- The finance ministers of France and Britain, meeting at Boulogne today, agree to float a joint loan in the United States, though it will formally be in Britain's name only. It was also agreed that proceeds would be shared with Russia, though Russian involvement would be kept private as American investors would be very hesitant to take up a loan backed by a government with such a poor fiscal reputation. It is hoped that American revulsion at the sinking of the passenger liners Lusitania and, two days ago, Arabic would enhance the willingness of American investors to back the Entente financially, and President Wilson has indicated privately that while he will not endorse the loan, he will not oppose it.
- The Russians opposite Prince Leopold's army group retreat during the night, and during the former's pursuit of the latter today elements of both the German 12th Army and General Woyrsch's command cut the railway linking Brest-Litovsk and Bialystok while cavalry seize the town of Kleszczeli.
Showing posts with label Britain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Britain. Show all posts
Friday, August 21, 2015
Thursday, July 02, 2015
July 2nd, 1915
- In Britain the Munitions of War Act comes into effect today, providing the legislative machinery for government control of armaments production by the new Ministry of Munitions under David Lloyd George. Under the legislation any business involved in war production can be designated a 'controlled establishment', in which case a series of government restrictions would be imposed in the name of productivity. Critically, these restrictions were primarily directed not at employers, but at employees: strikes are prohibited, arbitration made compulsory, and restrictions on the ability to change jobs. In exchange, workers in 'controlled establishments' are given badges that effectively exempted them from military service.
- Though yesterday Foch expressed a desire to conduct another offensive by the French 10th Army against Vimy Ridge, General d'Urbal reports today that the infantry of 10th Army are exhausted after fifty days of near-constant combat, and are in no condition to undertake major operations. Joffre is sympathetic to d'Urbal's concerns, and orders 10th Army to focus on establishing strong defensive positions only.
- Falkenhayn meets with Hindenburg and Ludendorff today at Posen in the presence of the kaiser to discuss future operations on the Eastern Front. When the German chief of staff had originally committed 11th Army to the east in April, he had envisioned its deployment lasting until the liberation of Austro-Hungarian Galicia. Once this had been accomplished, Falkenhayn reasoned, the threat to Austria-Hungary from Rusia would be removed, and 11th Army could return to the Western Front for operations there. Though the purpose of the Gorlice-Tarnow offensive have been achieved, Falkenhayn has reconsidered his views. He had been concerned with Entente superiority on the Western Front, but the 2nd Battle of Artois has demonstrated the ability of the German army in the west to successfully stand on the defensive even when substantially outnumbered. Further, Falkenhayn has concluded that more damage can yet be inflicted on the Russian army. Crucially, however, he does not foresee a decisive, war-winning victory as possible, given the space in Russia and the ability of the Russians to retreat from any grand envelopment. Instead, Falkenhayn's desires to inflict further hammer blows on the Russian army in the vein of Gorlice-Tarnow to wear the Russians out and convince them to agree to a peace amenable to Germany. This is a logical extension of the views expressed by Falkenhayn since the fall; namely, that Germany must reduce the number of its enemies through negotiation in order to concentrate on the others.
Thus at today's meeting Falkenhayn rejects Ludendorff's proposal for a major offensive to be undertaken in Courland by the Army of the Niemen, which the latter proposes can advance through Kovno and Vilna to join with Mackensen's 11th Army in encircling the entire Russian army in Poland. Falkenhayn views such an operation as widely optimistic, and that such sweeping envelopments are simply not possible in the conditions of modern warfare, which in particular limit the ability of cavalry to exploit breakthroughs and surround opposing forces. Instead, Falkenhayn proposes to stick to the Gorlice-Tarnow formula in which the Russian army would be worn out through a series of step-by-step offensives relying on the power of artillery. Wilhelm II sides with Falkenhayn, and his more moderate plans are approved. In the north, the army under General Gallwitz, stretching from the Vistula River towards the Masurian Lakes, will undertake the primary attack, advancing towards Warsaw. Further, the forces under General Worysch in central Poland will pin the Russians opposite to prevent reserves being redeployed from this stretch of the line. Finally, 11th Army will undertake a major offensive northwards between the Vistula and Bug Rivers, and to allow for it to concentrate on its advance as opposed to flank protection, the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army is to be withdrawn from west of the Vistula in southwestern Poland and inserted into the line northeast of Lemberg between 11th Army to the north and the Austro-Hungarian 2nd Army in the south. To allow time for the redeployments to be completed and munitions stockpiled, the offensives are planned to begin July 13th.
- Meanwhile in southern Poland the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army wins several local successes, seizing several villages, but fails to secure a decisive breakthrough.
- For the past two days the Italian 3rd Army has been concentrating its efforts against the Karst plateau southwest of Görz along the Isonzo River, but a series of infantry attacks have failed to secure any significant ground.
- The influence of German consul Wilhelm Wassmuss in southern Persia continues to grow, securing alliances with numerous tribes in the region that, as opposed to the central government, are the real power. Through Wassmuss the interior of southern Persia is essentially under German control, and British influence has been confined to a few coastal enclaves - Wassmuss has even been able to erect a wireless station to communicate with Germany proper. The growing German influence has attracted the attention of British officials in India, who fear losing control over the Northwest Frontier. Today, the Indian viceroy tells British consuls in Persia to seek out tribal allies that can be used to directly confront German influence in the country.
- In German South-West Africa German forces holding the line east of Otavifontein defending Grootfontein fall back on Gaub today, given the appearance of South African forces before them and the retreat of the defenders at Otavi uncovering their western flank.
- Though yesterday Foch expressed a desire to conduct another offensive by the French 10th Army against Vimy Ridge, General d'Urbal reports today that the infantry of 10th Army are exhausted after fifty days of near-constant combat, and are in no condition to undertake major operations. Joffre is sympathetic to d'Urbal's concerns, and orders 10th Army to focus on establishing strong defensive positions only.
- Falkenhayn meets with Hindenburg and Ludendorff today at Posen in the presence of the kaiser to discuss future operations on the Eastern Front. When the German chief of staff had originally committed 11th Army to the east in April, he had envisioned its deployment lasting until the liberation of Austro-Hungarian Galicia. Once this had been accomplished, Falkenhayn reasoned, the threat to Austria-Hungary from Rusia would be removed, and 11th Army could return to the Western Front for operations there. Though the purpose of the Gorlice-Tarnow offensive have been achieved, Falkenhayn has reconsidered his views. He had been concerned with Entente superiority on the Western Front, but the 2nd Battle of Artois has demonstrated the ability of the German army in the west to successfully stand on the defensive even when substantially outnumbered. Further, Falkenhayn has concluded that more damage can yet be inflicted on the Russian army. Crucially, however, he does not foresee a decisive, war-winning victory as possible, given the space in Russia and the ability of the Russians to retreat from any grand envelopment. Instead, Falkenhayn's desires to inflict further hammer blows on the Russian army in the vein of Gorlice-Tarnow to wear the Russians out and convince them to agree to a peace amenable to Germany. This is a logical extension of the views expressed by Falkenhayn since the fall; namely, that Germany must reduce the number of its enemies through negotiation in order to concentrate on the others.
Thus at today's meeting Falkenhayn rejects Ludendorff's proposal for a major offensive to be undertaken in Courland by the Army of the Niemen, which the latter proposes can advance through Kovno and Vilna to join with Mackensen's 11th Army in encircling the entire Russian army in Poland. Falkenhayn views such an operation as widely optimistic, and that such sweeping envelopments are simply not possible in the conditions of modern warfare, which in particular limit the ability of cavalry to exploit breakthroughs and surround opposing forces. Instead, Falkenhayn proposes to stick to the Gorlice-Tarnow formula in which the Russian army would be worn out through a series of step-by-step offensives relying on the power of artillery. Wilhelm II sides with Falkenhayn, and his more moderate plans are approved. In the north, the army under General Gallwitz, stretching from the Vistula River towards the Masurian Lakes, will undertake the primary attack, advancing towards Warsaw. Further, the forces under General Worysch in central Poland will pin the Russians opposite to prevent reserves being redeployed from this stretch of the line. Finally, 11th Army will undertake a major offensive northwards between the Vistula and Bug Rivers, and to allow for it to concentrate on its advance as opposed to flank protection, the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army is to be withdrawn from west of the Vistula in southwestern Poland and inserted into the line northeast of Lemberg between 11th Army to the north and the Austro-Hungarian 2nd Army in the south. To allow time for the redeployments to be completed and munitions stockpiled, the offensives are planned to begin July 13th.
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| The Eastern Front in early July, 1915. |
- Meanwhile in southern Poland the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army wins several local successes, seizing several villages, but fails to secure a decisive breakthrough.
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| The 2nd Battle of Kraśnik, July 2nd to 10th, 1915. |
- For the past two days the Italian 3rd Army has been concentrating its efforts against the Karst plateau southwest of Görz along the Isonzo River, but a series of infantry attacks have failed to secure any significant ground.
- The influence of German consul Wilhelm Wassmuss in southern Persia continues to grow, securing alliances with numerous tribes in the region that, as opposed to the central government, are the real power. Through Wassmuss the interior of southern Persia is essentially under German control, and British influence has been confined to a few coastal enclaves - Wassmuss has even been able to erect a wireless station to communicate with Germany proper. The growing German influence has attracted the attention of British officials in India, who fear losing control over the Northwest Frontier. Today, the Indian viceroy tells British consuls in Persia to seek out tribal allies that can be used to directly confront German influence in the country.
- In German South-West Africa German forces holding the line east of Otavifontein defending Grootfontein fall back on Gaub today, given the appearance of South African forces before them and the retreat of the defenders at Otavi uncovering their western flank.
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
May 20th, 1915
- In Britain the events of the past few months - the use of gas at Ypres, the sinking of Lusitania, and the bombing raids of Zeppelins - have nurtured an anti-German hysteria that needed little encouragement in the first place. Today the magazine Flight argues that Germans in Britain must be rounded up and interned, as otherwise they may light fires to direct Zeppelin bombing raids at night.
- After a three day delay caused by poor weather, the first of the new methodical attacks, as ordered by General Foch, are launched today in Artois by the French 10th Army. Preceded by a heavy artillery bombardment, French infantry advance several hundred yards, and the newly-won ground is to serve as a jumping off point for further attacks.
Meanwhile Joffre, for his part, issues instructions to his subordinates instructing them that it is vital to place reserves as close to the front lines as possible. He hopes in future to avoid a repetition of the fighting on May 9th, when infantry of Pétain's XXXIII Corps managed to reach Vimy Ridge but were pushed back due to reserves being deployed too far behind the front line, allowing the Germans to push the successful infantry back off the high ground.
- The German threat to the inner flanks of the Russian XXIV and III Caucasian Corps diminishes today when 56th Division, acting in accordance with Mackensen's orders to consolidate control of the bridgehead over the San River, pulls back behind the Lubaczowka River.
On the Russian side, General Dimitriev of 3rd Army, who has had to watch his command crumble under two and a half weeks of near-constant German pressure, is dismissed today, replaced by the commander of XII Corps.
- Owing to exhaustion, the fighting between the western wings of the Russian 9th and Austro-Hungarian 7th Armies in the eastern Carpathians dies out today. Neither side has accomplished its objectives, though in the larger picture this favours the Austro-Hungarians, in that the Russian attacks here have not forced them to pull additional forces away from the San River fighting to hold on to the Bukovina.
- As scheduled, at 2pm this afternoon the Italian Chamber of Deputies is called to order. Prime Minister Salandra introduces the bill by which parliament will cede full financial powers to the government in the event of war; in practical terms, parliament is being asked to give the government the authority to go to war. Salandra also gives a brief address, emphasizing the perceived violations of the Triple Alliance by Austria-Hungary, both by going to war without consultation in July 1914 and by failing to provide territorial compensation for aggrandizement in the Balkans. Foreign Minister Sonnino then presents diplomatic telegrams outlining the course of negotiations with Austria-Hungary up to the denunciation of the alliance on May 4th; to Sonnino's credit, the telegrams are only heavily edited, as opposed to being outright forgeries. After brief discussion, the bill is passed by a margin of 407 to 74; most of the opposition comes from the Revolutionary Socialists and deputies from the rural south, where neutralist opinion is strongest. At 7pm Salandra adjourns Chamber, and the deputies depart singing the Garibaldi hymn. This outburst of enthusiasm for war is the last echo of the 'Radiant Days of May'.
- For the past four weeks, the Ottoman city of Van has been the scene of bitter fighting between Armenian insurgents and the Ottoman garrison. The Armenian population has been besieged, but have been able to hold off efforts of the Ottomans to crush the rising. In response, the local governor pushed tens of thousands of Armenian refugees into the city in the hopes of causing starvation, while thousands of Armenian prisoners have been murdered. This takes place, of course, while wholesale massacres have been taking place in the countryside.
As the desperate clash at Van has been ongoing, however, the Russian army has been approaching from the east. Three days ago, the Ottoman forces lifted their siege of Van, and today elements of the Russian army arrive at the city. The Armenian population is jubilant at the arrival of their saviours, and the Armenian elders of Van offer the Russian commanding general the keys to the city, and in return the Russians appoint the leader of the Armenian defence committee, Aram Manoukian, governor of the region. Freed from the yoke of Ottoman oppression and the threat of massacre, the Armenians take violent revenge. Now that they have the upper hand, it is the turn of Ottoman prisoners to be murdered. Armenians also torch many of the important buildings of Van, seen as symbols of Ottoman tyranny.
The fall of Van, moreover, serves to reinforce the paranoia of the leadership of the Ottoman Empire regarding the Armenian population. It is all the easier now to see the Armenians as a mortal internal threat to the survival of the empire, given their apparent cooperation with the Russians. It accelerates efforts to deport and exterminate the Armenian population throughout eastern Anatolia.
- At the height of the Battle of Sarikamish in December, Russian forces had evacuated Persian Azerbaijan, but after the crushing victory achieved in the battle had returned, reoccupying Tabriz at the end of January. According to the terms of the Anglo-Russian Convention, northern Persia was within the Russian sphere of influence, and considering its proximity to the Ottoman Empire it is seen as a southern extension of the Caucasus front and the Russian government is eager to secure effective control of the region. Two days ago, a Russian banker was murdered in Isfahan, in the centre of Persia, and the Russian government uses the episode to justify the dispatch of additional troops to protect Persian interests in northern Persia, the detachment landing at Enzeli today. However, the proximity of Enzeli to Teheran - just over a hundred and fifty miles separates the two - raises fears among German diplomats that the Russians may attempt to seize control of the government and the country as a whole.
