July 20th, 1915

- Vice-Admiral Gustav Bachmann appeals directly to the Kaiser today to lift the remaining restrictions on bombing the City of London left in place by Bethmann-Hollweg.  The Chief of the German Naval Staff argues that limiting raids to the weekend is impractical, given how dependent Zeppelins are on good weather, and raises the French bombing of Karlsruhe as showing prior Entente attacks on civilians.  Under pressure the Kaiser relents, asking only that royal palaces be spared.  German Zeppelins now have free reign to attack London and other British targets as they see fit.

- Today the German force under General Gallwitz arrives at the Narew River north and northwest of Warsaw, only to encounter a strong Russian counterattack between Pultusk and Rozan.  Though the German line holds, it delays the crossing of the Narew for several days.  Meanwhile, on Gallwitz's southern flank a force of Landwehr and Landsturm is assembled to beiege the major Russian fortress of Novogeorgievsk, and command is given to General Beseler, famous for the rapid capture of Antwerp in October 1914.

- On the southern face of the Polish salient, the German 11th and Austro-Hungarian 4th Armies have reached the new Russian defensive line just south of the vital Lublin-Cholm railway, and launch energetic today.  Though the Russians lose ground in some sectors, and 4th Army in particular takes six thousand prisoners, neither the Germans nor the Austro-Hungarians are able to break through.

- The Italian 3rd Army today concentrates its offensive power on Monte San Michelle on the northern shoulder of the Karst plateau.  An intensive artillery bombardment blankets not only the main enemy defensive positions but also area to the east of San Michelle, preventing the Austro-Hungarian 93rd Division from reinforcing 17th Honved and 20th Honved Divisions on the mountain itself.  After several hours of heavy fighting, elements of the Italian XI Corps capture the heights at 530pm.  The local Austro-Hungarian commander immediately prepares a counteroffensive to launched in the pre-dawn hours of tomorrow.

Monte San Michelle on the Italian Front.

- In the months leading up to the entry of Italy into the war, Austria-Hungary had feared that Romania would join the ranks of their enemies as well.  Such concern was not without foundation: Romania and Italy had held diplomatic discussions prior to May 1915, and Russia had also applied great pressure on the Romanian government to enter the war.  However, the dramatic victories won by the Germans on the Eastern Front over the past two months has greatly dampened the enthusiasim of the Romanian government for war, and today Prime Minister Bratianu decides that Romania will remain neutral, at least in the foreseeable future.

- After sinking the French steamer Carthage on the 4th, the German submarine U21 spent two weeks evading Entente countermeasures, and after striking a mine limped back to Constantinople on the 16th.  As U21 will be out of action for two weeks, the German admiralty decides today to dispatch two more ocean-going submarines to the Mediterranean, drawn by the opportunity not only to strike at Entente warships off the Dardanelles but also against merchant shipping.

June 30th, 1915

- Over the past two days, the German 11th Army has been able to advance northwards into southern Russian Poland without encountering significant resistance, given the retreat of Russian forces opposite.  By today, the greatest impediment to 11th Army's movement is the length of its eastern flank: the further north it goes, the longer the eastern flank becomes, which in turns requires greater forces to hold.  By today, of the six corps belonging to 11th Army in the line, only two are still advancing to the north, while the remaining four hold the flank to prevent a Russian counterattack hitting a gap between it and the Austro-Hungarian 2nd Army to the south.  The result is that a greater portion of responsibility for the actual advance falls on the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army to the west, the entirety of which can be committed to the advance.

Meanwhile the Russian 3rd Army takes up new defensive positions along the Wyznica and Por River, the former falling on the Kraśnik battle from August of the year before.  It is clear to the Russians that the Germans intend to continue to advance between the Vistula and Bug Rivers, and reinforcements are ordered to assemble at Brest-Litovsk, including VI Siberian Corps and a division drawn from each of 5th and 10th Armies.

