March 12th, 1915

- At 6am, a major German counterattack is launched against the British line at Neuve Chapelle which is able to retake a portion of the trenches northeast of the village that was lost in the initial British attack two days ago.  However, a lack of artillery impairs the German ability to hold the new line, and an attack by the British 7th and 8th Divisions at noon manage to regain the lost ground.  By 8pm, the headquarters of the German 6th Army concludes that further attacks to recover Neuve Chapelle will be fruitless, and decides to entrench on the present line.  For the British, the German counterattacks are sufficiently disruptive and damaging that, despite being able to retake the lost ground, they are unable to push further towards Aubers Ridge.

British dead at Neuve Chapelle, March 12th, 1915.

- Today the French XVI Corps begins its assault in the Champagne, joined by other elements of 4th Army.  Despite the concentration of infantry and the focus on a maximum effort, the attack is little more successful than those earlier in the battle.

- The second advance towards Prasnysz by the German forces under General Gallwitz is called off today north of the town, as Russian counterattacks have checked German momentum.

- In the central Carpathians, General Brusilov continues the counterattack against the left wing of the Austro-Hungarian 2nd Army, and today 34th Division is forced back.  The commander of the Austro-Hungarian 2nd Army, meanwhile, is concerned about a Russian breakthrough that would undue what little has been accomplished to date, and rushes his reserves to XIX Corps in front of Lupkow.  Further east, the grinding Austro-Hungarian advance towards Baligrod continues - the village of Rabe and the Manilowa Heights are seized today.

- This afternoon a small English gunboat thoroughly searches Isa Bay, from which Emden's landing party is rumoured to be sailing from tomorrow.  In truth, Mücke's deception has worked, as his party prepares to sail on the fourteenth.

- The British and French commanders of Entente forces invading German Kamerun agree to a plan of campaign, in which their forces are expected to reach the line Dume-Lomie-Akoafim-Ntem River by the end of March.  The plan, however, bears little resemblance to the actual position of French columns in the south and west, and assumes a level of co-ordination utterly impossible given the terrain of the colony.

March 8th, 1915

- Though no substantial success has been achieved in the fighting in Champagne, Joffre believes that the Germans are wearing down and that a breakthrough remains possible.  To this end, he orders XVI Corps, reinforced by 48th Division, to undertake a massive attack in four days time, in which as many soldiers as possible would be concentrated against the enemy line and maintain pressure with fresh infantry.

- Two days ago a French surprise attack against the German line west of Munster in Alsace succeeded in pushing back the defending Bavarian 6th Landwehr Division, seizing the Reichsackerkopf and Mönchberg.  In response 8th Bavarian Reserve Division was brought up, and a counterattack today regains the lost positions, with the exception of the summit of the Reichsackerkopf.

- Reinforcements having arrived from 10th Army to the north, General Gallwitz orders his forces to go back over on to the attack, advancing on both banks of the Orshitz River towards Prasnysz and Krasnosielce in Russian Poland.

- In the Carpathians the left wing of the Austro-Hungarian 2nd Army is finally able to gain ground today, as 41st Honved Division seizes the Maguryczne Heights.  This tactical success, however, does not lead to any wider advance, as the Russian lines remain unbroken and the weather continues to be miserable.

- Commodore Roger Keyes, previously commander of the submarines at Harwich, is currently serving as Chief of Staff to Admiral Carden at the Dardanelles.  Keyes was intimately familiar with the Ottoman defenses along the straits, having studied them while serving as naval attaché at Constantinople in 1906 and 1907.  Keyes is a strong advocate of the Dardanelles operation, believing seapower alone can force the straits.  However, as he writes to his wife today, he is concerned that the Admiralty is underestimating the challenges faced by the British and French warships, and has been insisting that Carden fully explain to his superiors the difficulties remaining to be surmounted.

- Shortly after 8am, three prisoners are shot by firing squad at the Criminal Prison in Singapore.  The executed were members of the 5th Light Infantry battalion, and their courts-martial had determined that they had played a leading role in instigating the mutiny of February 15th.  Over the next several weeks, of the one hundred and twenty-six captured mutineers, forty-seven will be executed, forty-seven will be executed, sixty-one transported for life, and the remainder will receive prison terms of various lengths.

The execution of mutineers at Singapore, March 1915.

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March 7th, 1915

- Having failed to convince the British to relieve IX Corps in the Ypres salient, Joffre today decides to cancel the offensive planned in Artois that would have been conducted by 10th Army.

- In the Champagne the French launch a major attack near Souain, though after initial advances they are repulsed by the Germans.  Writing to his corps commanders today, General de Langle, 4th Army Commander, calls on his forces to 'flee forward'; namely, that once a unit has seized terrain, it will sustain fewer casualties holding the newly-won ground as opposed to retreating back to the start line.

- After their victory at Prasnysz, Russian forces had advanced northwards towards East Prussia, but in heavy fighting over the past few days have been held at the line Mlawa-Chorshele, and today the Russians abandon further attacks.

