Primary POD: Before the Battle of Heligoland Bight (Aug 28, 1914), Admiral Hipper orders that a division of battleships be stationed outside the Jade Bar so they dont have to wait for the tide to deploy. During 4 Helgoland battleships appear out of the fog and cut Beattys line of retreat. In a desperate confused series of maneuvers he loses the battleships for a while but Princess Royal has been slowed by damage. He is then engaged by 1st SG in the exchange there is barbette explosion aboard Seydlitz and Hipper who is lightly wounded momentarily breaks off into the fog. Princess Royal has taken additional damage and is soon crippled. Beatty is forced to leave her behind and make good his escape. He thinks this is the end of his career but is mistaken, as his escape makes him a public hero.
Aftermath: For more than 2 weeks the RN Admiralty thinks it likely that Seydlitz was destroyed and regard the battle as a draw. In Germany Wilhelm is ecstatic and clarifies his naval policy to make it a notch more aggressive, but his clarification is vague and subject to interpretation. Admiral von Pohl, head of the Admiralstab interprets it as being the OTL policy while Tirpitz sees it justifying a more aggressive strategy. While Hipper is recovering he is sent at the Kaisers suggestion to visit General Moltke.
Secondary POD: Hipper gets Moltke to appreciate the value of the Channel Ports (something that escaped him OTL). When Moltke becomes pessimistic about developments on Sept 7 he does not send Hentsch on his infamous mission. Instead he unambiguously pulls the plug on the Schlieffen Plan and starts the Moltke Plan. All armies on the Western Front withdraw in sync. The bridges over the Marne are more thoroughly destroyed. Amiens is retained. First and Second Armies close their gap. They form their defensive line on the Aisne while Third Army entrenches in the Montagne de Rheims. The AngloFrench attacks fail against the German defenses. Meanwhile the Germans have moved Seventh Army to their right flank anchored around Amiens. When Joffre tries to turn the flank of First Army, the Seventh Army counterattacks and encircles a corps (Battle of Oise) which is eventually destroyed. Joffre tries to rescue the trapped corps and when that fails makes an unsuccessful attack on Seventh Army at Amiens. Moltke avoids (just barely) the breakdown he suffered OTL. Falkenhayn does not immediately replace him but the Kaiser instead makes him Moltkes powerful deputy with authority to bring policy disagreements to the Kaisers attention. Moltke and Falkenhayn will fight a lot in the weeks ahead.
The Eastern portion of the Western Front is similar to OTL but with a few differences. Because the German withdrawal was more orderly they held onto a portion of the Montagne de Rheims south of Rheims which makes it easier for them to hold on to that city. Further east the front line is usually about 2-3 miles south of the OTL version. The Germans hold the important high ground at Vauquois in the Argonne Forest. However the Sept 1914 attack in the Woevre Plain that generated the St. Mihiel Salient does not occur.
Antwerp: The Moltke Plan causes an acceleration of the German buildup at Antwerp. Army Detachment Beseler is formed and includes more infantry than OTLmostly II Bavarian Army Corps. The siege artillery begins bombarding Sept 26.
Battle of the Somme: Meanwhile the German Sixth Army has been deployed to the right of the Seventh Army and is ordered by Moltke to drive to the coast at Abbeville then go on the defensive. Prince Rupprecht exceeds his orders and crosses the Somme to attack the French left flank. Meanwhile the BEF having been frustrated by German defenses on the Aisne and shocked by the loss of Abbeville , General French insists they be moved to the left flank of the entire French Army. The first to arrive is II Army Corps led by the ferocious General Smith-Dorrien. He attacks the exposed flank of German Sixth Army and sends it fleeing back across the Somme. Smith-Dorrien retakes Abbeville (Oct 6).. The bipolar Sir John French then gets carried away and orders an ambitious continuation of the attack. German Sixth Army has regrouped and been reinforced. A struggle goes on for the rest of the month as the BEF thereby tries to overpower Sixth Army and turn the flank of the entire German line. Though the Germans make some counterattacks the British are mostly on the offensive here and the casualty ratio is not anywhere as favorable as First Ypres OTL.
The BEF IV Army Corps lands in Belgium. Army Detachment Beseler is further reinforced and become German Tenth Army. It encircles the Belgians with cavalry reaching Neiuport. Meanwhile British naval units begin carrying out shore bombardment missions both in Belgium and Picardy. On Oct 13 Hipper with Ingenohls reluctant approval takes 1st SG and 2nd SG to attack the bombardment forces off Belgium. Under moonlit conditions he bumps into Undaunted and 4 destroyers of Harwich Force off Texel Island. He sinks Undaunted and 3 destroyers but with surprise lost aborts the rest of the mission. This small battle has huge effects. Admiral Pohl is livid because it is contrary to his view of the Kaisers policy and forbids any sorties without his express approval. Tirpitz counters this by visiting Moltke and telling him to complain to the Kaiser about lack of naval support. Eventually this causes Wilhelm to fire Pohl (Oct 29) He is replaced by Bachmann whom Tirpitz can dominate.
Eastern Front divergence: In mid-October the first divergence occurs on the Eastern Front. In OTL only 2 of the new reserve divisions are sent East. Here Moltke sends 2 more (XXIV Reserve Corps) but to Conrad not Hindenburg. These are used in front of Ivangorod. The Austro-Hungarian First Army with the German help still suffers a defeat but not as severe as OTL.
Channel Ports: With the continuous front isolating northern France and Belgium encircled the Germans try to seize the Channel ports. They have a quick success at Dunkirk which they capture on Oct 17. Calais is more difficult as its garrison has been reinforced including Territorial Force 2nd London Brigade. Also some of the forces Moltke had assigned to take the Channel Ports had to be rerouted to shore up Sixth Army at the Battle of the Somme. Meanwhile a French Territorial Division and another British Territorial Brigade have been sent by sea in an attempt to hold on.
At the end of October 1914 several key events occur. Audacious is sunk by a mine. The BEF advance is stopped at the Battle of the Somme. The predreadnought Caesar is sunk off Etaples by a U-Boat. The garrison at Calais surrenders. The situation in Belgium deteriorates and there an evacuation by sea out of Ostend. While this evacuation is underway Hipper persuades Ingenohl and Bachmann to agree to an unusual plan. A force of 2 Kaiser Freidrich PreDN plus 3 armored cruisers plus a few torpedo boats attack Dover Patrol off Belgium. The HSF comes out as far as Terschelling. It hopes Channel Fleet will chase the bait and can be destroyed by the HSF. In order to protect the transports Admiral Hood is forced to fight a delaying action. He has been reinforced with 4 destroyers from Harwich Force. Hood is killed when Foresight, his flagship is sunk along with 5 destroyers. The German force withdraws. Channel Fleet does not take the bait but Harwich Force does. It makes a night torpedo attack on the Germans in the Broad Fourteens. This attack has a success when it lead flotilla torpedoes the Kaiser Barbarossa, which explodes. But then it is attacked by 2nd SG, 1st SG and 2 flotillas to the west and is in danger of being destroyed. However a torpedo hit on Moltke causes Ingenohl to order Hipper to break off the action allowing Tyrwhitt (who has been lightly wounded) and most of Harwich Force to escape though his flagship, Aurora is fatally damaged and must be abandoned eventually. When Ingenohl returns to Wilhelmshaven Tirpitz is livid and tells him in harsh terms to never again let a weaker enemy force get away.
The next day (Nov 1) Channel Fleet is stationed off the Belgium coast and loses Implacable to a U-Boat. The German Tenth Army closes in on Ostend and captures its docks on Nov 3. The evacuation rescued BEF Army Corps, 3 Belgian divisions and a French Territorial Division. Some artillery and many draught animals were abandoned. The French Territorial Division defending Boulogne is evacuated Nov 7. The loss of the Channel Ports and Belgium causes a political crisis in Britain and Asquith makes Edward Carson Attorney General and Bonar Law Colonial Secretary. The inclusion of Unionists in the government weakens Redmonds popularity in Ireland and strengthen Sinn Fein.
With his Western Front objectives finally attained, Moltke now starts rushing reinforcements to the Eastern Front. He only sends Hindenburgs Ninth Army 4 divisions. The Battle of Lodz is not altered too much. The Germans take Lodz itself sooner but the front forms nearly in the same place as OTL just earlier. More effective use of Moltkes reinforcements occurs to the south. The first corps sent East (II Bavarian Corps) is combined with XXIV Reserve Corps, Landwehr Corps and the Guard Reserve Division to form Eleventh Army under Mackensens command. Because of this it is not necessary for Conrad to shift his Second Army out of the Carpathians. Another important change is the formation of the AustroGerman Center Army (mostly II Army Corps and KuK VI Corps) under the command of General von Franois. On Nov 18 he takes the Russian Third Army in the flank near Tarnow forcing it to retreat across the Vistula. Disobeying Conrads orders to pursue across the Vistula he lunges instead for Przemysl Fortress where he surprises and routes the besieging the Eleventh Army in conjunction with a sortie by the garrison. After this Franois sees an opportunity to encircle the Russian Eighth Army with the aid of the Austro-Hungarian Second and Third Armies as well as Pflanzer-Baltin Group. General Brusilov is too crafty to be encircled during what is called the Battle of Sambor and escapes to the western edge of the Bukovina except for 2 divisions which are encircled and destroyed.
