CHAPTER VIII
NOVEMBER 1914 TO MARCH 1915
Diary of the War
In November 1914 the war of stagnation had already begun. The power of modern weapons in defence had made open warfare an impossibility, and the struggle in France had now assumed the character of siege warfare. Lines of trench some five hundred miles in length stretched from the Belgian coast to the Swiss frontier, and high explosive in every form and shape was fired from monster guns or thrown by hand. Miles of barbed wire covered the ground between the opposing lines of trenches, and sappers and miners continued to mine and to counter-mine. At the time it was thought that this state of things was merely the prelude to a gigantic battle which would decide the issue of the war.
The British Army at the beginning of November was holding a longer line than it well could hold, and in December Sir John French was able to shorten the line to thirty miles in length. In co-operation with the Eighth French Army, under General D'Urbal, the British Army attempted to advance in the direction of Wytschaete, but after several unsuccessful attacks these operations ceased. In January there were three weeks' comparative quiet, and then the enemy commenced an organised attack on Givenchy, but was effectually stopped by the First Division. The Germans made a more successful effort near Guinchy, and some ground was temporarily gained by them, but a determined counterattack by the 4th (Guards) Brigade restored the line. South of La Bassée Canal the 3rd Battalion Coldstream and 1st Battalion Irish Guards captured a place known as the Brickstacks; on February 14 the 82nd Brigade was driven out of their trenches east of St. Eloi; and two days later the Twenty-eighth Division was forced to retire. In both cases the lost ground was recovered by counter-attacks. On March 10 the battle of Neuve Chapelle was fought, and lasted three days.
In addition to the fighting in the north in co-operation with the British and Belgian armies, the French were engaged practically all along their line. For purely sentimental reasons they continued their attacks on Alsace: although there were local successes, no actual gain of territory was made, and their losses were enormous.
The movements of the Russian Army were at first partly successful. Under the Grand Duke Nicholas it invaded East Prussia, invested the fortress of Königsberg, and reached the Masurian Lake region. The Southern Russian Army entered the north of Austria, cleared Galicia as far as the River San, and invested Przemysl. Its advance was, however, checked by the severe defeat which it suffered at Tannenberg, and it was forced to retire from East Prussia, which it again invaded in October. In the meantime, the Germans assembled a large army in Silesia, and advancing from Posen, forced the Russians to retire into Poland. Soon afterwards the Germans invaded Russia itself, and gained a victory at Grodno. In Austria the Russians were more successful, and after defeating the Austrian Army at Rawazuska, succeeded in capturing the stronghold of Przemysl which had been considered impregnable.
On March 18 an unsuccessful attempt was made by the combined British and French Fleets to force the Dardanelles. This was the beginning of the Gallipoli campaign.
In German South-West Africa General Botha landed at Swakopmund, near Walfish Bay, in February, and advanced to Jackalswater and Riet. A British Expeditionary Force also began operations in the Cameroons, and there was some fighting in German East Africa.
Naval warfare was practically at an end by the beginning of 1915, as all the German ships had been cleared off the high seas. The German Fleet itself had taken refuge in Kiel Harbour, and there was nothing for the British Fleet to do but to wait patiently, in the hope that it would one day emerge and give battle. During March the blockade of Germany began, but the problem of how to deal with neutrals had not been solved, and the Germans were able to get all they wanted through Holland and the three Scandinavian countries.