- Today reports finally reach the headquarters of the German 6th Army that confirm that the French have not broken through at Givenchy. Moreover, though elements of the French III Corps on Hill 140 repulse several German counterattacks, they also find themselves exposed to intense German artillery fire, and today they are compelled to abandon the summit, taking up position a hundred yards to the west. The immediate crisis having past, Rupprecht concentrates on relieving the German infantry who have been battered by the prior four days of fighting. Overnight, 2nd Guards Division takes over the line between Giesler Hill and Givenchy held by 123rd Saxon Division, while 1st Guards Division is deployed to the heights of Vimy Ridge. Bit by bit, VI Corps, which has borne the burden of the fighting in Artois and suffered over seven thousand casualties, is pulled out of the line and reassembles at Cambrai. Falkenhayn also assigns XI Corps, returning from the Eastern Front, to 6th Army, though after its exertions in Russia it needs rest before being committed to battle again.
On the Entente side, General Foch and Field Marshall French meet to discuss another major push in Artois and Flanders, hoping to take advantage of the ground won near Vimy Ridge yesterday. They agree that the British 1st Army and the French 10th Army will attack together on October 2nd; when Foch appraises Joffre of the plan, the latter agrees to release additional artillery munitions to support the offensive. To meet the timetable, however, the French 10th Army will need to relieve the southern wing of the British 1st Army as agreed upon yesterday. This redeployment, intended to be completed today, is delayed by poor weather and deteriorating roads; General d'Urbal reports that it will not be completed until tomorrow.
- In the Champagne, French forces have rushed to exploit the phantom 'breach' in the German second line supposedly won yesterday by 14th Division. Before dawn VII Corps attacks towards the supposed breakthrough, while VI Corps also advances on its right, but both assaults fail with heavy casualties. Later today three infantry brigades attempt to pass through the breach, only to encounter German defenders and suffer heavy losses. Despite the growing debacle, subsequent messages that reached Castlenau reported that the breach had actually been enlarged. Thinking his armies on the verge of victory, Castlenau informs Joffre that three entire divisions have now passed through the opening.
Only later this afternoon does accurate information actually reach Castlenau's headquarters, which reveal not only that the German second trench line remains unbroken but that the forces that attempted to pass through the 'breach' have suffered horrendous losses and have become thoroughly disorganized. At midnight Castlenau reluctantly orders de Lange of 4th Army to halt the attack, and devote tomorrow to untangling the divisions that had rushed towards the breach and becoming hopelessly entangled. Castlenau also instructs Pétain to cancel an attack by 2nd Army scheduled to be launched tomorrow at 930am.
- By today the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army has reached the Putilowka River, across which the Russian 8th Army has halted its retreat, and efforts to cross to the east bank are easily repulsed. The only success occurs to the north, where the German XXIV Reserve Corps pushes the Russians over the Kormin River and take three thousand prisoners.
Given the utter exhaustion of his armies, combined with the end of OberOst's offensive at Vilna, convince Conrad that further offensive operations would be futile, and orders are issued to 4th and 1st Armies to go over to the defensive. Conrad's fall offensive against the Russians has been yet another dismal failure; initially referred to as the Black-Yellow Offensive, the operation has been known as the Herbstsau among Conrad's staff, which translates literally as 'autumn swinery' but more loosely, and more accurately, as 'fall fuck-up'.
In the course of the month's fighting, the Austro-Hungarian armies on the Eastern Front have lost over 230 000 men, which comprises almost half of their strength at the start of September. Included amongst this number were 100 000 soldiers taken prisoner by the Russians, and the poor quality of the Austro-Hungarian units is further evidenced by Austro-Hungarian officers reporting sick at twice the rate of those wounded, an opposite ratio as that found in the German army. Further, Austria-Hungary simply lacked the means to fully replace casualties - only 120 000 new men had arrived at the front, barely half the number of those lost. The failure of the 'Herbstsau' offensive has also further damaged the reputation of the Austro-Hungarian army amongst its allies - not only did the offensive on the Eastern Front fail, but the four divisions Conrad had to pull away from the Serbian campaign to reinforce the armies battered by the Russian counteroffensive served to enlighten the new Bulgarian ally of where the real power and influence lay within the Central Powers.
- As of this morning the Ottomans have abandoned their defence positions east of Kut-al-Amara, and aerial reconnaissance informs General Townshend of 6th Indian Division that the Ottomans have abandoned Kut-al-Amara and retreated further upriver. There is no vigorous pursuit of the defeated Ottomans, however - 6th Indian Division is exhausted, and low water on the Tigris limits the operations of British gunboats.
Showing posts with label Vimy Ridge. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vimy Ridge. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Monday, September 28, 2015
September 28th, 1915
- Near Loos the British 2nd Guards Brigade makes a second attempt to capture the ruined buildings at Puit 14 at 345pm today. The brigade commander, Brigadier-General J. Ponsonby, had been extremely reluctant to undertake the attack, given that the first effort with greater artillery support had failed yesterday. However, a message to Major General the Earl of Cavan, commander of the Guards Division, suggesting a postponement until tonight is not replied to by 345, and Ponsonby has no choice but to go through with the attack. Predictably, the assault fails in the face of intense German machine-gun fire, and 2nd Guards Brigade suffers 250 casualties for no gain. Elsewhere on the British front, 28th Division, which had formerly been the reserve of the British 2nd Army to the north, comes into the line today west of Haisnes, having been reassigned to 1st Army. Its orders are to retake the Dump, a huge slag heap just west of Fosse 8 recaptured by the Germans yesterday. When the attack goes in at 930am, the six battalions of 28th Division are repulsed, with two battalion commanders killed.