One of the divisions sent to the Eastern Front in November is the 6th Bavarian Reserve Division, which in OTL stayed on the Western Front. Adolf Hitler is serving in this unit.
The Western Front heated up again on Dec 4 when Joffre launches Battle of Champagne. He quickly takes Suippes (which he already had OTL) but after that makes minimal progress with heavy casualties.
While at Przemysl Franois begins a program to provide several battalions of Hungarian Landsturm with additional training using a mix of German and Austro-Hungarian instructors.
Falkenhayn believes Moltke sent too many divisions East. Hindenburg plus Ludendorff think he sent too few and are further incensed he did not send all of them to Hindenburg, who has not been given overall command of the East. They are both very upset that Moltke wanted all German offensives to wind down by mid December with no new offensives during the winter.. So Falkenhayn and Ludendorff despite mutual distrust reach an agreement for a plan to eliminate Moltke by promoting him to Feldmarschal and giving him a new office called OKW to rule. This is a joint command with authority over both the Army and Navy. However despite some grand phrases in its charter it is meant to be little more than ceremonial. An agreement is reached and they persuade Kaiser Wilhelm. Tirpitz is worried that OKW might be an Army plot to get authority over the Navy. He therefore insists on being the #2 man at OKW and no one resists this request.
The German Navy found to its chagrin that it was not prepared to make effective use of the captured Channel Ports immediately. The 2nd Naval Division is reduced to a brigade to free up some manpower for base personnel.
Part of Falkenhayns deal with Ludendorff was a promise to remove Franois from the command of Center Army and never again give him a command higher than a reserve corps. Falkenhayn does this after taking over OHL.
Battle of Crecy Forest: In early Dec the BEF is divided into First Army on the coast commanded by Haig and inland Second Army commanded by Smith-Dorrien. Despite the heavy losses incurred during the Battle of the Somme, the British government is desperate to recapture the Channel Ports. Because OHL under Moltke was shifted forces to the East earlier than OTL it is felt that there is a good chance this operation will succeed. On Dec 14 the Second Army makes an attack in the area of Crecy Forest. It has a Territorial Force Division (OTL the TF were first sent to France as divisions in Feb 1915) and a Belgium divisionboth to be used as reserves behind the main assault. The attack has some limited success advancing through the forest from its south edge but is halted after that.
Battle of Dogger Bank: The HSF sorties on Dec 15 to bombard Scarborough, Hartlespool, etc. This is the OTL Scarborough Raid except Ingenohl does not turn back. Before first light torpedo boats in his van torpedo Ajax. In the early predawn twilight British 2nd Battle Squadron engages German 1st Squadron, which they temporarily mistake for 1st SG. The destruction of Orion in a magazine explosion after a barbette penetration prevents Ostfriesland from being sunk and emboldens Ingenohl to pursue when the RN tries to disengage. He also orders Hipper to abandon his bombardment mission and cut off the RN line of retreat.
Beatty attempts to help and comes into action first against 2nd Squadron where he badly damages Lothringen but then tries to save Warrender by crossing the bows of 3rd Squadron. This results in Queen Mary being destroyed in a magazine explosion, Lion losing a forward turret and Tigers starboard engines disabled. Beattys actions have only bought 2nd Battle Squadron a little time as Monarch has been seriously slow by a flooded engine room. An attempt to drive off Ingenohl with the small RN destroyer force (seriously weakened in the predawn fighting) fails while Ingenohl is eventually able to bring a flotilla around to attack the British retreat. The 2nd Battle Squadron is destroyed in total and later in the day Beatty tries to break through 1st SG in a storm. Only Devonshire and Birmingham reach safety (plus 2 of the DD). Beatty is briefly captured by the Germans but severe concussion and exposure causes him to expire during the night. His dying words are a curse on Blinker Hall. German naval intelligence still do not know what this means and suspect it was merely raving tainted by personal animosity. Many German capital ships were badly damaged in this battle including Westfalen which is sunk by Keyes submarines on the way home.
This engagement if called the Battle of Dogger Bank. Kaiser Wilhelm is ecstatic. Tirpitz wants repairs on the damaged fleet to proceed as rapidly as possible so he can challenge the Grand Fleet on near even terms.. To get around bottle necks in men and materials he uses OKW. The next batch of reserve divisions (and some Landwehr) are held back in whats called OKW Reserve. Men with shipyard related skills are removed from these units and sent back to work. Likewise shipyard workers are removed from all new drafts. Rathenau is brought in to oversee the management of strategic resources for OKW.
In Britain Asquith narrowly avoids a vote of no confidence by bringing the Unionist-Conservatives more into the government. He resists however Bonar Laws demand that Carson replace Churchill. Instead he very reluctantly agrees to make Lord George Curzon the new Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. This development undermines Redmonds credibility and further enhances Sinn Fein. McKenna returns to the Admiralty to replace the disgraced Churchill. Bonar Law replaces McKenna as Home Secretary. There is rampant invasion phobia in England with nearly everybody reading The Riddle of the Sands.
After the battle Hipper decides that only the Seydlitz is too badly damaged to sortie immediately. With Tirpitz support he takes 1st SG to raid the blockading 10th CS north of the Faeroes just before Christmas and sinks 4 AMCs then heads back. The long nights and lack of battle cruisers make it difficult for Jellicoe to intercept and Hipper returns to port.
Hippers raid on 10th CS causes McKenna to recall Sturdee from the South Atlantic. Fisher becomes very difficult to work with. When Sturdee returns he reluctantly puts him in charge of the Battle Cruiser Squadron mostly because he does not want him back as chief of the naval war staff. The main force chasing Spee is now the 2nd CSq augmented by a Japanese force. The presence of Japanese warships in the Caribbean makes the United States uneasy. `Spee stops to coal at Recife on Dec 27. He has avoided the main trade routes, which has helped him avoid Sturdee but OTOH he has taken only a few prizes. In Recife he agrees to a plan by prominent German businessmen in Haiti to put General Sam in power. In return General Sam has agreed to let Spee use the Isle of Tortuga as a base.
With a possibility of defeating the Grand Fleet emerging, Tirpitz puts proposals for Unrestricted Submarine War on indefinite hold.
In Transylvania at the end of Dec, a modest rebellion breaks out among the ethnic Romanians there which aid being supplied by the Russians. This revolt is being abetted by the large Russian forces in the Bukovina. Meanwhile Conrad launched an offensive to regain Lemberg which fails. The concentration of Austro-Hungarian forces for this attack allows the Russians to stabilize their lines around year end. .
Sarikamish happens as per OTL except there are fewer Russians available for the pursuit phase so Ottoman casualties are about 3,000 less.
New Years Day 1915 the RN strikes back with a seaplane raid on the German airship base at Nordholz. Erskine Childers airplane reaches the Zeppelin hangar and destroys it in a violent hydrogen explosion. His plane is buffeted by the blast and loses altitude. Childers is badly wounded by ground fire during the raid and loses a leg. Upon recovery he is reassigned to the Naval Intelligence Division. His wife is a guest at Curzons inaugural party. She brings her friend Mary Spring Rice in whom the widowed Curzon develops a very personal interest.
In early January Sir Roger Casement decides the Germans are not taking him seriously. He travels to Dornach, Switzerland where he meets Dr. Rudolf Steiner. Steiner goes to Berlin and delivers a lecture cycle. Moltke meets with Steiner who introduces him to Casement. Soon afterwards a small group of officersboth army and navybegin a preliminary staff study for an operation codenamed Unicorn.
The Germans begin to make effective use of the Channel Ports during January with both obsolete small torpedo boats and a flotilla of newer boats detached from HSF as well as some U-Boats. This causes some limited disruption to the BEF line of communication but after a bold moonlight sortie by Channel Fleet under Admiral Bayly 2nd TBF at Boulogne becomes very cautious. British fears of an invasion force Dover Patrol to maintain a continuous presence in the Straits. This causes them suffer a gradual erosion of strength from coastal artillery, mines, U-Boats and night skirmishes with the German torpedo boats.