- After a week of artillery fire and probing attacks, the Italian 2nd and 3rd Armies along the Isonzo River begin their main attacks today, with the heaviest fighting undertaken by VII Corps moving against the Karst plateau.  The Italians outnumber the Austro-Hungarians by a margin of more than two to one, but otherwise all of the advantages lay with the latter, even beyond the usual enjoyed by defenders in the First World War.  The mountainous terrain of the region very much favours the defence; Italian infantry has to navigate barbed wire and shell holes while advancing (in some cases climbing) uphill.  The Italians also lack the equipment of modern warfare that combat on other fronts has shown to be essential - not only is there a shortage of wire-cutters, but the infantry lacks even steel helmets.  There was also no effort to co-ordinate or even plan the infantry advance; artillery bombardments would end minutes before assaults would begin, and soldiers were simply ordered to charge the enemy positions in tight formations that could hardly be more vulnerable to machine gune fire.  Italian officers go into battle in colourful peacetime uniforms and badges of rank that made them obvious targets for snipers, and carried with them swords that are ludicrously out of place on the modern battlefield.  These attacks have a predictable result, and Austro-Hungarian infantry report that the enemy infantry made easier targets of themselves than dummies on pre-war firing ranges.  It takes a special level of ineptitude to make the Austro-Hungarian army look proficient, but the Italians are just getting started at the effort.  Needless to say, today's attacks get nowhere while suffering heavy losses.

- The position of Romania has long been a concern of Prime Minister Tisza of Hungary, given that the Hungarian portion of the Dual Monarchy contains a significant Romanian neutrality.  Earlier in the war, he had been concerned that Italian entry, coupled with defeats in the Carpathians, might trigger Romanian intervention.  With Italian intervention being  shown to be of no great significance and with the Russians continuing to retreat on the Eastern Front, Tisza's attention has returned to Romania, but this time with the mindset of coercing Romania into adopting a pro-Austro-Hungarian line.  Today Tisza sends a memorandum to Conrad urging that after the completion of the campaign on the Eastern Front, forces earmarked for redeployment to the Western and Italian Fronts should first be concentrated on the Romanian frontier, at which point the Romanian government would be presented with an ultimatum to allow free transit of men and supplies to the Ottoman Empire or face invasion and annihilation.

- On Gallipoli the French undertake another small attack on the right flank of the line at Cape Helles.  After another concentrated artillery bombardment which destroys the Ottoman trenches, French infantry sweep over a defensive position known as the Quadrilateral while suffering minimal casualties, though efforts to advance further are stymied.  To the north, it is the Ottomans going on the attack, launching a surprise attack on the ANZAC lines just after midnight.  The preparations for the attack do not go unnoticed, however, and as soon as the Ottoman infantry leave their trenches they come under murderous fire by the Australian 8th (Victoria) Light Horse, and are slaughtered for no gain.

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.

January 9th, 1915

- A further attack by the French 4th Army near Perthes, launched at 4pm after a heavy artillery bombardment, are broken up by the German defenders.  Further to the east, French infantry are able to reach and enter a narrow strip of the first German trench line, and are able to hold on despite repeated enemy counterattacks.

- News of Ludendorff's appointment as Chief of Staff to Südarmee does not sit well with Hindenburg.  In a letter sent directly to the Kaiser today, the commander of German forces in the East urges the return of the 'irreplaceable' Ludendorff to his old post as his Chief of Staff.  Hindenburg knows full well that his victories in the East have been accomplished in large part through the planning of Ludendorff, and that their partnership is essential to the success of both.  He also insists that the four new reserve corps forming in Germany need to be sent to the Eastern Front, and in particular to East Prussia for an offensive (planned by Ludendorff) in the neighbourhood of the Masurian Lakes.  He concludes his letter with an assurance that he would be more than happy to retire, a none-too-subtle hint to Wilhelm II of the stakes involved in breaking up the partnership that has achieved Germany's most notable victory to date.

- At the start of the war, Count Berchtold, the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister, had opposed ceding territory to Italy in exchange for it fulfilling its responsibilities as a member of the Triple Alliance.  The steady tide of Austro-Hungarian defeats since August, however, has led Berchtold to change his mind.  He fears that both Italy and Romania may take advantage of the Empire's apparent weakness by attacking it, a catastrophe that might spell the end of Austria-Hungary itself.  To avoid this, Berchtold is now willing to cede territory to Italy and Romania in exchange for their continued neutrality in the war, and today he advises Franz Joseph to surrender Trentino to Italy.