Given the failure of the Guards Division yesterday and 28th Division this morning, Field Marshal French no longer has any reserves immediately available that he can commit to the battle, and he writes to Joffre requesting that the French 10th Army take over part of the British line south of Loos, to allow the British forces there to go into reserve. If this cannot be done, Sir John French suggests that the British may have to abandon the offensive. Though Joffre's focus is now on the ongoing battle in Champagne, he still believes that British attacks are important in forcing the Germans to keep some of their reserves in the north, and thus he instructs Foch to accede to the BEF commander's request. Later today Foch meets with Sir John French and agrees that the French IX Corps of 10th Army will take over the stretch of the line currently held by the British 47th Division, southernmost of 1st Army's forces.
- Even before Foch and French meet, however, the French 10th Army achieves an unexpected success. Whereas the attacks yesterday east of Souchez accomplished nothing, when the assault is renewed today by the right wing of XXXIII Corps and the left wing of III Corps, they are able to push through the first German trench line and advance towards Giesler Hill (also known as Hill 119) and Vimy Ridge. In an attempt to follow up this success, General d'Urbal orders the three corps on the northern wing of his army to attack at 140pm. The German 123rd Saxon Division and VI Corps are forced backwards, and elements of XXXIII Corps capture Giesler Hill while elements of III Corps reach Hill 140, the highest point on Vimy Ridge. An immediate German counterattack by 123rd Saxon Division fails to recover most of the lost ground, and Rupprecht at 6th Army headquarters orders elements of 11th Division and 1st Guards Division to prepare for a counterattack. Before this can occur, a report reaches 6th Army headquarters that the French had seized the village of Givenchy east of Giesler Hill and broken through the last German trench line. When no further information reaches him tonight, Rupprecht has to assume the worst - his position north of Vimy Ridge has been broken. At OHL Falkenhayn orders 2nd Army to send detachments equivalent to a division to 6th Army, and Rupprecht is also authorized to call on a brigade from 4th Army if necessary. In reality, no such breakthrough at Givenchy has occurred; reports of the initial French capture of Giesler Hill have become misinterpreted and exaggerated as they passed up the chain of command.
- In Champagne, while the French 4th Army attacks again today, 2nd Army does not after the failed efforts of yesterday led Pétain to conclude that further assaults without adequate preparation would accomplish nothing. This reticence, however reasonable, hardly endears Pétain to his superiors; later today Joffre himself arrives at Pétain's headquarters where he in no uncertain terms orders 2nd Army to resume the offensive. Unable to disobey a direct order, Pétain afterwards issues a terse order to his corps' commanders to resume the attack tomorrow.
Meanwhile, drama of a different sort, echoing today's events in Artois, occurs to the west along the front of 4th Army. During an attack today a brigade of 14th Division, VII Corps captures what is known as the Trench of Tantes, five hundred metres west of Ferme de Navarin. However, beyond the Trench of Tantes is another German trench line, and when the French brigade attempts to advance further the infantry come under a hail of machine-gun and artillery fire, and are forced back. However, the report to 14th Division headquarters is misinterpreted as indicating that the brigade has broken through the entire German second defensive line, and news of the 'breakthrough' races up the command structure. At Castlenau's headquarters the report is received with joy, and the mood is further buoyed when subsequent messages report that the breach is seven hundred metres wide and that several brigades have passed through it. The false report is another example of the chaos the modern battlefield can have on communications, but among Castlenau's staff there is no desire to critically evaluate news they have been desperately waiting for since the 25th. Castlenau orders General de Langle of 4th Army to move all available forces forward to enlarge and pass through the breach, and the latter orders his cavalry to the front to exploit the apparent success. Castlenau instructs Pétain, meanwhile, to do everything possible to support 4th Army's advance. French forces are now surging towards a break in the German line that does not exist.
- Mackensen issues his formal orders for the Serbian campaign today. He has two armies under his command: 11th German and 3rd Austro-Hungarian, with the former deployed east of Belgrade along the Danube and the latter opposite Belgrade itself and along the Save River to the west. The commanders of both - General Max von Gallwitz of the former and General Hermann Kövess of the latter - have, like Mackensen, made their reputations on the Eastern Front; whereas Gallwitz commanded an army group and later 12th Army alongside Mackensen's advance, Kövess is one of the few Austro-Hungarian officers who has demonstrated any semblance of competence in the war, the capture of Ivangorod by forces under his command making him the man of the moment in Vienna. Crucially, both Mackensen and his chief of staff, General Seeckt, view Kövess as competent, a rare enough German evaluation of any Austro-Hungarian commander. Each army has three corps under its command, with the German III, IV Reserve, and X Reserve Corps assigned to the German 11th Army. Because the debacle of the Herbstsau offensive forced Conrad to keep some of the Austro-Hungarian formations assigned to the Serbian campaign instead on the Eastern Front, the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army has only two Austro-Hungarian corps under its command - VIII and XIX - which number three divisions and several brigades. To make up this shortfall, 3rd Army has also been assigned the German XXII Reserve Corps of three divisions under the command of General Eugen von Falkenhayn, older brother of the German chief of staff. The mixed composition of the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army is yet another reflection of the weakness of the Austro-Hungarian army and the necessity of the Germans to prop their ally up with German formations.
Mackensen's overall plan for the campaign is to take advantage of the specifics of the convention signed with Bulgaria on 6th, whereas the latter is to attack five days after the German and Austro-Hungarian attack. The two armies under his direct command would execute a series of carefully staged crossings of the Danube and Save Rivers. The Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army is to begin its artillery bombardment on October 5th and cross the Save just west of Belgrade on the 7th. To the east, after artillery preparation on the 6th, the German X Reserve Corps is to cross on the 7th as well, with III and IV Reserve Corps crossing on the 8th. The hope is that these assaults, in addition to securing the high ground south of the rivers, would draw the Serbian army north prior to the attack of the Bulgarian 1st Army from the east. If the Bulgarians are able to successfully cut across the line of communications of the Serbian armies along the Save and Danube, the allied armies may be able to surround and destroy the Serbian army in the valley of the Morava River.