- After a three day delay caused by poor weather, the first of the new methodical attacks, as ordered by General Foch, are launched today in Artois by the French 10th Army. Preceded by a heavy artillery bombardment, French infantry advance several hundred yards, and the newly-won ground is to serve as a jumping off point for further attacks.
Meanwhile Joffre, for his part, issues instructions to his subordinates instructing them that it is vital to place reserves as close to the front lines as possible. He hopes in future to avoid a repetition of the fighting on May 9th, when infantry of Pétain's XXXIII Corps managed to reach Vimy Ridge but were pushed back due to reserves being deployed too far behind the front line, allowing the Germans to push the successful infantry back off the high ground.
- The German threat to the inner flanks of the Russian XXIV and III Caucasian Corps diminishes today when 56th Division, acting in accordance with Mackensen's orders to consolidate control of the bridgehead over the San River, pulls back behind the Lubaczowka River.
On the Russian side, General Dimitriev of 3rd Army, who has had to watch his command crumble under two and a half weeks of near-constant German pressure, is dismissed today, replaced by the commander of XII Corps.
- Owing to exhaustion, the fighting between the western wings of the Russian 9th and Austro-Hungarian 7th Armies in the eastern Carpathians dies out today. Neither side has accomplished its objectives, though in the larger picture this favours the Austro-Hungarians, in that the Russian attacks here have not forced them to pull additional forces away from the San River fighting to hold on to the Bukovina.
- As scheduled, at 2pm this afternoon the Italian Chamber of Deputies is called to order. Prime Minister Salandra introduces the bill by which parliament will cede full financial powers to the government in the event of war; in practical terms, parliament is being asked to give the government the authority to go to war. Salandra also gives a brief address, emphasizing the perceived violations of the Triple Alliance by Austria-Hungary, both by going to war without consultation in July 1914 and by failing to provide territorial compensation for aggrandizement in the Balkans. Foreign Minister Sonnino then presents diplomatic telegrams outlining the course of negotiations with Austria-Hungary up to the denunciation of the alliance on May 4th; to Sonnino's credit, the telegrams are only heavily edited, as opposed to being outright forgeries. After brief discussion, the bill is passed by a margin of 407 to 74; most of the opposition comes from the Revolutionary Socialists and deputies from the rural south, where neutralist opinion is strongest. At 7pm Salandra adjourns Chamber, and the deputies depart singing the Garibaldi hymn. This outburst of enthusiasm for war is the last echo of the 'Radiant Days of May'.
- For the past four weeks, the Ottoman city of Van has been the scene of bitter fighting between Armenian insurgents and the Ottoman garrison. The Armenian population has been besieged, but have been able to hold off efforts of the Ottomans to crush the rising. In response, the local governor pushed tens of thousands of Armenian refugees into the city in the hopes of causing starvation, while thousands of Armenian prisoners have been murdered. This takes place, of course, while wholesale massacres have been taking place in the countryside.
As the desperate clash at Van has been ongoing, however, the Russian army has been approaching from the east. Three days ago, the Ottoman forces lifted their siege of Van, and today elements of the Russian army arrive at the city. The Armenian population is jubilant at the arrival of their saviours, and the Armenian elders of Van offer the Russian commanding general the keys to the city, and in return the Russians appoint the leader of the Armenian defence committee, Aram Manoukian, governor of the region. Freed from the yoke of Ottoman oppression and the threat of massacre, the Armenians take violent revenge. Now that they have the upper hand, it is the turn of Ottoman prisoners to be murdered. Armenians also torch many of the important buildings of Van, seen as symbols of Ottoman tyranny.
The fall of Van, moreover, serves to reinforce the paranoia of the leadership of the Ottoman Empire regarding the Armenian population. It is all the easier now to see the Armenians as a mortal internal threat to the survival of the empire, given their apparent cooperation with the Russians. It accelerates efforts to deport and exterminate the Armenian population throughout eastern Anatolia.
- At the height of the Battle of Sarikamish in December, Russian forces had evacuated Persian Azerbaijan, but after the crushing victory achieved in the battle had returned, reoccupying Tabriz at the end of January. According to the terms of the Anglo-Russian Convention, northern Persia was within the Russian sphere of influence, and considering its proximity to the Ottoman Empire it is seen as a southern extension of the Caucasus front and the Russian government is eager to secure effective control of the region. Two days ago, a Russian banker was murdered in Isfahan, in the centre of Persia, and the Russian government uses the episode to justify the dispatch of additional troops to protect Persian interests in northern Persia, the detachment landing at Enzeli today. However, the proximity of Enzeli to Teheran - just over a hundred and fifty miles separates the two - raises fears among German diplomats that the Russians may attempt to seize control of the government and the country as a whole.
Sunday, May 10, 2015
May 10th, 1915
- Almost since the outbreak of the war the German government has been fighting a losing battle over its image abroad among neutrals. While Entente propaganda has undoubtedly made its mark, views on Germany have been inevitably tainted by the way in which it has conducted the war, as more recent incidents such as the use of gas at Ypres and the sinking of Lusitania join with such older episodes as the Rape of Belgium to cast Germany as the villain. The German government has attempted to counter such impressions since the first weeks of the war, and today publishes a White Book on the German occupation of Belgium. Its title - The Conduct of the War by the Belgian People in Violation of International Law - says all that needs to be said regarding its aim. Its objectivity is questionable at best and much dubious 'evidence' is included, and does little to dissuade those who already believe in German perfidy from continuing to do so. Moreover, the Germans are not the only ones who can publish reports . . .
- Even as the German government attempts to defend its conduct of the war, the latest outrage - the sinking of the passenger liner Lusitania - is provoking a violent reaction in Britain, especially in Liverpool and other west coast ports in which many of the dead resided. For these civilians, the torpedoing of Lusitania is seen as culmination of a German campaign of deliberate barbarism that has included the Rape of Belgium, the bombardment of Scarborough and other towns, Zeppelin bombing raids, and the use of gas at Ypres. For many the news of Lusitania's loss is the final straw, and over the past few days anti-German riots have broken out in several British cities, including most prominently Liverpool, the destination of the doomed liner. Large crowds rampage through commercial districts, attacking any shop identified as being owned by Germans and looting its contents. Local police struggle to maintain order, with hundreds arrested. Today is the worst day of violence in Liverpool, and hardly a single commercial enterprise owned by a German remains unscathed at the end of the day. While the violence builds on existing anti-German sentiments and indeed xenophobia, they also arise from the general sense among the British public that the German methods of waging war are a fundamental threat to Western civilization, and that the war is not only worth fighting but must be fought until absolute victory can be secured and 'Prussian militarism', as it is often referred to, is crushed forever. Whether right or not, such views are genuinely held by much of the British public, and go some way to explaining the overwhelming support for the continuation of the war in the months and years ahead.
- A more measured reaction to the sinking of Lusitania is seen today in the United States when President Woodrow Wilson delivers a speech before fifteen thousand in Philadelphia. After several days of deliberation, he has come to the conclusion that an immediate declaration of war is not the proper course of action. More crucially, imbued with a moral sense of American righteousness, he proclaims to the assembled crowd that:
- In Germany, reaction to the sinking of Lusitania has been mixed. Much of the public, convinced that the liner was carrying munitions, celebrates its destruction, as does the naval leadership. For the Chancellor and the Kaiser, the sinking is seen as a disaster. Wilhelm II directly orders the naval chief of staff that
- In Artois today the French 10th Army attacks all along the German line, attempting to repeat the fleeting success of yesterday. Overall the French attacks fail: an attempt to move further east on the Lorette spur was held, and repeated attacks by 70th Division at Carency were also repulsed. However, a German counterattack by elements of 58th and 11th Divisions also fails, and the French XXXIII Corps is able to maintain control of the ground seized yesterday. This salient also leaves German positions at Carency and Ablain just to the north almost isolated, and the commander of the German 28th Division, responsible for this section of line, is concerned that the villages may have to be abandoned.
Further north, in light of the complete failure of the attacks of yesterday, Sir John French calls off the British offensive towards Aubers Ridge early this morning. General Haig, whose 1st Army had been responsible for the operation, is dismayed at the failure. Writing in his diary, he concludes that the defeat 'showed that we are confronted by a carefully prepared position, which is held by a most determined enemy, with numerous machine guns.' To overcome such defences, Haig believes that an 'accurate and so fairly long' preliminary bombardment will be necessary in future to ensure enemy strong points are destroyed before the infantry advance. However understandable Haig's conclusions may be, he is learning the wrong lessons.
- Overnight the Russian counterattack in Galicia is launched, with 44th Division advancing towards Jacmierz into the gap between 11th Bavarian and 119th Divisions and 33rd Division to the south advancing towards Besko. Though the Russians are able to initially gain some ground, the German commanders are more than equal to the task. To the north, 11th Bavarian Division pushes back the southern flank of XXIV Russian Corps to the north, which creates space for the German 20th Division to come up from its reserve position and launch a attack co-ordinated with 119th Division on the Russian 44th Division, throwing the latter back. To the south, the Austro-Hungarian X Corps secures the high ground near Odrzechowa, threatening the flank of the Russian 33rd Division. By nightfall the Russians have been repulsed and are retreating eastward towards Sanok.
The counterattack by the Russian XXI Corps had been the last throw of the dice for 3rd Army, and its defeat means any hope of holding the Germans west of the San River has evaporated. General Ivanov's chief of staff sends a despondent message to Stavka this evening, stating that the army is shattered and the situation is hopeless, and the only option is a pell-mell retreat eastwards: Przemysl will have to be surrendered, the Germans will soon invade the Ukraine, and Kiev should be fortified. The chief of staff is promptly fired, but Stavka finally acknowledges reality and finally acquiesces today to General Dimitriev's repeated requests to retreat behind the San, 3rd Army is a mere shell of its former self. Of the 200 000 men it had on May 2nd, only 40 000 remain to retreat eastwards today, and this despite 3rd Army having received 50 000 replacements in the meantime. Further, the Germans have taken 140 000 prisoners, reflecting the shattered morale of the Russian infantry. Some of its formations have simply ceased to exist: IX Corps has suffered 80% casualties, while III Caucasus Corps, which was sent into the battle on May 4th to restore the situation, has instead lost 75% of its strength in the six days since.
The strategic implications of the crushing defeat suffered by 3rd Army also continue to spread. In order to maintain some semblance of coherent line on the Eastern Front, Stavka issues orders for the southern flank of 4th Army to pull back east almost to the confluence of the San and Vistula Rivers, while 8th Army in the Carpathians will have to retreat to the northeast and reorientate to face to the west instead of the south.
- Though the Treaty of London had been signed on April 26th, details remained to be finalized regarding the nature of Italian co-operation with the Entente, and at sea Italy is in particular eager to secure substantial naval support in the Adriatic. Today in Paris a naval convention is signed between Britain, France, and Italy which calls for the creation of an allied fleet in the Adriatic under Italian command, to which the French would contribute twelve destroyers, a seaplane carrier, and a number of torpedo-boats and submarines, while the British pledged to dispatch four pre-dreadnoughts and four light cruisers. The British reinforcements in particular, however, are to be drawn from the fleet off the Dardanelles, and will not be sent to the Adriatic until they have been replaced by similar warships from France. This detail will be the source of friction between the allies once Italy formally enters the war.
- For Italian Prime Minister Salandra and Foreign Minister Sonnino, the driving force behind Italian intervention on the side of the Entente, the struggle now is to carry the rest of the Italian government with them into the war. This is no easy task, as many politicians do not share their passionate desire for intervention. Instead, a vague desire for neutrality is the most common sentiment, a position to which some within the Cabinet itself adhere to. Moreover, King Victor Emmanuel is unreliable; just yesterday he proclaimed to Salandra his uncertainty as to the right course of action for Italy and the possiblity of abdicating in favour of his uncle the Duke of Aosta. There is also the necessity of securing a majority in parliament for war, which is far from assured. Finally and perhaps of most concern to the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, there is an alternative political leader known to oppose intervention: Giovanni Giolitti, who has served as prime minister on no fewer than four occasions from 1892 to 1914. The possibility exists that if Salandra and Sonnino cannot carry either the cabinet or parliament in support of intervention, Giolitti may form a government pledged, at minimum, to strict neutrality, if not a pro-German attitude. Indeed, when German Ambassador Bülow browbeats the Austro-Hungarian ambassador today to agree to further concessions, he communicates the offer not to the goverment but to Giolitti; the Germans see Giolitti as the last chance to keep Italy out of the war.
For all of the difficulties that Salandra and Sonnino face, the forces opposed to intervention are not without their own problems. Giolitti is 73 years old, and both his grip on and influence in Italian politics is not what it once was. He also has little desire to form a government led by himself, fearing he would be branded as a lackey of Austria, and crucially communicates this belief to Victor Emmanuel in an interview this afternoon, which does much to calm the nerves of the king. Salandra and Giolitti also meet this afternoon, and the former sufficiently dissembles to leave the latter with the impression that he is not wholeheartedly committed to war. Still, it is possible that Giolitti may still instruct his supporters in parliament to vote against the war when it reconvenes on May 20th. The next ten days will thus determine not only whether Italy enters the war, but indeed the future course of Italian politics overall.
- Today Admiral de Robeck cables the Admiralty a proposal for a renewed naval attack on the Dardanelles. The suggestion originated in a meeting with Commodore Keyes, who remains a strong advocate of naval action, and is convinced that futher naval pressure can yet secure victory. Robeck is more doubtful, and his message reflects his continued pessimism. Even if a naval attack succeeds, 'the temper of the Turkish army in the peninsula indicates that the forcing of the Dardanelles and subsequent appearance of the fleet off Constantinople would not of itself prove decisive. These are hardly fighting words, but Keyes hopes that even a tepid proposal will inspire Churchill to order another attempt.
- Near the mouth of the Bosporus the Russian Black Sea Fleet makes another appearance to bombard the forts, and this time the recently-repaired ex-German battlecruiser Goeben makes a brief appearance. The Germans are dismayed to discover that the 12-inch guns of the outdated Russian pre-dreadnoughts can still fire farther than the 11-inch guns of Goeben. After the battlecruiser takes two glancing blows it uses its superior speed to break off the battle and return to the Sea of Marmara.
