consisting of three seaplane carriers, three light cruisers, and eight destroyers, sails from Harwich, bound for Heligoland Bight.  To maintain the secrecy of the raid, no preliminary warning was given to the warships before they sailed, and some have left behind stewards who had gone ashore to purchase turkeys and geese for Christmas Day.

- For the past six days the German 9th Army has been assaulting the Russian line west of Warsaw between Sochaczew on the Bzura River and Bolimov on the Rawka River, in an effort to break through to Poland's largest city.  Wave after wave of German infantry have crossed the two rivers, often in frigid water up to their chests, to assault Russian lines on the far bank.  Though in a few cases certain section of the Russian trench line were seized, at no time were the Germans able to pierce the enemy front.  9th Army has suffered over 100 000 casualties in failing to break through, and at one point a tributary of the Rawka River stopped flowing, blocked by a dam of German dead.  It now being obvious that Warsaw will not be in German hands for Christmas, Ludendorff calls off the attacks.

- In the Caucasus the occupation of Bardiz today by the Ottoman 29th Division of IX Corps masks growing problems with Enver's offensive.  Moving through heavy snow and in frigid conditions, thousands are already being lost to the elements; 17th Division of IX Corps reports that as much as 40% of its soldiers have fallen behind, some undoubtedly disappearing into the drifts of snow.  X Corps to the north, meanwhile is exhausted, but two of its divisions are pushed northwards towards Ardahan before Enver orders it to redirect itself westwards to cover IX Corps left flank.  29th Division, meanwhile, is given no rest - Enver instructs it to march immediately on Sarikamish, not only to complete the envelopment of the Russian forces facing XI Corps but because the Ottoman units need to seize Russian supplies if they are not to run out of food and starve.

On the Russian side, I Caucasian and II Turkestan Corps are in the line facing XI Corps when Enver begins his offensive, the former to the south of the latter.  The first response of General Bergmann, commander of I Caucasian Corps, had been to order his force to advance westward in an attempt to threaten the rear of the Ottoman IX and X Corps.  General Nikolai Yudenich, Chief of Staff of the Russian Caucasus Army, is better able to understand the threat the Ottoman advance poses to Sarikamish, and orders I Caucasian Corps to instead withdraw today while moving reinforcements to concentrate at the threatened town.

The Battle of Sarikamish, December 24th, 1914.

December 23rd, 1914

- The British government announces a further tightening of the blockade of Germany by declaring additional items to now be contraband and subject to seizure.  New to the list are all types of rubber, whether raw or wast, and all elements used in the production explosives.

- The French Parliament today votes to hand over even more powers to Joffre and the French Army.  Within the 'Zone of Armies' along and near the front, the power of the French Army is supreme and cannot be interfered with by civilians - politicians are even forbidden to visit the front line.

- In the Caucasus the Ottoman X Corps today seizes the town of Oltu, its first objective.  However, given low supplies and appalling weather conditions, the advance of X Corps and the neighbouring IX Corps are already behind schedule.

December 22nd, 1914

- By today the British line between Cuinchy and Neuve Chapelle has been stabilized by the insertion of 1st Division of I Corps into the centre of the position around Givenchy, formerly held by the Indian Corps.  Most of the original lines held before the German attack of the 20th have been regained, though some stretches of the first trench have been so destroyed by artillery fire as to render them useless.  The moment of danger has passed, though the Indian Corps has suffered almost a thousand casualties over the past three days, as compared to only 250 for the Germans opposite.  The need for 1st Division to come to the 'rescue' of the Indian Corps also does little for the confidence of the BEF leadership in the latter's fighting qualities.

- In Galicia the Russians continue to press against the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army, and in many spots the latter is forced southward.  Further complicating matters, most of the reinforcements destined for the right wing of the army had been sucked into the fighting on the left wing in an attempt to stem the tide, making the execution of the planned advance on Przemysl by the army's right wing impossible.  In an attempt to make the best of a bad situation, Conrad approves a proposal by 3rd Army commander to attack with his left wing towards Tarnow.

The Russian advance in Galicia, December 22nd to 31st, 1914.

- In light of the failed invasions of Serbia, General Potiorek is forced into retirement today.

The Serbian Front at the end of December, 1914.

- What will become the Battle of Sarikamish begins today when Enver Pasha orders the Ottoman XI and X Corps of his 3rd Army to begin their advance into the Russian Caucasus.  Enver's objective is the town of Sarikamish, which sits at the head of the main railway supplying Russian forces in the Caucasus, but his plan bears the strong imprint of German thinking and the influence of 3rd Army's Chief of Staff Baron Bronsart von Schellendorff.  Of 3rd Army's three corps, XI Corps, reinforced by two divisions that had been originally bound for Syria and Iraq, was to frontally attack the two Russian corps southwest of Sarikamish in order to fix them in place.  This was no small task for XI Corps, given the two Russian corps number 54 000 men and the Ottoman unit would have been outnumbered by just one of the enemy corps.  The key maneouvre, however, is to be undertaken by IX and X Corps.  The former, sitting on XI Corps' left, is to advance along a mountain path known as the top yol towards Çatak, from which it can descend on Sarikamish from the northwest, outflanking the two Russian corps pinned by XI Corps.  Though the top yol is known to the Russians, they believe it was impractical to move large bodies of troops along it.  Enver, for his part, believes that not only is the path useable but its high altitude and exposed position would ensure that high winds kept it swept of snow, as compared to the valleys below.  Finally, X Corps, on the left of IX Corps, is to advance and occupy the town of Oltu, from which one portion of the corps can move to support IX Corps' move on Sarikamish, while another portion can continue northeastwards towards the town of Ardahan.  If successful, the plan promises the envelopment and annihilation of the two Russian corps southwest of Sarikamish and the opening of the way to Kars.

With its emphasis on outflanking the enemy position, it has the obvious imprint of the thinking of Schliffen and the German General Staff.  Further, Enver's plan involves precise timetabling of the advance of IX and X Corps (necessary given the lack of communications between the three corps of 3rd Army) which removes all possibility of improvisation and does not allow for any unit to fall behind schedule.  Finally, there is the emphasis on speed - the soldiers of IX Corps, for instance, are told to leave their coats and packs behind to quicken their advance.  This ignores the obvious reality of conducting operations in the Caucasus in December and January - temperatures are consistently below -30 degrees centigrade and the snow on the ground is measured in feet, not inches.  This ignorance of the human element, also a conspicuous reflection of pre-war German planning, is to be of decisive import in the days ahead.

