You may or may not know this, but the great pilots, the flying aces, were the rock stars
of World War One, celebrated far and wide as heroes of their nations, and in 1916 there
was perhaps none greater than Max Immelmann. Until this week 100 years ago when Max Immelmann
died.
I’m Indy Neidell; welcome to the Great War.
Last week the Germans began and then suspended an offensive at Verdun. They managed to reinforce
the Austrians against the Russians, to hopefully stop the huge Russian advances. The Austrian
Offensive in Italy came to an end and in the Middle East; Jeddah fell to the Arab Revolt.
Last week was also episode 99 of our regular episodes so this one is number 100. That sounds
like a big number, but if you want really big numbers, let’s take a look at the Eastern
Front.
Russia’s Brusilov Offensive, named after its mastermind, General Alexei Brusilov, really
looked for the moment like the breakthrough that everyone on both sides had been looking
for for two years. In the north part of the Galician Front Alexei Kaledin’s 8th Army
could now drive to either Lemberg or Brest-Litovsk. The 7th and 9th Armies had broken the Austrians
in the south and were moving through Bukovina threatening to invade Hungary. If Russian
Generals Evert and Kuropatkin on the far Northern front could tie down the Germans and prevent
them from sending reinforcements, the Central Powers might be shattered. And another if:
If Russia could convince Romania to join the war, bringing in reinforcements for the southern
Russian forces, that could well be it for Austria-Hungary in any case. Austrian Army
Chief of Staff Conrad von Hotzendorf even said “If Romania comes in now... that is
the end of the war, and to our disadvantage no less.” Make no mistake, at this point
100 years ago the entire war pretty much hung in balance.
On the 17th near Czernowitz, the Russians crossed the Pruth River, with only a single
Russian soldier wounded in the crossing. The Austrians fell back behind the Sereth River
further south, but the Russian forces were merciless, and by the end of the week, they
had occupied nearly all of Bukovina. But still Evert and Kuropatkin failed to attack the
Germans, with their million man army and two thirds of the Russian artillery.
Germany had suspended an offensive at Verdun to send troops to reinforce the Austrians,
and this week that offensive was resumed.
On the evening of June 22nd it happened beginning with an artillery bombardment with phosgene
gas shells called Green Cross. This was a new type of gas; the deadliest used so far.
Men and horses were killed by the terror. It killed everything - leaves withered on
trees, snails died. The flies disappeared from the battlefield. It was a rain of death
for hours and when it was over, the Germans attacked, 30,000 strong. An entire French
division near Fleury - 5,000 men - was wiped out. Fort Thiaumont, just over 2km north of
Verdun, was captured. Fleury fell, but the Germans were stopped before they could take
Fort Souville, the second to last fort before Verdun itself.
The Germans had made errors. The Green Cross, while a true horror, had not been as effective
as hoped, hadn’t done much at all on the high ground, and had only been fired on the
French center, leaving their flank artillery still active. And, as was a theme of the whole
war, mistrusting novelty caused the Germans to stop firing gas shells and go back to normal
shells several hours before the attack, giving the French a chance to regroup. And - once
again - the Germans attacked on a too narrow front without enough reserves. But the French
defenses were so thin that if the Germans had had just one of the divisions that had
been sent east to help the Austrians, well, that could very likely have been it. French
General Nivelle, thanks to Brusilov and the Russians, had had time to repair his defenses
and replenish his reserves.
Here’s a side note - one of the attackers was Lieutenant Friedrich Paulus, who, 26 years
later, would surrender an entire German army to the Soviets at Stalingrad.
The French, understandably worried at Verdun, appealed to the British for aid, but British
Commander Sir Douglas Haig was committed to his coming offensive at the Somme. He would
open his preliminary barrage the 24th, though, and see if that helped relieve some pressure.
