The Great War (1914-1918) in real time

Day 487 of the Great War, November 28th 1915

Germany: Falkenhayn meets with German industrialist Walther Rathenau

Falkenhayn meets today with German industrialist Walther Rathenau, former head of the Kriegsrohstoffabteilung (War Materials Section), and the latter argues that the war can only be won through a decisive victory on the Western Front, where Germany's most important enemies are to be found. Moreover, Rathenau believes that an offensive there can succeed, given what he sees as the deficient national character of the French. In both sentiments Rathenau's views are in general accord with those of Falkenhayn - the German chief of staff is increasingly convinced that a major offensive should be undertaken on the Western Front in 1916, and that in targeting the French the superior morale and resolve of the German soldier, as compared to his French counterpart, will be of vital importance.

Serbian campaign: Mackensen is once again the man of the hour

- With the Serbian campaign having been brought to a successful conclusion, Mackensen is once again the man of the hour. Yesterday, Kaiser Wilhelm II telegrammed Mackensen with his congratulations and appointed him proprietary colonel of 129th (Third West Prussian) Infantry Regiment, an honour usually reserved for members of the royal family. Today, Emperor Franz Joseph conveyed his deep personal gratitude to the German field marshal for his leadership.

- Today the Serbian government, having crossed northern Albania, reaches the city of Scutari, near the Adriatic coast.

Italian Front: Fourth Battle of the Isonzo

Along the Isonzo River Italian forces once again launch major attacks on Austro-Hungarian positions west of Görz and on either flank of Mt. San Michele, which achieve no more success than the attacks of prior days. The constant assaults in terrible weather are wearing on the survivors; Austro-Hungarian defenders note an increased willingness of Italian infantry to surrender when counterattacked. This only exasperates Cadorna's fear of the breakdown of discipline, and today he issues a circular to the Italian army listing four measures to be used at the first sign of cowardice or indiscipline by Italian infantry in battle, which culminate in firing artillery on 'recalcitrant' soldiers. These measures are also not mere threats - when a number of soldiers from the Pistoia Brigade attempt to surrender in the face of a harsh Austro-Hungarian counterattack today, other Italian soldiers are ordered to shoot them.

Naval operations: North Sea

His Majesty's Trawler WILLIAM MORRISON, 212 tons, hits a mine laid by Franz Wäger in UC-7. Wäger's score is now 9 ships and 16,272 tons.

Naval operations: Baltic Sea

Russian minelaying submarine AKULA is lost off Ventspils due to the explosion of one of her own mines.

Photo: Russian submarine AKULA, armored cruiser RURIK in the background

Day 489 of the Great War, November 30th 1915

United Kingdom/French/Italian relations: Formal Signature of the Treaty of London

The major Allied governments added their signatures to the Treaty of London, promising not to make a separate peace with the Central Powers, and agreeing upon the partitions to be given to Italy at the end of the war, including parts of Tyrol and much of the Balkan Adriatic coast. This represented only the formal finalization of the treaty, as Italy had joined in the war months before. Yet, disappointingly for Britain and France, the Italian military had largely failed to disrupt the Central Powers, and Italy was not even at war with Germany until 1916. Furthermore, in 1917 the secret partitions agreed upon in the Treaty of London would by published by the Bolsheviks, after the Revolution, causing great embarrassment to the Entente powers, since they had not flinched at giving some Serbian territory to Italy. In the end, Italy only some of what it had been promised, paving the way for discontent with Britain and France and the rise of Mussolini.

Map: The partitions in Austria and the Adriatic secretly promised to Italy upon victory



Germany: a separate peace

With General von Falkenhayn cautiously optimistic that the Russian Empire might be persuaded to sign a separate peace at some point in the next 12 months, the Entente governments have been moving to prevent that. An Anglo-Franco-Russian agreement to not negotiate individually had been signed in the opening days of September, and over the course of the last month, the Japanese and Italian governments have now signed up to it.

