Chapter 212： The European war situation at the beginning of 1915

After traveling the country for more than half a month, Edel returned to Bucharest.

In this spring, the peace of war in Europe has begun again. On the western front, the British, French and German teams were unable to move because of the trenches, so both sides looked at their areas.

In early 1915, the German army took the lead in the battle of Mazurihu on the Eastern Front. In this battle, the 10th Russian Army, the main force in attacking East Prussia, was severely damaged. The Russian army was forced to withdraw to the east bank of the Neman River to hold on, giving up the idea of ​​attacking East Prussia.

The German High Command made major adjustments to the 1915 strategic plan and decided to shift the focus of the war to the Eastern Front while stabilizing the Western Front, first destroying the Russian Army, ending the Eastern Front War, and then returning to concentrate its forces against Britain and France. At the end of January 1915, the German-Austrian War Game's annual plan was passed. Germany’s strategic plan is to simultaneously attack the Russian army from both north and south. The northern wing will be attacked by German troops from East Prussia to Brest, and the southern wing will be attacked by German-Austrian forces in the direction of Lviv. The two sides will be encircled and encircled. The main force of the Russian army is in the "Polish pocket".

In order to increase their military and economic potential, Britain and France also planned to implement strategic defenses on the Western Front in 1915, with only partial offensives. Therefore, it is recommended that Russia launch an offensive on the Eastern Front to contain the Germans and make them unable to launch a powerful offensive on the Western Front. Russia was ready to launch a large-scale battle on the Eastern Front, and agreed to the British and French proposals, and assumed the task of attracting the main force of the German army. Russia's strategic plan is to carry out attacks in two strategic directions at the same time. The Northwest Front Army attacked Germany from East Prussia, and the Southwest Front Army attacked the Austro-Hungarian Empire from the Carpathians.

In the battle between January and March 1915, the two sides won each other. In January, the 3rd and 4th Austro-Hungarian Army first launched the Carpathian Campaign on the southern wing. In February, the German 8th and 10th Group Army on the northern line also launched a powerful offensive against the Russian army. By April 1915, although the North Wing German Army had achieved a tactical victory, it was prevented from advancing on the front line in Grodno and failed to achieve the planned campaign goal; the Southern Wing Austro-Hungarian Army suffered heavy losses, and the Hungarian Plain was severely affected by the Russian Army. Threatened. Faced with this situation, the German High Command decided to abandon the two-wing offensive and set the center of the Russian front, namely the Gorlice area between the Vistula River and the Carpathian Mountains, as the decisive direction of the assault to encircle the Russian 3rd. The group army prevented the Russian army from attacking Hungary.

In order to realize its strategic intentions, the German army continued to increase troops on the Eastern Front. By the end of April, the German-Austrian army had concentrated a strong force between the upper Vistula River and the Carpathians, forming an assault regiment, including 10 infantry divisions, 1 cavalry division, and hundreds of artillery. Big advantage. The Russian army lacked the necessary preparations. The Southwest Front Army had a 600-kilometer front and scattered forces. On the 35-kilometer-wide frontal breakthrough area of ​​the German army, only 5 infantry divisions with a total of 60,000 troops and more than 100 light artillery pieces were deployed. Heavy artillery, 100 machine guns.

On May 1, the German-Austrian army began a long-term artillery preparation. On May 2, a wedge attack was launched in the town of Gorlice with superior forces. With the cooperation of the left and right wings, the main force of the German 11th Army broke through the frontal defense of the Russian 3rd Army on the same day. The Russian army hurriedly adjusted the depth of the mobile force for reinforcements, but due to sporadic combat, they were quickly annihilated by the German and Austrian forces.

By May 4, the Russian 3rd Army was almost completely annihilated, and the breakthrough was rapidly expanded. The Russian army was forced to retreat across the board and withdrew to the San and Transnistria lines on May 14. The German-Austrian army took advantage of the momentum to chase down and fought fiercely with the Russian army. At the 17th order, the Germans captured Yaroslaw and crossed the river eastward. On the 23rd, Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary, and Austria-Hungary was forced to divide its forces against the enemy. The German-Australian offensive momentum suddenly weakened. On June 15, the German-Austrian forces resumed their offensive posture and captured Lviv on the 22nd. The 52-day battle of Gorlice ended with the defeat of the Russian army. At this time, Russia’s storage of military materials was running out, and it was urgently needed to be supplemented by Britain and France.

When Germany and Austria attacked Russia, Britain and France were not idle. In addition to pulling Italy into their own chariot, sending combat materials to Russia has also become their top priority. Therefore, in order to open up Russia's main external channel, the Black Sea Strait became the primary goal.

In fact, in November 1914, the British Secretary of the Navy Winston Churchill proposed to open the Dardanelles with the strength of the British navy, then land in Gallipoli, and take the capital of the Ottoman Empire to Constantinople. Turkey was expelled from the war. On the one hand, it reduces the pressure on the Russian Caucasus Mountain Front. The Golden Horn, controlled by Constantinople, can go straight to the Black Sea to support the **** Russian team. Moreover, I hope to open up the southern front and attack the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Although this idea is quite strategic in terms of strategy, the actual operation is too difficult to obtain the approval of the British government.

