August 26th, 1915

- Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg convenes a conference at Pless today to discuss the diplomatic crisis that has ensued from the sinking of the passenger liner Arabic on the 19th.  He argues that there is no point arguing over whether the Americans ought to be outraged or not; the fact is they are, and that war is possible if decisive action is not taken.  His position that the Americans must be appeased by restricting submarine warfare is supported by Falkenhayn, who hopes that the United States can be kept out of the war.  Only the naval officers present insist that unrestricted submarine warfare must be allowed to continue, and that any concessions to the Americans would constitute pandering.  The navy is overruled, and Wilhelm II authorized Bethmann-Hollweg to conclude a diplomatic agreement with the Americans that defers to the latter's wishes regarding submarine warfare.  Admiral Bachmann, chief of the naval staff, asks to be relieved rather than execute a policy he disagrees with, and he is replaced by Admiral Hennig von Holtzendorff, a personal friend of the Chancellor and a skeptic of the ability of unrestricted submarine warfare to bring Britain to its knees.

- On the Eastern Front the German 12th Army finally manages to capture the Russian fortress of Osowiec today, which had repulsed prior assaults.  For several weeks it had served as a northern 'hinge' for the Russian retreat from Poland.  With the Russian armies to the south having pulled back behind the line of the fortress, Osowiec has served its purpose, and the Russians have withdrawn eastwards.

To the south, the fortress of Brest-Litovsk is also seized today; in the predawn hours advance elements of the German 11th Army pierce the inner fortifications and reach the Bug River, where they find the highway bridge in flames, set alight by the retreating Russians.  Despite their best efforts, however, vast quantities of food and supplies fall into German hands with the capture of Brest-Litovsk, including once again a significant stockpile of artillery shells that could have been put to much better use by the armies in the field.  The Russian forces on both flanks of the fortress also retreat, and 11th Army and the Army of the Bug make significant progress today, with the Guard, X Reserve, and XXII Reserve Corps reaching the line Rudka-Pruska northeast of Brest-Litovsk this evening.

German soldiers outside the burning citadel at Brest-Litovsk.

The Eastern Front after the fall of Brest-Litovsk, Aug. 26th, 1915.

- The second phase of Conrad's offensive opens today with the advance of the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army southeast from the line Kowel-Vladimir-Volynski.  Though the pace of the advance is slowed by the vast swamps of the region, which require foot-bridges to cross, the Austro-Hungarians are able to make encouraging progress against light opposition from Russian cavalry.  General Ivanov of Southwest Front, however, had not been ignorant of the potential threat to his northern flank with the withdrawal of 13th Army to the northeast, and had instructed General Brusilov of 8th Army to stretch his northern wing back from the Bug River to cover Lutsk, and the latter had deployed four cavalry divisions to screen his exposed flank.  The Russians have also used the two months of relative quiet along this stretch of the front to reinforce their battered divisions, and their average combat strength has risen from four to seven thousand.  The new recruits, however, are dreadfully inexperienced, and many lack rifles.

- British and French officials confer at Duala today regarding the campaign in German Kamerun, and decide on a joint thrust to Jaunde after the end of the rainy season (October in the east and November in the west).

June 28th, 1915

- Overnight the Russian forces north of the German 11th Army pull back again, allowing the Germans an uncontested advance that sees them reach their objectives for the day by noon.  The rapid march to the northwest, however, serves to further draw 11th Army away from the Austro-Hungarian 2nd Army on its southern flank, and the German 119th Division has to be sent into the line between the Beskid Corps and 11th Bavarian Division to avoid a dangerous gap opening.

- In the Balkans, the First World War is in many ways merely an extensive of conflicts between the various states and ethnic groups of the region stretching back decades.  Thus the focus of Serbia and its neighbouring ally Montenegro is not simply on defeating Austria-Hungary, but their attention is also directed towards the south.  The state of Albania had only come into existence in the aftermath of the Balkan Wars, and has become a failed state 'governed' by various tribal groups.  Already both Italy and Greece have taken advantage of the distraction of the Great Powers to occupy portions of Albania, and both Serbia and Montenegro are loath to the let what they perceive to be their rightful share slip away.  As a result, even as Russia is begging Serbia to attack Austria-Hungary, both Serbia and Montenegro this month have sent forces to secure a portion of northern Albania, the latter occupying Scutari today.  The Balkan states have no intention of allowing the greatest conflict in the history of mankind to distract them from settling scores with their neighbours.

- After the minor French success on the 21st, today it is the turn of the British on Cape Helles to launch a small-scale attack with overwhelming artillery concentration.  Their objective are trenches along Gully Spur and the adjacent Gully Ravine, and by the time the main attack is launched at 11am just over 16 000 shells, constituting almost half the entire British supply on Cape Helles, have been fired at the Ottoman lines.  When the infantry goes in, 29th Indian Brigade is able to make progress up the coastal side of Gully Spur while 1st Dublin Fusiliers fights its way up a portion of Gully Ravine.  As with the French attack of a week prior, the British operation is a success, though not one of sufficient scope to be of great significance to the wider campaign on Gallipoli.  By nightfall, the Ottomans begin launching what will be a series of mass counterattacks to retake the lost positions.

- In German Kamerun the Anglo-French column that had attempted to advance on Jaunde from the west, only to retreat in the face of German pressure and casualties, returns to Ngwe today.  The two Nigerian battalions of the column have lost half their strength, and the sickness of many of the survivors combined with the scarcity of supplies, combined with the imminent rainy season, rules out any resumption of the offensive in the near future.  To the British and French, therefore, it appears that their effort to seize the heart of the German defense in Kamerun has failed.  In practice, of course, the attack was aimed in the wrong direction; Ngaundere to the north, not Jaunde in the south, has been the focal point for the Germans.

Ironically, today a British column moving southward after the capture of Garua earlier this month occupies Ngaundere; without intending to, and without being aware of it, the Entente have actually won a significant success.  The Germans have been counting on the food and resources of the northern plateau of Kamerun to sustain their forces, and now that they have been deprived of the region the only alternative is to focus on the south and the trade link with the neutral Spanish colony of Muni.

- In German East Africa the force assembled in May under the retired major-general Kurt Wahle has crossed over the southwest frontier of the colony to enter British Rhodesia, and today attacks the post of Saisi, east-south-east of the town of Abercorn.  The defenders, consisting of Rhodesian police and Belgian soldiers, hold off the Germans, and the latter fall back.

The frontier between German East Africa and British Rhodesia.

June 11th, 1915

- Over the past six days the fighting at the village of Neuville has been constant, and the French infantry have managed to literally inch their way forward, advancing their line by five hundred metres on a three hundred metre stretch of the line.  Needless to say, French casualties have been horrendous.  The Germans too, however, have suffered: XIV Corps around Neuville has been completed exhausted, and has had to be replaced by IV Corps.  Crucially, the latter had been designated to undertake a counterattack on the French, which in consequence has been called off.  Futher reinforcements have come from 1st Army (5th Division) and the GHQ reserve (5th Prussian Division), the latter replaced the completely worn out 15th Division today.  Though the French have utterly failed to break through, they are not the only ones being ground down by the fighting.