- Even as the German government attempts to defend its conduct of the war, the latest outrage - the sinking of the passenger liner Lusitania - is provoking a violent reaction in Britain, especially in Liverpool and other west coast ports in which many of the dead resided. For these civilians, the torpedoing of Lusitania is seen as culmination of a German campaign of deliberate barbarism that has included the Rape of Belgium, the bombardment of Scarborough and other towns, Zeppelin bombing raids, and the use of gas at Ypres. For many the news of Lusitania's loss is the final straw, and over the past few days anti-German riots have broken out in several British cities, including most prominently Liverpool, the destination of the doomed liner. Large crowds rampage through commercial districts, attacking any shop identified as being owned by Germans and looting its contents. Local police struggle to maintain order, with hundreds arrested. Today is the worst day of violence in Liverpool, and hardly a single commercial enterprise owned by a German remains unscathed at the end of the day. While the violence builds on existing anti-German sentiments and indeed xenophobia, they also arise from the general sense among the British public that the German methods of waging war are a fundamental threat to Western civilization, and that the war is not only worth fighting but must be fought until absolute victory can be secured and 'Prussian militarism', as it is often referred to, is crushed forever. Whether right or not, such views are genuinely held by much of the British public, and go some way to explaining the overwhelming support for the continuation of the war in the months and years ahead.
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| The aftermath of the Lusitania riots. |
- A more measured reaction to the sinking of Lusitania is seen today in the United States when President Woodrow Wilson delivers a speech before fifteen thousand in Philadelphia. After several days of deliberation, he has come to the conclusion that an immediate declaration of war is not the proper course of action. More crucially, imbued with a moral sense of American righteousness, he proclaims to the assembled crowd that:
. . . the example of America must be a special example . . . the example, not merely of peace because it will not fight, but of peace because peace is the healing and elevating influence of the world and strife is not. There is such a thing as a man being too proud to fight. There is such a thing as a nation being so right that it does not need to convince others by force that is is right.Wilson's proclamation is greeted by prolonged cheering. In Britain, perhaps not surprisingly, the president's words are not so welcome - Wilson's high-minded rhetoric appears completely divorced from the perceived reality of a struggle for civilization, and there is little inclination to take lessons in morality from someone whose country is resolutely on the sidelines.
- In Germany, reaction to the sinking of Lusitania has been mixed. Much of the public, convinced that the liner was carrying munitions, celebrates its destruction, as does the naval leadership. For the Chancellor and the Kaiser, the sinking is seen as a disaster. Wilhelm II directly orders the naval chief of staff that
. . . for the immediate future, no neutral vessel shall be sunk. This is necessary on political ground for which the chancellor is responsible. It is better than an enemy ship be allowed to pass than that a neutral shall be destroyed.Learning of the Kaiser's order, Bethmann-Hollweg informally conveys to Washington that German submarines have been instructed to avoid neutral vessels. Unfortunately for the pair, the naval chief of staff is committed to unrestricted submarine warfare, and in an act of deliberate insubordination does not convey the Kaiser's order to the fleet. For now the ostensible leaders of Germany are kept in the dark.
- In Artois today the French 10th Army attacks all along the German line, attempting to repeat the fleeting success of yesterday. Overall the French attacks fail: an attempt to move further east on the Lorette spur was held, and repeated attacks by 70th Division at Carency were also repulsed. However, a German counterattack by elements of 58th and 11th Divisions also fails, and the French XXXIII Corps is able to maintain control of the ground seized yesterday. This salient also leaves German positions at Carency and Ablain just to the north almost isolated, and the commander of the German 28th Division, responsible for this section of line, is concerned that the villages may have to be abandoned.
Further north, in light of the complete failure of the attacks of yesterday, Sir John French calls off the British offensive towards Aubers Ridge early this morning. General Haig, whose 1st Army had been responsible for the operation, is dismayed at the failure. Writing in his diary, he concludes that the defeat 'showed that we are confronted by a carefully prepared position, which is held by a most determined enemy, with numerous machine guns.' To overcome such defences, Haig believes that an 'accurate and so fairly long' preliminary bombardment will be necessary in future to ensure enemy strong points are destroyed before the infantry advance. However understandable Haig's conclusions may be, he is learning the wrong lessons.
- Overnight the Russian counterattack in Galicia is launched, with 44th Division advancing towards Jacmierz into the gap between 11th Bavarian and 119th Divisions and 33rd Division to the south advancing towards Besko. Though the Russians are able to initially gain some ground, the German commanders are more than equal to the task. To the north, 11th Bavarian Division pushes back the southern flank of XXIV Russian Corps to the north, which creates space for the German 20th Division to come up from its reserve position and launch a attack co-ordinated with 119th Division on the Russian 44th Division, throwing the latter back. To the south, the Austro-Hungarian X Corps secures the high ground near Odrzechowa, threatening the flank of the Russian 33rd Division. By nightfall the Russians have been repulsed and are retreating eastward towards Sanok.
The counterattack by the Russian XXI Corps had been the last throw of the dice for 3rd Army, and its defeat means any hope of holding the Germans west of the San River has evaporated. General Ivanov's chief of staff sends a despondent message to Stavka this evening, stating that the army is shattered and the situation is hopeless, and the only option is a pell-mell retreat eastwards: Przemysl will have to be surrendered, the Germans will soon invade the Ukraine, and Kiev should be fortified. The chief of staff is promptly fired, but Stavka finally acknowledges reality and finally acquiesces today to General Dimitriev's repeated requests to retreat behind the San, 3rd Army is a mere shell of its former self. Of the 200 000 men it had on May 2nd, only 40 000 remain to retreat eastwards today, and this despite 3rd Army having received 50 000 replacements in the meantime. Further, the Germans have taken 140 000 prisoners, reflecting the shattered morale of the Russian infantry. Some of its formations have simply ceased to exist: IX Corps has suffered 80% casualties, while III Caucasus Corps, which was sent into the battle on May 4th to restore the situation, has instead lost 75% of its strength in the six days since.
The strategic implications of the crushing defeat suffered by 3rd Army also continue to spread. In order to maintain some semblance of coherent line on the Eastern Front, Stavka issues orders for the southern flank of 4th Army to pull back east almost to the confluence of the San and Vistula Rivers, while 8th Army in the Carpathians will have to retreat to the northeast and reorientate to face to the west instead of the south.
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| The German offensive at Gorlice-Tarnow, May 10th to 12th, 1915. |
- Though the Treaty of London had been signed on April 26th, details remained to be finalized regarding the nature of Italian co-operation with the Entente, and at sea Italy is in particular eager to secure substantial naval support in the Adriatic. Today in Paris a naval convention is signed between Britain, France, and Italy which calls for the creation of an allied fleet in the Adriatic under Italian command, to which the French would contribute twelve destroyers, a seaplane carrier, and a number of torpedo-boats and submarines, while the British pledged to dispatch four pre-dreadnoughts and four light cruisers. The British reinforcements in particular, however, are to be drawn from the fleet off the Dardanelles, and will not be sent to the Adriatic until they have been replaced by similar warships from France. This detail will be the source of friction between the allies once Italy formally enters the war.
- For Italian Prime Minister Salandra and Foreign Minister Sonnino, the driving force behind Italian intervention on the side of the Entente, the struggle now is to carry the rest of the Italian government with them into the war. This is no easy task, as many politicians do not share their passionate desire for intervention. Instead, a vague desire for neutrality is the most common sentiment, a position to which some within the Cabinet itself adhere to. Moreover, King Victor Emmanuel is unreliable; just yesterday he proclaimed to Salandra his uncertainty as to the right course of action for Italy and the possiblity of abdicating in favour of his uncle the Duke of Aosta. There is also the necessity of securing a majority in parliament for war, which is far from assured. Finally and perhaps of most concern to the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, there is an alternative political leader known to oppose intervention: Giovanni Giolitti, who has served as prime minister on no fewer than four occasions from 1892 to 1914. The possibility exists that if Salandra and Sonnino cannot carry either the cabinet or parliament in support of intervention, Giolitti may form a government pledged, at minimum, to strict neutrality, if not a pro-German attitude. Indeed, when German Ambassador Bülow browbeats the Austro-Hungarian ambassador today to agree to further concessions, he communicates the offer not to the goverment but to Giolitti; the Germans see Giolitti as the last chance to keep Italy out of the war.
For all of the difficulties that Salandra and Sonnino face, the forces opposed to intervention are not without their own problems. Giolitti is 73 years old, and both his grip on and influence in Italian politics is not what it once was. He also has little desire to form a government led by himself, fearing he would be branded as a lackey of Austria, and crucially communicates this belief to Victor Emmanuel in an interview this afternoon, which does much to calm the nerves of the king. Salandra and Giolitti also meet this afternoon, and the former sufficiently dissembles to leave the latter with the impression that he is not wholeheartedly committed to war. Still, it is possible that Giolitti may still instruct his supporters in parliament to vote against the war when it reconvenes on May 20th. The next ten days will thus determine not only whether Italy enters the war, but indeed the future course of Italian politics overall.
- Today Admiral de Robeck cables the Admiralty a proposal for a renewed naval attack on the Dardanelles. The suggestion originated in a meeting with Commodore Keyes, who remains a strong advocate of naval action, and is convinced that futher naval pressure can yet secure victory. Robeck is more doubtful, and his message reflects his continued pessimism. Even if a naval attack succeeds, 'the temper of the Turkish army in the peninsula indicates that the forcing of the Dardanelles and subsequent appearance of the fleet off Constantinople would not of itself prove decisive. These are hardly fighting words, but Keyes hopes that even a tepid proposal will inspire Churchill to order another attempt.
- Near the mouth of the Bosporus the Russian Black Sea Fleet makes another appearance to bombard the forts, and this time the recently-repaired ex-German battlecruiser Goeben makes a brief appearance. The Germans are dismayed to discover that the 12-inch guns of the outdated Russian pre-dreadnoughts can still fire farther than the 11-inch guns of Goeben. After the battlecruiser takes two glancing blows it uses its superior speed to break off the battle and return to the Sea of Marmara.
Thursday, March 05, 2015
March 5th, 1915
- As the major combatants seek to increase the production of war material, one means that comes to the fore is 'dilution', whereby skilled labourers are replaced by unskilled labourers working on industrial machinery. The advantage of dilution is that it allows for the expansion of the industrial workforce without significant training or prior experience. For the workers, however, dilution is seen as a means by which employers can replace higher-wage jobs with lower-wage jobs, and those many trade union leaders are extremely reluctant to agree to dilution on any terms. In Britain today, though the Engineering Employers' Federation and the Amalgamated Society of Engineers agree to accept the principle of dilution, it is only for the duration of the war and only in factories producing munitions. Moreover, it is an agreement that is not matched in other industries.
- After two days of attack and counterattack, the French have regained the ground on the Lorette Spur lost to the Germans on the 3rd, while the latter have suffered 1800 casualties.
- A French assault at Hartsmannswillerkopf seize a portion of the enemy's first trench line, though the Germans remain in control of the summit of the peak.
- In the Carpathians, VII Corps and the left wing of X Corps of the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army attacks the Russian lines opposite, but suffering a shattering defeat. The capability of 3rd Army to undertake offensive operations has been crushed; VII Corps alone has lost 60% of its strength over the past five days. The commander of 3rd Army thus orders his formations to go over on to the defensive, though this calls into question the viability of 2nd Army's offensive and indeed the entire concept of a continued Austro-Hungarian effort to relieve Przemysl.
- Though the Admiralty sent the new dreadnought Queen Elizabeth to the Dardanelles to participate in the operation, they have forbidden it from sailing into the straits themselves, lest it strike a mine and sink. Instead, Queen Elizabeth today anchors off the Aegean coast of Gallipoli and fires 15-inch shells over the peninsula at the Ottoman forts in the straits. Though the sudden bombardment from an unexpected direction and from an unseen foe confuses the Ottomans, without accurate spotting the shells fail to hit anything of significance.
- While the Entente focus is on the Dardanelles operation, other operations in the region are also the subject of attention. One such attack begins today when the pre-dreadnoughts Triumph and Swiftsure and the armoured cruiser Euryalus, accompanied by minesweepers and smaller craft, commence a bombardment of the port of Smyrna, the largest Ottoman port on the Mediterranean. There were concerns that Smyrna might be used as a base by German or Austro-Hungarian submarines, so its neutralization was seen as desirable. The task force is to destroy the forts protecting the harbour to facilitate a close blockade and leave the port itself open to attack at any time. In many respects, it is a miniature version of the Dardanelles operation, and also shares its problems; the pre-dreadnoughts cannot close to destroy the forts until protective minefields have been cleared, but these are protected by mobile guns. One difference, however, is an attempt to negotiate with the Ottoman governor of Smyrna, who is believed to be synmpathetic to the Entente and potentially willing to surrender his small craft to the British and allow them to sweep the minefields. Thus the operation beginning today is two-pronged: a military attack on the harbour defences and a diplomatic approach to render such an attack unnecessary.
- Admiral Anton Haus, commander of the Austro-Hungarian navy, writes today to Admiral Souchon at Constantinople, responding to the German desire for naval support for the Ottomans at the Dardanelles. Haus states that only two Austro-Hungarian submarines have even the potential range to reach the Dardanelles in ideal conditions, while they are required instead to defend the key naval base at Cattaro and remain available should the Italians come into the war on the side of the Entente. He also pours cold water on the idea of sending a fast light cruiser to the Ottomans to deliver munitions. Why should his navy, he wonders, sacrifice a valuable warship to deliver, at most, three hundred tons of ammunition. The letter shows that the Ottomans will not be able to rely on any Austro-Hungarian support against the Entente naval assault on the Dardanelles.
- After two days of attack and counterattack, the French have regained the ground on the Lorette Spur lost to the Germans on the 3rd, while the latter have suffered 1800 casualties.
- A French assault at Hartsmannswillerkopf seize a portion of the enemy's first trench line, though the Germans remain in control of the summit of the peak.
- In the Carpathians, VII Corps and the left wing of X Corps of the Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army attacks the Russian lines opposite, but suffering a shattering defeat. The capability of 3rd Army to undertake offensive operations has been crushed; VII Corps alone has lost 60% of its strength over the past five days. The commander of 3rd Army thus orders his formations to go over on to the defensive, though this calls into question the viability of 2nd Army's offensive and indeed the entire concept of a continued Austro-Hungarian effort to relieve Przemysl.
