The Great War (1914-1918) in real time

Day 532 of the Great War, January 12th 1916

United Kingdom

The Military Service Bill secures a second reading.

Western Front: German preparations intensify, guns start firing at Verdun

The Germans are preparing for their offensive against the fortified French town of Verdun. Falkenhayn’s plan is to inflict so many casualties on the enemy that they will have to sue for peace. Preparations are taking place in great secrecy, with as few people as possible on the German side being made aware that a great offensive is being planned.

Today preparations climb to a new level as German artillery pieces start to fire at French positions around Verdun. This is not the barrage that will precede the assault: the German guns are just finding the range of their targets so that when they fire in earnest they will be able to accurately pour down shells on the hapless French.

The German ranging fire may excite French suspicions that something is being planned for the Verdun sector, but Falkenhayn is determined to keep the enemy guessing for as long as possible. Heightened activity is taking place at various places along the Western Front to confuse the Allies as to their intentions. Nevertheless, the French are beginning to realise that something is up.

Eastern Front

Resumption of Russian offensive in Galicia.

Macedonian front

Allies blow up bridges at Demirhissar and Kilindir.

Serbian campaign: Serbian Army Begins Evacuation to Corfu

The Serbian Army was famished and exhausted after its defeat and retreat through the mountains into Albania. Food supplies were very low, though improving for both the Army and civilian refugees since Admiral Troubridge (commanding the British naval mission to Serbia since his court-martial) had begun organizing deliveries of food and medical care to the Serbians in early January. Within a week, however, they were facing another threat, from the Austrian army tasked with the conquest of Montenegro. On January 11th, the Austrians took the Montenegrin capital of Cetinje, and the way was largely open to Scutari [Shkodër], where the Serbians had been gathering in northern Albania.

The Serbians were in no state to mount a defense against the Austrians, and it was decided an evacuation from the mainland was necessary–if possible, from further south from Scutari. The nearby Greek island of Corfu was was the main destination for the Serbians, and French marines landed there to prepare the way on January 11th. Parts of the Serbian Army began leaving the next day from San Giovanni di Medua [Shëngjin] near Scutari, while others began moving south to Durazzo [Durrës] to prepare for evacuation at a safer distance from the Austrians. The Greek government protested yet another violation of its neutrality, but the evacuation continued regardless.

Photo: Serbian troops about to evacuate



Naval operations: English Channel

British freighter SS ALGERIAN, 3,837 tons, travelling in ballast from Cowes to Avonworth, hits a mine laid by Herbert Pustkuchen in UC-5. His score is now 20 ships and 26,601 tons.

British freighter SS TRAQUAIR, 1,067 tons, bound from Leith to Dunkerque with a load of coal, hits a mine laid by Matthias von Schmettow in UC-6 just off Dover. His score is now 21 ships and 17,264 tons.

Day 534 of the Great War, January 14th 1916

YouTube (The Invasion Of Montenegro - The End of Gallipoli)



Western Front

Severe bombardment of Givenchy.

Italian Front

Heavy fighting near Gorizia.

Serbian campaign: Montenegrin campaign

Austria-Hungarian troops capture the Montenegrin capital city of Cetinje. Negotiations for an armistice begins.

Caucasus campaign: Yudenich launches the main Russian assault on Koprukoy

The Russians are attacking in eastern Anatolia, hoping to capture the key city of Erzurum before Turkish reinforcements arrive from Gallipoli. Russia’s General Yudenich has launched diversionary attacks near the frontline city town of Köprüköy. These have tricked the Turks into sending most of the garrison away from the town.

Now Yudenich attacks Köprüköy itself. The Turks put up a stout resistance but as the fighting progresses their desperate position becomes more and more apparent: they are increasingly in danger of encirclement from their Russian enemies.

