ALLIED NAVAL
OPERATIONS AGAINST GERMANY 1917-1918
The entry of the United States into the war in April 1917
freed the German Navy from any inhibitions in its policy of unrestricted submarine
warfare. U-boat sinking consequently rose from 181 ships in January, to 259 in
February to 325 in March and 430 in April. The April sinking represented 852,000
tons of shipping far exceeding the 600,000 monthly tonnages of losses the
Germans calculated would be enough to force Britain out of the war.
The situation of Britain was grim. As at May 1917 only
600,000 tons of shipping was available to carry food to the Island. In the same
April however, the Allies obtained reprieve when they finally adopted the
convoying system which had been an American idea that had previously been
strenuously opposed by the leading British Admirals.
It took the intervention of the Prime Minister Lloyd
George to force the British Navy to adopt the system of ships moving in convoys
protected by warships and enjoying a protective screen of anti-u boat destroyers.
The convoy system met with great success as the tonnage of ships sunk
dramatically reduced from 852,000 in April to 500,000 in May, 300,200 in
September and only 200,000 in November.
The Germans came
to realize that the British had quickly grasped the principles of
anti-submarine warfare as they developed better depth charges, hydrophones and
extended the mine fields. In fact the whole English Channel was mined and
covered with such powerful searchlights that U-boats using the channels could
not resurface to avoid hitting sea mines in view of the powerful searchlights.
The German U-boats therefore abandoned the English
Channel for the North Sea as its point of entry into the Atlantic. Even here,
the US navy laid such an extensive belt of mines over 60,000 that submarines
were greatly impeded in their bid to reach the open sea from their bases in
North Germany.
April 1917 was the
turning point in the submarine warfare as the Allies themselves began to sink
more submarines, build ships faster than they were sunk and generally
discountenance the submarines as a weapon of choice for the German Navy.
Air warfare at this time was still in its infancy as most
aircraft were used for reconnaissance and surveillance. However, a few dog
fights had begun amongst individual pilots, and masses of aircraft often times
bombed major cities with a view to disrupting production and destruction of
strategic targets leading to the creation of the air force as an independent
fighting entity.
AIR WARFARE IN
EUROPE
At the beginning of the war, the aircraft was used only
for reconnaissance and surveillance purposes both by the belligerent armies and
their navies. Individual dog fights by pilots involved the use of firearms
until the fighter plane equipped with machine guns began to surface in 1915.
Tactical bombing of enemy positions also became common.
Close support missions of infantry forces became a reality in 1916. Strategic
bombing though in its infancy, began when British aircraft from Dunkirk bombed
Cologne, Dusseldorf and Friedrichshafen in the autumn of 1914 in search of the
German Zeppelins bases or dirigibles.
The Germans on the other hand, started bombing, using
seaplanes and eventually the huge Zeppelins or balloon planes that were
deployed against London en masse between January 1915 and September 1916. London was first
bombed in the night of May 31-June 1915.
In October 1916, the British began a more systematic
campaign from Eastern France against industrial targets in South West Germany.
The British eventually turned their attention to the U-Boats and their bases
while the Germans maintained their assaults against British towns and cities.
The mass bombing of London by 14 German bombers dropping
118 high explosive bombs on London and subsequent raids by the German Gotha
bombers made the British began to think of setting up an independent Air force
separate from the army and Navy. This was accomplished with the birth of the
Royal Air force between October 1917 and June 1918.
PEACE MOVES, MARCH
1917-SEPTEMBER 1918
The need to the end the war and make peace initially was
initiated by individuals and small groups, but as the war went on relentlessly,
and casualty figures and widespread destruction and starvation began to mount,
many began to question the wisdom behind prolonging the war.
With the death of the old Austrian Emperor Francis Joseph
on November 21st, 1916 and the ascension to power of Charles I as
the new Emperor, Austria began to make peace overtures through its foreign
minister Graff Ottokav Czerny in the spring of 1917.
The efforts however were not bold and concerted, and in
the course of the summer the negotiations with the Allies had died out. The
fact was that Germany held the key to ending the war with the Central Powers.
