On this day in the Great War (1914-1918)

In August, Germany—still expecting a swift victory—was content for the Ottoman Empire to remain neutral. The mere presence of a powerful warship like Goeben in the Sea of Marmara would be enough to occupy a British naval squadron guarding the Dardanelles. However, following German reverses at the First Battle of the Marne in September, and with Russian successes against Austria-Hungary, Germany began to regard the Ottoman Empire as a useful ally. Tensions began to escalate when the Ottoman Empire closed the Dardanelles to all shipping on 27 September, blocking Russia's exit from the Black Sea—the Black Sea route accounted for over 90% of Russia's import and export traffic.

Germany′s gift of the two modern warships had an enormous positive impact on the Turkish population. At the outbreak of the war, Churchill had caused outrage when he "requisitioned" two almost completed Turkish battleships in British shipyards, the Sultan Osman I and the Reshadieh, which had been financed by public subscription at a cost of £6,000,000. Turkey was offered compensation of £1,000 per day for so long as the war might last, provided she remained neutral. (These ships were commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Agincourt and HMS Erin respectively.) The Turks had been neutral, though the navy had been pro-British (having purchased 40 warships from British shipyards) while the army was in favour of Germany, so the two incidents helped resolve the deadlock and the Ottoman Empire would join the Central Powers.

Continued diplomacy from France and Russia attempted to keep the Ottoman Empire out of the war, but Germany was agitating for a commitment. In the aftermath of Souchon′s daring dash to Constantinople, on 15 August 1914 the Ottomans canceled their maritime agreement with Britain and the Royal Navy mission under Admiral Limpus left by 15 September. Turkey was sliding inexorably to the Central powers, and the Goebens presence was to play an enormous tactical impact on that outcome.Britain had badly miscalculated in not trying harder to prevent their escape, and the unilateral appropriation of turkish ships was a first order mistake in foreign relations.

U-Boat operations In the North Sea and Med August to September 1914

1914:


In August 1914, a flotilla of ten U-boats sailed from their base in Heligoland to attack Royal Navy warships in the North Sea in the first submarine war patrol in history. Their aim was to sink capital ships of the British Grand Fleet, and so reduce the Grand Fleet's numerical superiority over the German High Seas Fleet. The first sortie was not a success. Only one attack was carried out, when SM U-15 fired a torpedo (which missed) at HMS Monarch. Two of the ten U-boats were lost causes unkown.

Later in a the month, the U-boats achieved success, when U-21 sank the cruiser HMS Pathfinder. In September, SM U-9 sank three armored cruisers (Aboukir, Hogue, and Cressy) in a single action. Other successes followed.

The initial phase of the U-boat campaign in the Mediterranean comprised the actions by the Austro-Hungarian Navy's U-boat force against the French, who were blockading the Straits of Otranto. At the start of hostilities the Austro-Hungarian Navy had seven U-boats in commission; 5 operational, 2 training; all were of the coastal type, with limited range and endurance, suitable for operation in the Adriatic. Nevertheless they had a number of successes later in the year.


In 1914 the U-boat's chief advantage was to submerge; surface ships had no means to detect a submarine underwater, and no means to attack even if they could, while in the torpedo the U-boat had a weapon that could sink an armoured warship with one shot. Its disadvantages were less obvious, but became apparent during the campaign. While submerged the U-boat was virtually blind and immobile; boats of this era had limited underwater speed and endurance, so needed to be in position before an attack took place, while even on the surface their speed (around 15 knots) was less than the cruising speed of most warships and two thirds that of the most modern dreadnoughts.

The U-boats scored a number of impressive successes, and were able to drive the Grand Fleet from its base in search of a safe anchorage, but the German Navy was unable to erode the Grand Fleet's advantage as hoped. Also, in the two main surface actions of this period the U-boat was unable to have any effect; the High Seas Fleet was unable to draw the Grand Fleet into a U-boat trap. Whilst warships were travelling at speed and on an erratic zigzag course they were relatively safe, and for the remainder of the war the U-boats were unable to mount a successful attack on a warship travelling in this manner

There were no attacks by U-boats on merchant shipping in August and September.

East Africa - preparations

Germany was remarkably able to string outs its colonial occupation in East Africa (there was also a campaign in Southwest Africa....present day Namibia, far more short lived) right up to November 1918. The cause of the military resistance in East Africa and last for four violent years, was a virtually unknown German soldier, Colonel Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck, who in 1914 was appointed the commanding officer of the Colonial Army of German East Africa (GEACA). His skilful planning and prosecution of the four years of highly effective guerilla war, with a paucity of supplies and men, has gone down in the history of war as the classic campaign of its kind. At the outbreak of war his resources were modest in the extreme; 260 Germans regular soldiers and settlers and 2,472 askaris, many newly recruited. Later the army grew in strength to around 10,000; less than a tenth of the forces that were eventually to be ranged against him. At the outset of the campaign, his army was organised into 14 companies of around 200 men. The operational companies were grouped together in threes and were expected to operate entirely independently. Initially the askaris were armed with obsolete German rifles (1871 model), but these were largely replaced by the up-to-date SMLE rifles that were captured from the British at Tanga, along with a vast amount of other munitions and supplies. However, each company was equipped with from two to four Maxim machine-guns. That meant in the early days they easily outgunned the British colonial forces in East Africa, who only had one machine-gun per company.

Portage was an important element in the mobility and effectiveness of the German colonial forces. Each Feldkompagnie (FK) and Schultzkompagnie (SchK) had an establishment of 250 African porters to carry its equipment. Having learnt from bitter experience that neither vehicles nor animals were suited to the terrain, the British eventually had 200,000 porters organised into a Carrier Corps.

For both of the fighting factions a lot of the terrain where the campaigning took place was infested with big and small game. No doubt some of the animal protein that was required to supplement the field rations of the soldiers came from this source; a large bull buffalo would make a lot of army beef stew! (Unfortunately, much of the game has disappeared over the last 30 years, so the visitor of today cannot expect to find much outside the areas set aside as national game-reserves or game-parks).

The British defence

If the GEACA was a modest defence force at the outbreak of war, the British were no better founded at the beginning. The entire East African standing army consisted of the 62 officers and 2,317 askaris of the 3rd and 4th Kenya Africa Rifles (KAR). These troops were to form the key force as the war progressed. Once war was declared, 3000 European volunteers were recruited and formed into reserve units as the East Africa Mounted Rifles (EAMR) and the East Africa Regiment (EAR). There was no artillery. About 1,500 Europeans and 2,300 Africans were available to take part on the British side in the early battles along the border.

The most strategically important asset in East Africa, apart from the British East African port of Mombassa and the German East African ports of Dar es Salaam and Tanga, was the Uganda Railway located in British East Africa. It ran over 600 miles from Mombassa to Kisumu (formerly Port Florence) on the western shore of Lake Victoria. The military objective of the KAR and the volunteer units was the protection of British assets along the common border (now the Tanzania/Kenya frontier) and, in particular, the Uganda railway. The most vulnerable point on the railway line was where it ran closest to the GEA border just north of Mount Kilimanjaro; at that time it was very sparsely inhabited and in the home range of the Masai tribes. The principal GEA railway, which ran from Dar es Salaam, via Morogoro, Dodoma and Tabora, to Kigoma on Lake Victoria, was, in the early stages of the war, far from the battle zone.

At sea, the Germans had the use of the raiding cruiser Konigsberg, which featured in several river battles until its demise midwar

Whow Parcifal, you completely took over this thread. Great info and very interesting

yeah, didnt mean for that, and my commitment to the WWII day by day thread really calls into question my ability to do this one justice.....

14 September 1914

HMAS ENCOUNTER, (cruiser), shelled German positions at Toma, New Britain. This was the first occasion a ship of the RAN had fired on an enemy.

