May 9th, 1915

- German attacks on the eastern face of the Ypres salient continues today, and under heavy pressure the British centre is forced backwards.  Several battalions suffer grievous losses, with 1st Suffolks reduced to a mere seven men.  Though the Germans do not break through, they do manage to secure Frezenberg ridge.

The Ypres salient after the German gains near Frezenberg, May 9th, 1915.

- The weather having cleared, the postponed offensive by the French 10th Army is launched today.  At 6am French artillery targets the enemy's wire and the first two trench lines, and at several points stop briefly to lure the Germans out, expecting an attack, only to resume the bombardment.  The artillery also benefits from the first use of aerial wireless, whereby observers in aircraft above are able to radio artillery batteries regarding the targeting and effectiveness of their salvos.  At 10am the French infantry go over the top.  On the northern wing of the attack, XXXIII Corps is able to advance only a few hundred metres on the eastern spur of Notre-Dame de Lorette, while on the southern wing XVII and X Corps encounter intact German defences and make no progress.  In the centre of the line, however, it is a much different story.  Here XXXIII Corps, commanded by General Pétain, undertakes the main attack, aiming towards Vimy Ridge.  On his left Pétain uses 70th Division to secure the corps' flank while sending 77th Division in his centre and the Moroccan Division on his right to drive eastward into the defensive position of the German 5th Bavarian Division.  It is here that the French offensive finds success; the Bavarians are pushed back out of their trenches, and within an hour elements of 77th and the Moroccan Divisions have advanced four miles and reached the summit of Vimy Ridge.  It is an astonishing achievement, and for a moment the prospect of decisive victory appears possible.

As in prior battles, however, the prospect is fleeting.  Having occupied the heights of Vimy Ridge, it was necessary to hold it.  The French and Moroccan infantry that had accomplished this success were exhausted and had lost most of their officers, leaving them ill-prepared to defend their gains.  Pétain immediately orders his reserves forward to hold Vimy Ridge, but when the order goes out the reserves are eight miles behind the front lines, positioned there to keep them out of range of German artillery.  It takes hours for them to make their way to the front and then move across the shattered ground of the morning battlefield.  Meanwhile, the Germans are able to move reserves much quicker to the front.  As soon as the attack had begun Crown Prince Rupprecht, commander of the German 6th Army tasked with holding the line between Lens and Arras, had requested and received two divisions from OHL as reinforcements, and 115th Division in particular was rushed to the front.  By midday the first German reserves were arriving on the battlefield, and soon the French infantry on Vimy Ridge find themselves under heavy pressure.  Supported by intense machine-gun and artillery fire, strong German counterattacks in the early afternoon drive the French off Vimy Ridge.  Here the ability of the defence to move reserves to a threatened point faster than the attacker could move reserves to reinforce success once again proves decisive, and the initial French success is nullified.  Nevertheless, Pétain's XXXIII Corps has managed to advance two kilometres, taken several thousand prisoners, and capture a number of German artillery pieces.  This notable success, even if not the complete victory that appeared possible in the morning, still stands in contrast to the failure on either flank, and adds to the reputation of Pétain as an effective military commander.  The accomplishment here, however, also convinces General d'Urbal of 10th Army that further attacks will make further progress, and so the operation will continue.

The French attack in Artois showing the gains of XXXIII Corps, May 9th, 1915.

- To the north of the French offensive the British launch their own attack.  Undertaken by General Haig's 1st Army, it consists of attacks north and south of the ruined village of Neuve Chapelle, and aims to seize Aubers Ridge to the east, the original objective of the Battle of Neuve Chapelle in March.  It is hoped that not only will the attack draw off German reserves, but that seizing the high ground at Aubers, when combined with the anticipated French capture of Vimy Ridge, will force the Germans to pull their entire line in Artois back.  Haig attempts to duplicate the tactics of the March battle in the hope of achieving similar success: once again there will be a short artillery bombardment followed by a rapid infantry assault in an effort to surprise and overwhelm the Germans.  However, the Germans had learned lessons from the March battle as well, and were not to be taken by surprise a second time.  Further, the attack was along a broader stretch of the front than at Neuve Chapelle without an equal rise in the number of artillery pieces, which meant that each part of the German line being attacked received a lower amount of shells than the prior bombardment.  The result was that when the British IV and Indian Corps attack this morning, it is a complete failure.  The infantry find the German barbed wire intact, and as they attempt to navigate through it come under murderous machine-gun fire, and fall by the thousands.  Only to the north of Neuve Chapelle, near Fromelles, do British infantry manage to reach the German trench line, and after vicious hand-to-hand fighting the German 6th Bavarian Reserve Division is able to throw the British back.  Nowhere does the British 1st Army achieve any lasting success; indeed, the greatest indictment of the British effort can be seen in the decision of the German 6th Army to begin moving reserves opposite the British south to face the French even as the Battle of Aubers Ridge is ongoing.

