The Great War (1914-1918) in real time

lordroel
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The Great War (1914-1918) in real time Oct 30, 2019 3:56:09 GMT stevep and Zyobot like this

Post by lordroel on Oct 30, 2019 3:56:09 GMT

Day 95 of the Great War, October 30th 1914

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Western Front: Battle of the Yser

General Beseler of III Reserve Corps believes that the final breakthrough against the Belgians is imminent, and orders 5th and 6th Reserve Divisions to assault the enemy line along the railway embankment. The Belgians are clearly at their breaking point - as of today the Belgian 2nd Division has only sixty shells per artillery piece - and one more push might shatter the enemy. The ground is increasingly inundated and the German find water up to their ankles in places, but they attribute this to recent rains and think nothing more of it. In the course of the day's fighting the Germans reach the embankment, and in several places pierce the Belgian line, most significantly by seizing the village of Ramscappelle to the west of the railway. By this evening Beseler fully intends to resume the attack tomorrow, exploiting the breaches to move past the embankment and into open country.

At the supreme moment of crisis for the Belgian army, as it sits on the brink of defeat, the flooding begun on the 28th finally takes effect. Water that was at the ankle this morning is at the knee this evening, making rapid movement impossible. Those Germans who have reached the embankment look back on the fields they have crossed over the past few days to find instead nothing but water behind them. German trenches are flooded, and soldiers cannot lay down in the face of machine gun and artillery fire, for to do so would mean drowning. Not only is further advance impossible, but bringing up ammunition and provisions to resupply the Germans at the embankment is also out of the question. With great reluctance, Beseler bows to the inevitable and just before midnight orders 5th and 6th Reserve Divisions to give up the ground captured at such great expense and retreat back across the Yser River.

Military operations in Belgium, October 1914

- The attack of Army Group Fabeck opens with a diversionary attack at Zonnebeke by XXVII Reserve Corps, intended to compel the British and French to commit their reserves there before the main attack is launched to the south. After a preliminary bombardment at 600am, German infantry advance at 630. They face elements of the British 1st and 2nd Divisions, which crucially have had time to entrench effectively, including lines of barbed wire. The German attacks fail to break through the British lines at any point, and realizing the German threat was being contained, no reserves of I Corps are committed to the fight here. Thus not only does the attack not capture Zonnebeke, but it fails as a diversionary effort as well.

- The main offensive begins at 645 with a heavy artillery bombardment of British positions from Zandvoorde to Messines, held by 7th Division and 3rd Cavalry Division around Zandvoorde, 2nd Cavalry Division around Hollebeke, and 1st Cavalry Division at Messines. The British defensive position is weakest at Zandvoorde, where again 7th Division is holding trenches on a forward slope in clear view of German artillery, and by 8am the Germans had overrun the line, and at 10am occupy the village itself. Situated on a small ridge, the capture of Zandvoorde allows the Germans pour enfilade fire on British positions nearby, including by artillery brought up to fire over direct sights. Reserves from I Corps, Cavalry Corps, and 3rd Cavalry Division are brought forward, but, having to advance over open ground, suffer heavy losses and are unable to recapture Zandvoorde. The best that can be done is to create a new defensive line northwest of Zandvoorde, and Haig, aware of the weakness of his position, asks General Dubois of the French IX Corps for aid. Despite the latter continuing to attempt attacks northeast of Ypres, to his great credit Dubois instantly dispatches several battalions south. The new defensive line northwest of Zandvoorde holds, not least because the Germans are again reluctant to keep pressing forward - indeed, by the end of the day German divisional commanders were protesting that due to heavy losses further attacks should be curtailed.

Elsewhere, at noon a heavy bombardment commences against the British 2nd Cavalry Division, and by 1230 the destruction of their meager trenches forces them to withdraw, and Hollebeke falls to the Germans. Further south, however, German attacks against 1st Cavalry Division at Messines fail to break through. Overall, despite tactical gains, the Germans have not achieved the decisive breakthrough desired. The German command leadership, however, is determined to continue the advance tomorrow. For the British, though the German attacks have been contained, the sheer strength of the German offensive, combined with the continued inability to determine the size and identity of the German formations opposite, lead to growing concerns about the continued ability of the BEF to hold on. Sir John French gives up the idea of further attacks, ordering his forces to simply hold on, and instructing General Smith-Dorrien of II Corps to the south to send reserves northward to reinforce the British line.

- As the fighting at Ypres intensifies, Chief of the General Staff Falkenhayn meets in Berlin with General Ludendorff. The latter seeks the redeployment of significant forces from the Western Front to the Eastern Front, to allow for another, more substantial offensive operation against the Russians after the indecisive fighting of October. Falkenhayn, however, insists that a decisive victory can still be achieved in the West, and refuses Ludendorff's request.

Naval Operations: Pacific Ocean

HMS GOOD HOPE and MONMOUTH depart Chiloé Island to rendezvous with GLASGOW and OTRANTO. Just one hour later Canopus arrives at the Island. Then a very odd thing happens. When captain Grant asks Junior Engineering Officer Lt. Sydney Start about the state of the engines, Start is puzzled. There is nothing wrong with the engines. When Grant asks for Senior Engineer Cmdr. William Denbow, Start replies that Denbow has been in his cabin the entire voyage, and could not possibly know the state of the engines. Start further informs his captain that the engines are in good shape and can make the same 17 knots they made when the ship was new. Denbow is sent back to England with a doctor and finally invalided from the navy.

Grant doesn't inform Cradock of this because he believes the Admiral wouldn't slow down for him anyway.

Meanwhile SMS PRINZ EITEL FRIEDRICH, GOTTINGEN and NURNBERG have left Valparaiso. The armed merchant cruiser goes its own way, looking for British shipping to sink, while the other two hurry to catch up with the rest of Spee's squadron.

Naval Operations: A new First Sea Lord

Today Admiral Sir John 'Jackie' Fisher is announced as the successor to Prince Louis of Battenberg as First Sea Lord. The seventy-three year old Fisher already served a term as First Sea Lord from 1904 to 1910, during which he transformed and modernized the Royal Navy, overseeing the dreadnought revolution, refocusing the fleet in home waters to meet the German threat while retiring hundreds of outdated warships to reduce expenses, and revolutionizing the education of officers and the methods of promotion. It is no exaggeration to say that the Royal Navy that entered the First World War is the creation of Jackie Fisher.

In bringing Fisher out of retirement to serve again as First Sea Lord, Churchill is hoping to tap into the admiral's famous drive and work ethic. Despite his age, Fisher remains perhaps the textbook definition of a 'mad genius'. He is absolute in his opinions and convinced of his own intellectual superiority - thankfully for the Royal Navy, most of the time he is right. He is ruthless with subordinates, expecting each to perform up to Fisher's expectations or be discarded. Not surprising, there are a legion of sworn enemies of Fisher within and without the navy, and the division of the officer corps into pro- and anti-Fisher factions was one of the contributing factors to his partially-forced retirement in 1910. Fisher for his part relishes conflict with his foes and is merciless to those who oppose him and who he deems to have failed, while his sharp tongue and vitriolic language is legendary. As an example, Fisher had long been dismissive of Admiral Sir Berkeley Milne, and when the latter as commander of the Mediterranean Fleet permitted the escape of GOEBEN and BRESLAU Fisher declared to a friend that the 'serpeant' 'Sir Berkeley GOEBEN' should be shot.

The appointment of the elderly Fisher is generally received with favour among the press and the public, being seen in a similar light to Kitchener by bringing authority and drive to the senior service. It is hoped that he will ensure that the navy more vigourously pursues the enemy, while reigning in the wilder impulses of Churchill. In reality, the two heads of the Royal Navy - the First Lord and the First Sea Lord - are both impulsive forces used to getting their own way. For now, the two, who for several years have been friends, recognize each other as kindred spirits. Should there ever be a clash between the two, however, the explosion promises to be epic.

Naval Operations: aftermath of the Ottoman Black Sea Raid

In the aftermath of yesterday's bombardment of the Russian Black Sea coast, the British ambassador delivers an ultimatum to the Ottoman government in Constantinople, demanding that the German crews be removed from GOEBEN and BRESLAU. He receives no response, as the Ottoman government is divided itself about what has transpired. The Grand Vizier is outraged that he was not consulted about the attack and threatens to resign, while a majority of the Cabinet wishes to disavow Admiral Souchon's action. However, the counter of Enver Pasha and his supporters is simply that the die has been cast; that the logical outcome of the secret German alliance was always war with the Entente - Souchon has merely hastened the inevitable.

