The First World War

[Ennath]

April 29, 1915
Western Front The Canadians are withdrawn from the Ypres salient as artillery duels continue.
Eastern Front In the Baltic, German troops reach the Libau-Dvinsk railway. An Austrian attack in the Uzsok Pass is repulsed.
Dardanelles E-14 sinks a Turkish transport in the Sea of Marmara.
Egypt The Turks retreat from the vicinity of the Canal.

April 29, 1916
Ireland Connolly and Pearse surrender. Ruins mar much of Dublin and citizens jeer the despised rebels, but will dramatically change their minds, along with the majority of their countrymen, when the leaders of the Rising are summarily judged and executed. The battle in Dublin has caused 184 rebel and 529 government casualties. Some 300 civilians have been killed.
Western Front, Elsewhere German attacks at Hulluch and Wulverghem are renewed, but the wind shifts and blows the gas back onto the Germans. The attacks fail.
Italian Front The Italians in the Trentino take Adamello crest.
Mesopotamia With negotiations failed, Townshend destroys his guns and ammunition and surrenders. Kalil has the 1450 sick and wounded exchanged for Turkish prisoners of war and sent to Basra. The remaining 12,000 British and Indian troops are marched to a camp at Shumran as prisoners. The defeat lowers British prestige in the Muslim world and for the next year, British supply columns are constantly threatened by Arab guerrillas. Enver declares himself a Ghazi, a Muslim conqueror.
German East Africa Van Deventer’s infantry, struggling forward in the wake of the Mounted Brigade, arrives in Kondoa Irangi. Many of them, weak from malaria, dysentery and sores, are unfit for combat, so a force of nearly 4000 Germans, under Major Georg Kraut, entrenched in the hills south of town need not fear attack. Kraut also has several guns salvaged from the Königsberg.

April 29, 1917
French Command Nivelle asks Micheler whether Mangin should be relieved of command. Surmising Nivelle’s intent to save himself by sacrificing Mangin, Micheler asserts, “General, your intentions are infamous, cowardly, dastardly.” The exchange between the two rapidly devolves into a screaming match. Petain is appointed Chief of the General Staff.
Western Front At Moumelon-le-Grand, 200 men of the 20th Regiment, survivors of the first day’s battle in which they lost 400 of their comrades, refuse to obey the order to return to the attack. Arrested by military police, they are returned to the front, save for 15 who are held for trial and possible execution. It is the first rumbling of a storm that will soon enough engulf the French Army.
Mesopotamia The withdrawing Turks have dug in at Band-i-Adhaim, where the British bear down on them.

April 29, 1918
Western Front An attack by 13 German divisions at Voormezeele is stopped with heavy losses. The Battle of the Lys ends. Both sides have taken about 120,000 casualties. The German army had been led to expect overwhelming victory in the first two offensives; it has failed to materialize and troop morale is shaken. Commanders report a shortage of replacements, while those that do arrive are often so infected with socialist demands to end the war as to do more harm than good.
War in the Air American pilot Eddie Rickenbacker scores his first of 26 victories over the Toul sector.
Finland Mannerheim’s troops capture Viborg (Viipuri). Large numbers of Red Guards are captured. The war is all but over. Most of the Red leadership escapes, abandoning their men.
Russia Pavlo Skoropadksy seizes power in Ukraine; the economy recovers somewhat despite German pressures. He is unpopular with the Nationalists, however, being a Great Russian.
Mesopotamia Marshall’s troops capture Tuz Khurmatu and Daquq. The first action costs 194 casualties, but secures 1900 prisoners and 12 guns.

[palo5]

Originally Posted by Ennath

Finland Mannerheim’s troops capture Viborg (Viipuri)...

...until it returned to Russia, where it still is today

[Historian]

Originally Posted by Ennath

April 26, 1915
Dardanelles After suffering 700 casualties during the night, the force at Y Beach evacuates. Nevertheless, in the darkness, other Anzac troops have landed on the point, bringing their total to 15,000. The British storm Hill 141 and secure V Beach. However, the Anzac beachhead is only two miles long and less than a mile deep.

After the six VCs awarded to the Navy during the previous day on V Beach, the effort to capture Hill 141 would see a further three earned, this time by the Army.

As already discussed, by the afternoon of the previous day, the landings at V Beach had stalled entirely, with huge casualties. The British army had a precarious toehold on the beach, but was unable to either land further troops, or break out from the beach-head, and finally the senior officer still fit for duty, Col Tizard, of 1st Royal Munster Fusiliers ordered efforts to cease until nightfall.
By 12:30am, the troops from the 'River Clyde' had finally disembarked, but in the early hours of the morning, V Beach was a shambles- units were hopelessly mixed up, and many were leaderless, their officers dead or wounded, and the troops badly shaken by the events of the previous day.

