World War I Day by Day Read online

  The Belgian government moves again: to Le Havre.

  Germany fines the city of Antwerp £20,000,000 for its resistance.

  14

  Great Britain: The first Canadian troops – 32,000 men of the Canadian Expeditionary Force – arrive in England at Plymouth.

  Western Front: Germans occupy Bruges.

  15

  Africa: In South Africa the rebels are defeated at Ratedraai.

  Eastern Front: Start of first Battle for Warsaw.

  Far East: Fighting continues in Tsingtao: non-combatants are allowed to leave.

  War at sea: In the North Sea the cruiser HMS Hawke is sunk off Peterhead by U.9 500 lost.

  Western Front: Germans occupy Ostend and Zeebrugge.

  16

  Eastern Front: As Germans advance on Warsaw the Russians prepare to evacuate.

  War at sea: Cattaro is bombarded by Allied warships.

  HMS Yarmouth sinks the Emden’s collier.

  Western Front: The Battle of Yser begins with a German attack on Dixmude.

  Allies capture Neuve Chapelle, Aubers, Armentières, and Warneton.

  German light cruisers manoeuvre in the Baltic.

  17

  Eastern Front: In Poland Russian reinforcements reach Warsaw in time to save the city from the Germans.

  War at sea: Off the Dutch coast four German destroyers are sunk by HMS Undaunted and her destroyers.

  Western Front: End of the Allied offensive as massive German counter attacking forces them onto the defensive.

  18

  Western Front: Yser holds out against the Germans with the help of British monitors commanded by Admiral Hood. British submarine E.3 is lost.

  19

  Western Front: The BEF has now completed its move from Aisne to Flanders.

  First Battle of Ypres starts. Ultimately the battle stops the Germans from reaching the English Channel.

  20

  Eastern Front: Balance of power shifts in the battle for Warsaw as the Russians gain the upper hand.

  Western Front: Fierce fighting around Arras. The Cavalry, Meerut and Lahore Division of the Indian Expeditionary Force reach the fighting on the Western Front.

  Germany claims the numbers of prisoners taken are: 9,000 British, 149,000 French, 32,000 Belgian, 107,000 Russian.

  German scouts on the Polish border.

  German heavy artillery in Poland.

  French hospital train from Arras, October 1914.

  21

  Eastern Front: The Battle of Kasimiryev: Russians destroy German units east of the Vistula. Germans fall back from Warsaw.

  Western Front: Dixmude and Arras suffer under heavy bombardments.

  The French start to recover in the Argonne.

  22

  Western Front: Fierce fighting continues on the Western Front as Germans start a 10-day push to break through Allied lines. Battle around La Bassée.

  23

  Eastern Front: The Russians are prevailing on the Eastern Front, retaking Jaroslav and forcing the Germans to abandon the siege of Ivangorod.

  Polish Legion reaches Nadworna.

  24

  Africa: In South Africa open rebellion is proving problematic for the government.

  Western Front: Fighting around Arras is intense.

  25

  Eastern Front: In Poland the Germans are in full retreat from advancing Russians. General von Moltke is replaced by General von Falkenhayn.

  Western Front: First British aircraft carrier raid attempted on Cuxhaven Zeppelin sheds. Stopped by bad weather.

  London General Omnibus Company extends its services to France and takes troops towards the front.

  26

  Africa: In the Cameroons the Allied forces occupy Duala.

  Western Front: The German advance is halted along the Yser.

  Fierce fighting continues around Ypres, Arras, and La Bsssée.

  27

  Eastern Front: In Poland the Russian celebrate a victory against the Germans along the Petrokov-Radom line.

  Western Front: Germans take Neuve-Chapelle.

  War at sea: The Emden captures the Japanese ship Kamasaka Maru.

  Admiral Gateaume, a French liner, is sunk.

  Dreadnought HMS Audacious sunk by mines left by auxiliary cruiser Berlin, off Lough Swilly, on the coast of Northern Ireland.

