June, 1915
Since May, a battle has been being fought near the Belgian city of Arras. The fight is instigated by the French and British Armies. General Joffre has decided that waiting for a German offensive would do more to strengthen the Axis than the Allies. Also, there is an opportunity to disrupt rail supply lines to the German army further west. Newly appointed General Ferdinand Foch, Northern Commander proposes and in initiates a major attack on German positions. Over the winter of 1914-15 those positions have been reorganized and strengthened.
The French are attempting to devise tactics that are appropriate to the new form of warfare. It focuses less on unrestrained offensive action and more on carefully considered artillery preparation, better design of entrenchments and increased use of machine gun, mortar, and hand grenade. Reality is intruding on the pre-war doctrines of the military colleges.
Nearly a million shells are dropped in 5 weeks over the 25 mile front and the allies gain a total of 16 square miles.
Monday, June 15, 2015
Friday, June 5, 2015
The Light is Dawning
June 1915
The thinking of all the top generals on the allied side has been focused on finding the one heroic master stroke battle that would turn the tide and result in general victory. Based on his experience on the Eastern front, a rising general, named Herri-Phillippe Petain, is proposing a new paradigm for this war. "Success will come, in the final analysis, to the side which has the last man." It is an example of a new type of war, the war of attrition. Joffre and Kitchner are at a loss to know what this will mean to military strategy.
The thinking of all the top generals on the allied side has been focused on finding the one heroic master stroke battle that would turn the tide and result in general victory. Based on his experience on the Eastern front, a rising general, named Herri-Phillippe Petain, is proposing a new paradigm for this war. "Success will come, in the final analysis, to the side which has the last man." It is an example of a new type of war, the war of attrition. Joffre and Kitchner are at a loss to know what this will mean to military strategy.
Monday, May 25, 2015
It Must Be Said
May, 1915
There is no specific date, but any history of WWI that didn't mention it would be incomplete. The genocide perpetrated against the Armenians by the dying Ottoman Empire. In a bid to return the empire to it's glorious past as a world power, it was decided that Christians were first to be taxed, then enslaved, finally murdered without mercy, sometimes by gun or sword, sometimes by overwork and exhaustion. The world war, with Muslim Turkey on one side and Christian Russia on the other provided the perfect pretext for incredible violence against innocent bystanders caught between the two combatants. One of the greatest crimes against humanity, which has gone unpunished and is even being denied to this day, is getting underway 100 years ago today. Let's pause to remember their horror.
And reflect also on the evils of unbridled nationalism and religious chauvinism that the human race is so undeniably subject to.
Meanwhile, on May 25-26, the first submarine to reach the Aegean Sea torpedoes and sinks the British battleships Triumph and Majestic. The other six British battleships are withdrawn and render impossible any further naval assault in the Dardanelles.
There is no specific date, but any history of WWI that didn't mention it would be incomplete. The genocide perpetrated against the Armenians by the dying Ottoman Empire. In a bid to return the empire to it's glorious past as a world power, it was decided that Christians were first to be taxed, then enslaved, finally murdered without mercy, sometimes by gun or sword, sometimes by overwork and exhaustion. The world war, with Muslim Turkey on one side and Christian Russia on the other provided the perfect pretext for incredible violence against innocent bystanders caught between the two combatants. One of the greatest crimes against humanity, which has gone unpunished and is even being denied to this day, is getting underway 100 years ago today. Let's pause to remember their horror.
And reflect also on the evils of unbridled nationalism and religious chauvinism that the human race is so undeniably subject to.
Meanwhile, on May 25-26, the first submarine to reach the Aegean Sea torpedoes and sinks the British battleships Triumph and Majestic. The other six British battleships are withdrawn and render impossible any further naval assault in the Dardanelles.
Sunday, May 3, 2015
In Flanders Fields
In Flanders Fields Canadian Lt. John McCrae
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
In Flanders Fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
Saturday, May 2, 2015
Remember the Lusitania
May 2, 1915
Today the Passenger ship Lusitania is sunk by a German submarine torpedo. The British story is that the ship was an unarmed passenger liner and by international treaty, was not a legitimate target of war. The Germans maintained that she was carrying significant war material and as such was not exempt from action. 128 Americans went to the bottom with her.
Today the Passenger ship Lusitania is sunk by a German submarine torpedo. The British story is that the ship was an unarmed passenger liner and by international treaty, was not a legitimate target of war. The Germans maintained that she was carrying significant war material and as such was not exempt from action. 128 Americans went to the bottom with her.