The Unionist Conservatives are dissatisfied with the lack of strategic vision in the War Council. When the Tsar makes his historic appeal for help prompted by the Ottoman offensive, they come up with a plan to send a British expedition to Albania to help the Montenegrins and Serbs, encourage the Transylvanian revolt and hopefully draw Rumania and even Italy into the war as allies. The plan is originally presented by Carson and becomes known as the Carson Plan. It is resisted by Lord Kitchener who steadfastly maintains that he lacks the troops and prefers to plan a landing at Alexandretta in May. The War Council is badly split over this issue. Lloyd-George has been cultivating a friendship with Bonar Law and Carson, and now openly supports Carson plan. They eventually get the Carson Plan approved. It will use the 1st Canadian, 1st Australian and Australian New Zealand Divisions (CANZAC) in Albania.
On the Eastern Front the major activity is January is a battle in the Bukovina. It starts with the newly formed Austro-Hungarian Seventh Army under General Pflanzer-Baltin attacking Dnietr Group and the left flank of Russian Eighth Army. They have some initial success but as Brusilov concentrates more forces against him the battle becomes seesaw. Hindenburg commits the 6th Bavarian Reserve Division to help Pflanzer-Baltin. This helps him to hold the line but as portion of this division is encircled due to miscommunication with is Austrian neighbors. The Russians take nearly 3,000 prisoners including Adolf Hitler.
Spee leaves Tortuga, rendezvouses with the AMC Kronprinz Wilhelm and heads for New York. He coals Scharnhorst and Dresden in NYC (Jan 23) and takes the faster ocean liners Vaterland, Kaiser Wilhelm II and George Washington with him. He also takes the treasure ship, Kronprinzessin Cecilie from out of Boston, with Gneisenau driving off HMS Suffolk in a skirmish off Cape Cod. While Spee is in New York he meets John Devoy. Hustled aboard the ocean liners are about 250 German Americans and nearly 100 Fenians willing to fight for Germany.
Suez Canal: The Ottoman attack there occurs as per OTL.
The Western Front in February: On Feb 9 Army Detachment Mudra begins a modest offensive in the Argonne. It uses a tear gas artillery shell for the first time (no Bolimov) which proves disappointing. After that Mudra makes slow progress with a decent casualty ratio. Later Army Detachment Strantz attacks in the Woeve Plains with mixed resultsSt. Mihiel Salient is not created but it does capture Crete des Combres which is useful for artillery spotting. The BEF makes another attack in mid February. This time Haigs First Army makes the assault. It has some initial success in penetrating the German lines with acceptable casualties and for a while it looks like Etaples will be taken. But the BEF advance falters with the speedy deployment of German reserves, esp. the 6th Bavarian Division which has become the fireman unit of German Sixth Army. Eventually Mudra advances to Aubreville. This causes Joffre to remove Sarrail from the command of Third Army. This is unpopular with French Socialists.
CANZAC Day (Feb 14): The 1st Canadian and 1st Australian Divisions land in northern Albania closely escorted by a weak force of RN PreDNs and their screen. Further back is the 1ere Armee Navale weights to pounce on the Austrian Fleet if they take the British bait. HMS Dublin torpedoed but not sunk by Austrian submarine. There are some other minor problems. They find the Albanians more heterogonous in their reaction than expected. Birdwood later meets with the Montenegrins and a few days later rashly tries to take Cattaro by coup de main and suffers embarrassment though casualties are very light.
In mid-February the IRB sends Joseph Mary Plunkett to Germany to check up on Casements progress.
Battle of North Foreland (Feb 15) Ingenohl attempts to lure the Grand Fleet into an afternoon battle off Terschelling which he regards as favorable. He also has a series of U-Boat ambush lines set up. Before dawn 2nd TBF out of Boulogne begins a running battle with Dover Patrol. In the morning 1st SG arrives and threatens to overwhelm Dover Patrol. Admiral Bayly arrives with Channel Fleet and skirmishes with 1st SG which breaks out after damage to both sides. This saves the rest of Dover Patrol. Jellicoe is heading south with the Grand Fleet but after Yarmouth is torpedoed he becomes convinced he is heading into a trap and essentially declines battle. He believes he can intercept and destroy Spees force as they enter the North Sea.
Upon returning to Wilhelmshaven Hipper argues before the Admiralstab that 1st SG should rendezvous with Admiral Spee with the HSF in support. Ingenohl is opposed for many reasons incl. the fact that Moltke was damaged at North Foreland. Hipper argues the damage was not that bad and can be postponed. Tirpitz backs Hippers plan to Ingenohls horror and gets Bachmann to approve it. Using wireless a rendezvous between Spee and Hipper off the Isle of Utsire (Norwegian coast) is arranged with Spee for early morning Feb 19 Room 40 knows of the rendezvous but does not believe HSF to be involved.
Battle of Utsire (Feb 19):Scharnhorst is experiencing engine problems. Spees sends Dresden and all the liners except the slower George Washington ahead. The liners bump into the British 1st CS off Utsire Isle. The liners and Dresden flee to ENE. The RN AC give chase. Jellicoe sends 4 DD to assist. The ocean liner Vaterland comes under fire and quickly surrenders. The ocean liner Kaiser Wilhelm II then comes under fire but the stubborn captain refuses to surrender even after a 7.5 shell hits her. At this point Gneisenau and a little later tSchharnhors enter the battle. Meanwhile to the south 2nd SG encounters 1st LCS. This eventually leads to 1st SG dueling with Sturdees 5 BC. Hipper heads south towards HSF. Sturdee chases but after Inflexible is forced out of line and Invincible is destroyed in a magazine explosion, Sturdree turns about. Hipper decides to pursue. GF is now heading south. After damage mounts on his remaining ships, esp. his flagship, Indefatigable, Sturdee tries to flee to the west covered by a flotilla torpedo attack which forces Hipper to turn away. Hipper wants to pursue while the ever cautious Ingenohl wants to home abandoning Spee and the liners. Meanwhile a group of Fenians aboard Vaterland led by a former NY police officer, Harry Calahan, have overpowered the British boarding party. Vaterland is in sight of the GF and radios their position and heading to Ingenohl, who unlike Hipper does not think it a British ruse. He decides to lay a trap for the GF. The lesser part of the trap catches Jellicoe in cruising formation with only bestows a very transient tactical advantage. The more important element is to position the combined flotillas of HSF and 1st SG so they can attack from different directions. Before the torpedo attacks begin Agincourt is destroyed in a magazine explosion after a turret roof is penetrated. Otherwise the battle at 14-17 K yards range results in superstructure damage (incl. loss of secondary batteries) and fires to both sides. The combined torpedo attacks prove very effective. Hercules and Collingwood are both sunk by torpedoes. Erins steering is jammed by a torpedo and she turns out of control in circles. Furthermore the RN battle line is thrown into disarray. Ingenohl tries to crush the van of the GF by closing with 1st SG in the van. This short range action causes Benbow eventually to be lost in a magazine explosion while a boiler explosion aboard Superb causes her to capsize. Jellicoe withdraws to the north with the rest of the GF. Meanwhile Scharnhorst and Gnerisenau have been turned into burning wrecks in their battle with 1st CS even though Jellicoe recalled 1st CS once he ran into the HSF. Ingenohl does not pursue the GF. The badly damaged Erin recovers steering and tries to rejoin the GF but engages all of the German PreDNs (2nd Squadron). One is destroyed in a magazine explosion and two more are badly damaged and one of them eventually sinks, but Erin is fatally damaged and finished off by a torpedo attack. .Having transferred his flag from Indefatigable (which is sinking from progressive flooding). Sturdee finally reentered the battle just as the GF is withdrawing which results in the loss of his new flagship, Indomitable. The HSF then tries to pursue and finish off the remaining pair of badly damaged BC. At this moment 3 BS (PreDNs) which had been detached before the battle arrive and cross the T of the HSF. Ingenohl in panic issues orders for emergency battle turn about. After that the fleets disengage and the battered BC of 1st SG rendezvous with Spee, who survives though Scharnhorst and Gneisenau are both doomed. The Germans return to Kiel avoiding the RN sub concentration around the Bight.
Aftermath of Utsire: Kaiser Wilhelm is ecstatic (no kidding). For nearly 3 weeks he is convinced Great Britain will drop out of the war. Tirpitz is skeptical and begins looking for options. Smitten a little by victory disease he begins to see merit in something he previously thought risibleOperation Unicorn. Joe Plunkett is brought into the planning for Unicorn. In Britain Asquiths government falls. Bonar Law is the new prime minister. Carson is the new First Lord of the Admiralty. A very compact War Committee is formed of Bonar Law, Carson and Lloyd-Georgeas long as all three concur matters will be decided without bring them before the full Cabinet. They are fully committed to carrying on with the war. Admiral Lewis Bayly replaces Jellicoe as head of the Grand Fleet, which now includes 5th Battle Squadron removed from Channel Fleet. The GF is now based at Rosyth and Hull instead of Scapa Flow and Cromarty Firth. Kitchener who never liked the Albanian expedition delays the sending of Australian New Zealand Division during the post Utsire political crisis but the new War Committee insists on it. Birdwood gives up on fighting Austrians in the mountains and moves north where the terrain is better but the roads suck. He begins to enjoy more success.