  28

  Eastern Front: In Galicia the Austrians are defeated at Sambor.

  In Poland the Russians retake Lodz.

  War at sea: Near Penang the Emden sinks the Russian cruiser Zhemchug and other shipping.

  Western Front: BEF retake Neuve-Chapelle.

  29

  Great Britain: Lord Fisher is appointed First Sea Lord of the Royal Navy.

  War at sea: Turkey actively joins the Central Power when its ships attack the Russian ports of Odessa, Theodosia, and Novorossisk on the Black Sea.

  Western Front: Belgians open the sluices on the canals around Yser to hinder the German attacks.

  Sir John French and General Joffre in Calais for a conference.

  German assault led by flamethrowers.

  Main areas of fighting in the Cameroons.

  30

  Africa: In East Africa the Königsberg is discovered hiding in the Rufiji River.

  Eastern Front: In Poland the Germans are beaten at Bakalaryevo.

  Western Front: Flooding around Yser forces the German soldiers back.

  31

  War at sea: The British cruiser HMS Hermes is sunk in the Straits of Dover.

  Western Front: At Ypres the British line breaks but recovers to retake Gheluvelt.

  French retake Ramschapelle.

  NOVEMBER

  Trench warfare in west; Mespotamian Front opens

  November 1914

  Western Front battles start to stagnate as the trenches are dug. The war starts to spread around the world, there is confrontation in the Pacific and Far East and a new front opens up around Mesopotamia and the Caucasus.

  1

  War at sea: In the Pacific off the coast of Chile a Royal Navy squadron is defeated by German ships led by Vice-Admiral Graf Maximilian von Spee at the Battle of Coronel. HMSs Monmouth and Good Hope are sunk with the loss of 1,600 sailors.

  Western Front: Germans capture Messines, Wyteschaete, and Hollebeke.

  2

  Eastern Front: Russian troops return to East Prussia in the Second Invasion of Prussia.

  Politics: Russia declares war on Turkey.

  Western Front: Germans abandon their Yser positions to concentrate their forces on Ypres. They reoccupy Neuve-Chapelle.

  All along the Belgian coast German troops had to drag guns and limber over soft sand dunes to get them into position.

  3

  Balkans: Montenegrins bombard Cattaro.

  Caucasus: Russians advance and occupy Bayazid.

  Politics: Serbia declares war on Turkey.

  Bulgaria declares neutrality.

  Western Front: Allies occupy abandoned German positions around Yser.

  War at sea: British and French ships bombard Dardanelles forts. On the Red Sea the British first bombard then occupy Aqaba. German battlecruisers bombard the port of Yarmouth and lay offensive mines. During the fight the British submarine D.5 is lost.

  4

  Africa: In German East Africa German troops rout British-commanded Indian forces at the Battle of Tanga.

  Eastern Front: In Galicia the Austrians lose at Jaroslav after 12 days of fighting. 19,000 prisoners are taken.

  Politics: Persia refuses to join Turkey and the Central Powers.

  War at sea: Returning German armoured cruiser Yorck sunk by own mines in the Jade estuary, Wilhelmshaven.

  5

  Politics: Turkey joins the Central Powers; Great Britain and France declare war on Turkey.

  Great Britain declares war on Turkey.

  Cyprus annexed by Britain.

  British Admiralty declares the North Sea a wholly military area.

>   Russian infantry in Galicia

  Map showing Galicia and Poland.

  6

  Far East: In Tsingtao Japanese and British forces capture the central fort and take 200 prisoners.

  7

  Far East: Japanese capture Tsingtao and take 2,300 prisoners.

  Mesopotamia: British forces land in the Persian Gulf.

  War at sea: Russian ships bombard Turkish ports on the Black Sea coast.

  Western Front: Fierce German attacks at Givenchy and Arras, but repulsed at Roye and Vimy.