As Sir John French, commander of the BEF, receives news from the front of the failure at Aubers Ridge, he inwardly seethes.  He has long looked upon the Dardanelles operation as a dangerous diversion of manpower and munitions from the vital Western Front, the only place where a war-winning victory can be accomplished, and is particularly incensed at what he sees as an inadequate supply of artillery shells.  As reports come in of British infantry being slaughtered on German barbed wire that was supposed to have been cut by the preliminary bombardment, French concludes that if the BEF had been given a greater allotment of shells the battle would have been a success.  French also blames the government in general and Lord Kitchener in particular for a perceived lack of support for the BEF on the Western Front and the failure to supply it with a sufficient amount of munitions.  At BEF headquarters today there is present Colonel Charles à Court Repington, the famed military correspondent of The Times and the press empire of Lord Northcliffe.  Field Marshal French informs Repington in no uncertain terms just why the attack has failed and who is responsible.  A fuse is lit.

The Battle of Aubers Ridge, May 9th, 1915.

- Another day in Galicia brings further German successes.  On the northern wing of 11th Army the Wislok River is crossed by the German Guard Corps, which also seizes the heights just beyond.  On their right VI Corps pushes east from Krosno for several miles, isolating the Russian garrison in Kombornia.  After a brief fight the latter surrenders, and three thousand Russians march into captivity.  The southern wing of 11th Army is equally successful: 11th Bavarian Division is also across the Wislok while 119th Division consolidates its control of the town of Besko.  However, the advance of the former has drawn it to the northeast, pulling away from the latter to the south.  It is also here where General Dimitriev has ordered the Russian XXI Corps to launch its delayed counterattack, on which he knows the fate of 3rd Army depends: if the German advance cannot be unhinged here, a dire situation will only worsen.

- One of the reasons for the continued optimism at Russiam army headquarters (Stavka) despite the steady accumulation of disasters in west Galicia has been the planned offensive of the Russian 9th Army in east Galicia, which aims to cross the Dniester River, recapture Czernowitz, and occupy the Bukovina.  In addition to the seizure of territory, it is hoped that the operation will force Austria-Hungary to shift reserves to the east and also encourage Romania to enter the war on the side of the Entente.  The Russians have assembled 120 000 soldiers in the region for the attack, outnumbering the 80 000 men of the Austro-Hungarian 7th Army (formerly Army Group Pflanzer-Baltin) opposite.  The latter also has to contend with ongoing supply problems, as everything has to be transported along a single narrow-gauge railway snaking its way through the Carpathians.

At 4am today the Russian offensive begins when XXXIII Corps attacks across the Dniester at a bend in the river at Kopaczynce.  The defenders are quickly overwhelmed, and the Russians are able to secure a bridgehead and hold off Austro-Hungarian counterattacks by 8th Cavalry Division and half of 42nd Honved Division.  Further west, the Russian 71st Infantry and 2nd Rifle Division strike the Austro-Hungarian 15th Division, and make significant progress towards Obertyn.  General Pflanzer-Baltin scraps together spare companies to send to the threatened points, and these reserves are able to retake some of the lost ground north of Obertyn this evening.  Nevertheless, the Russians remain in control of the high ground north of Chocimierz as well as their bridgehead over the Dniester.

The Battle of the Dniester, May 9th to 12th, 1915.

- Given its diplomatic weakness, the Chinese government signals today its willingness to accept the revised version of the Twenty-One Demands submitted by the Japanese government on the 7th.

August 6th, 1914

- Oskar Potiorek, the military governor of Bosnia, is appointed to command all Austro-Hungarian forces on the Serbian Front.  He has a special incentive to take the war to the Serbs as thoroughly as possible - as governor of Bosnia he had been responsible for the security arrangements for the visit of Archduke Franz Ferdinand on June 28th, and in some quarters has been assigned some of the blame for the assassination.  Potiorek had also aspired to the post of Chief of Staff, but had been passed over on Conrad's appointment.  Thus professional jealousy will also cloud operations against Serbia.