Mesopotamia campaign: Action at Wadi

General Aylmer’s Tigris Corps, despatched to relieve, Kut, continued heading upriver after the narrow victory of its advance force, under General Younghusband, at the Battle of Sheikh Sa’ad. Six miles from the besieged city, he encountered the next Turkish defensive position at the small Wadi stream, a tributary that flowed south into the Tigris. Though many of Aylmer’s 19,000 troops were tired from the earlier battle, as well as their exhausting river march, they were pushed to the limit by messages from General Townshend, the commander of the Kut garrison, warning that he feared he could not hold out much longer. For some reason, Townshend underestimated the amount of food he had left, perhaps because he feared mutiny from his numerous Indian troops, whom he did not trust.

Aylmer’s troops marched along the river plain, without many roads or towns for resupply. By the time they contacted Turkish resistance, most of the troops were tired and demoralized. The Turkish troops at Wadi were dug into firm positions along the banks of the stream. Aylmer planned to outflank them, sending the 28th (Meerut) division on a diversionary frontal attack while the rest of the Tigris Corps marched around the flank.

The attack began in the early afternoon, after being postponed due to a screen of mist from the river and the slow approach of the Corps artillery. There were around 20,000 Turkish soldiers, enough to outnumber both elements of the British attack, and Aylmer’s troops quickly lost the element of surprise when gunfire warned the Ottomans on the flank of the impending attack. The Meerut Division was repulsed with heavy losses, and the flankers, who lacked proper maps, became lost. By the time they found the Ottoman positions, the Turks had re-positioned to face them. Aylmer called off the attack at the end of the day and ferried his remaining troops to the right bank of the Tigris River. The Ottomans had taken minor casualties, while the British lost at least 1,600 dead, wounded, and captured.

Photo: A British eighteen-pounder field gun team fires from an open position



Gallipoli campaign

Ottoman Empire announces it has seized 4,500 cases of ammunition and 45,000 shells after the evacuation of Gallipoli.

Aerial operations: Formation Flying

Such has been the impact of the Fokker monoplanes, that RFC Headquarters has finally bowed to reality and has issued the following order:

“Until the Royal Flying Corps is in possession of a machine as good as or better than the ‘ German Fokker it seems that a change in the tactics employed becomes necessary. It is hoped very shortly to obtain a machine which will be able to successfully engage the Fokkers at present in use by the Germans. In the meantime, it must be laid down as a hard and fast rule that a machine proceeding on reconnaissance must be escorted by at least three other fighting machines. These machines must fly in close formation and a reconnaissance should not be continued if any of the machines become detached. This should apply to both short and distant reconnaissances. Aeroplanes proceeding on photographic duty any considerable distance east of the line should be similarly escorted. From recent experience it seems that the Germans are now employing their aeroplanes in groups of three or four,and these numbers are frequently encountered by our aeroplanes. Flying in close formation must be practised by all pilots.”

That said, few pilots have any experience of formation flying and the myriad of types flown in most squadrons will further complicate the matter.

Naval operations: English Channel

British freighter SS BRESLAU, 1,330 tons, travelling in ballast from Calais to London, runs on a mine laid by Erwin Waßner in UC-5. The ship is only damaged.

Naval operations: North Sea

German auxiliary minesweeper SPERRBRECHER8, 4,724 tons, is sunk by a mine.

Day 536 of the Great War, January 16th 1916

Western Front

Lille bombed.

French troops are reinforcing and strengthening the Verdun forts in anticipation of a German attack on the area.

Macedonian front

General Sarrail takes command at Salonika.

The Serbian army in exile promises to provide the Allies with 100,000 men to continue the fight.

Persian Campaign

Russians forced to evacuate Kangavar.

Naval operations: Atlantic Ocean

The SMS MOWE, a freighter converted into a commerce raider, armed with four 150-millimeter guns, one 105-millimeter gun, and two torpedo tubes: more than enough to deal with solitary British merchantmen, like the SS APPAM, a steamship that the German ship had captured previously sports another victim on the night of January 16, 120 miles south of Madeira. this was SS CLAN MACTAVISH, Part of the Clan Line shipping company, returning to Britain after a voyage to Australia, the British ship was captained by a Royal Navy captain, and had two Navy seaman onboard to man its own gun. Approaching, the German captain, Dohna-Schlodien, used a signal lamp to request the British ship’s name. Dohna-Schlodien flashed that his own ship was the SS AUTHOR, a ship that it had sunk several weeks previous.

