November 23rd, 1915

- The head of the Directorate of Military Aviation at the War Office in London today authorizes the expansion of the Royal Flying Corps, which currently stands at thirty-one (fourteen in France) squadrons, to sixty, with squadron strength increasing from twelve to eighteen.  In France these squadrons are to be formed into brigades, with the ultimate aim of having one brigade tied to each army of the British Expeditionary Force.

- As the German 11th Army was overrunning Serbia, the Russian high command had struggled to do something to aid its ally, General Alexeiev being cognizant that having complained of French and British inaction during the Great Retreat of the summer, the Russian army could hardly do nothing when the situation was reversed.  Prompted by officials at the foreign ministry, he had deployed a new 7th Army on the Black Sea Coast, intended for amphibious operations against the Black Sea coast.  The Russian navy, however, had vetoed the project, and so today Alexeiev orders 7th Army redeployed to eastern Galicia and begin planning, with 9th Army, for an offensive against the Austro-Hungarian armies opposite.  In addition to 'doing something', there is a vague confidence at Stavka that the Austro-Hungarian army, having shown its inability repeatedly during the war, will collapse, and perhaps a victory here will convince the Romanians to join the war on the side of the Entente.

- Given the lack of reinforcements, General Sarrail feels that his position in southern Serbia is not tenable, given that the Bulgarians significantly outnumber his force.  Further, the ongoing collapse and retreat of the Serbian army negates the rationale behind his operations in the Vardar River valley.  As such, today he issues orders to the three French divisions in southern Serbia to withdraw south.

- Overnight elements of the Austro-Hungarian 4th Mountain Brigade launch an attack to regain the small stretch of the line that remains in Italian hands after their capture of it on the 20th.  Their assault, however, runs smack into an Italian advance of their own; the two attacking forces mutually repulse each other, both falling back to their starting positions.

- An Austro-Hungarian squadron of the light cruisers Helgoland and Saida plus escorting destroyers sortied towards the Straits of Otranto overnight, aiming to interrupt the Entente transport of supplies across the Adriatic Sea to the Serbs via northern Albania.  They intercept two Italian ships - the motor schooner Gallinara and the small steamer Palatino - carrying flour and sink both.

- The Russian dreadnought Imperatritsa Maria, escorted by the cruiser Pamiat Merkuriya and ten destroyers, bombards the Ottoman port of Zonguldak, the first occasion in which the new Russian warship fires its guns in anger.

The Russian dreadnought Imperatritsa Maria.

November 21st, 1915

- Senator René Besnard, undersecretary of state of aviation in the War Ministry, publishes today a revised plan for aircraft production, which calls for an air arm of 128 squadrons by spring 1916.  In addition to expanding the French air force, Besnard, proposes significant changes to its composition - fewer bomber units to allow for additional fighter squadrons, and halting production of outdated observation planes and 80-hp to 100-hp engines.  Most significantly, and most controversially, he proposes to construct eight hundred all-purpose twin-engine three-seat aircraft, which to some parliamentary deputies appears to run counter to the trend in aviation towards specialization.

- Italian attacks continue along the Isonzo today.  North of Oslavija, the Italians attack out of the trench seized yesterday, but when they are repulsed an Austro-Hungarian counterattack hits them while they are disorganized and they abandon most of the ground won yesterday.  To the south further assaults are launched today against the heights at Podgora, and again they are defeated in hand-to-hand fighting.  On the front of the Italian 3rd Army, another assault south of Mt. San Michele manages to secure a small stretch of the line at St. Martino, and are able to hold most of the ground in the face of heavy Austro-Hungarian counterattacks.

Given the continued Italian attacks, the commander of the Austro-Hungarian 5th Army orders the recently-arrived 9th Division to replace 28th Division on the southern end of the Isonzo front, pulling the latter out to serve as the army's reserve.

- Given the ongoing diplomatic dispute with the American government regarding the sinking of the Italian liner Ancona on the 7th, the German submarine U38, along with its crew, is entered into the Austro-Hungarian navy's List of Warships.  If the issue does ot arbitration, the Austro-Hungarian government can point to the list to show that U38 is in fact Austro-Hungarian, though of course it is German.

November 20th, 1915

- Colonel Hermann von der Lieth-Thomsen, chief of German field aviation, informs OHL today that the air arm will require a thousand aircraft in 1916, and to accomplish this he requests approval for measures to increase production and exclude additional exemptions for skilled workers in aircraft factories.

- West of Görz the Italian 2nd Army has concentrated three divisions along a two and a half kilometre stretch of the line centred on Oslavija.  On the 18th and 19th they crept forward towards the enemy trenches, and today they launch their attack.  Just north of Oslavija a battalion is able to penetrate the Austro-Hungarian line, but artillery fire prevents a further advance.  To the south, repeated assaults are launched against the heights at Podgora throughout the day, but are unable to make any progress.

To the south, repeated Italian attacks are made on both the northern and southern slopes of Mt. San Michele.  To the north, the Italians manage to secure a stretch of the line and ruins of a former strongpoint by nightfall, but the success brings no significant advantage as otherwise the Austro-Hungarians have held their line.

- French Vice-Admiral Louis Dartige, commander of French naval forces in the Mediterranean, submits a memorandum to Admiral de Robeck, senior British naval officer in the Mediterranean, on the number of warships he sees as necessary for effective anti-submarine patrols.  Based on the belief that one destroyer was needed to patrol every 140 miles of transport routes, increased to one every 40 miles at narrow channels, Dartige calculated that a total of 140 British and French destroyers would be necessary to adequately patrol the Mediterranean.  Added to this was 280 trawlers and small craft, whose responsibility would be to work in groups of two to four searching for German submarines and their supply bases in the narrow passages of the Mediterranean, among the Aegean Islands, and along the Ottoman coast.  This would represent a significant augmentation of Anglo-French naval forces in the Mediterranean - currently there are only 32 British and 53 French destroyers, and of the French number thirteen were in port immobilized by breakdowns of various kinds.

