The Great War (1914-1918) in real time

Day 1272 of the Great War, January 31st 1918

Western Front

Photo: American marines ready to fire at the enemy in the trenches, Breuvannes-en-Bassigny, France



Italian Front

Strong Austrian counter-attack on Monte di Val Bella defeated.

Germany: German strikes suppressed, trouble-makers sent to the front

Germany is in the grip of industrial unrest, which has spread from Berlin to other industrial centres. Hundreds of thousands or more workers have downed tools and millions have taken part in demonstrations.

This unrest has rattled Germany’s leaders. Now they respond with a crackdown. A state of emergency is declared and strike organisers arrested. Striking workers are drafted into the army. Some are sent back to work in their factories under pain of military justice if they demure, but the more militant are simply sent off to the Western Front, where they will bulk up the numbers of those taking part in the offensive Ludendorff is planning. They travel in trains daubed with such cheery slogans as “Cannon fodder for Flanders”.

For Germany’s leaders, even though they have been suppressed for now, the strikes are still worrying. Germany cannot continue the war indefinitely; if this is tried then industrial unrest will one day return and perhaps sweep away the established order. It is therefore vital that Ludendorff’s offensive brings the war to a victorious end.

Naval operations: Merchant shipping losses

British, Allied and Neutral ships lost to enemy submarines, mines and cruisers etc in the month - 151 ships of 307,299 tons gross. (Lloyd's War Losses).

Naval operations: “Battle of May Island”

Even when U-boats were not present, their mere threat could cause major damage. After sundown on January 31, a large detachment of ships left Rosyth, on the Firth of Forth, to join the rest of the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow for exercises. Due to the U-boat threat, each of the ships maintained radio silence and only lit a dim stern light to keep the ship behind them in line apprised of their location, despite the misty night; the fleet sailed in a single-file line nearly 30 miles long, at speeds approaching 20 knots.

After passing the Isle of May, the cruiser HMS ITHURIEL turned sharply to avoid a pair of lights, most likely minesweeping trawlers. A few boats back, the helm of the submarine K14 jammed and she departed the line. It was soon repaired and she attempted to rejoin the rest of the fleet, but the boat behind her, K22, had lost her way in the mist, and collided with K14, causing severe damage to both boats, especially the latter. The rest of the squadron pulled out of line to render aid to both boats. About fifteen minutes later, the battlecruiser INFLEXIBLE, unaware of what had happened, proceeded through the area as scheduled and hit K22, causing further damage.

Some time later, the HMS FEARLESS, leading her own submarine flotilla, hit K17 at full speed; the submarine would sink within a matter of minutes. The vessels behind the FEARLESS then had to turn to avoid collisions, not all successfully; K6 hit K4, almost cutting her in half; while she was sinking, K7 collided with her as well. There were no survivors from the K4. Rescue efforts for the survivors from the K17 were hampered by the remaining ships that continued through the area at full speed, in some cases running over the survivors without noticing. In the span of 75 minutes, two submarines had been lost, 5 other vessels damaged, and 104 men killed, all with no German involvement. Like many other such wartime incidents, the so-called “Battle of May Island” was hushed up for the duration of the war.

Photo: The damaged bow of FEARLESS in drydock after colliding with the submarine K17, 31 January 1918



Naval operations: ship losses

ELEPHANT (French Navy) The auxiliary patrol vessel was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel north of the Île-de-Bréhat, Finistère (48°53′N 3°00′W) by SM UC-79 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of fifteen of her crew.

MARTIN GUST (Russia) The sailing vessel was shelled and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean off Ouessant, Finistère, France by SM U-90 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

TOWNELEY (United Kingdom) The collier was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 18 nautical miles (33 km) off Trevose Head, Cornwall (50°48′N 4°48′W) by SM U-46 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of six crew.

Day 1274 of the Great War, February 2nd 1918

YouTube (Strikes and Mutiny)



Western Front

U.S. troops reported in front line.