  8

  Balkans: Third Austrian invasion of Serbia starts.

  Mesopotamia: British forces occupy Fao on the Persian Gulf.

  War at sea: In the Black Sea Russian guns sink four Turkish transports.

  Western Front: French advance in Argonne. Still fierce fighting along the Western Front.

  9

  Caucasus: Battle of Koprukeui in Armenia holds up Russian advance in Caucasus.

  Western Front: Determined German assault on British lines at Ypres.

  War at sea: Off Cocos Island HMAS Sydney sinks the Emden.

  At Honolulu in the Hawaiian Islands the USA intern the German cruiser Geier.

  In East Africa the Königsberg is trapped in the Rufiji River.

  The German raider Emden was caught off the Cocos by Sydney and destroyed.

  11

  Balkans: Monetnegrins defeated at the Bosnian frontier at Grahovo.

  Eastern Front: Russians begin second siege of Przemysl.

  Politics: Turkey formally declares war against the Allies.

  Mesopotamia: In the Persian Gulf British forces are attacked at Saniya.

  War at sea: HMS Niger is sunk by a German submarine.

  Western Front: At Ypres the British lose some trenches to the Prussians but quickly recover them.

  14

  Eastern Front: Beginning of massive German invasion along the Vistula in Poland.

  15

  Balkans: Serbs fall back as the Austrians advance.

  Eastern Front: Retreating Russians retrench on the Gombin-Lodz line.

  Western Front: Last great German attack – by the Prussian Guards – at Ypres fails.

  16

  Politics: Encouraged by Germany the Turkish sultan calls on all Muslims to rise in jihad (holy war) against British, French and Russian authority.

  Western Front: Heavy rain and flooding stop fighting along the Yser.

  Indian troops at Basra waiting to join the Mesopotamian expedition. In total India would send over 600,000 men to fight the Turks.

  German troops using machine guns in open country as they slowly creep forward.

  Map of Mesopotamia showing the land between the rivers Tigris and Euphrates.

  17

  Eastern Front: In Poland fierce fighting between Russians and Austrians around Plotsk.

  18

  Eastern Front: In East Prussia the Russians are defeated at Soldau.

  War at sea: German auxiliary cruiser Berlin runs out of coal, enters andis then interned at Trondheim. In the Black Sea a Russian squadron engages with the Goeben and Breslau. The former sustains damage.

  On the Baltic, Libau is shelled by a German squadron.

  20

  Middle East: In Egypt the Turks advance toward Port Said but are beaten back by the Bakanir Camel Corps.

  21

  Mesopotamia: Anglo-Indian invasion of Mesopotamia occupies Basra to protect the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf.

  Western Front: British airmen bomb the Zeppelin factory at Friedrichshafen.

  22

  Eastern Front: In Galicia the Austrians lose heavily to the Russians on the Cracow-Chenstokhov front. 6,000 prisoners are taken.

  Western Front: Trench warfare has become established all along the Western Front.

  The French lines extended from Lille to Switzerland in 1915.

  23

  Eastern Front: In Poland the Russian line is broken by Mackensen south-east of Lodz.

  Politics: The Portugese Congress agrees to side with the Allies.

  War at sea: British squadron bombards Zeebrugge.

  German submarine U-18 rammed by armed trawler Dorothy Gray, then sunk by HMS Garry in Pentland Firth.

  Western Front: Ypres heavily bombed by the Germans, badly damaging the town and cathedral.

  25

  Western Front: Von Falkenhayn orders his troops to dig into defensive positions on high ground.

  Arras suffers heavy German bombardment.

  26

  War at sea: Pre-dreadnought HMS Bulwark destroyed by ammo explosion in the Medway at Sheerness, 800 dead, only 12 survivors.

  27

  Western Front: Reims again heavily bombarded: President Wilson condemns such assaults on unfortified towns.