The alternative course of action - namely, to ensure Italian and Romanian neutrality by demonstrating Austro-Hungarian military strength through victory on the battlefield - is supported not only by Conrad, but others within the government, including Count Tisza, the Hungarian Prime Minister, who wishes to avoid seeing Hungarian lands used to bribe Romania.  Most vitally, Emperor Franz Joseph himself is loath to yield an inch of territory to the Italians, whom he sees as the Empire's natural enemy.

- Overnight, as Choising approached Hodeida, its German crew sighted a row of lights in the distance, and assuming them to be the lights of a dock, they direct the steamer towards them.  To their dismay, however, as they approached they realized that the lights were moving, and they were instead bearing down on a French armoured cruiser.  First Officer von Mücke orders its men to the ship's four boats, and they proceed to land on the Arabian coast by dawn.  Once ashore they can see Hodeida in the distance, but they have no idea if they are in friendly or enemy territory.  As they bring their weaponry and remaining supplies ashore, several Arabs observe them from a distance before disappearing.  In case Hodeida was occupied by the enemy, Mücke intends to march inland and hide in the desert by day, and return to Choising at night.  No sooner do they leave the beach then they find themselves confronted by over a hundred Arabs.  There is a linguistic impasse, neither side being able to understand the other.  Amidst the gesticulating and mangling of phrases, a breakthrough is finally achieved when Mücke points to the portrait of the Kaiser on a gold piece, which the Arabs recognize and begin shouting 'Aleman!'  It is finally deduced that Hodeida remains in Ottoman hands, and the Arab force escorts Emden's landing party into the town.

Mücke considers the next step of the journey home in consultation with the local Ottoman officials.  There is no railway, and he is assured that continuing by sea is impossible, given the prevalence of British and French ships in the south Red Sea, some of which are visible from Hodeida itself.  Instead, Mücke decides that his party will travel inland through the mountains to Sanaa and northwards from there.  It will take a fortnight to gather supplies and prepare for the journey; meanwhile, after dark Mücke uses a signal lamp to instruct Choising to make for Massowa in the neutral Italian colony of Eritrea.

December 6th, 1914

- Joffre sends a reply today to Grand Duke Nicholas' telegram of the 3rd, assuring the commander-in-chief of the Russian army that the French will shortly resume major offensive operations, once weapons appropriate to the new conditions resembling siege warfare are assembled.  At the same time he receives another report from the Operations Bureau recommending attacks in Artois and either Champagne or near Verdun.  This encapsulates the basic framework of the operation Joffre and his staff now begin to plan - a drive by the French 10th Army from the vicinity of Arras towards Cambrai, and an advance in Champagne east of Rheims by the French 4th Army from Suippes to Rethel.

- Overnight Russian forces at Lodz have abandoned the city and retreated eastward, and when wireless intercepts reveal the situation to the Germans, elements of 9th Army occupy the city.  The retreat, however, is not a precipitate withdrawal - the advance of the right wing of the German 9th Army and the Austro-Hungarian 2nd Army had resulted in Lodz forming a bulge in the front, and by retreating the Russians can shorten their line and establish themselves on defensible positions on the Bzura and Rawka Rivers west of Warsaw.  Indeed, for the past several days the centre and left of the German 9th Army has been battering itself against the Russian positions on the lower Bzura to no avail.  Further, the Russian forces opposite the Austro-Hungarian 2nd Army remain in place, frustrating the hope for a further advance.  By abandoning Lodz, the Russians are in a better position to defend the remainder of Poland.

German soldiers marching through Lodz, December 6th, 1914.

- Southeast of Krakow further Austro-Hungarians attacks by Roth's forces on the Russian defences fail to achieve a breakthrough or turn the enemy's southern flank.  However, the continued pressure convinces the commander of the Russian 3rd Army to pull back the two corps that still faced westward between Wisniowa and Wieliczka.  Meanwhile reconnaissance reports from elements of the 10th Cavalry Division report significant Russian forces in Neusandez, but General Roth's focus remains the attack northwards - he has been ordered to continue the offensive in this direct irregardless of the threat to his own flank.

Operations of the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army during the Battle of
Limanowa-Lapanow, December 6th to 9th, 1914.