Photo: Serbian Army Colonels watching a smoke barrage at a gas school near Albert during the official visit to the Western Front, 2 February 1918



Photo: The remains of an ammunition train, destroyed at Ytres, 2 February 1918



United Kingdom

End of Supreme War Council meeting; vigorous combined prosecution of war.

Germany

Strikes and antiwar demonstrations in Germany continue, but dwindle in intensity, as workers are threatened with punishment if they do not go back to work. Several socialist and labour leaders have been imprisoned.

Netherlands

The Netherlands bans the serving of tea in cafes, restaurants, hotels, and other establishments due to lack of supplies caused by the war.

Aerial operations: 2 and 3 ring circus

The German High Command is getting ready for its spring offensive.

As part of this, following the success of Jagdgeschwader I under Manfred von Richthofen, they have decided to form two additional Jagdgeschwaders so that each of the three Armies on the Western Front will have their own dedicated air support.

Jagdgeschwader II (JG III) comprises Jastas 12, 13, 15, and 19 under the overall command of Hauptmann Adolf von Tutschek. He has just returned to active service having been shot down in August 1917. Its four squadrons were ordered to concentrate in the vicinity of Marle, France. This placed them opposite the seam in the Allied lines where British and French armies met. They were underequipped with Pfalz and Albatros scouts, but were beginning to receive Fokker Dr1 triplanes by 16 February.

Jagdgeschwader III (JG III) comprises Jastas 2, 26, 27 and 36 under the overall command of Oberleutnant Bruno Loerzer.

Each has a nominal strength of 56 aircraft (14 in each Jasta).

Naval operations: ship losses

AVANTI (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) south east by east of St. Alban's Head, Dorset by SM UB-59 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of 22 of her crew.

CELIA (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 44 nautical miles (81 km) east by north of Cap de Creus, Spain (42°39′N 4°08′E) by SM UB-48 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

EDILLIO (Italy) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 40 nautical miles (74 km) east by north of Cap de Creus by SM UB-48 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

ESTEREL (Italy) The sailing vessel was scuttled in the Mediterranean Sea off Bizerta, Algeria by SM UC-54 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

IDA (Italy) The sailing vessel was scuttled in the Mediterranean Sea off Bizerta by SM UC-54 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

JAFFA (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) east by south of the Owers Lightship ( United Kingdom) by SM UB-30 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of ten of her crew.

MARIE MAGDELEINE (France) The sailing vessel was sunk in the Bristol Channel 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) north west of Lundy Island, Devon, United Kingdom by SM U-101 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

NEWMINSTER ABBY (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 44 nautical miles (81 km) east by north of Cap de Creus by SM UB-48 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

HMT REMINDO (Royal Navy) The naval trawler was torpedoed and sunk in the Seine Estuary by SM UC-79 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of twenty of her crew.

SOFIE (United Kingdom) The coaster was sunk in the Bristol Channel by SM U-101 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of eight crew.

Day 1276 of the Great War, February 4th 1918

Western Front

Considerable aerial activity; more American troops occupy portions of western battle front.

Photo: Photograph of British 12 inch howitzer Mk. I on railway mounting, near Arras. Camouflage paint pattern is clearly visible



Russian Civil War

General Kaledin reported to have relinquished leadership of Cossacks to General Alexeiev, who with 30,000 men advances towards Moscow against Bolsheviks.

Arab Revolt

British Government renew to King of Hejaz pledges for freeing Arab peoples.

Ireland: Bolshevism spreads to Ireland

Unrest has been spreading in central Europe, with Germany and Austria seeing a wave of politically-tinged strikes and elements of the Austro-Hungarian fleet at Cattaro mutinying to demand an end to the war. Much of this is inspired by the revolution in Russia, in particular the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks, which is seen as having at last put ordinary workers in power there.

Some in Allied nations too are hearing the call of the Bolsheviks. The political situation in Ireland is already tense. Many Irishmen and women want to secure the country’s independence from Britain, while there is also much concern at rumoured plans by the British to extend conscription to Ireland. Support for socialism is just another element in Ireland’s fevered political culture.