- General Maurice Sarrail of the French Army of the Near East is informed today that his command will be deployed in the Balkans, not on the coast of Ottoman Anatolia, and he is requested to provide an assessment of operations in the region.
- At 2am this morning east of Kut-al-Amara, 16th and 17th Indian Brigades begin to cross from the south bank of the Tigris River to the north across a bridge of boats. Before dawn the brigades reaches Suwada Marsh, where they divide into two columns: the first, commanded by Brigadier-General W. S. Delamain and consisting of one and a half battalions from 16th Indian Brigade, turns west to attack the three Ottoman redoubts north of Suwada Marsh, while the second, commanded by Brigadier-General F. A. Hoghton and comprising 17th Indian Brigade along with the remainder of 16th Indian Brigade, continues further north before it too turns west, its objective being to pass through the 300-yard-gap between the northernmost Ottoman redoubt and Ataba Marsh further north. To the south, 18th Indian Brigade holds the line from Suwada Marsh to the Tigris opposite the primary Ottoman defences. By redeploying 16th and 17th Indian Brigades overnight after demonstrating for the past two days on the south bank, General Townshend hopes to deceive the Ottoman defenders as to where the main attack will fall. In this Townshend's plan has succeeded - as the two Indian brigades are moving north, Colonel Nur-ur-din, commander of the Ottoman defenders, is moving his reserves from the north bank to the south.
By 6am, however, the British plan has gone awry. As the sun rises, Hoghton's column realizes that their march overnight has been misdirected - in the featureless terrain, inaccurate compass bearings, compiled from aerial reconnaissance, has led them astray. Instead of passing between the northernmost Ottoman redoubt and the southern edge of Ataba Marsh, they are passing across the northern edge of Ataba Marsh. Hoghton decides that it would take too much time to retrace the column's steps, and decides to keep going the long way around the Ottoman line. This takes several hours longer than intended, during which Hoghton's column stumbles across a reserve Ottoman battalion, which is routed by a bayonet charge by 104th Wellington Rifles, which takes 112 prisoners.
It is 820am before Brigadier-General Delamain sees Hoghton's column on the horizon. To this point Delamain has been postponing his attack, unaware of Hoghton's whereabouts, as the latter's detour has exhausted his column's telephone wire. Though 6th Indian Division has two wireless sets, they are with Generals Townshend and Nixon, a less-than-ideal use since today both are actually in the same observation tower. When Hoghton's column makes its belated appearance, it and Delamain's column attacks the three Ottoman redoubts, starting with the northernmost, and despite fierce Ottoman resistance and blowing sand hindering artillery fire, the three redoubts are cleared by 1245pm.
Having occupied the Ottoman positions between the Ataba and Suwada Marshes, the two British columns combine and move south towards the Tigris, aiming to envelope the main Ottoman defensive position between Suwada Marsh and the river. The British soldiers, however, have been marching since 2am, and their water bottles have long since run dry. Further, ammunition is running low and blowing dust makes for slow going. At 330pm the two columns halt, but find themselves under fire from Ottoman guns near the Tigris. A subsequent advance runs into another Ottoman battalion that had been rushed back across the Tigris, and though it is driven off the field via the bayonet, the exertion required exhausts the remaining strength of the two columns.
By nightfall, 6th Indian Division has been exhausted by the day's fighting, having decisively turned the northern flank of the Ottoman position. However, the lines of communication of the Ottoman defenders remain open, and Colonel Nur-ur-din is able to order the 35th and 38th Divisions to retreat overnight. The British have thus won an incomplete victory: though they have forced the Ottomans from the field, the Ottomans have escaped to fight another day.
The First Battle of Kut-al-Amara has cost the British 1233 casualties, including 94 dead, as compared to approximately 4000 Ottoman casualties, which count among their number just over a thousand prisoners. Though the casualty ratio is very favourable to the British, geography negates much of this advantage: while the Ottomans can fall back towards Baghdad and reinforcements, British casualties have to travel all the way down the Tigris to the base hospital at Basra.
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| A German trench wrecked by British artillery fire near Loos, Sept. 28th, 1915. |
Given the failure of the Guards Division yesterday and 28th Division this morning, Field Marshal French no longer has any reserves immediately available that he can commit to the battle, and he writes to Joffre requesting that the French 10th Army take over part of the British line south of Loos, to allow the British forces there to go into reserve. If this cannot be done, Sir John French suggests that the British may have to abandon the offensive. Though Joffre's focus is now on the ongoing battle in Champagne, he still believes that British attacks are important in forcing the Germans to keep some of their reserves in the north, and thus he instructs Foch to accede to the BEF commander's request. Later today Foch meets with Sir John French and agrees that the French IX Corps of 10th Army will take over the stretch of the line currently held by the British 47th Division, southernmost of 1st Army's forces.
- Even before Foch and French meet, however, the French 10th Army achieves an unexpected success. Whereas the attacks yesterday east of Souchez accomplished nothing, when the assault is renewed today by the right wing of XXXIII Corps and the left wing of III Corps, they are able to push through the first German trench line and advance towards Giesler Hill (also known as Hill 119) and Vimy Ridge. In an attempt to follow up this success, General d'Urbal orders the three corps on the northern wing of his army to attack at 140pm. The German 123rd Saxon Division and VI Corps are forced backwards, and elements of XXXIII Corps capture Giesler Hill while elements of III Corps reach Hill 140, the highest point on Vimy Ridge. An immediate German counterattack by 123rd Saxon Division fails to recover most of the lost ground, and Rupprecht at 6th Army headquarters orders elements of 11th Division and 1st Guards Division to prepare for a counterattack. Before this can occur, a report reaches 6th Army headquarters that the French had seized the village of Givenchy east of Giesler Hill and broken through the last German trench line. When no further information reaches him tonight, Rupprecht has to assume the worst - his position north of Vimy Ridge has been broken. At OHL Falkenhayn orders 2nd Army to send detachments equivalent to a division to 6th Army, and Rupprecht is also authorized to call on a brigade from 4th Army if necessary. In reality, no such breakthrough at Givenchy has occurred; reports of the initial French capture of Giesler Hill have become misinterpreted and exaggerated as they passed up the chain of command.