The Bulgarians begin to earnestly negotiate an alliance with the Central Powers. Meanwhile in Abyssinia Meneliks heir, Lij Iyasu decides to enter the war on the side of the Central Powers so that with Ottoman aid he can announce himself to be a Muslim.
The French government is very worried that the British are secretly negotiating with the Germans so as to leave the war. To stiffen British resolve Vivianis government decides to commit a division to the Albanian expedition despite Joffres opposition.
In the United States President Wilson decides to invade Haiti and oust General Sam because he allowed Spee to use Tortuga. Meanwhile many America bankers have become lukewarm towards Entente requests for credit.
Russia is also worried about Britain leaving the war as well as Bulgaria joint the CP so it launches 3 early March offensives:
1] Ninth Army has been moved to Bukovina where it attacks alongside Eighth Army. This attack enjoys success for several days but Pflanzer-Baltin trades space for lives when necessary.
2] Eleventh Army has been reinforced and attacks Center Army at Przemysl. It succeeds for the first 2 days but then is halted in part due to Landsturm battalions trained under Franois program.
3] Twelfth Army invades East Prussia. Initially the German forces are too weak and they pull back but after Eighth Army is reinforced by rail the advance is halted and Below causes enough pressure on the Russian flanks to force Plehve to withdraw to the edge of East Prussia.
These attacks along with the increased success of the CANZACs in Herzegovina causes Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria to delay signing the secret treaty with the CP. At the prompting of General von Der Goltz, Enver Pasha agrees to commit 3 divisions to a Balkan offensive but even that is not enough to overcome Bulgarian hesitancy.
In Ireland James Connolly insists that the IRB schedule a rising no later than Easter Sunday, or he will commit the Citizen Army to one on St. Patricks Day. The IRB is unwilling to commit to a rising until they have received additional arms from Germany. So they make plans to kidnap Connolly but before they can do so Connolly is arrested by the RIC on Mar 15. They also arrest his #2 Michael Mallin and the Countess Markieviscz. Lord Curzon imposes a curfew in Dublin and a ban on public assembly throughout Ireland. On St. Patricks Day there are many incidents all over Ireland where the ban is defied. In Belfast the RIC go on a rampage against a small, while in Cork the Catholics riot.
Tirpitz used the increased prestige of the navy after Utsire to get the Kaiser to approve a modification to OKWs Charter. It now has control of the Railroads and the airshipsboth army and navy. It still does not have any operational authorityexcept for joint army-navy operations and a vague reference to coordination with allies. General Francois uses the latter as justification for planning an Operation codenamed Whisper. Additional key staff officers are move to OKW incl. Max Bauer and Max Hoffman.
In early March Ras Mikael in Abyssinia mobilizes his Oromo and occupies the capital at Addis Ababa. The Christian nobles have largely fled. They rally around Zauditu and Ras Tafari. The former wishes to negotiate with Iyasu, while the latter wishes to attack ASAP but even after mobilizing is not strong enough by himself. Meanwhile a portion of the Oromo attack French Somaliland. Their cavalry branch off and take the port of Obock while the infantry proceed to Djibouti which has only a Foreign Legion company and s few hundred Somalis protecting it. Another smaller Oromo force soon enters British Somaliland where they contact Sheik Hasan, called the Mad Mullah by the British, who is willing to work with them provided Abyssinia makes no territorial claim to British Somaliland. Meanwhile a small contingent of Ottomans (6 rifle companies, 1 MG company, 1 battery) led by Col Rabadi sneak across the Red Sea at night to Obock.
Battle of Cattaro Gulf: The CANZAC expedition is causing increased concern amongst the Austrians. It causes Admiral Haus to attempt a desperate sortie. He has a good hunch that the French Fleet is supporting the RN PreDNs. He has received a Zeppelin for scouting and a German U-boat to reinforce his own subs. Haus moves his fleet to a closer anchorage and then proceeds towards where he believes the French Fleet is lurking. He sends the Zeppelin ahead to locate the French. When he encounters the French he runs from them to Cattaro. He hopes to lure them into a sub ambush. Another factor in Haus plan is the Austrian guns have a much greater range than the French 12 (only 13,500 yards). While the French close the range faster than Haus had hoped there is still more than hour where the French cannot respond to the Austrian shelling. All 3 of the French dreadnoughts suffer moderate to heavy damage from shellfire. Voltaire is torpedoed but not sunk by the U-Boat ambush line. Two French dreadnoughts eventually make it into range and the Viribus Unitus is heavily damaged but the rest of the French line is badly strung out and when an armored cruiser is destroyed by a magazine explosion trying to engage PreDNs and the Austrian light forces begin a torpedo attack the French break off the pursuit.
With no real threat to the Dardanelles, the Ottomans have more divisions available. Enver Pasha wants another Caucasian offensive but Der Goltz persuades him first to commit 3 to the Balkans and then to send 1 division to reinforce Mesopotamia. The last request annoys Enver who agrees to comply only if Der Goltz will leave to take command of the forces in Mesopotamia.
To deal with the situation in Abyssinian Kitchener proposes a plan to use 3 forcesone brought down from Egypt to Atbara in the Sudan, another heading north from British East Africa and the third brought from India to Berbera. These are to "encourage" the Christian forces to overthrow Iyasu and end the war. The onset of the rainy season makes it particularly important for the expedition from Kenya to leave ASAP. This plan is quickly approved by the War Committee.
In New York City, Cornelius St. James, a former Buffalo Soldier who served in the Spanish American War, is galvanized by the Abyssinian situation to give speeches to the black community which are pro CP. He attracts the attention of WEB DuBois.
Operation Whisper: Conrad is desperate to get German assistance and agrees to Operation to get a Reserve Corps from OKW Reserve. Mackensen is given command of Army Group Mackensen which includes AustroHungarian First and Fourth Armies as well as German Eleventh Army. This Army Group becomes independent of Ober Ost and technically reports to Conrad. This development infuriates Hindenburg and ludendorff. Falkenhayn is notified of this attack fairly late and is deceived into thinking the German Eleventh Armys role in it is merely as a diversion. The operation begins Mar 23 with a sharp artillery bombardment. There are 2 separate attacks. One is designed to split Russian Fourth Army from Russian Fifth Army. It is conducted by 3 German divisions of Eleventh Army and 2 AustroHungarian divisions from the AH First Army. It has more success against Fifth Army, because the right flank of Fourth Army is held by the elite Grenadier Corps. The other area being attacked in the boundary of the Russian Fourth and Third Armies. This AustroHungarian Fourth Army has been reinforced with German XXXIX Reserve Corps for this attack. The first day is very successful against the right wing of Russian Third Army but less so against the left wing of Fourth Army. Eventually the gaps between the armies has grown large enough for cavalry to be deplyed. The German cavalry corps has a motorized regiment of heavy artillery to give it added firepower. The success of the German attack causes Third Army to tuck its right wing behind the San and Ruszki to suffer a breakdown while ordering Second and Fifth Armies to withdraw behind the Vistule.
An important difference from OTL is that with no siege of Przemysl, Conrad does not launch the disastrous Carpathian winter offensives of OTL. His desire for another attempt to recapture Lemberg are spoiled by the Russian offensives. The Austro-Hungarian manpower situation is much better than OTL so much they even have something of a rifle shortage. For that reason Conrad agrees to a proposal by Franois to create a division at Prague mostly from Czechs and Slovaks that will be armed and trained by Germans.
General Sarkotic the Croatian commander of KuK forces in Herzegovina has written a letter to Kaiser Franz Josef asking for the Kaiser to take immediate steps towards Trialism. After discusses it with his heir, Zrzherzog Karl, Franz Josef makes a proclamation endorsing the principle and authorizing a commission to come up with a concrete plan. Count Tisza, the Hungarian Prime Minister is outraged and confronts Kaiser Franz Josef. The heated confrontation results in the Kaiser dismisses Kaiser Franz Josef and appointing Adndrassay as the new Hungarian prime minister.
The arrest of Connolly takes a twist when Spanish Socialists conclude it was merely a pretext for the new British government to clamp down on labor unions. This theory soon spreads to Europe and even the United States.
The French losses at Cattaro Gulf weaken the French Fleet sufficiently that it will be unable to cover a convoy to Albania for over 6 weeks. Since the Albanian campaign is the only real British success Carson and the Sea Lords decide to reinforce the Mediterranean Fleet with additional PreDNs.