- At the outbreak of the war, General Cadorna and the leadership of the Italian army had envisioned large-scale advances into Austro-Hungarian territory, insisting for example on Serbian co-operation in the Balkans and what the two armies should do when they link.  The reality of war has sharply narrowed Cadorna's vision, as he discovers that the Italian Front is not immune to the type of positional warfare that has typified the war on other fronts.  Indeed, the mountainous terrain along the frontier between Italy and Austria-Hungary renders offensive operations even more difficult.  Coupled to this has been the hesitancy and incompetence shown by Italian generals, and the result has been minimal gains.  On the key front along the Isonzo River, the Italians have secured two crossings, but these have been contained and elsewhere the Austro-Hungarian defences have proven too strong.  In a communication to his commanders today Cadorna admits that the war of maneouvre they anticipated has not come to pass.  Instead, successful operations will necessitate the concentration of men and artillery, and the use of 'the method suggested by the experience of combat in the other allied theatres of operations, avoiding improvised attacks which although they show the valour of our troops do not allow [us] to achieve results proportional to [our] losses.'

- Once the presence of German submarines off of Gallipoli was apparent, the Russians concluded that their appearance in the Black Sea could not be ruled out.  As such, raids by large warships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, which had been ongoing for several months to interrupt coastal trade, were suspended, but operations by fast destroyers continued.  Today the Russian destroyers Gnyevni and Derski are intercepted during one such raid by the German light cruiser Breslau.  In the ensuing gun battle Gnyevni is crippled, but Breslau breaks off the action without going in for the kill and returns to the Bosphorus.  This enables Derski to take the damaged Gnyevni in tow back to safety, and the incident does not deter the Russians from planning further such raids.

- Oblivious to the signifance of the fall of Garua in northern Kamerun (indeed, ignorant of the very fact of its fall, given the complete absence of adequate communications), the French and British have been concentrating their columns in southern Kamerun, aiming at Jaunde.  Even beyond the fact that these columns are directed at the wrong target, they are proving to be failures.  From Edea in the west two columns - the British to the north and the French to the south - have been struggling along a track through the jungle and swamp.  Despite numbering less than six hundred, the German defenders have made use of the difficult terrain to ambush and delay the Franco-British force, which has been further weakened by disease.  Having suffered 25% casualties since departing Wum Biagas on May 25th, the column has been able to advance at a rate of only 1.5 kilometres per day.  At this snail's pace they will not reach Jaundre before the rainy season renders movement impossible.  The commander of the column has requested permission to abandon the advance, which General Charles Dobell, the senior British commander in German Kamerun, approves today.  A failure to understand the strategic basis of the German defence of the colony is now coupled with operational defeat.

June 10th, 1915

- In an effort to expand aircraft production, the French government orders that skilled workers from aircraft factories who had enlisted or been conscripted into the army after August 1st be allowed to return ti civilian life and reenter their prior occupation.  This is a recognition that while this is a war of mass armies, some men, given their skills, are more valuable out of uniform, given that the effectiveness of these mass armies are not only dependent on their size but also on the amount of material available for them to use.

- For several months Frederick Lugard, the British governor of Nigeria, has desired an attack against the fort at Garua in northwestern German Kamerun, especially after the German thrust of April to the Benue River undermined British prestige in northern Nigeria.  A combined Franco-British force of fourteen companies, accompanied by two heavy artillery pieces, has advanced to Garua, and by yesterday had closed to within a kilometre of the German positions.  The goal of the operation was not only to seize Garua but also cut off the garrison's line of retreat and force their surrender.  The first rounds fired by the artillery, however, panicked the askaris of the garrison, half of whom promptly fled by swimming down the Benue River towards Banyo.  Greatly weakened, the three hundred men remaining in Garua surrender the fort today before the British and French can launch an attack on the German line.

For the British and the French, the operation against Garua has been a subsidiary one, designed to restore British prestige and preempt further incursions into Nigeria.  They believe that the Germans are focusing their defensive efforts in the south of the colony, in the region surrounding Jaunde, which is where the British and French have directed their main attacks.  In fact, the Germans have based their defense of Kamerun on the broad northern uplands around Ngaundere, and Garua was the key to holding this territory.  Thus the Germans are greatly concerned about the fall of Garua, which calls into question their entire focus on the north, while the British and French have no idea of the significance of what they have actually managed to accomplish.

April 13th, 1915

- Reports have reached Joffre of inadequate preparation prior to the ongoing attacks on the St.-Mihiel salient, and he complains sharply to General Dubail that thoroughness is essential.  Dubail responds tactfully to Joffre's concerns, but argues that the assaults should continue.

- For the past several days Falkenhayn and his staff officers have debated the merits of a major shift of forces from the Western to the Eastern Front, which would involve abandoning for the time being any thought of a major offensive in the west in favour of a similar operation in the east.  Several officers argue that the most important theatre of the war is the Western Front, and that precious German reserves should only be sent east in the direst of emergencies.  Falkenhayn is sympathetic to this line of thinking; indeed, he has long felt that, given the realities of space, a war-winning victory over the Russians is not possible.  On the other hand, the detailed planning to date for an offensive on the Western Front has raised concerns whether even with the new reserve divisions sufficient forces can be assembled to ensure a reasonable chance of success.  On the other hand, the army of Austria-Hungary is clearly in dire straits, and the most recent check of the Russian advance in the Carpathians was almost entirely due to the intervention of the German Beskid Corps.  Should the Russians break through the Carpathians, German's only neighbouring ally could be knocked out of the war entirely, with disastrous consequences.  This is to say nothing, of course, of how Austria-Hungary is to defend itself if it has to deploy forces from the Carpathians to the Alps in case of an Italian attack.

With the greatest of reluctance, Falkenhayn concludes that the situation on the Eastern Front requires further German intervention, and that the strategic reserve being assembled on the Western Front will instead have to be sent east to undertake a major offensive operation to relieve Russian pressure on the Austro-Hungarians.  Today Falkenhayn seeks and receives the Kaiser's approval for the redeployment eastwards.

- This morning the heaviest fighting at Shaiba is to the west of the British position, where a large body of Arab irregulars have established themselves on a small rise in the ground known as the North mound.  First a small cavalry force is sent to capture the heights, which is instead all but wiped out.  With this result in mind, the commander of 30th Brigade orders a more co-ordinated attack, with three battalions advancing with the support of British artillery fire.  By 11am the North mound is in British possession and, given that the Arab survivors are streaming westward, the opportunity presents itself for a cavalry pursuit.  However, the cavalrymen are presently watering their horses, and the Arabs escape.  For the next several hours the British battalions clear out several Ottoman trenches to the west of Shaiba before returning to British lines by 3pm.  Elsewhere, Ottoman forces launch a series of half-hearted attacks from the south, which are easily repulsed.