Naval Operations: KONIGSBERG in the Rufiji River Delta in German East Africa

For the past several weeks, the German light cruiser KONIGSBERG has been hiding in the Rufiji River Delta in German East Africa, attempting to fix engine trouble and waiting for additional coal. Today British warships discover the hiding place of KONIGSBERG by sighting its masts from the mouth of the delta. However, having discovered KONIGSBERG, the British find themselves unable to do anything about it. The German light cruiser is sufficiently far up the river delta to be beyond the reach of the British cruisers offshore. Moreover, the delta itself covers 1500 square miles of islands, marshes, swamps, and channels, and only the Germans have ever charted them, leaving the British unsure of the proper path through the delta to KONIGSBERG, or where it could emerge to go back to sea. The only alternative at present is for the British to blockade all the exits of the Rufiji Delta, requiring the permanent deployment of twenty-five warships that can be ill-spared from other theatres. Thus KONIGSBERG, simply by continuing to exist, has a noticeable impact on the operations of the Royal Navy.

Naval Operations: Indian Ocean

At 0630 SMS EMDEN comes across the English freighter SS NEWBURN, 3,000 tons, bound from England to Singapore with a cargo of salt. Upon investigation it turns out that the company which owns the salt is German. Leutnant Lauterbach relays the information to Captain von Müller. When the reply is given Lauterbach tells NEWBURN'S Master, J.R. Matthews, that his ship is free to go if they will take the French sailors to Khota Raja, on Malaya, which is know to have a good hospital and is only a few hours away. Matthews is more than happy to agree, and the Frenchmen are transferred to the freighter, and precise instructions are given by Doctor Schwabe for the care of the wounded. The last to go is the Lieutenant whose leg had been amputated. The EMDEN'S crew were later saddened to hear that this officer had died in the hospital at Khota Raja. At 0900 EMDEN stops again to bury the French sailor who had died the night before.

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lordroel
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The Great War (1914-1918) in real time Oct 31, 2019 4:12:48 GMT stevep likes this

Post by lordroel on Oct 31, 2019 4:12:48 GMT

Day 96 of the Great War, October 31st 1914

Naval Operations: Pacific Ocean

The British light cruiser GLASGOW continues to sit off Coronel today. Despite the volume of intercepted German wireless traffic, no German warships have appeared, so the captain of GLASGOW receives permission from Admiral Craddock to enter Coronel, which it does at dusk. The ship's intelligence officer goes ashore to collect mail and messages from the British consul, who warns of a large German ethnic community, which means the presence of GLASGOW in Coronel may have already been reported to the German East Asiatic Squadron. In fact, one of the squadron's supply ships was in harbour when GLASGOW arrived, and had reported its presence to Admiral Spee at 7pm. An increase in the volume of German wireless traffic convinces the captain of GLASGOW that German warships are approaching, so he decides to sail by 9am tomorrow morning. Further, Admiral Craddock is bringing the rest of his squadron to Coronel to rendezvous with Glasgow - all of the German signals have had the call sign of the light cruiser Leipzig, and Craddock believes that it is operating in isolation from the rest of the German East Asiatic Squadron, providing an opportunity to sink it in isolation.

That all of the German wireless traffic has had the call signal of LEIPZIG, of course, is a deliberate ruse by Admiral Spee to mask the presence of his entire squadron off the Chilean coast. When he learns of GLASGOW'S presence in Coronel, he decides to trap the British warship when it departs Coronel tomorrow; by law a warship that spends more than twenty-four hours in a neutral port is to be interned. Thus the commanders of both squadrons believe that they are moving to engage a single warship of the other.

Naval Operations: Rufiji River Delta in German East Africa

German East Africa: During the night Captain Drury-Lowe moves HMS CHATHAM south to the Kiomboni peninsula. In a bold move he sends two cutters ashore to raid Kiomboni village. They capture the village chief and two other men, and take them back to Chatham for questioning. The chief, Ali bin Turemi, tells his captors he saw a three-funneled warship pass by at the beginning of September. The second native tells much the same story, including an account of having seen six ships anchored at Salale just three days earlier. When shown a photograph of SMS KONIGSBERG all three men agree that one of the ships at Salale looks just like the ship in the picture. Drury-Lowe moves Chatham as close to land as he dares in the receding tide. Five miles up the river his lookouts can see mast-tops in among the trees. KONIGSBERG has been found.

Drury-Lowe sends a signal to DARTHMOUTH and WEYMOUTH to join him. He then attempts to wreck Captain Looff's communications by shelling the German wireless station on Mafia island.

One interesting point is that the three natives told their British captors that they did not want to be returned to shore, as the Germans beat them and made them dig trenches and build fortifications. Ali bin Turemi will become a scout for the British.

Naval Operations: Indian Ocean

At 0430 lookouts aboard SMS EMDEN spot a ship in the darkness. To their relief it turns out to be their captured collier, SS BURESK. They were worried BURESK might have been recaptured, leaving them without coal, or worse, that there might be an enemy warship lying in wait for them.

Western Front: Baulked at the Yser, Germany takes the high ground at Ypres

- Between Nieuport and Dixmude the waterlogged soldiers of the German III Reserve Corps make their way eastward back across the flooded fields and over the Yser River to dry land. Due to the battered state of the Belgian army the Germans are able to undertake the retreat without significant losses, but there is no masking the bitter taste of the outcome of the Battle of the Yser. At the moment when a breakthough appeared to be at hand, the Germans have victory snatched from their grasp, not by the enemy army, but by the sea, the one remorseless enemy they cannot overcome. By letting in the sea, the Belgians have created an impenetrable barrier from Dixmude to the Channel. This gives the Belgian army the opportunity to rest and recover, and indeed it can be said that the flooding saves the army from destruction and Belgium from complete occupation. As a result, a tiny corner of Belgium will remain in Belgian hands for the duration of the war. Of course, just as the Germans cannot advance across the flooding, the Belgians cannot counterattack either. Knowing this allows the Germans to move forces south to reinforce the fighting elsewhere in Flanders.

- Just after midnight, General Foch arrives at BEF headquarters at St. Omer, asking to see Field Marshal French. The heavy attacks of yesterday have plunged the BEF commander again into pessimism, giving Foch the impression of panic and telling him 'We are for it.' Attempting to buoy French's spirits, Foch replies: 'We shall see. In the meantime, hammer, hammer away, keep on hammering, and you will get there.'

Army Group Fabeck today resumes its attacks on the British line from Gheluvlet to Messines. At the latter, the first advance comes before dawn, catching the British in the middle of relieving the companies holding the front line. After initially overrunning two companies of Indian infantry after their British officers had been killed, nearby cavalry rallied to push the Germans back. This, however, was only a prelude - a heavy artillery bombardment at 8am preceded an attack by twelve German battalions at 9am that outnumbered the defenders by more than six to one. The Germans break into the village of Messines, and advance house to house, using artillery at point-blank range to demolish British positions. Reinforcements from II Corps are fed into the battle, as well as the first Territorial battalion to see combat. Counterattacks suffer heavy losses, but relieve some of the pressure on the British defenders in Messines at by nightfall they remain entrenched in the southern portion of the village.

To the north, the British 2nd Cavalry Division comes under attack from the German 3rd Bavarian Division and 6th Bavarian Reserve Division. Though German artillery opened their bombardment at 6am, German infantry did not advance until just before 3pm, giving enough time for reserves to be deployed, and the Germans are repulsed.

The most serious situation of the day develops at Gheluvelt, where the line was held by I Corps' 1st Division. The first attack by the German XXIV Reserve Corps is mostly repulsed, but small elements manage to reach an orchard from which the defenders are unable to eject them. Under an increasingly intense artillery bombardment and fire from the orchard, part of the 2nd Battalion, Welch Regiment falls back, opening a gap in the line which the Germans find. Within minutes the British position has collapsed, the 2nd Battalion, Welch Regiment suffering 530 casualties in being effectively annihilated. British soldiers flee to the rear individually or in small groups, and attempts to rally them by officers fail. A company of 1st Battalion, Gloucestershires is sent to plug the gap, but under German shellfire it is reduced from eighty soldiers to thirteen by the time they arrive in the line.

Further German attacks are launched north and south of the Menin Road at 10am, and despite enduring intense fire are able to push the British back. By 1130am the Germans have taken Gheluvelt and broken the British line. Further, the British command structure is dealt a severe blow at 115pm when the chateau at which the commanders and staff of 1st and 2nd Divisions are struck by artillery shells, killing or wounding almost everyone present. As time has to be taken to find new commanders for both units, Haig at I Corps HQ informs Field Marshal French, General Foch, and General Dubois that 1st Division has been broken and issues orders for a last line of defence to be prepared to the rear.