- Though the Admiralty sent the new dreadnought Queen Elizabeth to the Dardanelles to participate in the operation, they have forbidden it from sailing into the straits themselves, lest it strike a mine and sink. Instead, Queen Elizabeth today anchors off the Aegean coast of Gallipoli and fires 15-inch shells over the peninsula at the Ottoman forts in the straits. Though the sudden bombardment from an unexpected direction and from an unseen foe confuses the Ottomans, without accurate spotting the shells fail to hit anything of significance.
- While the Entente focus is on the Dardanelles operation, other operations in the region are also the subject of attention. One such attack begins today when the pre-dreadnoughts Triumph and Swiftsure and the armoured cruiser Euryalus, accompanied by minesweepers and smaller craft, commence a bombardment of the port of Smyrna, the largest Ottoman port on the Mediterranean. There were concerns that Smyrna might be used as a base by German or Austro-Hungarian submarines, so its neutralization was seen as desirable. The task force is to destroy the forts protecting the harbour to facilitate a close blockade and leave the port itself open to attack at any time. In many respects, it is a miniature version of the Dardanelles operation, and also shares its problems; the pre-dreadnoughts cannot close to destroy the forts until protective minefields have been cleared, but these are protected by mobile guns. One difference, however, is an attempt to negotiate with the Ottoman governor of Smyrna, who is believed to be synmpathetic to the Entente and potentially willing to surrender his small craft to the British and allow them to sweep the minefields. Thus the operation beginning today is two-pronged: a military attack on the harbour defences and a diplomatic approach to render such an attack unnecessary.
- Admiral Anton Haus, commander of the Austro-Hungarian navy, writes today to Admiral Souchon at Constantinople, responding to the German desire for naval support for the Ottomans at the Dardanelles. Haus states that only two Austro-Hungarian submarines have even the potential range to reach the Dardanelles in ideal conditions, while they are required instead to defend the key naval base at Cattaro and remain available should the Italians come into the war on the side of the Entente. He also pours cold water on the idea of sending a fast light cruiser to the Ottomans to deliver munitions. Why should his navy, he wonders, sacrifice a valuable warship to deliver, at most, three hundred tons of ammunition. The letter shows that the Ottomans will not be able to rely on any Austro-Hungarian support against the Entente naval assault on the Dardanelles.
Monday, February 09, 2015
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.
- 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.
Monday, February 02, 2015
February 2nd, 1915
- Financial representatives from Britain, France, and Russia meet today in Paris to discuss the financing of the war. Britain objects to a French proposal to issue a joint allied loan of £800 million, fearing that British credit would be undermined by association with the weaker credit of its allies. Instead, Britain (with £25 million) and France (625 million francs) agree to support Russia, while in exchange France and Russia agree to ship £6 million in gold to Britain if the reserves of the Bank of England falls by over £10 million in the next six months.
- The defeat at Dogger Bank just over a week ago has capped a frustrating first six months of the war for the German High Seas Fleet. The British clearly dominate the North Sea, as evidenced by their attack on the Heligoland Bight in August, and the naval raids against the British coast only narrowly avoided catastrophe at the hands of intercepting British squadrons. Such setbacks demand a scapegoat, and today he is found - Admiral Ingenohl is dismissed as commander of the High Seas Fleet.
- In the Carpathians the Austro-Hungarian effort to seize the heights north of the Uszok Pass have failed. Given the utter exhaustion of the infantry in the bitter cold, efforts to attack the Russian positions frontally and outflank them have gotten nowhere. Early his morning General Szurmay pulls his forces back towards the Uszok Pass, in order to give them a brief respite from the fighting.
- The defeat at Dogger Bank just over a week ago has capped a frustrating first six months of the war for the German High Seas Fleet. The British clearly dominate the North Sea, as evidenced by their attack on the Heligoland Bight in August, and the naval raids against the British coast only narrowly avoided catastrophe at the hands of intercepting British squadrons. Such setbacks demand a scapegoat, and today he is found - Admiral Ingenohl is dismissed as commander of the High Seas Fleet.
- In the Carpathians the Austro-Hungarian effort to seize the heights north of the Uszok Pass have failed. Given the utter exhaustion of the infantry in the bitter cold, efforts to attack the Russian positions frontally and outflank them have gotten nowhere. Early his morning General Szurmay pulls his forces back towards the Uszok Pass, in order to give them a brief respite from the fighting.
Sunday, January 04, 2015
January 4th, 1915
- After closing on the outbreak of war in August, the London Stock Exchange reopens today.
- The ability of the French army to increase its stock of artillery shells is hampered by the necessity of supplying ammunition to its allies in order to enhance their fighting ability. As the French minister of war reports today, at a time when Joffre is demanding the production of 60 000 rounds per day, France is exporting 12 000 per day to Russia, 3000 to Romania, 2000 to Serbia, and between 1000 and 2000 to Belgium.
- At the far southern end of the Western Front, the line runs just inside the German province of Alsace until it reaches the Swiss border. Here the French have entrenched themselves on the eastern ridges of the Vosges Mountains, giving them observation of the upper Rhine River and allowing bombardment of the German-held plains to the east. The Vosges are rocky and forested, preventing the construction of continuous trench lines. Instead, each side entrenches on available high ground and emphasizes strong points. Nevertheless, the stalemate to the north has replicated itself in the Vosges - indeed, advancing exposed up hillsides, where artillery shells create lethal airborne rock splinters, advances are particularly arduous.
For the past month, French infantry have been attacking at several points in order to push the line eastward and bring more of the German rear under artillery fire. In order to bring a halt to the enemy attacks, Army Detachment Gaede, responsible for defending German Alsace, has been reinforced by six battalions and three batteries of artillery and ordered to seize Hartmannswillerkopf (known to the French as Vieil Armand), at 3136 feet one of the highest points in the Vosges and one from which the French have been able to direct artillery fire on the vital railway linking Mulhouse and Colmar. Today three German regiments of light infantry, grenadiers, and dismounted light cavalry attack Hartmannswillerkopf, but are repulsed by the entrenched French defenders.
- For several months the vital Austro-Hungarian fortress of Przemysl has been besieged by the Russians, who are content to simply starve out the defenders. Indeed, the food stocks, never high, are continuing to dwindle. Today, the commander at Przemysl radios Conrad to inquire whether the garrison should attempt to break out around February 1st, or simply hold out until March 7th, the date on which it is expected food supplies (including the slaughter of horses) will run out. Conrad views the fall of Przemysl not only as a military but also a political catastrophe, as its loss would further undermine the prestige of Austria-Hungary among neutral states, and thus views an early offensive in Galicia to relieve Przemysl to be of vital importance.
- At Sarikamish the shattered remnants of the Ottoman IX Corps, surrounded and attack from Bardiz to the rear, surrender today. Enver Pasha, who had been with IX Corps, manages to escape through Russian lines to reach XI Corps, which is still attacking in a vain effort to recover the situation.
- The ability of the French army to increase its stock of artillery shells is hampered by the necessity of supplying ammunition to its allies in order to enhance their fighting ability. As the French minister of war reports today, at a time when Joffre is demanding the production of 60 000 rounds per day, France is exporting 12 000 per day to Russia, 3000 to Romania, 2000 to Serbia, and between 1000 and 2000 to Belgium.
- At the far southern end of the Western Front, the line runs just inside the German province of Alsace until it reaches the Swiss border. Here the French have entrenched themselves on the eastern ridges of the Vosges Mountains, giving them observation of the upper Rhine River and allowing bombardment of the German-held plains to the east. The Vosges are rocky and forested, preventing the construction of continuous trench lines. Instead, each side entrenches on available high ground and emphasizes strong points. Nevertheless, the stalemate to the north has replicated itself in the Vosges - indeed, advancing exposed up hillsides, where artillery shells create lethal airborne rock splinters, advances are particularly arduous.
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| The Western Front in the Vosges. |
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| Winter in the Vosges, 1915. |
For the past month, French infantry have been attacking at several points in order to push the line eastward and bring more of the German rear under artillery fire. In order to bring a halt to the enemy attacks, Army Detachment Gaede, responsible for defending German Alsace, has been reinforced by six battalions and three batteries of artillery and ordered to seize Hartmannswillerkopf (known to the French as Vieil Armand), at 3136 feet one of the highest points in the Vosges and one from which the French have been able to direct artillery fire on the vital railway linking Mulhouse and Colmar. Today three German regiments of light infantry, grenadiers, and dismounted light cavalry attack Hartmannswillerkopf, but are repulsed by the entrenched French defenders.
- For several months the vital Austro-Hungarian fortress of Przemysl has been besieged by the Russians, who are content to simply starve out the defenders. Indeed, the food stocks, never high, are continuing to dwindle. Today, the commander at Przemysl radios Conrad to inquire whether the garrison should attempt to break out around February 1st, or simply hold out until March 7th, the date on which it is expected food supplies (including the slaughter of horses) will run out. Conrad views the fall of Przemysl not only as a military but also a political catastrophe, as its loss would further undermine the prestige of Austria-Hungary among neutral states, and thus views an early offensive in Galicia to relieve Przemysl to be of vital importance.
- At Sarikamish the shattered remnants of the Ottoman IX Corps, surrounded and attack from Bardiz to the rear, surrender today. Enver Pasha, who had been with IX Corps, manages to escape through Russian lines to reach XI Corps, which is still attacking in a vain effort to recover the situation.
Thursday, December 11, 2014
December 11th, 1914
- Two days ago the British ambassador in Paris had submitted to the French minister of war a memorandum proposing that the British Expeditionary Force be redeployed to the Entente far left on the Channel coast, so that the Royal Navy could co-operate with BEF operations towards Ostend and Zeebrugge. As General Sir Henry Wilson notes in his diary today, the reaction of both Joffre and Foch is negative. First, operations along the coast will do nothing to support the offensives Joffre is planning in Artois and Champagne. Second, the French fear that the further away the BEF is from the French armies, the more difficult it will be to secure their co-operation in future operations. Finally, the almost-unspoken fear is that by placing the BEF in Belgium by being on the coast, the British may be seeking an inordinate influence over postwar Belgium - Britain and France may be allies, but France wants to ensure a strong hand in shaping and influencing postwar Europe.
- By today General Roth's group consists of nine infantry and three cavalry divisions, though this was little more than paper strength - his infantry divisions average between two and three thousand, while 3rd Infantry Division can muster only nine hundred soldiers. Despite this, the Russian VIII Corps opposing them is in hardly better shape, and heavy assaults by the Russians fail to dislodge the Austro-Hungarian defenders east of Limanowa. For its part General Szurmay's group advances to within sight of Neusandez while parrying an attack on its by the Russian 48th Division. The latter formation belongs to XXIV Corps, the second formation sent by General Brusilov to aid his western neighbour. The rest of the corps, however, is stalled to the east by the northern advance of the Austro-Hungarian III Corps towards the Gorlice-Roba road. Finally, the weakening of Brusilov's 8th Army to send reinforcements westwards allows the Austro-Hungarian VII Corps to retake the Dukla Pass through the Carpathians.
- By today General Roth's group consists of nine infantry and three cavalry divisions, though this was little more than paper strength - his infantry divisions average between two and three thousand, while 3rd Infantry Division can muster only nine hundred soldiers. Despite this, the Russian VIII Corps opposing them is in hardly better shape, and heavy assaults by the Russians fail to dislodge the Austro-Hungarian defenders east of Limanowa. For its part General Szurmay's group advances to within sight of Neusandez while parrying an attack on its by the Russian 48th Division. The latter formation belongs to XXIV Corps, the second formation sent by General Brusilov to aid his western neighbour. The rest of the corps, however, is stalled to the east by the northern advance of the Austro-Hungarian III Corps towards the Gorlice-Roba road. Finally, the weakening of Brusilov's 8th Army to send reinforcements westwards allows the Austro-Hungarian VII Corps to retake the Dukla Pass through the Carpathians.
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
November 12th, 1914
- Though the German breakthroughs of yesterday have been contained, there is still great concern among British commanders early this morning. The German Guards regiments still hold the old British trench line between Polygon Wood and the Menin Road, and an attempt in the pre-dawn hours to launch a counterattack is abandoned after Brigadier-General Charles Fitzclarence of 1st Brigade is killed reconnoitring the enemy position. General Haig informs Field Marshal French that his position is extremely precarious, I Corps current manpower being more than 80% below peacetime establishment. The BEF commander is able to send 1st Cavalry Division to assist, given the lack of German effort yesterday in the area around Messines.
Though the British situation is dire, it is if anything worse on the German side. The attacking units of yesterday suffered appalling losses - 1st Guard Regiment, for example, suffered in excess of eight hundred casualties alone. The fresh divisions of Plettenberg's Corps, having launched the most determined assaults, have suffered the greatest losses. The attacking power of Army Group Linsingen has been irretrievably broken - Winckler's Division spends today entrenching as opposed to resuming yesterday's attacks. The British lines are not attacked today, and though on the northeast portion of the Ypres salient a surprise attack by the Germans on the French IX Corps forces the latter back six hundred yards, there is never any real risk of a German breakthrough here.
- Joffre issues instructions today to his army commanders, emphasizing the importance of constructing strong trench lines and defenses. This was not, however, an acceptance by Joffre that the French army was to go over to the defensive; instead, stronger defenses meant fewer soldiers were needed to man the trenches, which freed up units to be placed in reserve to counter a German attack, or for use in future offensive operations. Again, the emphasis on trench construction is meant to facilitate, not impede, a return to a war of movement.
- A conference advocating the complete prohibition of alcohol during wartime is held today at Caxton Hall, London, presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The call is based in part on the belief that drunk workers do not make good munitions workers. There is, however, also a gender component - it is feared that as more working-class women enter the factory to replace men gone off to war, they are more likely to succumb to the temptation of alcohol, long a staple of male working-class culture. The fear here is that these women will become less feminine, a common concern when normative gender roles are in flux due to the war, and the desire is to minimize the disruption - women may be needed to work like men, but heaven forbid they start drinking like men.
- Throughout the 19th-century, a cornerstone of Russian foreign policy was the acquisition of Constantinople and the straits of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, so as to have year-round access to the world's oceans, which Russia did not have from its Baltic or Pacific ports. Equally, the British in the 19th-century consistently opposed the Russian claim on the basis that it would disrupt the balance of power, and thus Britain spent much of the last century propping up the Ottoman Empire. Naturally, with the Ottomans now included among their enemies, the British feel no great desire to prolong their existence. More important now is keeping the Russians onside, and the promise of the Straits is surely extra motivation to continue in the war. Besides, there are plenty of other parts of the Ottoman Empire that the British have their eyes on, so a concession here can be balanced by an acquisition there. Thus today the British government informs the Russians that they support the claim of the latter to the Straits in any postwar settlement.