The German ship responded by telling the shocked Britons to halt, crossing the steamer’s. The British captain, caught by surprise, chose to make a run for it, increasing speed and altering course. After a warning shot, the raider opened up with its 150-mm battery, the CLAN MACTAVISH bravely but futile returning fire on the pursuer with its one gun. The telegraphist sent out a distress signal, picked up by the armored cruiser ESSEX, but the Royal Navy ship’s own telegraph operator failed to inform his captain. Taking several direct hits, killing a number of the crew, the outgunned British merchantman surrendered, continuing MOWE’S lethal record.

Day 538 of the Great War, January 18th 1916

Eastern Front

Austrians claim complete victory in Galicia and Bukovina.

Mesopotamia campaign

Turks repulse British column west of Kurna (Mesopotamia).

Caucasus Campaign

Russians take Hasan-Kala (Armenia).

Macedonian Front

Allied troops stage further landings on Greek territory at Phalerum and Corinth to use as military bases.

Italian Front

Italian troops renew their offensive towards the town of Gorizia and capture Austro-Hungarian trenches at Oslavia.

German/Bulgarian relations: Kaiser, Bulgarian Tsar Celebrate Triumph over Serbia

The fall of Serbia in November had opened the way for supplies to flow uninterrupted from Germany to her Bulgarian and Turkish allies. In January, passenger service was resumed from Germany to Constantinople, for the first time since the Romanians closed their frontier in October 1914. On the first “Balkan Express” was the Kaiser, who arrived in the former Serbian wartime capital of Niš on January 18 with much pomp. That evening, the Kaiser and Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria celebrated their joint victory over Serbia with an elaborate banquet, along with Falkenhayn, Bulgarian PM Radoslavov, and others. The Kaiser made the Tsar a German Field Marshal, while the Tsar made the Kaiser a colonel at the end of a long speech, containing such phrases as:

[In German:] The world has learned to appreciate with surprise and admiration the strength of Germany and her allies, and believes in the invincibility of the German Army under the guidance and leadership of its Kaiser.

[in Latin:] Hail! Emperor, Caesar and King. Thou art victor and glorious. IN ancient Niš all the peoples of the East salute thee, the redeemer, bringing to the oppressed prosperity and salvation.

The reaction abroad to the overly elaborate display was mixed, as seen by this Dutch cartoon drawn shortly thereafter.

Cartoon: The Trials of a Court Painter: “I commenced this as the entry into Paris, but I must finish it as the entry into Nish.” January 1916 cartoon by Louis Raemaekers, pro-Allied Dutch cartoonist



Aerial operations: Junkers J1 takes off

The Junkers J1 took its first real flight today at Döberitz. Gefreiter Paul Arnold of FEA 1 was in the pilots seat. During this first flight the J1 reached an altitude of 80m (260 ft), following a 200 m (660 ft) takeoff run. The problem was that the variable incidence stabilizer had been incorrectly set, in the mistaken belief that the J1 was tail-heavy. Later that day, after the stabilizer’s incidence adjustment was corrected to give level flight trim, Leutnant Mallinckrodt made another attempt, this time reaching 900m (3,000 ft), with a shorter takeoff run than before. The in-flight handling of the J1 is considered acceptable, and it is stable in flight.

Photo: Junkers J 1 all metal "technology demonstrator" pioneer aircraft, at FEA 1, Döberitz, Germany in late 1915, undergoing flight preparations



Naval operations: English Channel

French auxiliary minesweeper AUVERGNE, 523 tons, hits a mine laid by Irwin Waßner and UC-3. His score is now 13 ships and 15,805.