HMA Submarine AE1, (LCDR T. F. Besant, RN), was lost with 2 officers and 32 ratings, while patrolling off the Duke of York Island. The cause of the submarine's loss was never established.

HMAS WARREGO, (torpedo boat destroyer), captured the German steamer NUSA at Kavieng.

HMAMC Carmania sank off Brazil HIMAMC Cap Trafalgar, which had been fitted out by HIMS Eber, now at Bahia.

HIMS Karlsruhe sank British ss Highland Hope (5,150 tonnes) SW from St Paul Rocks.

Admiral Cradock ordered to concentrate a squadron strong enough to meet Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, with Falkland Islands as his base.

General von Falkenhayn German Acting Chief of Staff, vice General von Moltke, invalided.

General von Stein to command Prussian XIVth Reserve Corps; succeeded later as Quarter-Master General by General Wild von Hohenborn.

French Sixth Army carried Aisne line at Compiègne-Soissons, and advanced against plateau beyond. British dug in on slopes, except First Corps on right under Sir D Haig, which advanced to Troyon – Cour-de-Soupir, facing Chemin-des-Dames. French Fifth Army attacked Craonne Plateau. Germans clinging to Berry-au-bac. French Ninth and Fourth Armies advanced; latter took Souain. Crown Prince's Army in retreat; headquarters removed from St Ménéhould to Montfaucon. Châlons-Verdun line clear.

British 6th Division now concentrated S of Marne; proceeding to Aisne front.

General Rennenkampf extricated bulk of his Niemen Army from Hindenburg's grip with loss of 45,000 prisoners and 150 guns.

Russains holding Drohobyez oil-fields (Galacia); River San forced behind retreating Austrians.

Serbo-Montenegrins at Vishegrad.

HIMS Emden sank British ss Traboch and Clan Matheson off Mouth of Hooghli.

Admiral Spee appeared off Samoa.

15 September 1914

Battle of the Aisne 1914 ends
The First Battle of the Aisne, between 12-15th September 1914, was essentially a follow-up to the Battle of the Marne (8-10th September) in which the German advance on Paris had been checked and then turned back. The battle is significant as it was the watershed between the war of movement and the beginnning of trench warfare. Acting in conjunction with the French Fifth army on its right, and the Sixth Army on its left, and under the orders of the French C-in-C Gen. Joffre, the BEF advanced on the 12th, gaining the heights south of the River Aisne, and on the left south of Venizel reached a bridge over the river itself, which was captured that night in heavy fighting. To the left of the BEF, the French had also reached the Aisne between Compeigne and Soissons, while on the right the French had reached the River Vesle between Beaumont and Fismes. By the night of the 12/13th the gap between Von Kluck's First and Von Bulow's second Armies had widened to 18 miles, making it difficult for the Germans to man a defensive line along the Aisne. On 13th September the BEF crossed the Aisne, despite heavy opposition from the Germans who had brought up reserves to strengthen their line. On the 14th, hampered by a heavy mist, the BEF made little progress in their advance; fighting was intense and losses heavy, with every battalion but one of the BEF engaged. On the 15th, the final day of the battle, GHQ ordered the BEF to entrench the positions they had reached. Determined German counter-attacks were all repulsed.

Battle of the Masurian Lakes ends .

The second major Russian defeat of the First World War. After the defeat of the Russian Second Army at Tannenburg, the Germans were free to turn on the First Army, under Rennenkampf. However, unlike at Tannenburg, the Germans, despite now outnumbering the Russians, were unable to encircle them in the broken terrain of the Masurian Lake lands, and Rennenkampf was able to extract his army intact, and even launch his own counterattack (on 25 September) which regained much of the land lost during the battle. However, the result of the two Russian defeats was to remove any threat to East Prussia

Czernowitz (Bukovina) taken by russian forces
The city was occupied temporarily by Russian forces, before being retaken by the Austrians on October 22nd.

Rebellion in South Africa begins

On 15 September 1914, de la Rey and Beyers left Pretoria for the military camp at Potchefstroom, Western Transvaal to have discussions with Kemp and other senior army officers. However, de la Rey was killed by a police patrol bullet when their car failed to stop at a police roadblock. de la Rey's death heightened emotions around the SWA campaign, especially as it was suspected that he had been killed deliberately.


Cruiser Encounter participated in the bombardment of rabaul prior to its capture

16 September 1914

The Aisne: General Joffre abandons frontal attacks and forms plan to turn the German right (part of the "Race to the Sea").

Germans enter Valenciennes.

Eastern Front

Galicia: Russians advance towards Przemsyl.

17th September 1914

German New Guinea and surrounding Colonies capitulate to Australian Expeditionary Force

Battle of Bita Paka, 1914

The Battle of Bita Paka was a battle on 11 September 1914, to capture the wireless station at Bita Paka. A mixed force of German officers and Melanesian police mounted a stout resistance and forced the Australians to fight their way to the objective. After a day of fighting during which both sides suffered casualties, Australian forces captured the wireless station.

Siege of Toma

The Siege of Toma was a siege between 14–17 September 1914 after troops of the ANMEF surrounded Toma, preceding to bombard it with a 12 pound field piece, which caused the Germans to negotiate a surrender.

Madang was captured without opposition in November 1914.

Aftermath

Lieutenant Hermann Detzner, a German officer, and some 20 native police evaded capture in the interior of New Guinea for the entire war. After the Treaty of Versailles of 1919, Germany lost all its colonial possessions, including German New Guinea, which became the Territory of New Guinea, a League of Nations Mandate Territory under Australian administration.

Serbian forces in Syrmia withdrawn. Semlin evacuated

I don't have further information on this event

Battle of the Drina ends (see 8th) [This is approximately the date on which the main force of the Austrian offensive had spent itself. But there was no definite end to this battle, which subsided into continuous sharp local actions for the heights south of the Drina. These did not terminate until the Serbian retreat in the first days of November.

After being defeated in the Battle of Cer in August 1914, the Austro-Hungarian army retreated over the Drina river back into Bosnia and Syrmia. Under pressure from its allies, Serbia conducted a limited offensive across the Sava river into the Austro-Hungarian region of Syrmia. Meanwhile, the Timok First Division of the Serbian Second Army suffered a heavy defeat in a diversionary crossing, suffering around 6,000 casualties while inflicting only 2,000.

With most of his forces in Bosnia, general Oskar Potiorek decided that the best way to stop the Serbian offensive was to launch another invasion into Serbia to force the Serbs to recall their troops to defend their much smaller homeland.

September 7 brought a renewed Austro-Hungarian attack from the west, across the river Drina, this time with both the Fifth Army in Mačva and the Sixth Army further south. The initial attack by the Fifth Army was repelled by the Serbian Second Army, with 4,000 Austro-Hungarian casualties, but the stronger Sixth Army managed to surprise the Serbian Third Army and gained a foothold into Serbian territory. After some units from the Serbian Second Army were sent to bolster the Third, the Austro-Hungarian Fifth Army also managed to establish a bridgehead with a renewed attack. At that time, Field Marshal Radomir Putnik withdrew the First Army from Syrmia (against much popular opposition) and used it to deliver a fierce counterattack against the Sixth Army that initially went well, but finally bogged down in a bloody four-day fight for a peak of the Jagodnja mountain called Mackov Kamen, in which both sides suffered horrendous losses in successive frontal attacks and counterattacks. Two Serbian divisions lost around 11,000 men, while Austro-Hungarian losses were comparable.