As part of the whole 'lions led by donkeys' view we sometimes tend to have of the British Army command in WW1, Staff Officers seem to have acquired a particularly bad image, immortalised by Sassoon's poem 'Base Details'...

If I were fierce, and bald, and short of breath,
I’d live with scarlet Majors at the Base,
And speed glum heroes up the line to death.
You’d see me with my puffy petulant face,
Guzzling and gulping in the best hotel,
Reading the Roll of Honour. ‘Poor young chap,’
I’d say—‘I used to know his father well;
Yes, we’ve lost heavily in this last scrap.’
And when the war is done and youth stone dead,
I’d toddle safely home and die—in bed.

(or alternatively, by Capt. Darling in Blackadder...)

but on this occasion, a significant part of the inspiration for the breakout from the beach, and the capture of Hill 141 would come through the leadership of two officers from HQ staff. Neither man would survive the day, but both would receive posthumous VCs for their efforts.

Lt-Col Charles Doughty-Wylie, a member of General Sir Ian Hamilton's staff, had been on board the 'River Clyde', as a GHQ liaison officer, and apparently on his own initiative went ashore in the early hours of the morning with a colleague, Lt-Col. Williams, to carry out a reconnaissance of the beach and assess the situation.
There was a considerable irony in Doughty-Wylie's presence- he'd had a previous career as both soldier and diplomat, including a spell in Turkey, and it was in this latter capacity, as Director of the Red Cross in Constantinople during the Balkan Wars of 1912-13, that he'd been decorated by the Turkish government.
By 1915, his expertise and knowledge of the region earned him a promotion to Lt-Colonel and a post on Hamilton's staff as an Intelligence Officer, and although not officially detailed to be on the 'River Clyde', he'd needed little persuasion to join the contingent on the ship.

He seems to have been a troubled man- Lt-Col Williams commented on his apparent total fearlessness under fire, but also sensed something darker: 'He was rather a fatalist. I am firmly of the opinion that poor Doughty-Wylie realized he would be killed in this war'.

A complicated personal life may have the source of his state of mind- his wife was serving as a Nursing Officer in France, and had talked of her intention to commit suicide if he was killed, but there was a second woman in his life, the explorer and archaeologist Gertrude Bell, with whom he'd been corresponding since they first met in 1907, a relationship which seems to have blossomed into an (apparently unconsummated) affair by 1913.

Following a reconnaissance of the situation, Doughty-Wylie and Williams discussed the situation with Maj. Beckwith, of 2nd Hampshires, and the conclusion was reached that any attempt to break out that night was unrealistic. Doughty-Wylie reported this back to Tizard on the River Clyde, but at around midnight, orders arrived from Gen. Hunter-Weston for an attempt to be made the following morning. These orders arrived with Capt. Garth Walford, an artillery officer on Hunter-Weston's staff.

A plan was hastily drawn up for a three-pronged attack. 2nd Hampshires would attack on the right to capture the Old Fort and Sedd el Bahr village, a mixed force of Dublins and Munsters would take the left, aiming to link up with the advance from W Beach, and a third force would attempt to force their way through the wire in the centre.
Walford, rather than return to HQ having delivered the orders, decided to go ashore and join the Hampshires' assault on the right.

When the attack began, the fort was quickly cleared, and around 6:30am, a small party of troops led by Capt. Walford were seen entering the village through a postern gate from the fort- this was the beginning of one of the fiercest battles of the day, a brutal house-to-house fight at bayonet point for control of the village.
By mid-morning, the left flank attack had stalled, the centre was yet to move, and everything hinged on the right flank, where the fighting in the village continued, but was beginning to stall after the death of Walford, who was killed leading another attack into the village.

Doughty-Wylie now arrived on the scene and took over command in the village, his confidence
and lack of regard for his own safety (witnesses describe him walking into houses which potentially concealed Turkish snipers 'as unconcernedly as if he was walking into a shop', despite apparently being totally unarmed for much of the time!) encouraging the troops to push on.

Finally, after around three hours of fighting, the village was under control, and following a naval barrage on the Turkish positions on the hilltop, Doughty-Wylie led the assault on Hill 141. This took little more than half-an-hour, reaching the summit of the hill, clearing the Turks from the hilltop trenches and forcing them into retreat. Doughty-Wylie was killed just as the attack reached the summit.

