The First World War

[squigg58]

Originally Posted by Mal Hombre

At the end of the day it doesn't matter Who killed Him,The main point was that He was dead and that was a blow to German morale and a boost to that of Allied pilots.

It only mattered (at the time) to the extent that by giving the the credit to Brown, it could be claimed that von Richthofen had been "bettered" by a pilot of the newly formed RAF. For propaganda purposes, that would be more appealing than saying he'd been killed by what could be seen as a "lucky" shot from the ground. I also can't help but wonder if those in charge of official statements preferred to give the credit to a Captain, than to a humble Gunner!

Having looked at the photos of the remains of von Richtofen's crashed Dr.1 after it had been stripped by souvenir hunters, it makes me think that there must be a hell of a lot of bits of red triplane scattered throughout Australia! Does anyone know what happened to them? Are there authenticated bits in museums anywhere?

(According to some accounts, even Richtofen's clothes were taken!)

[Mal Hombre]

These are purported to be three of the Eiserne Kruez cut from that famous red Fokker Dr1,But Who knows...

[Ennath]

April 22, 1915
Western Front The 2nd Battle of Ypres begins. Having waited several days for suitable wind conditions, Duke Albrecht of Wurttemberg, commanding German 4th Army, vacillates as the day progresses, until at 5:00 PM he orders the release of the gas. Totally surprised French colonial troops – the Algerian division and three battalions of zouaves – panic and run, choking and gasping. Many collapse convulsively and die in their attempted flight. The Germans advance to their immediate objective, Pilckem Ridge, in only half an hour and consolidate there. They have captured a sizeable number of French guns and opened a five-mile fissure in the Allied line; Ypres appears vulnerable before them. If they take it, Brussels will be secure from Allied threat and the BEF’s communications will be in danger. Smith-Dorrien recommends that reinforcements be rushed in. The Germans have a clear advantage in the opening stages of the battle, but they could have exploited more fully, given the effect of the gas. They seem to have been taken by surprise themselves as to just what gas would achieve and are not prepared to exploit a breakthrough. The town of Ypres itself is largely destroyed by German shelling.
Eastern Front Russian attacks are repulsed on both sides of Uzsok Pass. The Austro-German attack toward Styrj fails.
Mediterranean Bombardment of the Izmir forts is resumed.
War at Sea The Admiralty suspends passenger traffic between England and Holland.

April 22, 1916
Ireland Sinn Fein’s Easter maneuvers are cancelled.
Mesopotamia British attacks at Sannaiyat fail.

April 22, 1917
Western Front, Arras British troops capture part of Trescault.
Western Front, Aisne The French repulse a counterattack on the Moronvillers massif. Rheims is bombarded.
Macedonia Bulgarian 1st Army and German 11th Army are placed under the new Army Group Scholz, under Friedrich von Scholz. 90% of the troops are Bulgarian, but the staffs are German. Bulgarian complaints are disregarded.
Mesopotamia The British attack again at Istabulat, meeting fierce resistance.
Russia Pressured by the other Allies to continue the war effort until Germany is defeated and by Russian socialists to advocate a negotiated peace with no territorial accessions, the Provisional Government issues a declaration to the people of Russia stating that Russia has no desire or intention “to dominate other peoples” – an effort to placate the Petrograd Soviet.

April 22, 1918
Western Front Local fighting along the Lys generally favors the British.
Baltic States An assembly of Baltic Germans requests to be formed into a monarchy under the King of Prussia.
Belgium Vice Admiral Roger Keyes aboard HMS Warwick commands a squadron of ships that sets out at 5:00 PM for a long-planned assault on the ports at Zeebrugge and Ostend, intended to end their role as U-Boat bases. The plan is to sink 3 old cruisers loaded with cement in the entrance to the Bruges canal at Zeebrugge to block its exit. As a diversion, the cruiser Vindictive, converted to an assault ship, will come alongside the mile-long mole under cover of darkness and disembark marines to attack German gun positions before the cement-laden cruisers move in.
Adriatic There is an inconclusive night clash between five Austrian destroyers attempting to raid the Otranto Barrage and a British-French-Australian force of similar strength. No ships are sunk.
Russia Armenians, Georgians, and Azerbaijanis, at German urging, form the Trans-Caucasian Republic.