The Battle of the Somme was to begin June 29th. Here’s what Peter Hart has to say
about its objectives:
“Much nonsense has been written about what Haig was trying to achieve on the Somme, but
his intentions seem clear enough: “(Haig) My policy is briefly to: 1. Train
my divisions and to collect as much ammunition and as many guns as possible. 2. To make arrangements
to support the French... attacking in order to draw off pressure from Verdun, when the
French consider the military situation demands it. 3. But while attacking to help our Allies,
not to think that we can for a certainty destroy the power of Germany this year.”
There were no major strategic objectives and it was the 4th army under Henry Rawlinson
that would carry out the Somme Offensive and the Reserve Army under Sir Hugh Gough would
exploit any breakthroughs. Rawlinson foresaw a two-stage attack, overrunning the German
first line system in one assault, pausing to reorganize, and then making a separate
attack on system two. It was pretty cautious, but planning for the Somme required logistical
planning that the British had never before done. Hundreds of thousands of men and horses
were moved to the front, millions of shells were transported, many many millions of tons
of food and supplies, you had to set up roads and railways, trenches and tunnels had to
be dug, and you had to try and keep this as secret as you could from the Germans, who
were giving you harassing fire all the time anyhow.
But Haig & Co. thought they’d learned a lot of lessons from the 1915 Allied offensives
and from German methods at Verdun, though there were still problems:
They had to attack on a wide front, but did they really have enough guns to do a Neuve
Chappelle style bombardment? And anyhow, the German trenches by now were not the single
trench system at Neuve Chappelle. By the summer of 1916 they had a whole trench network. Belts
of barbed wire up to 30 meters thick, concrete reinforced dugouts, whole villages actually
physically incorporated into the defense system. There were three trench lines in the German
front line system, there was a whole second system being dug a few kilometers back and
even a third system under construction.
The British bombardment would be with 1,010 field guns and howitzers, 182 medium and heavy
guns, and 245 medium and heavy howitzers (Hart). Sounds like a lot but it came to one field
gun for every 20 meters and one heavy gun for every 50. At Neuve Chappelle they had
one every 6, and these guns now had to clear barbed wire, destroy multiple lines of well-constructed
reinforced trenches, and take out the German batteries. Tough mission.
One thing the British did have going for them now was the integration of airplanes into
tactical planning. Brigadier General Hugh Trenchard of the Royal Flying Corps would
fight an aggressive air war well over the German side of the field. This would prevent
German reconnaissance and artillery spotting. For months the RFC had been taking photos
of every inch of the Somme region, blowing them up to identify every German machine gun
post, headquarters, dugout, and so on.
In late 1915, thanks to synchronization gear, Germany had enjoyed a period of air superiority,
but no longer. The FE2 B, flying in formation with their Lewis guns blazing, the DH2, meeting
German Fokkers head on, the Sopwith 1½ Strutter, and the French Nieuport 16, with a top speed
of 110 miles per hour that outstripped the Fokkers. The RFC had 185 aircraft at the Somme;
the Germans had only 129, and this week the great German ace Max Immelmann was killed,
fighting the FE2 B’s in northern France. The other top German ace, Oswald Boelcke,
was immediately withdrawn from the front lines by the Kaiser’s orders and sent on training
tours of the Russian front to keep him safe. Peter Hart says this of the situation at the
Somme, “Soon the Germans were near helpless in the air, which therefore left them vulnerable
on the ground.” One Crown Prince and 20 Generals attended Immelmann’s funeral, that’s
how big the aces were. Boelcke and Immelmann had exchanged the top spot as aces off and
on for months, actually, with Boelcke taking the lead May 1st for good.
And on the same day that Immelmann was shot down, Helmuth von Moltke the younger died.
He was the former German Army Chief of Staff and is one of the people who bears some responsibility
for the outbreak of the war in the first place.
And the week ends, with two German celebrity deaths, the Russians still on the move in
the east, and the Germans being again stopped at Verdun.
In the South Atlantic, Ernest Shackleton, the explorer, after two years in the Antarctic
reached South Georgia. His first question to the manager of the whaling station there
was, “tell me, when was the war over?” The reply was this, “The war is not over.
Millions are being killed. Europe is mad. The world is mad.”
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