Both Doughty-Wylie and Walford were recommended for the VC, their posthumous awards being gazetted in June:

On 26th April, 1915, subsequent to a landing having been effected on the beach at a point on the Gallipoli Peninsula, during which both Brigadier-General and Brigade Major had been killed, Lieutenant-Colonel Doughty-Wylie and Captain Walford organised and led an attack through and on both sides of the village of Sedd el Bahr on the Old Castle at the top of the hill inland. The enemy's position was very strongly held and entrenched, and defended with concealed machine-guns and pom-poms. It was mainly due to the initiative, skill and great gallantry of these two Officers that the attack was a complete success. Both were killed in the moment of victory.

Walford is buried in the cemetery at V Beach, while Doughty-Wylie remains buried in a lone grave near the spot where he fell, on the summit of Hill 141.

The third VC of the day was an Irishman, Corporal William Cosgrove, of the Royal Munster Fusiliers. Cosgrove, a former apprentice butcher from County Cork, was a giant of a man, 6'6" tall, and was part of the centre assault on Hill 141, which had the task of finding a way through the wire defences at the rear of the beach.
He was a member of an advance party of Munster Fusiliers, led by a Sgt-Major, who would move out ahead of the attack to carry out the almost-suicidal task of cutting a path through the wire.
When the attack began, the Sgt-Major was amongst the first casualties, and Cosgrove took command. On reaching the wire, he quickly found that the wirecutters the men had been issued with were inadequate for the task, and they were making little impact on the barbed wire. Abandoning the ineffective tools, and despite being under heavy Turkish fire, Cosgrove improvised, using his height and strength to pull the posts supporting the wire out of the ground, and encouraging the rest of the party to do the same.
A gap was cleared, and the main attack stormed through it to attack the Turkish trenches, Cosgrove continuing to lead his section of men in the attack, despite being wounded in the back.
His actions had been witnessed by many, the Medical Officer on the 'River Clyde' commenting in his diary that 'The manner in which the man worked out in the open will never be forgotten by those who were fortunate to witness it'

He survived the war, ending his army career as a Staff Sergeant Instructor in 1934. Shrapnel fragments from his wound would eventually lead to a decline in his health, and his death in 1936.

[knobby109]

Returning to the "Lions led by donkeys" description. Clearly there would have been a range of capabilities among the commanders but to label them all as incompetent and insensitive is a gross calumny.
To begin with they were all in unchartered waters, nobody had any experience of war like this or of commanding large bodies of men.Then there was a simple fact that there just wasn't a straightforward solution to the problems of attacking the enemy.To break up the enemy front line and defences needed doing so artillery was needed. When this didn't work the artillery was massively increased but the result was churned up land across which heavily laden men had to struggle.It only took a handful of well armed defenders to stop 500 men.And not attacking wasn't an option as the war needed to be brought to a conclusion for many reasons.

[palo5]

Originally Posted by knobby109

Returning to the "Lions led by donkeys" description...

You are right, it is a bad description because many of the important people didn't "lead" in any meaningful way. Many only 'gave commands', with little or no knowledge of the front, conditions or even their own troops. They were so bad, they would commit tens of thousands - sometimes ten times as many - without even ensuring efficient communications with them, and that was in the middle of the war, not the beginning

So we know many were inefficient and did not deserve their high rank. The real question is: "Were the politicians worse?"

(The answer is "YES", btw)

[Ennath]

April 30, 1915
Western Front A German attack from St. Julien fails.
War in the Air There is a Zeppelin raid on East Anglia.
Eastern Front In Kovno province, the Germans reach the Muravievo and Radzivilsky stations. The Central Powers forces, comprising German 11th Army and Austrian 3rd and 4th Armies, have completed their buildup at Gorlice for the spring offensive against the Russians. August von Mackensen, commander of 11th Army, is in overall charge. He has 22 infantry divisions and a cavalry division, along with 800 guns. The Germans will attack in the center, with the Austrians on the flanks.
Dardanelles Hamilton transfers to the Arcadian and brings his command staff together. Allied casualties are already double the War Office’s original estimate for the campaign. And Liman von Sanders has brought three more Turkish divisions to the front with orders from Enver Pasha to launch a full attack on Cape Helles and “drive the invaders into the sea”. The Australian submarine AE-2 is sunk in the Sea of Marmara.
United States German-American organizations publish a warning to Americans planning on joining the upcoming sailing of the liner Lusitania from New York the following day The warning states that “vessels flying the flag of Great Britain or of any of her allies are liable to destruction” in the waters off the British Isles and that travelers sailing on such ships “do so at their own risk.”.