In Dublin today the Socialist Party of Ireland holds a rally in the Mansion House in support of the Bolshevik revolution. Attendance is far higher than expected, with some 10,000 people present, far more than the hall can accommodate. Irish supporters of the Bolsheviks spill out onto the street outside while those within hear speeches from radicals including Constance Markievicz and others who had either taken part in the Easter Rising of 1916 or been interned afterwards. ‘The Red Flag’, whose words were written by Irish socialist Jim Connell, is sung with great gusto.

Is Ireland on the brink of a socialist revolution? Conservative newspapers certainly think so, warning their readers to be on their guard lest Bolshevik anarchy extends its tentacles to Erin’s shore.

Germany/Romania relations: Romanian Peace Negotiations Resume

Unlike the Russians, the Romanians, who were in no particular hurry to exit the war, had not even begun peace negotiations with the Central Powers since concluding an armistice. The Central Powers were growing impatient, however, and told the Romanians they would resume hostilities unless talks began. They cited Russian withdrawal from the area, and, more importantly, Romanian intervention in Bessarabia, as evidence that the Romanians were not precisely adhering to the armistice terms (although the Central Powers had not either). Negotiations resumed in Focsani on February 4. The peace aims of the Central Powers in Romania were relatively modest, despite the hawkish views of the Kaiser (who wanted his “traitorous” cousin King Ferdinand removed) and the Hungarians (who wanted territorial gains). The Central Powers’ negotiators only truly wanted the cession of Dobruja, some minor adjustments in the Carpathians, and various economic concessions–although the Germans did want to continue their occupation of Wallachia for the duration of the war.

The main obstacle to the peace negotiations was the Romanian government, which was the same one which had entered the war to begin with. The Germans wanted such a pro-Allied government gone, and the current Romanian government did not want the ignominious burden of accepting defeat. Soon after negotiations began, the PM resigned and handed over the government to General Averescu, who had turned to politics since the armistice.

Naval operations: ship losses

AURANIA (United Kingdom) The troopship was torpedoed and damaged in the Atlantic Ocean 15 nautical miles (28 km) north west of Inistrahull, County Donegal by SM UB-67 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of nine crew. AURANIA was taken in tow but ran aground at Tobermory, Isle of Mull. She subsequently broke up and was a total loss.

MAID OF HARLECH (United Kingdom) The sailing vessel was shelled and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 46 nautical miles (85 km) north by west of Cape Ivi, Algeria (36°46′N 0°02′E) by SM UB-52 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

PARTICIPATION (Italy ) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea off Villajoyosa, Alicante, Spain (38°26′N 0°13′W) by SM U-64 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

STANDISH HALL (United Kingdom) The collier was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 38 nautical miles (70 km) west by north of Alexandria, Egypt by SM U-33 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

TREVEAL (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk off The Skerries, Isle of Anglesey by SM U-53 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of 33 crew.

SM UC-50 (Kaiserliche Marine) The Type UC II submarine was depth charged and sunk in the English Channel off Dungeness, Kent, United Kingdom by HMS Zubian ( Royal Navy).

Day 1278 of the Great War, February 6th 1918

Western Front

Photo: Men ofthe 6th Battalion, the York and Lancaster Regiment at a Lewis gun post, on the front line near Cambrin, 6 February 1918



Photo: Men of 6th Battalion, York and Lancaster Regiment share a joke and a cigarette amid mud in a trench at Cambrin, 6 February 1918



Russian Civil War

Bolshevist campaign against Orthodox Church rousing opposition.

United States

President Wilson asks for new powers to reorganise the Government and war machine.

Reprisals threatened if British leaflet-scattering airmen improperly treated.

Former President Roosevelt undergoes surgery for fistula and abscesses in his ears, but contracts an infection during the process.

