Away from the front lines of the war, day-to-day life still goes on, sometimes even seemingly normal.
But the war and life at home cross paths all the time, and one such way is trials of civilians
for treason.
I’m Indy Neidell; welcome to the Great War.
Last week saw a British naval raid in Belgium, failed German attacks in Flanders and France,
the latter featuring the first tank on tank battle in history, Americans fighting in France,
Transcaucasian independence and Ottoman advance in Eastern Anatolia, and the death of the
Red Baron.
The Germans continued their attacks in Flanders for part of this week.
On the 29th, they attacked with 13 divisions on a 16km front but could not make headway.
This, the final attack of Operation Georgette was called off by the evening, and the Operation
- also called the Battle of La Lys, was called off May 1st.
The German official history called it “a skillful and effective operational chess move”,
but despite tactical results, it was an operational failure.
It didn’t accomplish either of its primary objectives - first to take Hazebrouck, and
then to take the Flanders Hills.
Total casualties for Operations Michael and Georgette, going back to March 21st, were
heavier for the combined allies than the Germans - 325,000 for the Germans, 260,000 for the
British, and 107,000 for the French - but the Germans were only one nation.
David Zabecki notes in “The German 1918 Offensives” that in Georgette the Germans
made the same mistake they had during Michael - when it became clear that they were not
going to take their original objective, they continued the attack in the hope of taking
something to show for their efforts.
But German army Quartermaster General Erich Ludendorff was determined to win the war in
the west before the Americans could arrive in force, since that may turn the tide.
The Americans were indeed arriving in France in droves by now, and the Allies needed to
arm them.
The British Ministry of Munitions under Churchill was making huge efforts to increase production
of not just arms, but tanks and aircraft for their ally.
In early May, they could offer the Americans 225 big guns for the summer.
There would be more later in the year, but that was for the offensives of 1919, when
the Americans in Europe were expected to number over 3 million.
The Allied planners were hard at work on next year’s plans.
In fact, “Plan 19”, which comes out later this month, calls for nearly 5,000 Allied
tanks making next year’s breakthrough in the west.
But as for now, on May 1st there was a Supreme War Council meeting and it did not go well.
French PM Clemenceau, then British PM Lloyd George, and then Allied Commander in Chief
Ferdinand Foch all took turns trying to convince American Commander John Pershing to do what
President Woodrow Wilson had requested and send American troops into the line at once.
Foch even went so far as to say that if this didn’t happen, all was lost.
Pershing held his ground.
Lloyd George agreed to a separate American army in principle, but said (Gilbert), “...we
are engaged in what is perhaps the decisive battle of the war.
If we lose this battle, we shall need tonnage to take home what there is left of the British
and American armies.”
That didn’t work either.
Foch asked Pershing if he was willing to risk the allies being driven back to the Loire.
He said, yes, he’d take that risk because there may come a time when Americans would
have to stand the brunt of the war and he didn’t want to fritter away resources.
The next day, Lloyd George pointed out to Pershing the enormous British and French casualties
since March 21st and said (Gilbert), “If the United States does not come to our aid
then perhaps the enemy’s calculations will be correct.
If France and Great Britain should have to yield, their defeat would be honorable, for
they would have fought to their last man, while the United States would have to stop
without having put into the line more men than little Belgium.”
Pershing had a compromise, though, and the others really had no choice other than to
accept it.
The 130,000 American soldiers coming over during May on British ships and the 150,000
more in June could join the Allied line, but there would be no provision for July.
That means that there would soon be 800,000 total American troops in Europe and 2/3 of
those would not join the line until they could do so as an American army.
You can imagine how happy the other Allies were about this.
Still, they were at least getting some reinforcements of their own.
In April, British General Edmund Allenby had to send over 30,000 of his troops from Palestine
to the Western Front, and more would go in May.
The smaller his force became, though, the more had had to rely on the Arab revolt to
capture Maan and secure his eastern flank, but they had failed to do that two weeks ago.
Theoretically, the safest thing for him to do would be to retreat to where he couldn’t
be outflanked from Maan, but that would mean giving up Jerusalem.
Local tribesmen volunteered to cut off the Ottoman supply route from Amman during a British
attack on Es Salt.