- To the southeast the commander of the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army is planning an operation aimed at recapturing Bartfeld, lost on the 1st.  Though his army is exhausted, the apparent redeployment of elements of the Russian 8th Army westwards has opened a window of opportunity to go over to the attack.  However, today Conrad orders the left wing of 3rd Army to advance on Neusandez to support the offensive of 4th Army.  The commander of 3rd Army knows his force is not capable of attacking Bartfeld and moving to Neusandez simultaneously, so he asks Conrad which operation he should undertake first.  In an evasion typical of Conrad, he replies that the choice is at 3rd Army's discretion.

- Romanian Prime Minister Bratianu refuses today an Entente request to guarantee the independence of Greece against Bulgarian aggression.

- A small Ottoman force of twenty-four Russian-speaking cavalrymen attempt a raid today near Odessa on the Black Sea coast.  Landing at Akkerman and dressed in Russian uniforms, their objective is to cut a key railway before escaping into neutral Romania.  The attempt is a complete failure as every Ottoman soldier is rounded up shortly after making landfall.

- Early today reinforcements reach the detachment of Indian Expeditionary Force D encamped just south of Qurna on the opposite bank.  Reconnaissance has revealed that Ottoman soldiers numbering over a thousand have reoccupied the trenches to the north that the British had captured and then evacuated on the 4th.  The local British commander decides that these Ottomans will need to be defeated to secure the west bank of the river, the necessary prerequisite to then crossing the river to seize the town of Qurna itself.

- Admiral Spee convenes a meeting of his captains as the German East Asiatic Squadron continues to anchor off Picton Island.  Believing that the Falklands Islands are unprotected, de proposes an attack on Port Stanley to destroy the wireless station, burn any stocks of coal (the bunkers of his ships now being full), and capture the British governor to balance the British seizure of the governor of German Samoa.  Only the captain of Nürnberg supports the plan - the other captains wish to avoid the Falklands and pursue Entente shipping off the River Platte.  Spee, however, overrules his captains and they sail this afternoon to attack Port Stanley on the morning of December 8th.  It is a fateful, and for many a fatal, decision.

November 23rd, 1914

- In France four squadrons of Voisin biplanes, totaling eighteen airplanes, are merged together into 1st Bombardment Group, the first French aerial unit devoted to strategic aerial attacks on Germany.

- For several weeks the British and Dutch governments have been negotiating an agreement regarding the importation of goods to the Netherlands deemed contraband by the British.  The concern of the latter is that such goods after arrival in the Netherlands could easily be shipped across the border to Germany, thus allowing the Germans to circumvent the blockade.  The Dutch, for their part, believe that as a neutral power their global trade should not be impeded.  Today the negotiations result in an agreement to create the Netherlands Oversea Trust, a company composed of Dutch private sector merchants who would help individuals wishing to trade in contraband goods.  A pledge would be extracted from such individuals that the contraband goods were for home or Dutch colonial consumption only, and the Netherlands Oversea Trust would then communicate the pledge to the British who would allow the trade based on the guarantee of the Trust's board of directors.  This system solves many of the concerns of both parties - the British gain a means by which Dutch trade in contraband goods can be regulated, while Dutch merchants gain some security that their goods will not be seized.  Moreover, as the Trust is civilian, the Dutch government is not worried about the arrangement appearing to violate their neutrality by leaning too heavily towards the British.

- East of Lodz the German XXV Reserve Corps and Guards Division is now pulling back northwards in an effort to escape from the Russian encirclement, marching over poor, icy roads.  To the west of the German force the Russian defenders at Lodz are too disorganized from the ongoing fighting with the bulk of the German 9th Army to interfere.  To the south, German cavalry covers the German retreat so successfully that the Russian commander there believes he has won an excellent defensive victory.  To the east Russian cavalry mistakes columns of thousands of Russian prisoners accompanying the retreating Germans as additional German soldiers, believe themselves vastly outnumbered, and do not bother to attack.  So far, then, the Russian army is demonstrating their usual level of competence in attempting to destroy the German corps and division.  Still, the Lovitch detachment from the Russian 1st Army has now advanced far enough to sit astride the line of retreat northwards of the German corps and division, leaving the latter still in great danger of envelopment and destruction.

