Monday, February 02, 2015

February 2nd, 1915

- Financial representatives from Britain, France, and Russia meet today in Paris to discuss the financing of the war.  Britain objects to a French proposal to issue a joint allied loan of £800 million, fearing that British credit would be undermined by association with the weaker credit of its allies.  Instead, Britain (with £25 million) and France (625 million francs) agree to support Russia, while in exchange France and Russia agree to ship £6 million in gold to Britain if the reserves of the Bank of England falls by over £10 million in the next six months.

- The defeat at Dogger Bank just over a week ago has capped a frustrating first six months of the war for the German High Seas Fleet.  The British clearly dominate the North Sea, as evidenced by their attack on the Heligoland Bight in August, and the naval raids against the British coast only narrowly avoided catastrophe at the hands of intercepting British squadrons.  Such setbacks demand a scapegoat, and today he is found - Admiral Ingenohl is dismissed as commander of the High Seas Fleet.

- In the Carpathians the Austro-Hungarian effort to seize the heights north of the Uszok Pass have failed.  Given the utter exhaustion of the infantry in the bitter cold, efforts to attack the Russian positions frontally and outflank them have gotten nowhere.  Early his morning General Szurmay pulls his forces back towards the Uszok Pass, in order to give them a brief respite from the fighting.

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