March 8th, 1915

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

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

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

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

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

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

The execution of mutineers at Singapore, March 1915.

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February 22nd, 1915

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

February 17th, 1915

- As the French 4th Army continues to struggle in Champagne, failing to achieve a breakthrough, its commander General de Langle asks Joffre for reinforcements.  He wants to avoid repeated small-scale assaults and instead mass forces for one powerful attack that can overwhelm the Germans.

- The woods of the Argonne west of Verdun have been the scene of regular skirmishing between the Germans and French over the past several months, but today the French launch a major attack.  Since the German successes of January in carving out a salient towards Four-de-Paris, General Sarrail of 3rd Army has been eager to go onto the offensive in order to restore the morale of his solders.  The targeted sector is the western 'shoulder' of the German salient, between the ravines of Fontaine-aux-Charmes and Fontaine-de-Madame northeast of La Harazee.  Here the attack is highlighted by the explosion of three mines dug underneath the German line.  The detonation of the mines at 8am stuns the Germans, and the French are able to seize the first trench line.  Over the rest of the day there is fierce fighting as both sides struggle for the ruins of the German trench.  Gradually the French run out of ammunition, the intensity of the fire preventing resupply over the ruins of No Man's Land - indeed, for a period some French soldiers fight using captured German arms.  By 430pm the position has been regained by the Germans, the French suffering 40% casualties.

- In the pre-dawn hours the German 8th Army occupies the town of Augustow, on the western edge of the forest which bears its name.

- In the eastern Carpathians Austro-Hungarian cavalry recaptures the city of Czernowitz, while the main body of Pflanzer-Baltin's army group is directed northwest towards Dolina.  It is hoped that the latter drive into the flank of the Russians facing Südarmee, allowing the latter to advance.

- In Singapore the British authorities are gaining the upper hand on the Indian mutineers of the 5th Light Infantry.  Warships from Russia, France, and Japan have docked at the naval base, and added several hundred sailors to the colony's defenders.  Further, the mutiny is riven with internal tensions; only the Rajput half of the battalion  rebelled, while the Pathans remained loyal.

- For the past two weeks the landing party of the Emden has been at the Yemenese city of Sanaa, where they have found the climate not as inviting as they had hoped.  Because of the altitude the region is quite cold, and within several days of arrival 80% of the Germans had taken sick with fever.  Moreover, First Officer Mücke learns today that the difficulties of continuing the journey northwards by land are much greater than he had originally been informed.  Reluctantly, he concludes that they shall have to return to Hodeida and attempt to continue their voyage by sea, though this will need to wait until the sick are sufficiently recovered to travel again.

February 15th, 1915

- Admiral Pohl receives another telegram from the Kaiser today: 'H.M. the Emperor has commanded that the U-boat campaign to destroy commerce . . . is not to begin on February 18, but only when orders to do so are received from the All Highest.'  Once again Wilhelm II wavers when faced with an important military decision, much to the dismay of his admirals.

- In Britain, meanwhile, Churchill, speaking in the House of Commons, seeks to assure the public regarding the threatened German submarine campaign:

. . . losses will no doubt be incurred - of that I give full warning.  But we believe that no vital injury can be done if our traders put to sea regularly . . . If they take the precautions which are proper and legitimate, we expect the losses will be confided within manageable limits, even at the outset when the enemy must be expected to make his greatest effort to produce an impression.

 - The 1st Canadian Division completes disembarkation at St. Nazaire today, and the soldiers immediately entrain for the journey to Flanders.  Their billeting area is just east of Hazebrouck, and they are to be attached to III Corps, 2nd Army of the BEF.  Prior to taking over a section of the front line in several weeks time, the headquarters staff and regimental personnel will be attached to the British 4th and 6th Divisions to learn first-hand about the nature of trench warfare.

- In Singapore, the 5th Light Infantry battalion of the Indian army is the only remaining regular force defending the colony, as other units have been transferred to more active theaters.  The battalion, however, has long seethed with discontent, and today many of its soldiers rise in mutiny.  The unit is entirely Muslim, and fears of being sent to fight the Ottomans may have played a role in the decision to mutiny.  Conversely, other than a couple of exceptions Indian nationalism does not appear to have been a major motivating force.  Indeed, most important are causes specific to the unit itself - the commanding officer is incompetent and the officers mistrust each other, allowing other issues, such as poor rations and promotion prospects, to fester.

Initially, the mutineers, some three hundred in total, outnumber the 231 European soldiers on the island.  They also attempt to augment their ranks by freeing German prisoners of war, but the latter were more afraid of the Indians than anything and the few that did act preferred to escape rather than fight.  Rampaging in several large groups, thirty-four Britons and Asians are killed in several hours.  In response a landing party from the sloop Cadmus is put ashore and uses a machine gun to check the mutineers' advance on Singapore itself.