Mesopotamia campaign: Turks, British surprise each Other at Umm at Tubul

Since their deadly clash at Ctesiphon a week prior, Townshend’s British Indian force had been retreating south towards Kut, with Nureddin’s Turkish force in pursuit. The Turkish cavalry, apparently confusing the Turkish and British forces with each other, lost track of the British without Nureddin realizing it. As a result, the Turkish infantry had advanced far closer to the retreating British than they would have liked. As dawn broke on December 1, both sides realized that their camps were within two miles of each other; both sides were facing the full force of the enemy, and neither were truly prepared for it. A Major Spackman recalled:

As dawn broke, an amazing sight greeted us….A very large and complicated Turkish camp on the horizon, with lines of white tents in perfect order, horses and mules being groomed or led off to the river for water, in fact a busy camp at its morning chores, at 2500-3000 yards range. A gunner’s dream!…Our soldiers rubbed their eyes, for the thing seemed too mad to be true.

The Turks had in the pre-dawn light begun an advance of their forces, without realizing the full strength of the British defenders. Quick work by the British artillery (including their naval support) and a rare successful cavalry charge threw back the Turkish attack and sent them routing back to the rear. One of Nureddin’s staff later wrote: “From my own observations and experience I can say without exaggeration that had not the enemy’s cavalry come up against [our] 7th Regiment and been forced to withdraw, they could have ridden over and taken prisoner the whole three Turkish divisions…” While the Turks were routing, Townshend began a full withdrawal of his own.

The encounter would cost the British 550 casualties to the Turks’ 750, but the British also lost two of their gunboats. A Turkish shell destroyed the boiler of the Firefly, and she soon ran aground. One of her accompanying barges, now floating adrift, forced the Comet aground as well. Both were soon targets for the Turkish guns. Although the third gunboat, the Sumana, was able to evacuate many survivors, one whole barge carrying wounded from Ctesiphon was abandoned entirely to the Turks.

Naval operations: Mediterranean Sea

Konrad Gansser, commanding U-33, sinks British freighters SS COLENSO, 3,861 tons, bound from Hull to Bombay with a general cargo; and LANGTON HALL, 4,437 tons, heading from Calcutta to New York with a general cargo. His score is now 40 ships and 108,282 tons.

Walter Forstmann, in U-39, sinks British freighter SS MIDDLETON, 2,506 tons, carrying a cargo of sandbags from Mudros to Alexandria. Forstmann's score is now 34 ships and 74,302 tons.

Day 491 of the Great War, December 2nd 1915

Gallipoli campaign: Admiral de Roebeck faces extensive questioning from the Dardanelles Committee

Admiral de Roebeck has just arrived in London, and today faces extensive questioning from the Dardanelles Committee about the situation. This is followed immediately by a Cabinet meeting to take a decision about what to do next. They’re also discussing the situation in Serbia and Greece, and it’s both impossible and unhelpful if we try to consider Gallipoli apart from Greece at this point.

The Cabinet is extremely skeptical about Salonika. The Serbian Army is beaten and will have to be rescued if it can escape to the coast. General Sarrail is retreating to Salonika and the British component of his force is going with him. On top of this, the Greek political situation remains extremely unstable and has now developed into a full-blown constitutional crisis. King Constantine I (no pun intended) has now called for fresh elections in an attempt to stop Eleftherios Venizelos from using his parliamentary majority to pass votes of no confidence in the governments Constantine is appointing. Constantine is clearly no longer acting as a constitutional monarch, as the Greek system requires him to be. Venizelos has now decided to boycott the elections and deny their legitimacy, since he won his majority only in May and is convinced that he still has a mandate to lead. More on that soon.

Intervention in Serbia was a French scheme. It’s never been popular with the Cabinet. If the men currently heading back to Salonika were in fact withdrawn and sent to Gallipoli instead, that would surely be enough manpower to do something useful there at some ill-defined point in the future. (The likelihood of success remains laughable unless a vast amount of British artillery suddenly materialises out of the ether, but that’s neither here nor there for the moment.) So the Cabinet decides that discussions with France about Salonika will be held as quickly as possible, and in the meantime to plan an offensive at Suvla Bay using the men currently in Greece.