In Rome Premier Salandras government has been teetering since the Battle of Utsire, largely because it was felt he had been negotiating with the Entente to enter the war on their side. The initial success of the Russian offensives as well the CANZACs starting to have some success helps him hold on for a while. However as the Russian offensives peter out and the Battle of Cattaro Gulf raises questions about sustaining the Albanian expedition political pressure on Salandra again increases.
After prolonged stalling Bulgaria signs a secret treaty of alliance with the Central Powers on March 27.
Aftermath: For more than 2 weeks the RN Admiralty thinks it likely that Seydlitz was destroyed and regard the battle as a draw. In Germany Wilhelm is ecstatic and clarifies his naval policy to make it a notch more aggressive, but his clarification is vague and subject to interpretation. Admiral von Pohl, head of the Admiralstab interprets it as being the OTL policy while Tirpitz sees it justifying a more aggressive strategy. While Hipper is recovering he is sent at the Kaisers suggestion to visit General Moltke.
Secondary POD: Hipper gets Moltke to appreciate the value of the Channel Ports (something that escaped him OTL). When Moltke becomes pessimistic about developments on Sept 7 he does not send Hentsch on his infamous mission. Instead he unambiguously pulls the plug on the Schlieffen Plan and starts the Moltke Plan. All armies on the Western Front withdraw in sync. The bridges over the Marne are more thoroughly destroyed. Amiens is retained. First and Second Armies close their gap. They form their defensive line on the Aisne while Third Army entrenches in the Montagne de Rheims. The AngloFrench attacks fail against the German defenses. Meanwhile the Germans have moved Seventh Army to their right flank anchored around Amiens. When Joffre tries to turn the flank of First Army, the Seventh Army counterattacks and encircles a corps (Battle of Oise) which is eventually destroyed. Joffre tries to rescue the trapped corps and when that fails makes an unsuccessful attack on Seventh Army at Amiens. Moltke avoids (just barely) the breakdown he suffered OTL. Falkenhayn does not immediately replace him but the Kaiser instead makes him Moltkes powerful deputy with authority to bring policy disagreements to the Kaisers attention. Moltke and Falkenhayn will fight a lot in the weeks ahead.
The Eastern portion of the Western Front is similar to OTL but with a few differences. Because the German withdrawal was more orderly they held onto a portion of the Montagne de Rheims south of Rheims which makes it easier for them to hold on to that city. Further east the front line is usually about 2-3 miles south of the OTL version. The Germans hold the important high ground at Vauquois in the Argonne Forest. However the Sept 1914 attack in the Woevre Plain that generated the St. Mihiel Salient does not occur.
Antwerp: The Moltke Plan causes an acceleration of the German buildup at Antwerp. Army Detachment Beseler is formed and includes more infantry than OTLmostly II Bavarian Army Corps. The siege artillery begins bombarding Sept 26.
Battle of the Somme: Meanwhile the German Sixth Army has been deployed to the right of the Seventh Army and is ordered by Moltke to drive to the coast at Abbeville then go on the defensive. Prince Rupprecht exceeds his orders and crosses the Somme to attack the French left flank. Meanwhile the BEF having been frustrated by German defenses on the Aisne and shocked by the loss of Abbeville , General French insists they be moved to the left flank of the entire French Army. The first to arrive is II Army Corps led by the ferocious General Smith-Dorrien. He attacks the exposed flank of German Sixth Army and sends it fleeing back across the Somme. Smith-Dorrien retakes Abbeville (Oct 6).. The bipolar Sir John French then gets carried away and orders an ambitious continuation of the attack. German Sixth Army has regrouped and been reinforced. A struggle goes on for the rest of the month as the BEF thereby tries to overpower Sixth Army and turn the flank of the entire German line. Though the Germans make some counterattacks the British are mostly on the offensive here and the casualty ratio is not anywhere as favorable as First Ypres OTL.
The BEF IV Army Corps lands in Belgium. Army Detachment Beseler is further reinforced and become German Tenth Army. It encircles the Belgians with cavalry reaching Neiuport. Meanwhile British naval units begin carrying out shore bombardment missions both in Belgium and Picardy. On Oct 13 Hipper with Ingenohls reluctant approval takes 1st SG and 2nd SG to attack the bombardment forces off Belgium. Under moonlit conditions he bumps into Undaunted and 4 destroyers of Harwich Force off Texel Island. He sinks Undaunted and 3 destroyers but with surprise lost aborts the rest of the mission. This small battle has huge effects. Admiral Pohl is livid because it is contrary to his view of the Kaisers policy and forbids any sorties without his express approval. Tirpitz counters this by visiting Moltke and telling him to complain to the Kaiser about lack of naval support. Eventually this causes Wilhelm to fire Pohl (Oct 29) He is replaced by Bachmann whom Tirpitz can dominate.
Eastern Front divergence: In mid-October the first divergence occurs on the Eastern Front. In OTL only 2 of the new reserve divisions are sent East. Here Moltke sends 2 more (XXIV Reserve Corps) but to Conrad not Hindenburg. These are used in front of Ivangorod. The Austro-Hungarian First Army with the German help still suffers a defeat but not as severe as OTL.
Channel Ports: With the continuous front isolating northern France and Belgium encircled the Germans try to seize the Channel ports. They have a quick success at Dunkirk which they capture on Oct 17. Calais is more difficult as its garrison has been reinforced including Territorial Force 2nd London Brigade. Also some of the forces Moltke had assigned to take the Channel Ports had to be rerouted to shore up Sixth Army at the Battle of the Somme. Meanwhile a French Territorial Division and another British Territorial Brigade have been sent by sea in an attempt to hold on.
At the end of October 1914 several key events occur. Audacious is sunk by a mine. The BEF advance is stopped at the Battle of the Somme. The predreadnought Caesar is sunk off Etaples by a U-Boat. The garrison at Calais surrenders. The situation in Belgium deteriorates and there an evacuation by sea out of Ostend. While this evacuation is underway Hipper persuades Ingenohl and Bachmann to agree to an unusual plan. A force of 2 Kaiser Freidrich PreDN plus 3 armored cruisers plus a few torpedo boats attack Dover Patrol off Belgium. The HSF comes out as far as Terschelling. It hopes Channel Fleet will chase the bait and can be destroyed by the HSF. In order to protect the transports Admiral Hood is forced to fight a delaying action. He has been reinforced with 4 destroyers from Harwich Force. Hood is killed when Foresight, his flagship is sunk along with 5 destroyers. The German force withdraws. Channel Fleet does not take the bait but Harwich Force does. It makes a night torpedo attack on the Germans in the Broad Fourteens. This attack has a success when it lead flotilla torpedoes the Kaiser Barbarossa, which explodes. But then it is attacked by 2nd SG, 1st SG and 2 flotillas to the west and is in danger of being destroyed. However a torpedo hit on Moltke causes Ingenohl to order Hipper to break off the action allowing Tyrwhitt (who has been lightly wounded) and most of Harwich Force to escape though his flagship, Aurora is fatally damaged and must be abandoned eventually. When Ingenohl returns to Wilhelmshaven Tirpitz is livid and tells him in harsh terms to never again let a weaker enemy force get away.
The next day (Nov 1) Channel Fleet is stationed off the Belgium coast and loses Implacable to a U-Boat. The German Tenth Army closes in on Ostend and captures its docks on Nov 3. The evacuation rescued BEF Army Corps, 3 Belgian divisions and a French Territorial Division. Some artillery and many draught animals were abandoned. The French Territorial Division defending Boulogne is evacuated Nov 7. The loss of the Channel Ports and Belgium causes a political crisis in Britain and Asquith makes Edward Carson Attorney General and Bonar Law Colonial Secretary. The inclusion of Unionists in the government weakens Redmonds popularity in Ireland and strengthen Sinn Fein.
With his Western Front objectives finally attained, Moltke now starts rushing reinforcements to the Eastern Front. He only sends Hindenburgs Ninth Army 4 divisions. The Battle of Lodz is not altered too much. The Germans take Lodz itself sooner but the front forms nearly in the same place as OTL just earlier. More effective use of Moltkes reinforcements occurs to the south. The first corps sent East (II Bavarian Corps) is combined with XXIV Reserve Corps, Landwehr Corps and the Guard Reserve Division to form Eleventh Army under Mackensens command. Because of this it is not necessary for Conrad to shift his Second Army out of the Carpathians. Another important change is the formation of the AustroGerman Center Army (mostly II Army Corps and KuK VI Corps) under the command of General von Franois. On Nov 18 he takes the Russian Third Army in the flank near Tarnow forcing it to retreat across the Vistula. Disobeying Conrads orders to pursue across the Vistula he lunges instead for Przemysl Fortress where he surprises and routes the besieging the Eleventh Army in conjunction with a sortie by the garrison. After this Franois sees an opportunity to encircle the Russian Eighth Army with the aid of the Austro-Hungarian Second and Third Armies as well as Pflanzer-Baltin Group. General Brusilov is too crafty to be encircled during what is called the Battle of Sambor and escapes to the western edge of the Bukovina except for 2 divisions which are encircled and destroyed.