A decisive moment of the battle is at hand - if the Germans can exploit the breakthrough, the entire British line could be outflanked and forced back, allowing the Germans to seize Ypres and secure victory. At I Corps HQ Haig organizes the orderlies and mess servants to make a last stand. When Sir John French arrives they discuss the breakthrough in what the BEF commander will later describe as the worst half-hour of his life. French then motors to Foch's headquarters to plead for reinforcements, stating, according to Foch's recollection, that the only men he had left were the sentries at BEF HQ and that he would take them 'where the line is broken, and the last of the English will be killed fighting.' Foch replied: 'We must stand firm first, we can die later.' He promises an attack by IX Corps and lends a cavalry brigade and three battalions to the British.

Meanwhile, west of Gheluvelt all of 1st Division's reserves had been committed to the fighting, and only three companies of 2nd Battalion, Worcesters, consisting of seven officers and 350 men, remained as 2nd Division's reserve. A brigade commander from 1st Division orders them to counterattack, and by 145pm they are moving on Gheluvelt Chateau, on the northeast side of the village. They have dropped their packs and grabbed extra ammunition to be able to advance as quickly as possible. The last mile is open ground, and the battalion loses a hundred men as they race across. When they reach the Chateau, they find Bavarians from three regiments who, in the aftermath of seizing Gheluvelt, have relaxed in the afterglow of victory. The Worcesters smash into them and the Germans are driven from the Chateau. The shock of the counterattack leads other German units to abandon Gheluvelt, and with stragglers from other units the Worcesters are able to establish a thin defensive line. For the loss of three officers and 189 men, the Worcesters had regained Gheluvelt and shattered German momentum.

Subsequent counterattacks on either flank by disparate and already-mauled British units are able to stem the German tide, though at the cost of over a thousand casualties. By the slimmest of margins, I Corps is able to restore its line and hold the Germans. Not for the first nor the last time the Germans manage to achieve a breakthrough, only to have it closed before it can be exploited.

- To the south of the main fighting at Ypres today the period of the heaviest fighting has come to an end, as the German 6th Army is no longer attempting to break through the British line between Armentières and La Bassée; daily skirmishes continue, however, mainly comprised of spoiling attacks by the Germans to keep the British opposite from redeploying northward. Since coming into the line, the British III Corps has suffered 5779 casualties, while II Corps was down to 14 000 infantry after arriving in Flanders with 24 000. The withdrawal of II Corps from the line is also completed today, with its place taken by all of the Indian Corps.

Map, situation at Ypres, October 31st 1914

German campaign in Angola: Battle of Naulila

When the War broke out, Portugal remained neutral, but declared its 'support' for the Entente. This awkward position arose out of Portugal's longstanding alliance with Britain that stretched back to the Middle Ages, but which did not require Portugal to actually go to war. Moreover, the British had such little regard for the Portuguese military that they saw no advantage to be gained by Portugal actually participating in the war. Thus Portugal stands in 1914 as unfriendly but not openly hostile to Germany.

The place of Portugal in the war has ramifications in Africa, considering the non-insubstantial Portuguese colonial empire, and in particular both Angola and Mozambique are adjacent to German colonies (German South West Africa and German West Africa respectively). In September Portugal had dispatched 1500 soldiers to each to buttress their garrison against potential German aggression. These forces would also aid in maintaining Portuguese rule over their colonies - parts of Angola in particular were in a state of near-perpetual revolt by the indigenous population.

To their German neighbours, however, these reinforcements could be interpreted as a prelude to a Portuguese invasion. Moreover, since the fall of Togoland in August direct communications with Germany had been severed, Thus the governor of German South West Africa is uncertain whether or not Germany and Portugal are at war. Tensions were heightened on October 19th when a German patrol (according to the Portuguese) or mission (according to the Germans) was arrested at a Portuguese border fort, and in the ensuing scuffle three Germans were killed. The event appears to confirm suspicions that the Portuguese are an active combatant, and the German governor decides to take advantage of the opportunity provided by the ongoing Boer Rebellion temporarily halting South African operations to the south to deal with the Portuguese to the north.

Today a German detachment approaches the Portuguese post at Cuangar, whose garrison is oblivious to the events of October 19th. Taken by surprise, the Portuguese defenders are overwhelmed and massacred by the Germans.

East African campaign: Indian Expeditionary Force and other British officials finalize their plan for the invasion of German East Africa

The commanders of Indian Expeditionary Force B and C meet today in Mombada with Kenyan and other British officials to finalize their plan for the invasion of German East Africa. It is decided that IEF B will land at Tanga on November 2nd, while IEF C will attack across the border in the interior on the 3rd. Crucially, the naval commander of the force escorting IEF B insists that given the prior agreement to neutralize Tanga and Dar es Salaam, it is necessary to inform the Germans that the British have abrogated the agreement before IEF B can land.

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The Great War (1914-1918) in real time Nov 1, 2019 7:09:53 GMT stevep and Zyobot like this

Post by lordroel on Nov 1, 2019 7:09:53 GMT

Day 97 of the Great War, November 1st 1914

Western Front: Battle of Ypres

- Despite the ground gained yesterday east of Ypres, Army Group Fabeck failed to achieve the desired breakthrough. General Fabeck decides that while the offensive will continue, its focus will shift slightly. After failing to exploit the temporary breach in the British line at Gheluvelt yesterday, today's attacks will be launched between Messines and Wytschaete.

On the Entente side, the French plan three attacks, to be undertaken in large part to relieve the pressure on the British - the first from north of Wytschaete, the second from Zonnebeke, and the third a diversionary attack by the rest of IX Corps. Each of these attacks fail to accomplish anything today, but they also speak to the growing importance of French forces in the Ypres salient. The past two week have severely reduced the BEF's strength - of its eighty-four infantry battalions, nine have fewer than a hundred men, while another thirty-one have between one and two hundred. In comparison, a full battalion would have just over a thousand men. There are also very few reinforcements in Britain that can be sent immediately to the front - the only regular army units not yet in the fight are the battalions of 8th Division, assembling in Britain after being located around the Empire on the outbreak of war.

The main German attack begins at 1am by nine battalions of the 6th Bavarian Reserve Division. At Wytschaete the British are outnumbered twelve to one, and by 245am the village is in German hands. More importantly, as the battle continues German units begin to infiltrate between British positions on the ridge between Wytschaete and Messines, as the defenders here are too few to man an entire trench line at once. Those British soldiers who remain on the ridge at dawn realize they are in danger of encirclement, and pull back. By 735am the Germans are in possession of the middle part of the high ground. This outflanks the British defenders still clinging to the village of Messines itself, and they are ordered to retreat at 9am. The British fall back to the next line of high ground to the west, while shelling their former trenches at Messines to impede the German occupation of them. A British counterattack manages to re-enter Wytschaete later in the day, but otherwise the Entente line here has been pushed back. On the other hand, the German victory is merely a tactical one, as though the British retreat they are not routed, and a new defensive line stands in the Germans' way.

- The Kaiser arrives near the front today, visiting several cavalry divisions near Courtrai and Lille. The British intercept several messages regarding his journey, but misinterpret his itinerary to suggest that he will be much closer to the front. British artillery prepare an appropriate welcome at the villages where they think the Kaiser will be during the day.

Map: The fighting around Ypres, November 1st to 4th, 1914.

- Behind the front, Lord Kitchener is meeting President Poincarè, Joffre, and Foch at Dunkirk to discuss the course of the war. Kitchener informs them that there are no substantial British reinforcements available until the spring of 1915, as he will not send untrained men into battle. However, subsequently the size of the BEF will expand rapidly as the 'New Armies' of wartime volunteers come into the field. Also, know of the sometimes-testy relationship between Joffre and Sir John French, Kitchener offers to replace the latter with General Sir Ian Hamilton. Joffre declines, believing (ironically, given his own record) that changing the BEF's commander in the middle of a battle would not work out. Unfortunately for Kitchener, this offer very quickly reaches the ears of Field Marshal French, which earns Kitchener the enduring emnity of the latter.

- By today the German 9th Army has fallen back to the line from which it had started its advance into Poland just over a month ago. Despite Ludendorff's claims of success, and the generally confused nature of the fighting, the Battle of the Vistula River is a Russian victory - it can hardly be otherwise when the Germans were the attackers and they end the battle where they started. Nevertheless, the past month have shown the continuing logistical and command problems plaguing the Russian army - the attempt to pursue the retreating Germans has completely broken down, and today it is formally called off.

As for Falkenhayn, his attention remains firmly fixed on the Western Front, and is willing to leave matters on the Eastern Front in the hands of Hindenburg and Ludendorff. As such, Hindenburg is today appointed commander-in-chief of all German forces in the east, with Ludendorff as his chief of staff and the command to be known as Ober Ost. General Mackensen is also promoted to take command of 9th Army.