Field Marshal Putnik ordered a retreat into the surrounding hills and the front settled in a month and a half of trench warfare, which was highly unfavourable to the Serbs, who possessed heavy artillery that was largely obsolete, had short ammunition stocks, limited shell production (having only a single factory producing around 100 shells a day) and also a lack of proper footwear, since the vast majority of infantry wore the traditional (though state-issued) opanaks, while the Austro-Hungarians had soak-proof leather boots. Most of the war material was supplied by the Allies, who were short themselves. In such a situation, Serbian artillery quickly became almost silent, while the Austro-Hungarians steadily increased their fire. Serbian daily casualties reached 100 soldiers from all causes in some divisions.

During the first weeks of trench warfare, the Serbian Užice Army (one strengthened division) and the Montenegrin Sanjak Army (roughly a division) conducted an abortive offensive into Bosnia. In addition, both sides conducted a few local attacks, most of which were soundly defeated.

British Naval Mission leaves Turkey.


Admiral Souchon (Imperial German navy) assumes control of Turkish navy.


Australian Fleet Entering Simpson Harbour

18 September 1914

General von Hindenburg appointed Commander-in-Chief of German Armies in Eastern Theatre

The war in the east began with the Russian invasion of East Prussia on 17 August 1914 and the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia. The first effort quickly turned to a defeat following the Battle of Tannenberg in August 1914. A second Russian incursion into Galicia was completely successful, with the Russians controlling almost all of that region by the end of 1914, routing four Austrian armies in the process. Under the command of Nikolai Ivanov and Aleksei Brusilov, the Russians won the Battle of Galicia in September and began the Siege of Przemyśl, the next fortress on the road towards Kraków. On this day, 18th September, Artillery of Austro-Hungarian fortress Przemyśl fired on Russian cavalry conducting reconnaissance Eastern Front.

This early Russian success in 1914 on the Austro-Russian border was a reason for concern to the Central Powers and caused considerable German forces to be transferred to the East to take pressure off the Austrians, leading to the creation of the new German Ninth Army. At the end of 1914, the main focus of the fighting shifted to central part of Russian Poland, west of the river Vistula. The October Battle of the Vistula River and the November Battle of Łódź brought little advancement for the Germans, but at least kept the Russians at a safe distance.

The Russian and Austro-Hungarian armies continued to clash in and near the Carpathian Mountains throughout the winter of 1914–1915. Przemysl fortress managed to hold out deep behind enemy lines throughout this period, with the Russians bypassing it in order to attack the Austro-Hungarian troops further to the west. They made some progress, crossing the Carpathians in February and March 1915, but then the Germans sent relief and stopped further Russian advance. In the meantime, Przemysl was almost entirely destroyed and the Siege of Przemysl ended in a defeat for the Austrians


Government of Ireland Act 1914

With the outbreak of war with Germany in August 1914, Asquith decided to abandon his Amending Bill, and instead rushed through a new bill the Suspensory Act 1914 which was presented for Royal Assent simultaneously with both the Government of Ireland Act 1914 and the Welsh Church Act 1914; although the two controversial Bills had now finally reached the statute books on 18 September 1914, the Suspensory Act ensured that Home Rule would be postponed for the duration of the conflict and would not come into operation until the end of the war. The Ulster question was 'solved' in the same way: through the promise of amending legislation which was left undefined.

AIF continues formation

1st brigade of the AIF, consisting of 1st to 4th bns issued kit and declared ready for shipment overseas. Declaration is highly premature.

There are also 7 Light Horse regiments undergoing training at this time

The Samoan Operation – Taking the Kaiser's Colony

(Based on an article by Lcdr Desmond woods RAN and appearing in the Australian Navy Historical Forum Site)

In the event of war the New Zealand Government had volunteered to occupy German Samoa and take over the WT station in Apia. It was now asked to do so by both Churchill and the Secretary of State for War, Kitchener. Seizing Samoa was deemed to be: "a great and urgent Imperial Service."

On receiving Admiralty orders Patey assembled at Noumea an escort consisting of his flagship and cruisers, including the French cruiser Montcalm. He believed the threat to the New Zealand troop convoy from von Spee was real and he reasoned that if the German squadron was heading for Samoa, to defend the Kaiser's colony, he could be brought to battle there. On the basis of the knowledge then available it is hard to fault the proposition that the Samoan expedition was the best chance of achieving a favourable encounter with the German ships. It was a reasonable and prudent assumption and only a few weeks premature. Von Spee would head to Samoa in early September once he learned that it had been seized.

On route to Samoa Patey learnt that the Japanese had entered the war and he was more than ever convinced that von Spee had no choice but to head for South America where re supply was guaranteed in nominally neutral, but de facto pro German, Chile. Patey reasoned that Von Spee's way into the Indian Ocean was blocked by Jerram's fleet and he would have no chance of getting coal supplies there. It would be a logistical trap from which his fuel-hungry coal fired heavy cruisers could not escape.

The German Governor of Samoa refused to formally surrender but wisely offered no resistance to the New Zealand force of 1500 volunteers who landed on 29 August 1914. Had Patey been permitted to stay at Apia, as he wished, to await von Spee, battle would have been almost inevitable. But the Admiralty which was not keeping up with the Melbourne signal intelligence believed, without evidence, that von Spee was: "probably somewhere off northern China." They optimistically stated that his squadron was: "being covered by Jerram." The scale of the Pacific was apparently unfamiliar to the Admiralty who appeared to be applying European frames of reference to the immensely greater distances of the Far East and Pacific.

Once the Samoan expedition had succeeded the Admiralty reinstated the delayed expedition to be mounted to capture the Bita Paka WT station near Rabaul and to occupy German New Guinea. When first asked his opinion of the New Guinea operation Patey told the Australian Naval Board that: wireless stations "will have to wait for now." After the war Patey, wrote that his intention in going to Samoa was not only to cover the troop convoy but in the hope that:

"I might have the opportunity of bringing Admiral von Spee to action, as I felt sure he would be in the vicinity, and I thought that once I had got so far east I might be left to free to deal with the German Squadron in my own way."

This was overly optimistic. The WT revolution combined with older cable links meant that Patey, like all other flag officers at sea, could receive orders from Whitehall in a maximum of 48 hours and became merely the executor of Admiralty orders. The era of independent command was over. The Admiralty became the de facto operational commander and the Australian Naval Board concurred in the decisions made in Whitehall. Unfortunately during the early years of the Admiralty War Room's operations its limited staff discovered that it was much easier to assume command of world-wide naval operations than to actually try and conduct such operations from afar.

The German Squadron 'raids' Apia in Samoa

Von Spee, having heard of New Zealand's seizure of German Samoa, diverted from his easterly course, left his fleet train and sailed his warships south to the occupied colony. He arrived on 14 September hoping to surprise Patey. But Patey had left Apia on 31 August and Australia and the RAN cruisers were back in Rabaul harbour supporting the operation to take the Bita Paka WT station. Had Patey's wish to remain at Apia been granted by the Admiralty the decisive battle to destroy Von Spees squadron would almost certainly have taken place at samoa, not the Falklands.

Certainly von Spee and his men were keen to fight the Australians. They cleared for action before dawn and entered Apia Harbour to mount a surprise attack on whatever might be there. They hoped to find an anchored battle cruiser. Instead, like Patey at Rabaul in August, they found the harbour frustratingly empty. Captain Pochhamer, the First Officer of the Gneisenau makes much of the general disappointment in the squadron that Australia was gone when the Germans arrived. However he also wrote more realistically that Australia's 12 inch guns: "inspired a certain respect."

If HMAS Australia had been at Apia, and had the Germans achieved surprise at close range with their excellent gunnery an Australian victory is not certain. However the probability is that the duty patrolling cruiser and the New Zealand lookouts at the WT station would have provided Patey with the warning he needed to weigh anchor and proceed into battle at an advantageous range of his choosing.