- It is only today that the last units of the Austro-Hungarian army arrive by train opposite central Poland.  The two weeks it has taken the army to redeploy by rail from Galicia to east of Breslau is testimony to the poor state of Austro-Hungarian railways and the dysfunctional logistics that has plagued their armies in the field.

- For the past four days Count István Tisza, Prime Minister of Hungary, has been in Germany discussing the diplomatic relationship with Romania, meeting with Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg, General Falkenhayn, and others.  The Germans have been applying pressure on Austria-Hungary to cede territory to Romania in exchange for its entry into the war on their side, a stance that Tisza strongly opposes - though willing to give some concessions on language and education to Romanians within the Empire, the lands the Germans propose to yield come from the Hungarian portion of the Empire.  However, the entry of the Ottoman Empire into the war and the initial progress made in the current invasion of Serbia have served to calm German fears regarding the situation in the Balkans, and Tisza returns home confident that he has convinced the German leadership to drop any suggestion of territorial concessions.

- A ceremony is held today in Basra today to formalize the British occupation of the city.  The British are eager to win the active support of Arab tribes in the region, and thus desire to show that as the Ottomans are never to return the Arabs need have no fear of Ottoman reprisals.  But if the Ottomans are not to return, what, exactly, is to become of the region.  Are the Arabs to 'enjoy the benefits of liberty', as the commander of Indian Expeditionary Force D proclaims at today's ceremony, or is the region to be annexed by Britain, as the same commander suggests he said to the assembled crowd in his report on the ceremony to the Secretary of State for India.  Neither option has been seriously discussed, and both raise important issues.  For the British it will prove to have been much easier to occupy Basra than decide what to do with it.

There is also the question of what IEF D ought to do next.  Its initial orders said nothing beyond the occupation of Basra, so are they now simply to stay put?  Sir Percy Cox, IEF D's political officer and an Arab expert, believes that Arab support will only be forthcoming if the British continue to advance up the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers and demonstrate their complete dominance of the region.  To this end, he recommends in a letter to the Viceroy of India that IEF D advance to Baghdad, a much more significant undertaking that simply securing the Shatt al-Arab.  Even though the term has not yet been coined, the British campaign in Mesopotamia takes a first step towards becoming a textbook definition of mission creep.

- At 10am this morning the schooner Ayesha, carrying First Officer Helmuth von Mücke and his fifty-man detachment that escaped from Direction Island after the sinking of Emden, sights the Sumatra coast in the Dutch East Indies.  Ayesha has had an adventurious journey since they set sail two weeks ago.  Given that the schooner was built for a crew of five, sleeping arrangements were at a premium, and most had to sleep in the hold with scrap iron used for ballast, while two small cabins below deck, originally fitted out for sleeping, had to be abandoned to the huge cockroaches that patrolled them.  The water held in iron tanks aboard was discovered to have fouled, forcing the crew to rely on rainfall to avoid dehydration.  The old sails tore repeatedly, meaning much work was spent mending and patching the canvass.  Much of the wooden hull was rotten, so much so that when it was inspected with a knife they had to quickly desist in fear poking the wood would let in the Indian Ocean.

That the Ayesha has survived the nearly eight hundred mile journey from the Cocos Islands to Sumatra is nothing short of a minor miracle, but their tribulations are hardly at an end.  They have no charts of the Sumatra coast, and there is a constant worry of running aground upon some hidden reef or rock.  There is also a keen awareness that warships of the Entente are almost certainly searching the seas for them, and may anticipate them sailing to the Dutch East Indies.  First Officer Mücke, however, has no intention of being captured.  They still have the four machine guns they had brought with them when they had landed on Direction Island, and hole have been cut in the gunwales to mount them.  Though the aged schooner could hardly have looked less like a warship, Mücke has every intention of fighting if confronted by an enemy vessel.  Meanwhile, his intention is to sail up the Sumatra coast to the port of Padang, where he intends to avail himself of international law that allows warships to enter neutral ports for twenty-four hours, during which time he hopes to reprovision.