Middle Eastern theatre: Shah of Persia, declares the neutrality of his state

With the entry of the Ottoman Empire into the war almost inevitable after the events in the Black Sea, the Shah of Persia, its eastern neighbour, declares the neutrality of his state. The statement, however, is more theoretical than practical. Though Persia is nominally independent, both Britain and Russia have significant interests and influence within it. The newest dreadnoughts burn oil, not coal, and with the oilfields of southern Persia being a key source for the Admiralty, the British government controls them through owning a majority share of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company. To the north, Russia already has five thousand soldiers garrisoning Persian Azerbaijan, seeing the endemic instability of the region as necessitating Russian control. The Shah himself is only 17 years old, and lacks an effective army to maintain internal order. Persian neutrality means little when major combatants sees their interests as necessitating intervention within its borders.

Naval operations: Battle of Coronel

The British light cruiser GLASGOW slips out of port at 915am, and meets the rest of Craddock's squadron just after 1pm. The four ships then spread out in a line, sailing north in search of the supposedly-isolated Leipzig. The German East Asiatic Squadron is doing much the same thing in pursuit of Glasgow, except moving south. At 420pm LIEPZIG and GLASGOW sight each other, drawing both squadrons together.

Upon confirming the presence of the entire German East Asiatic Squadron, Craddock knows that his force is markedly inferior to the Germans. He decides, however, to fight - first, his armed merchant liner OTRANTO was not fast enough to escape; and second, he felt bound by the Admiralty's orders to engage the enemy. Craddock turns his squadron around so that both forces are sailing southwards, roughly parallel to each other. With the sun setting to the west, Craddock hopes to force an action when the sun is blinding the eyes of the German gunners, giving the British a window of opportunity. At 618pm Craddock aboard GOOD HOPE signals the rest of his ships to follow him in closing with the Germans.

Spee, however, knows just as well as Craddock the impact the setting sun can have, and when the British ships turn to close the gap, he orders his ships to simply turn as well, maintaining the distance between the two squadrons. Thus the sun sets without a single ship being fired, and now all of the advantages are with the Germans - the British are now silhouetted against the twilight sky. At 650pm the Germans turn towards the British, and open fire at 704pm.

Craddock never had a chance. Despite the rough seas, the excellent marksmanship of SCHARNHORST and GNEISENAU, honed to near-perfection in peacetime gunnery exercises, is immediately obvious. The third salvo of SCHARNHORST strikes GOOD HOPE, destroying one of its 9.2-inch guns, and henceforth the German armoured cruisers pour accurate and rapid fire on GOOD HOPE and MONMOUTH. The British attempt to fire back, but most of their 6-inch shells fall short and the single 9.2-inch gun remaining operational on GOOD HOPE can hardly hope to win the battle by itself. In less than an hour GOOD HOPE is reduced to a flaming wreck, and having absorbed thirty-five hits from SCHARNHORST, explodes and sinks at 750pm. MONMOUTH survives only an hour more, sinking at 858pm. As Spee's focus is naturally on the two largest opponents, both GLASGOW and OTRANTO are able to make their escape in the night.

Picture: SMS SCHARNHORST firing during the battle

All aboard GOOD HOPE and MONMOUTH, including Craddock, are lost. On the German side, only GNEISENAU was hit even once by shells that exploded, and it suffered no serious damage and only three sailors were slightly wounded. GLASGOW manages to warn CANOPUS sailing north with the squadron's colliers of the disaster, and the survivors escape southwards. The German East Asiatic Squadron has won a notable and completely-lopsided victory at the Battle of Coronel, the first significant defeat of British warships at the hands of the enemy for a century.

Map: Ship movements during the Battle of Coronel. British ships are shown in red; German ships are shown in blue.

Eastern Front: The Germans lick their wounds

Less than a month ago Hindenburg and Ludendorff began their offensive against the Russians in Poland. After failing to take Warsaw and finding themselves up against ever increasing numbers of the enemy, the Germans began a retreat. Now they are back where they started, having outrun their pursuers.

The offensive was not a complete failure. The Germans did at least throw the Russians off balance and prevent a complete Austro-Hungarian collapse. And the Germans have no intention of staying on the defensive. Hindenburg and Ludendorff are already planning for a new offensive, hoping to inflict a decisive defeat on the Russians and drive them out of Poland once and for all.

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The Great War (1914-1918) in real time Nov 1, 2019 11:36:56 GMT

Post by stevep on Nov 1, 2019 11:36:56 GMT

Never realised that Kitchener considered replacing French with Hamilton during this period. Neither seemed to be that competent in such a large scale war but its an interesting POD that could have had some dramatic impact on the war possibly. Especially since it would mean a different commander would be commanding in the Gallipoli campaign.

Craddock was well and truly stuffed by gross mismanagement in the Admiralty and left with an hopeless task. Possibly he should have withdrawn when he realised the odds against him and accepted the probable loss of HMS Otranto to save his other ships. However in part he was committed by the orders from the Admiralty and also the experience of what happened to Troubridge after his failure to engage the Goeben with his armoured cruisers. From what I've read he was a good commander that the RN was to miss as well as the many men who died in the HMS Good Hope and Monmouth. RIP.

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The Great War (1914-1918) in real time Nov 1, 2019 11:42:37 GMT

Post by lordroel on Nov 1, 2019 11:42:37 GMT

Nov 1, 2019 11:36:56 GMT stevep said:

Never realised that Kitchener considered replacing French with Hamilton during this period. Neither seemed to be that competent in such a large scale war but its an interesting POD that could have had some dramatic impact on the war possibly. Especially since it would mean a different commander would be commanding in the Gallipoli campaign.

Craddock was well and truly stuffed by gross mismanagement in the Admiralty and left with an hopeless task. Possibly he should have withdrawn when he realised the odds against him and accepted the probable loss of HMS Otranto to save his other ships. However in part he was committed by the orders from the Admiralty and also the experience of what happened to Troubridge after his failure to engage the Goeben with his armoured cruisers. From what I've read he was a good commander that the RN was to miss as well as the many men who died in the HMS Good Hope and Monmouth. RIP.

I am surprised that the post mentions the first significant defeat of British warships at the hands of the enemy for a century, knowing that SM U-9 on September 22nd 1914 sank 3 armoured cruisers.

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The Great War (1914-1918) in real time Nov 1, 2019 11:59:48 GMT

Post by stevep on Nov 1, 2019 11:59:48 GMT

Nov 1, 2019 11:42:37 GMT lordroel said:

Nov 1, 2019 11:36:56 GMT stevep said:

Never realised that Kitchener considered replacing French with Hamilton during this period. Neither seemed to be that competent in such a large scale war but its an interesting POD that could have had some dramatic impact on the war possibly. Especially since it would mean a different commander would be commanding in the Gallipoli campaign.

Craddock was well and truly stuffed by gross mismanagement in the Admiralty and left with an hopeless task. Possibly he should have withdrawn when he realised the odds against him and accepted the probable loss of HMS Otranto to save his other ships. However in part he was committed by the orders from the Admiralty and also the experience of what happened to Troubridge after his failure to engage the Goeben with his armoured cruisers. From what I've read he was a good commander that the RN was to miss as well as the many men who died in the HMS Good Hope and Monmouth. RIP.

I am surprised that the post mentions the first significant defeat of British warships at the hands of the enemy for a century, knowing that SM U-9 on September 22nd 1914 sank 3 armoured cruisers.

Good point although Coronel was an actual battle rather than basically an ambush by the sub so probably the authors aren't including that in the definition of a defeat as opposed to a loss.

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The Great War (1914-1918) in real time Nov 1, 2019 12:04:51 GMT

Post by lordroel on Nov 1, 2019 12:04:51 GMT

Nov 1, 2019 11:59:48 GMT stevep said:

Nov 1, 2019 11:42:37 GMT lordroel said:

I am surprised that the post mentions the first significant defeat of British warships at the hands of the enemy for a century, knowing that SM U-9 on September 22nd 1914 sank 3 armoured cruisers.

Good point although Coronel was an actual battle rather than basically an ambush by the sub so probably the authors aren't including that in the definition of a defeat as opposed to a loss.

That was what i was thinking as well.

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The Great War (1914-1918) in real time Nov 2, 2019 7:26:52 GMT stevep likes this

Post by lordroel on Nov 2, 2019 7:26:52 GMT

Day 98 of the Great War, November 2nd 1914

Western Front: Battle of Ypres

At Ypres there is further hard fighting today as Army Group Fabeck continues to push into the Entente lines. Its most notable success today is retaking the village of Wytschaete, which had been gained and lost the day before, while they also manage to nearly annihilate a British battalion near Gheluvelt. Still, however, there is no breakthrough, and the ground gained is merely of tactical, not strategic, advantage.