- Today the British 6th Indian Division reaches the town of Lajj, approximately twenty-five miles from Baghdad and less than ten miles from the major Ottoman defensive position at Ctesiphon.  Here General Townshend orders his division to concentrate in preparation for an assault on the enemy defences.

Colonel Nur-ur-din has taken advantage of the almost two months it has taken for the British to resume their advance after the First Battle of Kut-al-Amara to construct formidable defences at Ctesiphon.  The main trench line covers the north bank of the Tigris River, stretching from a bend in the river (meaning an assault there would have to cross the river under fire) north through a dozen redoubts, and is anchored in the north by two redoubts that the British refer to as 'Vital Point', or V.P.  This line also incorporates a number of ancient ruins, including the so-called 'High Wall' which protrudes eastwards and potentially provides cover for flanking fire if the British attack the northern half of the line.  Behind the main Ottoman trench line lay other ruins, including the most famous at Ctesiphon, the Great Arch of Taq Kasra.  Approximately six thousand yards behind the first trench line the Ottomans have also constructed a second line of defences, though these are not as extensive, and trenches have also been constructed on the southern bank.

The Great Arch of Taq Kasra.

The delay in the advance of 6th Indian Division has not only allowed the Ottomans to construct substantial defences at Ctesiphon, but also given time for Ottoman reinforcements ordered to Mesopotamia in early October to arrive on the scene.  In addition to 35th and 38th Divisions, which have spent 1915 in Mesopotamia being repeated thrashed by the British, 45th and 51st Division are also now available to Nur-ur-din, both being well-trained and (the latter especially) with valuable combat experience.  He deploys 45th Division around 'Victory Point' at the northern end of the main trench line, the most important (and potentially vulnerable) position for the Ottomans to hold.  While 38th Division holds the rest of the first trench line north of the Tigris and 35th Division is south of the river, 51st Division is held in reserve.

The Ottoman defences at Ctesiphon, November 1915.

Overall, the Ottoman force consists of 18 000 infantry, 400 cavalry, and two regiments of camelry, along with 52 artillery pieces.  To face them, General Townshend has at his disposal 13 700 infantry, eleven squadrons of cavalry, and five batteries of artillery.  A frontal attack is thus out of the question - Townshend must not merely defeat the Ottomans but do so without suffering heavy losses on such a scale as to render impossible the occupation of Baghdad.  Moreover, it is not enough for the Ottomans to be forced back; even a defeated Ottoman detachment could threaten the long supply route of 6th Indian Division as it moves on to Baghdad.  Instead, the Ottomans must be annihilated.  To accomplish this, Townshend intends a repetition of the First Battle of Kut-al-Amara, except this time with the flanking maneouver working as intended.  His plan is to divide his force into four.  Column C is to attack the northern stretch of the main Turkish line, to pin the enemy there.  To its right, Column A will attach and seize VP (Vital Point) while further north Column B will sweep around and attack the rear of the Turkish line.  Finally, a Flying column of cavalry and 76th Punjabi Battalion will drive northwest to destroy the bridge over the Diyala River, which would cut the line of retreat of the Ottoman force.  If successful, the three main columns would envelop the Ottomans while the Flying Column would prevent any survivors from escaping.  It is a bold plan, and one that concentrates the bulk of the British force - 9000 infantry - against just a third of the Ottoman force, achieving local superiority at the decisive point.  To achieve such an advantage, however, requires Townshend to throw everything into the initial attack, and there will be no reserves remaining should the plan misfire.  The attack will be launched in two days time.

November 3rd, 1915

- At the outbreak of the First World War, the British Royal Flying Corps had been a small unit whose pilots were drawn from the upper classes.  To date applications to join the RFC have outpaced positions, allowing it to be selective in who it admits, with the result that the RFC have continued to draw from the same social classes as before the war.  There is a strong and ingrained belief among the pilots of the RFC that 'gentlemen' officers, graduates of prestigious public schools and Oxbridge, make the pilots.  Given this makeup, it is not surprising that British pilots at this stage of the war approach it as a sport and a grand adventure in the skies, one that stands in sharp contrast to the masses in the mud below.  Character and background count for more than skill, and thus when the The Aeroplane magazine suggests today that pilots should enter the RFC as noncommissioned officers and be promoted on the basis of merit, the notion is rejected out of hand.  To the current pilots of the RFC, its social exclusivity is not accidental but rather a deliberate approach to recruitment designed to ensure that future pilots meet the 'proper' standards - social as much as anything else - to be an officer of the RFC.

- Prime Minister Aristide Briand addresses the Chamber of Deputies today for the first time since the appointment of his government on the 29th, during which he pledges not to abandon Serbia.  This promise, however, is particularly ill-timed, given that at this very moment the Serbian army is itself abandoning Serbia, falling back to the southwest while the French Army of the Near East has been unable to either break through the Bulgarian 2nd Army to relieve the Serbs or distract the enemy to allow the Serbs time to rest and regroup.

- At Salonika, the third French division - 122nd - began landing on the 1st, and with its first brigade now available for servicee General Sarrail now feels that he has sufficient forces to go on the attack.  North of Krivolak, Bulgarian forces have crossed the Vardar River and are advancing southwest with the Tcherna River on their left.  Sarrail orders the French 57th Division along with the first brigade of 122nd Division to cross the Tcherna and hit the Bulgarians in their flank.  To the southeast, however, Bulgarian forces launch heavy attacks on French forces at the Strumica rail station.

- Along the Isonzo River the Italian II Corps launches eight separate attacks at Plava from noon until dark.  The Austro-Hungarian defenders suffer heavy losses - the four most heavily engaged battalions have lost up to 40% of their strenght - but several reserve battalions are brought forward to hold the line.  As a result, the Italians are unable to break through.

At Görz, the Austro-Hungarian 37th Landsturm Brigade, the last available reserve, counterattacks the Italian 11th Division at Oslavija this evening and drives the enemy back out of the village, regaining the trenches lost yesterday and capturing several hundred prisoners.  A further series of assaults are launched by the Italians against the heights at Podgora, and after several attempts elements of 12th Division gain the summit of Heights 184.  By this point, fighting here had devolved into small-unit fighting, with hardly any higher commanders able to influence the course of events, and infantry fought over shell holes filled with up to a metre of mud into the night.