Under these circumstances the likelihood is that von Spee would have lost ships. Even if he had escaped destruction his ammunition supply for his main armament would have been too diminished to allow him to engage in battle again. His chance of getting back to his fleet train would have been low. In practice any encounter with the RAN off Samoa would have stopped von Spee's progress across the Pacific. Once in Apia harbour Von Spee sensibly made no attempt to re-take the German colony or to shell its WT station now being operated by New Zealand signallers. He knew his gunners were going to need every one of their irreplaceable shells when battle was eventually joined.

19 September 1914

Progress of the Emden

On 19 September the Admiralty learned that Emden was sinking British ships in the Indian Ocean as and when she met them and sending their crews to India with accounts of their humane treatment. Battenberg up to this point had made his priority finding the German East Asia Squadron and bringing it to battle. But Churchill's focus had already shifted to getting Australian and New Zealand troops to the Western Front. The Admiralty's attention, and that of the British cabinet and Australian and New Zealand Governments, shifted to the pursuit of von Müller which imperilled this strategic objective. The urgent priority was now to assemble a powerful escort to get the NZEF and AIF Divisions from Wellington to Albany in Western Australia, and then to Egypt and potentially into the trenches in France to reinforce the British Expeditionary Force.

Understandably, the Australian and New Zealand Governments had no intention of sailing their troops across an ocean known to contain a daring German raider without a powerful covering force to guard them from a potentially catastrophic attack. Churchill overrode Battenberg's objections to this shift of priority away from von Spee to von Müller. The First Sea Lord was forced to concur in Churchill's view that getting the troops to the Mediterranean was: 'so important that nothing except the certain prospect of fighting enemy ships should delay it' Jerram's flagship Minotaur was sent to Wellington to escort the New Zealand troop transports across the Tasman and the Great Australian Bight to Albany. Patey was stripped of Sydney and Melbourne which with Minotaur and Ibuki made up the powerful convoy escort which finally sailed on 1 November after being delayed since mid September by Emden's depredations in the Indian Ocean. Australia was also briefly ordered to escort the troop convoy, and proceeded south on 15 September only for the orders to be cancelled two days later.

Once again the Admiralty's indecision wasted four more days of Patey's movements. When news of the disaster at Coronel reached Fisher in London he detached Minotaur, from the convoy and sent her to Capetown at her best speed. Fisher reasoned that it was not impossible that von Spee might cross the South Atlantic and appear off German South West Africa and seek refuge in the deep water harbour at Walvis Bay. From there he could attack the multitude of British ships using the Cape route.


Von Spee after Samoa

While von Muller was attracting a massive hunt in the Indian Ocean his Admiral was solving unprecedented logistical difficulties in getting to South America. Coal consumption was the over-riding concern and dictated a slow speed. Fresh food and water were also limited, and the German warships were not designed for steaming over such long distances.

After being frustrated at Samoa von Spee visited Bora Bora in the Society Islands. He flew no flags, and greeted the French Chief of Police in English. French colonists resupplied him with pigs and fruit and bread before an observant and literate native in a canoe pointed out the word Scharnhorst painted over on his stern. France apparently did not send her more observant police to the central Pacific. Von Spee paid the French thanked them for their help and sailed on to Tahiti intending to seize the coal stocks he needed. A junior French naval officer, who knew from Samoa's WT warning that von Spee was coming, set fire to the island's coal supplies. Von Spee sank his French gunboat, silenced the boat's disembarked battery that bravely fired on him, bombarded Papeete and burned the market before sailing away without coal and frustrated.

A 'Ruse of War' and its consequences

Knowing he was being observed, von Spee sailed northwest over the horizon from Tahiti before resuming his easterly course. This elementary mariner's ruse of war was later reported to the Admiralty who fell for it and concluded, without corroborating evidence, that von Spee was heading back into the north Pacific. As a result of this deception Cradock in his old ships at the Falklands would wait in vain for the armoured cruiser HMS Defence which he believed to have been sent to reinforce him from the Mediterranean. Defence was not coming to his aid because it was now believed in the Admiralty that von Spee was not heading for Cape Horn and the South Atlantic. The Admiralty did not inform Cradock of this change of plan or the assumption on which it was based.

By October, on Admiralty orders, Patey in HMAS Australia was back at Fiji conducting pointless patrols, searching for the supposed return of the German East Asia Squadron to the western Pacific. Meanwhile through October von Spee made his slow progress via Easter Island – where he was willingly re-supplied from a British cattle farm manager who had not heard that a war had started – and on to Juan Fernandez. There he fuelled from colliers escorted to him from San Francisco by the light cruiser Leipzig. From there it was a short voyage to the ports of Chile and the snow capped Andes. But before his welcome in Valpariso would come his victory at Coronel.

While this laborious trans-Pacific progress was occurring, Patey continued to patrol off Fiji, and it would not be until 8 November, a week after Coronel had been fought and lost, and Fisher was back at the helm, that the Admiralty ordered Australia to sail to South America. For nearly two months Patey had been in a state of impotence described by Arthur Jose, the Official Australian War historian, as being: "like a dog tethered to his kennel."

Hindsight is a wonderful asset and it is easy to be wise about what should have been done with its assistance. But two contemporary naval strategists who were in the midst of these events and who deplored what they saw, cannot be lightly dismissed. Admiral Jerram, observing events, lamented what he called: "blundering about in the Pacific achieving nothing." He wrote to his wife:

The Australian Squadron, were within about 1200 miles of the German cruisers and by Admiralty order footling about with expeditions to New Guinea and Samoa, operations which could not possibly have any effect on the outcome of the war and which might have been undertaken at any slack time later on. Absolutely contrary to all principles of Naval Warfare, as in the first place, they were extremely dangerous due to the near presence of a powerful cruiser force and, in the second, they gave time for the enemy to collect coal store etc.

Damn, I let this one go. Started up grad school again and new job, but really no excuse for this. Parsifal, thanks for picking up the slack. I'll make up what I missed. If I put something down you already have, let me know and I'll edit.

2nd September
Battle of Zamosc-Komarow ends (see August 26th).
Japanese forces land in Shantung to attack Tsingtau (see August 15th, September 23rd and November 7th).
French Government transferred from Paris to Bordeaux (see November 18th).
3rd September
Battle of the Mortagne ends (see August 25th).
Lemberg captured by Russian forces (see August 30th, 1914, and June 22nd, 1915).
H.M.S. Speedy sunk by mine off the Humber.
Benedict XV elected Pope (see August 20th and November 5th)
Prince William of Wied leaves Albania (see October 4th).
French Government inform united States Government that they will observe "Declaration of London" subject to certain modifications.
4th September
Battle of the Grand Couronné (Nancy) begins (see 12th).
Battles of the Western Front: First Encounters and Battles of the Frontiers

German Government agree to observe "Declaration of London" if other belligerents conform thereto, and issue their list of contraband.
5th September
End of the Retreat from Mons (see August 24th, 1914, and November 11th, 1918).
Battle of the Ourcq begins.
Battles of the Western Front: German Advance Blocked at the Marne

German forces reach Claye, 10 miles from Paris (nearest point reached during the war).
Reims taken by German forces (see 14th).
Lille evacuated by German forces (see August 27th and October 12th).
H.M.S. Pathfinder sunk by submarine in the North Sea (first British warship so destroyed).
Battle of the Masurian Lakes begins (see 15th).
German forces cross frontier of North Rhodesia. Defence of Abercorn begins (see 9th).
British, French, and Russian Governments sign the "Pact of London." Decision not to make separate peace (see April 26th, October 19th, and November 30th, 1915).
6th September
Battle of the Marne begins [French date] (see 9th and 10th).
Battles of the Western Front: German Advance Blocked at the Marne