One of the divisions sent to the Eastern Front in November is the 6th Bavarian Reserve Division, which in OTL stayed on the Western Front. Adolf Hitler is serving in this unit.
The Western Front heated up again on Dec 4 when Joffre launches Battle of Champagne. He quickly takes Suippes (which he already had OTL) but after that makes minimal progress with heavy casualties.
While at Przemysl Franois begins a program to provide several battalions of Hungarian Landsturm with additional training using a mix of German and Austro-Hungarian instructors.
Falkenhayn believes Moltke sent too many divisions East. Hindenburg plus Ludendorff think he sent too few and are further incensed he did not send all of them to Hindenburg, who has not been given overall command of the East. They are both very upset that Moltke wanted all German offensives to wind down by mid December with no new offensives during the winter.. So Falkenhayn and Ludendorff despite mutual distrust reach an agreement for a plan to eliminate Moltke by promoting him to Feldmarschal and giving him a new office called OKW to rule. This is a joint command with authority over both the Army and Navy. However despite some grand phrases in its charter it is meant to be little more than ceremonial. An agreement is reached and they persuade Kaiser Wilhelm. Tirpitz is worried that OKW might be an Army plot to get authority over the Navy. He therefore insists on being the #2 man at OKW and no one resists this request.
The German Navy found to its chagrin that it was not prepared to make effective use of the captured Channel Ports immediately. The 2nd Naval Division is reduced to a brigade to free up some manpower for base personnel.
Part of Falkenhayns deal with Ludendorff was a promise to remove Franois from the command of Center Army and never again give him a command higher than a reserve corps. Falkenhayn does this after taking over OHL.
Battle of Crecy Forest: In early Dec the BEF is divided into First Army on the coast commanded by Haig and inland Second Army commanded by Smith-Dorrien. Despite the heavy losses incurred during the Battle of the Somme, the British government is desperate to recapture the Channel Ports. Because OHL under Moltke was shifted forces to the East earlier than OTL it is felt that there is a good chance this operation will succeed. On Dec 14 the Second Army makes an attack in the area of Crecy Forest. It has a Territorial Force Division (OTL the TF were first sent to France as divisions in Feb 1915) and a Belgium divisionboth to be used as reserves behind the main assault. The attack has some limited success advancing through the forest from its south edge but is halted after that.
Battle of Dogger Bank: The HSF sorties on Dec 15 to bombard Scarborough, Hartlespool, etc. This is the OTL Scarborough Raid except Ingenohl does not turn back. Before first light torpedo boats in his van torpedo Ajax. In the early predawn twilight British 2nd Battle Squadron engages German 1st Squadron, which they temporarily mistake for 1st SG. The destruction of Orion in a magazine explosion after a barbette penetration prevents Ostfriesland from being sunk and emboldens Ingenohl to pursue when the RN tries to disengage. He also orders Hipper to abandon his bombardment mission and cut off the RN line of retreat.
Beatty attempts to help and comes into action first against 2nd Squadron where he badly damages Lothringen but then tries to save Warrender by crossing the bows of 3rd Squadron. This results in Queen Mary being destroyed in a magazine explosion, Lion losing a forward turret and Tigers starboard engines disabled. Beattys actions have only bought 2nd Battle Squadron a little time as Monarch has been seriously slow by a flooded engine room. An attempt to drive off Ingenohl with the small RN destroyer force (seriously weakened in the predawn fighting) fails while Ingenohl is eventually able to bring a flotilla around to attack the British retreat. The 2nd Battle Squadron is destroyed in total and later in the day Beatty tries to break through 1st SG in a storm. Only Devonshire and Birmingham reach safety (plus 2 of the DD). Beatty is briefly captured by the Germans but severe concussion and exposure causes him to expire during the night. His dying words are a curse on Blinker Hall. German naval intelligence still do not know what this means and suspect it was merely raving tainted by personal animosity. Many German capital ships were badly damaged in this battle including Westfalen which is sunk by Keyes submarines on the way home.
This engagement if called the Battle of Dogger Bank. Kaiser Wilhelm is ecstatic. Tirpitz wants repairs on the damaged fleet to proceed as rapidly as possible so he can challenge the Grand Fleet on near even terms.. To get around bottle necks in men and materials he uses OKW. The next batch of reserve divisions (and some Landwehr) are held back in whats called OKW Reserve. Men with shipyard related skills are removed from these units and sent back to work. Likewise shipyard workers are removed from all new drafts. Rathenau is brought in to oversee the management of strategic resources for OKW.
In Britain Asquith narrowly avoids a vote of no confidence by bringing the Unionist-Conservatives more into the government. He resists however Bonar Laws demand that Carson replace Churchill. Instead he very reluctantly agrees to make Lord George Curzon the new Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. This development undermines Redmonds credibility and further enhances Sinn Fein. McKenna returns to the Admiralty to replace the disgraced Churchill. Bonar Law replaces McKenna as Home Secretary. There is rampant invasion phobia in England with nearly everybody reading The Riddle of the Sands.
After the battle Hipper decides that only the Seydlitz is too badly damaged to sortie immediately. With Tirpitz support he takes 1st SG to raid the blockading 10th CS north of the Faeroes just before Christmas and sinks 4 AMCs then heads back. The long nights and lack of battle cruisers make it difficult for Jellicoe to intercept and Hipper returns to port.
Hippers raid on 10th CS causes McKenna to recall Sturdee from the South Atlantic. Fisher becomes very difficult to work with. When Sturdee returns he reluctantly puts him in charge of the Battle Cruiser Squadron mostly because he does not want him back as chief of the naval war staff. The main force chasing Spee is now the 2nd CSq augmented by a Japanese force. The presence of Japanese warships in the Caribbean makes the United States uneasy. `Spee stops to coal at Recife on Dec 27. He has avoided the main trade routes, which has helped him avoid Sturdee but OTOH he has taken only a few prizes. In Recife he agrees to a plan by prominent German businessmen in Haiti to put General Sam in power. In return General Sam has agreed to let Spee use the Isle of Tortuga as a base.
With a possibility of defeating the Grand Fleet emerging, Tirpitz puts proposals for Unrestricted Submarine War on indefinite hold.
In Transylvania at the end of Dec, a modest rebellion breaks out among the ethnic Romanians there which aid being supplied by the Russians. This revolt is being abetted by the large Russian forces in the Bukovina. Meanwhile Conrad launched an offensive to regain Lemberg which fails. The concentration of Austro-Hungarian forces for this attack allows the Russians to stabilize their lines around year end. .
Sarikamish happens as per OTL except there are fewer Russians available for the pursuit phase so Ottoman casualties are about 3,000 less.
New Years Day 1915 the RN strikes back with a seaplane raid on the German airship base at Nordholz. Erskine Childers airplane reaches the Zeppelin hangar and destroys it in a violent hydrogen explosion. His plane is buffeted by the blast and loses altitude. Childers is badly wounded by ground fire during the raid and loses a leg. Upon recovery he is reassigned to the Naval Intelligence Division. His wife is a guest at Curzons inaugural party. She brings her friend Mary Spring Rice in whom the widowed Curzon develops a very personal interest.
In early January Sir Roger Casement decides the Germans are not taking him seriously. He travels to Dornach, Switzerland where he meets Dr. Rudolf Steiner. Steiner goes to Berlin and delivers a lecture cycle. Moltke meets with Steiner who introduces him to Casement. Soon afterwards a small group of officersboth army and navybegin a preliminary staff study for an operation codenamed Unicorn.
The Germans begin to make effective use of the Channel Ports during January with both obsolete small torpedo boats and a flotilla of newer boats detached from HSF as well as some U-Boats. This causes some limited disruption to the BEF line of communication but after a bold moonlight sortie by Channel Fleet under Admiral Bayly 2nd TBF at Boulogne becomes very cautious. British fears of an invasion force Dover Patrol to maintain a continuous presence in the Straits. This causes them suffer a gradual erosion of strength from coastal artillery, mines, U-Boats and night skirmishes with the German torpedo boats.
The Unionist Conservatives are dissatisfied with the lack of strategic vision in the War Council. When the Tsar makes his historic appeal for help prompted by the Ottoman offensive, they come up with a plan to send a British expedition to Albania to help the Montenegrins and Serbs, encourage the Transylvanian revolt and hopefully draw Rumania and even Italy into the war as allies. The plan is originally presented by Carson and becomes known as the Carson Plan. It is resisted by Lord Kitchener who steadfastly maintains that he lacks the troops and prefers to plan a landing at Alexandretta in May. The War Council is badly split over this issue. Lloyd-George has been cultivating a friendship with Bonar Law and Carson, and now openly supports Carson plan. They eventually get the Carson Plan approved. It will use the 1st Canadian, 1st Australian and Australian New Zealand Divisions (CANZAC) in Albania.