- The offensive of the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army, forced on its reluctant commander by Conrad, is launched this evening after sundown.  The southern wing of 4th Army is able to gain some ground - 8th Division takes Sekowa and 12th Division advances some way to Gorlice.  However, once again the Austro-Hungarians are fighting the weather as much as the Russians, and frostbite is a constant companion for the infantry.  Further east, Sudarmee undertakes an offensive of its own, but the advance of XXIV Reserve Corps is stopped cold, literally and figuratively.

- The German mission to Afghanistan has been slowly making its way across the Ottoman Empire, with its members bickering about who exactly was in overall command, and the Ottomans themselves suspicious of German intentions (they do not wish their imperial interests to be negated by Germany's).  After arriving in Baghdad in January, Wilhelm Wassmuss, a Persian speaker experienced with tribes in the region, split off from the mission to become German consul in the south Persian city of Shiraz.  The remainder of the mission, now led by army officer Oskar von Niedermayer, has crossed into Persia in an effort to cross the country and reach Afghanistan.

Wassmuss, for his part, had served as a German consul in southern Persia prior to the war as well, and has used these contacts to win allies among the various tribes of the region.  Given the weakness of the Persian government, Wassmuss is able to operate largely unhindered by central authorities, but the same conditions that allow Wassmuss to operate also encourage Entente intervention regardless of the formal 'neutrality' of Persia.  Today, Wassmuss' caravan is ambushed by British Indian troops and pro-British tribesmen near Bandar Rig, on the Persian Gulf coast about a hundred miles southeast from the Shatt al-Arab.  Wassmuss loses his maps and codebooks, but manages to escape himself.  He had thought that the British would respect Persian neutrality; realizing his mistake, he now resolves to leverage his relationship with Persian tribes in the region to drive out British enclaves and threaten British interests in the region.

February 27th, 1915

- French attacks in Champagne force the Germans today to abandon the key defensive position at Ferme de Beauséjour.  However, the Germans remain in control of the Mesnil Knob position overlooking Ferme de Beauséjour, which allows them to pour continuous fire into the French infantry.

- The arrival of Russian reinforcements north of the Narew River has forced the German units under Gallwitz onto the defensive, and for the past several days a series of increasingly desperate Russian attacks have threatened to overwhelm the Germans.  Due to rifle and ammunition shortages, it was standard practice in the Russian army for reserve forces to not have rifles of their own, instead being expected to be armed either before being sent into battle or to pick up rifles on the battlefield left by the fallen.  In the pitched fighting around Prasnysz, there was no time to arm the Russian reserves before they were thrown into battle, which meant they attacked armed only with bayonets and handheld bombs.  In the face of German infantry fire, the Russians had to close to the range at which they could throw their bombs, and then charge for hand-to-hand combat.  It was fighting more appropriate to medieval Europe than the 20th-century, but the Russian numerical superiority gave these attacks a weight they lacked in firepower.  Gradually the Germans have fallen back in the face of repeated almost-suicidal enemy charges, and to avoid being overrun Gallwitz orders a retreat from Prasnysz today.  Five thousand German soldiers are made prisoner, and the German retreat ends any hope of reaching the Narew and achieving a great strategic success.  Gallwitz's forces retreat to the lines from which they had advanced five days earlier, restoring the status quo in the line between the German 8th and 9th Armies.

- In thick fog and heavy snow, the Austro-Hungarian offensive in the Carpathians begins.  The first phase of the operation is an attack today by XIX Corps, on 2nd Army's left, towards Baligrod.  Subsequently, X Corps of 3rd Army to the west, and XVIII and V Corps of 2nd Army to the east, are to join the advance, in expectation that the initial fighting of XIX Corps will break the Russian line.  However, though XIX corps has been reinforced and has a numerical superiority in infantry over the Russians opposite, its attack suffers from the almost complete absence of artillery support, the result of bad weather hindering both the deployment of artillery pieces and the accurate spotting of shellfire.  When combined with the effect the terrible weather has on the infantry themselves, XIX Corps makes little headway.

- The German government continues to believe that Austria-Hungary should offer territorial concessions to Italy to induce it maintain its neutrality in the war, and the ongoing failure to break the Russian lines in the Carpathians and relieve Przemysl has heightened anxiety in Berlin.  In an effort to persuade the Austro-Hungarian government, the Prussian council of ministers agrees today that border adjustments in Silesia can be made as compensation for territory surrendered to the Italians.

February 24th, 1915

- A meeting of the War Council in London today discusses aerial attacks on Germany, with alternatives such as distributing a 'blight' by air or dropping incendiaries on crops.  The rationale behind such suggestions is that it would be no worse that the recently-declared unrestricted submarine warfare.  The conclusion is to work out the details of such raids, but that they should be used only after extreme provocation.