[Ennath]

April 23, 1915
Western Front Awaiting resumption of the German advance, Allied troops have been told to hold wet cloths over their noses and mouths, as the gas used has been identified as chlorine, a water-soluble gas. Reinforcements augment the line as the Germans pause. At Cassel, General French visits Foch, who assures him that more reinforcements are en route. Artillery support, however, is limited due to the French losses of the previous day. Unapprised of this circumstance, General French agrees to launch a counterattack. It commences at 4:15 PM but is quickly stalled by German machine gun fire which inflicts terrible losses.
The Germans counterattack at Les Eparges.
Mediterranean Sub-Lt. Rupert Brooke, the 27 year old English poet, dies on this St. George’s Day of blood poisoning aboard a French hospital ship at Skyros.
Cameroon The British declare a blockade of Cameroon.

April 23, 1916
Western Front, Verdun German attacks at Le Mort Homme are repulsed.
Egypt The Turks in Sinai raid Katiya and destroy two British outposts.
Mesopotamia In desperation to help Townshend hold out, the paddle steamer Julnar sets out after dark with 270 tons of supplies in an attempt to sweep past the Turkish guns on the banks of the Tigris. The boat makes it all the way to Magasis, about four miles below Kut, where steel hawsers the Turks have stretched across the river ensnare the boat’s rudder. Turkish fire kills or wounds most of the crew and the survivors are taken prisoner.

April 23, 1917
Western Front, Arras The British complete the capture of Trescault. To assist the French effort on the Aisne front, Haig resumes the offensive and the 2nd phase of the Battle of Arras opens. The British attack at 4:45 AM on a 9-mile front north and south of the Scarpe. Only a minimal advance is expected. Although they manage to capture Gavrelle and push east from Monchy-le-Preux, German resistance is firm along most of the line and counterattacks through the night hold the advance to one or two miles.
Western Front, Aisne Nivelle receives a note from President Poincaré expressing doubts about the possibilities of further success for his offensive. Government officials are appalled by the heavy losses at the Aisne front – 134,000 so far.
Russia The armed forces discharge all men over 43.
Mesopotamia The British advance at Istabulat and, meeting no resistance, push on to the Samarra Railway Station, capturing 16 engines and 250 supply-laden trucks. The three-day attack has cost 2228 casualties, the Turks have lost 4400.
North Sea British seaplanes attack five German destroyers off the Belgian coast, sinking one.
Diplomatic Relations The United States breaks relations with Turkey.

April 23, 1918
Belgium One minute after midnight, the Vindictive reaches the mole, although not at the spot originally intended since the ship’s smoke cover was dispersed by winds, leaving her exposed to German fire. Tucked against the jetty by two ferry boats, the cruiser unloads the landing parties, but her guns are useless in support because of her position. Splayed by German fire, the block ships cannot reach their intended sites for scuttling. The crews release the charges to sink the ships and escape to a waiting launch. Only one of two submarines in the operation arrives on time and purposely smashes headlong into the mole’s cross braces. The crew escapes to a skiff and blows up the submarine, rending a 100-foot gap in the jetty. The Vindictive, under tow by one of the steamers, withdraws into open water. The raid at Ostend fails as the two ships sent to block the port lose their way because the Germans have removed one marker buoy and moved another. One ship runs aground and the second plows into it. The daring British operation, the first modern commando raid, results in 500 casualties and fails in its objective – the Germans are able to quickly dig a new channel at Zeebrugge – but boosts Allied morale.
Allied Command Foch and Haig agree on a system of roulement proposed by Foch by which weary British divisions will replace French divisions at quiet sectors of the front, freeing French troops for service as a general reserve. Four British divisions will begin the move, three being transferred by mid-May to the Aisne River sector to serve with French 6th Army, under Denis Duchene and one to Henri Gouraud’s 4th Army near Chalons.
Finland Elements of the White Army reach the Russian frontier.
Russia The Soviet government protests the union of Bessarabia with Rumania.
Newfoundland A conscription bill is introduced.
Ireland A general strike supports the anti-conscription campaign.
Diplomatic Relations Guatemala declares war on Germany.