The French, meanwhile, continue to take over more responsibility for the Entente line at Ypres. By today, in addition to the northeastern portion of the Ypres salient, they hold five miles of the front to the southeast between I Corps to the north and the Cavalry Corps to the south. Once again a series of French attacks are ordered by Foch for today, including to regain Messines, and once again they are unsuccessful, and indeed it was the French who were pushed out of Wytschaete today - generally, the German attacks were launched before the French, so the latter never got the opportunity to advance.

East African campaign: Indian Expeditionary Force arrives off the port of Tanga in German East Africa

Indian Expeditionary Force B arrives off the port of Tanga in German East Africa this morning, and at 705am the captain of the light cruiser Fox lands in the town to inform the German district officer that the British no longer consider the prior agreement on neutralization regarding Tanga and Dar es Salaam to be in effect. The hope is that the German official will surrender Tanga rather than face a British invasion. Instead, the district officer gives no response, and after waiting for three and a half hours Fox signals the convoy carrying IEF B to begin landing. The operation, however, is already a debacle - the pre-dreadnought Goliath, which was supposed to provide fire support, broke down in Mombasa and was left behind, while the captain of Fox refuses to sail into the harbour at Tanga for fear of mines. Thus instead of landing at Tanga itself, IEF B is landed on an unfamiliar beach sufficiently far away from the town to be undefended. The soldiers of IEF B, moreover, have been aboard their ships for almost a month, and as a result are in no shape to conduct a landing with any speed or discipline. Thus the first battalions only begin landing at nightfall, and as the operation continues the landing area is a scene of confusion and delay.

When the British first arrived this morning, there was only a single company, composed mainly of ex-police officers, at Tanga for its defence. The district officer, however, immediately informed Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, commander of the Schütztruppen, or colonial infantry, of German East Africa. He is with the bulk of his Schütztruppen companies to the northwest at Moshi near Mount Kilimanjaro, expecting the main British attack to be overland. The railway connecting Moshi and Tanga, however, makes the rapid redeployment of his forces possible, and three companies are immediately sent to reinforce Tanga.

Naval Operations: Pacific Ocean

Spee's squadron puts into Valpariaso. SMS DRESDEN and LEIPZIG are sent west to search for the surviving British ships. HMS GLASGOW and OTRANTO are on their way south to Cape Horn.

Naval Operations: Indian Ocean

SMS EMDEN arrives at the Poggy Islands, off the coast of Sumatra. At 0900 hours EMDEN starts to recoal from SS BURESK. During this process they suffer the only serious accident of the entire voyage. A hoist breaks loose and several sacks of coal are spilled. One of them lands on Torpedo Obermatrosse Possehl, breaking his left thigh. Ship's surgeon Doctor Luther sets and splints the leg immediately. The officers quickly conclude that the hoist was set properly and the accident was nobody's fault.

At noon EMDEN is approached by a small boat. On board is a Dutch army captain, and his only purpose is to make sure the Germans are outside the three-mile limit. EMDEN'S officers assure him this is so, and invite him aboard for a glass of whiskey and soda. The only news they get from him is that Portugal has declared war on Germany. At 15:00 he departs, and at 17:00 the coaling is done and EMDEN sets course for the Sunda Straights.

Egypt: declaration of martial law

In light of the increasing likelihood of war with the Ottoman Empire, British officials in Egypt today declare martial law, so as to maintain public order once the conflict begins.

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The Great War (1914-1918) in real time Nov 3, 2019 7:26:57 GMT stevep likes this

Post by lordroel on Nov 3, 2019 7:26:57 GMT

Day 99 of the Great War, November 3rd 1914

East African campaign: Battle of Tanga

Near Tanga the disorganized landing of Indian Expeditionary Force B continues this morning - the beach is a mass of confused and demoralized soldiers, battalions being hopelessly mixed up. An attempt begins at 430am to advance on Tanga with the first units landed, but co-ordinated progress in the dense bush proves impossible, and they are back at the beachhead by 10am.

At the same time, inland Indian Expeditionary Force C attempts its advance on German positions at Longido just south of Mount Kilimanjaro. After initial fighting checks IEF C short of its objective, it is forced to withdraw after its supply arrangements collapse and the soldiers are left without water.

The failure of IEF C allows Colonel Lettow-Vorbeck to deploy all but three of his companies of Schütztruppen to Tanga. By this evening Lettow-Vorbeck has arrived himself at the port and undertakes a personal reconnaissance of the British beachhead by bicycle. With seven companies now available, and a further two scheduled to arrive tomorrow, he decides to hold a line east of Tanga before the British while positioning his reserves on his right to take the enemy in their flank.

Western Front: Battle of Ypres

General d'Urbal orders another French attack between Zonnebeke and Langemarck, to be undertaken by the 17th, 18th, and 31st Divisions. Unfortunately for the French, the Germans opposite have been reinforced by units that formerly were along the Yser, but whose presence there is no longer required due to the flooding. Not only is the French advance halted, but at Bixschoote they are actually forced backward, the village falling to German hands once more.

For the BEF there are no major enemy attacks today, though there is the usual sniping and shelling. General Haig attempts to compose a corps reserve, but so thin is his line that only three hundred men can be found. He also pulls some of his artillery back from the fighting, as there is no point in exposing them to shellfire when they lack sufficient ammunition to return fire.

On the German side Prince Rupprecht of 6th Army concludes that unless Army Group Fabeck is reinforced, no decisive success could be achieved at Ypres. To this end, he transfers more heavy artillery to Army Group Fabeck and allots it all of the ammunition assigned to 6th Army as a whole. He also issues orders for further reinforcements - 2nd and Bavarian Cavalry Divisions from 6th Army reserve are reassigned immediately to Army Group Fabeck, while several units elsewhere on the Western Front are instructed to redeploy to the Ypres battlefield.

Naval Operations: London

The Admiralty receives a message sent from the British consul at Valparaiso on the 1st, saying that Graf Spee's squadron has been sighted. A message is immediately sent to Admiral Cradock: "DEFENCE has been ordered to join your flag with all dispatch. GLASGOW should keep in touch with the enemy. You should keep in touch with GLASGOW, concentrating the rest of your squadron including CANOPUS. It is important you should effect your junction with DEFENCE at the earliest possible moment subject to keeping touch with the enemy."

Naval Operations: Admiral Spee has a presentiment

At dawn SCHARNHORST, GNEISENAU, and NURNBERG of the German East Asiatic Squadron enter the harbour at Valparaíso, while LEIPZIG and DRESDEN remain at sea escorting colliers. Admiral Spee and the men of his ship receive a rapturous welcome from the German community in the city, including from hundreds of German sailors on merchant ships who volunteer to join the squadron. Spee, however, is aware that, despite the crushing victory two days ago, there are still obstacles before his squadron. Both of his armoured cruisers used half of their ammo at Coronel, and there is no possibility of resupply short of returning home. Moreover, there could be no doubt that the British would redouble their efforts to hunt down and destroy his squadron.

Photo: The German squadron leaving Valparaiso after the battle, SMS SCHARNHORST and GNEISENAU in the lead, and SMS NURNBERG following. In the middle distance are the Chilean cruisers ESMERALDA, O'HIGGINS and BLANCO ENCALDA, and the battleship CAPITAN PRAT.

Naval Operations: Atlantic Ocean

SMS KARLSRUHE crosses the equator on her way north to raid Barbados.

Asian and Pacific theatre: Siege of Tsingtao

For the past month, the Japanese force beseiging Tsingtao has been steadly advancing in the face of determined German resistance. In conducting their offensive, they apply the lessons learned during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5 - instead of throwing their men against the German defences, they have conducted a methodical artillery bombardment, digging trenches as close to the enemy lines as possible, and attacking at night. The result is that the stout defences of Tsingtao are falling one by one. After seizing Prince Heinrich Hill earlier in October, since the 31st the Japanese have been bombarding the inner defences and the port itself, and today an assault carries the Japanese forces into position to assault the inner line of trenches protecting the last German forts on three hills just northeast of Tsingtao itself.

Map: The defenses of the German naval base at Tsingtao in China. As of today the besieging Japanese are just before the 'Inner Line of Trenches' marked on the map.

Naval Operations: German East Africa

HMS DARTMOUTH and WEYMOUTH join CHATHAM at the Rufiji estruary where KONINGSBERG has been sighted. WEYMOUTH'S coal bunkers are nearly empty, so Captain Drury-Lowe sends her as far up-river as she can go, which turns out to be about two miles. Her guns still cannot reach KONINGSBERG.