- The commander of German forces in Kamerun issues orders today to reduce the garrison at Garua to only one-and-a-half companies.  He fears that a British advance could trap a substantial force in Garua; instead, he intends to hold the region via mobile columns that can shift rapidly to counter any axis of British advance.

- As the blockade runner Rubens made its way towards German East Africa, the commander of the German light cruiser Königsberg decided that if Rubens made for the Rufiji delta, it would be inevitably intercepted by the British warships keeping Königsberg contained.  Instead he has ordered the blockade runner to make for Mansa Bay, knowing its cargo would also be invaluable to Lettow-Vorbeck's forces in holding the colony.  As Rubens enters Mansa Bay today, it is hotly pursued by the British cruiser Hyacinth.  Under enemy fire, Rubens runs aground, and after several shells strike its topside is ablaze.  The captain of Hyacinth is convinced the blockade runner is a total wreck, and breaks off.

The German blockade runner Rubens aground in Mansa Bay.

This proves to be a colossal error, as the fire aboard Rubens was deliberately set by the Germans to deceive the British.  Most of the ammunition and weapons remained intact below the waterline, and as soon as the wreck had cooled salvage operations began.  Over the next five weeks, 2000 tons of coal, 7000 rounds of naval shells, 1500 rifles, and 4.5 million rounds of ammunition, along with clothing and other equipment, are brought ashore.  These supplies are vital to the long-term defense of German East Africa, and their arrival a blow to the British.

The salvage operation to recover supplies and ammunition from the wreck of Rubens.

April 10th, 1915

- General Dubail reports to Joffre today that, in line with the Commander-in-Chief's instructions of the 8th, he intends to make four concentrated attacks on the St.-Mihiel salient in the coming days.  Two will be aimed at the western face of the salient: one on a four-kilometre front near Maizeray, and the other on the heights immediately south of Les Éparges.  Two further assaults will be directed towards the southern face of the salient, both near its centre.

- In March, Austria-Hungary agreed to surrender the province of Trentino to Italy after the war, if Italy were to remain neutral.  However, given the ongoing Austro-Hungarian defeats, highlighted by the surrender of Przemysl, such a concession is no longer sufficient for the Italian government.  Believing the Dual Monarchy to be gravely weakened and in no position to negotiate, the Italians raise their demands today, requesting the entirety of South Tirol, the Adriatic coast from the present border to Trieste, with the latter declared a free city, several Dalmatian islands, and a declaration from Austria-Hungary that Italy would henceforth have a free hand in Albania.  Given how long it took the Austro-Hungarian government to come around to the idea of handing over Trentino, it is hardly to be expected that they would submit to such escalated demands.

- Given the growing diplomatic crisis with Italy, coupled with Conrad's continued unwillingness to countenance territorial concessions, Falkenhayn sends a telegram to Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg, warning him of the attitude of the Austro-Hungarian chief of staff and makes the following request:

Exert utmost pressure in Vienna in order to effect acceptance of Italian demands even if excessive.  At the same time, announce Germany's willingness to give greater military assistance in the East and if necessary to cede Prussian territory.

- In the central Carpathians the German Beskid Corps is now wholly in the front line, having relieved four Austro-Hungarian divisions, giving Conrad a substantial reserve for the first time in several weeks.  The counterattack of the German divisions over the past week have disrupted the Russian offensive in the Carpathians and inflicted forty thousand casualties on the enemy.  As a result, General Ivanov of South-West Front orders a halt to the attacks of 3rd and 8th Armies today, stating that the arrival of German reinforcements have tipped the balance.  Instead, he intends to wait for the arrival of III Caucasian Corps before resuming the attack.

- In northern German Kamerun, a German attack along the Benue River forces the Emir of Yola in northern Nigeria to flee his capital and threatens British influence in the region.  Frederick Lugard, the colonial governor in Nigeria, calls for the capture of the town of Garua in German Kamerun as a means of restoring British prestige.

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 10th, 1915

- At 730am this morning, British artillery opens up on the German line at Neuve Chapelle.  The intense bombardment, using more shells in thirty-five minutes than the British had used in the entire Boer War, catches the Germans completely by surprise.  The concentration of shells against such a small portion of the line ensured that most of the German defensive positions were obliterated, while the brevity of the bombardment left the Germans with no time to send up reinforcements, leaving the defenders significantly outnumbered.  When the attacking infantry go over the top at 805, they easily break through the front German trench while the German survivors break and retreat.  The pace of the British advance is set not by German resistance, of which there is practically none, but rather how fast they can move over the ruined battlefield.  In thirty minutes, the British have captured the village of Neuve Chapelle, and the entire of the first objective line is soon in British hands.

The battle of Neuve Chapelle, March 10th to 13th, 1915.

The ruins of the village of Neuve Chapelle after its capture by the British, March 10th, 1915.

By noon the British have achieved the goal that has and will elude so many other attacks on the Western Front - a breakthrough.  The German line has been shattered, and there is nothing before the British infantry but fleeing Germans.  It is a success that exceeds even the expectations of Haig and his staff.  However, this breakthrough leads to the accomplishment of absolutely nothing of significance, and the reasons point to fundamental realities that hinder offensive operations on the Western Front for most of the war.  Most important is actually a technical limitation: while wireless radios have been developed, they have not yet been miniaturized enough to allow for sets to be carried by infantry into battle.  Thus advancing infantry have only two options for communicating to rear areas: (1) telephone lines; and (2) messengers on foot.  The first requires the laying of telephone wires that are extremely vulnerable to enemy artillery fire, while the latter, even if they can escape the front line alive, are greatly slowed by the destruction omnipresent on the battlefront, and hours frequently pass between the departure of a messenger from a front line officer to his arrival at a headquarters in the rear.  As a result, it is practically impossible for officers commanding advancing infantry to communicate their position, which in turn has two consequences.  First, it means that artillery batteries fire without knowing the location of their own infantry, which creates the very real potential for friendly fire and prevents the infantry from ordering artillery fire on unexpected defensive positions they encounter as they advance.  Instead, the infantry is expected to advance at the pace of the pre-arranged artillery barrage, as it moves from the first to the second to the reserve trench lines.  Move too fast, and the infantry run the risk of literally running into their own artillery fire.  Second, it means that when the advance does not go to plan, forward officers are unable to receive revised orders from their superiors.  Thus when the pre-battle plan fails to provide instructions for the actual circumstances on the battlefield, forward officers default to doing nothing, lest they either create chaos by random advancing and/or march their soldiers into a future artillery target.  This is not to condemn these officers, having to make difficult decisions often under intense enemy fire and with their units significantly depleted; it is little wonder that they default to their training, which is in such conditions to wait for further orders.  The problem, of course, is that as they wait, the enemy has a window in which they can rush in reinforcements and plug the breach in the line.  Thus even when attacking forces are able to achieve a breakthrough, it disappears like a mirage, ever just beyond reach.