United Kingdom: Representation of the People Act Gives Vote to All British Men Over 21 and Women Over 30

In an overwhelming vote on February 6 the House of Commons passed the Representation of the People Act, which tripled the British electorate by giving the vote to all men from 21 and women from 30 who met minimum property qualifications. Before this only about 60% of British men had been voters, which required either paying at least an annual rent of £10 or holding land worth that much.

No one person was probably as responsible for the Act as Emmeline Pankhurst, leader of the Women’s Social and Political Union, a suffragist movement that used mass rallies, hunger strikes, and window-breaking to force MPs to respond. Pankhurst had been jailed multiple times. When the war came, however, Pankhurst turned into the fiercest patriot, urging women to work as nurses or in factories, and encouraging the “White Feather campaign” that shamed men who had not volunteered before the imposition of conscription. This proved to be an ingenious move. By highlighting the service of women and showing that many men refused to serve, Pankurst deconstructed the idea that citizenship was solely male. If men did not sacrifice for their country, why should they have the vote while women who served did not? The tactics worked, as February 6 showed.

The Act also gave the vote to men in the ranks of 19 years of age, as the government realized that many soldiers would still not be old enough to vote after the war otherwise. Scrutiny reveals the representation of the People Act to be fairly conservative in the long run, however. Despite the service of British women, the act only gave the vote to women over 30, meaning many girls in the factories still could not vote. If the vote had been given to women on equal terms, women would have outnumbered men in the UK electorate because of war losses. Women did not gain full suffrage in Britain until 1928. Pankhurst had died shortly before her final victory.

Germany/Romania relations

German ultimatum to Romanian Government, giving four days in which to enter peace negotiations (afterwards denied); Bratianu Cabinet resigns.

Aerial operations: The yanks have arrived

17 Aero Squadron had left the Texas training ground at Fort on 20 December 1917 with 25 pilots and a full complement of ground officers and men.

After remaining in England for a period to undergo final training and tests, the pilots finally arrived in France today.

The 25 pilots were attached by flights to 4 RFC Squadrons for further combat training and familiarisation. Headquarters Flight was assigned to 24 Squadron at Matigny on the Somme; “A” Flight to 84 Squadron at Guizancourt, also on the Somme; “B” to 60 Squadron at Ste. Marie Capelle, near Hazebrouck on the Flanders front; and “C” to 56 Squadron at Baizieux Airdrome on the Somme.

This was no doubt a slightly bizarre arrangement as the four flights essentially had nothing to do with each other and were entirely reliant on the British Squadrons they were attached to for everything.

Naval operations: ship losses

DUCA DI GENOVA (Italy) The passenger ship was damaged in the Mediterranean Sea 1 nautical mile (1.9 km) off Cape Canet, Spain (39°36′N 0°11′W) by SM U-64 ( Kaiserliche Marine). She was beached but was declared a total loss.

GLENARTNEY (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 30 nautical miles (56 km) north east of Cape Bon, Algeria by SM UC-54 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of two of her crew.

HOLKAR (United Kingdom) The fishing smack was shelled and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean off Trevose Head, Cornwall (50°39′N 5°10′W) by SM U-53 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

MARSOUIN (France) The fishing vessel was shelled and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean off Trevose Head (50°55′N 4°55′W) by SM U-53 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

VILLE DE VERDUN (France) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea off Guardamar, Spain (38°03′N 0°36′W) by SM U-34 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of ten crew.

Day 1280 of the Great War, February 8th 1918

YouTube (Austro-Hungarian House of Cards)



Western Front

General Cadorna succeeded by General Giardino on Versailles Committee.

Repulse of Germans on Chemin des Dames.

Ukrainian–Soviet War

City of Kiev falls to the advancing Soviet Russian forces as the Ukrainian government retreats to Zhytomyr.

France

Lenin and Trotsky alleged by Paris press to be receiving pay from German agents.

United States

R. M. McElroy, a history professor at Princeton, calls for the Frederick the Great statue in Washington DC to be melted down and made into bullets.

