The First World War

[richardoe]

It was in 1918 that the British Army started to use the 24 hour clock.

[Ennath]

March 17, 1915
Eastern Front A reinforced Austrian attack in the Bukovina attempts to cross the Pruth.
Mediterranean Admiral Carden, pleading illness – he is verging on a nervous breakdown – has resigned his command the day before. Churchill designates Admiral John de Robeck to succeed him. He sends a message to de Robeck that the first lord assumes that the admiral believes the major operations about to commence are “wise and practicable. If not, do not hesitate to say so. If so, execute them without delay… All good fortune attend you.” De Robeck responds that, if the weather allows, he will execute the planned main attack the next day.

March 17, 1916
Caucasus The Russians continue to advance west of Erzurum.
Britain The stresses of war and the submarine blockade have driven food prices up by 48% since the start of the war.
Libya British armored cars of the Western Desert Force drive 120 miles from Sollum to Bir Hakeim and rescue 91 sailors from two merchantmen sunk by U-Boats in November. The crewmen have been held prisoner by the Senusi.

March 17, 1917
Western Front The British take Bapaume and seven other villages in hard fighting. The French enter Roye and Lassigny.
English Channel During the night, two flotillas of German destroyers leave Zeebrugge and cross the Channel barrage, one to disrupt shipping, the other to attack the English coast. Outnumbering the Dover Patrol, the Germans sink a destroyer and shell Ramsgate and Broadstairs. They return safely to Zeebrugge before destroyers dispatched from Deal have time to reach the scene.
France Under insurmountable pressure from a Chamber of Deputies enraged by the recalcitrance of War Minister Lyautey, forced from office on the 14th, Premier Aristide Briand now also resigns.
Russia Swayed by hostility to the monarchy in the capital, Grand Duke Michael renounces the crown. The Provisional Government announces both his renunciation and the tsar’s abdication. The Romanov dynasty, begun by Michael Romanov in 1613, comes to an end.
Russian Command Baltic Fleet commander Admiral Nepenin is murdered by Red Guards.
Persia The Russians take Kerind on the Teheran road after heavy fighting and continue to pursue the retreating Turks.
United States Newspapers report that in the last two days, three American ships have been sunk by U-Boats.

March 17, 1918
Western Front There is a large German raid near Verdun.

March 17, 1919
Russia The French begin evacuating Odessa as Soviet troops approach. The French have been afflicted with mutinies as war weary troops wish to return home now that the war is over.

March 17, 1921
Russia With the Soviet Union facing famine, peasant rebellions and the economic dislocation of imposing communism, Lenin backs off and decrees the New Economic Policy, permitting a modicum of free enterprise in an effort to get the country back on its feet. It is generally successful.

And that brings to a close a full year of World War I chronolgy posts.

[squigg58]

Originally Posted by Ennath

And that brings to a close a full year of World War I chronolgy posts.

Once again, many thanks Ennath.

As well as being very informative in their own right, your postings gave the thread a solid structure and prompted many an interesting discussion.

[rupertramjet]

Originally Posted by Ennath

And that brings to a close a full year of World War I chronolgy posts.

Which is very sad, can you sort of create some new stuff??!!

It is interesting that the Germans where still able to mount offensive operations to a very late stage of the War, I find it a great imponderable that had the Eastern Front collapsed any earlier, what would have been the outcome?

[palo5]

Originally Posted by rupertramjet

...
It is interesting that the Germans where still able to mount offensive operations to a very late stage of the War, I find it a great imponderable that had the Eastern Front collapsed any earlier, what would have been the outcome?

How much earlier?

If it's before the Americans arrive, the Germans win France

[haroldeye]

One of the German commanders (I think Ludendorff) said that the Somme broke the back of the German Army. Any possible German offensives would have suffered just as much as the Allies.

[Ennath]

The Germans could have done more with the Russian collapse. Even in 1918, they were maintaining a large army in the east, occupying Ukraine in order to get the grain for their starving populace. Trouble was, by the time the grain was ready to be shipped home, the war was just about over.

[Historian]

There's been some discussion of ranks and length of service in the WW2 thread...

Originally Posted by rupertramjet

BTW. In some earlier posts it was mentioned about ranks and length of service etc., and it may be interesting to note here, that at this time, 1943, they had a Lieutenant, who had been with the regiment during the 1914-18 war. At least 25 years service and still a Lt.!

...which reminded me of an interesting character from WW1, Brigadier-General Roland Boys Bradford, VC, MC.

Serving in the Durham Light Infantry, Bradford achieved a rate of promotion during WW1 which has to be described as 'accelerated' by any stretch of the imagination. Shortly before his death in 1917, he had been promoted to Brigadier-General- at the age of 25!

Born in Durham in Feb 1892, the son of a colliery manager, Bradford gained his commission in 5th Battalion Durham Light Infantry in 1910, transferring to 2/DLI in 1912 as a 2nd Lieutenant.