- In South Africa Christian de Wet has raised a commando of about 3500 in the Orange Free State, but more have flocked to the Government. Prime Minister Botha leads one commando of several that attempt to surround de Wet's force in Mushroom Valley. Due to a miscommunication between the Government units the rebel commando is able to escape, but leaves behind a number of dead and wounded as well as 250 prisoners. De Wet is determined to continue the rebellion - his son Danie had been killed in a skirmish with government soldiers on the 9th. However, Botha today issues a promise of a pardon to any rebel who surrenders by the 21st, which begins to thin the ranks of the rebels.
Though the British situation is dire, it is if anything worse on the German side. The attacking units of yesterday suffered appalling losses - 1st Guard Regiment, for example, suffered in excess of eight hundred casualties alone. The fresh divisions of Plettenberg's Corps, having launched the most determined assaults, have suffered the greatest losses. The attacking power of Army Group Linsingen has been irretrievably broken - Winckler's Division spends today entrenching as opposed to resuming yesterday's attacks. The British lines are not attacked today, and though on the northeast portion of the Ypres salient a surprise attack by the Germans on the French IX Corps forces the latter back six hundred yards, there is never any real risk of a German breakthrough here.
- Joffre issues instructions today to his army commanders, emphasizing the importance of constructing strong trench lines and defenses. This was not, however, an acceptance by Joffre that the French army was to go over to the defensive; instead, stronger defenses meant fewer soldiers were needed to man the trenches, which freed up units to be placed in reserve to counter a German attack, or for use in future offensive operations. Again, the emphasis on trench construction is meant to facilitate, not impede, a return to a war of movement.
- A conference advocating the complete prohibition of alcohol during wartime is held today at Caxton Hall, London, presided over by the Archbishop of Canterbury. The call is based in part on the belief that drunk workers do not make good munitions workers. There is, however, also a gender component - it is feared that as more working-class women enter the factory to replace men gone off to war, they are more likely to succumb to the temptation of alcohol, long a staple of male working-class culture. The fear here is that these women will become less feminine, a common concern when normative gender roles are in flux due to the war, and the desire is to minimize the disruption - women may be needed to work like men, but heaven forbid they start drinking like men.
- Throughout the 19th-century, a cornerstone of Russian foreign policy was the acquisition of Constantinople and the straits of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles, so as to have year-round access to the world's oceans, which Russia did not have from its Baltic or Pacific ports. Equally, the British in the 19th-century consistently opposed the Russian claim on the basis that it would disrupt the balance of power, and thus Britain spent much of the last century propping up the Ottoman Empire. Naturally, with the Ottomans now included among their enemies, the British feel no great desire to prolong their existence. More important now is keeping the Russians onside, and the promise of the Straits is surely extra motivation to continue in the war. Besides, there are plenty of other parts of the Ottoman Empire that the British have their eyes on, so a concession here can be balanced by an acquisition there. Thus today the British government informs the Russians that they support the claim of the latter to the Straits in any postwar settlement.
- In South Africa Christian de Wet has raised a commando of about 3500 in the Orange Free State, but more have flocked to the Government. Prime Minister Botha leads one commando of several that attempt to surround de Wet's force in Mushroom Valley. Due to a miscommunication between the Government units the rebel commando is able to escape, but leaves behind a number of dead and wounded as well as 250 prisoners. De Wet is determined to continue the rebellion - his son Danie had been killed in a skirmish with government soldiers on the 9th. However, Botha today issues a promise of a pardon to any rebel who surrenders by the 21st, which begins to thin the ranks of the rebels.
Wednesday, November 05, 2014
November 5th, 1914
- In Flanders General d'Urbal recieves instructions from General Foch that, as per communications from Joffre, the possibility of a decisive breakthrough north or south of Ypres had all but disappeared, given the time the Germans have had to entrench in their current positions. Conversely, indications at present suggest the Germans have themselves abandoned hopes for a breakthrough. Instead, it would be preferable to withdraw troops from the fighting to reconstitute reserves for the French army elsewhere.
The one thing Foch does not do is order d'Urbal to cease his attacks on the German lines. In the absence of such orders, attacking is precisely what d'Urbal does. For his efforts today precisely no ground is gained, and indeed Hill 75, just to the west of Messines, is captured by the Germans today.
On the British front it is finally possible this evening to relieve 7th Division and 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, replacing the former with battalions drawn from II Corps and the latter with 6th Cavalry Brigade. 7th Division epitomizes the struggles faced by the BEF and the losses they have suffered. It has been in near-constant combat, and under continual shelling, since October 19th, and of the 12 522 officers and men who comprised the division when it landed at Ghent on October 12th, only 4149 men remain when it is pulled out of the line today, which includes 2000 soldiers sent as reinforcements over the past month - its commander has been heard to joke darkly that he is a divisional commander without a division.
Nevertheless, the prevailing mood at BEF HQ is that the worst has now past. Field Marshal French and his corps commanders meet today to discuss the disposition of the BEF over the winter and the provision of leave arrangements.
This optimism, of course, is completely unfounded, as Falkenhayn has determined to make one last push at Ypres. Today 4th Division, one of the units designated as reinforcements for the offensive, begins detraining today at Lille.
- Today the British government declares the entire North Sea a war zone, and that all vessels entering these waters do so at their own risk. Ostensibly the move is a response to the laying of German mine fields in the North Sea, but in practice it is a further step in tightening the blockade of Germany - by declaring the North Sea a war zone, the hope is that all neutral traffic would use the Dover Straits where it could be inspected for contraband, a much easier process than patrolling the gap between Scotland and Norway. Again the British government is undertaking a delicate balancing act - the needs of the Admiralty must constantly be balanced by the Foreign Office's concerns with the impact on neutral opinion.
- This evening the British battlecruisers Invincible and Inflexible depart Cromarty Firth on the west Scottish coast, where they had been a part of Admiral Beatty's Battlecruiser Squadron, en route to Plymouth, where they are to have machinery replaced and take on supplies prior to departure for the South Atlantic. Their redeployment is the brainchild of Admiral Fisher, just as the ships themselves were a result of his vision of modern naval warfare expounded upon during his earlier tenure as First Sea Lord. He believed that speed and firepower was paramount, and envisioned the battlecruiser being able to catch everything it could sink and escape from what it couldn't. In practice this meant having the main armament, but not the armour, of a dreadnought, which gave it several knots advantage over the latter.
In sending them to the South Atlantic they are to form the cornerstone of the British effort to find and sink the German East Asiatic Squadron. The two battlecruisers are faster than Spee's armoured cruisers, and with heavier main armament is able to fire larger shells over a distance significantly farther than Spee's own main armament can reach. In other words, they are the perfect weapon to annihilate the German squadron and avenge Coronel - it is the Royal Navy equivalent of stacking the deck in its favour. Indeed, this is one of the core missions Fisher had envisioned his battlecruisers undertaking - hunting down and sinking enemy commerce raiders.
Of course, the admirals losing Invincible and Inflexible are not pleased about the redeployment. Beatty is aghast at losing two of his precious battlecruisers, and while Admiral Jellicoe can understand the logic behind the move, he is all-too-aware that it further reduce the British margin of superiority in the North Sea shortly after the loss of the dreadnought Audacious. The next several months will constitute the closest the German High Seas Fleet will come to parity with the British Grand Fleet.
- All other options exhausted, Britain and France today declare war on the Ottoman Empire. Simultaneously, the British announce the formal annexation the Ottoman island of Cyprus, which they have occupied since the Congress of Berlin in 1878. Though this does little more than make de jure what has long been de facto, the action outrages public opinion in Greece, given the substantial Greek population on Cyprus and the belief that the island belongs to them.
The Entente powers are also cognizant of the potential for unrest among the Muslim population of their colonies as they go to war with the preeminent Muslim state in the world. In an effort to neutralize the issue, the governor-general of French Algeria issues a proclamation that differentiates between the Young Turk rulers of the Ottoman Empire, who are seen as puppets of Germany, and the Turkish people as a whole.
- The Russian declaration of war on the Ottoman Empire yesterday opens a new front in the war, as the two empires share a frontier in the Caucasus. The terrain here is rough and broken, dominated by the Caucasus and Taurus mountain ranges, and the poverty of the region was such that at the best of times the peasants were barely able to feed themselves. Two railways on the Russian side approached the border, but their configeration was based on commerce, not defense, while on the Turkish side the nearest railway to Erzurum, the principal Ottoman city in the Caucasus, is 640 miles away. The weather is also terrible, winter lasting from early November to between late March and May, with snow of two metres in the valleys and temperatures falling below minus twenty degrees centigrade.
All of this combines to convince the Russians that there is little risk of Ottoman invasion. Indeed, the primary Russian focus is internal, not external - the region has always been a troublesome colonial frontier for the Russians, and groups such as the Georgians continue to agitate and organize to fight for independence. To this end the Russian I Caucasian Corps, the main Russian force responsible for the region's defense, has been ordered to secure the line Bayazit-Eleskirt-Id, just inside the Ottoman border, this constituting a shorter front than if the corps remained on the Russian side of the frontier. However, this evening General Georgii Bergmann, who commands I Caucasian Corps and desires glory on the battlefield, orders in his own initiative a further advance to Hasankale on the main road to Erzurum.
- At Tanga the German defenders now number 1500, but Colonel Lettow-Vorbeck is uneasy. Though the British were repulsed yesterday, he is aware that they had managed to penetrate into Tanga before doing so, and is concerned that a more concerted and determined British advance might yet succeed. Further, though the enemy advance on Longido failed on the 3rd, he is conscious that he has only three companies there should the British go back over onto the attack. At 5pm, he concludes that Tanga can no longer be held, and begins preparations to withdraw.
As it turns out, however, the British had beaten him to the punch. After the debacle of yesterday the soldiers of Indian Expeditionary Force B were hopelessly demoralized, and their commander convinced that victory was impossible. Thus the British evacuate their forces from the beachhead near Tanga, a process complete by 320pm. Such was their haste to evacuate that they left all of its heavy supplies behind, among which were eight machine-guns, 455 rifles, and half a million rounds, a vital contribution to Lettow-Vorbeck's force given the difficulties of resupply from Germany itself. The entire British operation, from first to last, has been a disaster, giving the Germans a notable victory and, for now at least, bringing a halt to offensive operations against German East Africa.
The one thing Foch does not do is order d'Urbal to cease his attacks on the German lines. In the absence of such orders, attacking is precisely what d'Urbal does. For his efforts today precisely no ground is gained, and indeed Hill 75, just to the west of Messines, is captured by the Germans today.
On the British front it is finally possible this evening to relieve 7th Division and 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, replacing the former with battalions drawn from II Corps and the latter with 6th Cavalry Brigade. 7th Division epitomizes the struggles faced by the BEF and the losses they have suffered. It has been in near-constant combat, and under continual shelling, since October 19th, and of the 12 522 officers and men who comprised the division when it landed at Ghent on October 12th, only 4149 men remain when it is pulled out of the line today, which includes 2000 soldiers sent as reinforcements over the past month - its commander has been heard to joke darkly that he is a divisional commander without a division.
Nevertheless, the prevailing mood at BEF HQ is that the worst has now past. Field Marshal French and his corps commanders meet today to discuss the disposition of the BEF over the winter and the provision of leave arrangements.
This optimism, of course, is completely unfounded, as Falkenhayn has determined to make one last push at Ypres. Today 4th Division, one of the units designated as reinforcements for the offensive, begins detraining today at Lille.
 |
| The Battle of Ypres, October 5th to 9th, 1914. |
- Today the British government declares the entire North Sea a war zone, and that all vessels entering these waters do so at their own risk. Ostensibly the move is a response to the laying of German mine fields in the North Sea, but in practice it is a further step in tightening the blockade of Germany - by declaring the North Sea a war zone, the hope is that all neutral traffic would use the Dover Straits where it could be inspected for contraband, a much easier process than patrolling the gap between Scotland and Norway. Again the British government is undertaking a delicate balancing act - the needs of the Admiralty must constantly be balanced by the Foreign Office's concerns with the impact on neutral opinion.
- This evening the British battlecruisers Invincible and Inflexible depart Cromarty Firth on the west Scottish coast, where they had been a part of Admiral Beatty's Battlecruiser Squadron, en route to Plymouth, where they are to have machinery replaced and take on supplies prior to departure for the South Atlantic. Their redeployment is the brainchild of Admiral Fisher, just as the ships themselves were a result of his vision of modern naval warfare expounded upon during his earlier tenure as First Sea Lord. He believed that speed and firepower was paramount, and envisioned the battlecruiser being able to catch everything it could sink and escape from what it couldn't. In practice this meant having the main armament, but not the armour, of a dreadnought, which gave it several knots advantage over the latter.
In sending them to the South Atlantic they are to form the cornerstone of the British effort to find and sink the German East Asiatic Squadron. The two battlecruisers are faster than Spee's armoured cruisers, and with heavier main armament is able to fire larger shells over a distance significantly farther than Spee's own main armament can reach. In other words, they are the perfect weapon to annihilate the German squadron and avenge Coronel - it is the Royal Navy equivalent of stacking the deck in its favour. Indeed, this is one of the core missions Fisher had envisioned his battlecruisers undertaking - hunting down and sinking enemy commerce raiders.
Of course, the admirals losing Invincible and Inflexible are not pleased about the redeployment. Beatty is aghast at losing two of his precious battlecruisers, and while Admiral Jellicoe can understand the logic behind the move, he is all-too-aware that it further reduce the British margin of superiority in the North Sea shortly after the loss of the dreadnought Audacious. The next several months will constitute the closest the German High Seas Fleet will come to parity with the British Grand Fleet.
- All other options exhausted, Britain and France today declare war on the Ottoman Empire. Simultaneously, the British announce the formal annexation the Ottoman island of Cyprus, which they have occupied since the Congress of Berlin in 1878. Though this does little more than make de jure what has long been de facto, the action outrages public opinion in Greece, given the substantial Greek population on Cyprus and the belief that the island belongs to them.
The Entente powers are also cognizant of the potential for unrest among the Muslim population of their colonies as they go to war with the preeminent Muslim state in the world. In an effort to neutralize the issue, the governor-general of French Algeria issues a proclamation that differentiates between the Young Turk rulers of the Ottoman Empire, who are seen as puppets of Germany, and the Turkish people as a whole.