This is precisely how the breakthrough at Neuve Chapelle plays out.  When the British infantry reach their first objective line ahead of schedule, they halt their advance, awaiting further orders.  The Germans, meanwhile, rush up reserve formations to plug the gap, and are able to do so largely unmolested by artillery fire.  In addition to the lack of direct communication between British batteries and their infantry, air-ground artillery coordination has also failed; despite the infantry carrying white stripes of cloth to mark their position, mist obscures them.  By the time the British are finally prepared to resume the advance at 530pm, they find new German reserves in front of them, and they are halted halfway between Neuve Chapelle and Aubers Ridge.  By the end of the day's fighting, the strategic opportunities available in the morning have vanished, and further attacks will need to be launched against forewarned and reinforced German defences.

Two gunners of No. 5 Mountain Battery, 3rd Mountain Artillery Brigade, Royal Garrison Artillery (Indian Army), lying dead by their
2.75 inch mountain gun near Neuve Chapelle, March 10th, 1915.

- Despite the abject failure of test use of gas at the Battle of Bolimów in January on the Eastern Front, the German army continues to view the weapon as potentially significant.  The first asphyxiating gas to be produced in quantity was chlorine, chosen because it did not require the diversion of any resources or manufacturing capacity from the munitions industry.  Though a shell has also been invented that can carry and disperse gas, they are not yet available in sufficient quantity to make their use effective.  Instead, the tactic at present is to mass thousands of canisters of the gas along the front line, and open them when the wind will push the gas in the desired direction.  As its use was totally dependent on the weather, it could not be used in major pre-planned operations that required precise scheduling, as with the preliminary discussions at OHL regarding an offensive on the Western Front.  Instead, Falkenhayn has decided that the execution of the first major gas attack will be assigned to 4th Army, responsible for the front in Flanders.  The focus of the operation will be primarily on testing the combat effective of large-scale use of gas, while crucially the gains on the battlefield itself are a secondary consideration.

4th Army headquarters has decided that the attack should take place on the southeastern face of the Ypres salient, between the Ypres-Comines Canal and the Menin road.  XV Corps has been assigned to undertake the assault, and as of today the gas canisters have been installed on six thousand yards of the line.  Now it is simply a matter of waiting for the right weather conditions.

- The German navy loses two submarines today: U-12 is rammed and sunk by the British destroyer Ariel off the Scottish coast, while U-29, whose captain had famously sunk the 'live bait squadron' off the Dutch coast in September, is rammed and sunk by Dreadnought while attempting to line up a torpedo shot at the dreadnought Neptune.  The two losses highlight that the only reliable means the British have of sinking U-boats is to destroy them at the surface.  As of yet, no means exists to sink a submerged submarine.

- Even in the context of a terrible winter in the Carpathians, a particularly heavy blizzard strikes today.  In these conditions movement is impossible; the sick and wounded die as they cannot be evacuated, while entire skirmish lines vanish into the snow.  The Austro-Hungarian infantry find it impossible to dig entrenchments, and have to huddle in the open in front of the Russian positions they are supposed to be attacking.  In the eastern Carpathians, the blizzard forces Generals Pflanzer-Baltin and Brusilov to postpone their respective plans for offensive operations.

The position of the Austro-Hungarian 2nd and 3rd Armies in the Carpathians, March 10th, 1915.

- In London, unbridled optimism still reigns regarding the Dardanelles operation, and the War Council discusses today what the British should do after the fall of Constantinople- Kitchener, for example, calls for an attack on Alexandretta.  There is little appreciation as of yet of the difficulties encountered at the Dardanelles, where tonight the minesweepers make their seventh attempt.  To improve their chances of success, they use a new approach: instead of sweeping while sailing up the straits, they will sail in, turn, and sweep on the way out.  Meanwhile Commodore Keyes, Carden's Chief of Staff, has also taken direct command of the minesweepers, and to encourage them to perservere under fire, he has offered a financial bonus to the civilian crews and proposed to stiffen the crews with young officers from the fleet.

Despite the new tactic, this evening's effort is little more successful than earlier attempts.  Though escorted by Canopus and other warships, the minesweepers are under fire as they sail up the straits, and by the time they reach the point to turn and begin to sweep, four of the crews are so agitated that they do not extend their equipment.  Two trawlers manage to sweep two mines, but the other strikes a mine and sinks.  Though the crew is saved, the loss serves only to inspire the shore defences to pour more fire on the ships.  With two of the trawlers damaged by 6-inch shells, the operation is called off and the minesweepers withdraw.

- In Germany the Admiralty Staff considers the ammunition situation at the Dardanelles to be dire, and since the prospects of Austro-Hungarian success against Serbia are as remote as ever, they recommend putting severe diplomatic pressure on Romania to allow for the transportation of munitions across its territory.  It also recommends that at least one German submarine should be dispatched to the Dardanelles, as the Austro-Hungarians remain unwilling to do so.

- The commander of the British force occupying Duala and the surrounding region in German Kamerun is informed by London today that no further reinforcements should be expected and that his priority is defending his current positions, as opposed to undertaking offensive operations.  This is effectively a restatement of the original British aim in its campaign against German Kamerun - namely, that the priority is the conquest of the coast and the denial of ports to German raiders.

- After two months of moving between fjords on the southern Pacific coast of Chile, the German light cruiser Dresden has slowly been making its way up the Chilean coast since mid-February, staying out to sea to avoid detection.  Two days ago, it was sighted by the British armoured cruiser Kent, and though it used its superior speed to escape, it used most of its remaining coal to do so.  Since yesterday Dresden has been anchored in Cumberland Bay on the Chilean island of Más á Tierra, waiting for the arrival of its collier.  Today the Chilean governor insists that in accordance with maritime law, Dresden has used up its alloted twenty-four hours in neutral waters and must depart immediately, but the German captain insists that his engines require repairs, which would provide legal justification to prolong his warship's stay.  While this dispute is played out, Dresden's wireless signal to its collier has been intercepted by the British, and both Kent and the light cruiser Glasgow are en route to Cumberland Bay.

February 26th, 1915

- In the Argonne, the German IV Reserve Corps seizes a section of the French trench line southwest of Malancourt, and the fighting is notable for marking the first use of flamethrowers in combat during the war.  The Germans had developed flamethrowers in the decade prior to the war, and on January 18th, 1915 a Flamethrower Detachment was formed under Captain Bernhard Reddeman consisting of volunteers, many of whom had been firemen in civilian life.  The Detachment refined flamethrowers, producing a larger model with longer range but which required installation and a smaller model capable of being carried by a soldier as he crossed No Man's Land, and pioneered tactics for their use.  Near Malancourt the attack was directed at a point where the German line was within forty metres of the first French trench, and Reddeman's soldiers were able to install several of the larger models.  When the attack began, the flamethrowers shot jets of fire into the French position, and even though most of the defending infantry had not been burned, the shock of the unexpected terror paralyzed them and allowed the attacking German infantry, including several soldiers carrying the smaller model into battle, to capture the enemy line with light casualties.