At the outbreak of war he went to France as a 2nd Lt with 'D' Company, 2/DLI. The Battalion went into action for the first time in mid-September 1914 at Troyon, where it sustained as many casualties in a few hours as it did in the entire Boer War. A few days later, Bradford was promoted to Lieutenant. By then, he was the only officer of 'D' Company still alive...

By the Spring of 1915, he had been awarded the Military Cross, promoted to temporary Captain and transferred to 7/DLI, as Adjutant.

About a year later, in May 1916, came another transfer- this time to 9/DLI, a Territorial unit recruited from the Gateshead area, bringing with it a promotion to temporary Major. By August, he'd been promoted to temporary Lt-Colonel, and was in command of the Battalion (despite which, his substantive rank remained Lieutenant!)

In October, 50th Division was sent to capture Eaucourt L'Abbaye. The attack was scheduled for mid-afternoon, and on the right flank would be spearheaded by the Durhams- 6th Battalion, with Bradford's 9th Battalion in support. Shortly before the order to attack, the Durham's trenches came under heavy German shellfire. With the attack grinding to a halt almost immediately, and the commander of 6/DLI wounded, Bradford was asked to take over command of both battalions, as his subsequent VC citation describes:

For most conspicuous bravery and good leadership in attack, whereby he saved the situation on the right flank of his Brigade and of the Division. Lieutenant-Colonel Bradford's Battalion was in support. A leading Battalion having suffered very severe casualties, and the Commander wounded, its flank became dangerously exposed at close quarters to the enemy. Raked by machine-gun fire, the situation of the Battalion was critical. At the request of the wounded Commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Bradford asked permission to command the exposed Battalion in addition to his own. Permission granted, he at once proceeded to the foremost lines. By his fearless energy under fire of all description, and his skilful leadership of the two Battalions, regardless of all danger, he succeeded in rallying the attack, captured and defended the objective, and so secured the flank.

Bradford's VC was gazetted in November 1916 and presented by the King in June 1917.

His final promotion, and command of 186th Brigade, 62nd (West Riding) Division, came in November 1917, but his career as the youngest Brigadier-General in the British Army would last only 20 days- he was killed by shell-fire near to his HQ on 30th November.

Bradford seems to have been regarded as an exceptional soldier by everyone who served with him, irrespective of rank. His Divisional Commander, Major-General Walter Braithwaite, described him as:

''a very exceptional man, though only a boy, and might have risen, in fact would have risen, to any height in his profession. His power of command was quite extraordinary. He certainly knew every officer of his Brigade, although he had only commanded it for quite a short time, and I honestly believe he knew every non-commissioned officer, and a great many of the privates. He had extraordinary personality, and that personality, linked with his undoubted military genius, made him a very extraordinary character, and a very valuable commander of men."

There's a story that a few weeks after his death, his old Battalion was withdrawn to billets behind the front line, and on their first evening in camp, the band played 'Abide With Me', a tradition Bradford had adopted during his time as CO.
On hearing this, a new arrival in the battalion sneered 'Where are we- at Sunday School?'
An immediate response to this came from a veteran member of the battalion, who got up and punched the newcomer to the ground with the words 'That hymn was taught to us by a better bloody soldier than you'll ever be'

Roland Bradford was one of four brothers, who became known as 'the fighting Bradfords'- three served with the DLI and the fourth in the Navy, but only one would survive the war. Between them, they were awarded 2 VCs, 2 Military Crosses and a DSO:

Lt-Cdr George Nicholson Bradford VC, Royal Navy.- His VC was awarded posthumously for his actions during the Zeebrugge raid on 23rd April 1918

2nd Lt James Barker Bradford MC- died of wounds at the Battle of Arras in May 1917.

The surviving brother, Capt Thomas Andrews Bradford, DSO, after being wounded at Ypres transferred from the DLI to the York & Lancaster Regiment, ending WW1 as an instructor in Ireland, and later becoming Colonel Sir Thomas Bradford DSO, DL, DCL. He died in 1966

[palo5]

Originally Posted by haroldeye

One of the German commanders (I think Ludendorff) said that the Somme broke the back of the German Army...

The Somme was good for no one. Nor Verdun. But if you take out Russia earlier and don't let in America, it is a serious re-balance, and Germany would win like in 1871. It's hard to imagine the French & English stopping them, and even harder to see them winning, imho

But the English still had a big Empire and a huge Navy, so they would be safe. How they would end the war is not answerable

[richardoe]

But what would have happened if Turkey hadnt joined the war??? Dont forget that Britain was fighting in the middle east and east africa, that tied down Indian army troops. And then there was the North West frontier of India to defend. Unusually for a regular battalion the 1st Durham Light Infantry spent the whole of wwi on the frontier and have battle honours from that campaign.