April 23, 1919
Hungary Rumanian troops occupy Debrecen.

April 23, 1920
Turkey Mustafa Kemal organizes a Grand National Assembly in Ankara, establishing a provisional government and declaring the Sultan a “captive” of the Allies. A few days earlier, the Ottoman government has organized the Forces of Order to fight the Nationalist movement. Initially successful, they approach Ankara, but soon fall apart. They are disbanded on June 25, on advice from the British.

[Historian]

Originally Posted by squigg58

It only mattered (at the time) to the extent that by giving the the credit to Brown, it could be claimed that von Richthofen had been "bettered" by a pilot of the newly formed RAF. For propaganda purposes, that would be more appealing than saying he'd been killed by what could be seen as a "lucky" shot from the ground. I also can't help but wonder if those in charge of official statements preferred to give the credit to a Captain, than to a humble Gunner!

IIRC, there's been at least one book and a couple of TV documentaries devoted to the question- I saw one of them a while back, and recall it featured a light aricraft flying the approximate course of von Richtofen's last few minutes in the air, while a historian on the ground with some kind of laser gadget and camera on a tripod attempted to get a clear 'shot' at it from the positions of the various gunners on the ground who may have fired the fatal shot.
Apparently the candidates were a Sgt Cedric Popkin, who claimed to have fired his .303 Vickers gun at von Richtofen on two separate occasions in the crucial period, (though his claim to have fired the fatal shot has been confused by an inaccurate description of events in a letter Popkin wrote in the 1930's), and a pair of Lewis gunners, Gunner W.J. 'Snowy' Evans and Gunner Robert Buie, who also fired at the triplane from their respective positions.

[Ennath]

April 24, 1877
Diplomatic Relations Russia declares war on the Ottoman Empire. Russian armies invade Rumania and the Caucasus. The Rumanians join with the Russians, who soon close up to Bulgaria.

April 24, 1915
Western Front At Ypres, the Germans resume the attack at St. Julien and Lizerne. Before dawn a cloud of chlorine gas floats over the Allied trenches, held by French, Belgian and Canadian troops. Though some units collapse, the vast majority hold the line, delivering a withering fire. The Germans manage to take St. Julien, but French and Belgian troops recover Lizerne. Canadian counterattacks at St. Julien fail. The battered 3rd Canadian Brigade is pulled out of the line.
At Les Eparges, the Germans takes 2 miles of frontline trenches.
Eastern Front Austrian troops capture the heights of Ostaij, southeast of Kosziowa.
Mediterranean Following a successful bombardment of Maidos the previous day, coordinated from the air by radio equipped planes, the Allied fleet of 200 ships carrying the invasion force for the Dardanelles sets out from Mudros harbor at Lemnos. The invasion is set for the next day. The lengthy delay of the planned invasion, however, has given Liman von Sanders time to gather his forces and build defensive positions in anticipation of the landing. Believing that the most likely spot for a landing is the south bank, he posts two divisions near Troy. He places two more divisions at Bulair. At Cape Helles, he places a single division. He keeps another division in reserve under Mustafa Kemal.
Turkey Armenian leaders in Constantinople are arrested. The head of the Armenian Church appeals to President Wilson for aid.
German East Africa There are clashes around Kilimanjaro.