Mesopotamia campaign: the British retreat to Kut

In Mesopotamia the British had been advancing up the Tigris river towards Baghdad. At the Battle of Ctesiphon however they suffered a bloody reverse when they tried to break through the Turkish lines. Now they have retreated back to the town of Kut-al-Amara. The Turks mounted an effective pursuit and the British were also harried by the opportunistic attacks of the Arabs living alongside the river.

General Townshend decides that his men will make a stand in Kut rather than retreat further down the river. This is risky as the Turks are likely to surround him there. At the moment there are no British forces in Mesopotamia that could come to his aid but Townshend is confident that more will be sent. His men have 60 days rations, which should be more than enough.

Townshend also decides against expelling the civilian population of Kut. Keeping them there provides more mouths to feed during a siege but sending them away would create a humanitarian crisis. Townshend reckons they will have no problems weathering a short siege.

Map: Townshend's attack towards Baghdad, 1915



Serbian campaign: Serbians begin retreat into Albania

Burning their last motor vehicles and abandoning artillery, the last remaining Serbian forces entered into Albania. The vast columns of Serbian soldiers and civilians had been retreating for three weeks, at the price of 20,000 dead due to cold, hunger, and the guns of the enemy. “People who shared in this retreat”, wrote L.F. Waring in her history of the Serbian war, “tell a confused story of cold, hunger, gorgeous scenery, Albanian ambushes, of paths covered with the carcasses of horses, of men dying at the wayside. We hear of Ministers of Russia and Great Britain laying on straw next to the Serbian Foreign Minister, his wife and son, while in the next room lay the Italian and French Ministers, secretaries, consuls, dragomans, servants, pele-mele. We hear of the King, lying on a stretcher, drawn by for bullocks, sharing the difficulties of the road with the common soldier.”

The refugee columns included more than 24,000 Austrian prisoners of war, as the Serbian government meant to fight on rather than surrender. Through the mountains of Albania they hoped to reach the coast, where they would be taken to the Greek island of Corfu. More than 260,000 Serbian soldiers survived this march and made it to Corfu, where they awaited in exile until the day they could re-take their country.

Photo: Entering the Albanian mountains, King Peter of Serbia sits and takes one last look at his country. It will be four years before he sees it again



Western Front: General Joffre becomes commander-in-chief of all French forces

General Joffre’s appointment as commander-in-chief of all French forces is made official today. It’s an important month for Anglo-French high command as it renews itself after 1915. This, combined with the imminent rise of Wully Robertson and General Haig in Britain, is making one thing very clear: both governments will be receiving unequivocal military advice to focus their efforts on the Western Front. If the politicians want to put any emphasis anywhere else, they’re going to have to overcome a lot of military opposition to do so.

Naval operations: Black Sea

The Russians, longtime allies of the Serbians, were under considerable domestic and international pressure to help the Serbia as they were under attack from three sides. However, there was little they could do to aid them directly, apart from launching diversionary attacks against the Austrians and Germans–which they did briefly to little effect. This was not deemed to be enough by the Russian Foreign Ministry, and at their urging, in October, Alexeyev reformed the Seventh Army along the Black Sea coast in an attempt to intimidate Bulgaria. Alexeyev knew this was an empty threat, however; neutral Romania blocked the way by land, and the threat of the Goeben and Breslau meant the Germans dominated the Black Sea–let alone the increasing German submarine presence.

Nevertheless, plans were drawn up for a landing on the Bulgarian coast, even though many in the Navy refused to go along with them and Alexeyev threatened to conscript the Black Sea Fleet’s sailors into an infantry brigade. Apparently, however, some parts of the Navy took the plans seriously, and on December 2 ordered 50 landing craft, each capable of carrying 760 men. Ultimately, only 20 were ever fully completed within a year–and they were ordered far too late to save Serbia, regardless. The Army, meanwhile, had long since given up on the plans, having recognized that Serbia had been defeated; Alexeyev had ordered preparations for a new offensive near the Romanian border using the Seventh Army two weeks earlier.

Naval operations: Mediterranean Sea

Konrad Gansser, commanding U-33, finishes his fifth war patrol with the sinking of British freighter SS COMMODORE, 5,858 tons, travelling in ballast from Salonica to Marseille. His score is now 43 ships and 124,248 tons.

