September 18th 1914
This week, we see the mobile and fast paced war of the past six weeks turning into something
never imagined that would prove more sinister and deadly than even the bloodiest battles
of the war’s beginning. This week began the war in the trenches.
I’m Indy Neidell. Welcome to the Great War.
At the beginning of the week, the Germans were retreating from the Marne River, having
been stopped by the French and the British, but they were far from beaten, while on the
eastern front the Austro-Hungarian army was in disarray, retreating from the advancing
Russians and seemingly on the verge of collapse.
Here’s what happened next: On September 13th, there was a meeting in
France at General Joseph Joffre’s headquarters. Joffre had been in large part responsible
for the French disasters of August, but he was now getting a lot of credit for the success
of September. The meeting was full of optimism, and what was being discussed was how long
it would take to push the Germans back across the border. Some though four weeks, some thought
only three. Once again, people were talking of a war that would be over by Christmas.
However, in practical terms, the French were running low on ammunition and were not really
able to exploit the German retreat, and though the British were also advancing, they were
advancing very slowly. As for the Germans, their brand new Chief of Staff Erich Falkenhayn,
Prussian Minister of War was a shot in the arm after his predecessor’s nervous collapse.
And on September 13th, a bloody month of fighting began as the Germans stopped their retreat
on what is one of the best defensive positions in France- the Aisne River. The river itself
is about 30 meters wide, with flat low-lying ground stretching out for nearly 2km on either
side with no possibility of concealment. Then, there’s suddenly a ridge over 100m high
that levels off to a plateau.
The Germans dug in on the north side of the river, a couple of miles from the ridge in
a dense forest, but commanding a huge field of fire.
That night, the British crossed the river and advanced under a heavy fog, but in the
morning the fog cleared and they were raked with fire and suffered heavy losses. By that
morning of September 14th, though, they were established on the northern bank, but the
troops were in a terrible state. Many hadn’t eaten for days and they were soaked, exhausted,
and overlooked along the entire line by the German army. Not good. But for the next few
weeks they gamely struggled to mount the ridge while the Germans tried to drive them back
to the river. Despite thousands of casualties each day on both sides, neither succeeded.
Nobody was planning on retreating though, and on September 14th 1914, British Commander
John French gave the first orders for the British to entrench. The Germans were digging
in as well, and this was the beginning of trench warfare.
See, the battle of the Aisne was the start of something different. The British troops
who fought there reported that it was far worse than the earlier battles at Mons or
Le Cateau, for the simple reason that the battle was so interminably long, and this
was very much the nature of the new style of warfare- battles no longer lasted an afternoon,
but could go on uninterrupted for weeks, with artillery barrages lasting for hours and hours,
and the only way for a man to survive in this war was to make himself invisible, digging
himself into the ground.
Nobody was really prepared for digging trenches, though- the Germans had spades, which they
used to dig small holes for individuals when under artillery fire, but the German equipment
was all designed to fit German battle plans- which involved a highly mobile war that could
be won in a matter of weeks. They did adapt fairly quickly, though, producing things like
rifle grenades and converting things like periscopes and flares for trench warfare.
Initially, the trenches were not connected in trench lines and were not particularly
deep, but they soon became more and more advanced. Front line troops would live in underground
dorms with storehouses that were built into the wall facing the enemy so they couldn’t
be shelled. There were communication trenches, backup trenches in case of retreat, eventually
a whole network across the entire front- with enemies that were often only 100 meters apart.
Commander French described the suddenly new situation on September 16th as “a stalemate
in our favor but he realized and said even then that
in this war, a spade was as useful as a rifle.
But stalemate it was in the west; as the battle raged on day after day for a month. The weather
was abysmal and spirits on both sides were at a low, but think how much lower they may
have been had they known that the front at which they were fighting would remain virtually
unchanged for the next four years. In the east, though, it was anything but a stalemate.
By mid September, the Germans realized they had to do something to save Austria-Hungary’s
bacon.
German General Ludendorff went to visit the Austrian army Chief of Staff Conrad von Hotzendorf.
Conrad was one of the chief architects of the whole war, though he proved to be a terrible
leader, but still he managed to convince Ludendorff that the Austrian army was in such a terrible
state because they’d been holding off the Russians so the Germans could tackle the French.
And Conrad’s army was indeed in a terrible state; they’d already lost 500,000 men,
100,000 of them captured and the army was shutting itself in to the fortress of Przemsyl
of the slopes of the Carpathians with 120,000 men. You’d think it would have collapsed
as all the other fortresses did to modern artillery, but the mud was too thick there
to get artillery into place.
The war in the east, though, was really a logistical catastrophe. The space to cover
was so large and communications so awful, then the autumn rains came and turned everything
to mud. There weren’t enough railways and there were just too many men to supply. In
some units, only the men in the very front had rifles, and you had to wait until someone
was killed before you could get one.
But they had men. Certainly Russia did- men by the millions. Over in the west, though,
one of the main British problems had been that her army was very small compared to those
of France or Germany, but Britain had just engaged in one of the most famous advertising
campaigns in history
...and on September 12th, Britain announced that in in only six weeks 478,000 men had
volunteered. She had managed to raise an army without any of the mandatory service the continental
armies all used. However, there were some issues with that army. Professional British
soldiers despaired of the quality of the new units, going so far as calling them ridiculous
and pointing out that it had taken the Germans 40 years of hard work and conscription to
create their army.
One curiosity of the new recruits is that they were mostly formed of “pals battalions”
which were entirely people from the same town or the same profession. This led to a little
side note- the British didn’t think at the time that without units being geographically
mixed, the entire male population of a whole town could be wiped out in a day in a single
battle. They would learn this the hard way.
Rarely has a mood changed in war as quickly as it did on the western front this week in
1914. At the beginning of this week, optimism was high in the British and French armies
as the Germans retreated from the Marne, but this was before the armies all reached the
Aisne, entrenchment began, and the war of weeks long continuous battles and bombardments
began.
What we see by the end of the week, is that the quality and ingenuity of the armies was
increasing, even as the death toll mounted, but in spite of all the new advances designed
to give an advantage, none was gained by either side, and the war of rapid victories was over
for good. The excruciating stagnant war in the mud had begun on both the Western and
Eastern Fronts. It would remain in the mud for the next four years.
If you just joined our show and you wonder how the whole thing started.
Check out our three prelude to war specials
and our very first episode right here. For more updates
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