- The Russian declaration of war on the Ottoman Empire yesterday opens a new front in the war, as the two empires share a frontier in the Caucasus. The terrain here is rough and broken, dominated by the Caucasus and Taurus mountain ranges, and the poverty of the region was such that at the best of times the peasants were barely able to feed themselves. Two railways on the Russian side approached the border, but their configeration was based on commerce, not defense, while on the Turkish side the nearest railway to Erzurum, the principal Ottoman city in the Caucasus, is 640 miles away. The weather is also terrible, winter lasting from early November to between late March and May, with snow of two metres in the valleys and temperatures falling below minus twenty degrees centigrade.
All of this combines to convince the Russians that there is little risk of Ottoman invasion. Indeed, the primary Russian focus is internal, not external - the region has always been a troublesome colonial frontier for the Russians, and groups such as the Georgians continue to agitate and organize to fight for independence. To this end the Russian I Caucasian Corps, the main Russian force responsible for the region's defense, has been ordered to secure the line Bayazit-Eleskirt-Id, just inside the Ottoman border, this constituting a shorter front than if the corps remained on the Russian side of the frontier. However, this evening General Georgii Bergmann, who commands I Caucasian Corps and desires glory on the battlefield, orders in his own initiative a further advance to Hasankale on the main road to Erzurum.
 |
| The Caucasus Theatre. |
- At Tanga the German defenders now number 1500, but Colonel Lettow-Vorbeck is uneasy. Though the British were repulsed yesterday, he is aware that they had managed to penetrate into Tanga before doing so, and is concerned that a more concerted and determined British advance might yet succeed. Further, though the enemy advance on Longido failed on the 3rd, he is conscious that he has only three companies there should the British go back over onto the attack. At 5pm, he concludes that Tanga can no longer be held, and begins preparations to withdraw.
As it turns out, however, the British had beaten him to the punch. After the debacle of yesterday the soldiers of Indian Expeditionary Force B were hopelessly demoralized, and their commander convinced that victory was impossible. Thus the British evacuate their forces from the beachhead near Tanga, a process complete by 320pm. Such was their haste to evacuate that they left all of its heavy supplies behind, among which were eight machine-guns, 455 rifles, and half a million rounds, a vital contribution to Lettow-Vorbeck's force given the difficulties of resupply from Germany itself. The entire British operation, from first to last, has been a disaster, giving the Germans a notable victory and, for now at least, bringing a halt to offensive operations against German East Africa.
 |
| Indian dead on the beaches near Tanga, November 5th, 1914. |
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
October 28th, 1914
- This evening the Belgians make a second attempt at opening the locks, Hendrik Geeraert leading Belgian soldiers to lock gates just before the German lines. This time they get the timing right, and the North Sea begins to flood the area between the Yser River and the railway embankment. Meanwhile, the Germans launch attacks against the southern portion of the French line defending Dixmude, but are unable to make any progress against the fresh Senegalese units.
- As Army Group Fabeck begins to assemble for the planned offensive southeast of Ypres, both Fabeck and Falkenhayn decide that a preliminary operation is required to capture Gheluvelt, as continued British control of the village would allow them to pour fire on the northern flank of the main attack. Thus the 6th Bavarian Reserve Division, I Cavalry Corps, and XXVII Reserve Corps are instructed to co-operate in attacking Gheluvelt tomorrow morning. As the planning continues Falkenhayn orders 4th Army to cancel a scheduled attack nearby in order to be able to assist the push on Gheluvelt if necessary. When 4th Army headquarters signals the change in orders to XXVII Reserve Corps in the clear, the message is intercepted by the British.
- For their part, the leadership of the BEF had been growing in confidence over the past few days. There is a palpable sense that they have defeated the big German push - the attacks of the reserve corps - and that they are now going back over to the offensive. True, the gains of the French IX Corps have been minimal, a further attack today not securing anything of consequence, while recent setbacks such as the loss of Neuve Chapelle are dismissed as local events of no significance. There is also a belief that the Germans have shot their bolt, Sir John French writing Kitchener yesterday that the Germans were 'quite incapable of making any strong and sustained attack' - not the Field Marshal;s most insightful observation. When aerial reconnaissance reports the roads behind the German front clogged with vehicles, the general conclusion is that most are refugees fleeing the fighting, as opposed to reinforcements approaching the front.
Thus the interception of the German 4th Army's signal regarding the planned attack against Gheluvelt tomorrow does not cause quite the alarm it perhaps should. As the attack will fall on the junction of I Corps' 1st and 7th Division, plans are made to co-ordinate the artillery fire of those two divisions plus 2nd to the north, and they are authorized to exceed their daily quota of shell usage. However, the attention of both French and Haig remains on the offensive to the north, and orders remain for 2nd Division to advance. Moreover, the British reaction was slowed by poor communications - though I Corps HQ knows of the German attack by 3pm, it is not until midnight that the information reaches the headquarters of the relevant battalions. This delay is not the product of poor staff work, but rather the realities of modern communications in 1914. Almost all messages go either by telephone or messenger, and the lines of the former are frequently destroyed by shell fire, while the latter have to move in the open and in the range of enemy fire to get to front-line headquarters given that the rudimentary defences lack communication trenches.
- To the south, another counterattack is attempted against Neuve Chapelle. After a short preliminary bombardment the British advance at 1130am. The attack is a shambles - the soldiers are exhausted after several days of constant fighting and there are great difficulties coordinating the large number of small formations participating in the operation. The only success is registered by two companies of the 47th Sikhs who advanced on the village single-handedly. Astonishingly, they not only reach the ruins of Neuve Chapelle but in hand-to-hand combat force the German defenders back. The inevitable counterattack, however, pushes the 47th Sikhs out, and only 68 men survive from the 289 who began the attack.
- The first three months of the war at sea have not evolved as many in the British government and among the public. For a century the Royal Navy has been seen as the strongest naval power on earth, and that it was the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 that cemented this status. For a decade there has been an intense naval rivalry with Germany, centred on the construction of dreadnoughts. There was a general expectation that in the event of war, there would be another Trafalgar - a massive naval battle between both fleets after which the victor would rule the waves, and there being no doubt in Britain as to which side would triumph.
The war to date, however, have not delivered the expected victory. Both the Grand Fleet and the High Seas Fleet have largely remained confined to port and their home waters - the former through fear of submarines and mines, and the latter as a result of numerical inferiority. Further, while Admiral Jellicoe is undoubtedly correct that he does not need a naval victory at sea to secure the blockade, it does not make for particularly exciting war news from the navy, especially in contrast to the massive battles being waged across Europe, including by the BEF.
Moreover, the events that have occurred at sea have not been entirely in Britain's favour. Against the victory at the Battle of the Heligoland Bight must be set the escape of Goeben and Breslau, the loss of the three armoured cruisers in one morning off the Dutch coast, and the continued activity of both the German East Asiatic Squadron in the Pacific and the light cruiser Emden in the Indian Ocean. Often added to this list is the fall of Antwerp, where Churchill dispatched the naval brigades in what is now seen as a doomed attempt to save the city, and ended up having thousands taken prisoner or interned.
Criticism in the press of the navy's performance comes to be centred on the First Sea Lord, Louis of Battenberg. He is the military head of the Royal Navy, and his appointed as First Sea Lord in 1911 was the culmination of a lifelong career at sea. Born a German citizen to the ruling family of Hesse, he was and is related to most of the dynastic families of Europe, including Britain and Russia. His friendship with the second son of Queen Victoria led to him to become a British citizen at the age of fourteen upon his entry to the Royal Navy. There has never been any basis to doubt his loyalty to Britain - indeed, the Hohenzollern family of Kaiser Wilhelm II is one of the few that have a poor relationship with the Battenbergs, while his nephew, Prince Maurice of Battenberg, died at Ypres yesterday, fighting for the British.
However, in time of war, when Britain is involved in a life-or-death struggle with the Germans, it is not difficult for the conspiracy-minded to link the perceived poor performance of the Royal Navy with the German background of the First Sea Lord. In the cheap press the wildest rumours have flown - one suggested that as a German spy he had deliberately allowed the Goeben and Breslau to escape to Constantinople. Further, any admiral who has climbed the greasy pole of naval politics has left a trail of rivals, and in Battenberg's case they see a perfect opportunity to bring him down. A whisper campaign against the First Sea Lord has traveled among London's clubs, and have reached the highest ears.
Churchill and the Prime Minister decide that a change in command is needed to quell the rumours and remove the distractions of Battenberg's ancestry. The First Lord informs Battenberg that he must resign, and the latter does so with such great dignity, refusing to attack those who have defamed him, that there is a widespread sympathetic reaction among much of the British press. Such are the whims of the British press. Churchill, meanwhile, must find a new Sea Lord.
- On the same day the First Sea Lord resigns, another tragedy befalls the Royal Navy. This morning the 2nd Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet, commanded by Vice-Admiral Sir George Warrender and consisting of eight of the Royal Navy's newest and most powerful dreadnoughts, is at sea off the north Irish coast for gunnery practice. This squadron is one of those moved out of Scapa Flow on the 17th after the reported presence of a German submarine in the anchorage. The move, ironically, has placed the warships directly in harm's way. Six days earlier, the German liner Berlin, armed as a cruiser and carrying a large number of mines, had laid two hundred mines off the north Irish coast. As of day, the Royal Navy has no idea the minefield exists, and Vice-Admiral Warrender inadvertently leads his dreadnoughts directly into it.
At 9am, there is a large explosion on the port side of the dreadnought Audacious. Initially believing it to be caused by a torpedo, Warrender quickly sails away to protect the rest of his squadron. Despite the damage for two hours the stricken warship is able to make 9 knots towards the harbour at Lough Swilly before the engine room was swamped and the warships comes to a halt. At 130pm the British liner Olympic, sister ship of Titanic and on the last day of a voyage from New York to Liverpool, comes across the dreadnought. Olympic's captain offers to take Audacious in tow, and for several hours crews struggle to secure lines between the two, but the weight of the latter causes the lines to repeatedly snap. At 9pm, Audacious finally succumbs to its wounds, capsizing and sinking.
Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, commander of the Grand Fleet, is desperate to suppress news of the loss of Audacious. He believes that his margin in dreadnoughts over the High Seas Fleet is now only seventeen to fifteen, and fears that if the Germans learn of the sinking, they will be tempted to take advantage of being one dreadnought closer to parity. The problem is the presence of Olympic, full of civilians, many of them Americans and a few of whom managed to take pictures of the stricken dreadnought. When Olympic reaches Lough Swilly, Jellicoe orders it isolated to prevent communication from ship to shore. Ultimately the effort is unsuccessful - news leaks in the American press in November - but the Admiralty will not admit publicly to the loss of Audacious until after the war.
- For the past two months, the German light cruiser Emden has been terrorizing Entente shipping in the Indian Ocean. In addition to its shelling of Madras, it has seized or sunk several dozen merchant ships, leading to a moratorium on any merchant sailing in the Bay of Bengal. This morning Emden accomplishes its most audacious feat in the harbour of Penang, a port on the western coast of British Malaya. In the pre-dawn hours, Emden, with all of its lights extinguished, slowly makes its way in the harbour unseen by anyone. It finds there the Russian Yemtschuk at anchor. Emden manoeuvres into position and fires a single torpedo, and there is no reaction from Yemtschuk until the torpedo strikes it amidships. A few sailors are seen scurrying on deck, and a couple of guns attempt to return fire, but Emden is sufficiently unmolested to be able to turn 180 degrees and fire a second torpedo. The detonation of the latter breaks the back of Yemtschuk, which promptly sinks. Emden then makes its way out of the harbour - a French destroyer at anchor fires a few shots, but otherwise the German light cruiser gets away. Later this morning, it encounters another French destroyer - Mousquet - returning to Penang after patrolling the Bay of Bengal, and in short order sinks it as well. Emden then disappears once more into the Indian Ocean.
The loss of a light cruiser sitting in a supposedly-guarded port is a significant embarrassment to the Entente; the German ship, however, had the good fortune to be targeting a singularly ill-prepared foe. At the moment the Germans attacked, Yemtschuk's captain was ashore at a Penang hotel with his 'lady friend'. Moreover, there was no night watch on the light cruiser, as the crew was being 'entertained' by sixty prostitutes below deck. Emden's attack brought a rather abrupt end to the night's 'entertainment.' Perhaps not surprisingly, the captain and first officer will be court-martialled for negligence. Meanwhile the legend of Emden grows.
- As Army Group Fabeck begins to assemble for the planned offensive southeast of Ypres, both Fabeck and Falkenhayn decide that a preliminary operation is required to capture Gheluvelt, as continued British control of the village would allow them to pour fire on the northern flank of the main attack. Thus the 6th Bavarian Reserve Division, I Cavalry Corps, and XXVII Reserve Corps are instructed to co-operate in attacking Gheluvelt tomorrow morning. As the planning continues Falkenhayn orders 4th Army to cancel a scheduled attack nearby in order to be able to assist the push on Gheluvelt if necessary. When 4th Army headquarters signals the change in orders to XXVII Reserve Corps in the clear, the message is intercepted by the British.
- For their part, the leadership of the BEF had been growing in confidence over the past few days. There is a palpable sense that they have defeated the big German push - the attacks of the reserve corps - and that they are now going back over to the offensive. True, the gains of the French IX Corps have been minimal, a further attack today not securing anything of consequence, while recent setbacks such as the loss of Neuve Chapelle are dismissed as local events of no significance. There is also a belief that the Germans have shot their bolt, Sir John French writing Kitchener yesterday that the Germans were 'quite incapable of making any strong and sustained attack' - not the Field Marshal;s most insightful observation. When aerial reconnaissance reports the roads behind the German front clogged with vehicles, the general conclusion is that most are refugees fleeing the fighting, as opposed to reinforcements approaching the front.
Thus the interception of the German 4th Army's signal regarding the planned attack against Gheluvelt tomorrow does not cause quite the alarm it perhaps should. As the attack will fall on the junction of I Corps' 1st and 7th Division, plans are made to co-ordinate the artillery fire of those two divisions plus 2nd to the north, and they are authorized to exceed their daily quota of shell usage. However, the attention of both French and Haig remains on the offensive to the north, and orders remain for 2nd Division to advance. Moreover, the British reaction was slowed by poor communications - though I Corps HQ knows of the German attack by 3pm, it is not until midnight that the information reaches the headquarters of the relevant battalions. This delay is not the product of poor staff work, but rather the realities of modern communications in 1914. Almost all messages go either by telephone or messenger, and the lines of the former are frequently destroyed by shell fire, while the latter have to move in the open and in the range of enemy fire to get to front-line headquarters given that the rudimentary defences lack communication trenches.