Naval operations: North Sea

Hans Valentiner, commanding UB-16, stops and scuttles British fishing smacks EVELYN, 55 tons, FOAM CREST, 46 tons, and SUNSHINE, 52 tons. His score is now 13 vessels and 10,057 tons.

Dutch freighter SS RIJNDAM, 12,527 tons, travelling from New York to Rotterdam, is damaged by a mine laid by Egon von Werner and UC-1.

Naval operations: A new commander for the German fleet spells danger for Britain

After some clashes with the British fleet in 1914 and early 1915 the main German fleet has been confined to port. The British navy is more powerful and German leaders fear destruction should the two fleets end up in a straight fight. But now Germany has a new naval commander, as Admiral Reinhard Scheer succeeds the unwell Hugo von Pohl. Scheer favours a more aggressive strategy. He knows that it is the British fleet that is the source of Britain’s strategic dominance. If the British navy could be defeated then the blockade of Germany would be lifted, allowing for the unimpeded import of foodstuffs and the raw materials needed for the war effort. The way would also be open for an invasion of England itself.

How to defeat the British fleet is something of a conundrum, given Britain’s naval dominance. Scheer begins to think about combined operations in which the British will be attacked by a combination of German capital ships, U-boats and Zeppelins. If the naval balance in the North Sea can be changed then Scheer will have won the war.

Naval operations: Schiermonnikoog

The British submarine HMS H.6 runs aground on the Dutch island of Schiermonnikoog and is interned.

Day 540 of the Great War, January 20th 1916

United Kingdom: Britain Buys Up Romanian Wheat

The British blockade cut off most international trade to the Central Powers, leaving them dependent on their own resources and the few neutral countries accessible to them: the Netherlands, the Scandinavian countries, Switzerland, and Romania. Of course, in such neutral countries the Central Powers faced competition from Allied agents, who hoped to deny the Central Powers access to these goods. British trade representatives scored a large victory on January 20, buying up 700,000 tons of Romanian wheat, about a third of its 1915 production. Austria-Hungary had depended on Romania for more than 30% of its wheat supply in 1915, and the purchase thus threatened a substantial drop in Austria’s food supply. The Austrian government protested later in the month, to no avail.

Western Front: Joffre Visits Haig at GHQ in St. Omer

Joffre visited Haig at British GHQ in St. Omer on January 20. He presented the BEF’s commander-chief, as well as General Henry Rawlinson, with decorations from the French government, and, more surprisingly for the two British generals, a customary French embrace. In the meantime, Joffre’s staff had been considering British proposals for a joint offensive in the spring and summer. Joffre agreed to the British plan: an attack at the Somme in mid-April, followed by a summer push in Flanders. The French promised artillery support to these battles, signalling that this year, for the first time, Britain would be making the major effort and France playing a more supportive role.

Though a compromise had been reached, both leaders had their concerns. Haig worried about the French Army’s continued ability to fight: “General Joffre told me privately last Thursday that although his companies are quite up to strength he no longer has large reserves behind them,” he telegraphed to Prime Minister Asquith. “The French Army is thus only capable of undertaking one big offensive effort.” Meanwhile, Joffre and the rest of the French command cynically suspected that Britain hoped to continue to do the bulk of the fighting by proxy, economizing her own manpower while the French drained theirs in attacks. Little did either side know that, far from avoiding engagements, both armies would be in for grim battles of attrition that year, the French starting in February at Verdun, the British at the Somme in June.

Photo: Haig and Joffre inspect French troops at GHQ in 1916



Serbian campaign: Montenegrin campaign

Negotiations between Austria and Montenegro broken off.

Persian Campaign

Russians take Sultanabad (Persia).

Caucasus Campaign

Russian progress in Armenia.