On the Eastern Front the major activity is January is a battle in the Bukovina. It starts with the newly formed Austro-Hungarian Seventh Army under General Pflanzer-Baltin attacking Dnietr Group and the left flank of Russian Eighth Army. They have some initial success but as Brusilov concentrates more forces against him the battle becomes seesaw. Hindenburg commits the 6th Bavarian Reserve Division to help Pflanzer-Baltin. This helps him to hold the line but as portion of this division is encircled due to miscommunication with is Austrian neighbors. The Russians take nearly 3,000 prisoners including Adolf Hitler.
Spee leaves Tortuga, rendezvouses with the AMC Kronprinz Wilhelm and heads for New York. He coals Scharnhorst and Dresden in NYC (Jan 23) and takes the faster ocean liners Vaterland, Kaiser Wilhelm II and George Washington with him. He also takes the treasure ship, Kronprinzessin Cecilie from out of Boston, with Gneisenau driving off HMS Suffolk in a skirmish off Cape Cod. While Spee is in New York he meets John Devoy. Hustled aboard the ocean liners are about 250 German Americans and nearly 100 Fenians willing to fight for Germany.
Suez Canal: The Ottoman attack there occurs as per OTL.
The Western Front in February: On Feb 9 Army Detachment Mudra begins a modest offensive in the Argonne. It uses a tear gas artillery shell for the first time (no Bolimov) which proves disappointing. After that Mudra makes slow progress with a decent casualty ratio. Later Army Detachment Strantz attacks in the Woeve Plains with mixed resultsSt. Mihiel Salient is not created but it does capture Crete des Combres which is useful for artillery spotting. The BEF makes another attack in mid February. This time Haigs First Army makes the assault. It has some initial success in penetrating the German lines with acceptable casualties and for a while it looks like Etaples will be taken. But the BEF advance falters with the speedy deployment of German reserves, esp. the 6th Bavarian Division which has become the fireman unit of German Sixth Army. Eventually Mudra advances to Aubreville. This causes Joffre to remove Sarrail from the command of Third Army. This is unpopular with French Socialists.
CANZAC Day (Feb 14): The 1st Canadian and 1st Australian Divisions land in northern Albania closely escorted by a weak force of RN PreDNs and their screen. Further back is the 1ere Armee Navale weights to pounce on the Austrian Fleet if they take the British bait. HMS Dublin torpedoed but not sunk by Austrian submarine. There are some other minor problems. They find the Albanians more heterogonous in their reaction than expected. Birdwood later meets with the Montenegrins and a few days later rashly tries to take Cattaro by coup de main and suffers embarrassment though casualties are very light.
In mid-February the IRB sends Joseph Mary Plunkett to Germany to check up on Casements progress.
Battle of North Foreland (Feb 15) Ingenohl attempts to lure the Grand Fleet into an afternoon battle off Terschelling which he regards as favorable. He also has a series of U-Boat ambush lines set up. Before dawn 2nd TBF out of Boulogne begins a running battle with Dover Patrol. In the morning 1st SG arrives and threatens to overwhelm Dover Patrol. Admiral Bayly arrives with Channel Fleet and skirmishes with 1st SG which breaks out after damage to both sides. This saves the rest of Dover Patrol. Jellicoe is heading south with the Grand Fleet but after Yarmouth is torpedoed he becomes convinced he is heading into a trap and essentially declines battle. He believes he can intercept and destroy Spees force as they enter the North Sea.
Upon returning to Wilhelmshaven Hipper argues before the Admiralstab that 1st SG should rendezvous with Admiral Spee with the HSF in support. Ingenohl is opposed for many reasons incl. the fact that Moltke was damaged at North Foreland. Hipper argues the damage was not that bad and can be postponed. Tirpitz backs Hippers plan to Ingenohls horror and gets Bachmann to approve it. Using wireless a rendezvous between Spee and Hipper off the Isle of Utsire (Norwegian coast) is arranged with Spee for early morning Feb 19 Room 40 knows of the rendezvous but does not believe HSF to be involved.
Battle of Utsire (Feb 19):Scharnhorst is experiencing engine problems. Spees sends Dresden and all the liners except the slower George Washington ahead. The liners bump into the British 1st CS off Utsire Isle. The liners and Dresden flee to ENE. The RN AC give chase. Jellicoe sends 4 DD to assist. The ocean liner Vaterland comes under fire and quickly surrenders. The ocean liner Kaiser Wilhelm II then comes under fire but the stubborn captain refuses to surrender even after a 7.5 shell hits her. At this point Gneisenau and a little later tSchharnhors enter the battle. Meanwhile to the south 2nd SG encounters 1st LCS. This eventually leads to 1st SG dueling with Sturdees 5 BC. Hipper heads south towards HSF. Sturdee chases but after Inflexible is forced out of line and Invincible is destroyed in a magazine explosion, Sturdree turns about. Hipper decides to pursue. GF is now heading south. After damage mounts on his remaining ships, esp. his flagship, Indefatigable, Sturdee tries to flee to the west covered by a flotilla torpedo attack which forces Hipper to turn away. Hipper wants to pursue while the ever cautious Ingenohl wants to home abandoning Spee and the liners. Meanwhile a group of Fenians aboard Vaterland led by a former NY police officer, Harry Calahan, have overpowered the British boarding party. Vaterland is in sight of the GF and radios their position and heading to Ingenohl, who unlike Hipper does not think it a British ruse. He decides to lay a trap for the GF. The lesser part of the trap catches Jellicoe in cruising formation with only bestows a very transient tactical advantage. The more important element is to position the combined flotillas of HSF and 1st SG so they can attack from different directions. Before the torpedo attacks begin Agincourt is destroyed in a magazine explosion after a turret roof is penetrated. Otherwise the battle at 14-17 K yards range results in superstructure damage (incl. loss of secondary batteries) and fires to both sides. The combined torpedo attacks prove very effective. Hercules and Collingwood are both sunk by torpedoes. Erins steering is jammed by a torpedo and she turns out of control in circles. Furthermore the RN battle line is thrown into disarray. Ingenohl tries to crush the van of the GF by closing with 1st SG in the van. This short range action causes Benbow eventually to be lost in a magazine explosion while a boiler explosion aboard Superb causes her to capsize. Jellicoe withdraws to the north with the rest of the GF. Meanwhile Scharnhorst and Gnerisenau have been turned into burning wrecks in their battle with 1st CS even though Jellicoe recalled 1st CS once he ran into the HSF. Ingenohl does not pursue the GF. The badly damaged Erin recovers steering and tries to rejoin the GF but engages all of the German PreDNs (2nd Squadron). One is destroyed in a magazine explosion and two more are badly damaged and one of them eventually sinks, but Erin is fatally damaged and finished off by a torpedo attack. .Having transferred his flag from Indefatigable (which is sinking from progressive flooding). Sturdee finally reentered the battle just as the GF is withdrawing which results in the loss of his new flagship, Indomitable. The HSF then tries to pursue and finish off the remaining pair of badly damaged BC. At this moment 3 BS (PreDNs) which had been detached before the battle arrive and cross the T of the HSF. Ingenohl in panic issues orders for emergency battle turn about. After that the fleets disengage and the battered BC of 1st SG rendezvous with Spee, who survives though Scharnhorst and Gneisenau are both doomed. The Germans return to Kiel avoiding the RN sub concentration around the Bight.
Aftermath of Utsire: Kaiser Wilhelm is ecstatic (no kidding). For nearly 3 weeks he is convinced Great Britain will drop out of the war. Tirpitz is skeptical and begins looking for options. Smitten a little by victory disease he begins to see merit in something he previously thought risibleOperation Unicorn. Joe Plunkett is brought into the planning for Unicorn. In Britain Asquiths government falls. Bonar Law is the new prime minister. Carson is the new First Lord of the Admiralty. A very compact War Committee is formed of Bonar Law, Carson and Lloyd-Georgeas long as all three concur matters will be decided without bring them before the full Cabinet. They are fully committed to carrying on with the war. Admiral Lewis Bayly replaces Jellicoe as head of the Grand Fleet, which now includes 5th Battle Squadron removed from Channel Fleet. The GF is now based at Rosyth and Hull instead of Scapa Flow and Cromarty Firth. Kitchener who never liked the Albanian expedition delays the sending of Australian New Zealand Division during the post Utsire political crisis but the new War Committee insists on it. Birdwood gives up on fighting Austrians in the mountains and moves north where the terrain is better but the roads suck. He begins to enjoy more success.