United States: Americans Propose Adriatic Offensive

The Americans, relatively new to the war, were impatient at the continued losses to U-boats and wanted to come up with ways to stop their threat permanently. Their solutions tended towards the technological, hoping to seal in the submarines with mines; plans had already been approved for an overly-ambitious project to cover the northern approaches to the North Sea with over 100,000 mines. They also wanted to strengthen the ineffective Otranto Barrage at the entrance of the Adriatic. It became clear by January 1918, however, that the US would not be able to contribute enough deep water mines as they had planned, and would not be able to make the Otranto Barrage effective.

In part due to this shortage of mines, but more generally to win a final naval victory in the Mediterranean, Admiral Sims proposed a far more ambitious scheme at a naval conference in Rome on February 8. A force of up to 30,000 US Marines would seize the island of Curzola [Korčula] and the Sabbioncello [Pelješac] peninsula on the Croatian coast. A barrage would then be laid in shallower waters stretching to Gargano (the “spur” of the Italian “boot”), sealing off the rest of the Adriatic. Pre-dreadnought battleships would attack the Austrian naval base at Cattaro directly, hoping to eliminate the Austrian fleet within. It was hoped that the landings might encourage unrest within Austria as well; it is unknown whether the Allied naval planners knew of the recent mutiny there. Most the Allies were receptive to the American plan, especially as the Americans were volunteering to do the heavy lifting; the Italians, however, saw the Adriatic as their purview and were less receptive. Ultimately, events on the Western Front precluded Sims’ plans from progressing much beyond the planning stages.

Naval operations: ship losses

AGNES MADRE (Italy) The sailing vessel was scuttled in the Mediterranean Seas south of Sardinia (38°24′N 8°10′E) by SM U-64 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

ARTESIA (United Kingdom) The tanker was scuttled in the Atlantic Ocean 190 nautical miles (350 km) north west of Madeira, Portugal by SM U-156 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of a crew member.

BASUTA (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 45 nautical miles (83 km) south south west of The Lizard, Cornwall (49°13′N 5°21′W by SM U-53 ( Kaiserliche Marine). with the loss of a crew member. Survivors were rescued by Royal Navy destroyers.

HMS BOXER (Royal Navy) The Ardent-class destroyer collided with St. Patrick ( United Kingdom in the English Channel and sank.

CHARITON (Greece) The cargo ship was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean off Madeira (34°22′N 14°00′W) by SM U-156 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

Emily Anderson (United Kingdom) The schooner was abandoned in the Atlantic Ocean (approximately 48°N 27°W). Her crew survived.

EMMA PELICE (Italy) The sailing vessel was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea south of Sardinia (38°25′N 8°23′E) by SM U-64 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

KIA ORA (United Kingdom) The Thames barge was scuttled in the English Channel 30 nautical miles (56 km) north by west of Dieppe, Seine-Maritime, France by SM UB-33 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

METTE (Denmark) The schooner was scuttled in the Mediterranean Sea south of La Ganoupe, France by SM UB-49 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

NUZZA (Italy) The barque was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean west of Gibraltar (34°33′N 13°40′W) by SM U-156 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

STRATON (United Kingdom) The trawler struck a mine and sank in the North Sea 25 nautical miles (46 km) east of the Humber Lightship ( United Kingdom).

SM UB-38 (Kaiserliche Marine) The Type UB II submarine struck a mine and sank in the North Sea (50°56′N 1°25′E) with the loss of all 27 crew.

Day 1282 of the Great War, February 10th 1918

Italian Front

Renewed Austrian activity on Asiago front.

Russia: Russia Unilaterally Declares an End to the War

Since the Central Committee agreed to Trotsky’s strategy of “neither war nor peace,” Trotsky had been delaying the negotiations at Brest-Litovsk until he deemed the moment was right to walk out all together. After the Central Powers signed a peace treaty with Ukraine despite the Bolshevik capture of Kiev (and the presence of Ukrainian Bolsheviks with Trotsky’s delegation), Trotsky decided that it was.