Naval Operations: Indian Ocean

SMS EMDEN reach the Sunda Straights and begins patrolling. Cruising up the entire area and back again produces no contacts. While disappointed the crew realize that the reason is their own "fault". They are having no success now because their previous successes have driven British shipping from the Indian ocean. There are no new targets because they are all hiding in their harbors, afraid to come out. They do intercept a wireless message saying that SS NEWBURN has reached Khota Raja and the surviving French sailors from MOUSQUET are safe.

The first ANZAC convoy out of Albany is joined by a group that had departed Wellington on October 18th - 10 more ships accompanied by the Japanese battlecruiser IBUKI.

Photo: Japanese battlecruiser IBUKI circa 1910

Naval Operations: German battlecruisers attack Yarmouth

The Kaiser's edict that the High Seas Fleet is to remain on the defensive in the North Sea, issued in the aftermath of the Battle of the Heligoland Bight, does not extend to the battlecruisers, and thus an operation is ordered for four light cruisers to lay mines along the Norfolk coast, escorted by four battlecruisers under Admiral Franz von Hipper. The warships departed yesterday afternoon, and by dawn are are off the port of Yarmouth.

As the light cruiser STRALSUND lays a line of mines, the German force stumbles upon the British minesweeping gunboat HALCYON, on patrol off Yarmouth. The Germans immediately open fire, and indeed all four battlecruisers target HALCYON and the destroyer LIVELY that comes to her aid - this is the first time any have sighted an enemy ship in wartime, and are eager to get their shots in. The problem is that with all of the shell splashes, it is impossible to tell which shells were fired from which ship, making accurate spotting impossible. At 740am Hipper decides that he is wasting his time going after such small warships, and turns to disengage. The battlecruisers fire a few shells in the direction of Yarmouth, but succeed only in rearranging sand on the beach. The only achievement of the raid comes when a British submarine strikes one of the German mines and is lost.

The response of the Admiralty to the initial report from Halcyon is to do nothing - no one can believe that the battlecruisers of the High Seas Fleet would sail into danger just to lob a few shells onto an English beach. The prevailing assumption is that it must be a diversion from another, more significant German operation. Thus for several hours no warships are ordered to pursue the Germans as they wait for the other shoe to drop. By the time they realize there is no other shoe, Hipper and his force have made their escape. There is no small amount of public commentary on the apparent ability of the Germans to sail to the English coast and escape. At the Admiralty it is decided to redeploy the Grand Fleet back to Scapa Flow - if it stays in its bases on the west coast of Scotland and the north coast of Ireland, it is simply too far away to respond to German action in the North Sea.

On the German side, the results were disappointing - when the Kaiser awards Hipper an Iron Cross for the operation, the latter declares, 'I won't wear it until I've done something.' The apparent ability of the German force to escape without being intercepted, however, is encouraging should further such operations be undertaken in the future.

Eastern Front: Ludendorff plan for the next phase of operations in Poland

Ludendorff begins today to plan for the next phase of operations in Poland. Falkenhayn believes that the chief of staff of Ober Ost is merely developing a local counter-attack, but such mundane operations are beneath Ludendorff, who only plans campaigns of sufficient breadth and audacity as suits his genius - at least, that's how Ludendorff sees it. His plan is to shift the bulk of 9th Army from the Krakow area to between Posen and Thorn to the northwest of Russian Poland, and attack towards Lodz, taking in flank the anticipated Russian invasion of Germany.

Ottoman Empire

In an effort to dissuade the Ottomans from entering the war on the side of German, the British government decides on a display of naval power, to illustrate Ottoman vulnerability should they stand against the Entente. Two British battlecruisers and two French battleships steam to the entrance to the Dardanelles and bombard the Ottoman fort protecting it, destroying its magazine. The effort makes no difference, however, as the war party are now in control in Constantinople.

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The Great War (1914-1918) in real time Nov 3, 2019 11:35:59 GMT

Post by stevep on Nov 3, 2019 11:35:59 GMT

Nov 3, 2019 7:26:57 GMT lordroel said:

Day 99 of the Great War, November 3rd 1914

Asian and Pacific theatre: Siege of Tsingtao

For the past month, the Japanese force beseiging Tsingtao has been steadly advancing in the face of determined German resistance. In conducting their offensive, they apply the lessons learned during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5 - instead of throwing their men against the German defences, they have conducted a methodical artillery bombardment, digging trenches as close to the enemy lines as possible, and attacking at night. The result is that the stout defences of Tsingtao are falling one by one. After seizing Prince Heinrich Hill earlier in October, since the 31st the Japanese have been bombarding the inner defences and the port itself, and today an assault carries the Japanese forces into position to assault the inner line of trenches protecting the last German forts on three hills just northeast of Tsingtao itself.

Interesting that they learnt those lessons then and seem to have pretty much totally forgotten them by the time WWII came around. Possibly because they found the fighting in China a bit too easy in many cases combined with the growing delusion of their own racial superiority over everybody else?

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The Great War (1914-1918) in real time Nov 3, 2019 14:14:44 GMT

Post by lordroel on Nov 3, 2019 14:14:44 GMT

Nov 3, 2019 11:35:59 GMT stevep said:

Nov 3, 2019 7:26:57 GMT lordroel said:

Day 99 of the Great War, November 3rd 1914

Asian and Pacific theatre: Siege of Tsingtao

For the past month, the Japanese force beseiging Tsingtao has been steadly advancing in the face of determined German resistance. In conducting their offensive, they apply the lessons learned during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-5 - instead of throwing their men against the German defences, they have conducted a methodical artillery bombardment, digging trenches as close to the enemy lines as possible, and attacking at night. The result is that the stout defences of Tsingtao are falling one by one. After seizing Prince Heinrich Hill earlier in October, since the 31st the Japanese have been bombarding the inner defences and the port itself, and today an assault carries the Japanese forces into position to assault the inner line of trenches protecting the last German forts on three hills just northeast of Tsingtao itself.

Interesting that they learnt those lessons then and seem to have pretty much totally forgotten them by the time WWII came around. Possibly because they found the fighting in China a bit too easy in many cases combined with the growing delusion of their own racial superiority over everybody else?

I think even if they did not learn and did a Port Arthur siege, the Japanese would have won, but most likely with more losses than they did now.

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The Great War (1914-1918) in real time Nov 4, 2019 4:03:39 GMT stevep likes this

Post by lordroel on Nov 4, 2019 4:03:39 GMT

Day 100 of the Great War, November 4th 1914

Western Front: Battle of Ypres

At Ypres the day is cold and wet, mist turning to rain in the afternoon. The British and French notice a distant lessening in the frequency of German infantry attacks, though German artillery bombardments continue, while French attacks, as in prior days, effect no change to the front line. General Haig informs Field Marshal French today that 1st and 7th Division of I Corps desperately need to be relieved, as so heavy have been the losses, particularly for the latter, that they simply cannot hold a continuous trench line.

On the German side, Falkenhayn officially orders 6th Army to make one last push at Ypres, focusing on the line north of the Ypres-Comines Canal. He hopes that with reinforcements a final attack will finally achieve the success that has eluded him on prior occasions.

Naval Operations: London

The report from the British consul at Valparaiso on the battle at Coronel finally reaches the Admiralty. The sources were all German so the report is met with scepticism. There is no mention of CANOPUS, and Cradock certainly would not have gone into battle without his battleship. So far the news is limited at best. Nothing has been heard from any of the British ships. Within a few hours Churchill and Fisher are already planning what to do next. First of all "Urgent" telegrams are sent to Admiral Archibald Stoddart, commanding the Fifth Cruiser Squadron off the east coast of South America, tasked with finding SMS KARLSRUHE. "Carnarvon, Cornwall should join DEFENCE off Montevideo. CANOPUS, GLASGOW, OTRANTO have been ordered, if possible, to join you there. Kent from Sierra Leone has also been ordered to join your flag via Abrolhos. Enemy will most likely come on to the Rio trade route. Reinforcements will meet you shortly from England."

A second message was sent to the Governor of the Falkland Islands: "German cruiser raid may take place. All Admiralty colliers should be concealed in unfrequented harbours. Be ready to destroy supplies useful to enemy and hide codes effectively on ships being sighted."

The third "Urgent" telegram is to Admiral John Jellicoe, Commander-In-Chief of the Grand Fleet: "Order INVINCIBLE and INFLEXIBLE to fill up with coal and proceed to Brerehaven with all dispatch. They are urgently needed for foreign service. Admiral and flag captain Invincible to transfer to NEW ZEELAND." Jellicoe and Admiral David Beatty, commander of the Battlecruiser Squadron, both protest that they need those ships to maintain superiority over the German High Seas Fleet. Churchill sends a personal message to Jellicoe explaining why he needs the ships, and as Churchill wrote later, "Sir John Jellicoe rose to the occasion and parted with his two battle cruisers without a word."