The Bulgarians begin to earnestly negotiate an alliance with the Central Powers. Meanwhile in Abyssinia Meneliks heir, Lij Iyasu decides to enter the war on the side of the Central Powers so that with Ottoman aid he can announce himself to be a Muslim.
The French government is very worried that the British are secretly negotiating with the Germans so as to leave the war. To stiffen British resolve Vivianis government decides to commit a division to the Albanian expedition despite Joffres opposition.
In the United States President Wilson decides to invade Haiti and oust General Sam because he allowed Spee to use Tortuga. Meanwhile many America bankers have become lukewarm towards Entente requests for credit.
Russia is also worried about Britain leaving the war as well as Bulgaria joint the CP so it launches 3 early March offensives:
1] Ninth Army has been moved to Bukovina where it attacks alongside Eighth Army. This attack enjoys success for several days but Pflanzer-Baltin trades space for lives when necessary.
2] Eleventh Army has been reinforced and attacks Center Army at Przemysl. It succeeds for the first 2 days but then is halted in part due to Landsturm battalions trained under Franois program.
3] Twelfth Army invades East Prussia. Initially the German forces are too weak and they pull back but after Eighth Army is reinforced by rail the advance is halted and Below causes enough pressure on the Russian flanks to force Plehve to withdraw to the edge of East Prussia.
These attacks along with the increased success of the CANZACs in Herzegovina causes Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria to delay signing the secret treaty with the CP. At the prompting of General von Der Goltz, Enver Pasha agrees to commit 3 divisions to a Balkan offensive but even that is not enough to overcome Bulgarian hesitancy.
In Ireland James Connolly insists that the IRB schedule a rising no later than Easter Sunday, or he will commit the Citizen Army to one on St. Patricks Day. The IRB is unwilling to commit to a rising until they have received additional arms from Germany. So they make plans to kidnap Connolly but before they can do so Connolly is arrested by the RIC on Mar 15. They also arrest his #2 Michael Mallin and the Countess Markieviscz. Lord Curzon imposes a curfew in Dublin and a ban on public assembly throughout Ireland. On St. Patricks Day there are many incidents all over Ireland where the ban is defied. In Belfast the RIC go on a rampage against a small, while in Cork the Catholics riot.
Tirpitz used the increased prestige of the navy after Utsire to get the Kaiser to approve a modification to OKWs Charter. It now has control of the Railroads and the airshipsboth army and navy. It still does not have any operational authorityexcept for joint army-navy operations and a vague reference to coordination with allies. General Francois uses the latter as justification for planning an Operation codenamed Whisper. Additional key staff officers are move to OKW incl. Max Bauer and Max Hoffman.
In early March Ras Mikael in Abyssinia mobilizes his Oromo and occupies the capital at Addis Ababa. The Christian nobles have largely fled. They rally around Zauditu and Ras Tafari. The former wishes to negotiate with Iyasu, while the latter wishes to attack ASAP but even after mobilizing is not strong enough by himself. Meanwhile a portion of the Oromo attack French Somaliland. Their cavalry branch off and take the port of Obock while the infantry proceed to Djibouti which has only a Foreign Legion company and s few hundred Somalis protecting it. Another smaller Oromo force soon enters British Somaliland where they contact Sheik Hasan, called the Mad Mullah by the British, who is willing to work with them provided Abyssinia makes no territorial claim to British Somaliland. Meanwhile a small contingent of Ottomans (6 rifle companies, 1 MG company, 1 battery) led by Col Rabadi sneak across the Red Sea at night to Obock.
Battle of Cattaro Gulf: The CANZAC expedition is causing increased concern amongst the Austrians. It causes Admiral Haus to attempt a desperate sortie. He has a good hunch that the French Fleet is supporting the RN PreDNs. He has received a Zeppelin for scouting and a German U-boat to reinforce his own subs. Haus moves his fleet to a closer anchorage and then proceeds towards where he believes the French Fleet is lurking. He sends the Zeppelin ahead to locate the French. When he encounters the French he runs from them to Cattaro. He hopes to lure them into a sub ambush. Another factor in Haus plan is the Austrian guns have a much greater range than the French 12 (only 13,500 yards). While the French close the range faster than Haus had hoped there is still more than hour where the French cannot respond to the Austrian shelling. All 3 of the French dreadnoughts suffer moderate to heavy damage from shellfire. Voltaire is torpedoed but not sunk by the U-Boat ambush line. Two French dreadnoughts eventually make it into range and the Viribus Unitus is heavily damaged but the rest of the French line is badly strung out and when an armored cruiser is destroyed by a magazine explosion trying to engage PreDNs and the Austrian light forces begin a torpedo attack the French break off the pursuit.
With no real threat to the Dardanelles, the Ottomans have more divisions available. Enver Pasha wants another Caucasian offensive but Der Goltz persuades him first to commit 3 to the Balkans and then to send 1 division to reinforce Mesopotamia. The last request annoys Enver who agrees to comply only if Der Goltz will leave to take command of the forces in Mesopotamia.
To deal with the situation in Abyssinian Kitchener proposes a plan to use 3 forcesone brought down from Egypt to Atbara in the Sudan, another heading north from British East Africa and the third brought from India to Berbera. These are to "encourage" the Christian forces to overthrow Iyasu and end the war. The onset of the rainy season makes it particularly important for the expedition from Kenya to leave ASAP. This plan is quickly approved by the War Committee.
In New York City, Cornelius St. James, a former Buffalo Soldier who served in the Spanish American War, is galvanized by the Abyssinian situation to give speeches to the black community which are pro CP. He attracts the attention of WEB DuBois.
Operation Whisper: Conrad is desperate to get German assistance and agrees to Operation to get a Reserve Corps from OKW Reserve. Mackensen is given command of Army Group Mackensen which includes AustroHungarian First and Fourth Armies as well as German Eleventh Army. This Army Group becomes independent of Ober Ost and technically reports to Conrad. This development infuriates Hindenburg and ludendorff. Falkenhayn is notified of this attack fairly late and is deceived into thinking the German Eleventh Armys role in it is merely as a diversion. The operation begins Mar 23 with a sharp artillery bombardment. There are 2 separate attacks. One is designed to split Russian Fourth Army from Russian Fifth Army. It is conducted by 3 German divisions of Eleventh Army and 2 AustroHungarian divisions from the AH First Army. It has more success against Fifth Army, because the right flank of Fourth Army is held by the elite Grenadier Corps. The other area being attacked in the boundary of the Russian Fourth and Third Armies. This AustroHungarian Fourth Army has been reinforced with German XXXIX Reserve Corps for this attack. The first day is very successful against the right wing of Russian Third Army but less so against the left wing of Fourth Army. Eventually the gaps between the armies has grown large enough for cavalry to be deplyed. The German cavalry corps has a motorized regiment of heavy artillery to give it added firepower. The success of the German attack causes Third Army to tuck its right wing behind the San and Ruszki to suffer a breakdown while ordering Second and Fifth Armies to withdraw behind the Vistule.
An important difference from OTL is that with no siege of Przemysl, Conrad does not launch the disastrous Carpathian winter offensives of OTL. His desire for another attempt to recapture Lemberg are spoiled by the Russian offensives. The Austro-Hungarian manpower situation is much better than OTL so much they even have something of a rifle shortage. For that reason Conrad agrees to a proposal by Franois to create a division at Prague mostly from Czechs and Slovaks that will be armed and trained by Germans.
General Sarkotic the Croatian commander of KuK forces in Herzegovina has written a letter to Kaiser Franz Josef asking for the Kaiser to take immediate steps towards Trialism. After discusses it with his heir, Zrzherzog Karl, Franz Josef makes a proclamation endorsing the principle and authorizing a commission to come up with a concrete plan. Count Tisza, the Hungarian Prime Minister is outraged and confronts Kaiser Franz Josef. The heated confrontation results in the Kaiser dismisses Kaiser Franz Josef and appointing Adndrassay as the new Hungarian prime minister.
The arrest of Connolly takes a twist when Spanish Socialists conclude it was merely a pretext for the new British government to clamp down on labor unions. This theory soon spreads to Europe and even the United States.
The French losses at Cattaro Gulf weaken the French Fleet sufficiently that it will be unable to cover a convoy to Albania for over 6 weeks. Since the Albanian campaign is the only real British success Carson and the Sea Lords decide to reinforce the Mediterranean Fleet with additional PreDNs.
In Rome Premier Salandras government has been teetering since the Battle of Utsire, largely because it was felt he had been negotiating with the Entente to enter the war on their side. The initial success of the Russian offensives as well the CANZACs starting to have some success helps him hold on for a while. However as the Russian offensives peter out and the Battle of Cattaro Gulf raises questions about sustaining the Albanian expedition political pressure on Salandra again increases.
After prolonged stalling Bulgaria signs a secret treaty of alliance with the Central Powers on March 27.
