Hiatus

Due to family obligations I have been up able to take the time to research and write post for this blog. I intend to keep this project going but I will need to take a hiatus. I hope to resume (and can catch up on the missed months) in June. Thank you for you interest in following the blog.

February 7, 1915

One Hundred years ago today the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes began. This battle had its origins in that the German high command was split on how the war was to be prosecuted at this point. Germany could not sustain a war against Russia in the east and France in the west at the same time. Germany needed to force the surrender of one of these nations soon or the war would become unwinnable. Some in the German high command felt that the army should focus on the Western Front other felt that the focus should be on the Eastern Front. The French army was strong but the German army was already deep into France. The Russian army was weak but the German army would have to invade hundreds of miles into Russia to have any real impact.

As 1915 began, even the most staunch supporters of focusing on the Western Front knew that the situation on the Western Front had become static. However the Russians were still reeling from a string of defeats in the fall. A plan was formed to launch two major offensives against Russia. One conducted by the German army in the what is today northeast Poland and one conducted by the Austro-Hungarian army in what is today southeast Poland.  These would smash the bulk of the Russian army leaving its frontier more or less undefended. It was the German high commands hopes that after the Russian army was in tatters the Russian Empire would approach Germany with a separate peace offer in the hopes of not losing territory, or perhaps swapping some territory for peace (Germany was unaware that Russia, France and Great Britain had previously signed an agreement with each other stating they would not pursue separate peace talks with Germany). With Russia out of the way Austria-Hungary could finally crush Serbia and perhaps Bulgaria or Romania could be enticed to join German as allies. With new allies and no eastern front to worry about German could defeat France to the west, or at least this was the plan.

So on February 7, 1915 in the middle of a snowstorm the German army launch a surprise attack against Russia (in what is today northeastern Poland) and for the second time in less than a year the German army smashed the Russian army near the Masurian Lakes. The Russian forces were caught by surprise not expecting a major offensive in winter. German forces penetrated deep into Russian territory and much of Russian army was in full retreat. The German army was in a prime position to surround the bulk of the Russian army in northern Poland and destroy it. The Russian army would have been doomed if it was not for the sacrifice of tens of thousands Russian soldiers who held an untenable position in Augustow forest. When the German army started to surround the Augustow forest, instead of retreating these soldiers held position in the forest and defended it until February 22, 1915, when the last of the remaining Russian soldiers surrendered. Their sacrifice bought the rest of the Russian army the time it needed to escape and reorganize. On February 23, 1915, the Russian army launched a counter attack bring the German advance to an end and ended the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes. The Russian suffered horrendous losses, over 100,000 casualties and another 100,000 were captured. German losses were paltry by comparison, only losing about 16,000 casualties.

Though the battle was a massive victory for the Germans it fell short of the ultimate goal. The Russian army remained intact. In the north the Russian army suffered terrible losses, but narrowly escaped destruction and the Austro-Hungarian offensive to the south stalled and made little progress. The Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes was over and the war on the Eastern Front would continue. 

January 31, 1915

One Hundred years ago today the first large scale use of chemical weapons occurred during World War One. Germany was in a precarious situation at this point in the war. It was deadlocked on two fronts and would be overwhelmed if the situation did not change. German could not overcome the entrenched armies of the French and British to the west and was pressed by large number of Russian armies to the east. On January 31, 1915 the German army experimented with a new weapon in the hopes of breaking the stalemate. Near Bolimov (in modern day central Poland) German artillery fired approximately 18,000 shells at Russian positions. But instead of high explosives the shells were filled with xylyl bromide. Each shell contained about seven pounds of the chemical and a small explosive charge to spread the substance. Xylyl bromide was similar to what we would call tear gas today. The attack had little effect as the cold weather froze the xylyl bromide solid and the shells did little more than spread a white harmless powder over the battlefield. It is likely the Russian soldiers were unaware that they had been subject to a chemical attack. But the attack did trigger a Russian counter attack and the ensuing battle resulted in 60,000 casualties on both side with only the use of conventional weapons.

It should be noted that this was not the first use of chemical weapons during the war. On the onset of the war the French issued grenades to its soldiers that contained ethyl bromoacetate, another tear gas like substance. It was use to almost no effect (it was reported to cause little more than sneezing fits) and after the French depleted their stocks of the grenades they did not manufacture more.

The use of “asphyxiating” weapons was prohibited by the Hague convention prior to the war (the prohibition of which all the major participants of the war had agreed to uphold). The French used ethyl bromoacetate with the argument that it did not result in suffocation, and thus not banned by the Hague convention. The Germans would repeat this explanation when using xylyl bromide. However, the Germans would cite the French use of ethyl bromoacetate as justification when it used more lethal chemical weapons later in the war.      

January 26, 1915

One Hundred years ago today Ottoman forces in Palestine attacked British forces in control of the Suez Canal. These attacks were the start of series of raids which were intended to disrupt shipping through the canal, which would impact the British economy and take pressure of the Ottoman's German allies.