In Germany, a Roman Catholic member of the Reichstag
acting apparently in consonance with Rome had proposed a peace based on
renunciation of annexations and a return to the status quo. In the course of
the ensuing debates, Bethman Hollweg resigned his office as Chancellor.
Emperor William II appointed George Michaelis as
Chancellor without consulting with the Reichstag, and the resulting annoyance
caused the Deputies to pass the peace resolution without including promises of
renunciation of territorial claims and conquests. The resolution passed
unnoticed by the Allies.
A stronger message came from Pope Benedict XV who sent a
note to the belligerents demanding peace on terms of German withdrawal from
Belgium and France, Allied restoration of the German colonies and the
restoration of Serbia, Montenegro, Romania and Poland to independence.
France and Germany
refrained from any response while awaiting Germany’s response on the proposed
withdrawal from Belgium and France. The Germans similarly made no commitment. An
unofficial peace move was made in London on November 29, 1917 in a publication
by the Daily Telegraph of a suggestion by Lord Lansdowne suggesting negotiation
on the basis of the status quo antebellum. Prime Minister Lloyd George rejected
the proposals on December 14th 1917.
The most prominent peace move however came from the
United States President Woodrow Wilson on his 14 points agenda for peace which
included;
1. Open covenants of peace and renunciation of secret
diplomacy.
2. Freedom of navigation on the high seas in times of war
and peace
3. Freedom of trade
4. Reduction of
armaments
5. A colonial settlement involving not only the colonizer,
but the colonies.
6. Evacuation of all Russian territory and respect for
Russia’s right to self determination
7. Complete restoration of Belgium
8. Complete German withdrawal from France and settlement
of the issue of Alsace-Lorraine.
9. Readjustment of Italy’s borders on an ethic basis.
10. Open prospect of autonomy for the peoples of Austro-Hungary
11. The restoration of Romania, Serbia and Montenegro
with access to the sea for Serbia and international guarantees of the Balkan’s
state’s independence and integrity.
12. The prospect of autonomy for non-Turkish peoples of
the Ottoman Empire and the unrestricted opening of the straits, but secure
sovereignty for the Turks in their own areas.
13. An independent Poland with access to the sea and
under international guarantee.
14. A general association of nations to guarantee the
independence and integrity of all states, small and great.
Wilson’s peace campaign came to form a strong basis for
Germany’s willingness to yield to an armistice in October 1918. The 14 points
indeed formed the main points of discussion between the Germans and Wilson
until the other Allies came on board.
The final armistice when signed on November 11th,
1918 was based on the 14 points with some reservations by the British and
French on the covenants relating to the freedom of the seas and reparations.
This process began America’s ultimate role as the peace
maker and enforcer in Europe, while also laying the ground for the formation of
the League of Nations and eventually the United Nations to ensure that the
lofty aspirations of Wilson’s 14 points became standard international
convention for peace and prosperity for the rest of the twentieth century.
THE BALKANS
At Salonika, the Allies approved a new commander General
LFF Frachet D’esperey in July, 1918 who launched a major offensive in September
1918 with eight divisions made up of six Serbian and two French against a seven
mile front held by a Bulgarian division.
The assault which began on September 15th 1918
with a heavy bombardment achieved a 5 mile breakthrough by nightfall the next
day’ while British and French forces widened the breach to 25miles. A British
assault on September 1918 prevented the Bulgarians from reinforcing their
positions and enabled the Serbians to advance deep into the Bulgarian territory
at kavadaci at the junction of the carna – vidder perimeter.
Two days later, the Bulgarian front west of the Vardar
had collapsed. With the Italian, British and Serbians together with the French
penetrating deep into the country, the Bulgarians sued for peace unreservedly
on September 29, following the capture of Skopje, being the key to their whole
system of defenses. The Bulgarian delegates signed the peace terms dictated by
the Allies.
THE TURKISH FRONTS
1918
The Turkish armies confronting the British in the summer
of 1918 were reputed to be three armies, even though they were barely two
divisions strong. The front lines stretched from the Jordan River west ward
north of Jericho and Lydda to the Mediterranean just north of Jaffa.
