Germany’s Western Front: 1915: Translations from the German Official History of the Great War

contents

contents  List of Maps, Sketches, and Figures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Foreword by Hew Strachan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxv A Note on the Translation and Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxix PART I: WINTER AND SPRING 1. The Question of the War’s Centre of Gravity in January . . . . . . 3 2. The Western Front to the Middle of April . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Decision Making at the OHL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Operations on the Western Front to the Middle of February . . . . . . . . . 26 The Battle of Soissons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Seventh Army . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 The Winter Battle in the Champagne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Fifth Army . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 The French and British High Commands at the Beginning of the Year . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 The Apex of the Winter Battle in the Champagne from the Middle of February to the Middle of March . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 French Intentions in the Champagne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 The German Defence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Operations on the Remainder of the Western Front from the Middle of February to the Middle of March . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 The Battle at Neuve Chapelle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Armee-Abteilung Strantz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 The OHL’s Return to the Western Front . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 The Defensive Battles from the Middle of March to the Middle of April . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 Armee-Abteilung Strantz . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 3. The Change in Falkenhayn’s Plans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81 The Creation of a New GHQ Reserve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 The Plan to Mount a Decisive Breakthrough Operation in the West . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 The Political Situation’s Influence on Military Decision Making . . . . . 105 To the Dardanelles Offensive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 To the Employment of the GHQ Reserve in the East . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 PART II: SPRING AND SUMMER 4. The General Situation of the Central Powers in May . . . . . . . . . . 133 The Intervention of Italy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134 The Worsening of the Economic Situation and the Decision to Make Economic Warfare by Submarine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144 The Manpower and Ammunition Situation to the End of the Year . . . 148 5. The Western Front from the Middle of April to the Beginning of August . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Operations to the Start of the Spring Battle at the Beginning of May . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 The OHL and the Western Army in April . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155 Fourth Army’s Gas Attack by at Ypres . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156 The Offensive Battles of Armee-Abteilungen Strantz and Gaede . . . . 169 The Actions of the French and British Commanders to the Beginning of May . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171 The Beginning of the Spring Offensive in the Artois . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175 Sixth Army’s Operations, 9–14 May . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177 General Lochow’s Assumption of Command on the Main Battle Front and Operations to the Middle of June . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188 Operations of the Remaining Armies on the Western Front from the Middle of May to the End of July . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196 The Renewal of the Major Offensive in the Artois: Operations from 16–18 June to the End of the Spring Offensive . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Reflections on the Spring Offensive in the Artois . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 The Reorganization of the Western Army at the Beginning of August . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215 vi contents 6. Overview of the Multi-Front War during the Summer . . . . . . . . . 219 The General Situation to the Beginning of August . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 The OHL’s Peace Efforts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 Shifting the War’s Centre of Gravity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 PART III: SUMMER AND AUTUMN 7. Overview of the Military Situation to the Middle of September . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237 8. The Western Front from Mid-August to the Beginning of the Autumn Offensive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 The Enemy’s Situation and Plans in the Summer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 The Situation at the OHL to 22 September . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 The Events on the Western Front to 22 September . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 In the Artois . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 In the Champagne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 On the Remainder of the Western Front . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 9. The Autumn Offensive in the Artois and Champagne . . . . . . . . . . . 275 Preparations for the Battle, 22–24 September . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 In the Artois . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275 In the Champagne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279 The Situation at the OHL until Noon on 25 September . . . . . . . . . . . . 283 25 September . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286 The Attack in the Artois . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 286 The Attack in the Champagne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292 Actions of the OHL on the Afternoon of 25 September . . . . . . . . . . . 299 26 September . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 In the Artois . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300 In the Champagne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 302 The Situation at the OHL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 304 The Further Course of the Battle to the End of September . . . . . . . . . 305 In the Artois . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305 In the Champagne . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308 The Situation at the OHL at the Beginning of October . . . . . . . . . . . . 311 The Renewal of the Offensive in October . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312 In the Artois: Operations, 30 September–10 October . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312 In the Artois: Operations, 11–13 October . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 317 In the Champagne: Operations, 30 September–5 October . . . . . . . . . 320 In the Champagne: New Major Offensive Operations after 6 October . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324 contents vii The Enemy’s Situation at the...