Serbian passage of the Save. Serbian operations in Syrmia begin (see 11th).
Affair of Tsavo (East Africa).
7th September
Maubeuge capitulates to German forces (see August 25th, 1914. and November 8th, 1918).
Battle of Tarnavka (Galicia) begins (see 9th).
Naval operations off Duala (Cameroons) begin, in preparation for attack by Allied military forces (see 27th).
8th September
Austrian forces begin second invasion of Serbia (see august 25th and December 15th).
Battle of the Drina begins (see 17th).
Second Battle of Lemberg begins (see 11th).
General Sir John Maxwell takes over command of British forces in Egypt (see March 19th, 1916).
9th September
German retreat from the Marne begins (see 6th).
Battles of the Western Front: German Advance Blocked at the Marne

Battle of Tarnavka ends (see 7th).
Turkish Government announce abolition of "The Capitulations."
Affairs near Karonga (Nyassaland). First important fighting.
Defence of Abercorn (Rhodesia) ends. German force retreats (see 5th).
First units of Indian Expeditionary Force "A" arrive at Suez (see 19th).
10th September
Battle of the Marne ends [British date] (see 6th).
Semlin (Syrmia) occupied by Serbian forces (see 17th).
German light cruiser "Emden" makes her first capture in the Indian Ocean (Greek collier "Pontoporos") (see 22nd, and October 28th).
German and Austrian representatives expelled from Egypt (see November 1st).
11th September
Second Battle of Lemberg ends (see 8th).
Austrian forces in Galicia retreat (see October 3rd).
Serbian advance in Syrmia abandoned (see 6th and 17th).
British Government issue orders for the raising of the second New Army of six divisions (see August 21st and September 13th).
Australian Expeditionary Force lands on the Bismarck Archipelago (German New Guinea).
12th September
Battle of the Grand Couronné (Nancy) ends (see 4th).
Battle of the Aisne 1914 begins (see 15th).
Battles of the Western Front: The Germans Entrench their Positions on the Aisne

Affair of Herbertshöhe (German New Guinea) (see 11th and 17th)
13th September
Soissons (see 1st, and January 8th, 1915) and Amiens (see August 31st) reoccupied by French forces.
British Government issue orders raising third New Army of six divisions (see 11th).
14th September
Reims evacuated by German forces (see 5th and 19th).
Action between British armed merchant cruiser Carmania and German armed merchant cruiser Cap Trafalgar in the South Atlantic : latter sunk.
General von Moltke resigns as Chief of the General Staff of the German Field Armies, and is succeeded by General von Falkenhayn (see August 2nd, 1914, and August 29th, 1916).
15th September
Battle of the Aisne 1914 ends (see 12th).
Battle of the Masurian Lakes ends (see 5th).
Czernowitz (Bukovina) taken by russian forces (see October 22nd).
Rebellion in South Africa begins (see. December 1st and 28th)
17th September
German New Guinea and surrounding Colonies capitulate to Australian Expeditionary Force (see 21st, and October 11th).
Serbian forces in Syrmia withdrawn. Semlin evacuated (see 10th).
Battle of the Drina ends (see 8th) [This is approximately the date on which the main force of the Austrian offensive had spent itself. But there was no definite end to this battle, which subsided into continuous sharp local actions for the heights south of the Drina. These did not terminate until the Serbian retreat in the first days of November.].
British Naval Mission leaves Turkey.
Admiral Souchon (Imperial German navy) assumes control of Turkish navy.
18th September
General von Hindenburg appointed Commander-in-Chief of German Armies in Eastern Theatre (see August 23rd and November 27th).
19th September
First units of Indian Expeditionary Force "A" leave Egypt for Marseilles (see 9th).
First bombardment of Reims Cathedral by German artillery (see 14th).
Cattaro bombarded by French squadron.
Lüderitzbucht (German South-West Africa) occupied by South African forces. [First German territory to be entered by Union troops.]
British and French Governments guarantee to Belgium the integrity of her colonies.
Secret agreement for mutual support concluded between Russian and Romanian Governments.

20th September

H.M.S. "Pegasus" sunk by German light cruiser "Königsberg" at Zanzibar

At the outbreak of WWI the German light cruiser SMS Königsberg was based at Dar-es-Salaam in German East Africa, now Tanzania. She was armed with 10 105mm(4.1 inch) guns and was designed for 24 knots, making her significantly faster than the three old cruisers on the British Cape Station; HMS Astraea (20 knots, two 6 inch and eight 4.7 inch guns), Hyacinth (19 knots, 11 6 inch guns) and Pegasus (21 knots, eight 4 inch guns).

On 31 July Fregattenkapitän Max Loof took Königsberg to sea in compliance with his orders to attack enemy shipping at the entrance to the Red Sea. Pegasus saw her leaving port, but could not keep up with her. Neither could Hyacinth, which encountered her in the dark two hours later.

HMS Astraea bombarded Dar-es-Salaam on 8 August in order to destroy its wireless station. The Germans, fearing invasion, scuttled a floating dock across the harbour entrance, trapping the liner Tabora and the collier König inside, and preventing Königsberg from entering.

Königsberg was bedevilled throughout her career by difficulties in obtaining coal. The Hague Convention entitled warships to refuel at neutral ports. A ship could visit each port only once every three months, but could take on enough fuel to return to the nearest port in her home country. This meant that a German ship could entirely replenish her coal supplies on each visit.

However, the British bought all the coal supplies in Portuguese East Africa, the only neutral source available to Königsberg. This left her having to coal from small German colliers or from captured ships. However, she managed to take only one merchant ship, the liner City of Winchester, which she captured on 6 August and sank a week later.

The British Official History says that she 'must have had a narrow escape from the Dartmouth', a modern light cruiser armed with eight 6 inch guns and capable of 25 knots, around the time that she captured the City of Winchester.[1] She then overhauled her engines in the secluded Rufiji Delta, and the British heard nothing about her until 20 September.

Pegasus was then at Zanzibar, repairing problems with her machinery. At 5:25 am the armed tug Helmuth, a captured German vessel that was guarding the entrance to the harbour, challenged a ship that was heading for an entrance forbidden to merchant ships. The ship, which was Königsberg, raised the German ensign and increased speed. Helmuth failed to warn Pegasus.

Königsberg opened fire at 9,000 yards, immediately straddling Pegasus. The British ship fired back, but her shots fell short. After eight minutes all the guns of her broadside facing Königsberg were out of action. The German ship ceased fire for about five minutes, but then began firing again, before leaving half an hour after opening fire. She sank Helmuth on her way out

Pegasus was then still afloat, but capsized after an unsuccessful attempt to beach her. Naval-History.net lists 34 men killed and 58 wounded, four of whom later died. Königsberg also destroyed what turned out to be a dummy wireless station. However, she made no attempt to sink or capture the collier Banffshire, which carried several thousand tons of coal, or to damage the lighthouse or cable

J. S. Corbett, H. Newbolt, Naval Operations, 5 vols. (London: HMSO, 1938).

21 September

Noyon retaken by French forces .
Jaroslaw (Galicia) taken by Russian forces (see May 14th, 1915).
German armed forces in New Guinea surrender to the Australian Expeditionary Force (see 17th, and October 11th).
British Proclamation issued adding to list of contraband (see August 4th and December 23rd).

22 September

First battle of Picardy and the Race to the Sea

General Erich von Falkenhayn replaced Colonel-General Helmuth von Moltke as Chief of the German General Staff on 14 September, when the German front in France was being consolidated in Lorraine and on the Aisne. The open western flank beyond the 1st Army and the danger of attacks from Antwerp, where the Siege of Antwerp had begun on 20 August, created a dilemma in which the German positions had to be maintained, when only offensive operations could lead to decisive victory. Appeals for the reinforcement of the Eastern Front could not be ignored and Falkenhayn cancelled a plan for the 6th Army to break through near Verdun and ordered that it move across France to the right wing of the German armies. The flank of 1st army was at Compiègne, beyond which there were no German forces until Antwerp. Falkenhayn could reinforce the 1st Army with the 6th Army, send it to Antwerp or divide the army by reinforcing the 1st Army and the Antwerp siege with part of the army, while the rest operated in the area between.