As the raids continued it was the beginning of a series of battles in the Sinai Peninsula. Both the British and the Ottoman Empires would deploy increasing larger forces to the region in the months and years to come. But much of the fighting would be limited to a small scale when compared to the battles in Europe . The lack of water in the region made it difficult for either side to launch major operations in the Sinai, making the region yet another where armies would become deadlocked. Little would change in 1915 with the Ottomans raiding British forces along the Suez Canal and British Forces sending raids out in to the desert of the Sinai to take control of water sources in an attempt to limit the Ottomans ability to approach the Suez. 

Though the Germans were hopeful the Ottomans could significantly slow, or even stop traffic through the Suez the Ottomans would never achieve this. As the war continued, the Ottomans would be forced on the defensive and would never be able to muster sufficient forces to seriously threaten British holdings in Egypt.  

     

January 19, 1915

One hundred years ago today the first Zeppelin air raid was conducted by Germany against Great Britain.

A Zeppelin was a large type of airship (a blimp like aircraft with a ridged structure). Zeppelins were  viewed as a super weapon in their day. They could fly higher than any contemporary airplane and could fly higher than any ground based artillery could fire with any degree of accuracy. At the start of 1915 a high altitude raid from a Zeppelin was unstoppable. If was the intent of the German commanders to attack naval facilities along the east coast of England. But the same high altitude that protected the Zeppelins also prevented any accuracy when bombing targets. The result was that bombs were dropped, almost indiscriminately, on British seaside towns that had naval facilities.

The bombing attacks on January 19, 1915 killed four and wounded. Though the bombings only resulted in minor damage the psychological effect it had on the British public and government was intense. As the bombings continued and became more and more destructive the British military expended massive amounts of resources trying to halt these raids in an attempt to respond the nation wide fear of Zeppelin raids.                    

      

December 29, 1914

One hundred years ago today the trigger to one of the most tragic events of World War One occurred. It was on this date that Ottoman forces assaulted the Russian city of Sarikamsih in the Caucasus (located in northeast modern-day Turkey).  

The assault of Sarikamsih was the center piece of a larger battle, that lasted from December 22, 1914 to January 17, 1915, which was an unmitigated disaster for the Ottoman forces. The Ottoman high command had been encouraged by earlier success in November against the unprepared Russian forces along the border and it was the high command's hope that pressing on to the oil fields of the east Caucasus  before the Russians could fully prepare would yield success. But for the Ottoman forces to push farther into Russia they would have to cross the narrow passes of high mountains of the Caucuses. The Ottoman army lacked sufficient winter uniforms and supplies but the attack was ordered and the Ottoman forces, 118,000 strong, began to enter into the passes of the Alluhüekber Mountains and worked its way to its objective, the rail station at Sarikamsih.

The Ottoman army skirmished with the Russian forces as it had climbed to an altitude of more than 6000 feet above sea level as it headed towards Sarikamsih. It was the dead of winter and temperatures regularly reach 20 degrees below zero (Fahrenheit). Before Sarikamsih was reached a series of Russian ambushes took its toll on the Ottoman forces and Ottoman soldiers died by the thousands due to hypothermia and thousands more suffered from frostbite.

By the time the Ottomans reached Sarikamsih its long supply lines were spread so thin over the poor mountain roads that the Ottoman soldiers were extreme short on supplies. Hungry, exaustated, short on ammunition and freezing the Ottoman forces were ordered to launch a direct assault of the prepared Russian defenders of Sarikamsih. The attack was crushed and the Russians began deploy its forces, who were well rested, well supplied and dressed for cold weather, to surround what was left of the Ottoman survivors. What was left of the Ottoman invasion force tried to retreat but was slowed by snow storms and overtaken by the counter attacking Russians.

Between the freezing weather and the clashes with Russian forces the losses were terrible. Of the 118,000 Ottoman soldiers who marched to Sarikamsih only 11,000 would return. As tragic as the loss of the Ottoman soldiers' lives it was not the most tragic aspect of this battle, as World War One would see it share of slaughter on the battlefield. What made this battle so tragic was its aftermath. By all accounts the Ottoman forces fought with bravely and determination during the battle, but poor planning and preparation by the commanders lead to this disaster. Unwilling to accept responsibility for this colossal failure, when the Ottoman General who commanded the attack reported to the Ottoman government he blamed the local Armenian population for the defeat. L ocal Armenians did volunteer to fight with the Russians and some served as guides as they knew the terrain well and this was no small help to the Russians. But blaming the Armenians for the Ottoman loss was little more than an distract from the blatant incompetents of the Ottoman commanders.

But the damage was done. Almost 100,000 Ottoman soldiers had been killed or captured in less than a month and there was a wave of anger in the nation and in the government and the Armenians would become the target of that anger. Over the next year the Ottoman government would began systematic oppression and deportation to concentration camps of the Armenian people which would result in the deaths of approximately one million Armenians within the Ottoman Empire. By the end of the war in 1918 it is estimated that another half million would be killed. The Ottoman Empire would state that these deaths were part of the larger conflict of the war and mostly due to unintended  disease and starvation in the Armenian concentration camps, a position the modern Turkish government still maintains. But much of the western world refers to this as the Armenian Genocide. The first of sadly many industrialized genocides of the 20th century.