On February 10, Trotsky simply declared at Brest-Litovsk that the war was over:

We do not agree to shed any longer the blood of our soldiers….In awaiting the moment – we hope it is near – when all the oppressed working classes of all countries will take in their own hands the authority, as the working people of Russia have already done…we are getting out of this war….

At the same time, we announce that the conditions of peace set before us by Germany and Austria-Hungary fundamentally work against the interests of all peoples…we cannot inscribe the signature of the Russian Revolution beneath conditions that bring with them oppression, grief, and misfortune to millions of human beings….

In refusing to sign an annexationist peace, Russia announces that the state of war with Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey is at an end. Orders for general demobilization have already gone out to the Russian armed forces.

The First World War had been guaranteed to spread beyond the Balkans when Russia ordered general mobilization on July 30, 1914; three and a half years later, Trotsky hoped general demobilization would end it.

The representatives of the Central Powers were dumbfounded by Trotsky’s proclamation; a war could only be ended with a peace treaty, not just because one side wanted it to end. Many of the diplomats, however, were willing to accept the pronouncement, at least for now. The peace with Ukraine had largely satisfied immediate Austrian needs in the East, and Russian demobilization meant the Germans could move their forces to the Western Front. The occupation of Poland and the Baltics could continue as present until a final determination was made, with or without Russian cooperation.

German military leadership, however, was not satisfied with leaving the matter there; they wanted additional concessions in the East to feed the war effort, and if they were not going to get it at the peace table, they could take it by force if necessary.

Central Powers/Ukraine relations

Publication of peace treaty between Central Powers and Ukraine.

United Kingdom

Lord Beaverbrook appointed Minister in charge of Propaganda.

Bertrand Russell is sentenced by a British court to 6 months in prison for opposing the U.S. entering the war on the Allied side.

Canada

Canada observes “heatless” days, where factories not deemed essential will be shut down for three days starting today.

Ottoman Empire

Death of Abdul Hamid, ex-Sultan of Turkey.

Romania

General Alexandru Averescu becomes the new prime minister of Romania to conclude peace with the Central Powers.

Naval operations: ship losses

PILGRIM (United Kingdom) The ketch was driven ashore and wrecked at Beaumaris, Anglesey. Her crew were rescued.

ROMFORD (United Kingdom) The cargo ship struck a mine and sank in the Mediterranean Sea 2.5 nautical miles (4.6 km) east of Cape Carthage, Tunisia (36°54′N 10°24′E) by SM UC-67 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of 28 of her crew.

Day 1284 of the Great War, February 12th 1918

Western Front

Allied planes bomb Offenburg, Metz, etc.

Fighting in Passchendaele region.

Caucasus campaign: Turkey Starts Offensive in the Caucasus

Russians had had great success in the Caucasus in 1916, pushing as far west as Erzincan. The February Revolution, bringing with it demands for a peace without annexations, precluded any further offensive deeper into Turkish territory in 1917. The Brest-Litovsk armistice officially halted fighting in December, but the Young Turks saw Russian weakness as an opportunity to fulfill their ambitions in the Caucasus that had been deferred after the defeat at Sarikamish in early 1915.

The Bolsheviks’ abrupt departure from the Brest-Litovsk talks, along with Russian demobilization, provided the perfect opportunity for the Turks to begin a new offensive in the Caucasus. While this technically violated the armistice, the Russians had also violated it by demobilizing, and the Turks were, in their own view, simply reclaiming their own territory that was now illegally occupied by the Russians. They had also been spreading false propaganda about massacres of the Turkish population behind Russian lines to justify the attack.

The vast majority of the defenders had left back for Russia long before the demobilization order was given. The only remaining forces were Armenian and Georgian troops, numbering perhaps 20,000 over the whole front. The first shots were fired on February 12 outside Erzincan; the Armenians, outnumbered possibly twenty-to-one, began a winter retreat through the mountains to Erzurum. They were followed by a trail of Armenian refugees who had escaped the genocide in 1915, returned the the area with the Russians, and were now forced to flee once again.

United Kingdom

Parliament meets. Mr. Asquith asks for explanation of extension of powers of Versailles Council; answer refused.