South of Görz, the Austro-Hungarian 39th Brigade on the northern slope of Mt. San Michele is relieved overnight by three battalions from 6th Division.  During the transfer, however, one of the battalions became separated from its guides, and unfamiliar with the ground stumbled past the position it was to occupy and walked right into the Italian line.  Taking fire from three sides, the battalion takes severe losses before extricating itself.  As a result, the Austro-Hungarians are forced to evacuate a small stretch of their own line due to the soldiers who would have guarded having been killed on the Italian line.  Still, the Austro-Hungarians are able to form a new defensive line a mere fifty yards to the rear, and Italian attacks against this new position today fail to make any progress.  A general Italian assault by VII Corps north and south of St. Martino also fails completely.

October 19th, 1915

- Today Conrad achieves one of the great objectives of the war, one that however has nothing to do with the battlefield; instead it is marriage to his longtime mistress, Gina von Reininghaus.  They first met in 1907, when Conrad had become hopelessly smitten with Gina, who was less than half his age.  That Gina was already married with six children was but a mere inconvenience to Conrad, and he urged her to divorce her husband even as the two became lovers.  Conrad believed that if were victorious in war, his prestige and prominence would sweep aside all obstacles to making Gina his wife.  The current war, of course, has seen an unending succession of debacles, exposing his abysmal strategic judgement and the incompetence of the Austro-Hungarian army - the only victories he has achieved have occurred either due to Italian ineptitude (Cadorna is one of the few who legitimately rivals the Austro-Hungarian chief of staff in stubborness and detachment from the realities of war) or through German leadership.  What he has been unable to accomplish through battlefield glory has been accomplished through legal trickery: having divorced her husband, she has converted to Protestantism through a sham adoption by a sympathetic general, allowing her to skirt the Catholic Church's restrictions on divorce and remarriage.  Today's union legitimizes a relationship that Conrad and Gina had carried on openly and become the subject of mockery in Viennese social circles.  Unfortunately for the suffering Austro-Hungarian army, marital bliss does not confer martial ability on Conrad.

- In Serbia, on the western flank of the German XXII Reserve Corps the advance of 26th Division brings it into contact with the Austro-Hungarian 53rd Division of XIX Corps, held short of Obrenovac since its initial crossing of the Save River.  The arriving Germans turn the flank of the Serbian defenders, who pull back and allow the trapped Austro-Hungarians to finally break out.  To the east, the German 105th Division of IV Reserve Corps breaks through Serbian positions in the hills east of Lucić, suffering heavy casualties to overcome the fierce enemy resistance.  Meanwhile, however, the Germans score a coup when 232rd Reserve Regiment of 107th Division captures a Serbian patrol and an engineer detachment with orders to destroy the railway bridge over the Mlava River to the south.  Intelligence gleaned from the prisoners allow the Germans to capture the bridge intact, which will aid further advances.  To the south, while the Bulgarian 1st Army continues to be held up in the mountain passes east of Niš, to the south the Bulgarian 2nd Army has made much more progress, and today reaches the Vardar River at Veleš and cuts the railway linking Niš and Salonika.

- Both Russia and Italy formally declare war on Bulgaria today.

- The Serbian government has been pressuring General Sarrail to move his forces north from Salonika and concentrate them at Niš, to oppose the Bulgarians attacking from the east.  Sarrail knows that such a movement is impossible with the forces at his disposal, but recognizes that a gesture (beyond the deployment at the Strumica rail station) is needed.  As a result, he orders an infantry regiment and artillery battery, newly arrived at Salonika and from the French 57th Division, to move north to Krivolak, on the Salonika-Skopje railway thirty kilometres north of the Strumica rail station and south of Veleš.

The French advance from Salonika, October 1915.

- The Italian preliminary artillery bombardment along the lower Isonzo River is joined today by Italian aircraft, which this morning strike the Austro-Hungarian airbase at Aisovizza and begin airstrikes on marching columns and railway stations.  These raids are largely unopposed, as the Austro-Hungarian aircraft on the Italian Front are primarily designed for reconnaissance, not aerial combat.

- The government of Japan adheres to the Pact of London today, which had originally been signed on September 5th, 1914 by Russia, France, and Britain and by which they had pledged not to sign a separate peace with Germany.  Japan's agreement to remain in the war until the end does not, however, signal an expansion of the Japanese contribution to the war effort of the Entente.  Instead, the Japanese government hopes that adhering to the pact will secure it a seat at the peace conference at the end of the war and allow Japanese negotiators to secure the permanent transfer of captured German colonies in Asia and the Pacific to Japan.

October 8th, 1915

- Near Loos the Germans launch a counterattack that catches the British and French largely by surprise, as poor weather has prevented aerial reconnaissance.  After a three-and-a-half-hour artillery bombardment, five regiments from IV Corps attack towards Loos from the east and the south.  Despite achieving surprise, however, the German infantry are unable to make progress, as heavy fog has prevented accurate preliminary shelling.  The northernmost elements of the French IX Corps, as well as 3rd Brigade of the British 1st Division, pour heavy fire into the German ranks, and they are unable to advance closer than forty yards to the Entente positions.  The Germans suffer three thousand casualties for no gain, but the attack does disrupt British preparations for their own attack.  Moreover, the preliminary attack on Gun Trench to the north still goes in today, but is a dismal failure.  The result is that the British offensive is yet again postponed, this time to October 13th.