Incidentally, Enver's decision to launch his invasion of the Russian Caucasus today is the first link in a chain of events that will lead to the collapse of the last Liberal government in Britain.  Just another example of how one cannot understand the First World War without understanding how it was a world war.

The planned advance of the Ottoman 3rd Army against Sarikamish.

- In German Kamerun the French column that occupied Nola in October today seize the village of Molundu.

- A force of Boer rebels numbering about a thousand, comprising those who managed to escape to German South-West Africa under Martiz and Kemp, cross the Orange River back into South Africa.  Though they have achieved surprise, the advance is plagued by disagreements between the two Boer leaders, Kemp refusing to serve under Maritz's leadership and wanting to return to the Transvaal.  Martiz for his part desires to avoid giving the impression of being a German puppet, and thus refuses German assistance.  The result is that when a South African force is encountered near Schuit Drift, they are driven off and retreat back over the Orange River.

December 21st, 1914

- In Champagne today the French XII Corps of 4th Army launches its attack on the German lines.  However, just as with XVII and I Colonial Corps yesterday, XII Corps is unable to secure any gains; they find that the few gaps that exist in the German barbed wire are covered by enemy machine guns, making them killing zones as French infantry congregate at the gaps trying to get through to the enemy trench line.  After the day's fighting, the commander of 4th Army decides to temporarily suspend infantry assaults and instead have the soldiers conduct mining operations while artillery fire is directed on known German strongpoints.  It is hoped that after bombardment on the points that held up the initial advance, subsequent attacks will meet with greater success.

- For the first time in the war a German aircraft attempts to bombard England, reaching the coast at Dover and attempting to hit the port.  The raid, however, is unsuccessful - the two bombs dropped land just offshore in the Channel.

- Meanwhile the First Lord of the Admiralty gives approval to an operation that not only be the first of its kind against Germany, but the first of its kind in history.  On December 25th, three light cruisers and eight destroyers under the command of Commodore Reginald Tyrwhitt of the Harwich Force will escort three seaplane carriers into the Heligoland Bight,  Here the seaplane carriers, which are converted cross-Channel passenger steamers, will lower their three seaplanes each into the sea, and the aircraft after takeoff are to proceed to the Nordholz airship base eight miles south of the German port of Cuxhaven.  Once over the target each will drop their three bombs on the air base, and especially the massive twin-hangar structure that holds two of the German Navy's four Zeppelins.  By bringing only a small number of warships into the Bight, and by launching the seaplanes before dawn, it is hoped that the aircraft can be recovered and the force depart the Bight before the German navy can respond.  Eleven submarines under Commodore Roger Keyes, who had planned the operation with Tyrwhitt, will also be present to recover the crew of any aircraft that is forced to ditch short of the seaplane carriers.  The raid, if successfully accomplished, will be the first time in history aircraft launched from sea attack a land-based target.

- In Galicia the Russians have halted their retreat and, thanks to reinforcements drawn from elsewhere on the front, are able to go on the counterattack.  While two corps hold the line of the Dunajec River, five more attack along the front between Tarnow in the west to Besko in the east, striking the right wing of the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army and the left and centre of the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army.

December 20th, 1914

- The second of the major French offensives opens today with the attack in Champagne by 4th Army.  Advancing against a twelve-kilometre front approximately forty kilometres east of Rheims, the operation is undertaken by four corps - from west to east, XII, XVII, I Colonial, and II.  Two primary assaults are to be undertaken by XII and XVII Corps, while supporting assaults will be launched by I Colonial Corps.  The hope at 4th Army headquarters is that by having two main attacks, each controlled by a separate corps command, will double the chances of success.  In support the French have over seven hundred artillery pieces of varying calibers, a number that would have been all but unthinkable before the war.  The operation in Champagne also mirrors the operation in Artois in dividing the attacks into phases, to allow for sufficient concentration of artillery fire.  The objective is to secure a breach in the German line, and to do so the plan is to constantly feed fresh soldiers into the battle in order to maintain the momentum of the attack.  This tactic, which comes to be known as 'continuous battle', seeks to break through the enemy line by maintaining constant pressure to wear the opponent down, as opposed to overwhelming the enemy with a massive concentration of infantry and artillery at a single point.

Today, in the first phase of the attacks, both XVII and I Colonial Corps attack precisely at 930am.  Despite the heavy artillery barrage, the advancing infantry find the enemy's barbed wire and trench lines largely intact, and are unable to secure anything more than small, local gains.

- Unlike most of the other small attacks by British and French forces in Flanders this month, the failed assault of the Indian Corps results in a swift and powerful German attack that aims to do more than simply recover lost ground.  At dawn, the front held by the Indian Corps comes under intensive artillery and mortar fire, and at 9am the portion of the line near Givenchy, held by the Sirhind Brigade of the Lahore Division, is targeted by ten explosive mines, each of 50kg of gunpower, planted by the German VII Corps opposite.  The trench lines are shattered; some Indians are buried alive, while the already-waterlogged ground is turned into waist-deep mud.  German infantry from two battalions of 57th Regiment then surge forward, and though the defending Gurkhas and Afridis fight desperately, they are forced backwards.  Givenchy is lost to the Germans, and the position of the Indian Corps is such that Sir John French orders General Haig to dispatch a brigade to reinforce the line at Givenchy.

There are also reports of Indian soldiers, primarily Baluchis, fleeing the battlefield in panic and discarding their rifles.  In practice the number of cases were few, often limited to those situation where all of both the British and Indian officers had been killed, but the reports appear to give sustenance to the belief of some that Indian soldiers are not capable of fighting in the cold winter of Flanders and in the conditions of modern industrialized warfare.

The front near Givency. 

- To revive his faltering offensive, the commander of the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army argues that his eastern wing should be reinforced, concentrating eight or nine infantry and five cavalry divisions here, with the objective being to outflank the entirety of the enemy's position in Galicia and reach Przemysl.  Conrad agrees, and orders the advance on Tarnow, which has not made any progress anyway, suspended.  Instead, 4th Army and the western wing of 3rd Army are to stand on the defensive until the forces destined for the eastern wing are assembled.