Falkenhayn chose to move the 6th Army to Maubeuge and outflank the Franco-British left wing, withdrawing the 1st, 7th and 2nd armies to La Fère, Laon and Rheims while the 6th Army was redeploying. The 3rd, 4th and 5th armies were to defend if the French attacked and attack to the south-west beginning on 18 September. General Karl von Bülow and Colonel Tappen of the Operations Branch of the Oberste Heeresleitung (OHL – Supreme Army Command) objected because the time needed to move the 6th Army would concede the initiative to the French and recommended an attack by the 1st and 7th armies, with reinforcements from the armies to the east for an offensive from Rheims, Fismes and Soissons, since the French could redeploy troops on undamaged railways and the risk of separating the 1st and 2nd armies again would be avoided. Falkenhayn cancelled the retirement and ordered the 6th Army to assemble at St. Quentin. An attack south of Verdun to capture forts on the Meuse and encircle Verdun from the south and an attack from Soissons to Rheims would prevent the French from moving troops to the flanks.

On 10 September, Joffre ordered the French armies and the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) to advance and exploit the victory of the Marne. For four days, the armies on the left flank advanced and gathered up German stragglers, wounded and equipment, opposed only by rearguards. On 11 and 12 September, Joffre ordered outflanking manoeuvres by the armies on the left flank but their advance was too slow to catch the Germans, who ended their withdrawal on 14 September, on high ground on the north bank of the Aisne and began to dig in, which reduced the French advance from 15–16 September to a few local gains. French troops had begun to move westwards from Lorraine on 2 September, using the undamaged railways behind the French front, which were able to move a corps to the left flank in 5–6 days. On 17 September, the French Sixth Army attacked from Soissons to Noyon, at the westernmost point of the French flank, with the XIII and IV corps, supported by two divisions of the 6th Group of Reserve Divisions, after which the fighting moved north to Lassigny and the French dug in around Nampcel.

The German armies attacked from Verdun westwards to Reims and the Aisne on 20 September, cut the main railway from Verdun to Paris and created the St Mihiel salient at the Battle of Flirey (19 September – 11 October), south of the Verdun fortress zone. The main German effort remained on the western flank, which was revealed to the French by intercepted wireless messages. By 28 September, the Aisne front had stabilised and the BEF began to withdraw on the night of 1/2 October, with the first troops arriving in the Abbeville area on 8/9 October. The BEF prepared to commence operations in Flanders and join with the British forces which had been operating in Belgium since August.

The German IX Reserve Corps had arrived from Belgium by 15 September and the 6th Army was expected to complete a move from Lorraine from 13–23 September. Next day the corps joined the right flank of the 1st Army, for an attack to the south-west with the IV Corps, IX Reserve Corps and the 4th and 7th cavalry divisions. The 2nd Army commander Bülow, ordered Kluck the 1st Army commander, to cancel the offensive and withdraw the two corps behind the right flank of the 1st Army. On 16 September, the 2nd and 9th cavalry divisions were dispatched from the Aisne front as reinforcements but before the retirement began, the French XIII and IV corps on the left flank of Sixth Army, with the 61st and 62nd divisions of the 6th group of reserve divisions, began to advance along the Oise and met the right flank of the 1st Army between Carlepont and Noyon, on 17 September. On the right flank the French 17th and 45th divisions attacked near Soissons and gained a foothold on the plateau of Cuffies, just north of the city.

On 18 September the French advance was stopped on a south-east to north-west line at Carlepont on the south bank of the Oise and Noyon on the north bank, which ended the first French outflanking move. Joffre dissolved the Second Army in Lorraine and sent Castelnau and the Second Army headquarters to the north of the Sixth Army, to take over the IV and XIII corps, along with the 1st, 5th, 8th and 10th Cavalry divisions of the French II Cavalry Corps (General Conneau) from the Sixth Army; XIV Corps was transferred from the First Army and XX Corps from the original Second Army, to assemble south of Amiens, with a screen of the 81st, 82nd, 84th and 88th Territorial divisions, protecting French communications. The Second Army prepared to begin an advance on 22 September, on a line from Lassigny north to Roye and Chaulnes around the German flank.

On 21 September, Falkenhayn met Bülow and agreed that the 6th Army should concentrate close to Amiens and attack towards the Channel coast and then envelop the French south of the Somme in a Schlachtentscheidung (decisive battle). The XXI Corps, which had moved from Lunéville on 15 September and the I Bavarian Corps which marched from Namur, arrived during 24 September but were diverted against the Second Army as soon as they arrived, to extend the front northwards from Chaulnes to Péronne on 24 September, to attack the French bridgehead and drive the French back over the Somme

The Second Army crossed the Avre on a line from Lassigny northwards to Roye and Chaulnes but met the German II Corps from the 1st Army, which had arrived from the Aisne front, where new entrenchments had enabled fewer men to garrison the front line. The corps moved into line on 18/19 September, on the right flank of the IX Reserve Corps. Despite the assistance of four divisions of the II Cavalry Corps (Lieutenant-General Georg von der Marwitz), the Germans were pushed back to a line from Ribécourt to Lassigny and Roye, which menaced German communications through Ham and St. Quentin. On 21 September the XVIII Corps had begun a 50 miles (80 km) forced march from Rheims and had reached Ham on the evening of 23 September. On 24 September, the XVIII Corps attacked towards Roye and with II Corps forced back the French IV Corps. To the north, the Second Army reached Péronne and formed a bridgehead on the east bank of the Somme, which exhausted the offensive capacity of the Second Army.

Joffre sent the XI Corps, which was the last French reserve, to the Second Army and began to withdraw three more corps for dispatch to the Second Army. The German XXI and I Bavarian corps recaptured Péronne and forced the Second Army west of the Somme, where the French managed to dig in on good defensive ground from Lassigny to Roye and Bray. The German II Cavalry Corps moved north to make room for the II Bavarian Corps, which had marched from Valenciennes, on the north bank of the Somme. On 25 September, a German attack near Noyon pushed back the Second Army. French reinforcements attacked again and from 25–27 September, a general action took place along the Western Front from the Vosges to Peronne, after which the main effort of both sides took place further north at the Battle of Albert (25–29 September). The German offensive took very little ground and after a lull the Germans renewed the offensive against the Second Army, which was driven back from Lassigny to a line from Ribecourt on the Oise to Roye, west of Chaulnes and the plateau north of the Somme between Combles and Albert. On 1 October, the Germans attacked at Roye in the centre of the Second Army and on 5 October, another attack at Lassigny was repulsed; on 7 October a French counter-attack between Chaulnes and Roye took 1,600 prisoners

Excellent fellas!

22 September 1914

Loss of the Aboukir, Cressy and Hogue to Uboat attack

H.M.S. "Aboukir", "Hogue" and "Cressy" sunk by German submarine "U.-9."
During the early months of World War 1 the Royal Navy maintained a patrol of old Cressy class armoured cruisers, known as Cruiser Force C, in the area of the North Sea known as the Broad Fourteens. There was opposition to this patrol from many senior officers, including Admiral Jellicoe and Commodores Keyes and Tyrwhitt, on the grounds that the ships were very vulnerable to a raid by modern German surface ships and the patrol was nick named the "live bait squadron". The Admiralty maintained the patrol on the grounds that destroyers were not able to maintain the patrol in the frequent bad weather and that there were insufficient modern light cruisers available.