- To the south, another counterattack is attempted against Neuve Chapelle. After a short preliminary bombardment the British advance at 1130am. The attack is a shambles - the soldiers are exhausted after several days of constant fighting and there are great difficulties coordinating the large number of small formations participating in the operation. The only success is registered by two companies of the 47th Sikhs who advanced on the village single-handedly. Astonishingly, they not only reach the ruins of Neuve Chapelle but in hand-to-hand combat force the German defenders back. The inevitable counterattack, however, pushes the 47th Sikhs out, and only 68 men survive from the 289 who began the attack.
- The first three months of the war at sea have not evolved as many in the British government and among the public. For a century the Royal Navy has been seen as the strongest naval power on earth, and that it was the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 that cemented this status. For a decade there has been an intense naval rivalry with Germany, centred on the construction of dreadnoughts. There was a general expectation that in the event of war, there would be another Trafalgar - a massive naval battle between both fleets after which the victor would rule the waves, and there being no doubt in Britain as to which side would triumph.
The war to date, however, have not delivered the expected victory. Both the Grand Fleet and the High Seas Fleet have largely remained confined to port and their home waters - the former through fear of submarines and mines, and the latter as a result of numerical inferiority. Further, while Admiral Jellicoe is undoubtedly correct that he does not need a naval victory at sea to secure the blockade, it does not make for particularly exciting war news from the navy, especially in contrast to the massive battles being waged across Europe, including by the BEF.
Moreover, the events that have occurred at sea have not been entirely in Britain's favour. Against the victory at the Battle of the Heligoland Bight must be set the escape of Goeben and Breslau, the loss of the three armoured cruisers in one morning off the Dutch coast, and the continued activity of both the German East Asiatic Squadron in the Pacific and the light cruiser Emden in the Indian Ocean. Often added to this list is the fall of Antwerp, where Churchill dispatched the naval brigades in what is now seen as a doomed attempt to save the city, and ended up having thousands taken prisoner or interned.
Criticism in the press of the navy's performance comes to be centred on the First Sea Lord, Louis of Battenberg. He is the military head of the Royal Navy, and his appointed as First Sea Lord in 1911 was the culmination of a lifelong career at sea. Born a German citizen to the ruling family of Hesse, he was and is related to most of the dynastic families of Europe, including Britain and Russia. His friendship with the second son of Queen Victoria led to him to become a British citizen at the age of fourteen upon his entry to the Royal Navy. There has never been any basis to doubt his loyalty to Britain - indeed, the Hohenzollern family of Kaiser Wilhelm II is one of the few that have a poor relationship with the Battenbergs, while his nephew, Prince Maurice of Battenberg, died at Ypres yesterday, fighting for the British.
However, in time of war, when Britain is involved in a life-or-death struggle with the Germans, it is not difficult for the conspiracy-minded to link the perceived poor performance of the Royal Navy with the German background of the First Sea Lord. In the cheap press the wildest rumours have flown - one suggested that as a German spy he had deliberately allowed the Goeben and Breslau to escape to Constantinople. Further, any admiral who has climbed the greasy pole of naval politics has left a trail of rivals, and in Battenberg's case they see a perfect opportunity to bring him down. A whisper campaign against the First Sea Lord has traveled among London's clubs, and have reached the highest ears.
Churchill and the Prime Minister decide that a change in command is needed to quell the rumours and remove the distractions of Battenberg's ancestry. The First Lord informs Battenberg that he must resign, and the latter does so with such great dignity, refusing to attack those who have defamed him, that there is a widespread sympathetic reaction among much of the British press. Such are the whims of the British press. Churchill, meanwhile, must find a new Sea Lord.
- On the same day the First Sea Lord resigns, another tragedy befalls the Royal Navy. This morning the 2nd Battle Squadron of the Grand Fleet, commanded by Vice-Admiral Sir George Warrender and consisting of eight of the Royal Navy's newest and most powerful dreadnoughts, is at sea off the north Irish coast for gunnery practice. This squadron is one of those moved out of Scapa Flow on the 17th after the reported presence of a German submarine in the anchorage. The move, ironically, has placed the warships directly in harm's way. Six days earlier, the German liner Berlin, armed as a cruiser and carrying a large number of mines, had laid two hundred mines off the north Irish coast. As of day, the Royal Navy has no idea the minefield exists, and Vice-Admiral Warrender inadvertently leads his dreadnoughts directly into it.
At 9am, there is a large explosion on the port side of the dreadnought Audacious. Initially believing it to be caused by a torpedo, Warrender quickly sails away to protect the rest of his squadron. Despite the damage for two hours the stricken warship is able to make 9 knots towards the harbour at Lough Swilly before the engine room was swamped and the warships comes to a halt. At 130pm the British liner Olympic, sister ship of Titanic and on the last day of a voyage from New York to Liverpool, comes across the dreadnought. Olympic's captain offers to take Audacious in tow, and for several hours crews struggle to secure lines between the two, but the weight of the latter causes the lines to repeatedly snap. At 9pm, Audacious finally succumbs to its wounds, capsizing and sinking.
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| The crew of the British dreadnought Audacious takes to lifeboats as the warship flounders. |
Admiral Sir John Jellicoe, commander of the Grand Fleet, is desperate to suppress news of the loss of Audacious. He believes that his margin in dreadnoughts over the High Seas Fleet is now only seventeen to fifteen, and fears that if the Germans learn of the sinking, they will be tempted to take advantage of being one dreadnought closer to parity. The problem is the presence of Olympic, full of civilians, many of them Americans and a few of whom managed to take pictures of the stricken dreadnought. When Olympic reaches Lough Swilly, Jellicoe orders it isolated to prevent communication from ship to shore. Ultimately the effort is unsuccessful - news leaks in the American press in November - but the Admiralty will not admit publicly to the loss of Audacious until after the war.
- For the past two months, the German light cruiser Emden has been terrorizing Entente shipping in the Indian Ocean. In addition to its shelling of Madras, it has seized or sunk several dozen merchant ships, leading to a moratorium on any merchant sailing in the Bay of Bengal. This morning Emden accomplishes its most audacious feat in the harbour of Penang, a port on the western coast of British Malaya. In the pre-dawn hours, Emden, with all of its lights extinguished, slowly makes its way in the harbour unseen by anyone. It finds there the Russian Yemtschuk at anchor. Emden manoeuvres into position and fires a single torpedo, and there is no reaction from Yemtschuk until the torpedo strikes it amidships. A few sailors are seen scurrying on deck, and a couple of guns attempt to return fire, but Emden is sufficiently unmolested to be able to turn 180 degrees and fire a second torpedo. The detonation of the latter breaks the back of Yemtschuk, which promptly sinks. Emden then makes its way out of the harbour - a French destroyer at anchor fires a few shots, but otherwise the German light cruiser gets away. Later this morning, it encounters another French destroyer - Mousquet - returning to Penang after patrolling the Bay of Bengal, and in short order sinks it as well. Emden then disappears once more into the Indian Ocean.
The loss of a light cruiser sitting in a supposedly-guarded port is a significant embarrassment to the Entente; the German ship, however, had the good fortune to be targeting a singularly ill-prepared foe. At the moment the Germans attacked, Yemtschuk's captain was ashore at a Penang hotel with his 'lady friend'. Moreover, there was no night watch on the light cruiser, as the crew was being 'entertained' by sixty prostitutes below deck. Emden's attack brought a rather abrupt end to the night's 'entertainment.' Perhaps not surprisingly, the captain and first officer will be court-martialled for negligence. Meanwhile the legend of Emden grows.
Sunday, October 19, 2014
October 19th, 1914
- Today can be seen as marking an important watershed on the Western Front. For the Entente, the arrival of I Corps in Flanders today means the entire BEF is now in the north, and a continual line, though thin in places, now exists from the Channel to Switzerland. For the Germans, today sees the first serious fighting undertaken by the four reserve corps of 4th Army, sent by Falkenhayn to achieve the decisive victory that had eluded them to date. Thus the Race to the Sea has come to an end, while the First Battle of Ypres begins.
For the past five weeks, both sides have thrown forces northward from the Aisne, trying to outflank the other. Indeed, the popular name for this period of the war is something of a misnomer - they were not racing for the sea, but rather racing to outflank the other. However, all such attempts failed, for a whole range of reasons - railways allowed for rapid redeployment of forces; trenches freed up units to move north, the machine gun allowed for even small forces to hold up larger enemy formations until reinforcements arrived, etc. The result of the failure of either to outflank the other has been the extension of the front line roughly north from Noyon to the English Channel, a line which will become increasingly static as both sides dig in.
In a strategic sense as well, neither the Germans or the Entente can feel satisfied with the result of the Race to the Sea. For the French, the northeastern portion of their country, which included almost 75% of prewar coal production and over 60% of prewar steel production, now lies in enemy hands, severely dislocating the French economy and only partially ameliorated by the aid of its allies. The occupation of a significant portion of the country also propels Joffre and the French army to continue to emphasize the offensive, now deemed essential to liberating their countrymen. The situation is even worse for Belgium - only a tiny western corner of the country remains free, and is about to become the scene of the first in a series of devastating battles. For the Germans, despite the fact that they stand on enemy soil, the very continuation of the war itself reflects failure during the past five weeks. The failure on the Marne has not been redeemed by success since, and the fear of having to fight a sustained war of attrition compels Falkenhayn to commit his reserves to the battle in Flanders, one last throw of the dice to end the war before Christmas.
- As the First Battle of Ypres dawns, the Entente remain focused on the offensive. Foch's plan is for an offensive between Ypres and Nieuport driving east, dividing the German III Reserve Corps on the coast from the German army to the south, and by advancing to Ghent turn the northern flank of the German army. Though Foch was the commander of French forces in the north, he had no authority whatsoever over either the Belgians or the British - at best he could try to persuade. Generally speaking, both King Albert of the Belgians and Sir John French of the BEF shared the strategic focus on the offensive, though the former knew his Belgians were in no shape to attack. The British Field Marshal, for his part, issues orders to General Haig that I Corps, newly arrived at Hazebrouck, is to billet tonight near Ypres in preparation for an offensive via Thourout to capture Bruges in the days ahead.For the past five weeks, both sides have thrown forces northward from the Aisne, trying to outflank the other. Indeed, the popular name for this period of the war is something of a misnomer - they were not racing for the sea, but rather racing to outflank the other. However, all such attempts failed, for a whole range of reasons - railways allowed for rapid redeployment of forces; trenches freed up units to move north, the machine gun allowed for even small forces to hold up larger enemy formations until reinforcements arrived, etc. The result of the failure of either to outflank the other has been the extension of the front line roughly north from Noyon to the English Channel, a line which will become increasingly static as both sides dig in.
In a strategic sense as well, neither the Germans or the Entente can feel satisfied with the result of the Race to the Sea. For the French, the northeastern portion of their country, which included almost 75% of prewar coal production and over 60% of prewar steel production, now lies in enemy hands, severely dislocating the French economy and only partially ameliorated by the aid of its allies. The occupation of a significant portion of the country also propels Joffre and the French army to continue to emphasize the offensive, now deemed essential to liberating their countrymen. The situation is even worse for Belgium - only a tiny western corner of the country remains free, and is about to become the scene of the first in a series of devastating battles. For the Germans, despite the fact that they stand on enemy soil, the very continuation of the war itself reflects failure during the past five weeks. The failure on the Marne has not been redeemed by success since, and the fear of having to fight a sustained war of attrition compels Falkenhayn to commit his reserves to the battle in Flanders, one last throw of the dice to end the war before Christmas.
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| The resulting front line after the Race to the Sea. |
Despite their intentions, however, it is the Germans who will determine the pace of the First Battle of Ypres - in light of the scale of the German forces advancing westward, Sir John French's orders to Haig today are little more than fantasy. Over the course of the day, the four new reserve corps of 4th Army enter the fight. South of III Reserve Corps arrives XXII Reserve Corps, and they co-ordinate a fierce attack on the French marines defending Dixmude, pushing the forward posts of the latter back into the town itself, which also comes under a sustained German bombardment. Next in line comes XXIII Reserve Corps, which spends the day pushing westward advance elements of French territorial and cavalry units and closing up to Houthhulst Forest. To its right XXVI Reserve Corps occupies Roulers at 5pm, after a day of desperate house-to-house fighting against the cavalry of General de Mitry. Finally, southernmost is XXVII Reserve Corps, which encounters the British 3rd Cavalry Division. The British are forced to retreat through Passchendaele to Poelcappelle and Zonnebeke (again names which had not yet earned their present reputation), which in turn pulls back the northern flank of the British 7th Division - though the latter had been ordered to capture Menin today, they find themselves at nightfall three miles behind where they started the day.
- Near La Bassée, a battalion of the Royal Irish Regiment secures the village of Le Pilly on Aubers Ridge, suffering two hundred casualties to do so. The attack was launched in support of an unsuccessful French assault towards the town of Fournes.
- In Britain there has been a scramble to increase armaments production of all kinds, in response to Kitchener's plans for a massive expansion of the army. As of today, the War Office has issued orders for 781 000 rifles, to be produced by July 1st, 1915. The scale of the problem facing the British, however, can be seen in how the peacetime reserve of field guns was deemed sufficient to arm five divisions in addition to the BEF - in contrast, Kitchener's New Armies project to include at least fifty new divisions. Such was the armaments shortage at home that some of the new volunteers begin their training with broomsticks instead of rifles.
Wednesday, September 03, 2014
September 3rd, 1914
- This morning, Lieutenant Watteau, a flyer attached to the Paris garrison, conducts a reconnaissance flight to the east of the city, which clearly shows the columns of the German 1st Army marching southeast, confirming that Kluck's army is not advancing on Paris, but rather passing to its east. To Gallieni and his staff, this is the golden opportunity they had hardly dared dream off - now that 6th Army was at Paris, it was perfectly positioned to attack the German 1st Army in its flank. At a staff meeting at 830pm, it is decided that if reconnaissance shows Kluck's army continued to bypass Paris, they would push for an immediate counteroffensive - foremost among Gallieni's concerns is that if Joffre continues the retreat of the French army to the Seine, Paris may be sacrificed. To avoid this, Gallieni wants to attack with 6th Army as soon as possible.