April 24, 1916
Ireland Over a thousand armed Irish men and women led by James Connolly, a trained soldier and leader of the Socialist Republican Party, along with Patrick Pearse and other members of the Republican Brotherhood attempt to seize control of Dublin. Their aim is to destroy British rule and create an Irish Republic. Against their uprising are aligned the forces of the 10,000 man Royal Irish Constabulary (mostly kinsmen), the 1000 man Dublin police force (unarmed), and both the Irish Volunteers of the Irish Nationalist Party (supporters of Home Rule) and the Ulster Volunteers (opponents of Home Rule). Both of the latter groups, along with a majority of the Irish people, have accepted the postponement of Home Rule for the duration of the war. The rebels seize fourteen of the city’s major buildings, establishing their headquarters at the General Post Office. They fail, however, to take Dublin Castle, the nexus of British rule. Officials at the castle call in reinforcements from outside the city and from Britain.
World Affairs A Socialist conference opens at Kienthal, Switzerland. The delegates denounce the war as a capitalist conspiracy.

April 24, 1917
Western Front, Arras The British reach the St. Quentin Canal and take Bithem. The Reserve Army Group is disbanded; Micheler remains the operational commander of the offensive.
Macedonia With the blessing of the Allied leaders, General Sarrail, Allied commander in chief in Macedonia and Sir George Milne, commander of the British Salonika Army, have planned a combined offensive against the German and Bulgarian forces on the Salonika Front. French, Italian, Serbian and Russian forces will attack in the Cerna River sector, and the British will focus on the Lake Doiran sector. As heavy snow deters Sarrail’s attack in the west, Milne’s offensive opens first. British troops begin the assault in the darkness shortly before 10:00 PM, but the Bulgarians have long anticipated the attack and are well entrenched, with concrete dugouts commanding the heights. The British attack ends in overall failure.
Mesopotamia The Turks are in retreat to Jebel Hamrin. One of Maude’s units occupies Samarra, another at the Shatt al-Adhaim attempts to outflank the Turks at Danuba.
Russia Ukraine demands autonomy.
Portugal Senator Costa becomes Premier.
War at Sea After consulting with British and French naval representatives in Washington, Navy Secretary Daniels has concurred in focusing American naval efforts on patrolling the U.S. coast, the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, and the coasts of Canada and South America, while sending a token force of 6 destroyers to Europe. This force now departs Boston harbor for Queenstown, Ireland. These and any subsequent American ships sent to Europe will be under the command of Rear Admiral William Sims.
English Channel German destroyers raid Dunkirk, sinking a French destroyer.

April 24, 1918
Western Front A German attack in the Amiens sector takes Villers-Bretonneux and Hangard. Plumer is able to relieve more troops on the front lines and Foch sends two more divisions to Flanders.
Macedonia There is fighting west of Doiran and at the Cherna Bend.
Palestine A 53-mile section of the Hejaz Railway south of Ma’an is effectively occupied by Arabs.
Austria-Hungary Count Serenyi tries to form a new Hungarian ministry, but fails.

[palo5]

If you are in Australia it is already Anzac Day - best wishes to Australia and New Zealand

(google snelders + gallipoli for a good site)

[Trintron]

The start of the First World War was a tragic comedy of errors, as mentioned earlier in the thread the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was the main backer of the anti militarist in Austria-Hungary at the time and realized that war with Serbia means war with Russia, with his death Austria-Hungary would march inevitably towards war with Russia. In Germany's case the Kaiser's foreign minister gave the Austrians the false impression that the Germans would support any action Austria-Hungary would take against Serbia, which was not true. Any declaration of war against Serbia would mean war with Russia, Germany and the other powers of Europe at the time knew this, but did nothing to stop the march towards war when Austria-Hungary's militarist declared war on Serbia.