- While the Ottoman 3rd Army is about to launch Enver Pasha's invasion of the Russian Caucasus, the Ottoman 4th Army, based in Syria and Palestine, is planing an invasion of Egypt, and just as 3rd Army's operation is linked to the pan-Turkic vision of Enver, 4th Army's advance is to be associated with the call to jihad, hoping that it will inspire the Egyptian population to rise up in support of the Ottoman invasion.  Thus 4th Army is to be given the full trappings of a religious crusade - today a holy flag brought from Mecca is paraded through Jerusalem, after which it is to accompany 4th Army, along with a number of Islamic clerics.

December 19th, 1914

- The British undertake another attack in Flanders today, this time by the Indian Corps, which currently holds the line between Cuinchy just south of the La Bassée-Bethune Canal north to a position just west of the village of Neuve Chapelle.  Elements from both divisions of the Indian Corps participate in the attacks, which begin at 430am.  Initial successes are achieved, and the Sirhind Brigade of Lahore Division manages to occupy two German trench lines.  However, these successes cannot be maintained, as the units that have advanced find themselves attempting to hold small salients in the German lines, which allow the enemy to counterattack from three directions.  By nightfall, all of the day's gains have been given back.

- Falkenhayn and Conrad meet today at the railway station in Oppeln to discuss strategy on the Eastern Front.  The German Chief of Staff continues to believe that a decisive victory in the East is impossible because the Russian army will always be able to retreat into the interior of the country.  Thus Falkenhayn's plan is to advance to the Vistula River in order to secure a strong defensive position in Poland, which would then allow for the redeployment of significant forces to the Western Front for a decisive operation against the French in February.  Needless to say, Conrad could not disagree more, as he still argues that a massive envelopment maneouvre, with the pincers originating in East Prussia and Galicia, can surround and annihilate the Russian army.  This would knock Russia out of the war, and lead to victory in the Balkans and the West.  With such thoroughly divergent
opinions, it is not surprising that the two generals depart without having agreed to anything.

- Nine days ago Enver Pasha received a report from his acolyte Hafiz Hakki, whom he had sent out to the Ottoman 3rd Army in the Caucasus to report on its condition.  Hakki told Enver exactly what he wanted to hear - that the supply problems were overblown and that an advance to Kars is possible.  Today Enver decides to take matters into his own hands, dismissing the cautious commander of 3rd Army and appointing himself as his replacement.  He intends to launch the three corps of 3rd Army in an invasion across the Russian frontier towards Sarikamish and Kars, winning a decisive victory that will both demonstrate the continued vitality of the Ottoman Empire and rally all Turkic peoples to the Ottoman banner.  By taking command of the army himself, Enver has raised the profile of and the stakes for the coming invasion; while victory would be widely celebrated, defeat may call into question the entire strategy and war aims of the Young Turks who dominate the Ottoman government, and the viability of the call to jihad against the Entente.

- In Egypt the British are taking steps to formalize their control of the country, which they have informally occupied since 1882.  Yesterday they declared the former Ottoman province to be a British protectorate, and today they depose the pro-Ottoman Khedive Abbas Hilmi, now in Constantinople, and replace him as Khedive with his uncle Hussein Kamil.

- The British battlecruiser Inflexible, which had been hunting for the German light cruiser Dresden along the Chilean coast, is recalled to home waters today.  With Invincible having already departed for home, it leaves the search for Dresden in the hands of the armoured and light cruisers that had contributed to the destruction of the German East Asiatic Squadron on December 8th.  For its part Dresden has been living a fugitive existence, hiding among the fjords and channels along Tierra del Fuego.

December 18th, 1914

- Though the French have abandoned their attacks in Flanders, the British have not - they hope that the continued German redeployments to the Eastern Front have sufficiently weakened their lines opposite the BEF to allow for successful, if small-scale, attacks.  The reality is that though the German lines are thinner, they are still able to easily repulse hastily-planned and poorly-executed operations.  Today, a British attack against the German line at Ploegsteert Wood is a bloody failure, with some of the advancing infantry being killed by their own misdirected artillery fire.

- After the attacks by XXI and X Corps yesterday, the main attack of the French 10th Army's Artois offensive is launched today by XXXIII Corps.  However, the same conditions that impeded progress yesterday - heavy rain and insufficient artillery fire - also plague today's advance, and XXXIII Corps, attacking along a broad front, secures only negligible gains.  General Pétain decides that instead of continuing to attack all along his corps' front, he will instead concentrate his strength against just the portion of the line at the village of Carency, in an attempt to overwhelm the German defenders.

- The Russian armies in central Poland halt their retreat today, taking up strong and prepared positions on the lower Bzura and Rawka Rivers south to the Nida River.  Attacks by both the German 9th and Austro-Hungarian 2nd Armies fail to break through this new line, indicating that the Russians intend to stand and fight here.  Mackensen decides to continue 9th Army's offensive in an effort to capture Warsaw before the end of the year, and thus begins a series of attacks across the Bzura and Rawka Rivers.

- For his part, the Russian halt in central Poland is yet more evidence to Conrad that the essential battle is in Galicia where the Russian line in Poland can be turned from the south.  The omens south of the Vistula, however, are not promising.  In addition to yesterday's check at Lisko, today 4th Army finds its advance halted by Russian garrisons on the west bank of the Dunajec River, evidence that the Russian 3rd Army intends to stand along the Dunajec.  Gone is the question of whether the Russians will retreat across the San; instead, it is now a matter of whether the Russians can be forced to continue retreating at all.  To accomplish this the left wing of 4th Army is ordered to hold at the Dunajec, while the right wing swings around to the south against Tarnow - if successful, it will sever the main railway and supply route to the Russian 3rd Army and force its further withdrawal.

- Along the border between German South-West Africa and Portuguese Angola, the reaction of the latter to the massacre of the Portuguese garrison at Cuangar on October 31st by a small German force had been to evacuate four nearby border posts for fear of further German attacks.  The German commander in South-West Africa, meanwhile, still does not know if Germany and Portugal are actually at war or not, so he decides to shoot first and ask questions later.  Today a German force of approximately five hundred soldiers, aided by local Africans, attack the Portuguese fort of Naulila, just north of the border.  The Portuguese defenders also number about five hundred, but Naulila was designed to resist native insurrections, not withstand the bombardment of the six artillery pieces the Germans brought with them.  When a German shell detonates the munitions dump, the Portuguese survivors break and flee, having suffered 182 casualties.

