Almanac of World War I

1915

1915 Neither side will acknowledge the stalemate along the trench lines of the Western Front, and they continue to send forth offensive after offensive in vain attempts to break through and regain the power of maneuver. The efforts founder because of the ability of the machine gun to stop advancing troops and the power of artillery to weaken assaults even before they begin. A basic pattern develops whereby major assaults consume huge numbers of men and vast amounts of materiel but usually fail to penetrate far into the defenses. Even if a strong offensive pushes through, it is impossible to follow up rapidly enough to force a breakout. "Battles" last for weeks and months and exact tens of thousands of casualties on both sides. Even the use of poison gas by the Germans at Ypres in April fails to achieve a permanent advance. The British Grand Fleet begins a blockade of Germany that is intended to starve the opponent. The huge German High Seas Fleet is kept in port, since the Germans are afraid to risk its destruction. Only German submarines break into open waters, where they begin to ravage commerce. After sinking the Lusitania, however. the Germans are brought up short by American protests, and they moderate the use of V-boats against defenseless merchant ships. The Italians enter the war in May on the side of the Allies and begin a series of offensives along the Isonzo River, a natural line of defense held by the Austrians. Repeated and expensive attacks continue for month after month, to no avail. The British and the French launch an expedition to seize the Dardanelles from the Turks, but the first all-naval attacks fail and the follow-up amphibious assault is crushed and pinned to the beaches by the Siout Turkish defenders. The entire campaign is a bloody disaster for the Allies, and they begin to evacuate their forces at the end of the year. On the Eastern Front, the Germans continue to defeat the Russians but have to divert troops to aid their allies, the Austrians . Serbia finally falls to a combined force under German leadership. By the autumn of the year, the Germans call a halt to further advances against Russia in order to bring more troops to the Western Front. After initial successes against the Turks in the Persian Gulf, a British force made up of Indian troops is trapped and besieged. I January 1915 Berlin. Falkenhayn, Ludendorff, and Conrad von Hotzendorf confer. British Channel. The German submarine U-24 torpedoes and sinks the unescorted British battleship Formidable. The Germans rescue 201 survivors, but 547 seamen die. German East Africa. SMS Konigsberg, bane ofthe Pegasus at Zanzibar on 20 September and now secreted and camouflaged in the Rufiji River. receives greetings from HMS Fox over the wireless: "A Happy New Year. to have the pleasure of seeing you soon. British cruiser:' German Capt. Max Loof replies: "Many thanks. Same to you. If you want to see us we are always at home. Konigsberg." 2 January 1915 London. Churchill has long been interested in a British operation on the Baltic front-he first raised the possibility of an Anglo-Russian joint effort on 14 August 1914 in a message to Grand Duke Nicholas -as a means of increasing pressure on the Germans, but his attention has shifted to the Balkans as a strategically better alternative , especially as the war on theWestern Front has bogged down. Now the War Council, having received a request from Russia for help in relieving Turkish pressure in the Caucasus, takes up discussion of a possible land and sea operation at Gallipoli, first suggested to the Council by Churchill on 25 November. Cameroons. Brig. Gen. Edmund H. has marched hisAllied detachment relentlessly inland to reach Dschang, which surrenders after his artillery opens a bom- 42 • Almanac of World War I Gallipoili. From A History of the Great War, 1914-1918, by C.R.M.E Cruttwell, published by Academy Chicago Publishers. All rights reserved. bardment. Gorges destroys the fort at Dschang and heads back to the railhead. 3 January 1915 London. In a letter to Churchill, Kitchener states: "The only place that a demonstration might have some effect in stopping reinforcements going east would be the Dardanelles. Particularly if ... reports could be spread at the same time that Constantinople was being threatened." First Sea Lord SirJohn Fisher and Maurice Hankey, secretary of the...