The thing that amazes me is that all of the powers in Europe believed that the First World War would be quick, no body really gave diplomacy a chance to resolve this crisis and stop a war from happening, it seemed that the belligerents involved did not account for a long war thus marching towards the start of a war. From what I understand, Serbia was willing to accept a diplomatic solution to resolve the crisis before the war started.
____________________

On a separate topic, it is important to keep in mind that as the war progressed, Britain's naval blockade on German shipping at the beginning of the war really began to take a toll on the German economy as the war dragged on. All of Germany's air and naval campaigns against Britain, like the Zeppelins, submarine warfare, shelling of the English coast early in the war, and the many attacks on London were a desperate attempt to lift the naval blockade.

Which is why Germany was desperate to win the war in the west before the USA was ready to fight the war, each of the “great” offensives in the west was a desperate attempt to end the war before the German economy collapsed. Right before the war ended, the Germans wanted to end the war because the citizens back home were literally rioting in the streets because of food shortages from the blockade.

[Tmee2020]

Originally Posted by palo5

If you are in Australia it is already Anzac Day - best wishes to Australia and New Zealand

Thank you Palo.

The April 25 landings comprised of two main landing groups, the British and French in and around Cape Hellas in the south and the Anzacs in the north. That was intended for a wide beach north of Gaba Tebe, but the landing would be made by mistake further north of that still, underneath a headland called Ari Burnu running down to a tiny beach that would thereafter be known as Anzac Cove.

The Turkish response and the mad terrain behind it would confine the Anzacs to about 400 acres around Anzac Cove. The isolated groups who threatened the heights on the first morning would be driven back and progress would never be that far again. About the furthest they got was in front of Mustafa Kemal's troops at Chunuk Bair, who ordered his men to fix bayonets and lay down, which the Australian troops also did. Much has been made of this, but 60 troops without any reinforcements and no hope of re-supply anytime soon were never going to take the heights.

From the landings at V Beach six VCs were awarded, all to men of the Royal Naval Division. Another six VCs would also be awarded, eventually, to troops of the Lancashire Fusiliers who landed at W Beach. That would become the main landing site at Cape Hellas.



A note on casualties. We cannot be sure of these figures.

Turkish: 251,309, including 86,692 dead. I doubt that the Turks were counting that carefully. The Allies underestimated the ability of the Turks to resist, and to disregard losses.

French: 27,000; including 10,000 dead. This suggests the French weren't counting that carefully either.

British: 73,485; including 21,255 dead.
Edit~ I should also mention India: 4,779; 1,358 dead and Newfoundland: 142; 49 dead.

The Australians lost 8,709 dead and 19,441 wounded.

The New Zealand casualties were frightful: 2,701 dead and 4,752 wounded out of 8,556 who served. The wounded number includes those wounded more than once.

Memorial at Anzac Cove:

[Ennath]