- The German 1st Army reaches the Marne River this evening, right on the heels of the French 5th Army and the BEF, both of which had crossed the river this morning. In the haste of their retreat, the French and British had failed to destroy a number of bridges, allowing the Germans to establish bridgeheads over the Marne. In doing so, of course, 1st Army is disobeying Moltke's orders of yesterday. General Kluck has sent three telegrams to OHL at Luxembourg informing him of his approach to and crossing of the Marne, but due to the constant communication difficulties none of the telegrams had actually gotten through to OHL. As a result, Moltke is completely unaware that Kluck is disobeying his orders.
Moltke is not the only one suffering in ignorance - Kluck has directed the aircraft attached to his aircraft to focus south of his position, to observe the continuing retreat. As he does not feel that there are any significant French forces at Paris, and because he has already left a corps to guard the Parisian flank, he does not direct any aircraft to the west. He is thus largely ignorant of the arrival of the French 6th Army around the French capital.
- To the east of 1st Army, the 2nd and 3rd armies continued their advance. As 2nd Army approached the Vesle River, General Bulow reported discovering the countryside littered with discarded weapons and uniforms, reinforcing his belief that he was facing a defeated foe. Meanwhile, this afternoon General Hausen of 3rd Army orders XII Reserve Corps to capture the city of Rheims. Attacking at night, the Germans catch the French garrison by surprise, and by midnight the city is in German hands.
- Joffre this afternoon visits the headquarters of 5th Army, where he dismisses General Lanrezac from command. The French commander-in-chief has concluded that Lanrezac has lost his nerve, too fond of finding reasons not to attack. Moreover, Joffre is tired of his constant suggestions and criticisms, notwithstanding the fact that Lanrezac's most important observation - the strength of the German right - was absolutely correct, and his conduct of the Battle of Charleroi, in preserving his army, may have very well saved France from destruction. Accounts of the conversation between the two differ sharply - Joffre will say that Lanrezac was relieved to be dismissed, while Lanrezac would say he protested violently. Regardless, the result was the same - Lanrezac is removed from his command, and will hold no other command for the duration of the war. As his replacement Joffre appoints General Franchet d'Esperey, whose energetic and offensive spirit in leading I Corps appeals to the French commander-in-chief.
- The city of Lille has been occupied by the German army for just over a week. However, in the continued German push to the south occupation forces simply cannot be spared to cover every point they have seized. Today, the last German columns march through Lille on their way southward. The 'captured' city finds itself free of Germans, and the immediate response is for several thousand young men to leave, seeking to enlist in the French army.
- Today, 33 304 men volunteer to join the British Army. This is the highest one-day total in the war to date, and is a figure that will never be matched. This peak in volunteers is a result of the war news from France over the past week, especially the British retreat of Mons. It is notable that the biggest surge in recruitment comes not when the war begins, but when it appears the war might be lost.
- At the end of July the Russian government had temporarily closed state liquor shops, to ensure that the mobilization of the army went smoothly. Today, the closure is extended until the end of the war - it is hoped that sobriety will enhance public health and improve industrial productivity. In doing so, the Russian government deprives itself of a valuable source of tax revenue. One can also imagine the impact it might have on the morale of the Russian people.
- The German 1st Army reaches the Marne River this evening, right on the heels of the French 5th Army and the BEF, both of which had crossed the river this morning. In the haste of their retreat, the French and British had failed to destroy a number of bridges, allowing the Germans to establish bridgeheads over the Marne. In doing so, of course, 1st Army is disobeying Moltke's orders of yesterday. General Kluck has sent three telegrams to OHL at Luxembourg informing him of his approach to and crossing of the Marne, but due to the constant communication difficulties none of the telegrams had actually gotten through to OHL. As a result, Moltke is completely unaware that Kluck is disobeying his orders.
Moltke is not the only one suffering in ignorance - Kluck has directed the aircraft attached to his aircraft to focus south of his position, to observe the continuing retreat. As he does not feel that there are any significant French forces at Paris, and because he has already left a corps to guard the Parisian flank, he does not direct any aircraft to the west. He is thus largely ignorant of the arrival of the French 6th Army around the French capital.
- To the east of 1st Army, the 2nd and 3rd armies continued their advance. As 2nd Army approached the Vesle River, General Bulow reported discovering the countryside littered with discarded weapons and uniforms, reinforcing his belief that he was facing a defeated foe. Meanwhile, this afternoon General Hausen of 3rd Army orders XII Reserve Corps to capture the city of Rheims. Attacking at night, the Germans catch the French garrison by surprise, and by midnight the city is in German hands.
- Joffre this afternoon visits the headquarters of 5th Army, where he dismisses General Lanrezac from command. The French commander-in-chief has concluded that Lanrezac has lost his nerve, too fond of finding reasons not to attack. Moreover, Joffre is tired of his constant suggestions and criticisms, notwithstanding the fact that Lanrezac's most important observation - the strength of the German right - was absolutely correct, and his conduct of the Battle of Charleroi, in preserving his army, may have very well saved France from destruction. Accounts of the conversation between the two differ sharply - Joffre will say that Lanrezac was relieved to be dismissed, while Lanrezac would say he protested violently. Regardless, the result was the same - Lanrezac is removed from his command, and will hold no other command for the duration of the war. As his replacement Joffre appoints General Franchet d'Esperey, whose energetic and offensive spirit in leading I Corps appeals to the French commander-in-chief.
- The city of Lille has been occupied by the German army for just over a week. However, in the continued German push to the south occupation forces simply cannot be spared to cover every point they have seized. Today, the last German columns march through Lille on their way southward. The 'captured' city finds itself free of Germans, and the immediate response is for several thousand young men to leave, seeking to enlist in the French army.
- Today, 33 304 men volunteer to join the British Army. This is the highest one-day total in the war to date, and is a figure that will never be matched. This peak in volunteers is a result of the war news from France over the past week, especially the British retreat of Mons. It is notable that the biggest surge in recruitment comes not when the war begins, but when it appears the war might be lost.
- At the end of July the Russian government had temporarily closed state liquor shops, to ensure that the mobilization of the army went smoothly. Today, the closure is extended until the end of the war - it is hoped that sobriety will enhance public health and improve industrial productivity. In doing so, the Russian government deprives itself of a valuable source of tax revenue. One can also imagine the impact it might have on the morale of the Russian people.
Sunday, August 17, 2014
August 17th, 1914
- Today the advance of the 1st and 2nd German Armies through Belgium is in full motion - 1st Army is attacking the lines of the main Belgian army along the Gette River, fifteen miles east of Brussels, while elements of 2nd Army are crossing the Meuse River at Huy in the direction of Namur and 3rd Army is moving west towards Dinant and Givet. King Albert and Premier de Brouqueville in Brussels discuss the plight of the Belgian army. Both believe that the main German advance is coming through Belgium, and to date no significant military assistance has been forthcoming from their allies, Joffre still insisting that the German effort in Belgium was a 'screen' for operations elsewhere. The Belgian army alone can hardly withstand the Germans; remaining at their current positions would only ensure their ultimate destruction. This evening the Belgian king takes the decision to abandon the capital.
- The commander of II Corps of the British Expeditionary Force, Lieutenant General James Grierson, drops dead this morning on a train near Amiens of heart failure. Field Marshal French is shocked by the sudden death of his good friend, compounded by Kitchener's refusal to agree to French's preferred replacement. Instead, Kitchener sends out General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, whom French dislikes. Both corps of the BEF are now under opinionated generals (I Corps being led by General Sir Douglas Haig) disinclined to defer to the wishes of their commanding officer.
- Field Marshal Sir John French meets with General Charles Lanrezac of the French 5th Army at the latter's headquarters today. As the BEF is to slid into the Entente line to the left of 5th Army, a good working relationship between the two commanders is essential. Instead, the meeting reflects the suspicion both hold for the other; in particular, Lanrezac places no faith in the BEF. He feels that the main German force is about to descend on his position, and 5th Army is all that stands between France and annihilation. Instead of receiving support from Joffre, however, the only aid he is to receive is the tiny British force. He feels French does not understand the gravity of the situation, an impression confirmed when the British commander states, as he did to the French President, that his force will not be ready for action until the 24th. When French asks if the Germans are crossing the Meuse, Lanrezac's peevish response is that the Germans have come to the Meuse to fish. Neither general is willing to place their cavalry under the direction of the other. In a report later submitted by Lanrezac to Joffre, the former reported that the British cavalry cannot be counted upon for anything, and that British unfamiliarity with French roads could cause widespread confusion in the case of a retreat. It is the first time that Lanrezac has mentioned the possibility of retreat, and reflects his anxiety that his army will be insufficient to stop the German steamroller. Joffre, for his part, is unimpressed.
- The French advance into Lorraine continues. In the face of heavy casualties, XX Corps, commanded by General Ferdinand Foch and part of 2nd Army, seizes a portion of the heights near Morhange. The success of XX Corps, though, disrupts the plans of General Édouard de Curières Castelnau, 2nd Army commander. Castelnau had wanted XX Corps, on the left flank of his army, to act as a pivot, around which the other corps to the south would turn. With XX Corps now the furthest into German territory, the left flank of Castelnau's two centre corps is now uncovered.
- The embarkation of the British Expeditionary Force is completed in the Channel ports today.
- As the Russian 1st Army has been the first to cross into East Prussia, General Prittwitz, commander of the German 8th Army, has decided that it will need to be defeated first, before redeployment southwest to meet the impending invasion of the Russian 2nd Army. Prittwitz leaves one corps in the south to screen the Russian 2nd Army, and moves his other three and a half corps against the Russian 1st Army. The plan is to fight the Russians along the Angerapp River, well behind the border, on the belief that the longer the Russians have to march, the more exhausted and out of supply they will become.
Prittwitz's plan, however, does not account for the insubordination of one of his corps commanders, General Hermann von François, whose I Corps was drawn from East Prussia. François and his soldiers did not want to yield an inch of their 'home' territory to the Russians, and I Corps had consequently deployed farther east than the rest of 8th Army, and had begin skirmishing with the Russian 1st Army as soon as it crossed the border on the 15th. Today I Corps engaged the Russians at Stallupönnen, twenty miles to the east of Gumbinnen and the Angerapp, despite a direct order from Prittwitz to François. I Corps' attack disrupted the advance of the Russian 1st Army and forced the Russian 27th Division to retire in disarray. Having achieved a tactical success, François shadows the Russians as they lumber westward, continuing to skirmish.
- Britain and France establish the Commission Internationale de Revitaillement to co-ordinate Entente purchase of munitions and other supplies from neutral countries, and thereby keep down prices.
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| Operations in Northern France and Belgium, Aug. 17th to Aug. 26th, 1914. |
- The commander of II Corps of the British Expeditionary Force, Lieutenant General James Grierson, drops dead this morning on a train near Amiens of heart failure. Field Marshal French is shocked by the sudden death of his good friend, compounded by Kitchener's refusal to agree to French's preferred replacement. Instead, Kitchener sends out General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, whom French dislikes. Both corps of the BEF are now under opinionated generals (I Corps being led by General Sir Douglas Haig) disinclined to defer to the wishes of their commanding officer.
- Field Marshal Sir John French meets with General Charles Lanrezac of the French 5th Army at the latter's headquarters today. As the BEF is to slid into the Entente line to the left of 5th Army, a good working relationship between the two commanders is essential. Instead, the meeting reflects the suspicion both hold for the other; in particular, Lanrezac places no faith in the BEF. He feels that the main German force is about to descend on his position, and 5th Army is all that stands between France and annihilation. Instead of receiving support from Joffre, however, the only aid he is to receive is the tiny British force. He feels French does not understand the gravity of the situation, an impression confirmed when the British commander states, as he did to the French President, that his force will not be ready for action until the 24th. When French asks if the Germans are crossing the Meuse, Lanrezac's peevish response is that the Germans have come to the Meuse to fish. Neither general is willing to place their cavalry under the direction of the other. In a report later submitted by Lanrezac to Joffre, the former reported that the British cavalry cannot be counted upon for anything, and that British unfamiliarity with French roads could cause widespread confusion in the case of a retreat. It is the first time that Lanrezac has mentioned the possibility of retreat, and reflects his anxiety that his army will be insufficient to stop the German steamroller. Joffre, for his part, is unimpressed.
- The French advance into Lorraine continues. In the face of heavy casualties, XX Corps, commanded by General Ferdinand Foch and part of 2nd Army, seizes a portion of the heights near Morhange. The success of XX Corps, though, disrupts the plans of General Édouard de Curières Castelnau, 2nd Army commander. Castelnau had wanted XX Corps, on the left flank of his army, to act as a pivot, around which the other corps to the south would turn. With XX Corps now the furthest into German territory, the left flank of Castelnau's two centre corps is now uncovered.
- The embarkation of the British Expeditionary Force is completed in the Channel ports today.
- As the Russian 1st Army has been the first to cross into East Prussia, General Prittwitz, commander of the German 8th Army, has decided that it will need to be defeated first, before redeployment southwest to meet the impending invasion of the Russian 2nd Army. Prittwitz leaves one corps in the south to screen the Russian 2nd Army, and moves his other three and a half corps against the Russian 1st Army. The plan is to fight the Russians along the Angerapp River, well behind the border, on the belief that the longer the Russians have to march, the more exhausted and out of supply they will become.
Prittwitz's plan, however, does not account for the insubordination of one of his corps commanders, General Hermann von François, whose I Corps was drawn from East Prussia. François and his soldiers did not want to yield an inch of their 'home' territory to the Russians, and I Corps had consequently deployed farther east than the rest of 8th Army, and had begin skirmishing with the Russian 1st Army as soon as it crossed the border on the 15th. Today I Corps engaged the Russians at Stallupönnen, twenty miles to the east of Gumbinnen and the Angerapp, despite a direct order from Prittwitz to François. I Corps' attack disrupted the advance of the Russian 1st Army and forced the Russian 27th Division to retire in disarray. Having achieved a tactical success, François shadows the Russians as they lumber westward, continuing to skirmish.
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| Operations in East Prussia, Aug. 17th to 23rd, 1914. |
- Britain and France establish the Commission Internationale de Revitaillement to co-ordinate Entente purchase of munitions and other supplies from neutral countries, and thereby keep down prices.
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