- In Champagne, while the French 4th Army attacks again today, 2nd Army does not after the failed efforts of yesterday led Pétain to conclude that further assaults without adequate preparation would accomplish nothing. This reticence, however reasonable, hardly endears Pétain to his superiors; later today Joffre himself arrives at Pétain's headquarters where he in no uncertain terms orders 2nd Army to resume the offensive. Unable to disobey a direct order, Pétain afterwards issues a terse order to his corps' commanders to resume the attack tomorrow.
Meanwhile, drama of a different sort, echoing today's events in Artois, occurs to the west along the front of 4th Army. During an attack today a brigade of 14th Division, VII Corps captures what is known as the Trench of Tantes, five hundred metres west of Ferme de Navarin. However, beyond the Trench of Tantes is another German trench line, and when the French brigade attempts to advance further the infantry come under a hail of machine-gun and artillery fire, and are forced back. However, the report to 14th Division headquarters is misinterpreted as indicating that the brigade has broken through the entire German second defensive line, and news of the 'breakthrough' races up the command structure. At Castlenau's headquarters the report is received with joy, and the mood is further buoyed when subsequent messages report that the breach is seven hundred metres wide and that several brigades have passed through it. The false report is another example of the chaos the modern battlefield can have on communications, but among Castlenau's staff there is no desire to critically evaluate news they have been desperately waiting for since the 25th. Castlenau orders General de Langle of 4th Army to move all available forces forward to enlarge and pass through the breach, and the latter orders his cavalry to the front to exploit the apparent success. Castlenau instructs Pétain, meanwhile, to do everything possible to support 4th Army's advance. French forces are now surging towards a break in the German line that does not exist.
- Mackensen issues his formal orders for the Serbian campaign today. He has two armies under his command: 11th German and 3rd Austro-Hungarian, with the former deployed east of Belgrade along the Danube and the latter opposite Belgrade itself and along the Save River to the west. The commanders of both - General Max von Gallwitz of the former and General Hermann Kövess of the latter - have, like Mackensen, made their reputations on the Eastern Front; whereas Gallwitz commanded an army group and later 12th Army alongside Mackensen's advance, Kövess is one of the few Austro-Hungarian officers who has demonstrated any semblance of competence in the war, the capture of Ivangorod by forces under his command making him the man of the moment in Vienna. Crucially, both Mackensen and his chief of staff, General Seeckt, view Kövess as competent, a rare enough German evaluation of any Austro-Hungarian commander. Each army has three corps under its command, with the German III, IV Reserve, and X Reserve Corps assigned to the German 11th Army. Because the debacle of the Herbstsau offensive forced Conrad to keep some of the Austro-Hungarian formations assigned to the Serbian campaign instead on the Eastern Front, the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army has only two Austro-Hungarian corps under its command - VIII and XIX - which number three divisions and several brigades. To make up this shortfall, 3rd Army has also been assigned the German XXII Reserve Corps of three divisions under the command of General Eugen von Falkenhayn, older brother of the German chief of staff. The mixed composition of the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army is yet another reflection of the weakness of the Austro-Hungarian army and the necessity of the Germans to prop their ally up with German formations.
Mackensen's overall plan for the campaign is to take advantage of the specifics of the convention signed with Bulgaria on 6th, whereas the latter is to attack five days after the German and Austro-Hungarian attack. The two armies under his direct command would execute a series of carefully staged crossings of the Danube and Save Rivers. The Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army is to begin its artillery bombardment on October 5th and cross the Save just west of Belgrade on the 7th. To the east, after artillery preparation on the 6th, the German X Reserve Corps is to cross on the 7th as well, with III and IV Reserve Corps crossing on the 8th. The hope is that these assaults, in addition to securing the high ground south of the rivers, would draw the Serbian army north prior to the attack of the Bulgarian 1st Army from the east. If the Bulgarians are able to successfully cut across the line of communications of the Serbian armies along the Save and Danube, the allied armies may be able to surround and destroy the Serbian army in the valley of the Morava River.
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| The deployment of the corps of the German 11th and Austro-Hungarian 3rd Armies for the Serbian Campaign. |
- General Maurice Sarrail of the French Army of the Near East is informed today that his command will be deployed in the Balkans, not on the coast of Ottoman Anatolia, and he is requested to provide an assessment of operations in the region.
- At 2am this morning east of Kut-al-Amara, 16th and 17th Indian Brigades begin to cross from the south bank of the Tigris River to the north across a bridge of boats. Before dawn the brigades reaches Suwada Marsh, where they divide into two columns: the first, commanded by Brigadier-General W. S. Delamain and consisting of one and a half battalions from 16th Indian Brigade, turns west to attack the three Ottoman redoubts north of Suwada Marsh, while the second, commanded by Brigadier-General F. A. Hoghton and comprising 17th Indian Brigade along with the remainder of 16th Indian Brigade, continues further north before it too turns west, its objective being to pass through the 300-yard-gap between the northernmost Ottoman redoubt and Ataba Marsh further north. To the south, 18th Indian Brigade holds the line from Suwada Marsh to the Tigris opposite the primary Ottoman defences. By redeploying 16th and 17th Indian Brigades overnight after demonstrating for the past two days on the south bank, General Townshend hopes to deceive the Ottoman defenders as to where the main attack will fall. In this Townshend's plan has succeeded - as the two Indian brigades are moving north, Colonel Nur-ur-din, commander of the Ottoman defenders, is moving his reserves from the north bank to the south.