- In Serbia attacks by the Austro-Hungarian XIX Corps fail to break out of the bridgehead across the Save River they won yesterday at Obrenovac.  To the east, the German 43rd Reserve Division of XXII Reserve Corps clears Big and Little Zigeuner Island in hard fighting, and crosses to the south bank of the Save River, while this evening 44th Reserve Division pushes eastward and seizes the forward slope of the Banovo Mountain, which overlooks Belgrade to the northeast.  At the Serbian capital itself, the Austro-Hungarian VIII Corps endures another day of hard fighting.  Though Serbian artillery prevents reinforcements from crossing the Danube River during daylight hours, after sunset the remainder of the Austro-Hungarian 59th Division is able to get across.  Two Austro-Hungarian monitors - Leitha and Körös - fire at point-blank range into Serbian houses where defenders have holed up, and with this support the Austro-Hungarian infantry are able to push into Belgrade by this evening, fighting house to house in the streets east of the Kalemegdan.  In the German 11th Army, X Reserve Corps, after its successful crossing yesterday, spends today consolidating its bridgehead before further advances tomorrow.  On its western flank, IV Reserve Corps was not scheduled to cross until tomorrow, but its commander, Lieutenant-General Arnold von Winckler, decides to take advantage of X Reserve Corps' success, and pushes two of his three divisions across the Danube today.  Morning fog obscured the German pontoons as they brought the first wave across, and the forward Serbian positions are quickly overrun.  By this evening, 107th Division has seized the heights at Kostolac and 11th Bavarian Division, despite a fierce Serbian counterattack, is poised to seize the town of Petka.

German cavalry crossing the Danube River during the invasion of Serbia, October 1915.

- Since the end of the 2nd Battle of the Isonzo in early August, General Cadorna has been preparing for another offensive in the same sector, scheduled to be launched on October 21st, and which will become the 3rd Battle of the Isonzo.  His plan aims to capture the city of Görz, which has become a popular war aim among the Italian public.  To accomplish this, Cadorna is concentrating two-thirds of the Italian army on the lower Isonzo.  In the first phase of the offensive, the southern wing of the Italian 2nd Army and the southern wing of the Italian 3rd Army will attack north and south of Görz respectively.  In the second phase, the city itself would be assaulted from three sides and captured.  To support the offensive, Italian forces to the north will undertake diversionary attacks.  Cadorna has assembled 400 000 men for the operation, against less than 130 000 Austro-Hungarian defenders.

Cadorna has ordered the stockpiling of munitions to ensure an adequate preliminary bombardment, scheduled to begin on October 18th.  Italian production of artillery shells has remained woefully inadequate, however, and remain in short supply. Today the commander of the Italian army issues orders to limit fire to sixty rounds a day for light artillery, thirty for medium artillery, and twenty for heavy artillery.  Crucially, these restrictions will remain in force even after the battle begins.  As this will be insufficient to break the enemy's barbed wire defences, the infantry will have to cut the wire themselves.

Also today Italian aircraft undertake extensive aerial reconnaissance over enemy lines and drop bombs on the headquarters of the Austro-Hungarian III and VII Corps.  Perhaps the most significant impact of these raids are to confirm the opinion of Austro-Hungarian commanders that an offensive along the Isonzo River is imminent, which had been based on wireless intercepts of Italian officers and the heavy traffic seen behind Italian lines by observation posts on the mountains east of the Isonzo.  Surprise is something the Italians will definitely not have.

September 23rd, 1915

- In Artois French aircraft bomb railways running between Lille, Valenciennes, Douai, and Cambrai in an effort to disrupt the movement of German supplies and reinforcements once the offensive begins in two days' time.

- The aviation subcommittee of the French Chamber of Deputies issues a scathing report condemning the state of French military aviation.  Describing the situation as 'grave,' the report highlights what its authors perceive to be the lack of close cooperation between the French army at the government's aviation directorate, and the inability of the latter to coordinate the expansion of the aviation industry and the deployment of labour.  Deputy Pierre Etienne Flandin in particular calls for massive production program of bombers and bomber escorts equipped with new, powerful engines to strike German industrial production.

- The collapse of the Austro-Hungarian 24th Division north of Lutsk yesterday evening forces the evacuation of Lutsk itself, which the Russians occupy this morning.  The remnants of the Austro-Hungarian XIV Corps pull back from the west bank of the Styr to the line Zaborol-Polonnaja Gorka, which permits the Russians to establish a bridgehead over the river.

The collapse and retreat of XIV Corps threatens the northern flank of the Austro-Hungarian forces to the south holding along the Ikwa River.  However, General Linsingen, commanding both the reinforcements moving south from the Army of the Bug as well as the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army itself, believes that the situation can be rescued not by a direct counterattack against the Russians at Lutsk, but rather by having the relief force, centred on the German XXIV Reserve Corps, drive southeast against the northern flank of the advancing Russian 8th Army, and the enemy to retreat to avoid envelopment.

The intervention of German forces under General Linsingen to rescue the faltering Austro-Hungarian 4th Army,
Sept. 23rd to 30th, 1915.

- Over the past two weeks German units assigned to the Serbian campaign have been arriving in Hungary; the German 105th Division, for example, completes its transfer to the Balkans today.  To preserve secrecy, the seventy trains needed to transport each division have been forbidden from moving south of Budapest in daylight.  After arrival near the Serbian frontier, the movement to staging areas is also conducted at night, German soldiers moving through unfamiliar terrain and surrounded by a civilian population that did not speak any German whatsoever if they got lost.

- In Paris the Council of Ministers convenes to debate the deployment of a French expedition to Greece to aid the Serbs, and the broader implications such an operation would have on grand strategy and the overall direction of the war effort.  Preserving Serbian independence, it is felt, is essential to the Entente war effort, in order to tie down significant enemy forces in the Balkans and prevent the opening of an overland route for German munitions and supplies to the Ottoman Empire.  However, a significant commitment of force to the Balkans potentially implies a lessening of emphasis on the Western Front, problematic due to the ongoing German occupation of French soil and the opposition of Joffre to any diminuation of forces under his command.

- Despite his pro-German sympathies, Greek King Constantine succumbs to his Prime Minister's arguments regarding the provision of 150 000 soldiers by the French and British instead of the Serbs, and agrees to issue a decree for mobilization.  Nevertheless, Constantine remains deeply uneasy about the course of events.