- In the Carpathians, the only significant Austro-Hungarian success achieved since late December has been on the far eastern part of the line, where General Pflanzer-Baltin's forces have been able to undertake a moderate offensive.  This accomplishment, however, has not resulted in a decisive Austro-Hungarian advance - the Russians opposite Südarmee have refused to budge, and General Brusilov of the Russian 8th Army is mobilizing reinforcements to block further advances by Pflanzer-Baltin.  Moreover, while the supply situation is tenuous along the entire front, it is particularly problematic in the far east, where only a single rail line supports Plfanzer-Baltin's army group.

The position of Südarmee and Pflanzer-Baltin's army group, February 26th, 1915.

Conrad, however, is obsessed with the besieged fortress of Przemysl, and relieving its garrison before it can be forced to surrender to the Russians in March.  Thus, despite the terrible weather and the exhausted and depleted state of the Austro-Hungarian army, he is determined to launch another offensive.  He has tasked 2nd and 3rd Armies in the centre of the Carpathian line with breaking through the Russian lines, and overrules the misgivings the commanders of both armies have.  For one, the Austro-Hungarian divisions are significantly understrength, and the replacements that have arrived are poorly trained and ill-prepared.  Further, the weather remains terrible, hindering movement and resupply, while the new units that Conrad has sent to the two armies are disorganized and have been committed to fighting piecemeal.  Finally, much of the two armies have been fighting constantly on the defensive, with no time to prepare for offensive operations.

Despite the difficulties, Conrad is insistent - Przemysl must be relieved.  The only concession he makes to reality is a slight delay, to allow roads closed by bad weather to be cleared.  The offensive is now scheduled to be launched tomorrow, regardless of whether 2nd and 3rd Armies are actually capable of achieving success.

The position of the Austro-Hungarian 2nd and 3rd Armies, February 26th, 1915.

- At the mouth of the Dardanelles the British warships send a number landing parties ashore, each consisting of about fifty Royal Marines guarding about thirty sailors, the latter tasked with destroying Ottoman artillery pieces.  They methodically go through each of the abandoned forts, blowing up fifty guns with explosive charges and effectively clearing the way for the Entente squadron to enter the straits.  Incidentally, one of the landing parties reaches the village of Krithia, four miles inland of the southern tip of Gallipoli Peninsula, which constitutes the high tide of the entire Entente amphibious operation to come - at no point between April and December will Entente soldiers again reach Krithia.

With the outer forts neutralized, attention turns to the inner defences.  Inside the mouth of the Dardanelles the passage widens to four and a half miles, guarded by five forts on the north shore and four on the south shore, augmented by a numer of mobile howitzer batteries.  Fourteen miles upstream is the Narrows, where the channel is less than a mile wide, and where the Ottomans had concentrated their largest artillery pieces.  The Narrows is also guarded by several hundred mines, laid out in ten lines from the Narrows to Kephez, the latter located just over halfway from the entrance of the Dardanelles to the Narrows.

Today the pre-dreadnoughts pass the ruined outer forts and begin to engage the western-most forts inside the straits.  It becomes quickly apparent to the British and the French that the mobile howitzer batteries are the most effective Ottoman defence - well-concealed, they are difficult to hit, and when the pre-dreadnoughts find the range the howitzers are simply moved to another location.  The shells from the howitzers cannot penetrate the armour of the pre-dreadnoughts and are little more than a nuisance, but the difficulty in elimination them highlights the limitations of naval gunfire against land targets.

- Intellgence reaches the Entente commanders in central Africa that the Germans forces in their colony of Kamerun have been deployed to defend Ngaundere, in the northern highlands, instead of Jaudre in the west.  The French governor-general of Equatorial Africa, however, dismisses the report, and continues to insist that the French and British concentrate against Jaudre.

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 6th, 1915

- The assembly in East Prussia of the German 10th Army, based on the four reserve corps reluctantly assigned to the Eastern Front by Falkenhayn in January, is completed today.  Commanded by General Hermann von Eichhorn, 10th Army is deployed to the north of 8th Army, the latter now commanded by General Otto von Below.  Ludendorff's plan is for the two armies to advance eastwards, marching over the same terrain that 8th Army moved through before and after the Battle of Augustow in September and October.  Their target is the Russian 10th Army, and the two German armies are to envelop it from the north and south, its destruction opening the way for a further advance.  This offensive is designed as the counterpart to Austro-Hungarian operations in Galicia, the success of both, it is envisioned, forcing the Russians to evacuate Poland.  While the plan is typically bold for one devised by Ludendorff, it also fails in the broader strategic sense - not only has the Austro-Hungarian offensive gotten nowhere, but the further eastward 10th and 8th Armies advance, the more exposed their southern flank will be to a Russian counterattack.  Whatever local success Ludendorff manages to achieve here, it will be difficult for him to translate it into strategic success.  Plus, there is the fact the battle will be launched in the middle of the Russian winter, with all that portends.

- In the Carpathians the fighting is bogging down into positional warfare, as the counterattacking Russians run into the same supply and weather problems that have bedevilled the Austro-Hungarian offensive.  Conrad, however, remains desperate to relieve Przemysl, knowing the fortress will not last past March and believing its fall will be crushing to Austro-Hungarian morale and likely to prompt the intervention of Italy and Romania.  He is thus unwilling to abandon the concept of offensive operations in the Carpathians, despite the appalling casualties and conditions experienced over the past two weeks.

Conrad has also concluded that the commander of 3rd Army has been too pessimistic and shown insufficient drive and enthusiasm for the attack. As a remedy, he takes half of 3rd Army's divisions away from it, assigning them instead to a 'new' 2nd Army - the HQ of the existing 2nd Army is brought from the Polish front to command in the Carpathians, along with additional reinforcements.  Once the additional forces arrive, the Austro-Hungarians will go over to the attack once more.

The Carpathian front, February 5th to 15th, 1915.

- A conference is held today in Brazzaville, capital of French Equatorial Africa, regarding operations against German Kamerun in the coming year.  Believing that Jaunde is the key to the German defence, it is decided that one column will advance towards Lomie and Dume to the east of Jaunde, while another will advance to the Ntem River to isolate the town from the southwest.  It is hoped that the simultaneous advances will coordinate with each other and keep the Germans off-balance.

January 5th, 1915

- Joffre today formalizes the place of General Foch in the command structure of the French army when the latter is appointed to lead the Provisional Group of the North, with responsibility for French armies in northern France and Belgium.  Similarly, General Yvon Dubail, who had commanded 1st Army in the Battle of the Frontiers, now heads the Provisional Group of the East, covering the front in Alsace and Lorraine.  Joffre reserves for himself direct control over the armies in the centre of the line, consisting of 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Armies.  The French Commander-in-Chief also specifics that Foch and Dubail are responsible for operations in their regions, but that he retains control over administration, personnel, and strategy, leaving Joffre still firmly in control of the French army.