April 30, 1916
Western Front, Verdun The French have now recaptured the positions taken by the Germans on Le Mort Homme, restoring the front there to its earlier line. The so-called meat-grinder of Verdun has thus far cost the French 133,000 casualties, the Germans 120,000, largely resulting from the relentless bombardment of the relatively small area by 4000 guns of both sides.

April 30, 1917
Mesopotamia The British attack in a sandstorm at Band-i-Adhaim and the Turks retreat into the Jabal Mountains. Maude’s conquest of Mesopotamia is secure, as he assumes responsibility for governance, public health, finance, hospitals , and other services in the former Turkish province.
France The Jockey Club suspends racing after May 4.
War at Sea Concerned by monthly increases in shipping losses to German U-Boats, Prime Minister David Lloyd George visits the Admiralty to advocate the use of convoys. Also alarmed – April losses of 881,027 tons of shipping, up from 358,521 tons in January – Admiralty officials have already decided to try the convoy system. Admiral Jellicoe has finally dropped his opposition to the idea. It is just in time – merchant sailors are beginning to refuse to sail. Beatty expresses concern that the diversion of light warships from the Grand Fleet for the purpose of fighting submarines will weaken his ability to fight a sortie by the High Seas Fleet, but no such sortie will occur.

April 30, 1918
Western Front There is fierce fighting in the Noyon sector.
Mesopotamia The British advance reaches the Tank River on the Mosul Road, taking 1800 prisoners.
Palestine Allenby, forbidden a major offensive, is unwilling to remain completely inactive and orders a new attack across the Jordan. The objective this time will be Es Salt, as a preliminary to a later attack on Amman. There is a strong Turkish response, which soon threatens the northern flank of the advance.

April 30, 1919
Germany The Communist leaders flee Munich and the “Soviet” Republic collapses. Twenty prominent citizens are executed before they depart.

April 30, 1920
Britain Conscription is ended and the volunteer army restored.

[haroldeye]

Originally Posted by palo5

You are right, it is a bad description because many of the important people didn't "lead" in any meaningful way. Many only 'gave commands', with little or no knowledge of the front, conditions or even their own troops. They were so bad, they would commit tens of thousands - sometimes ten times as many - without even ensuring efficient communications with them, and that was in the middle of the war, not the beginning

So we know many were inefficient and did not deserve their high rank. The real question is: "Were the politicians worse?"

(The answer is "YES", btw)

Got to disagree with you there Palo. WW1 British Generals led their men from the front as any examination of casualty figures for Brigadier and above show. As for comms radios were very much in their infancy and try as they might they still had to use runners and flags.

As to the politicians I am in full agreement.

[tygrkhat40]

"Bad" politicians can be more dangerous than "bad" officers during a time of war.

[Historian]

Originally Posted by haroldeye

Got to disagree with you there Palo. WW1 British Generals led their men from the front as any examination of casualty figures for Brigadier and above show. As for comms radios were very much in their infancy and try as they might they still had to use runners and flags.

According to Wikipedia, and information I've seen on a couple of WW1 forums, (which seems to be based partly on a 1990's book on British WW1 generals, titled 'Bloody Red-Tabs') 78 officers of the rank Brigadier-General or above were killed or died of wounds during WW1 mostly on the Western Front.

One problem, and I don't recall at the moment where I read this, is that before the war promotion at brigade level and above often tended to be on grounds of seniority (and no doubt connections...), rather than purely on merit, which led to there being numbers of comparatively elderly officers in senior positions, who often lacked the skills and tactical knowledge required in a 'modern' war. As the war went on, many of these were replaced by younger men who'd had more recent experience of command in the front-line.

[palo5]

Originally Posted by haroldeye

...WW1 British Generals led their men from the front as any examination of casualty figures for Brigadier and above show

Led from the front??

It's not their job to lead 'from the front', but it is their job to provide leadership and to be informed about what's happening so they can direct a battle

Here's an example of bad leadership (since you mention the British): A general from the British GHQ visited the front for the first time (in 1917). It was the fourth year of war, and there was a big battle in Belgium. When he heard of men and horses drowning in mud, he said "Good God, did we really send men to fight in that?" - in other words he had no idea, and nor did anyone else where he came from. That really happened, and I can supply the officer's name

No doubt some generals were killed by unexpected artillery. But why would you call that 'leading from the front'?

As for comms radios were very much in their infancy and try as they might they still had to use runners and flags

The radios worked alright. The trouble was keeping them online, and this problem was not properly addressed