April 25, 1915
Western Front At Ypres, the Germans again take Lizerne. British counterattacks at St. Julien fail. In Alscace, the Germans capture Hartmannsweilerkopf, but lose it again to French counterattacks.
Eastern Front There is severe fighting near Styrj.
Dardanelles The Allied landings on Gallipoli begin at dawn. General Ian Hamilton remains aboard the Queen Elizabeth, only remotely in touch with events. Part of the fleet enters the Gulf of Saros and opens up on the Turkish defenses at Bulair. Receiving the initial reports, Liman von Sanders assumes that the main point of the invasion must be Bulair and he heads there. French troops land at Kum Kale on the Asian shore across from Cape Helles and capture the fortress there. First ashore on the peninsula, the ANZAC (Australia-New Zealand Army Corps) troops under Sir William Birdwood land at Gaba Tepe – or what they think is Gaba Tepe. A current has driven their landing craft to the north, where they disembark into a small cove. They succeed in putting to flight the Turkish defenders there but quickly confront the cliffs of the Sari Bair ridge. Some Australian troops ascend the ridge and push inland after the retreating Turks. But Kemal appears on the scene, rallying the retreating soldiers and sends his own battalion in a suicidal charge to thwart the Australians’ advance, depriving the Anzacs of a victory and keeping command of the heights. British troops under Sir Aylmer Hunter-Weston land at Cape Helles near Sedd el Bahr after the Turkish defenses have been shelled for over an hour. But the Turks weather the bombardment and reemerge from their dugouts to fire on British troops before they can disembark from their landing craft launched from the River Clyde. Though some manage to wade ashore and reach the safety of a hidden beach, the carnage is frightful. The relentless defensive fire ends this landing attempt. Only 200 British soldiers are ashore. Elsewhere at the Cape, British landings succeed, with a base being created near Tekke Burnu and troops scale the high ground at Eski Hissarik Point to establish a base on the heights above. A third force lands unopposed at Y Beach, four miles up the western coast. They could march to the rescue at Sedd el Bahr, but they have no way of knowing what is happening at the other beaches and so sit tight awaiting orders to advance. Hunter-Weston never responds to their queries. Both Birdwood and Hunter-Weston, like their chief, remain aboard ship, so no major Allied commander is in direct touch with events. And as the brigade commanders have been wounded or killed, there is no senior officer on shore to provide direction.
Black Sea Russian ships shell the Bosporus forts.
German East AfricaThe Königsberg is photographed from the air, the first use of an airplane in sub-Saharan Africa.

April 25, 1916
North Sea In an effort to support the Easter Rising, German battlecruisers bombard Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. Four people are killed. The Harwich Force, under Commodore Tyrwhitt, drives them off, though losing a submarine in the skirmish. The Germans lose two U-Boats and the battlecruiser Seydlitz hits a mine and must undergo repairs. Although Room 40 had apprised Admiral David Beatty that ships from the High Seas Fleet were approaching, the information comes too late for him to reach the scene in time.
Ireland Martial law is proclaimed in Dublin. Fighting spreads in the city.
Macedonia There is fighting in the Gevgeli sector.

April 25, 1917
Western Front, Aisne A German counterattack at the Chemin des Dames fails.
Macedonia Concluding that the Bulgarian defenses at Lake Doiran are impregnable, the British withdraw.
Allied Diplomacy Marshal Joffre and a French delegation begin a visit to Washington to discuss war tactics with American officials.

April 25, 1918
Western Front German attacks reach Mount Kemmel. The Allies lose, but then recapture Villers-Bretonneux. The German attack here is accompanied by 13 tanks. The British and Australians converge 20 tanks for the counterattack, leading to the first tank versus tank action in history. A German attack in the Woevre sector is stopped.
North Sea Scheer has brought the High Seas Fleet out of the Jade Basin to attack British ships convoying a Scandinavian merchant fleet, but he has been misinformed as to their whereabouts and has turned back. The battlecruiser Moltke develops serious problems, losing a propeller and a gear wheel, and must be towed. The Moltke’s call for help alerts the British. Admiral Beatty dispatches the Grand Fleet, now harbored at Rosyth, to give chase. But they are too late, as Scheer’s fleet reaches safety, with only the Moltke, now under its own power, limping behind. A British submarine hits her with a torpedo, but the wounded German ship makes it to harbor.
Finland Finnish and German troops link up 30 miles north of Helsinki.
Eastern Front German troops are approaching Sevastopol.

April 25, 1920
Middle East The British assume control of their League of Nations mandates in Palestine and Mesopotamia. The French are awarded a mandate in Syria..
Diplomatic Relations An agreement is signed whereby the Soviets agree to supply arms to the Turkish Nationalists.

April 25-May 7, 1920
Eastern Europe The Poles launch an offensive in Ukraine, driving for Kiev with the support of anti-Communist Ukrainians. Kiev falls on May 7 and Polish general Josef Pilsudski prepares to swing north behind the Pripet Marshes to hit Soviet Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky in the rear. The plan is, however, too ambitious for the forces and logistical backup available to him.