The Germans halt their advance after destroying the fort at Naulila - in the long term, the much greater threat comes from the British and South Africans along the coast and the Orange River.  The German success here, along with the Portuguese withdrawal, does effectively create a buffer zone in southern Angola, which allows the Germans to concentrate their forces elsewhere.

December 17th, 1914

- The French 10th Army opens its offensive in Artois today.  Its objective is Vimy Ridge, which stretches from the village of Souchez southeastwards to a point northeast of Arras.  To the east of the ridge is a long flat plain stretching twenty kilometres towards Douai, and it is believed that by seizing the ridge French artillery would be able to dominate the plain and force the Germans to withdraw perhaps past Douai.  10th Army has three corps assigned to the operation: XXI, XXXIII, and X Corps, aligned north to south.  The main attack will be undertaken by XXXIII Corps, under the command of General Philippe Pétain, which is to break through south of Souchez and seize the high ground before the village of Vimy itself.  To the north, XXI Corps is to capture Souchez and advance to the northern end of the ridge near Givenchy, while to the south X Corps will attack northeastward from Arras to protect the flank of XXXIII Corps as it advances.

In an attempt to ensure the strongest support for each advance, General Maud'huy has the attack of XXXIII Corps delayed until tomorrow, so French artillery today can provide maximum aid to the attacks of the two flanking corps.  Despite this, the preliminary artillery bombardment proves insufficient, and heavy rain has turned the battlefield into a field of mud, slowing the French infantry.  As a result, today's attacks by XXI Corps to the north and X Corps to the south make only minimal gains - the former only occupies less than a kilometre of the first German trench line, while the latter makes even less progress.

The Western Front around Vimy Ridge in early 1915.  That this map can also be
used to illustrate the front line prior to the 1st Battle of Artois says all that needs
to be said about how successful that operation was.

- Meanwhile to the north in Flanders the attacks undertaken by the French south of Ypres in an effort to distract the Germans from the major operations in Artois and Champagne have continued to be unsuccessful.  Not only have they failed to force the Germans to divert their reserves away from Artois and Champagne, but they have also failed to gain any significant ground whatsoever - along the Menin Road southeast of Ypres French attacks have gained only a hundred yards, while similar minuscule gains have been 'achieved' near the villages of Bixschoote and Klein Zillebeke.  As a result, the French attacks in Flanders are halted.

- Bernhard von Bülow, a former Chancellor, is appointed German Ambassador to Italy today.  He is tasked with keeping Italy neutral in the war, but his work is rendered difficult by the ongoing refusal of Emperor Franz Joseph to making any territorial concessions to Italy, the granting of which would be the vital 'inducement' to Italian neutrality.

- In central Poland the Russian 2nd and 5th Armies have begun their retreat eastward overnight, leading Mackensen to order his forces to quicken their advance in order to overtake and envelop the two Russian armies before they can withdraw to safety.

- General Falkenhayn, General Ludendorff, and Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg meet today in Berlin to discuss operations on the Eastern Front.  With reports indicating that the Russians are in full retreat along the entire front held by 9th Army, it is decided that the offensive in Poland should continue until Warsaw is occupied and the middle Vistula reached.

- On the Russian side, General Ruszkii has lost confidence in the ability of his armies to hold off the advances of the German 9th Army, and desires to retreat even further, past the line of the lower Bzura and Rawka Rivers and back to Warsaw itself.  Doing so would require South-West Front to retreat further eastward as well, and as such General Ivanov strongly objects to Ruszkii's proposal.  Grand Duke Nicholas decides in favour of Ivanov, ordering Ruszkii to hold the line decided upon on the 15th.

- Two days ago a significant Austro-Hungarian force in the besieged fortress of Przemysl had begun a sortie to the southwest towards the town of Lisko, on the other side of which the eastern wing of the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army was advancing northwards.  However, by today the Russians have brought in reinforcements, and in fierce fighting manage not only to drive the force from Przemysl back behind the siege lines but also compel 3rd Army to retreat southwards away from Lisko.  This Russian victory upsets the Austro-Hungarian plans for a further advance by the eastern wing of 3rd Army towards the San River.

The weather along the Eastern Front also continues to deteriorate.  Strong winds and heavy rain makes conditions for the infantry miserable, while the deep mud makes relocating artillery almost impossible; thus not only does the mud slow foot soldiers, but greatly reduces artillery support for those attacks that do occur.

December 16th, 1914

- In a message to Grand Duke Nicholas today, Joffre outlines the two major objectives of the French offensives that begin tomorrow:

The objective of these actions is twofold: (1) hold the enemy in front of us in order to facilitate the general action of allied forces; (2) make a breach in one or more points on the front, then exploit this success with reserve troops by taking the enemy in the rear and forcing him to retreat.

The first point is designed to alleviate the Russian commander's concerns regarding French inaction on the Western Front allowing the Germans to redeploy further units eastwards, while the second illustrates that Joffre saw the battle as a relatively-straightforward attack designed to achieve a breakthrough, from which would ensue a return to mobile warfare.  Joffre, though, did recognize that the present circumstances on the Western Front required different tools to achieve the breakthrough, weapons akin to thus utilized in siege warfare.  As he noted to the Grand Duke, should the attacks fail it would be because they were launched 'with still insufficient means.'

- In the early morning hours Hipper's battlecruisers and their escorts the British east coast.  The plan is to divide into two forces, the first to bombard Scarborough and Whitby, the second to strike Hartlepool just to the north.  The weather, however, is deteriorating, with rising seas and high winds.  The weather becomes sufficiently serious to pose a risk to the light cruisers and destroyers, so at 653am Hipper orders them to turn back and sail eastward towards the Dogger Bank where Ingenohl and the High Seas Fleet are to be waiting.

The German battlecruisers Seydlitz, Moltke, and Derfflinger during the Scarborough Raid, as taken from Von der Tann.