- The eastern wing of Gallwitz's forces capture the town of Prasnysz today, capturing a number of artillery pieces and approximately half of the isolated Russian brigade that had attempted to hold off the attackers.  To the west of Prasnysz, however, a Russian division sits firmly entrenched on a line of hills, and has resisted a series of attacks both from Gallwitz's western wing and from the units that have just seized Prasnysz.  The desperate stand of the Russians has given time for North-West Front to rush reinforcements to the scene, which begin to arrive on the battlefield this evening.

Russian dead at Prasnysz, February 1915.

- Admiral Carden off the Dardanelles signals London today that though he does not intend to resume the bombardment of the Ottoman defences until the weather improves, he believes that the destruction of the outer Ottoman forts guarding the entrance to the straits can be accomplished in a single day.

- In German Kamerun, the French decision to concentrate their columns against Jaunde has allowed several German forces to threaten the line of communication of the French columns that had occupied Bertua after an advance from the east.  As a result, the French at Bertua have been forced to fall back towards the Lobaye River, and today the Germans reoccupy Bertua.

February 22nd, 1915

- The French undertake renewed attacks in Champagne today, but fail to make any headway, and the commanders of the German VIII and VIII Reserve Corps opposite believe that the attacks aim merely to cover the failure of the main French offensive.

- Dutch neutrality is seen by the German army as a potential threat, as opposed to one of the last links between Germany and the global economy.  In particular, the army is concerned that the British might invade the Netherlands to outflank the German position in Belgium - a concern undoubtedly based in the knowledge that such a violation of Dutch neutrality is precisely the sort of thing the German General Staff would advocate if the positions were reversed.  4th Army, responsible for the front in Belgium along the Channel coast, has been tasked with developing a contingency plan should such a British invasion occur.  Today, 4th Army HQ informs OHL that if needed two marine brigades, the Guard Cavalry Division, a mixed infantry brigade, and a number of battalions of rear echelon troops will concentrate on the Dutch frontier to oppose a British landing.

- The revised instructions to U-boat captains regarding which targets to fire upon and how they are to determine a vessel's identity have been sufficient to overcome the remaining concerns of the Kaiser, and as such unrestricted submarine warfare begins today against Britain.

- In Augustow Forest, the remnants of the Russian XX Corps surrender, with twelve thousand soldiers marching into German captivity.  Of the rest of the Russian 10th Army, though III Siberian, III, and XXVI Corps have escaped eastwards, they have suffered heavy casualties and rendered combat-ineffective.  Ludendorff claims the Winter Battle of the Masurian Lakes to be another Tannenburg, but in practice the victory is not on the same scale.  The Russian 10th Army has lost 'only' 56 000 casualties over the past few weeks of fighting, and though battered and weakened at least still exists, in contrast to the fate of 2nd Army at Tannenburg.

A German machine-gun position during the Winter Battle of the Masurian Lakes.

The German victory over the Russian 10th Army, however, has not secured to the Germans any broader strategic consequences.  Ludendorff had hoped that victory here would threaten to outflank the Russian position in central Poland, and in consequence the Russians would pull back over the Vistula.  However, the German advance has simply formed a large salient from East Prussia to the Niemen River.  To the north the Russians remain in control of the fortress at Kovno, a threat to the German 10th Army's left flank.  To the south, much of the strength of the German 8th Army has been drawn into a siege of the fortress at Osowiec, where the rivers and marshes, combined with a skilled Russian defence, have prevented the Germans from bringing their siege artillery fully to bear on the fortress' walls.  Finally, today the Russian 12th Army finally begins its delayed advance to the west of Osowiec, and though the German 8th Army is able to contain the Russians, the Germans find themselves pinned into defensive positions, incapable of threatening anyone's flanks.

- To the west, the gap between the German 8th Army near the East Prussian frontier and the German 9th Army on the line of the Bzura River is covered by a scratch force under the command of General Max von Gallwitz.  With the forces to the east stalemated, Gallwitz launches an offensive today, advancing southeast towards the town of Prasnysz with elements of I Reserve and XVII Reserve Corps and 3rd Infantry Division.  Their ultimate objective is the Narew River, and by securing a crossing they hope to outflank the Russian line west of Warsaw and force the enemy to abandon the city.

The German advance towards Prasnysz, February 22nd, 1915.

- With the Boer Rebellion effectively crushed, Prime Minister Botha of South Africa turns his attention to the invasion of German South-West Africa.  Today he lands at Walvis Bay, assumes command over the South African force that occupied Swakopmund on January 13th, and orders an advance inland towards Windhoek along the railway (destroyed by the Germans) connecting the two towns.  Botha views the march to Windhoek, the German colonial capital, as strategically decisive, severing German communications between the north and south of the colony.  However, to prevent a German withdrawal from the south to concentrate against his column he has also ordered offensives from Lüdertiz and across the Orange River.

- The mutiny of soldiers from the 5th Light Infantry battalion at Singapore ends today, as British forces, with assistance from Russian, French, and Japanese sailors, round up the last of the mutineers who had fled to the jungle.  Next will come courts-martial to pass judgement on the one hundred and twenty-six mutineers who have been captured.