By 6am, however, the British plan has gone awry. As the sun rises, Hoghton's column realizes that their march overnight has been misdirected - in the featureless terrain, inaccurate compass bearings, compiled from aerial reconnaissance, has led them astray. Instead of passing between the northernmost Ottoman redoubt and the southern edge of Ataba Marsh, they are passing across the northern edge of Ataba Marsh. Hoghton decides that it would take too much time to retrace the column's steps, and decides to keep going the long way around the Ottoman line. This takes several hours longer than intended, during which Hoghton's column stumbles across a reserve Ottoman battalion, which is routed by a bayonet charge by 104th Wellington Rifles, which takes 112 prisoners.
It is 820am before Brigadier-General Delamain sees Hoghton's column on the horizon. To this point Delamain has been postponing his attack, unaware of Hoghton's whereabouts, as the latter's detour has exhausted his column's telephone wire. Though 6th Indian Division has two wireless sets, they are with Generals Townshend and Nixon, a less-than-ideal use since today both are actually in the same observation tower. When Hoghton's column makes its belated appearance, it and Delamain's column attacks the three Ottoman redoubts, starting with the northernmost, and despite fierce Ottoman resistance and blowing sand hindering artillery fire, the three redoubts are cleared by 1245pm.
Having occupied the Ottoman positions between the Ataba and Suwada Marshes, the two British columns combine and move south towards the Tigris, aiming to envelope the main Ottoman defensive position between Suwada Marsh and the river. The British soldiers, however, have been marching since 2am, and their water bottles have long since run dry. Further, ammunition is running low and blowing dust makes for slow going. At 330pm the two columns halt, but find themselves under fire from Ottoman guns near the Tigris. A subsequent advance runs into another Ottoman battalion that had been rushed back across the Tigris, and though it is driven off the field via the bayonet, the exertion required exhausts the remaining strength of the two columns.
By nightfall, 6th Indian Division has been exhausted by the day's fighting, having decisively turned the northern flank of the Ottoman position. However, the lines of communication of the Ottoman defenders remain open, and Colonel Nur-ur-din is able to order the 35th and 38th Divisions to retreat overnight. The British have thus won an incomplete victory: though they have forced the Ottomans from the field, the Ottomans have escaped to fight another day.
The First Battle of Kut-al-Amara has cost the British 1233 casualties, including 94 dead, as compared to approximately 4000 Ottoman casualties, which count among their number just over a thousand prisoners. Though the casualty ratio is very favourable to the British, geography negates much of this advantage: while the Ottomans can fall back towards Baghdad and reinforcements, British casualties have to travel all the way down the Tigris to the base hospital at Basra.
Sunday, December 14, 2014
December 14th, 1914
- Planning continues for the two major offensive operations the French army will undertake in the next week - in Artois on the 17th, and in Champagne on the 20th. Today General Foch meets with General Maud'huy to discuss the Artois offensive, to be undertaken by the latter's 10th Army. Foch emphasizes to Maud'huy that the battle should be approached as if he were undertaking a siege, which means thorough and meticulous preparation combined with a methodical advance, ensuring that the infantry is supported by overwhelming firepower at every stage of the engagement. Maud'huy thus slows the planned pace of the operation, spreading the attack over multiple phases to ensure each attack is strongly supported. Despite the focus on preparation, the French units dedicated to the attack are not sufficiently equipped - 77th Division, which will be leading the main attack, requires over a hundred wire cutters to pierce the German barbed wire defences, but reports today that it has only fifteen.
- In addition to the two major attacks, Joffre is coordinating a number of diversionary attacks designed to distract the Germans from French preparations and force the enemy to commit their reserves elsewhere. One of these secondary operations is begun this morning by units of the French XVI and XXI Corps and the British II Corps in the line south of Ypres. The advancing infantry, however, are slowed by deep mud and intact barbed wire defences, and are unable to make any real progress. Only a small number of British soldiers are able to reach the first German trench line on the western edge of the Petit Bois woods, but this does not pose a risk to the overall German position.
- For the past month and a half the German High Seas Fleet has sat in port, immobilized by the Kaiser's edict that his prized dreadnoughts are not to risk annihilation in a major battle with the British Grand Fleet. The inaction is concerning to Admiral Ingenohl, commander of the High Seas Fleet, who worries about the morale of his sailors, while Admiral Hipper, commanding the Fleet's battlecruisers, is eager to undertake another attack on the British coast along the lines of that attempted against Yarmouth on November 3rd. Meanwhile, the destruction of the German East Asiatic Squadron on the 8th spurs a desire to secure a victory to restore the public image of the German navy, while the Battle of the Falklands Islands also gave notice that several British battlecruisers are absent from the Grand Fleet. Under these circumstances approval is given to another raid on the British coast - Hipper and his battlecruisers are to bombard Scarborough and Hartlepool. To support the operation, Ingenohl and the High Seas Fleet will sail to the eastern edge of Dogger Bank in the middle of the North Sea, not to seek battle, but to provide support if Hipper fins himself overwhelmed. There is also at least the chance that the Germans might stumble upon one part of the Grand Fleet divided from the rest, presenting the opportunity to even the odds in the North Sea. The Germans are to sail tomorrow morning, with the bombardment scheduled to occur on the morning of the 16th.
As the High Seas Fleet prepares for its raid, wireless signals are sent back and forth among the German ships. Unknown to them, these signals are being intercepted by the British, and though they are coded, the British have managed to break the German codes, thanks to the acquisition of several different German code books over the past few months. In Room 40 at the Admiralty in London, the signals are deciphered, and at 7pm this evening the First Lord and First Sea Lord are informed that the Germans are coming. Crucially, however, Room 40 has intercepted only a portion of the German signals - they inform the Admiralty leadership that the German battlecruisers are intending to raid the British coast, but they have no information that the entire High Seas Fleet will also put to sea. Thus it appears to Churchill and Fisher that only Hipper's five battlecruisers will be undertaking the operation, and so they order Admiral Jellicoe to dispatch an appropriately-sized force to destroy it - the four battlecruisers of Admiral Beatty's Battlecruiser Squadron and the six dreadnoughts of Vice-Admiral Sir George Warrender. Together these warships would be more than sufficient to defeat the German battlecruisers, but if they stumble onto the High Seas Fleet, the Germans would have overwhelming numerical superiority. Thus Churchill's and Fisher's response to the intelligence of Room 40 is to give the Germans precisely the opportunity they crave to destroy part of the Grand Fleet in isolation and level the playing field in the North Sea - depending, of course, on the Germans taking advantage of the opportunity.