  28

  General: New York Stock Exchange reopens for bond trading for first time since July when it closed due to the war crisis.

  29

  Balkans: Start of the evacuation of Belgrade as the Austrians close in.

  Eastern Front: Lodz is bombarded by the Germans.

  Western Front: In Argonne the French retake almost all lost territory.

  30

  Western Front: King George visits British troops.

  DECEMBER

  Trench warfare in east; Champagne Offensive in west

  December 1914

  President Woodrow Wilson tries to organize a peace as he reassures Americans that they won’t get involved in the war and will remain strictly neutral.

  1

  Caucasus: Russians capture Sarai and Bashkal.

  Eastern Front: Suburbs of Lodz see heavy fighting.

  Western Front: King George visits Indian

  troops on the Western Front.

  French troops recover Vermelles.

  2

  Balkans: Belgrade succumbs to Austrian occupation.

  3

  Balkans: Start of the Battle of the Ridges at Rudnik Malyen in Serbia.

  5

  Balkans: Battle of the Ridges ends when the Austrians are defeated: 15,000 prisoners taken.

  Western Front: French airmen bomb German air sheds at Freiburg-in-Breisgau.

  6

  Politics: The Pope attempts to broker a Christmas truce.

  Eastern Front: Russians evacuate Lodz.

  Western Front: Dunkirk undergoes long-distance German bombardment.

  The Germans and Russians fought over East Prussia during the winter of 1914-15.

  7

  General: The French Bourse reopens.

  Eastern Front: Second Battle for Warsaw.

  Western Front: Egyptian Sirhind Brigade arrive at Western Front to complete the Indian Expeditionary Force.

  8

  Africa: In South Africa the rebellion collapses when 1,200 rebels surrender.

  War at sea: In the Battle of the Falkland Islands Rear Admiral Sturdee’s squadron sinks three German cruisers last encountered at the Battle of Coronel, only the Dresden escapes.

  10

  Politics: French government returns to Paris.

  Eastern Front: 4,000 prisoners are taken when the Austrians are defeated near Cracow.

  War at sea: Shipping around Dover is attacked by German submarines.

  Sturdee’s squadron sinks Nürnberg.

  Western Front: Germans again attack Ypres.

  11

  War at sea: The Goeben bombards Batoum.

  13

  Balkans: In Serbia the Austrians are completely routed.

  War at sea: In the Dardanelles the Turkish battleship Messudiya is sunk by British submarine B.11.

  Western Front: Germans withdraw from Yser Canal positions.

  General von Falkenhayn (wearing the cloak) was director of operations on the Western Front from December 1914 to August 1916.

  King George V issuing decorations in the field, Flanders, end 1914.

  German sentry standing guard outside a well sandbagged battalion HQ.

 
14

  Western Front: Ypres attacked again by the Germans.

  15

  Balkans: In Serbia the Austrians evacuate Belgrade so ending their third invasion. Lost at least 28,000 prisoners and 70 guns.

  War at sea: British fleet bombard Westeinde. In Syria HMS Doris bombards Alexandretta.

  16

  War at sea: The German First High Seas Fleet under Admiral Franz von Hipper bombard Hartlepool, Whitby, and Scarborough killing

  137 civilians and wounding 592. British coastal defense batteries damage three ships including the heavy cruiser Blucher. The Germans also lay offensive mines.

  17

  Eastern Front: In Poland the Germans occupy Petrokov.

  Far East: The British proclaim Egypt as a British Protectorate.

  Western Front: Armentières bombarded by the Germans.

  18

  Far East: Hussein I is proclaimed Sultan of Egypt.

  War at sea: In the Baltic the German cruiser Friedrich Karl is reported lost.

  Western Front: Start of the Battle of Givenchy when Indian troops attack the German positions.

  Map showing the battle of the Falkland Islands.

  19

  Africa: In South Africa the two remaining rebel leaders are condemned for treason. One is shot the other reprieved.