- Bad weather has continued to plague the offensive of the French 10th Army in Artois, with almost no gains secured while suffering heavy casualties.  Today Joffre informs Foch that he intends to transfer fifteen battalions from 10th Army to the Vosges, which severely curtails the former's offensive capability.

- In the Argonne west of Verdun, the French undertake a heavy assault on the lines held by the German 33rd Division, but are repulsed.

- From the eastern Mediterranean Admiral Carden replies today to Churchill's message of the 3rd regarding an attack on the Dardanelles.  Carden states that while he does not believe that the straits can be rushed, it might be possible to force a large British squadron through after a prolonged operation.  Churchill naturally focuses on the 'possible' and ignores the Admiral's reservations.

The French government, while also open to an operation against the Dardanelles, is also suspicious of British motives.  As the minster of war writes the minister of foreign affairs today, it is essential that the British do not land in Asia Minor by themselves.  Instead, a French presence is necessary to ensure that ongoing French interests in the region are protected.

- In fighting near the Rawa River the German 9th Army wins an unexpected victory over the Russians.  In order to be able to take advantage of any opportunity to exploit the success, Ludendorff informs Conrad that he is now only willing to transfer two and a half infantry and one cavalry division from 9th Army to support Austro-Hungarian operations in Galicia.

- In German Kamerun German forces attack the French Senegalese infantry defending Edea.  Though the determined assault is unsuccessful, it does accomplish its main objective - the British, fearing further German attacks, restrict themselves to the defensive perimeter around Duala, thus posing no risk to the German-held interior.

January 2nd, 1915

- Early this morning a dispatch from the British attache at Russian army headquarters arrives at the Foreign Office, conveying Grand Duke Nicholas' request that the British undertake a diversionary operation to distract the Ottomans from the Caucasus.  Foreign Secretary Grey conveys the message to Lord Kitchener, who then discusses the possibilities with Churchill.  Kitchener is eager to assist the Russians to avoid their collapse and surrender, but is adamant that no forces can be spared from the Western Front.  Instead, Kitchener inquires whether the navy could make a demonstration against the Dardanelles, and the suggestion piques Churchill's interest.

- In Champagne five French regiments attack the centre of the German VIII Corps at 6pm, but fail to secure any ground.

- Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg has learned of Falkenhayn's intention to deploy the newly-raised four and a half reserve corps on the Western Front in order to undertake a major offensive.  The Chancellor, however, shares the views of Hindenburg and Ludendorff that these new formations should instead be assigned to the Eastern Front to secure a decisive victory that among other objects will influence neutrals like Italy and Romania.  Having already lost confidence in Falkenhayn as a result of the failure at Ypres, Bethmann-Hollweg recommends, in a meeting with the Kaiser, the removal of Falkenhayn and his replacement as Chief of Staff by Ludendorff.  Wilhelm II may be one of the few who still has confidence in Falkenhayn, but while he has no real influence over the operations of the German army, his is still the decisive voice regarding who will command it.  The Kaiser thus refuses the Chancellor's suggestion, and Falkenhayn remains Chief of Staff.

- The Ottoman offensive against Sarikamish has now completely fallen apart.  IX Corps is down to only a thousand men, and is under attack from the rear by Russian units at Bardiz.  Enver Pasha, who had been with IX Corps, slips away to join XI Corps, still fighting the main Russian force southwest of Sarikamish.  Meanwhile, the remnants of X Corps begin to pull back from north of Sarikamish before dawn this morning.

- In German Kamerun a British force advancing north from Duala occupies Dschang today, and destroy the fort located there.  From the British perspective, they have secured their immediate objectives in German Kamerun - they have seized the key port of Duala and cleared its hinterland of German forces that might have been able to undertake an effort to retake the town.

From the perspective of Colonel Karl Zimmerman, German commander in Kamerun, however, the situation is still manageable.  Though the west around Duala and the southeast have been lost to the British and French respectively, neither development is either a surprise - Duala could hardly have been held in the face of British naval power - nor decisive.  Zimmerman had planned to base the defence of Kamerun on the northern highlands, and as of yet no Entente forces have threatened this region.  Further, German units are still in contact with the Spanish colony at Muni, which means they can still use this neutral territory to import supplies.  Zimmerman now plans two operations to discourage the British from advancing further inland from Duala and the French from moving any further to the northwest.

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 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 9th, 1914

- The French government returned to Paris today from Bordeaux, to which it had fled in the dark days before the Battle of the Marne.

- While there are no significant gains by either side in the fighting between the Russians and the Austro-Hungarians north of Limanowa, the lead elements of General Szurmay's group from the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army, marching northwest, come within twenty kilometres of Neusandez while Bartfeld, largely abandoned by the Russians, is occupied today.  The indecision over whether to prioritize Bartfeld or Neusandez has cost Szurmay's group about a day.  Conrad typically blames 3rd Army commander, though it was his own refusal to make a decision that created the delay.

- This afternoon General Potiorek admits to Vienna and Army High Command that 6th Army is beaten and must withdraw from Serbia, two of its corps sufficiently shattered as to require two to three weeks of rest to recover.  He still hopes, however, that 5th Army, which has not yet been the target of major Serbian assaults, may yet be able to hold Belgrade and a bridgehead south of the Danube and Sava.

- At 130pm this afternoon a formal surrender ceremony is held at Qurna, with 45 Ottoman officers and 989 Ottoman soldiers marching into captivity.  The newest conquest of Indian Expeditionary D is not much of a town - surrounded by marshes, its British garrison will find itself spending as much time building flood defenses as military defences.  As for the Ottomans, the defenders of Qurna that withdrew yesterday have retreated northwards along the Tigris to Amara, while the remnants of the 38th Division that had fled Basra are now at Nasiriya on the Euphrates.  The British now have firm control over the Shatt al-Arab region, which brings a close to the first phase of the war in Mesopotamia.

- In western German Kamerun, the French column that occupied Nola on October 29th today occupies Baturi.  The force has continued to advance over the past month, primarily because it needs to eat off the land and thus cannot stay in any one place for long.  However, the further it moves into German territory the more difficult communications become - there is no wireless or telegraph links, nor railways messengers can travel over.  Thus a message from Baturi will take over a month, making effective co-ordination of the different Entente columns moving against German Kamerun impossible.

October 29th, 1914

- West of the Yser the Germans inch closer to the Belgian line along the railway embankment, approaching to within several hundred yards.  Meanwhile, a shortage of artillery shells prevents a resumption today of the artillery bombardment of Dixmude, though Minenwerfers are used to keep the enemy trenches east of Dixmude under fire.