- Since the Yarmouth raid of November 3rd, Admiral Hipper, commander of the battlecruisers of the German High Seas Fleet, has been eager to undertake another sortie against the British coast. Admiral Ingenohl, meanwhile, as overall commander of the High Seas Fleet is increasingly concerned about the morale of his sailors, given they have spent almost the entire war in port due to the Kaiser's edict forbidding the fleet from seeking out a major naval battle with the British.
- The Russian armies between the two bends of the Vistula River begin today the eastward retreat ordered by Grand Duke Nicholas yesterday.
- In response to the message of General Frank regarding the state of his army, General Potiorek orders 5th Army to retreat north over the Sava and Danube Rivers and abandon Belgrade to the advancing Serbs.
- For two weeks the schooner Ayesha, with its German crew from the light cruiser Emden, has been at the rendezvous point in the Indian Ocean it had signaled to the German merchant ships in Padang. During this time it has twice sighted English steamers, one of which the Germans suspected to be an armed auxiliary cruiser. When the cruiser approached, the crew of Ayesha did all they could to appear to be lost and hapless. First they asked the cruiser for their current position, and when the cruiser asked Ayesha for its name, the German response was to raise a jumble of signal flags that meant jibberish. Convinced that Ayesha was crewed by harmless incompetents, the cruiser had departed, leaving the German schooner to continue its wait.
Today their patience is rewarded when the German merchant ship Choising appears out of thick fog. The intention of First Officer Mücke and his men is to transfer to the merchant, but are prevented by the rough seas. Instead Ayesha signals Choising to follow it in sailing south, hoping to find calmer weather.
- In addition to the two major attacks, Joffre is coordinating a number of diversionary attacks designed to distract the Germans from French preparations and force the enemy to commit their reserves elsewhere. One of these secondary operations is begun this morning by units of the French XVI and XXI Corps and the British II Corps in the line south of Ypres. The advancing infantry, however, are slowed by deep mud and intact barbed wire defences, and are unable to make any real progress. Only a small number of British soldiers are able to reach the first German trench line on the western edge of the Petit Bois woods, but this does not pose a risk to the overall German position.
- For the past month and a half the German High Seas Fleet has sat in port, immobilized by the Kaiser's edict that his prized dreadnoughts are not to risk annihilation in a major battle with the British Grand Fleet. The inaction is concerning to Admiral Ingenohl, commander of the High Seas Fleet, who worries about the morale of his sailors, while Admiral Hipper, commanding the Fleet's battlecruisers, is eager to undertake another attack on the British coast along the lines of that attempted against Yarmouth on November 3rd. Meanwhile, the destruction of the German East Asiatic Squadron on the 8th spurs a desire to secure a victory to restore the public image of the German navy, while the Battle of the Falklands Islands also gave notice that several British battlecruisers are absent from the Grand Fleet. Under these circumstances approval is given to another raid on the British coast - Hipper and his battlecruisers are to bombard Scarborough and Hartlepool. To support the operation, Ingenohl and the High Seas Fleet will sail to the eastern edge of Dogger Bank in the middle of the North Sea, not to seek battle, but to provide support if Hipper fins himself overwhelmed. There is also at least the chance that the Germans might stumble upon one part of the Grand Fleet divided from the rest, presenting the opportunity to even the odds in the North Sea. The Germans are to sail tomorrow morning, with the bombardment scheduled to occur on the morning of the 16th.
As the High Seas Fleet prepares for its raid, wireless signals are sent back and forth among the German ships. Unknown to them, these signals are being intercepted by the British, and though they are coded, the British have managed to break the German codes, thanks to the acquisition of several different German code books over the past few months. In Room 40 at the Admiralty in London, the signals are deciphered, and at 7pm this evening the First Lord and First Sea Lord are informed that the Germans are coming. Crucially, however, Room 40 has intercepted only a portion of the German signals - they inform the Admiralty leadership that the German battlecruisers are intending to raid the British coast, but they have no information that the entire High Seas Fleet will also put to sea. Thus it appears to Churchill and Fisher that only Hipper's five battlecruisers will be undertaking the operation, and so they order Admiral Jellicoe to dispatch an appropriately-sized force to destroy it - the four battlecruisers of Admiral Beatty's Battlecruiser Squadron and the six dreadnoughts of Vice-Admiral Sir George Warrender. Together these warships would be more than sufficient to defeat the German battlecruisers, but if they stumble onto the High Seas Fleet, the Germans would have overwhelming numerical superiority. Thus Churchill's and Fisher's response to the intelligence of Room 40 is to give the Germans precisely the opportunity they crave to destroy part of the Grand Fleet in isolation and level the playing field in the North Sea - depending, of course, on the Germans taking advantage of the opportunity.
- Since the Yarmouth raid of November 3rd, Admiral Hipper, commander of the battlecruisers of the German High Seas Fleet, has been eager to undertake another sortie against the British coast. Admiral Ingenohl, meanwhile, as overall commander of the High Seas Fleet is increasingly concerned about the morale of his sailors, given they have spent almost the entire war in port due to the Kaiser's edict forbidding the fleet from seeking out a major naval battle with the British.
- The Russian armies between the two bends of the Vistula River begin today the eastward retreat ordered by Grand Duke Nicholas yesterday.
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| The front lines in Poland on December 14th (on the left) and December 31st (on the right), illustrating the Russian retreat. |
- In response to the message of General Frank regarding the state of his army, General Potiorek orders 5th Army to retreat north over the Sava and Danube Rivers and abandon Belgrade to the advancing Serbs.