In the early hours of September 20th 1914 the cruisers HMS Euryalus, HMS Aboukir, HMS Hogue and HMS Cressy were preparing to go on patrol under Rear Admiral Christian in Euryalus. Normally the patrol was under command of Rear Admiral Campbell in HMS Bacchantes but he was absent so Christian helped fill the gap although he had other duties. The weather was too bad for destroyers to be at sea and unfortunately Euryalus had to drop out due to lack of coal and weather damage to her wireless, Rear Admiral Christian had to remain with his ship rather than transfer to another ship as the weather was too bad to transfer. He delegated command to Captain Drummond in Aboukir although he did not make it clear that Drummond had the authority to order the destroyers to sea if the weather improved, which it did towards the end of September 21st.

Early on September 22nd 1914 the German submarine U9 under the command of Commander Otto Weddigen sighted the Cressy, Aboukir and Hogue steaming NNE at 10 knots without zigzagging. Although the patrols were supposed to maintain 12-13 knots and zigzag the old cruisers were unable to maintain that speed and the zigzagging order was widely ignored as there had been no submarines sighted in the area during the war.

U9 manoeuvred to attack and at about 6.25 AM fired a single torpedo at Aboukir, which stuck her on her port side. Aboukir rapidly suffered heavy flooding and despite counter flooding developed a 20 degree list and lost engine power. It was soon clear that she was a lost cause and Captain Drummond ordered her to be abandoned, although only one boat had survived the attack so most crew had to jump into the sea. At first Drummond thought that Aboukir had been mined and signalled the other two cruisers to close and assist but he soon realised that it was a torpedo attack and ordered the other cruisers away, but too late.

As Aboukir rolled over and sank, half an hour after being attacked, U9 fired two torpedoes at HMS Hogue that hit her amidships and rapidly flooded her engine room. Captain Nicholson of Hogue had stopped the ship to lower boats to rescue the crew of Aboukir, thinking that as he was the other side of Aboukir from U9 he would be safe. Unfortunately U9 had manoeuvred around Aboukir and attacked Hogue from a range of only 300 yards.

The firing of two torpedoes affected the trim of U9 which broke the surface briefly and was fired on by Hogue without effect.

It only took Hogue ten minutes to sink as U9 headed for HMS Cressy. Cressy, under Captain Johnson, had also stopped to lower boats but got underway on sighting a periscope. At about 7.20 AM however U9 fired two torpedoes, one of which just missed but the other hit Cressy on her starboard side, Cressy briefly firing on U9s periscope with no effect.

The damage to Cressy was not fatal but U9 turned round and fired her last torpedo which hit Cressy sinking her within a quarter of an hour.

Survivors were picked up by several nearby merchant ships including the Dutch Flora and Titan and the British trawlers JGC and Corainder before the Harwich force of light cruisers and destroyers arrived. Flora returned to Holland with 286 rescued crew who were quickly returned to Britain even though the neutral Dutch should have interned them. In all 837 men were rescued but 1459 died, many of which were reservists or cadets.

In the aftermath of the attack the patrol by armoured cruisers was abandoned, the stopping of major ships in dangerous waters banned and the order to steam at 13 knots and zigzag re-emphasised.

A court of inquiry was set up and found that some blame was attributable to all of the senior officers involved - Captain Drummond for not zigzagging and for not calling for destroyers, Rear Admiral Christian was criticised for not making it clear to Drummond that he could summon the destroyers and Rear Admiral Campbell for not being present and for a very poor performance at the inquiry at which he stated that he did not know what the purpose of his command was. The bulk of the blame was directed at the Admiralty for persisting with a patrol that was dangerous and of limited value against the advice of senior sea going officers.


Von Spee Bombards Papeete in Tahiti

German warships attacked on 22 September 1914, during World War I. The German armoured cruisers SMS Scharnhorst and Gneisenau entered the port of Papeete on the island of Tahiti and sank the French gunboat Zélée and freighter Walkure before bombarding the town's fortifications. French shore batteries and a gunboat resisted the German intrusion, but were greatly outgunned. The main German objective was to seize the coal piles stored on the island, but these were destroyed by the French at the start of the action.

The German vessels were largely undamaged but the French lost their gunboat. Several of Papeete's buildings were destroyed and the town's economy was severely disrupted. The main strategic consequence of the engagement was the disclosure of the cruisers' positions to the British Admiralty, which led to the Battle of Coronel where the entire German East Asia Squadron defeated a Royal Navy squadron. The depletion of Scharnhorst's and Gneisenau's ammunition at Papeete also contributed to their subsequent destruction at the Battle of the Falklands.

At 07:00 on 22 September 1914, the French sighted two unidentified cruisers approaching the harbor of Papeete. The alarm was raised, the harbor's signal beacons destroyed, and three warning shots were fired by the French batteries to signal the approaching cruisers that they must identify themselves. The cruisers replied with a shot of their own and raised the German colors, signaling the town to surrender. The French refused the German demands, and von Spee's vessels began to shell the shore batteries and town from a distance of 6,000 m . The land batteries and the gunboat in the harbor returned fire, but scored no hits on the armored cruisers. Having difficulty in discovering the exact position of the French batteries, the German cruisers soon turned their attention to the French shipping in the harbor.

The French commander—Destremau—had ordered the coal piles burned at the start of the action and now smoke began billowing over the town. Zélée and Walkure were sighted and fired upon by the Germans. The French had begun to scuttle their vessels when the action had begun, but both were still afloat when Scharnhorst and Gneisenau began firing upon them and finished the two ships off. By now, most of the Papeete's inhabitants had fled and the town had caught fire from the German shelling, with two blocks of Papeete set alight. With the coal piles destroyed and the threat of mines in the harbor, von Spee saw no meaningful purpose in making a landing. Accordingly, the German admiral withdrew his ships from Papeete's harbor by 11:00. After leaving Papeete, the ships steamed out towards Nuku Hiva to meet Nürnberg, Titania, and colliers waiting there.

By the time von Spee withdrew his ships, large portions of the town had been destroyed. Two entire blocks of Papeete had burnt to the ground before the fires were finally put out. A copra store, a market, and several other buildings and residences were among those destroyed by the shellfire and resulting inferno. While the majority of Papeete's civilians fled to the interior of the island as soon as the fighting began, a Japanese civilian and a Polynesian boy were both killed by German shellfire. Although the two French vessels in the harbor had been sunk, there were no military casualties on either side and the German vessels took no damage. Overall, the bombardment was estimated in 1915 to have caused over 2 million francs' worth of property damage, some of which was recouped through the seizure of a German store on the island.In addition to the seizure of their property, several local Germans were interned and forced to repair the damage von Spee's squadron had caused. Perhaps the most lasting effect of the bombardment on the French was the dramatic fall of copra prices in the region, as local suppliers had previously sold a majority of their produce to German merchants in the area who were now interned. Further havoc and distress spread throughout the island 18 days after von Spee's squadron had left, when rumors started to spread that a second German bombardment was about to begin.

After withdrawing, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau rendezvoused with Nürnberg and Titania at Nuku Hiva, where they resupplied and their crews took shore leave before moving on to meet the rest of the squadron at Easter Island. Although the Germans had destroyed the shipping at Papeete and wreaked havoc in the town, they had been denied their primary objective of seizing the French coal piles and replenishing their own stocks. Von Spee's raid allowed the British Admiralty to receive word on his position and heading, allowing them to inform Rear Admiral Christopher Cradock of the German intentions thus leading to the Battle of Coronel. Another effect was the reduction of ammunition available to the two German cruisers.

Emden bombards Madras

The Bombardment of Madras was an engagement of World War I, at Madras (Chennai), British India. The bombardment was initiated by the German light cruiser Emden at the start of the war in 1914.