September 22nd, 1915

- Three wings of the Royal Flying Corps, comprising twelve squadrons, begins an aerial bombing campaign today in support of the forthcoming British offensive at Loos.  The first large-scale air offensive undertaken by the RFC, its aircraft target German transport infrastructure, including railway lines and stations, sidings, and bridges, up to thirty-six kilometres behind the front lines.  To counter the bombing threat, the Germans camouflage trains and site anti-aircraft guns and machine guns along railway lines.  For the first time the British aircraft also encounter the Eindecker monoplane fighter with its forward-firing machine gun; though superior to anything the British have, the Eindecker is present in too few numbers to yet have a decisive impact.  Over the next six days, the RFC will drop 5.5 tons of bombs on German targets.

- The entirety of the artillery assigned to the French 10th Army has now joined in the preliminary bombardment of the enemy lines, and the German 6th Army opposite now finds itself under a heavy barrage from La Bassée in the north through Arras in the south.  The commander of 6th Army requests reinforcements from OHL, and is assigned today four howitzer and one mortar battery, while 4th Army to the north makes available a battery of 13cm guns.

- In Champagne, the French 2nd and 4th Armies commence their preliminary bombardment today. Directed by a number of aircraft, the French artillery blanket the defensives of the centre and eastern wings of the German 3rd Army and the western wing of the German 5th Army.  Over the next three days the French will fire 3.4 million shells, including 600 000 heavy shells, on the German defenders, and the intensity of the bombardment will have a significant impact.  Many German defensive positions are destroyed, with stretches of trench become little more than indentations in the ground, and much of the German wire is also destroyed.  Though German infantry were protected by shelters dug deep underground, their entrances remain exposed, and when hit by shells trap the soldiers underground.  The French bombardment also ranges beyond the German first trench line, hitting communication trenches and reserve positions both to inhibit the arrival of German reinforcements and to help maintain the momentum of attacks that capture the first trench line.  For the next three days, the bombardment shall be so intense that dust kicked up by French shells will block out the sun over the positions of the German 3rd Army.

Given the intensity of the bombardment, OHL assigns the Saxon 183rd Brigade, currently north of Rethel, to 3rd Army in the event of a French assault.

- As the retreating Austro-Hungarian 4th Army reaches the Styr River, the pursuing Russians offer them no respite.  At 930pm a Russian attack overwhelms the Austro-Hungarian XIV Corps just north of Lutsk, and 24th Division, which has yet to recover from its defeat on the Stubiel River, is shattered.  To make matters worse, infantry of the Austro-Hungarian 62nd Division had prematurely destroyed the bridge across the river at Zydyczyn, trapping part of 24th Division on the east bank, and after a short resistance is overwhelmed by the Russians.  Conversely, the rest of 24th Division crosses the bridge at Wyszkow in such haste that they fail to destroy the bridge, leaving it available to be used by the pursuing Russians.

August 19th, 1915

- Recently-promoted Brigadier-General Hugh Trenchard is appointed today to command the Royal Flying Corps on the Western Front.  Having learned to fly in 1912 at the age of thirty-nine and served as second in command of the Central Flying School before the war, Trenchard was a protege of Kitchener, the two being similar in temperament, for better and worse.  With the RFC subordinate to the War Office, Kitchener appreciated Trenchard's opinion that the primary role of the RFC was to support the BEF.  It is an important milestone in the rise of Trenchard, who will become the most important figure in the wartime and postwar RFC.

- Lieutenant Oswald Boelcke gets his first kill today in his new Eindecker fighter.  He and Immelmann, both members of Abteilung 62 based at Douai, regularly fly together, and violate protocol by flying over enemy lines in search of enemy aircraft, instead of waiting for them to cross the front.

- For the past several months, a series of communications have traveled back and forth between Berlin and Washington, attempting to resolve the dispute over unrestricted submarine warfare which had emerged after the sinking of the passenger ship Lusitania in May, and the two sides are approaching agreement on the basis of Bethmann-Hollweg's declaration of June 1st that neutral ships, and passenger ships of all countries, are to be spared.  However, diplomatic discussions and theoretical limitations on the limits to submarine warfare take little account of the practical reality of naval combat in the North Atlantic, and the difficulty U-boat commanders can have reconciling such instructions with the necessity to ensure the safety of their submarine.  Off Kinsale, Ireland today the captain of U-20 encounters precisely this dilemma, and his choice torpedoes the diplomatic efforts since May.  The German U-boat stops the British steamer Durnsley, permitting the crew to enter their lifeboats before detonating bombs in the vessel's hold.  All of this is perfectly 'legitimate' submarine warfare, even in the eyes of the American, but it is what happens next that this problematic.  Durnsley takes a long time to sink, and as it does so the large passenger steamer Arabic of the White Star line appears, bound for New York.  The captain of U-20 recalls that his submarine had been fired upon by a large steamer five days earlier, and decides that Arabic is not just a target but a potential threat.  Rather than remain on the surface, possibly exposing itself to fire from the steamer, the captain orders U-20 to submerge and attack, firing a torpedo that strikes and sinks Arabic.  Forty-four passengers drown, including three Americans.  News of the sinking outrages American public opinion; not only does it make it seem that German submariners are ignoring instructions issued by their own government, but that the German government had been duping the Americans into believing they were making concessions regarding unrestricted submarine warfare that they either never intended to follow through on or could not be enforced.  Either way, the diplomatic progress of the past few months sinks with Arabic.

The British passenger steamer Arabic, torpedoed and sunk today by the German submarine U-20 off Kinsale, Ireland.

- For the past eleven days German artillery, directed by General Beseler, has been systematically reducing the fortifications around Novogeorgievsk.  Their work has been aided by the poor state of the defences - one fort was blown up by a single shell.  The siege ends today with the surrender of the surviving Russian garrison, and while the Russian armies in the field suffer from munition shortages, over a million shells fall unused into German hands, and the fall of Novogeorgievsk provides yet another example of how fortified positions, on their own, are no match for the power and range of modern artillery.

Russian artillery captured by the Germans after the fall of Novogeorgievsk.

German infantry occupying the Russian fortress of Novogeorgievsk after its capture.