Naval Operations: Atlantic Ocean

Captain Erich Köhler of SMS KARLESRUHE gives his officers the details of his plan to raid Barbados. His plan is to enter Bridgetown Harbour and do whatever destruction comes to hand, then proceed to Fort de France at Martinique. The French cruiser CONDE was earlier reported to be at Bridgetown, so there is a chance of a good score. They expect to arrive at their target at dawn the next day.

At 1830 hours Köhler and the watch officer, Lt. Althaus, are on the bridge. Most of the crew have just finished their dinner and are listening to the ship's band play on the forecastle. Without warning a thunderous explosion rips through the forward part of the ship. In the after sections the immediate assumption is that the ship has been torpedoed. As the smoke clears it can be seen that the entire forward part of the ship, including the bridge, is gone. Köhler, Althaus, and somewhere between 244 and 259 of her crew are killed instantly or go down with the wreckage. First officer Kapitänleutnant Ferdinand Studt is in the after section when the explosion happens. With that part of the ship taking water and listing to port, Studt organizes the remaining crew to get the lifeboats overboard and gives the order to abandon ship. There is no fire yet, but oil is leaking into the sea, and that is the first danger.

RIO NEGRO and HOFFNUNG (ex-INDRANI) are already approaching the stricken cruiser. In a few minutes 18 officers, including Studt, and 112 petty officers and men are taken aboard the two supply ships. At 1857 what is left of SMS KARLESRUHE disappears beneath the waves.

Studt takes command of Rio Negro and transfers all of KARLESRUHE'S surviving crew to that ship. He orders them to remove anything with the name "KARLESRUHE" - shoulder patches and cap ribbons - from their uniforms, and tells them that if another ship is encountered they are to stay out of sight below decks. All the coal from Hoffnung is transferred to Rio Negro. All the captured merchant seamen are also taken aboard Rio Negro, as Studt cannot allow them to enter a neutral port to tell their story if his plan is to work. Once this is done he sends HOFFNUNG away with an all-German prize crew, with orders to sink the ship and take her lifeboats to a neutral port, and at all costs to keep their mouths shut.

Naval Operations: German East Africa

Captain Drury-Lowe sends a message SS NEWBRIDGE to join him at the mouth of the Rufiji River. The flat-bottomed collier is ideal for what he has in mind.

Western Front: German occupation of Belgium

The German occupation of almost all of Belgium has put an immense strain on the food supply of the latter's civilian population, as prior to the war three-quarters of all food consumed in Belgium had to be imported. The perspective of the German government is that Belgium should continue to rely on imported food - why should they have to take responsibility for feeding them? The counterargument of the British is that by conquering the country the Germans had assumed responsibility of the civilian population, and if food was allowed to be imported Belgium there was no guarantee that it would not be diverted to the German population.

The solution to the impasse was the formation of the Committee for the Relief of Belgium. Headed by American mining magnate Herbert Hoover, the Committee took over responsibility for the feeding of the Belgian population by supervising the importation and distribution of food, ensuring that such supplies were not expropriated by the Germans. Today the first food supplied by the Committee arrives in Brussels, helping to stave off starvation over the coming winter. The Committee also makes the international reputation of Hoover, and propels him to the American Presidency.

Naval Operations: in London

The first reports of the Battle of Coronel reach the Admiralty this morning, through sparse accounts that appear in the German press. Though the Royal Navy makes no public comment, orders are immediately dispatched to British warships in the South Atlantic to converge, in preparation for the German East Asiatic Squadron moving around Cape Horn. As a result, Rear Admiral A. C. Stoddart, who had been send to command the new squadron formed in the South Atlantic in October (as stated in the Admiralty's October 14th message to Craddock), will have four armoured cruisers, a force roughly equal in strength to Admiral Spee's. However, after the humiliation of Coronel, no one at the Admiralty is interested in a fair fight.

Ottoman Empire: declaration of war by Russia

Without any sign from the Ottoman government repudiating the attacks undertaken by Admiral Souchon's warships on October 29th, Russia formally declares war on the Ottomans.

East African campaign: Battle of Tanga

At noon today Indian Expeditionary Force B begins its advance overland from its landing beaches to the town of Tanga. The advance is as badly managed as everything else to do with this expedition. Its commander had decided not to unload his artillery believing he could rely on the light cruiser Fox, but its captain, still fearful of mines, refused to approach close enough to Tanga to provide fire support. The day is hot, and units lose touch with each other in the dense bush, only to stumble onto German positions at ranges under fifty yards.

The right of IEF B, comprised of its best units, manages to fight its way into Tanga itself, but the left comes under heavy fire and is halted. One battalion on the left breaks and flees, and the rest on the left move northwards towards the more-successful right. Thus despite British forces in the town itself, Colonel Lettow-Vorbeck is optimistic that his plan will work, and at 430pm orders his reserve company to hit the British southern flank. The striking power of the maneouvre is muted, however, when a second company simply follows the first into the British position, instead of extending the German envelopment of IEF B even further westwards.

By nightfall confusion reigns on the battlefield. In an effort to regain control of their units, German company commanders order their buglers to sound a recall. The British commander, however, misinterprets this as signalling an imminent German charge, and believing himself defeated, withdraws his force back towards the landing beaches, even as the Germans also pull back to reorganize.

Map: The British approach to Tanga and the German flanking maneouvre, November 4th, 1914.

Naval Operations: Indian Ocean

Aboard SMS EMDEN Captain von Müller comes up with a new plan. This time he will attack the Australian wireless station at the Cocos/Keeling Islands.

Naval Operations: aftermath of the German raid on Yarmouth

The raid on Yarmouth yesterday has an unfortunate coda for the Germans today. A portion of the High Seas Fleet had left port and patrolled the Heligoland Bight yesterday in case they were needed to support or rescue Hipper's battlecruisers. Overnight, however, there was a dense fog that prevented the warships from re-entering Wilhelmshaven. At dawn today the armoured cruiser YORCK receives permission to proceed to Wilhelmshaven for repairs to its fresh-water tanks. The fog is still so thick that it is impossible for the warships to see each other, however, and a change of current takes the unsuspecting YORCK into a defensive minefield. It strikes two mines within a minute and rapidly sinks, and two hundred and thirty-five men drown.

Photo: YORCK, passing under the Levensau Bridge along the Kiel Canal in a print dated about 1910

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The Great War (1914-1918) in real time Nov 5, 2019 4:07:30 GMT stevep likes this

Post by lordroel on Nov 5, 2019 4:07:30 GMT

Day 101 of the Great War, November 5th 1914

Naval Operations: Indian Ocean

SMS EMDEN ends her patrol of the Sunda Straights and sets course for a pre-planned rendezvous with the collier SS EXFORD.

Western Front: Battle of Ypres

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.

Map: The Battle of Ypres, October 5th to 9th, 1914.

Naval operations: North Sea becomes a war zone

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.

Naval Operations: Britain

The battlecruisers HMS INVINCIBLE and INFLEXIBLE depart Invergordon for Devonport 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.

Middle Eastern theatre: Britain and France declare war on the Ottoman Empire

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.

Caucasus campaign: new front opens up

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.

East African campaign: Battle of Tanga

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.

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lordroel
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The Great War (1914-1918) in real time Nov 6, 2019 4:01:50 GMT stevep likes this

Post by lordroel on Nov 6, 2019 4:01:50 GMT

Day 102 of the Great War, November 6th 1914

YouTube (The World at War - The Ottoman Empire Enters The Stage)

Naval Operations: First Sea Lord Jacky Fishers gives his first orders

One of Jacky Fishers first orders as First Sea Lord was the removal of the Chief-Of-Staff, Vice Admiral Sir Frederick Charles Doveton Sturdee. Sturdee was one of the old Beresford men, and had been one of the players at the inquest that led to Fisher's resignation in 1910. Sturdee had become Beresford's Chief-Of-Staff and owed a large part of his advancement to Beresford's influence at Court and in the Admiralty, so there was no way Fisher was going to have him remain part of his own staff. For his own part, Sturdee actually had King George on his side, and the King wanted Sturdee to be the new First Sea Lord. Sturdee refused to resign, and Churchill wasn't willing to actually fire him, which left them at an impasse.