- For two weeks the schooner Ayesha, with its German crew from the light cruiser Emden, has been at the rendezvous point in the Indian Ocean it had signaled to the German merchant ships in Padang. During this time it has twice sighted English steamers, one of which the Germans suspected to be an armed auxiliary cruiser. When the cruiser approached, the crew of Ayesha did all they could to appear to be lost and hapless. First they asked the cruiser for their current position, and when the cruiser asked Ayesha for its name, the German response was to raise a jumble of signal flags that meant jibberish. Convinced that Ayesha was crewed by harmless incompetents, the cruiser had departed, leaving the German schooner to continue its wait.
Today their patience is rewarded when the German merchant ship Choising appears out of thick fog. The intention of First Officer Mücke and his men is to transfer to the merchant, but are prevented by the rough seas. Instead Ayesha signals Choising to follow it in sailing south, hoping to find calmer weather.
Saturday, October 04, 2014
October 4th, 1914
- The German advance at Arras continues today. North of the city the Bavarians push through Lens and, at 10pm, occupy the heights of Vimy Ridge. The French 70th Division, on the line north of the city, is pushed back almost to the Scarpe River northwest of Arras. To the south, the Prussian Guards Division shatters the 81th Territorial Division, killing its commander, and a gap begins to open between the territorial divisions and X Corps. The French at Arras are threatened with encirclement, and General Maud-huy declares that his detachment is facing another 'Sedan', referencing the disastrous envelopment and surrender of a French army in 1870 during the Franco-Prussian War. The Kaiser, meanwhile, arrives at Rupprecht's headquarters at St. Quentin to observe the anticipated victory.
When Castlenau asks Joffre which direction Maud-huy should retreat in, the latter's response is swift. He has become convinced that Castlenau is plagued by excessive pessimism, and decides on a reorganization. First, Maud-huy's detachment is formed into a separate command as 10th Army. Second, Ferdinand Foch is appointed Joffre's 'deputy' with responsibility to co-ordinate the 2nd and 10th armies and the territorial divisions in northern France. Castlenau thus finds himself under the command of a former subordinate, but on balance is likely pleased to have retained his command at all. With Foch moving to northern France, his 9th Army along the Aisne is suppressed, its corps being absorbed by the neighbouring 4th and 5th armies. Joffre also informs Castlenau that under no circumstances is he to retreat, as the reinforcements en route to the north will allow the Entente line to hold.
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| The German advance at Arras, October 1914. |
- The British Royal Marine Brigade arrives in Antwerp at 1am, having landed at Dunkirk yesterday and traveled to the city by train, and later this morning takes up position along the front line to the southeast of Antwerp. At the same time, the British Cabinet approves the dispatch of the two naval brigades to augment the British contribution to the defense of Antwerp. The Cabinet also receives a remarkable request from Churchill. He has remained in Antwerp, and for the past twenty-four hours has taken to directing the defense of the city, touring the trenches, repositioning units, etc.. He has displayed an almost boyish enthusiasm for war - sitting in the open watching the action as artillery shells fall around him. He feels to be in his element, and at this moment wants nothing more than to continue to have a direct hand in the ongoing struggle for Antwerp. His request to the Cabinet is that he resign his position as First Lord of the Admiralty and instead be appointed commander of the forces at Antwerp, with the full authority of a general in the field. The reaction of the Cabinet can be best described as nervous laughter - Churchill has already gained a reputation as a figure whose enthusiasm often outruns his judgement, and the idea that the head of the most important military office in the country should race off to command forces in the field is incomprehensible. Churchill’s request is politely denied, and he is informed that General Henry Rawlinson will be arriving shortly to assume command of the British contingent. For now, though, Churchill remains at Antwerp, play-acting the role of general.
Meanwhile, the continuing bombardment of Fort Kessel finally forces the evacuation of its Belgian garrison today. The Germans also begin to bombard the north bank of the Nethe River, in preparation for an attempt to force a crossing and pierce the line of defense established along the river after the first forts had fallen.
- West of Verdun, General Mudra's XVI Corps launches another offensive against the French lines in the Argonne. The German attackers make widespread use of Minenwerfers, or trench mortars, for the first time. Such small mortars, firing a small projectile in a high arc, are well-suited for use against trenches, as the trajectory allows the shell to plunge into trenches before detonation. The Germans have also prioritized Minenwerfers as they use less powder, an important consideration given the economic blockade of the country. Despite the use of such weapons, the Germans make little progress, facing fierce French resistance.
- The past few days have seen desperate fighting near Augustow just east of the German-Russian frontier as the Russians attempt to push into the rear of the German 8th Army retreating from the Niemen River. While the Germans opposing the Russian advance suffer grievous losses, they succeed in slowing the Russians sufficiently to allow the remainder of 8th Army to evacuate Suwalki and withdraw to the border.
- As the German 9th Army continues its movement northeastwards from Krakow, the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army takes up position on the southern flank of 9th Army and joins the advance, with the Austro-Hungarian 4th and 3rd armies to the south moving westward towards the San River. Despite bad weather and roads being reduced to mud, the Germans are able to maintain a marching rate of thirty miles a day, making using of requisitioned Polish carts better able to cope with the deep mud. With the withdrawal of three Russian armies from Galicia to Poland to participate in the proposed offensive against German Silesia, the remaining Russian armies in Galicia fall back to avoid being outflanked to the north by the advance of the German 9th Army.
- General Potiorek officially calls off the second invasion of Serbia today. Though the effort has at least secured a small bridgehead in northwestern Serbia, it has overall been another dismal failure. Desperate to deflect blame from himself, he argues that a lack of shells has been to blame.
- Under the guise of reinforcing Maritz, Smuts dispatches new units to Upington under the command of Coen Brits, whose loyalty is unquestionable - the latter is said to have told Botha, 'My men are ready; who do we fight - the English or the Germans?' Brits' force is positioned to fight Maritz if the latter rebels.