- On the Eastern Front, Ludendorff issues orders for the German 10th Army to push its left wing from Kovno towards Vilna, with the Army of the Niemen covering ths northern flank of the advance by pushing towards the Dvina River.  On the southern flank 8th and 12th Armies are instructed to push to the northeast, and the former seizes the town of Bocki today.  Meanwhile, Prince Leopold's army group runs up against a new Russian defensive line running from Tokary to Nurec, and is held up.  Stiff resistance is also encountered west of Brest-Litovsk  by Russian forces on both sides of the Bug River as they attempt to cover the withdrawal of soldiers and wagons still in front of the fortress, and the German 11th Army is able to make only marginal gains today.  Upriver from Brest-Litovsk, however, the German 1st Division on the southern wing of the Army of the Bug is able to break through the Russian defenders along the Bug at Wlodawa and drive eastward to Piszcza by this evening.

The Austro-Hungarian offensive towards Kowel opens today with the advance of the cavalry corps commanded by the German General Ernst von Heydebreck and consisting of the German 5th and the Austro-Hungarian 4th and 11th Honved Cavalry Divisions.  The ground opposite is lightly defended, as the Russian 13th Army has been pulled northwards to maintain contact with 3rd Army and cover the lines of communication with Brest-Litovsk.  The only substantial Russian force in the area is XXXI Corps near Kowel, and it too is in the process of retreating northwards, its rear threatened by the advance of the Army of the Bug.  Otherwise, only cavalry rear guards remain to impede the German and Austro-Hungarian advance, and given the paucity of defenders the cavalry is able to cover significant ground.

- As General Cadorna assesses the failure of the first two offensives along the Isonzo River, his ire is drawn to Italian aviation and the director-general of the air corps, Colonel Maurizio Moris.  A myriad of difficulties has prevented the air corps from adequately supporting Cadorna's attacks: it is short of manpower, poorly organized, and the few Farman aircraft that are available are limited by a low ceiling.  The result has been poor observation of targets, preventing adequate counter-battery fire, and Cadorna writes to the war minister today insisting that the problems had to be fixed, and that Moris ought to go.  While the performance of the air corps has certainly failed to live up to expectations, the same could be said for the entire Italian war effort, and one cannot help but wonder the extent to which Cadorna is attempting to pass on blame that ought to rest on his shoulders.

August 7th, 1915

- Realizing that efforts to dissuade the French from insisting that the British Expeditionary Force attack south of La Bassée Canal are futile, Field Marshal Sir John French is now willing to accept a British attack in the sector desired by the French.  The commander of the BEF, however, is still unwilling to order an assault on the scale desired by the French; in his instructions to General Haig of 1st Army, Sir John French informs his subordinate that 'the attack of the First Army is to be made chiefly with artillery, and a large force of infantry is not to be launched to the attack of objectives which are so strongly held as to be liable to result in the sacrifice of many lives.'

- Though from April 1st to June 18th the Royal Flying Corps dropped 4062 bombs on enemy targets on the Western Front during 483 operations, dissatisfaction is expressed at what is perceived to be inadequate results at a meeting of British and French aviation representatives today.  Numerous obstacles remain to more effective aerial bombing, including the heavy maintenance needs of existing aircraft, high casualties among aircrew, and continuing suspicion of the value of airpower by the army (artillery battery commanders, for example, still have a tendency to ignore air reports of potential targets or damage inflicted that do not correspond to what they think should be/is happening).  In an effort to address the shortcoming, RFC headquarters has instructed its squadrons to only strike targets in the immediate vicinity of the front lines, where it is easier to confirm potential targets and damage inflicted.

- In southern Poland several divisions of the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army break through the Russian line west of Lubartow, and the town itself is captured early this afternoon.  By evening lead elements of the Austro-Hungarian XVII Corps have advanced fifteen kilometres through a twenty kilometre gap in the Russian front.  On paper the advance looks quite impressive; in practice, it is less so.  As the Russians pull back from central Poland, their forces in southern Poland will peal back west to east to keep in line with the general retreat.  Thus the enemy in front of 4th Army, western-most of Mackensen's army, is precisely those most willing to give ground, in contrast to those to the east who need to hold off the Germans to allow time for the withdrawal from central Poland.  The Austro-Hungarians are thus pushing on an open door.

June 10th, 1915

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

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

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

April 26th, 1915

- At Ypres the French line near the Yser Canal has been reinforced by elements of 152nd and 153rd Divisions, and a French counterattack against the German bridgeheads over the Yser Canal is able to retake the village of Het Sas, though the Germans remain in control of the locks.  To the east a major British counterattack by the Lahore Division and the Northumberland Brigade is launched at St. Julien, but the infantry quickly run into a hail of German rifle and artillery fire.  The British take heavy losses - the Northumberland Brigade alone suffers almost two thousand casualties - and are able to make no progress.  There is also heavy fighting near Grafenstafel, while German attacks are able to make incremental gains near Broodseinde.

The line at Ypres at midnight, April 26th, 1915.

- For the past several months, squadrons of the British Royal Flying Corps undertaken increasingly frequent bombing attacks on German railways and supply depots, though not without losses.  Today Lieutenant W. B. Rhodes-Moorhouse, the RFC's first Victoria Cross winner, attacks the railway station at Courtrai from 300 feet with a 100-pound bomb.  Flying at such low altitude left him vulnerable to ground fire, and he is severely wounded.  He manages to fly the thirty-five miles back to his aerodrome and insists on reporting the results of his mission to his CO before receiving medical attention.  He will die tomorrow.

- Despite every attempt at secrecy, the German buildup near Gorlice and Tarnow has simply been too substantial to hide completely.  Further, the local population in the region is strongly pro-Russian; indeed, Colonel Seeckt, Chief of Staff of the German 11th Army, has wanted to deport the entire population to prevent news reaching the Russians.  Nevertheless, the chief of staff of the Russian 3rd Army reports to South-West Front today that indications are that German forces intend to break through east of Krakow, or exactly where they intend to attack.