- The German attack today against Gheluvelt is aimed in particular at the crossroads just east of the village where the Menin Road crosses the road connecting Kruiseecke and Poezelhoek.  Here the British line is held by the left flank of the already much-damaged 7th Division and the right flank of 1st Division, and the trenches here are emblematic of many of the difficulties encountered with British defenses during the battle.  Here the trenches are deep and narrow, and not all are connected.  There is only a single strand of wire protecting the trenches, connected to tins with pebbles to warn of a German attempt to rush the trenches.  No sandbags have been used - indeed, the first large shipment from Britain arrived in France only yesterday.  Observation from the trenches is impeded by the continued existence of buildings and trees, and a lack of communication trenches meant that one position could be overwhelmed without its neighbours realizing it.

- The German artillery bombardment begins at 530am, and the three battalions of the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment advance shortly thereafter.  In the morning fog visibility is limited to forty yards, delaying the British response, and crucially two British machine guns near the crossroads jam.  By 630 the Germans have penetrated the line north of the crossroads, but the British south of the line have no idea the enemy has broken through - indeed, the reserves covering that portion of the line were sent to the rear for breakfast in the belief that no further German advance would be forthcoming.  At 730 four German battalions attack, and after hand-to-hand fighting break through here as well.

Poor communications and the morning fog prevent 7th Division's commander from learning of the defeat until 1015.  As British reserves are finally sent forward, the Germans, instead of advancing into the gap they have formed, turn north and south and attempt to roll up the British lines.  Only at 1130 do the Germans move westward from the crossroads, by which time almost all of I Corps reserves have been committed to rebuilding a British line, and a further five squadrons have been sent by the Cavalry Corps to the south.  The German attack peters out, but a British counterattack in the afternoon fails utterly to regain any of the lost ground.

The result of the day's fighting is that though the Germans are halted short of Gheluvelt itself, the crossroads to the east of the village have been secured, which, due to a dip in the ground there gives the Germans a favourable position for a further attack.  The attack did not accomplish everything that General Fabeck desired, but it did suffice for the major offensive.  For the British, though Haig of I Corps is now focused on holding his line, Sir John French still believes that they and the French should be on the offensive, optimism that he shares with Foch.  They are about to be violently disabused of their hopes.

A British trench near Ypres, October 1914.  Note its rudimentary nature, with no barbed wire, sandbags, trench supports
to prevent collapses, or communication trenches.

- An Order in Council issued today by the British government is another step in the tightening of the blockade against Germany.  It declares a number of items that had previously been conditional contraband - i.e. seizure was discretionary - are henceforth to be absolute contraband, meaning that any ship carrying such goods and destined for Germany will be seized with no exceptions.

- Two days after departing Constantinople, Admiral Souchon and his squadron undertake the real purpose of his sortie - ensuring Ottoman entry into the war on the side of the Germans.  Souchon does this in the most direct way possible - with Goeben and Breslau as the core of his squadron, he sails to the Russian Black Sea coast and proceeds to bombard Odessa, Sevastopol, and Novorossisk this morning.  In addition to damage ashore, a Russian gunboat, minelayer, and six merchant ships are sunk, all done by ships flying the flag of the Ottoman Empire.  As the Ottomans hesitate to join the war willingly, Souchon has decided to force their hand by provoking Russia to declare war on the Ottomans themselves.

- In German Kamerun, the French column that had advanced westward from French Equatorial Africa and occupied the village of Carnot has been experiencing supply problems - the African porters so essential to the movement of equipment have been on half rations, and on the 21st the Europeans were reduced to two-thirds rations.  To avoid starvation, the commander of the column hits on the only real option possible - given the utter impossibility of shipping supplies through the jungle to his present location, he moves the column to where they can scavenge for food.  The column moves further westward into German territory where fertile agricultural lands can be plundered.

-  Off the Chilean coast, while Admiral Craddock and Good Hope, Monmouth, and Otranto depart their anchorage near the Huasco River, Glasgow approaches the port of Coronel.  This afternoon the wireless room aboard Glasgow starts to pick up signals in German code, indicating an enemy warship was nearby.  The captain of Glasgow hesitates to take his ship into Coronel, for fear the sudden arrival of German warships could blockade him in port.  He receives permission from Admiral Craddock to delay entering Coronel to ascertain if the arrival of the German East Asiatic Squadron was imminent.

October 18th, 1914

- Today the German III Reserve Corps launches an attack on the Belgian line between Dixmude and Nieuport.  The land here is low-lying pasture fields, much of which is below sea-level.  A railway connecting the two towns sits only six feet above sea level, and the roads of the region are even lower.  A series of locks at Nieuport drains the Yser River at low tide and keeps the sea out at high tide.

The German attack succeeds in capturing several advanced posts on the eastern side of the river, but fail to secure bridgeheads across the Yser itself.  The Belgian defense is aided by a British naval squadron just offshore, centered on two monitors that bombard the advancing Germans.

- In Flanders there are a number of scattered French units, haphazardly thrown into the fight to plug holes or exhausted after retreating, which include the French marines at Dixmude, several territorial divisions, and a number of cavalry divisions.  Today Joffre organizes these units into a single detachment under the command of General Victor d'Urbal, who will report to Foch.  Of these forces several cavalry divisions under General de Mitry advancing northeast of Ypres occupy Roulers.

Further south, Sir John French orders the British 7th Division of IV Corps to advance on Menin, in co-operation with de Mitry's move towards Roulers.  The division finds itself short of Menin at nightfall, General Rawlinson being concerned of marching beyond his flank support.  The British Cavalry Corps, in the front line between IV Corps to the north and III Corps to the south, is unable to make any progress against a determined German defense west of Comines, and III Corps itself, ordered to advance northeast down the valley of the Lys River, finds itself running to the main German line defending Lille and can make little headway.  Finally, II Corps seizes a bridge just under a mile east of Givenchy, but further progress is halted by German machine gun fire from brick-stacks to the north and a factory to the south that had so far avoided destruction from artillery fire.

- Overall, the deployment and advance of the BEF in Flanders has not achieved its objectives.  Though it has to date covered the northern flank of the French line reaching up from Arras, its attempt to turn the German flank has been painfully slow, and objectives such as La Bassée, to say nothing of Lille, remain out of reach.  Moreover, there is no awareness of the impending German offensive - though information from the Belgians suggests German reserves have been marching west from Brussels, it is generally believed that these are second-class troops who will simply take over portions of the German line.  Indeed, Sir John French's plan remains to continue the advance, and it is believed that the imminent arrival of I Corps, the last to leave the Aisne, will give the attack sufficient weight to push back the Germans, reach Lille, and outflank the enemy.  In reality, this evening the four new reserve corps belonging to 4th Army (XXII, XXIII, XXVI, and XXVII) reach the start line of the planned German attack, arranged north to south approximately ten to seventeen miles east of the Yser and Ypres Canal.  Falkenhayn's grand offensive to win the war in the west is about to begin, and the Entente forces opposite have no idea what is about to descend on them.