Churchill finally hit on what to him was the perfect solution: Send Sturdee to be the new commander of the South Atlantic Squadron! Fisher agreed immediately. He had described his subordinate as "...a pedantic ass, which Sturdee is, has been, and always will be!", and had the hope that Sturdee would make a mess of things and lose his squadron of not his life, and be forced to live with that shame. The general feeling in the Admiralty was that Sturdee had mishandled the situation with Spee, and what had happend to Cradock was Sturdee's fault, so it was proper that he should be given the task of making it right.

Naval Operations: German East Africa

SS NEWBRIDGE joins Captain Drury-Lowe's squadron at the mouth of the Simba Uranga channel in the mouth of the Rufiji River, and work is started converting the ship to her new purpose. Armor plate is added to the bridge and sandbags are piled around the fantail area. The German cruiser won't be able to see her as she makes her way upriver, but she will certainly come under rifle and machine-gun fire on the trip.

Western Front: Battle of Ypres

At Ypres German attacks are concentrated along the front on both sides of the Ypres-Comines Canal on the southeastern face of the salient, while elsewhere there was the now-regular steady artillery bombardment. Taking advantage of a thick morning fog, the Germans attack into the woods west of Hollebeke, pre-empting a French attack scheduled for later today. In the confusion caused by the fog several French cavalry battalions panic, and the Germans are able to advance almost a mile, seizing the entire woods west of Hollebeke, allowing the Germans to advance to within three thousand yards of Ypres. On the north side of the Canal, the Germans take the French by surprise and pierce the line in three places, allowing the Germans to seize the village of Zwarteleen a mile southeast of Zillebeke. It takes a counterattack by the British 7th Cavalry Brigade to restore the line. Though the Germans have not broken through, they have driven a wedge into the junction of the French and British lines, and Haig is now concerned that his I Corps is at risk of having its southern flank turned.

Serbian campaign: General Oskar Potiorek issues orders today for another attempt at invading Serbia

General Oskar Potiorek issues orders today for another attempt at invading Serbia, the third of the war to date. The continued existance of Serbia, to say nothing of the terrible defeats the Austro-Hungarians have suffered at their hands, have undermined the prestige of the Dual Monarchy, potentially decisive in the ongoing efforts to convince the other Balkan states to join the war on their side. Potiorek's plan is similar to the first two invasions - 5th and 6th Armies will cross the Drina River in the northwest of Serbia, with the aim of advancing to initially Valjevo and ultimately Niš, dividing Serbia in two.

One advantage the Austro-Hungarians would have is that the condition of the Serbian army was deteriorating. The soldiers were exhausted, food was in short supply, and munitions were even scarcer, such that most of the time the Serbian infantry was fighting with no artillery support at all. While Britain and France were eager to aid the Serbian defence, the difficulties of sending supplies to a landlocked combatant prevented significant aid from getting through. General Putnik's strategy was thus to place 'the Serbian national mud between the enemy's fighting line and his supplies.' Even before the invasion, he has withdrawn his forces in the northwest of the country to the foothills of the Cer mountain range, so as to be out of range of Austro-Hungarian artillery fire.

Map: The third Austro-Hungarian Invasion of Serbia, November to December 1914.

Caucasus campaign

- The Ottoman frontier with Russia is guarded by 3rd Army, consisting of three corps - IX covers the northern portion of the border and XI the southern, with X in reserve further west. Today elements of XI Corps assembling at Hasankale and Köprüköy launch a counterattack against the Russian column advancing on the former. However, given the heavy snow and rain and the lack of reconnaissance, they were unable to turn the Russians back.

- From August the Admiralty has been expressing concern about the security of its oil supply from Persia, which reaches the Persian Gulf by pipeline at Abadan Island and where the major refinery is located. Abadan Island is on the far western portion of Persia's coast, adjacent to the Ottomen Empire's outlet to the Persian Gulf at the Shatt al-Arab. In the event of war with the Ottomans, Abadan Island would be an obvious target. Moreover, concern had also been raised by the India Office regarding the importance of demonstrating British hegemony in the Gulf and not allowing an Ottoman challenge to undermine the authority of British rule over its Muslim subjects. As such, Indian Expeditionary Force D had been formed, consisting of an infantry brigade, and was dispatched to the Gulf in October, arriving in Bahrein on the 23rd. As war became increasingly likely, it planned to undertake a landing at the Ottoman fort of Fao on the Shatt al-Arab where it meets the Persian Gulf.

Naval Operations: Pacific Ocean

The German East Asiatic Squadron returns to Más Afuera in the Pacific. While SCHARNHORST, GNEISENAU and NURNBERG had called at Valparaíso, LEIPZIG had stayed offshore, and had managed to seize a French merchant with 3600 tons of Cardiff coal. The sailors start working on distributing the coal to each of the warships of the squadron.

Mesopotamian campaign

This morning the transports carrying IEF D are off Fao, escorted by the pre-dreadnought OCEAN. The small Ottoman garrison puts up a brief resistance, exchanging fire with OCEAN for an hour before, being heavily outnumbered, they withdraw northwards from Fao. By this afternoon landing parties have secured the village and fort at Fao, the first step in the Mesopotamian Campaign.

Map: Initial British offence

The British landing at Fao is not the only Entente move of concern to Persia. Today Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Sazonov states that Russia will continue to occupy Persian Azerbaijan, suggesting that the easiest route by which the Ottomans can invade the Russian Caucasus is through Azerbaijan, as opposed to the mountain passes on the Ottoman-Russian frontier. The war thus makes Russian involvement in Persia even more essential in the view of Petrograd.

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The Great War (1914-1918) in real time Nov 7, 2019 4:08:03 GMT stevep likes this

Post by lordroel on Nov 7, 2019 4:08:03 GMT

Day 103 of the Great War, November 7th 1914

Western Front: Battle of Ypres

The weather turns for the worse today on the Ypres battlefield, with falling temperatures and heavy mist. A French counterattack by XVI Corps scheduled for 930am this morning to recapture Zwateleen does not occur until mid-afternoon, and makes no progress. As a result, Foch fires the commander of XVI Corps, a move after Joffre's heart. In the British lines Haig is appalled to learn that a number of I Corps' battalions abandon their forward defences under shellfire, returning only at night, and during the day several dozen soldiers are found behind the lines moving as quickly as possible away from the battlefield. Though morale in the BEF overall has held, given the constant combat over the past few weeks it is not surprising that for some the breaking point is almost at hand.

Meanwhile the Germans launch several infantry attacks along the line, but are everywhere repulsed. From the Entente side the attacks appear senseless and uncoordinated, but they are a part of the larger offensive operation, in that attacks now serve to pin down Entente forces so they cannot be redeployed to meet the main attack in a few days. Where the Germans do not attack they continue their artillery bombardment. Also today two Guards brigades arrive today, having marched from Arras, and are to be formed into a division named for its commander, General Arnold von Winckler.

Eastern Front: Austro-Hungarian 5th and 6th Armies secure bridgeheads

The Austro-Hungarian 5th and 6th Armies secure bridgeheads across the Drina River. Despite fierce resistance the Serbian 1st and 3rd Armies are forced to fall back.

Italy: a new Italian Foreign Minister is appointed

Sidney Sonnino, the new Italian Foreign Minister appointed to replace the deceased Antonio di San Giuliano, is favourable to the cause of the Entente, as he reveals today in a conversation with the British Ambassador.

Middle Eastern theatre: Egypt declares war on the Ottoman Empire

In Egypt war with the Ottoman Empire is announced today, but because of pre-emptive measures taken in recent weeks there are no widespread pro-Ottoman demonstrations nor any significant organized opposition among nationalists. Further several hundred Egyptian officials with nationalist leanings have been arrested or exiled, and the parliament has been prorogued. The British are determined to maintain their control over Egypt.

Asian and Pacific theatre: The fall of Tsingtao

The Japanese prepare for the final assault on the German defenses. Yesterday they had seized the trenches defending the forts on the three hills above the city, and today they are to capture the forts themselves. A furious artillery bombardment opens this morning, but after counter-fire from their own batteries the Germans raise the white flag. Given the Japanese success to date and ammunition shortages, there is no prospect of holding the final forts. So methodical and effective has been the Japanese advance that a siege the Germans had expected would take six months has been completed in six weeks. The other combatants would do well to study the Japanese method of conducting offensives in conditions of trench warfare - of course, that would require acknowledging the Japanese as their intellectual equals, which for racial reasons is obviously not in the cards.

Photo: Allied troops inside one of Tsingtao's forts, November 1914

Naval operations: Indian Ocean

EMDEN and BURESK reach their rendezvous point, but SS EXFORD is nowhere to be seen. EMDEN begins patrolling the area, looking for the missing collier.

Meanwhile the First ANZAC Troop Convoy is travelling northwest through the Indian ocean.

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