With Captain Karl von Müller in command, on the night of 22 September 1914, SMS Emden quietly approached the city of Madras on the southeastern coast of the Indian peninsula. After entering the Madras harbor area and observing for a moment, Müller gave the order to engage at 9:30 pm, Emden opened fire at 3,000 yards on several large oil tanks within the harbor, which belonged to the Burmah Oil Company.

Within the first 30 rounds, the oil tanks were in flames. After bombing the fuel tanks, Emden moved onto a small merchant ship in harbor. The craft was quickly sunk by Emden's deck guns. The worst casualties experienced that night were from the merchant vessel, 26 of whose crew were injured. At least 5 of the sailors were killed on scene or died later of injuries.

Goeben and Breslau

The Sultan of turkey reviews the Turkish fleet including the newly transferred ships Goeben and Breslau

Attacks on German Zeppelin sheds

On the 22nd of September four aircraft took off from Antwerp to bomb the Zeppelin sheds at Cologne and Dusseldorf. It was the first attack of its kind. Due to heavy fog only one of the planes found its target and though the pilot managed to drop his bombs little damage was done.

The RNAS tried again on the 8th of October 1914 with more success, destroying a Zeppelin at Dusseldorf. On November 21st a flight of Avro 504s bombed the Zeppelin works at Friedrichshafen. On Christmas Day, 1914, they flew seven seaplanes off from three seaplane tenders and attempted to attack the Zeppelin sheds at Cuxhaven and Wilhelmshaven.

The raid failed to do much damage, but proved the viability of using ships to extend the bombing range of aircraft. These early experiences prompted the RNAS to order the development of a bomber capable of carrying a large bomb-load. In Suerter's words, the RNAS needed "a bloody paralyzer of an aeroplane."

The innovative Louis Strange of the RFC was also experimenting with bombing techniques. He managed to destroy trucks by dropping petrol bombs from his plane, but dissatisfied with dropping bombs by hand he came up with the idea of attaching the bombs to racks on his wings, and dropping them by pulling a release wire.

He tried this out on his BE2c with great success in March of 1915, attacking a train at the station of Courtrai, and thus impeding the flow of German reinforcements during the Battle of Neuve-Chapelle. This bombing raid was also the first RFC bombing raid that was planned from photo reconnaissance.

First Use of airborne Radio Telegraphy

On this day, radio telegraphy on board an aircraft was first employed, though unsuccessfully by the RFC. its use was not perfected, or rather, made functional, until May of the following year

Double Post

23 September 1914

British force joins Japanese army before Tsingtau [Force landed September 22nd ; in action September 24th.]

The Boxer Rebellion at the beginning of the century had led Germany to consider the defense of Tsingtao. The port and town were divided from the rest of the peninsula by steep hills. The natural line of defense lay along these hills, from the Kaiserstuhl to Litsuner Heights. A second 17 kilometres line of defense was set up along a closer line of steep hills. The final line of defense was along hills 200 metres (660 ft) above the town. A network of trenches, batteries, and other fortifications had been built in preparation for the coming siege.

Germany had strengthened the defenses from the sea, laying mines in the approaches to the harbour, and building four batteries and five redoubts. The fortifications were well equipped (though some with outdated Chinese artillery) and were well manned.

Combined alled forces involved: Land: 24,500 infantry 142 artillery pieces; Sea: 1 seaplane carrier 3 battleships 2 battlecruisers 2 destroyers Air: unknown aircraft

Combined Central powers forces:Land: 3,650 infantry, 324 Hungarian crew of the Kaiserin Elisabeth , Sea: 1 protected cruiser 1 torpedo boat
4 gunboats Air: 1 aircraft

As the Japanese approached his position, the German Commander withdrew his forces from the two outer defensive lines and concentrated his troops on the innermost line of defense along the hills closest to the town.

The Austro-Hungarian cruiser, SMS Kaiserin Elisabeth, was stationed in Tsingtao at the start of the war. On 2 September 1914 the German gunboat Jaguar sank the stranded Japanese Destroyer Shirotaye. On 5 September a Japanese recon plane scouted the port and reported that the Asian German fleet had departed. As a result the Japanese ordered the dreadnought, pre-dreadnought and cruiser to leave the blockade. The next day, the first air-sea battle in history took place when a Farman seaplane launched by the Wakamiya unsuccessfully attacked the Kaiserin Elisabeth and the Jaguar in Qiaozhou Bay with bombs.


Japanese seaplane Carrier Wakamiya delivered the first airstrike on enemy ships in history

On 28 September the Jaguar sank the Japanese cruiser Takashio. Early in the siege, the Kaiserin Elisabeth and German gunboat Jaguar made an unsuccessful sortie against Japanese vessels blockading Tsingao. Later, the cruiser's 15 cm and 4.7 cm guns were removed from the ship and mounted on shore, creating the Batterie Elisabeth. The ship's crew took part in the defense of Tsingtao.


Japanese flagship BB Suwo


On 13 September the advancing Japanese land forces launched a cavalry raid on the German rear-guard at Tsimo, which the German gave up and retreated. Subsequently the Japanese took control of Kiautschou and the Santung railway. Lt. Gen. Kamio considered this the point of no return for his land forces and as the weather became extremely harsh he took no risk and fortified the troops at the town and returned the yet-to-arrive reinforcements, reembarked, and landed at Lau Schan bay.

On 17 October 1914 the torpedo boat S-90 slipped out of Tsingtao harbor and fired a single torpedo which sank the Japanese cruiser Takachiho with the loss of 271 officers and men. S-90 was however unable to run the blockade back to Tsingtao and was scuttled in Chinese waters when the ship ran low on fuel.

The Japanese started shelling the fort and the city on 31 October and began digging parallel lines of trenches, just as they had done at the Siege of Port Arthur nine years earlier. Very large 11 inch howitzers from land, in addition to the firing of the Japanese naval guns, brought the German defences under constant bombardment during the night, the Japanese moving their own trenches further forward under the cover of their artillery. The bombardment continued for seven days, employing around 100 siege guns with 1,200 shells each on the Japanese side. While the Germans were able to use the heavy guns of the port fortifications to attack the landward positions of the Allies, they soon ran out of ammunition.

The German garrison was able to field only a single Taube aircraft during the siege, flown by Lieutenant Gunther Plüschow. ( A second Taube piloted by Lt. Friedrich Müllerskowsky crashed early in the campaign). The Taube was used primarily for frequent reconnaissance flights, but Plüschow made several nuisance attacks on the vessels of the blockading squadron, dropping jury-rigged munitions and other ordnance on them. He also claimed the downing of a Japanese Farman MF.7 with his pistol, the first aerial victory in aviation history. Plüschow flew out from Tsingtao on 6 November 1914 carrying the governor's last dispatches which were forwarded to Berlin through neutral diplomatic channels.

On the night of 6 November waves of Japanese infantry attacked the third line of defences and overwhelmed the defenders. The next morning, the German forces, along with their Austro-Hungarian allies, asked for terms.

The Allies took formal possession of the colony on 16 November 1914.

Japanese casualties numbered 236 killed and 1,282 wounded; the British had 12 killed and 53 wounded. The German defenders lost 199 dead and 504 wounded.

As the German garrison was able to hold out for nearly two months despite a total Anglo-Japanese blockade with sustained artillery barrages and being outnumbered 6 to 1, the defeat nevertheless served as a morale booster. The German defenders watched the Japanese as they marched into Tsingtao, but turned their backs on the British when they entered into town. The German dead were buried at Tsingtao, while the remainder were transported to prisoner of war camps in Japan. The 4700 German prisoners were treated well and with respect in Japan such as in Bandō prisoner-of-war camp. The German troops were interned in Japan lasted until the formal signature of the Versailles peace treaty in 1919, but due to technical questions the troops were not repatriated before 1920. 170 prisoners chose to remain in Japan after the end of the war.