- Ludendorff, aware now that 9th Army will not be able to accomplish anything against the Russian numerical superiority in central Poland, issues orders today for 9th Army to retreat beginning on October 20th.  The Russian armies opposite along the Vistula are still not yet fully assembled, but to the south in Galicia the Russians go back onto the attack, recrossing the San River and threatening Przemysl with encirclement again.

- While British strategy regarding German Kamerun has focused on the coast and denying the Germans use of the port of Duala, French strategy has instead aimed at the interior.  The German colony is bordered by French Equatorial Africa to the east and south, and the French were particularly interested in recovering the territory ceded by them to the Germans in 1911 as part of the resolution of the Second Moroccan Crisis.  Thus the first French attacks sees one column advancing westward seize Carnot yesterday, and a second advancing north up the Sanga River takes Nola today.  The advances have been without opposition - in the prior three years the Germans had only begun to integrate the former French territories into their colony, and have left them largely undefended.  Further, though the two attacks were designed to be linked together as one offensive operation, the realities of communication in central Africa - where orders can take weeks to travel from one column to another - makes practical co-ordination impossible.

- At 5pm, the German East Asiatic Squadron, fully coaled and provisioned, departs Easter Island, sailing east to the Chilean coast.

- Yesterday the old pre-dreadnought Canopus left the River Plate, and today its captain signals Admiral Craddock at the Falklands that his ship can only do 12 knots and thus will be unlikely to arrive until the 22nd.  The news is of great concern to Craddock, as it means that adding Canopus to his squadron will slow its speed to 12 knots, which would be far too slow to catch the German East Asiatic Squadron.  Moreover, if they did fight the Germans would be able to use their superior speed to stay out of the range of Canopus' main guns.  The old battleship is thus for all intents and purposes useless to Craddock, he sends the following telegram to the Admiralty: 'I trust circumstances will enable me to force an action, but fear that strategically, owing to Canopus, the speed of my squadron cannot exceed twelve knots.'

In London the telegram is interpreted simply as Craddock informing them of his squadron's speed with Canopus attached, and thus send no reply.  Craddock, however, still feels himself bound by the orders of September 14th to attack the German East Asiatic Squadron.  He is thus faced with an impossible conundrum - keep Canopus and be unable to force battle with the Germans, or leave Canopus behind but be outgunned by the enemy.

October 14th, 1914

- Along the Channel coast, the retreating Belgians reach the Yser River, where they begin to entrench between Nieuport and Dixmude.  To the east, the pursuing German III Reserve Corps occupies Bruges.

- Early today the British 3rd Cavalry Division makes contact with the British Cavalry Corps at Kemmel, linking the British force retreating from Antwerp with the BEF deploying between Béthune and Ypres.  By this evening Rawlinson's 7th Division has taken position just east of Ypres, covering the arrival of the French 87th Territorial Division in the town.  To the south the Cavalry Corps has secured village of Messines, while III Corps takes Bailleul, abandoned early by the Germans.

- As the XXII, XXIII, XXVI, and XXVII Reserve Corps begin their march west from Brussels today, Falkenhayn orders Rupprecht's 6th Army to halt offensive operations, to give time for the reserve corps to reach the front and to avoid giving the Entente indications of the coming attack.  Instead, 6th Army will hold on a line from Menin southwards, and today the XIII and XIX Corps take up position between Menin and Armentières.

- At 7am this morning, the first ships of an important convoy arrive in Plymouth in southwest England.  The ships had departed Quebec City on October 3rd, and contained twenty-five thousand volunteers for military service, as well as a further five hundred from the separate Dominion of Newfoundland.  These soldiers comprised the Canadian Contingent, whose formation and organization had been agreed to in August.  As in most other combatants, the onset of war had seen a rush of volunteers, and it was decided that, in addition to the existing militia, they would be sent to Britain for service on the Western Front.  They will be a part of the British army, and initially Lord Kitchener wanted to scatter the Canadians throughout British divisions as replacements and individual battalions.  This course of action was fiercely opposed by Sam Hughes, the Canadian Minister of Militia and a figure of considerable energy as well as controversy, in a meeting with Kitchener.  After appeals to the British government the Canadians got their way - after several months training in England, the Canadian Contingent will be reformed as the 1st Canadian Division, and will operate as such in France.

- Despite the usefulness of its 75mm artillery pieces, the French army has been hindered in its operations over the first months of the war by an overall relative lack of artillery as compared to the German army.  Today Joffre outlines what will become known as the 'October 14th Programme', which establishes the requirements of the French army with respect to heavy artillery.  Joffre also stipulates that henceforth all artillery rounds use smokeless rather than black powder, as the smoke that results from the latter gives away the position of guns that fire it.  This illustrates that the 'shells crisis' that has and will afflict all of the major combatants in the first phases of the war is not simply about the number of shells available, but also their quality as well as the availability of the most effective types of artillery pieces.

- In Britain, it was the navy that had priority on munitions, given the widespread assumption that in a future war it would be the fleet that would experience the most combat.  Given the contrast between the continued commitment of the British Expeditionary Force to heavy fighting in France and the relative inactivity of the navy, the Admiralty reluctantly agrees to release a thousand tons of cordite from its reserves to the army for use in munitions production.

- In German Kamerun British forces undertake a second attempt to seize Jabassi.  This time, the advancing columns are directing along both sides of the river to divide the German defenders, and the British commander accompanies the advance by boat to supervise their coordination.  The result is the capture of Jabassi after a brief fight.

- A closer bombardment attempt at Tsingtao sees the British pre-dreadnought Triumph struck by a German shore battery.

- In the Pacific Japanese forces have landed on and captured the undefended German islands in the Marshall, Caroline, and Mariana island chains, formerly attached to the German New Guinea colony.  This leaves only Tsingtao as the sole German colony in the Pacific still under their control.  The British position is that the final disposition of these German colonies will be decided after the war; in practice, the Japanese have no intention of yielding them.  Indeed, the islands they secured without casualties or combat in 1914 will cost the Americans thousands of lives to take in the course of the Second World War.

- At Easter Island the German light cruiser Leipzig arrives today to join the German East Asiatic Squadron.  Having been off the west coast of North America upon the outbreak of war, it has brought three colliers with a thousand tons of coal each to the island, and the other German ships begin to top up their coal bunkers.  The squadron is now composed of two armoured cruisers and three light cruisers.

- The Admiralty finally responds today to Rear-Admiral Craddock's two telegrams of October 8th and 11th.  They signal their agreement with his suggestion of forming a separate squadron to cover the South Atlantic, and among the ships to be assigned to the new squadron is the armoured cruiser Defence.  Crucially, this new squadron is to be a separate command, not under the direction of Craddock.  By having the new squadron independent, and by assigning Defence to it rather than Craddock's command, the implication appears clear to the Rear-Admiral - the Admiralty believes that his squadron as presently constituted, and with only the old pre-dreadnought Canopus en route as reinforcement, is sufficient to engage the German East Asiatic Squadron.