November 19th, 1914

- Flanders sees the first serious snowfall of the year, adding to the misery of the soldiers dug in along the front line.  Though German shelling continues, Entente commanders notice a sharp decline in the frequency and intensity of German infantry assaults.

- Today the French XI Corps of 2nd Army, on the front near the Somme River, attacks the German line in an effort to pin enemy reserves to this sector and demonstrate the continued vitality of the French army.  The operation accomplishes absolutely nothing.

- Desperate fighting has continued along the front in Serbia since the 17th, as the Austro-Hungarians seek to break the Serbian defensive line.  They achieve their first success today, forcing the Serbian 1st Army backwards and taking high ground on the opposite bank of the Kolubara River.  General Potiorek's plan is for his 6th Army to occupy the Serbian forces while 5th Army drives on and enters Belgrade to the north.

- On November 8th the Prime Minister of Hungary published correspondence between himself and Romanian religious figures, in which he pledged a series of concessions to the Romanian population of the Hungarian portion of Austria-Hungary, including language rights and electoral reform.  These reforms were designed not only to mollify the Romanian population within Hungary, but also the Romanian government, whose neutrality the Hungarian Prime Minister was eager to maintain.  Given the multiethnic composition of the Empire, however, concessions to one group are eagerly highlighted by other groups - today the newspaper of the Slovak committee of the Social Democratic Party publishes a call for the same concessions to be extended to the Slovak population of Hungary.  This highlights the possible lethality of any effort to reform Austria-Hungary - concessions to one group lead other groups to demand the same, a vicious circle that has the potential to destroy the Empire itself.  And yet, in a war for survival in which each ethnic group is represented among the soldiers of the Habsburg army, is a policy of repression, not reform, any more viable?

- The German East Asiatic Squadron today sails into the Gulf of Penas on the Chilean coast three hundred miles north of the Straits of Magellan, and anchors in Bahía San Quintín.  Here they coal once again, while Admiral Spee names and congratulates three hundred of his officers and men who have been awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class by the Kaiser, ecstatic at their victory at Coronel (the medals themselves await the recipients in Germany).

October 10th, 1914

- The orders for the British II Corps is to advance to cover Béthune, placing it on the left flank of the French 10th Army.  By today, II Corps is in the area Diéval-Pernes between St. Pol and Béthune, with 2nd Cavalry Division to its north and 1st Cavalry Division, having just arrived today, to its south.  To the east, two French cavalry corps have prevented the German I and II Cavalry Corps from advancing beyond a line Béthune-Armentières.

The advance of British units in Flanders to October 15th, 1914

- In Germany the four reserve corps destined to form the core of the new 4th Army begin to entrain for the front.

- This morning German forces begin to occupy Antwerp.  They are surprised by how few prisoners they take - all that remained of the Belgian defenders were the Military Governor, his staff officer, and a few stragglers in the surviving forts.  To the end of the siege the Germans had expected to capture the entire Belgian army at Antwerp, and so the realization that it has escaped mars the German victory.

In Britain the fall of Antwerp leads to sharp criticism being directed at Winston Churchill by the press.  Not only is he, by virtue of his 'trip' to Antwerp, the most prominent minister associated with the defeat at Antwerp, and in particular the loss of several thousand men from the Naval Brigades, but his judgement is questioned regarding his presence at Antwerp at all, seen as an amateur interfering with army operations in the field and that he had cast aside his responsibilities as First Lord of the Admiralty to do so.  There is an undertone of distrust regarding Churchill, whether he can sufficiently restrain his famous enthusiasm for whatever catches his fancy at the moment.

- A conference is held today at Ostend between King Albert, General Pau, the representative of Joffre, and General Rawlinson.  The conclusion is that the present position around Ghent cannot be held for long, considering that the nearest significant Entente force is the BEF beginning to arrive west of Lille, and that retreat is necessary.  Given the battered state of the Belgian army, King Albert wonders if they should not withdraw behind the front lines to southwest of Calais, to allow for rest and recovery.

By nightfall most of the Belgian army has pulled back towards Ostend while the British and French remain at Ghent to cover the withdrawal.  The Germans to the east, however, do not immediately move on Ghent, instead turning eastward in the belief that there is still a substantial Belgian force at Antwerp that needs to be contained.