- At 3pm this afternoon, the ambassadors of France, Russia and Italy meet British Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey at the Foreign Office in London, where they sign the treaty that pledges Italy to join the war on the side of the Entente.  Territorially, the Italian government has achieved its aims - in exchange for entering the war within one month, Italy is to receive the Trentino and South Tyrol up to the Brenner Pass, the city of Trieste and the surrounding region, including all of Istria, northern Dalmatia, and a number of islands off the coast, as well the Albanian city of Valona.  Further, the rest of the Dalmatian coast, though it is to be awarded to Serbia, is to be militarily neutralized, leaving Italy the dominant power in the Adriatic.

At the ceremony, the Russian ambassador is particularly somber, as he recognizes that the treaty is a defeat for Slavic interests in the Balkans, and thus by extension a blow to Russian prestige.  However, both Britain and France have stated in secret notes to the Russian government that Italy's entrance into the war does not effect their pledge of the Straits to Russia, and this, from the Russian perspective, is the more important war aim.

Having reaching the diplomatic agreement, the Italian government is now faced with ensuring that parliamentary and public opinion will support the decision for war.  This will be no easy task - former Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti supports neutrality, and reports received today by current Prime Minister Antonio Salandra from fifty prefects indicate that a solid majority of the Italian public, especially in the south, backs continued neutrality.

The territories of Austria-Hungary promised to Italy in the London Treaty.

- At Gallipoli the ANZACs are able to turn back a heavy Ottoman counterattack, with heavy naval gunfire decimating enemy infantry advancing down the face of Battleship Hill.  Otherwise, however, the ANZACs are unable to expand their narrow beachhead, and they take their commander's words to heart and dig trenches into the rough terrain.  To the south, the landing at Y beach has come to grief; advancing inland, they are taken in flank and fall back to the shore.  The decision is taken to evacuate Y beach, which is successful under the covering fire of the pre-dreadnoughts offshore.  However, the failure to advance rapidly at Y beach yesterday had thrown away a golden opportunity to strike behind the Ottoman defences holding the British at the tip of Cape Helles, and the evacuation allows the Ottomans to concentrate against the remaining beaches.  Furthest south at V beach, the news is somewhat better; after a terrible day of fighting, the Dublin and Munster Fusiliers are able to seize the Ottoman trenches at 2pm and capture Sedd el Bahr and Hill 141 to the north.  The British infantry, however, are exhausted, and General Aylmer Hunter-Weston, commander of the British 29th Division, orders them to entrench against a feared Ottoman counterattack.  In practice, the halt gives the Ottomans time to bring up additional reinforcements.

As for the Asiatic shore, at 740am General Hamilton instructs General Albert d'Amade, commander of the French forces assigned to the Gallipoli invasion, to send those of his units not committed to the diversionary landing at Kum Kale to land at X Beach on Cape Helles.  D'Amade, who had hoped that the Kum Kale operation might be expanded, now realizes that it has accomplished all it possibly (i.e. very little), and at 1130 requests that the French force on the Asiatic show be withdrawn, to which Hamilton agrees.

April 18th, 1915

- After the loss of Hill 60 yesterday evening, the Germans have moved up 19th Saxon Regiment, and at 630 launch a desperate counterattack.  Under heavy fire, and despite taking heavy casualties, the Germans are able to reach the British line, and hand-to-hand fighting ensued.  By nightfall, however, a British bayonet charge has cleared their trenches of Germans, and, however narrowly, they remain in command of the hill.

- Over the Western Front, French pilot Roland Garros, in his specially-modified Morane-Saulnier aircraft, shoots down his third German aircraft this month, demonstrating the effectiveness of being able to fire forward through the propeller.  Shortly afterwards, however, Garros' aircraft is damaged by German anti-aircraft fire, and he is forced to crash-land behind German lines.  Garros is made prisoner, and of greater importance his Morane-Saulnier aircraft is captured by the Germans.  It will quickly be sent back to Berlin for study, and in particular will draw the attention of aircraft designer Anthony Fokker.

- For several months the leadership of the Italian navy has been developing plans in the event of war breaking out with Austria-Hungary, and today they are officially approved by the Italian government and transmitted to Duke Abruzzi, commander-in-chief of the Italian Navy.  At the outbreak of hostilities, the Italian navy is to be based in the southern or central Adriatic, most likely at Taranto where they can be most easily reinforced by the British and French navies.  If the Austro-Hungarian fleet comes south from its main naval base at Pola, the Italians will give battle.  If the enemy remains at Pola, the Italian navy would remain in the south until called north to support the advance of the Italian army towards Trieste.  It was at this point that the Italians most expected a major naval battle to occur, and the plan emphasizes the importance of maintaining the strength of the Italian navy until this point.  This means that major warships of the Italian navy are not to be risked in minor operations; plans, for example, to seize islands on the Dalmatian coast have been abandoned.  While sensible, the plan assumes that at some point, the main battle fleet of the Austro-Hungarian navy will put to sea and seek battle.  The question, of course, is what if they do not?

April 1st, 1915

- The German industrialist Walther Rathenau resigns today as head of Kriegsrohstoffsamt (KRA), the government agency overseeing the allocation of raw materials in the German war economy.  While the resignation is in part a reflection that the KRA is now fully functioning, and he is able to ensure the appointment of his hand-picked successor, Major Joseph Koeth, as his replacement, Rathenau has also been dogged by criticism of the KRA, both that he has utilized his position to benefit his own corporation (AEG) and more generally has prioritized large firms over small ones, while the KRA has been accused of facilitating profiteering.  The range of criticisms reflects ongoing tensions within the German war economy, balanced between profits and patriotism.

- Over the first months of the war, the aerial combat that has occurred has been undertaken by pilots firing pistols or observers firing light guns.  Such methods leave much to be desired, and make the shooting down of an aircraft a relatively rare event.  Mounting machine guns facing forward would allow the pilot to aim and fire while still flying his aircraft, though at the expense of shooting off his own propeller.  Both sides have been striving to develop a mechanism that would allow a machine-gun to fire through a propeller with no success.