In January 1915, the British government accepted Nicholas II's request and decided to adopt Churchill's proposal to launch a new front in the Dardanelles.

A total of 62 warships and a large number of auxiliary ships were put into the battle between Britain and France. Admiral Sackville Carden, commander of the British Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet, was appointed to command the battle. The fleet began shelling the Dardanelles on February 19.

On March 18, 1915, 16 warships attempted to forcibly break into the narrow channel of the strait. 8 warships triggered mines and the ships hurriedly retreated. (4 more ships than in history)

On the land, Turkish troops abandoned their positions and retreated inland in the case of sudden attacks. British assault troops took the lead in rushing to the coast without encountering resistance. At this point, the German consultant Otto von Zanders has insight into the Gallipoli landing battle planned by the other side and mobilizes the army to the war zone quickly. The Turkish army dug trenches and stood firm, established a powerful defense system based on the complex terrain of the peninsula, and assembled artillery troops there.

When the British and French troops were preparing to expand their battle, the Turkish soldiers concealed in their positions opened fire together and caught the British troops who were climbing the cliff by surprise.

On March 3, 1915, the first round of landing operations of the coalition forces failed, and Admiral Kaden was sent back to Britain as a wounded.

After discovering that the navy alone could not seize the strait, it was judged that Gallipoli must be occupied by the army to gain control of the Dardanelles. The Allies hurriedly assembled an expeditionary force in Egypt and the Greek Islands. Seventy-eight thousand soldiers from Britain, New Zealand, Australia, India and France arrived in the war zone. Its main force consisted of the Australian and New Zealand troops in Egypt at that time, the ANZAC. The British Secretary of the Department of Defense Herich Kitchener appointed British Army General Ian Hamilton, known as the "Poet General", to command the battle.

Against it is the new Turkish Fifth Army led by von Zanders, with 84,000 people. When the Allied Expeditionary Army arrived, the troops had been surpassed by the opponent, the Turkish army was condescending, and firepower was overwhelming.

According to the plan, the British army and the Anzac landed from two different landing points on the same day, and the British team landed from Cape Hayes. Before the British landed, the Anzac first landed on the beach further north near Gabathepe.

On the night of April 25, 1915, after the cover fleet prepared for artillery fire, the Allied Forces simultaneously launched a landing operation. Because most of the Anzac soldiers had not received night landing training, and because they had no knowledge of the peninsula’s terrain, they mistakenly landed in an unnamed bay north of the target (now Anzac Bay). On the same day, British and Indian forces came under heavy fire from Turkey at Cape Helise. The French army landed on the Asian side of Dardanelles across the strait, but retreated the next day to join the British army. Although a beachhead position was established, the landing army was unable to deploy its troops effectively. In fact, it fell into an unstable and difficult-to-defend foothold.

The Turkish army, under the command of Colonel Mustafa Kemal, immediately fought back fiercely. After a night of scuffle, the two sides suffered heavy casualties. The 16,000 Anzac soldiers who had landed were trapped in makeshift shelters under the suppression of Turkish artillery fire. In the next few days, the two sides fell into a stalemate.

On May 1, 1915, the Turkish army launched a major counterattack against the southernmost landing site of the Allied Forces. During the battle, the British battleships Goliath, Triumph and Majesty were sunk one after another. As a result, Britain evacuated a large number of ships. As a result, the landing force lost the support of the navy and lost its firepower advantage.

From May 6th to 8th, 1915, the Allied forces attacked Krishia, suffered heavy casualties, and ultimately failed. On the 19th, Turkey launched a counterattack along the entire Anzac frontline Soldiers died in a series of suicide charges. The ANZAC was unable to capture the intended target on the hill, and they were trapped in a thin position from the beach to the forefront of no more than 400 meters.

With the advent of summer, dead bodies were everywhere on the uphill, bringing diseases such as dysentery, diarrhea and intestinal fever. The ANZAC soldiers on the peninsula continued to increase in non-combat attrition due to unpleasant weather. However, in order to win the operation, the Allies deployed three British divisions to the peninsula.

At the same time, von Zanders is also gathering the Turkish army to prepare for a new round of offensive.

In fact, Osman received information in February that the British and French troops were planning to land in Dardanelles. Unexpectedly, due to the uncertainty of the time and place in this news (someone almost forgot), Osman didn't pay attention to it. During the war, the Ottoman intelligence system was chaotic, and the news was too shocking and bold at the time. 500,000 British and French troops planned to land in Dardanelles and attack Istanbul.

Of course, these news were provided by the Romanian King Edel, who was hidden behind the scenes. His purpose was to weaken the strength of Britain and France in the war, so that the two countries could not have too much control over Romania after the war. In Edel's post-war plan, the Balkans and Eastern Europe must have Romanian influence. This is for Romania's economy and its national strength.