Upon his appointment Potiorek is informed by Conrad that he will only have use of the 2nd Army until August 18th, at which point it was to entrain for the Russian front.  As such, the 2nd Army could only support the operations of Potiorek's other two armies - 5th and 6th - and was not to cross into Serbian territory.  Needless to say, Potiorek is less than pleased with this arrangement.

- General I. G. Zhilinskii, a former Chief of Staff of the Russian Army, is appointed commander of the North-West Front.  Facing the Germans in East Prussia, he has two armies under his authority - 1st Army, under General Paul Rennenkampf, and 2nd Army, under General Alexander Samsonov.  At the direction of Grand Duke Nicholas, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army, North-West Front was to launch an invasion of East Prussia as soon as possible, in order to support their French allies by compelling the Germans to move forces from the West to the East.  The coordination of the operations of 1st and 2nd Armies will be hindered, however, by the bitter professional rivalry of Rennenkampf and Samsonov.

- At Liège the Germans have their first success, in large part due to the actions of General Erich Ludendorff, a former operations officer on the General Staff who was now the liasion officer between 2nd Army and Emmich's task force.  When the advance of the 14th Brigade stalled, Ludendorff rode up to ascertain the cause.  Learning that the commander of the 14th Brigade has been killed, Ludendorff assumes command, and directs the brigade to attack into a gap between two of the Belgian forts.  In fierce fighting the brigade breaks through, and by 2pm is on the east bank of the Meuse River overlooking Liège and its citadel.  Ludendorff demanded the surrender of the Belgian commander of the town, but was refused.  In reply, the Zeppelin L-Z drops thirteen bombs on Liège, killing nine civilians - it is the first time a European city has been bombarded from the air.

- Though the Belgian commander is determined to continue resistance, the German advance between two of his forts is worrying - it raises the possibility of each fort being isolated in turn.  He decides to send the Belgian 3rd Division, which had been supporting the defense of the forts, back to the main concentration of the Belgian army to avoid it being surrounded and forced to surrender.

- Three French cavalry divisions are ordered into Belgium to reconnoiter German strength north of the Ardennes Forest.  However, General Joffre has no intention whatsoever of sending a significant French force to aid the Belgians - his focus is solely on the execution of Plan XVII and the offensives into Alsace and Lorraine.  He does not believe that the Germans are committing significant forces to the advance through Belgium, and does not want to dilute his imminent offensives by redirecting divisions northwards.

- A second meeting of the War Council in Britain finally reaches a decision on the deployment of the British Expeditionary Force.  At Kitchener's insistence, instead of the full six infantry divisions of the regular army being sent to France, only four, plus the cavalry division, will depart at once, while the fifth may follow in the near future, but the sixth is to remain home.  It is a precarious balance between those, like General Wilson, who want a full commitment to France, and those, like both Kitchener (training of an expanded army) and Asquith (public order) who have other concerns.  Under pressure from Joffre, the deployment area of the BEF will remain Maubeuge, in line with pre-war planning.  Joffre wants the BEF forward at the extreme left of the Entente line - though the left is not a priority under Plan XVII, it does need to be covered, and the BEF can fulfill that role while the important fighting is done by the French in Alsace and Lorraine.  It is worth noting that Field Marshal Sir John French, Commander of the BEF, preferred it to be deployed either in Belgium directly or Amiens.  With deployment at Maubeuge, French is being required to carry out a strategy he does not agree with.

Departure of the 1/5th Seaforth Highlanders from Wick, Scotland,
Aug. 6th, 1914

- Goeben and Breslau depart Messina this afternoon, sailing southwards.  The British light cruiser Gloucester, watching the southern exit of Messina Strait, observes the two German warships, and falls in behind them.  By nightfall Goeben and Breslau have turned southeastward, and by 11pm it is clear that they are heading not for the French troopships or the Adriatic, but the Aegean.  The British battlecruisers are hopelessly out of position, and Gloucester by herself would be easily sunk by Goeben.  However, there is a British squadron of four old armoured cruisers steaming south of Corfu.  Receiving word of the direction of Goeben and Breslau, they move to intercept.

- China formally declares its neutrality in the war.  In practice this does not mean much - the Great Powers have enclaves and zones of influence in the country, particularly at water's edge, and they will act as they deem necessary in the circumstances.

- The tiny country of Montenegro declares war on Austria-Hungary, in solidarity with its Serbian allies, and places its small army under Serbian control.