One alternative, however, is to protect the propeller itself so that it is not damaged when hit by a bullet, and for several months French pilot Roland Garros, along with his mechanic Jules Hue, have been developing an armoured propeller that would allow a Hotchkiss machine gun to fire forward in his Morane-Saulnier Type L aircraft.  He has been assigned to the squadron MS26 at Dunkirk, and today, flying his specially-modified Moraine, which includes channeled deflectors, Garros shoots down his first German aircraft using his forward-firing machine gun.

The French Morane-Saulnier Type L aircraft.

- In the Carpathians the situation continues to deteriorate for the Austro-Hungarian 2nd Army; this morning the Russians force the right wing of XVIII Corps to fall back into the Wetlinka valley.  At 2pm the commander of 2nd Army concludes that the only way to avoid disaster is to retreat behind the main crest of the mountains, yielding to the Russians the Uszok Pass but taking up new defensive positions to the south.  Not surprisingly, both 3rd Army to the west and Conrad at army headquarters objects, but the reality on the ground is that 2nd Army cannot hold its current position, and further attempts to do so would court disaster.

- Meanwhile the Chiefs of Staff of the German and Austro-Hungarian armies are also concerned regarding the diplomatic situation with Italy.  While Falkenhayn continues to urge his counterpart to pressure the Austro-Hungarian Foreign Ministry to offer concessions, Conrad rejects the suggestion.  In his opinion, giving territory to Italy now will only whet Italy's appetite, and increase, not decrease, the likelihood of an Italian attack in the long run.

- As the small German caravan makes its way across the desert towards Djidda, the reassurances of the Ottoman escorts given the previous evening are shown to be false.  Instead of a few dozen robbers, Emden's landing party is suddenly attacked just after dawn by several hundred Arabs, firing from all sides.  The Germans shelter behind their camels, which become the primary target as several continue to stand, while most of their Ottoman escorts flee the battlefield.  The machine guns they are able to employ, however, goes some way towards evening the odds.  Under cover of machine gun fire, the Germans charge the Arabs, who initially scatter.  Attempting to regroup, First Officer Mücke orders the caravan to reform and move towards the sea, where at least one flank would be covered.  The Arabs, however, will not be so easily dissuaded from the attack, and as soon as the caravan moves again it comes under fire, and the rear guard has to frequently halt and set up their machine gun to disperse the attackers.  When the Arabs briefly cease firing to parley, the Germans entrench, using everything from camel saddles to sacks of rice, and Mücke refuses the Arabs' demand to hand over all guns, ammunition, camels, food, and water in exchange for safe passage.  Firing continues into the evening, and by nightfall Seaman Rademacher and Lieutenant Schmidt have been killed, and another seaman wounded.

March 31st, 1915

- After the directive of the 29th regarding the defensive of current positions, today OHL issues a second directive regarding the training of reserves which emphasizes the importance of offensive training.  To do so, successful operations, such as the Battle of Soissons, are to be studied in detail, while training camps are to be established which include mock fortified positions on which units can practice assaults.  The directive also states that the mission of the first line in an attack is to break through the enemy line; it will be the responsibility of subsequent waves of infantry to exploit the breakthrough.

- The Russian air force has lagged behind its opponents in innovation, with one very notable exception: the Il'ia Muromets bomber, a creation of the young and very talented designer Igor Sikorskii.  This massive aircraft was an unparalleled marvel of technical engineering; propelled by four engines, it is capable of carrying a crew of three for a five-hour flight with two machine-guns and a half-ton of bombs.  In a reconnaissance flight conducted today, one Muromets flies 533 kilometres at between 3200 and 3600 metres altitude.

Perhaps not surprising given the Russian war performance to date, the Muromets has been criminally underappreciated by army headquarters, including a ban on further production issued in October 1914.  Only by circumventing the army was Sikorskii able to have a squadron of Muromets formed under the patronage of the owner of the Russko-Baltiiskii aircraft company, allowing for the true value of the Muromets to be demonstrated.

The Russian Il'ya Muromets bomber.

- In the Carpathians, the main Russian attack over the past two days has fallen on the centre and right of the Austro-Hungarian 2nd Army.  Crucially, they have broken through the front of XIX Corps, forcing 41st and 37th Honved Divisions to fall back (the former having suffered 60% casualties, the latter reduced to two thousand riflemen).  The situation of 2nd Army is perilous - only fifteen hundred reserves remain available to plug holes in the line - and its commander orders preliminary planning for a withdrawal southwards out of the Carpathians if necessary.

- When Emden's landing party stops at a watering hole at 11am this morning, they are met by an Ottoman patrol of eighteen sent from Djidda to escort them the remaining distance to the town.  At 4pm they depart, the path carrying them away from the sea and through numberless flat sand drifts topped with grass.  After nightfall, a group of Bedouins, numbering about twelve or fifteen, are sighted in the distance before disappearing, which the Ottoman escort takes for robbers.  This causes little concern to the Germans, given that their party numbers fifty and carries with them four machine guns.

- Munitions production in Canada has been hindered by the lack of a pre-war armaments industry which could have been expanded once hostilities began.  To circumvent this limitation, a shell committee has been established by Sam Hughes, the minister of militia, to place orders not for complete shells, but rather individual components, allowing manufacturers to focus on those components which they already have some skill in producing.  The result is that by today 155 factories employing 25 000 are engaged in shell production in Canada.

February 9th, 1915

- A meeting of the War Council in London today includes discussion regarding Entente strategy on the Western Front, and communications from Joffre regarding the role he desires the British to play.  While desiring to cooperate and coordinate with their French ally, they are not inclined to, as Churchill remarks, give the French the 'last word' on the employment of the British Expeditionary Force.

- In Germany OHL submits a recommendation to the Prussian War Ministry today to establish a chief of field aviation (Feldflugchef) who would have authority over all aerial matters, including the coordination of airplane production.

- In East Prussia the full weight of the advancing German 10th Army falls upon two Russian cavalry divisions screening the northern flank of the Russian 10th Army.  The Russian divisions simply disintegrate, and the attack of the Germans continues unimpeded.