Mesopotamia campaign: a new commander for the Turks at Kut

In Mesopotamia a British army is under siege in Kut-al-Amara. The besieging Turks are commanded by Colonel Nurredin, victor of the Battle of Ctesiphon… or they were until today. The overall commander of the Turkish forces in Mesopotamia is Germany’s General Goltz. Goltz and Nurredin are not close. The German was shocked by Nurredin’s unapproved attempt to storm Kut on Christmas Eve. Now Goltz manages to have Nurredin transferred from Mesopotamia and sent off to the Caucasus.

The new Turkish commander at Kut is General Halil, uncle of Enver Pasha, the Turkish war minister. Halil was also the Turkish commander at the Siege of Van and the veteran of various unsavoury actions against Armenian civilians.

Halil is not going to have any time to quietly settle into his new role. His first task is to prevent the British relief force of General Aylmer from raising the siege of Kut. After forcing the Turks to abandon positions at Sheikh Saad and al-Wadi, the British are now preparing to attack the Turks defending the Hanna defile, their last position before Kut itself.

Naval operations: Mediterranean Sea

Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière, commanding U-35, sinks British freighter SS TREMATON, 4,198 tons, bound from Karachi to London with a load of grain. His score is now 3 ships and 14,183 tons.

Naval operations: Adriatic Sea

Robert Teufl von Fernalnd, in Austrian submarine U-11, takes Italian passenger liner/hospital ship KONING ALBERT, 10,484 tons, as a prize. A prize court will later release the ship back to her owners.

Day 542 of the Great War, January 22nd 1916

Mesopotamia campaign: besieged Kut tightens its belt

A British army in Kut-al-Amara is under siege by the Turks. A relief force under General Aylmer is fighting its way up the Tigris in an effort to lift the siege. Yesterday they were unable to break through the Turkish defences at Hanna. Aylmer had intended to attack again today, but he realises that his position is hopeless. His men are greatly outnumbered by the Turks and further attempts to attack could lead to the destruction of his force. Fearing that the Turks will counter-attack while he is in this vulnerable position, Aylmer orders a retreat. He feels that he cannot resume attempts to raise the siege of Kut until he has received adequate reinforcements.

The defenders of Kut have been following Aylmer’s efforts to rescue them by wireless. Realising that the siege will not be ending in the immediate future Townshend, the British commander in the town, orders a halving of all rations. He also orders his men to conduct a house to house search of the town and to requisition all food found. The townsfolk will have to share their food supplies with their guests from the British army.

Aerial operations: Bombers Return

German aircraft returned to the skies over England today for the first time since October 1915. This time a single Friedrichshafen FF 33b floatplane of Seeflieger Abteilung 1 appeared over Dover after midnight and dropped nine bombs on the town. Within 15 minutes the raid was over and the aircraft was spotted heading out to see before any aircraft could take off to attack it or it could be engaged by anti-aircraft fire.

Despite the speed of the raid it still caused extensive damage in the town. One set fire to the maltings at the Phoenix Brewery in Dolphin Lane. Another crashed through the roof of the Red Lion Inn in St James’ Street killing Harry Sladen and injuring James Browning, George Gambrill and Richard Willis. Further bombs fell in Golden Cross Cottages from which fragments injured three children – Daisy Marlow, Grace Marlow and another unnamed girl, and on Golden Cross Place where Julia Philpott was injured.

Naval operations: North Sea

British freighter SS FALLS CITY, 4,729 tons, carrying a load of coal from South Shields to Genoa, Italy, runs on a mine laid by Alfred Nitzsche in UC-10. The damaged steamer makes port safely.

Naval operations: Aegean Sea

Walter Forstmann, commanding U-39, torpedoes British freighter SS NORSEMAN, 9,542 tons, bound from Plymouth to Thessaloniki with a load of mules and munitions. The ship is beached at Tuzla Point and crew and cargo are safely landed. The ship ends up being a total loss. Forstmann's score is now 44 ships and 109,348 tons.

Naval operations: Atlantic Ocean

German raider SMS MOWE captures and scuttles British barque SV EDINBURGH, 1,473 tons, travelling from Rangoon to Liverpool with a load of rice flour. Möwe's score is now 10 ships and 42,910 tons.