An hour earlier, however, the situation around the Dogger Bank had changed decisively.  As the High Seas Fleet was approaching Dogger Bank, the British battlecruisers under Beatty and the dreadnoughts of Warrender's 2nd Battle Squadron were to the northwest of Dogger Bank, sailing to their patrol point to the southeast.  By a supreme coincidence the course of the two fleets brought them into close proximity to each other, neither knowing that the other was nearby.  At 515am the seven British destroyers escorting Beatty's and Warrender's force are ten miles east of the dreadnoughts when they stumble upon several German light cruisers and destroyers, the latter being the advance screen of the High Seas Fleet.  For the next forty minutes there is confused, short-range fighting between the two forces, with the British suffering the most - three of their destroyers are severely damaged.

As the fighting continued the captains involved signalled their main fleets that they were engaging the enemy.  At 523am Ingenohl, aboard his flagship Friedrich der Grosse, is informed that German destroyers are fighting their British counterparts to the east, and the flashes of gunfire are visible on the horizon.  He does not know the composition of the British force opposing him, which allows his worst fears to run wild.  What if these British destroyers are the advance screen of the entire Grand Fleet?  This would mean that the High Seas Fleet was almost certainly sailing towards its destruction.  He was ever-mindful of the Kaiser's edict: no general naval battle is to be risked.  In the dark of night, Ingenohl comes to believe that this is exactly what is about to happen.  At 530am he signals all of his squadrons to reverse course and turn southeast for home.

It was a monumental decision, even leaving aside the fact that Ingenohl's retreat left Hipper's battlecruisers abandoned without even so much as a signal indicating the fleet was returning to Wilhelmshaven.  It meant that Ingenohl was turning away from the greatest opportunity the German navy was to have in the entire war to engage an isolated portion of the Grand Fleet.  If Ingenohl had not lost his nerve, a battle between his fourteen dreadnoughts and the six dreadnoughts and four battlecruisers of Beatty's and Warrender's force would have likely occurred at dawn.  The British would certainly have dealt out serious damage, but the High Seas Fleet would have had the advantage and the most likely outcome of such a battle would have been the loss of significantly more British warships than German.  Such a victory in turn would have given the Germans parity in the North Sea - at no point before or after December 1914 would the two fleets be closer in size, and the British margin of superiority would have been erased by the losses such a battle would likely have resulted in.  Thus by turning away, Ingenohl threw away the best chance the Germans would ever have to change the course of the war at sea.  While Ingenohl bears responsibility for the order, it bears recalling that it was given in line with the instructions of the Kaiser.  Ultimately, it was the Kaiser's own unwillingness to risk defeat that ensured he never won the great naval victory he yearned for.

While Ingenohl was making his fateful decision, confusion reigned in the British force.  Admiral Warrender, who as Beatty's senior was in overall command of the operation, had been informed that several of his destroyers were engaging the enemy, but they had failed to signal positions, courses, or speeds.  Concluding that any small German warships could be swept up after Hipper's battlecruisers were dealt with, Warrender decides that instead of turning east towards the fighting, his dreadnoughts will continue southeast towards the morning rendezvous.  By 730am Warrender's dreadnoughts, Beatty's battlecruisers, and Rear-Admiral Goodenough's light cruisers had arrived at their patrol point just off the Dogger Bank.  Confused signals continued to come in from British destroyers to the east, with some being missed.  Just as Beatty decides to charge eastwards to engage the Germans, word comes that the British coast is being shelled.  Beatty abandons the chase, and the British warships at sea turn westward to intercept Hipper.

The German bombardment had begun at the town of Scarborough at 8am by the southern part of Hipper's force, consisting of the battlecruisers Derfflinger and Von der Tann, plus the light cruiser Kolberg.  Out of the morning fog bright flashes were followed by shells crashing into buildings.  For a half-hour the three warships fire, and when they depart at 830am seventeen people were dead and ninety-nine wounded - all civilians.  These three warships then sailed twenty-one miles up the coast to the fishing village of Whitby, which they bombarded for ten minutes, killed two and wounding two more.  The northern part of Hipper's force, comprised of the battlecruisers Seydlitz, Moltke, and Blücher (the latter variously classified as a battlecruiser or armoured cruiser - regardless, it was the weakest of the three), was approaching the shipbuilding and manufacturing town of Hartlepool when at 750am they encountered four elderly British destroyers patrolling offshore.  Though one manages to close sufficiently to fire a torpedo, it misses and otherwise the destroyers retreat under a hail of German shellfire.  When a light cruiser in Hartlepool attempts to put to see, it is struck by two shells and ran aground.  This was the only naval resistance the three German warships would encounter at Hartlepool, and while several shore batteries did keep up a constant fire, their 6-inch shells were unable to pierce the armour protection of the enemy battlecruisers.  The German bombardment of Hartlepool lasts from 810am to 852am, during which the three battlecruisers fire 1150 shells at the town.  Shells rained down on the shipyard and the steelworks, but also damaged more than three hundred homes.  When the Germans depart, eighty-six civilians were dead and 424 wounded.  Damage to the six warships was minimal, and only eight sailors were killed and twelve wounded.

At 930am the two parts of Hipper's force reunite and turn for home, fifty miles behind the light cruisers and destroyers he had sent home earlier in the morning.  He signals Ingenohl his course and speed, and asks for the location of the High Seas Fleet.  Ingenohl's reply is that it is returning to port.  Hipper's response is a rather colourful curse - Ingenohl's hasty retreat has abandoned the battlecruisers to their fate.