Allenby was hoping to deny the Ottomans the grain harvest of the region and he thinks
the people of Salt are prepared to lay down their lives for the Sharif.
On May 1st, the British captured Es Salt, but at end of the week are forced to withdraw
from it back across the River Jordan by vicious counterattacks.
The local help attacking the supply line never materialized and Allenby’s force took 1,500
casualties.
The Ottomans continued to reinforce Maan, and over 700 townspeople in Es Salt were killed
as reprisals.
Now no one there wanted to support the Sharif, so this was more of a political disaster than
anything for Allenby.
And someone who was recovering from a political disaster was Austro-Hungarian Emperor Karl.
In early May, he met German leaders at Spa.
German Foreign Minister Richard von Kühlmann insisted he accept German demands for a military
pact and a trade convention.
After the Sixtus Affair became public last month, there was some real distrust for Karl
in German High Command.
German and Austrian army Chiefs of Staff Paul von Hindenburg and Arz von Straussenburg signed
an agreement that both countries would mobilize every available man, coordinate troop training
and deployment, exchange officers, and share war plans.
The world saw this as total Austrian subservience to Berlin, many among the Allies now wondered
if there was any point letting AH survive.
German authority was growing elsewhere too.
On May 1st, German troops occupy Sevastopol, disband the Ukrainian Rada and establish a
monarchistic Hetmanate - under General Pavlo Skoropadskyi.
The Rada had made an arrangement with the SR, the Socialist-Revolutionaries, to fight
the Bolsheviks, right?
In return they had to agree to a redistribution of farm lands among the peasants.
This however ran contrary to the Central Powers’ need for immediate grain supplies, that only
the wealthy Ukrainian landowners were able to guarantee.
So the conservatives under Skoropadskyi staged a coup against the Rada with German support.
The Ukrainian harvest will now be gathered for the German war effort.
There were also those in allied nations that weren’t averse to working with the Germans.
The Bonnet Rouge treason trial opens in France this week.
Bonnet Rouge was a socialist/anarchist French newspaper accused of having German financial
backing and engaging in propaganda for the enemy.
Seven people were charged with espionage and communication and commerce with the enemy.
It seems that Bonnet Rouge had a report of conditions in French General Maurice Sarrail’s
army in Salonika.
It was a complete report, showing that Sarrail was unable to make an offensive, listing his
exact casualties in recent battles, and detailing the number of men stricken by illness.
It was, in fact, a copy of a document Sarrail sent to the French government detailing the
situation.
A former stenographer for Bonnet Rouge identified the document, which she had typed at her employer’s
request.
These and other materials had been given to Bonnet Rouge by Sergeant Paix-Seailles, who
himself had been suspected of giving important military information to unauthorized persons
months ago.
He was tried by Court Martial and admitted on the stand to giving documents to one of
the accused, who are suspected of giving them to Germany through neutral Spain.
This is just one part of the Bonnet Rouge trial, though, which will last until the middle
of May.
A principal witness, Lieutenant Marchand, an interpreter in the French army and an expert
in German propaganda, will testify next week.
And this week comes to an end, as does the Battle of La Lys and the British attempt to
take Es Salt.
German command is asserting more control of Ukraine and Austria, the Americans are now
arriving in force, and a notable trial begins in France.
Martin Gilbert wrote in the First World War, “The Battle of La Lys was a turning point
not only in German military fortunes, but in German battlefield morale.
Many soldiers were depressed and exhausted, seeing no further prospect of breaching the
allied line.
It was nearly four years since the Archduke Franz Ferdinand had been assassinated in Sarajevo:
who could now remember the causes and sequences, twists and turns, charges and counter charges,
which had led to such a widespread and all-consuming war?
Yet the repercussions of Gavrilo Princip’s act were being acted out in blood without
any end in sight.”
And as for Gavrilo Princip... on April 28th, 1918 - this week - in the Austrian fortress
town of Theresienstadt where he was held prisoner, Gavrilo Princip died of tuberculosis, age
22.
If you want to learn more about Portugal in the war, you can click right here for our
special episode about that.
Our Patreon supporter of the week is Titouan Lannuzel - we could not make this show without
your support on Patreon, so please consider supporting us and every dollar does make a
difference.
Don’t forget to subscribe, see you next time.