Sunday, April 26, 2015
D-Day at Gallipoli
April 25, 1915
Despite mixed success in the naval bombardment and marine mine clearing, the decision is taken to proceed with a pet project of Sir Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty.
Plans were made to transfer troops from large naval vessels to rowboats,which would be towed ashore by whatever smaller ships were available. The troops used were largely untrained and untested imports from Australia,New Zealand and the Far East. (In a remarkable example of the survival of of the British sea-going tradition, two of the rowboats were commanded by 13-year old English boys, cadets who were already ear-marked for careers as naval officers.) After an early morning bombardment, troops began to move ashore without benefit of accurate maps or intelligence on Turkish troop deployments. The landing ground chosen for them is a small area surrounded on three sides by steep hillsides.
At first the location was sparsely defended, the Turks having dismissed the ground as being unfit for an invasion force. But before the invading force could reach the heights, the Turkish Army was assembling.
Down the coast, nearer the tip of the peninsula, events were not going much better for the English troops landed there. Barbed wire and fortified entrenchments made advance almost impossible. Still they did advance, taking very heavy losses. Altogether, casualties numbered around 4,000 out of and invading force of 30,000. This carnage inflicted by something like 300 desperately dug-in defenders. The military planners were learning hard lessons of sea-born invasion tactics in the age of the machine gun. Eventually the British fell into the same trap as had sprung in western European theater and began to fortify shallow, hard won positions. They would be held throughout the summer at great cost without having much effect on the war.
Despite mixed success in the naval bombardment and marine mine clearing, the decision is taken to proceed with a pet project of Sir Winston Churchill, the First Lord of the Admiralty.
Plans were made to transfer troops from large naval vessels to rowboats,which would be towed ashore by whatever smaller ships were available. The troops used were largely untrained and untested imports from Australia,New Zealand and the Far East. (In a remarkable example of the survival of of the British sea-going tradition, two of the rowboats were commanded by 13-year old English boys, cadets who were already ear-marked for careers as naval officers.) After an early morning bombardment, troops began to move ashore without benefit of accurate maps or intelligence on Turkish troop deployments. The landing ground chosen for them is a small area surrounded on three sides by steep hillsides.
At first the location was sparsely defended, the Turks having dismissed the ground as being unfit for an invasion force. But before the invading force could reach the heights, the Turkish Army was assembling.
Down the coast, nearer the tip of the peninsula, events were not going much better for the English troops landed there. Barbed wire and fortified entrenchments made advance almost impossible. Still they did advance, taking very heavy losses. Altogether, casualties numbered around 4,000 out of and invading force of 30,000. This carnage inflicted by something like 300 desperately dug-in defenders. The military planners were learning hard lessons of sea-born invasion tactics in the age of the machine gun. Eventually the British fell into the same trap as had sprung in western European theater and began to fortify shallow, hard won positions. They would be held throughout the summer at great cost without having much effect on the war.
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Gas Attack
April 22, 1915
The Allies are getting restless for renewed battle in the West. The Germans have been experimenting with a new idea for prosecuting war, poisonous gasses. At first they try a tear gas formulation, that seems to have little effect. Today, they open the first battle to use the terrible weapon based on chlorine gas near Ypres on the far west end of the battle line. The Germans are bringing to bear their world leading chemical industry, another example of the modern concept of total war. Due to difficulties in delivery and gas masks soon developed by the allies, gas was never an important weapon in the war, but for a few thousand French and Algerian troops, it certainly brought a cruel and painful death.
The front is held due largely to the extraordinary courage of Second Lieutenant Kestell-Cornish, who with four comrades, held off the German infantry advance planned to take place through the cloud of poison gas.
The Allies are getting restless for renewed battle in the West. The Germans have been experimenting with a new idea for prosecuting war, poisonous gasses. At first they try a tear gas formulation, that seems to have little effect. Today, they open the first battle to use the terrible weapon based on chlorine gas near Ypres on the far west end of the battle line. The Germans are bringing to bear their world leading chemical industry, another example of the modern concept of total war. Due to difficulties in delivery and gas masks soon developed by the allies, gas was never an important weapon in the war, but for a few thousand French and Algerian troops, it certainly brought a cruel and painful death.
The front is held due largely to the extraordinary courage of Second Lieutenant Kestell-Cornish, who with four comrades, held off the German infantry advance planned to take place through the cloud of poison gas.
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