Naval operations: German East Africa

British monitor HMS SEVERN, while patrolling off Kilwa Kivinje, spots an object floating in the water. The crew are called to General Quarters as the object is approached. At 0925 a boat is lowered to pick up the object, which turns out to be a toy catamaran.

Day 493 of the Great War, December 4th 1915

Mesopotamia campaign: General Townshend has firmly rejected the opinions given him

General Townshend has firmly rejected the opinions given him yesterday by General Rimington. He’s worried, and not without reason, that the men are too tired to retreat any further, and if they do so they’ll be at serious danger of being overhauled and attacked while too fatigued to defend themselves properly. Kut-al-Amara, where they currently find themselves, has also considerable stockpiles of every military necessity, and Townshend is in no mood to either try to move them or give them up. Tomorrow, the arguments for leaving.
Naval operations: Baltic Sea

British submarine E-19 torpedoes German freighter SS FREISENBERG, 1,553 tons, northwest of Cap Arkona.

Naval operations: Adriatic Sea

Italian destroyer INTERPIDO, 680 tons, and freighter RE UMBERTO, 2,952 tons, both are sunk by mines laid by Cäsar Bauer in UC-14.

Day 495 of the Great War, December 6th 1915

Mesopotamia campaign: British Indian Force prepares to be besieged at Kut

Having fallen back for a week under constant pursuit from the Turks, Townshend’s exhausted forces arrived in Kut on December 2nd. Two days later, Townshend decided to remain there and retreat no further, sending a telegram to General Nixon: "I am making Kut into an entrenched camp as far as possible in the time given…The state of extreme weariness of my men demands instant rest.“ Fortifying at Kut had its advantages. Surrounded on three sides by a loop of the Tigris, only a relatively short stretch of land needed to be vigorously entrenched—though conversely, this made it easier for them to be invested by a relatively small Turkish force. Kut was also located near the Shatt al-Hayy connecting the Tigris and Euphrates, and holding it could block easy Turkish access towards Nasiriyah or Amarah.

Map: The Kut area as seen on a map



Nixon replied the next day, telling Townshend they had been unable to come up with any better plan for Townshend’s force than to stay at Kut. A relief force to break the impending siege was planned for within two months, using reinforcements on their way from India. Before the siege closed, Townshend dispatched much of his remaining watercraft (many with wounded from Ctesiphon) and cavalry (who would be useless in a siege) downstream to assist in the future relief efforts.

Townshend also had to decide what would be done with the local, mostly Arabic, inhabitants of the town of Kut. They numbered between 5 and 6,000, a substantial number on top of the 15,000 in Townshend’s force (only about half of whom were effective fighting troops). Townshend initially decided to eject the local population, but was talked out of this by one of his officers, who said it would be barbaric to do so in the middle of winter. Keeping them in a town under siege was, with hindsight, not the most generous action either–and Townshend would later regret his decision as the food supplies dwindled.

Photo: The British Headquarters in Kut



Japan/China relations

Chinese President Yuan Shikai had been angling to make himself Emperor for some time now. Given the extensive foreign influence in China, and the relative weakness of the nascent Republic, Yuan realized foreign support for his enthronement would serve him well. In November, he offered the Allies Chinese entry into the war in exchange for that support. The British were intrigued by the offer. Chinese manpower could prove useful for the war, even if only as labor. The Chinese had a not inconsiderable supply of rifles as well, purchased from the Germans (though largely not paid for). German commercial interests were still prevalent despite the fall of Tsingtao, along with German intelligence efforts based out of the embassy in Beijing, and the British were eager to shut these down as well.

Chinese entry into the war could also have helped Yuan Shikai beyond the price of his coronation. Joining the Allies would hopefully give him a say at the peace negotiations, during which he could push for the return of Tsingtao. The Chinese army would grow and gain experience, which could be useful later against both internal threats as well as the influence of the European powers and, most critically, Japan. Japan fully realized this, and wanted to make sure they neither lost Tsingtao nor strengthened Chinese independence. On December 6, they vetoed China’s entry into the war; the British, having been allied with the Japanese longer than any of the European powers, quickly agreed.