On the British side, Beatty and Warrender believe that they will soon be able to find and annihilate Hipper's force - there is a gap fifteen to twenty miles wide between two minefields on the Yorkshire coast through which Hipper must sail, and both British forces are heading for this point.  At this point the British are stricken with almost comically bad luck.  First, the weather in the North Sea deteriorates rapidly, drastically reducing visual range.  Second, at 1125am the British light cruiser Southampton, part of Goodenough's cruiser squadron, sights several enemy light cruisers and destroyers - these were the warships Hipper had sent home early due to the rough weather.  Goodenough signals Beatty that he is engaging the enemy, and orders the other three light cruisers of his own force to assemble on Southampton.  Goodenough's cruisers had been tasked with scouting ahead of Beatty's battlecruisers, a vital task in the poor weather, and Beatty, not knowing Southampton has met multiple enemy light cruisers, is dismayed to see all of his light cruisers turn away to follow Southampton.  He tells his Flag Lieutenant to signal 'that light cruiser' to resume its station ahead of the battlecruisers.  The Flag Lieutenant, uncertain which light cruiser Beatty is referring to, tells the signalman, using his searchlight, simply to order the 'light cruiser' to resume its station.  Nottingham, the light cruiser receiving the signal, believes the signal, given that it names no specific light cruiser is for the entire squadron, and passes it to Goodenough.  The latter, believing he has received a clear and direct order from a superior officer, breaks off the fight with the German warships and orders all of his light cruisers to return to the battlecruisers.  The German light cruisers and destroyers disappear in the distance, and when Beatty sees all of Goodenough's light cruisers returns he is apoplectic, believing Goodenough has allowed Hipper's screening force to escape.  In reality, the problem was down to a misunderstood signal, not the last time such a problem would bedevil Beatty.

At 1215pm the same German warships that Goodenough had allowed to escape is sighted by some of the dreadnoughts of Warrender's squadron.  However, Warrender himself cannot see them, and so never issues an order to fire.  The dreadnoughts that do see the enemy believes that Warrender must have some reason for not yet firing, so they never open fire on their own initiative.  The German light cruisers and destroyers then disappear again into the rain, a second miraculous escape.

Beatty aboard his flagship Lion believes that the German warships sighted, then lost, by Goodenough and Warrender are the immediate screening force for Hipper, and that the German battlecruisers must be just behind them.  This leads Beatty to conclude that when the light cruisers and destroyers slip past Warrender, that Hipper's battlecruisers must also be about to escape.  To prevent this, at 1230pm Beatty orders his squadron to turn to the east, believing that only his ships had the speed to cut off the Germans from their home base.  The reality, of course, is that Hipper's battlecruisers were fifty miles behind the light warships.  If Beatty had kept to his original course, he would have almost certainly ran right into Hipper.  By turning away, he opened a gap between the minefields that Hipper promptly sailed through.  By the time Beatty realized that the German battlecruisers were not in fact in front him, Hipper had slipped away to the north.  Several hours of frantic searching by Beatty and Warrender find nothing, and by late afternoon they conclude that the Germans have made their escape.

The bombardment of Scarborough, Whitby, and Hartlepool caused outrage in Britain, compounded by the fact that the raiders had escaped.  In the Royal Navy there was immense disappointment that what had seemed like a golden opportunity to destroy the German battlecruisers had gone to waste.  There was infighting as the different admirals assigned blame to others, Beatty being particularly hard on Goodenough.  In practice luck and the weather had been against the British this day.  The muddled chase also showed the limitations of Room 40; though it had correctly detected the battlecruiser raid, they did not realize the entire German fleet was at sea, and the delay inherent in decyphering of signals also played a role - a signal by Hipper giving his position at 1245pm, when he could still have been intercepted, was intercepted but not decyphered and retransmitted to Beatty and Warrender until 250pm, by which time Hipper was long gone.

In Germany the raid was celebrated - naval honour was restored, and the hated British enemy was not quite so safe as it had thought it was behind its Channel frontier.  Within the German navy, however, the realization of the opportunity Ingenohl had let pass was a bitter pill to swallow.  Much criticism was heaped on the High Seas Fleet commander, including from the Kaiser himself, who informed Ingenohl that he had been too cautious, a case of misplaced blame.

Perhaps the most important impact of the raid, however, was on the morale of the British public.  To most in Britain, the deliberate bombardment of largely-undefended coastal towns was an atrocity.  The overall number of civilian dead - 105 - seems almost pitifully small from the vantage point of the 21st-century, where the record of the past hundred years has left us almost numb to the notion of civilian casualties in war.  From the perspective of Britain in 1914, however, the notion of deliberately targeting civilians was seen as something that no civilized nation would ever do - it was in line with the thinking, then much prevalent, that no civilized nation would torpedo merchant ships without warning.  The Scarborough Raid, as it becomes known, is quickly held up as yet another example of German barbarism and perfidy, taking its place alongside the Rape of Belgium to show why the war must be fought and why the Germans must be defeated, no matter the cost.  The episode becomes a staple of recruiting posters, which emphasize the murder of women and children at the hands of heartless German sailors, imploring the men to avenge the dead and protect those still living - another example of drawing on gender roles to support the war effort.  The memory of the Scarborough Raid live in the minds of the British public long after the physical damage had been repaired.

Two classic British recruiting posters drawing on memories of the Scarborough
Raid - whole books could be written on the gender themes implicit in them.

- In Poland the Russian 1st Army, northernmost of the Russian armies in the great bend of the Vistula River, had responded to Grand Duke Nicholas' order to retreat by fleeing as fast as possible east over the Bzura River.  To its south, the Russian 2nd and 5th Armies have only begun their retreat, meaning their northern flank has been uncovered by the hastiness of 1st Army.  General Mackensen of the German 9th Army believes an opportunity exists to envelop the Russian 2nd and 5th Armies, and while ordering his northern wing to attempt to outflank the enemy south of Sochaczew, he also requests that the Austro-Hungarian 2nd Army to send a detachment to the northeast towards Lubochnia to form the other half of the pincer movement.

- South of the Vistula River, the Austro-Hungarian pursuit of the retreating Russian armies continues to be stymied by strong rear-guard actions that limit their advance and result in hard fighting, suggesting that the Russians do not intend to withdraw a great distance.  Despite this, Conrad continues to believe that the Battle of Limanowa-Lapanow is a crushing victory, and his major concern today is how to bring the Russians to battle before they can retreat across the San River.

- Overnight the schooner Ayesha endures a violent storm that tears away all of the forward sails, leaving it at the mercy of the ocean.  In the morning, however, the storm vanishes, and Ayesha is left adrift when the wind proves too light to fill the remaining sails.  Fortunately Choising appears, and takes Ayesha in tow to the sheltered bay of a nearby island, where Emden's landing party transfers to the merchant ship.  They make Choising their new home, bringing with them all of their provisions and weapons.  The decision is made to sink Ayesha, to prevent it either falling back into British hands or from revealing their most recent position.  After cutting two holes in the hull, Ayesha is cut adrift as Choising's engine is started at 4pm.  For some time Ayesha continues on its own to follow Choising, and the Germans decide to halt to watch its final minutes.  At 458pm the Ayesha plunges out of sight, and the Germans give three cheers to honour their former ship.