December 25, 1914

One hundred years ago today World War I had been raging for almost five months. Already hundreds of thousands had been killed and over a million wounded. Even in the cold of winter the war was still very active. But in late December there was a lull in the fighting along a stretch of the Western Front in Belgium. With no major actions taking place here, exhausted Allied (mostly British) and German soldiers faces off in their trenches, in places no more than a hundred yards apart from each other. It was along this portion of the Front that something happened that no one would have expected.

The events that transpired seem so near unbelievable that it could easily be dismissed as a myth.  But letter after letter and journal entry after journal entry tell the same story (or versions of it, as similar events happened in many different places).

It began on Christmas Eve. In the hopes of boosting the morale of their troops France, Great Britain and Germany issued special Christmas packages to all their soldiers on the Front. They contained extra food, tobacco and alcohol, along with things not normally issued. Soldiers opened small packages with candies and desserts, paper and pencils for letters home, and other small trinkets. The care packages worked and spirits were high, and as the sky darkened on that Christmas Eve British observers noted unusual activity in the German lines. Popping up along the parapets the German soldiers mounted small sprigs of evergreen trees adorn with lit candles. Soon after singing could be heard coming from the German trenches. The British soldier’s interests were peaked and listened intently. The German singing continued into the night until the British heard these words as the Germans began a new song: “Stille nacht, heilige nacht.” The words were unfamiliar to most of the British but the melody was not, “Silent night, holy night.” In a purely spontaneous action some of the British soldiers joined in the singing and by the end of the song both the German and British trenches were singing in full force. Ending together with “Jesus der Retter ist Da!”  and “Christ the Savior is here!” Throughout the night the old Christmas hymns were sung as the tunes were known to both sides.

When the sun started to rise on Christmas day the men in both trenches went about their daily chores but other than occasional the distant fire of artillery no shots were heard. Suddenly, a German soldier started shouting: “English! English! Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” and two hands went up above the German parapet. Then a man crawled out. He picked up one of the sprigs of pine adorn with lit candles and started walking to the British trench. Soon a few more Germans climbed from the trench and followed suit. As the pack of Germans crossed No-mans-land, the wary British troops manned the firing line. The approaching Germans shouted again “Don’t shoot!”  Suddenly a British soldier set down his rifle and climbed out of the trench, then another and another. They approached the Germans and came face to face with them. They exchanged “Merry Christmas” and “Frohe Weihnachten,” shook hands and the Germans gave their impromptu Christmas trees to the British. More and more men from both sides started to join the growing throng in the middle of the battlefield. Eventually the commanding officers from both sides met and mutual agreed to a truce for Christmas day. For the remainder of the day no shots were fired and Germans and British passed freely across the battlefield to one another trenches. The men gave gifts to each other from their Christmas care packages. Throughout the day the men from both armies shared stories, joked and showed off pictures of family. There are multiple accounts that various locations parts of the battlefield was cleared and the men played soccer. In some locations along the Front it was more solemn. Where fighting was heavy weeks before No-man's-land was littered with bodies preserved by the winter cold and the soldiers from both sides joined to bury their fallen comrades. Other accounts note that Catholic army chaplains held Christmas mass (which was universally done in Latin at that time) for the soldiers, and the Catholics from both nations took communion. As the day waned and the sun set, men shook hands and parted with a final “Merry Christmas” and “Frohe Weihnachten” and returned to their trenches.

What happened the next day varied from place to place. In some places fighting resumed the next day as usual. But in a few places the fraternization continued unabated until New Year’s day. Reports on both sides note the fighting was halfhearted in most place following the Christmas truce with warning shots being fired more often than shooting to harm. Fighting would not truly resume along this part of the Front until one, or both, of the units stationed at the front during Christmas were rotated off the frontline.

As word of what happened trickled back to the high command of the opposing armies the leadership was mortified and many of the units that participated were broken up and reorganized into other units.

Only the British even officially acknowledge that the Christmas truce even occurred, though the scale was played down. The French, Belgian and German governments denied it even happened, even many years after the war. But the evidence is overwhelming that these events did occur, both in official and personal records. Though the majority of the soldiers involved were British and German, many French and Belgians also observed the truce, though often in a less spectacular fashion.  In some places the fraternization was limited to singing together and on Christmas day signs were put up written in the broken language of their enemies which read something like “You no shoot, we no shoot, Merry Christmas.” All told over 100,000 soldiers participated in the cease fire.

There was very little later punishment for the fraternization during Christmas, mostly because to do so would be to official acknowledge that it occurred and it was the strategy of the high command of the nations involved to dismiss the events and claim it was all rumors and hearsay. 

As for why this happened it is hard to say. Just as it is hard to say why things were able to go back to the way they were so quickly. But that Christmas day something reached across national boundaries. It even went beyond a religious commonality. Companies of Indian Hindu soldiers fighting for the British joined in the day’s events, as did the German Jews who at this time made up a notable portion of the German population.  British, French, German, Canadian, Australian, Indian and Belgian soldiers laid down their weapons for a time and were linked by their common humanity. In a world choked by war when everything went dark, on Christmas day a small shaft of light shown though and there was a moment of peace, one hundred years ago today.