The 4G Blog

<– Part 48 – June 20, 1915  | Part 49 – June 27, 1915 |  Part 50 – July 4, 1915 –>

 Fighting seems to maintain a lull in the Western European front. At Gallipoli, British troops have been spotting massing near Gully Ravine, the Entente’s left flank and the only area that has seen no true progress in the campaign. In Mesopotamia, British troops continue a slow advance, brushing aside Ottoman resistance, while the Suez canal is still heavily defended, with Turkish troops only able to advance along the northern coast.

On June 21, the Battle of Bukoba opened with a British assault against German wireless facilities. It culminated two days later with the destruction of the station, giving the British their first true victory in German East Africa. However, with the station destroyed, the Entente is unable to easily intercept German transmissions. Additionally, reports of widespread looting by the British “irregulars” are a point of embarrassment to the British military staff.

June 22 brought the Central Powers a victory in the east, with German General Mackensen breaking through Russian lines at Lviv, finally halting the Russian offensive in that area. The Austrians themselves re-entered the city earlier today. The 23 brought victory to the Polish Legions at Konary, although both they and the Russians have suffered massive casualties.

Also on June 23, The Italians finally launched an attack across the Isonzo river to the north east against the Austro-Hungarians. Although the Italians enjoy a nearly 2:1 advantage, poor strategy – brief (though heavy) artillery barrages followed by massed frontal uphill assaults are showing little success. In the North, SM U-40, a German submarine, was sunk off the coast of Scotland.

June 26 saw the Austro-Hungarian sub U-10 sink the Italian torpedo boat PN 5 just off the coast of Venice

SM U-10 was originally a German sub before being transferred to the Austro-Hungarian navy for operations in the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas.

<– Part 47 – June 13, 1915  | Part 48 – June 20, 1915 |  Part 49 – June 27, 1915 –>

British defense at Sinai are strengthening, although warships farther north have discovered mine off the east coast of Britain; it’s unknown

HMS Ben-my-Chree (“Woman of my Heart” in Manx) after conversion to seaplane tender. She was previously a passenger steamer for the Isle of Man. From Wikipedia.

where they are from. British warships have been spotted sailing south, presumably to Gallipoli. One of them has recently been converted to a seaplane carrier, allowing planes to depart from the ship as a type of “mobile airstrip.” This technology may not be useful; time will tell.

In German South-West Africa, the three columns of British troops are rapidly advancing and brushing Boer resistance aside. The British commanders have experience with this from previous wars.

Germany has raised the “Pola Flotilla”, a U-boat flotilla stationed in Cattaro, Montenegro, at the entrance to the Adriatic.

On June 15, two British motor launches, “Mimi” and “Toutou” (“Meow” and “BowWow” in French – “Cat” and “Dog” having been rejected) have set sail south as well, perhaps to Africa. They had large guns mounted which were tested in the Thames two days earlier – humorously, after firing one of the guns – improperly mounted to the ship – both the gun and the gunner flew off the deck and into the river.

June 16, 17, and 18 saw the additional shellings of the Italian coast by Austro-Hungarian warships, as well as an Italian steamer being sunk and a signal station obliteratede.

Also on the 17, the frontlines at Gorlice seem to have stabilized on the Eastern Front, with the Western Front seeing the second battle of Artois coming to an end (although the German advance had been halted on month previously).

On June 20, the Russians relaunched their offensive in the Caucasus towards Lake Van.

<– Part 46 – June 6, 1915  | Part 47 – June 13, 1915 |  Part 48 – June 20, 1915 –>

German troops manning the defenses at Garua. From Wikipedia.

The past week has been relatively quiet, although fighting continues on the Western front around Artois, as well as the Eastern at Konary. June 9 saw the natives at Garua, in German Kamerun, begin to mutiny and refuse to man the defenses. The naval guns appear to have weakened the defender’s resolve; at 4pm the following day the Germans surrendered the bounty of supplies and weapons, as the siege had been expected to last much longer than two weeks. Also on the 9th, the Entente continued their shellings of the Austro-Hungarian coast.

June 13 saw the Russians finally reach their initial front line from fall of last year, before the Turkish offensive.

<– Part 45 – May 30, 1915  | Part 46 – June 6, 1915 |  Part 47 – June 13, 1915 –>

In Western Europe, the second battle for Artois continues. This last week saw renewed Allied offenses around the world.

German Trenches at Garua. From Wikipedia.

On May 31, the German fort at Garua was surrounded by Allied soldiers, who entrenched around the fort. The Germans are reported to be well-supplied in anticipation of a lengthy siege, although there have been reports of drooping morale as shelling from naval guns causes casualties among the defenders. There are no reports of British or French casualties at this time.

On June 4, the Allies launched another attack for Krithia at Gallipoli. Although their objectives were scaled down from the original April 25 landing timeline, they failed for the third time to reach them, although they outnumbered the Ottoman defenders nearly 2:1. They also suffered more than twice the casualties, losing 6,500 men to the Turks’ 3,000.  It would seem that frontal attacks from beaches will not be a successful tactic for the Allies, as this failure of June 6 has shown…

The Sphynx, a noted feature of the Gallipoli battlefield. From Wikipedia.

On June 5, in response the Austrian Navy’s shelling of Italian cities on the Adriatic coast, several Allied task forces were sent and commenced their own shellings of Austro-Hungarian cities.

A map of the Gallipoli area. Krithia is located in square 23, near the top of the map.