The schooner Ayesha.

Aboard his new ship First Officer Mücke must decide where to sail next.  His original plan on leaving Padang was to try to reach the German colony of Tsingtao in China, but on boarding Choising they had learned of its fall over a month ago.  Sailing to German East Africa was quickly dismissed, as the arrival of fifty under-equipped and poorly-armed sailors could not possibly make a difference to the fighting there.  Joining with Königsberg was similarly ruled out.  It appeared the only option was to sail around Africa until a report in one of the newspapers aboard Choising mentioned a skirmish between British and Ottoman forces in Arabia.  Mücke thus decides that the best option is to sail to Arabia and return to Europe overland through the Ottoman Empire.  The slow speed of Choising - between four and seven knots per hour - means the voyage to Arabia will take several weeks.  In an effort to avoid suspicion, the crew disguises Choising as the Italian merchant ship Shenir, complete with an Italian flag made of a green window curtain, white bunting, a strip of red, and a painted coat of arms.

December 15th, 1914

- At 3am this morning, the German battlecruiser Seydlitz, Admiral Hipper's flagship, sails from Wilhelmshaven, followed by four additional battlecruisers, four light cruisers, and eighteen destroyers.  As Hipper's force sails across the North Sea towards the British coast, the High Seas Fleet leaves port, and at eighty-five warships it is the most powerful German naval force to ever put to sea.  Ingenohl intends his fleet to arrive at Dogger Bank at daybreak, the same time Hipper's force is to conduct its bombardment of Scarborough and Hartlepool.

The Germans are not the only ones at sea today, however.  Just two and a half hours after Hipper's departure, Admiral Warrender's 2nd Battle Squadron, along with four light cruisers, sails from Scapa Flow.  A half hour later, Beatty's four battlecruisers and eight destroyers departs Cromarty, and at 11am the two forces meet of Moray Firth.  Their objective is a point about 100 miles southeast of Scarborough, which they expect to reach at 730am tomorrow.  They are not attempting to prevent Hipper's battlecruisers from bombarding the British coast; instead, they plan on catching the German force unawares as they return later in the morning.  By placing Beatty's and Warrender's force between Hipper and home, they hope to annihilate the Germans.  This means that Hipper will be able to bombard the British coast unimpeded, but to the Admiralty this is a fair price to pay for the opportunity to deal the Germans a crushing defeat in the North Sea.

- The retreat of the Austro-Hungarian 5th Army is completed this morning when the last rear guard units cross over the Sava at 11am, after which the Serbs reoccupy their capital.

The liberation of Belgrade brings the third Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia to a close.  Yet again 5th and 6th Armies have suffered devastating losses since the beginning of operations in early November - total casualties are estimated at 225 000, which includes 40 000 prisoners.  The Serbian army has also suffered - approximately 170 000 casualties - leaving it incapable of exploiting its victory to invade Austro-Hungarian territory again, as it had done after the failure of the second invasion.

- In the Indian Ocean the weather continues to deteriorate into a heavy storm, and by daybreak the crews of Ayesha and Choising realize that they will not be able to bring the two ships alongside each other.  Instead, they change direction towards several small islands nearby, where they hope to be sheltered from the weather.

December 14th, 1914

- Planning continues for the two major offensive operations the French army will undertake in the next week - in Artois on the 17th, and in Champagne on the 20th.  Today General Foch meets with General Maud'huy to discuss the Artois offensive, to be undertaken by the latter's 10th Army.  Foch emphasizes to Maud'huy that the battle should be approached as if he were undertaking a siege, which means thorough and meticulous preparation combined with a methodical advance, ensuring that the infantry is supported by overwhelming firepower at every stage of the engagement.  Maud'huy thus slows the planned pace of the operation, spreading the attack over multiple phases to ensure each attack is strongly supported.  Despite the focus on preparation, the French units dedicated to the attack are not sufficiently equipped - 77th Division, which will be leading the main attack, requires over a hundred wire cutters to pierce the German barbed wire defences, but reports today that it has only fifteen.

- In addition to the two major attacks, Joffre is coordinating a number of diversionary attacks designed to distract the Germans from French preparations and force the enemy to commit their reserves elsewhere.  One of these secondary operations is begun this morning by units of the French XVI and XXI Corps and the British II Corps in the line south of Ypres.  The advancing infantry, however, are slowed by deep mud and intact barbed wire defences, and are unable to make any real progress.  Only a small number of British soldiers are able to reach the first German trench line on the western edge of the Petit Bois woods, but this does not pose a risk to the overall German position.

- For the past month and a half the German High Seas Fleet has sat in port, immobilized by the Kaiser's edict that his prized dreadnoughts are not to risk annihilation in a major battle with the British Grand Fleet.  The inaction is concerning to Admiral Ingenohl, commander of the High Seas Fleet, who worries about the morale of his sailors, while Admiral Hipper, commanding the Fleet's battlecruisers, is eager to undertake another attack on the British coast along the lines of that attempted against Yarmouth on November 3rd.  Meanwhile, the destruction of the German East Asiatic Squadron on the 8th spurs a desire to secure a victory to restore the public image of the German navy, while the Battle of the Falklands Islands also gave notice that several British battlecruisers are absent from the Grand Fleet.  Under these circumstances approval is given to another raid on the British coast - Hipper and his battlecruisers are to bombard Scarborough and Hartlepool.  To support the operation, Ingenohl and the High Seas Fleet will sail to the eastern edge of Dogger Bank in the middle of the North Sea, not to seek battle, but to provide support if Hipper fins himself overwhelmed.  There is also at least the chance that the Germans might stumble upon one part of the Grand Fleet divided from the rest, presenting the opportunity to even the odds in the North Sea.  The Germans are to sail tomorrow morning, with the bombardment scheduled to occur on the morning of the 16th.