Germany: Kaiser Wilhelm Demands Continued War to Break “Forces of International Jewry and Freemasonry”

Furious at anti-war protests within Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm spoke to the citizens of Bad Homburg on February 10, reminding them that “War is a disciplinary action by God to educate mankind.” In private he fumed to his War Council that week in Hamburg that blame for dissent in Germany and anti-German diplomacy in the world was a grand conspiracy between “Bolsheviks supported by President Wilson,” the forces of “international Jewry,” and the Grand Orient Lodge of Freemasons.

The Kaiser seems to have been ignorant of the fact that as many of 10,000 Jews and many thousands of Freemasons had fallen on the front-lines to further his ambitions of empire. He also conveniently forgot that Germany had helped send Vladimir Lenin back to Russia to cause chaos within the country. But the forces of irrational prejudice were strong in the German Empire. German conservative-nationalists had a history of flagrant anti-Semitism which stretched back before 1871, and often tapped into it to create political support.

The worst example during the war was the Jewish Census of 1916, which counted Jewish soldiers serving in the German military in the incorrect belief that Jews were avoiding conscription. The unreleased census data actually showed a disproportionate amount of Jewish men at the front, but the fact that a census had been taken at all merely confirmed the right-wing mentality that there was a Jewish problem. The “stab-in-the-back” myth promulgated by the German right was not a Nazi invention; it had already begun during the war.

Aerial operations: The chosen one

The German Fighter trial at Adlershof came to a close today.

Earlier in 1917, the German authorities announced that a major competition would be held to find two types of new standard fighter for the Imperial German army air service, one of them with the well established Mercedes D.III water-cooled six-cylinder inline engine and the other with an air-cooled rotary engine of a type not yet specified.

The competition rules called for assessment of the aircraft in terms of their general flying characteristics, combat capabilities, manoeuvrability, diving qualities, pilot’s fields of vision, level speed at 16,405 ft (5000 m), and climb to 3,280 and 16,405 ft (1000 and 5000 m).

In the end 27 aircraft were tested against four standard Albatross DVa’s. These were:

A.E.G. D.I
Aviatik D.III
Fokker V 9
Fokker V 11 (modified during the trials)
Fokker V 13 (two models)
Fokker V 17
Fokker V 18
Fokker V 20
Fokker Dr.I (2 different aircraft)
Kondor D.II
Pfalz D.IIIa (2 different models)
Pfalz D.VI
Pfalz D.VII
L.F.G. Roland D.VI (2 different aircraft)
L.F.G. Roland D.VII
L.F.G. Roland D.IX
Rumpler D (2 different models)
Schütte-Lanz D.III
Siemens-Schuckert D.III (4 different aircraft)
354-1
Fokker VI

At the end of the competition the Fokker V11 and V13 were chosen in the in-line and rotary categories. With modification, the V11 became the classic Fokker DVII fighter. The V13 became the Fokker DVI which bore some resemblance to the DVII, as it shared many parts. The latter was less successful partially due

Naval operations: ship losses

AGHIOS NICOLAOS (Greece) The sailing vessel was sunk in the Aegean Sea (38°28′N 23°49′E) by SM UC-37 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

ELEANOR (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel 9 nautical miles (17 km) off St. Catherine's Point, Isle of Wight (50°30′N 1°30′W) by SM UB-57 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of 34 of her crew.

POLO (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel 6 nautical miles (11 km) south east by east of St. Catherine's Point by SM UB-57 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of three of her crew.

ST. MAGNUSS (United Kingdom) The passenger ship was torpedoed and sunk in the North Sea 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) north north east of Peterhead, Aberdeenshire (57°32′15″N 1°43′36″W) by SM UC-58 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of five lives.

SM U-89 (Kaiserliche Marine) The Type U 87 submarine was rammed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean north west of Malin Head, County Donegal, United Kingdom (55°38′N 7°32′W) by HMS Roxburgh ( Royal Navy) with the loss of all 43 crew.