The Turkish army stationed on the east of the Jordan and
two divisions to the west of Jordan depended on the Hejaz railway for supplies
and its main lines ran through Damascus down east to the Jordan and which was
joined at Devaaly a branch line serving Palestine.
Lyman Von Sanders the German commander of the Turkish
forces in Syria – Palestine reckoned that the main British attack would occur
east of the Jordan River. British General Edmund Allenby however was more
interested in advancing all the way up the coast of Palestine. He planned a
diversionary attack of his cavalry to seize a junction of the Hejaz railway
sixty miles behind the Turkish lines and isolate the two Turkish armies to the
east.
His plan was to initiate the Calvary attack in the rear
of the Turks. He deceived the Turks as to his true intent, while his infantry attacked
the much reduced Turkish forces opposing him, overwhelmed them and opened a
breach through which the cavalry swept in and advanced thirty miles down the
road on the coastal corridor and eventually turning inland to cut the Turks
northward lines of retreat.
This battle known
as the battle of Megiddo saw the British enjoy tactical superiority of 10 –
1When the main British advance began, Atula, Beisan and Nazareth had fallen to
the British the following day. The Arab forces allied with the British cut the
railway lines on which the Turks east of the Jordan were depending on for
retreat while a British Calvary division from Beisan was also striking out to
intercept the Turks.
At the same time, British Divisions alongside a force of
Arabs advanced on Damascus which fell on October 1. The advance was halted
after the capture of Aleppo and the junction of the Baghdad railway. Allenby’s
advance in 38 days had yielded 350 miles of territory and 75,000 prisoners at a
cost of less than 5,000 casualties.
Meanwhile British
forces had taken Kitri north of the Diyala left bank tributary of the Tigris in
Jan 1918 and khan al – Baghdadi, up the Euphrates in March. A British advance
northward from Kitri had seized Kirkuk in May but soon evacuated it.
British forces in Mesopotamia were advancing to capture
Mosul in October when the war was brought to an end by Turkish capitulation in
the face of the Allied threat to seize Istanbul from the west following the
capitulation of Bulgaria.
On October 30 1918, an armistice was signed on a British
cruiser off the coast of Limnos in which the Ottoman Turks were forced to open
the straits of Dardanelles to the Allies, demobilize their forces, allow the
Allies free use of their ports, railways and roads and order the surrender of
their remaining garrisons in Arabia, Syria and Mesopotamia. The armistice
signaled the end of the centuries – old Ottoman Empire.
THE ITALIAN FRONT 1918
The war between the Italians and the Austrians had
stalemated after the Italians had stabilized their front on the Piare River at
the end of 1917. The Austrians in June 1918 decided to force the Tonale pass
and enter north eastern Lombardy. They also decided to attack central Venetia
from two directions. The one occurred, south east ward from the Trenton, while
the other the other took place across the lower Piare.
The attacks failed utterly, costing the Austrians some
100,000 men. The Italians on the other hand under Diaz their commander in chief,
planned to drive three of their five armies lining the front from the Monte
Grappa sector to the end of the Piare River. They were to advance across the
Piare River towards Vittorio Veneto so as to severe the communication lines
between the two Austrian armies opposing them.
In October 1918, when the Germans began to press for an
armistice, the Italians used the opportunity to launch their offensive. The
attack in the Monte Grappa sector was repulsed with heavy losses though it also
depleted the Austrians of their reserves, while the flooding of the Piare River
by the Austrians prevented two of the Italian armies from coordinating with the
third for a joint attack.
The third army
comprising Italian and British units under cover of darkness and fog occupied
Papadopoulos Island further downstream, and won a foothold on the left bank of
the Piare river on October 27, 1918. The breach was thus left to the Italian
reserves to exploit.
By this time, the Austrian forces under great pressure
were ready to mutiny and the high command had to order a general retreat to
contain the threat. Vittorio Venetia was occupied the next day by the Italians
and they were also pressing on towards Tagliamento when on Nov 3, the Austrians
obtained an armistice.
THE COLLAPSE OF
AUSTRO-HUNGARY
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