As the High Seas Fleet prepares for its raid, wireless signals are sent back and forth among the German ships.  Unknown to them, these signals are being intercepted by the British, and though they are coded, the British have managed to break the German codes, thanks to the acquisition of several different German code books over the past few months.  In Room 40 at the Admiralty in London, the signals are deciphered, and at 7pm this evening the First Lord and First Sea Lord are informed that the Germans are coming.  Crucially, however, Room 40 has intercepted only a portion of the German signals - they inform the Admiralty leadership that the German battlecruisers are intending to raid the British coast, but they have no information that the entire High Seas Fleet will also put to sea.  Thus it appears to Churchill and Fisher that only Hipper's five battlecruisers will be undertaking the operation, and so they order Admiral Jellicoe to dispatch an appropriately-sized force to destroy it - the four battlecruisers of Admiral Beatty's Battlecruiser Squadron and the six dreadnoughts of Vice-Admiral Sir George Warrender.  Together these warships would be more than sufficient to defeat the German battlecruisers, but if they stumble onto the High Seas Fleet, the Germans would have overwhelming numerical superiority.  Thus Churchill's and Fisher's response to the intelligence of Room 40 is to give the Germans precisely the opportunity they crave to destroy part of the Grand Fleet in isolation and level the playing field in the North Sea - depending, of course, on the Germans taking advantage of the opportunity.

- Since the Yarmouth raid of November 3rd, Admiral Hipper, commander of the battlecruisers of the German High Seas Fleet, has been eager to undertake another sortie against the British coast.  Admiral Ingenohl, meanwhile, as overall commander of the High Seas Fleet is increasingly concerned about the morale of his sailors, given they have spent almost the entire war in port due to the Kaiser's edict forbidding the fleet from seeking out a major naval battle with the British.

- The Russian armies between the two bends of the Vistula River begin today the eastward retreat ordered by Grand Duke Nicholas yesterday.

The front lines in Poland on December 14th (on the left) and December 31st
(on the right), illustrating the Russian retreat.

- In response to the message of General Frank regarding the state of his army, General Potiorek orders 5th Army to retreat north over the Sava and Danube Rivers and abandon Belgrade to the advancing Serbs.

- For two weeks the schooner Ayesha, with its German crew from the light cruiser Emden, has been at the rendezvous point in the Indian Ocean it had signaled to the German merchant ships in Padang.  During this time it has twice sighted English steamers, one of which the Germans suspected to be an armed auxiliary cruiser.  When the cruiser approached, the crew of Ayesha did all they could to appear to be lost and hapless.  First they asked the cruiser for their current position, and when the cruiser asked Ayesha for its name, the German response was to raise a jumble of signal flags that meant jibberish.  Convinced that Ayesha was crewed by harmless incompetents, the cruiser had departed, leaving the German schooner to continue its wait.

Today their patience is rewarded when the German merchant ship Choising appears out of thick fog.  The intention of First Officer Mücke and his men is to transfer to the merchant, but are prevented by the rough seas.  Instead Ayesha signals Choising to follow it in sailing south, hoping to find calmer weather.

December 13th, 1914

- Grand Duke Nicholas confers with Generals Ruszkii and Ivanov at Brest-Litovsk today regarding the strategic situation on the Eastern Front.  Since the evacuation of Lodz on the 6th the German 9th Army has been hammering at the lines of the 1st and 2nd Russian armies west of the lower Bzura River, while the Russian 8th and 4th Armies are falling back in the face of the Austro-Hungarian victory at Limanowa-Lapanow.  The Grand Duke orders his front commanders to pull back their armies in Poland - the 1st, 2nd, and 5th Armies of North-West Front are to retreat to the defensive positions already established along the lower Bzura and Rawka Rivers which protect Warsaw, while the 9th and 4th Armies of South-West Front are to withdraw to a line running north-south along the Nida River.  By shortening the line in central Poland, the Grand Duke seeks to free up units that can then be deployed on the flanks - to 10th Army facing East Prussia, and 8th Army in the Carpathians.

In Galicia south of the Vistula River, the Austro-Hungarians attempt a vigorous pursuit of the retreating Russians, but are largely frustated both by enemy rear-guard actions and the sheer exhaustion and depletion of the Austro-Hungarian infantry.

- The Austro-Hungarian 5th Army endures another day of battering south of Belgrade at the hands of the advancing Serbs.  General Potiorek signals General Liborius Frank, commander of 5th Army, that he should abandon Belgrade unless he was absolutely sure it could be held without serious damage to his army.  Frank replies that he can guarantee neither point - his army is down to forty thousand combatants and there are insufficient fortifications facing the enemy.

- Since the arrival of Goeben and Breslau at Constantinople in early August, an Entente squadron of French and British warships have patrolled the western exit of the Dardanelles, prepared to sink the two German warships should they attempt to break into the eastern Mediterranean.  Other than the brief (and unsuccessful) bombardment of the forts in early November designed to dissuade the Ottomans from entering the war, the squadron has seen no action.  There are, however, also a half-dozen submarines attached to the squadron, and today one - the British submarine B11 - attempts to enter the Dardanelles.

The British submarine B11 - the size of the sailors around the conning tower gives a good idea of how small early submarines were.

At 415am B11 submerges and enters the straits, making painfully slow progress against the current.  A number of Ottoman minefields are known to have been laid across the Dardanelles, and to combat this steel tubes have been attached to the hydroplanes and other sharp edges to prevent them from snagging the mine cables.  Over five hours later B11 clears the minefields, and rises to periscope depth in Sari Siglar Bay.  When the captain, Lieutenant-Commander Norman Holbrook, views the horizon, he is astonished to see the Ottoman pre-dreadnought Messudieh anchored less than a mile away.  At a range of eight hundred yards, one torpedo is fired at what is, for all intents and purposes, a sitting duck.  The torpedo runs true and strikes the Ottoman warship, which immediately begins to sink.

As shore batteries open up on it, B11 quickly submerges to make its escape.  However, the compass has fogged, leaving Holbrook to navigate the ship by instinct.  The current has also pushed them into the path of several shoals, and B11 bounces from one to another running at full speed to avoid getting stuck.  In the shallow water the conning tower is visible, signaled by the nearby splashes of fire from more shore batteries.  The Ottoman gunners fail to strike B11, and it manages to escape to open water.  The success is celebrated in Britain, and Holbrook becomes the first submariner to be awarded the Victoria Cross.