Dark Earth: The First World War

A couple of little snippets:

“In the Far East, the German concession of Kiautschou Bay and its model Teutonic port city of Tsingtao stood out as one of the jewels in the crown of the German colonial empire and a threat to the British and Allied position in China. Upon a request from their British allies, the Japanese issued an ultimatum to Germany on August 12th to withdraw its forces and ships from Chinese and Japanese waters and to transfer the port of Tsingtao to Japanese control. The majority of the heavy ships of the German East Asia Squadron had broken out to the Pacific at the beginning of hostilities, where they would be hunted down and destroyed by British and Dominion battlecruisers, but four older cruisers remained in Tsingtao, blockaded within its harbour by a force of Imperial Japanese Navy and Royal Navy predreadnoughts. The Japanese deployed a reinforced infantry division, several batteries of their heaviest artillery, two dragons and a not-insubstantial battlefleet, whilst Britain dispatched the old predreadnoughts Canopus, Empress of India, Nelson and Duke of Wellington and an ad hoc division of British and Indian troops from Hong Kong. Wakamiya launched several waves of airstrikes from its seaplane preceding the initial naval bombardment on August 25th as the Imperial Japanese Army began to land its forces and move up to the intended siege lines and these raids were followed on a near daily basis over the next month. The formal siege and bombardment of Tsingtao began on September 30th and culminated with a devastating barrage on October 12th, as the Anglo-Japanese battlefleet, the 280mm and 305mm howitzers of the land forces and the dragons rained ruin down upon the city. Tsingtao would finally capitulate on October 29th as the remaining 1600 German troops marched into Japanese captivity. Wakamiya and Fuji would see action alongside Allied forces as the Chinese Front developed in 1915, but other events would overshadow their role.”

“The British Expeditionary Force deployed to France after the outbreak of war and the German invasion of Belgium and the Netherlands. It consisted of 12 infantry divisions, 3 cavalry divisions and 1 artillery division, for a total of 350,000 men organised in a field army.

The BEF engaged and narrowly defeated the German 1st and 2nd Armies at the Battle of Mons, with British rifle and machine gun fire repulsing repeated attacks, the 25pdr field gun out matching German field guns and massed cavalry charges inflicting decisive damage. British wizardry sealed the victory. The triumph was short lived, with British and French forces withdrawing to avoid being outflanked prior to the German offensive being halted on the Marne. The Allied counterattack pushed the Germans back before the front stabilised as winter advanced, with the British and French winning the Race to the Sea.

A Second Army was established in September as further British and Indian troops arrived, with Third and Fourth Armies being formed by the end of the year. The beginning of 1915 saw over 1 million British troops in France, including 60,000 Royal Marines. The Indian Expeditionary Force added a further 254,000 men organised in 9 infantry and 3 cavalry divisions.”