- As the German East Asiatic Squadron crosses the Pacific, it hears the signals of the German light cruiser Dresden, which has passed through the Straits of Magellan from the Atlantic and is now off the Chilean coast. Admiral Spee today signals Dresden to meet his squadron at Easter Island. This message, however, is intercepted by a British wireless station at Suva in the Fiji Islands, and when relayed to London gives the Admiralty concrete evidence that the German squadron is bound for South America.
- An appeal 'To the Civilized World' is published today in Germany. Written by Ulrich von Wilamowitz, it contains the signatures of a hundred of Germany's leading artists, scholars, and intellectuals, including such world-renowned figures as the scientists Max Planck and Wilhelm Röntgen. The document justifies German conduct in the war and seeks to counter the growing international perception of German cruelty, especially with respect to the occupation of Belgium. In line with the general tone of German propaganda, it seeks to blame the victim:
It is not true that the life and property of a single Belgian citizen have been infringed upon by our soldiers, unless the most desperate self-defense made it necessary . . . the Belgian population shot at our troops from ambush, mutilated the wounded, and murdered doctors while they were performing their healing work. One can falsify matters no more basely than to remain silent about the crimes of these assassins, to turn the punishments that they have justly suffered into crimes committed by Germans.
It is not true that our troops have wreaked brutal havoc in Louvain. They were compelled reluctantly to bring a sector of the city under fire, in order to retaliate against raging inhabitants who had treacherously attacked them here. . . .They also appeal to the sense of European racial superiority to denigrate the enemies of Germany:
Those who have allied themselves with Russians and Serbs, and who present the world with [the] shameful spectacle of inciting Mongolians and Negroes against the white race, have the very least right to portray themselves as the defenders of European civilization.Finally, they ground the 'Appeal' on self-defense - that the most heinous and cruel of acts are justified in the name of German victory:
Were it not for German militarism, German culture would long ago have been eradicated. For the protection of German culture, militarism arose in a land that had for centuries been plagued like no other by predation. The German army and the German people are one and the same.As much as the 'Appeal' was published to counter Entente propaganda, it was also aimed at the German public, seeking to justify not only the war itself but German conduct of it. It reflects the widespread and almost universal enthusiasm for the war among intellectuals, common to all of the major combatants.
Friday, October 03, 2014
October 3rd, 1914
- The German pressure around Arras is beginning to tell. North of the city the French are being pushed back as Rupprecht sends reinforcements to I Bavarian Corps as they attack towards Vimy, and IV Cavalry Corps is sent northwards in the direction of Lille. French lines south of Arras, manned by territorial divisions, are also buckling.
- This afternoon Churchill arrives in Antwerp, meets with King Albert and the Belgian Prime Minister, and at 635pm telegrams London that the Belgians have agreed to continue resistance at Antwerp for at least ten days, provided that within three days definitive assurances had been received from the British that substantial reinforcements were en route to support the Belgians. With the Royal Marine Brigade already en route, Churchill suggests the deployment of two naval brigades, which together with the Marines made up the Royal Naval Division. These two naval brigades were composed of those sailors of the Royal Fleet Reserve who were surplus to requirements when the Royal Navy was mobilized on the outbreak of war. The men of these two brigades had no practical experience as soldiers, and none had had more than two days of training with rifles. Among the officers were the poet Rupert Brooke and Arthur Asquith, son of the Prime Minister. To say the two naval brigades were unprepared for combat would be a colossal understatement, but in the moment of crisis were the only immediately-available units in Britain.
Meanwhile, south of the city the Germans have turned their guns on Fort Kessel, but the Belgian defenders continue to hold out through the day.
- Along the Aisne River, II Corps and 1st and 2nd Cavalry Divisions of the British Expeditionary Force have left the front line and begin their redeployment northwards to Flanders, the first units of the BEF to do so. II Corps is marching to Compiègne where it will board trains heading north, while the two cavalry divisions will move by road.
- In South Africa, Defense Minister J. C. Smuts has requested Lieutenant-Colonel Maritz of Force B to come to Pretoria for consultations. Smuts is increasingly concerned about the loyalty of Maritz, while the latter, expecting arrest, refuses the summons of Smuts. Instead, Maritz moves Force B from Upington to Kakamas, which not coincidentally is closer to the border with German South East Africa.
- This afternoon Churchill arrives in Antwerp, meets with King Albert and the Belgian Prime Minister, and at 635pm telegrams London that the Belgians have agreed to continue resistance at Antwerp for at least ten days, provided that within three days definitive assurances had been received from the British that substantial reinforcements were en route to support the Belgians. With the Royal Marine Brigade already en route, Churchill suggests the deployment of two naval brigades, which together with the Marines made up the Royal Naval Division. These two naval brigades were composed of those sailors of the Royal Fleet Reserve who were surplus to requirements when the Royal Navy was mobilized on the outbreak of war. The men of these two brigades had no practical experience as soldiers, and none had had more than two days of training with rifles. Among the officers were the poet Rupert Brooke and Arthur Asquith, son of the Prime Minister. To say the two naval brigades were unprepared for combat would be a colossal understatement, but in the moment of crisis were the only immediately-available units in Britain.
Meanwhile, south of the city the Germans have turned their guns on Fort Kessel, but the Belgian defenders continue to hold out through the day.
- Along the Aisne River, II Corps and 1st and 2nd Cavalry Divisions of the British Expeditionary Force have left the front line and begin their redeployment northwards to Flanders, the first units of the BEF to do so. II Corps is marching to Compiègne where it will board trains heading north, while the two cavalry divisions will move by road.
- In South Africa, Defense Minister J. C. Smuts has requested Lieutenant-Colonel Maritz of Force B to come to Pretoria for consultations. Smuts is increasingly concerned about the loyalty of Maritz, while the latter, expecting arrest, refuses the summons of Smuts. Instead, Maritz moves Force B from Upington to Kakamas, which not coincidentally is closer to the border with German South East Africa.
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