Naval operations: Mediterranean Sea

Walter Forstmann, commanding U-39, captures and sinks Greek freighter SS L.G. GOULANDRIS, 2,123 tons, bound from Alexandria to Hull with an unspecified cargo. His score is now 38 ships and 81,942 tons.

Day 497 of the Great War, December 8th 1915

Western Front: Allied generals make plans for next year

Allied military leaders have been meeting at the Chantilly headquarters of Joseph Joffre, supreme commander of the French. The war has not gone as well as expected this year and they hope that combined operations next year will break the deadlock.

YouTube: Poincare At Chantilly In Presence Of Joffre (1914-1915)



Despite their failures this year the Allies still have many advantages over their enemies. As well as their economic might, the Allies have a clear advantage in manpower, with their numbers under arms dwarfing those of the Central Powers. To bring these advantages to bear, the Allies agree that next year there will be near simultaneous offensives on the Eastern, Western and Italian fronts, to prevent the Germans and Austro-Hungarians from concentrating their reserves on any one danger point. The British and French tentatively agree a huge joint offensive on the Western Front, most likely at the junction of their two armies.

Confident that 1916 will see a turnaround of their fortunes, Allied commanders leave Chantilly and return to their own headquarters. It does not occur to any of them that their enemies might have plans of their own.

Photo: the participants of the Second Chantilly Conference



Gallipoli campaign: Cabinet approves the evacuation of Anzac and Suvla

The Cabinet, at long last, had approved the evacuation of Anzac and Suvla on December 7. Certain elements in the Navy had kept advocating for a renewed naval push through the Straits until the end, but these were also rejected. Another idea, to use the forces at Salonika to launch another series of attacks from Suvla, was vetoed by the French. General Monro, now in overall command of British forces in the Aegean, proposed evacuating Anzac, Suvla, and Helles at the same time. However, Kitchener wanted to maintain a force at Helles for political reasons–and regardless, the recent storms had destroyed enough small craft to make this impossible.

While the Cabinet had been making up their mind, General Birdwood had been carrying out the preliminary stages of an evacuation, removing all men and materiel not required for holding the lines at Gallipoli through the winter. When they heard of the Cabinet’s decision on December 8, they immediately began the next stages of the evacuation. 83,000 men were by then left at Anzac and Suvla, and this would be reduced to 20,000 over the course of the next ten nights. The lines would be slowly thinned out, without any form of withdrawal, as to not tip off the Turks to the evacuation.

A variety of other ruses were used to convince the Turks that all was normal. When stores were evacuated, facades of empty boxes were left. Empty tents were left standing, and mule trains made deliveries of nothing to keep the number of deliveries constant. Sergeant William Kirk of the Signal Corps recalled:

I was told to go to where the headquarters had been, find their dugouts and pick up all the paper, boxwood, old sacking, anything that would burn. I was to light fires where they’d usually done their cooking to send up smoke to make the Turks think they were still there.

As they had for the last several weeks, the Anzac forces were deliberately told not to fire at activity in No Man’s Land during the night, unless the Turks were attacking their lines directly. Hopefully, this would mean the Turks would not realize anything was amiss during the final nights of the evacuation.

Kamerun Campaign: harsh British measures against natives assisting the Germans

In Kamerun the tide of war has turned against the Germans. British and French forces are advancing on their southern base of Yaounde. In the north of the country, German resistance has been eliminated, save at Mora, where German forces are under siege.

The situation in Mora is now rather desperate. The defenders are short of food and medical supplies. But they are still able to obtain some victuals from native villages near the German positions. Whether the Kamerunians supply the garrison with food out of sympathy for their colonial masters or because of friendly relations with the Africans making up the bulk of the German force (or whether the Mora garrison seizes the food by force) is not recorded. Either way the supplying of food to Mora by the natives infuriates the British and French besiegers. Today the British put the village of Wudume to the torch to punish its inhabitants for assisting the Mora defenders.

Naval operations: North Sea

British freighter SS IGNIS, 2,042 tons, bound from Tyne to London with a cargo of coal gas, runs on a mine laid by Georg Haag, new commander of UC-7.