- In Poland the initial plan regarding the Russian offensive was that the armies committed to the operation - the 2nd, 5th, 4th, and 9th, arrayed north to south from Warsaw to Sandomir - would be prepared to advance today.  Mud and supply shortages, however, have delayed their redeployment, and some units have yet to arrive along the east bank of the Vistula River.  General Ivanov, in command of the offensive, is concerned by the German and Austro-Hungarian advance, and does not wish to engage the enemy until his armies are at full strength.  Grand Duke Nicholas, however, is eager to attack, wanting the armies to cross the Vistula immediately.  However, he has no direct line of communication with Ivanov today, so cannot influence the latter's operations.

- King Carol I of Romania dies today, and is succeeded by his nephew Ferdinand I, who is more favourably inclined to the Entente, and who also is willing to give greater leeway to Prime Minister Ion Bratianu, whose primary foreign policy aim is the acquisition of Austro-Hungarian Transylvania.

- In Austria-Hungary a decree is published today authorizing the Austrian Board of Trade to direct the flow of raw materials and organize industrial production in support of the war effort.  While the decree is a step forward in mobilizing the economy for war, it also reflects a key hindrance to the Austro-Hungarian war effort - the decree applies only to the Austrian portion of the empire, as the Hungarian portion insists on controlling its own wartime economy.  The lack of co-ordination between the two halves of Austria-Hungary is demonstrative of the extent to which the divisions of peacetime persist into the war itself.

October 2nd, 1914

- General Castlenau of 2nd Army informs Joffre today that, under growing German pressure north of Arras, XXI Corps will not be able to detrain as close to Lille as had been planned, implying that the city cannot be held.  Joffre's response is that retreat is not acceptable and Lille must not be yielded.

- At Antwerp the forts of Waelhelm and Boschbeck fall to the Germans this afternoon.  With a substantial gap now having opened in the outer line of fortifications, the Belgian army to the south of the city withdraws to the north bank of the Nethe River, running between the outer and inner forts.  A meeting of Belgian ministers and military leaders decides that given the German advance, the King and government should depart Antwerp tomorrow.  While King Albert agrees, he states he will only leave after the population of the city have been warned.

At 10pm a telegram from the British Minister in Antwerp arrives in London, reporting the decision of the Belgian government to leave the city tomorrow, and also erroneously reporting that the Belgian army was also to abandon Antwerp.  With Prime Minister Asquith in Cardiff at a recruiting rally, it is Sir Edward Grey who receives the telegram, and rushes to Lord Kitchener's house in Carlton Gardens to discuss the note.  They also recall Churchill, who had just boarded a train at London for Dover and Dunkirk, and he races from Victoria Station to Carlton Gardens.  There the three agree that Antwerp must hold out as long as possible - if it falls immediately, the German forces besieging it could sweep through northern France before the Entente line is extended to the Channel.  Thus, even a week's delay in its surrender could be of vital importance.  Churchill recommends the immediate dispatch of the Marine Brigade, two thousand strong, to reinforce the defenses of the city.  He also volunteers to go to Antwerp himself, to encourage the Belgians to hold out as long as possible.  Grey and Kitchener agree, and at midnight Churchill departs London en route to Antwerp.

- In neutral Romania, King Carol I is sympathetic to Germany and Austria-Hungary, and indeed had signed a secret treaty to support the latter if war broke out.  His ministers, however, insisted on remaining out of the war in August, citing the plight of the Romanian population of Austro-Hungarian Transylvania, a territory which many in government covet.  During the first weeks of the war, Romania acquiesced to the German desire to ship supplies by rail to the Ottoman Empire via Austria-Hungary and Romania, though the shipments were limited to eight freight cars per day.  Now, with the King ailing, the government is able to enforce a stricter interpretation of neutrality today by halting all German shipments through its territory.  With the naval blockade in the Mediterranean, the Ottomans are now completely isolated from Germany and Austria-Hungary, and while options such as Zeppelin flights will be considered, ultimately the only way to allow large-scale shipments to reach the Ottomans is through the conquest of Serbia.

- The German East Asiatic Squadron departs Nuku Hiva today, sailing southeast towards Easter Island.  As they leave the tropics behind them, the days are cooler and the seas rougher.