For the past two years it has been almost a playground of political machinations, one
side wishing to join the Allies, one side desperately trying to remain neutral, even
as it slid into a virtual civil war, but this week the final decision comes - Greece will
join the Allies.
I’m Indy Neidell; welcome to the Great War.
Last week the British War Policy Committee met with Commander Sir Douglas Haig and he
laid out his plans for the big summer offensive in Belgium, the mutinies in the French army
finally began to come to an end, Lawrence of Arabia lamented the deception being played
on the Arab Revolt, and in the field the Italians had attacked the Austrian positions on Mount
Ortigara, and there the Italians remained, under threat from either snowfall or Austrian
artillery.
They did make it down this week, though.
On the 25th, the Italian soldiers of the 52nd Division, who had hacked their way to the
top of Mount Ortigara, were pushed off by shock troops with gas and flamethrowers.
On the 29th, General Ettore Mambretti ordered a withdrawal to the original lines.
This fighting, thousands of feet high in the freezing mountain, had lasted for nearly three
weeks total, and at the end of it had produced 23,000 Italian and 9,000 Austrian casualties
on a front of three kilometers without moving the line on the map at all.
One offensive that would hopefully move the line hundreds of kilometers was in its final
planning stages.
In Russia.
You might not think it, but in Russia in these months following the February Revolution,
there was a heady spirit of positive energy.
Former Army Chief of Staff Mikhail Alexeev, who was still a fairly important advisor to
the Provisional Government, thought of turning that energy into a military offensive.
Minister of War Alexander Kerensky, following proper channels, had insisted that the Duma,
as the people’s representatives, be a full part of the process.
At a secret Duma session in mid-June the government had presented its military idea.
A couple of the goals laid out were to prevent more revolution at home by showing the Provisional
Government to be militarily capable, and to show Russia’s value to its Allies, which
would bolster Russia’s place in any postwar peace conference.
The Duma approved the idea and went so far as to declare that peace or prolonged inactivity
at the front would be acts of treason that would haunt Russia in future.
The Congress of Soviets of Workers and Soldiers Delegates, in session since the 16th, voted
its support for the plan and the Provisional Government.
This news actually did really boost morale in the trenches, General Alexei Brusilov - hero
of last summer’s successful offensive - was greeted with great cheers at the front, and
the wave of strikes that was in progress was even temporarily stopped.
It looked like Russia was back.
However, all this enthusiasm made for seriously hasty planning.
The Russians were supposed to launch an attack on the German and Austrian positions within
two weeks of the Duma’s approval- July 1st, and that’s not really time to go over all
the details of a major offensive.
There also didn’t seem to be any clear operational goals, you know?
Like, what was this offensive supposed to actually accomplish besides showing that the
Russians were willing to continue the fight?
Still, Brusilov set about planning as best he could and assembled 31 divisions, concentrating
them in the south against the Austro-Hungarians, specifically the 2nd and 3rd armies that guarded
the approach to the Drohobycz oil fields and beyond them Lemberg, a major prize.
He was, as many others were, worried about groups like the Bolsheviks, whose radical
propaganda had influenced many soldiers and even some officers.
The Bolsheviks wanted an end to the war, a capitalist imperial struggle that had nothing
to do with Russian interests, and there were military commanders who were worried that
their men might not obey orders, or worse, would turn their guns on their own officers.
And though the troops’ morale had improved, there were still loads of instances of indiscipline
and even fraternization with the enemy.
In his speeches, Kerensky had linked the future of the Provisional Government with the success
of the army, and as war Minister he was now personally linked with the success of the
coming offensive.
There were other issues as well.
Russia had launched a “liberty loan” to fund the 1917 war effort, but it failed because
the workers didn’t have any money to give, and the middle class didn’t have faith that
they’d get their money back.
So they looked overseas for money.
Bankers in London and Paris made big promises, but the money didn’t turn up so Russia had
little credit and less currency.
So how would the Russians solve their problem with munitions production?
There were dangerous shortages of military hardware after all the strikes this year.
On the other hand, the Austro-Hungarians opposing them weren’t in much better shape.
Their units were below strength, short on weapons, and short on morale.
So the week ends with the Russian steamroller getting ready to again go into gear to hopefully
repeat the successes of last summer.
And part of that Russian army that was heading for the front this week was the Women’s
Battalion of Death, led by Maria Bochkareva, the first of its kind in the world.
It was comprised entirely of women, trained by Bochkareva, who was already a decorated
Russian war hero.
Their uniforms were decorated with a red and black cloth arrowhead sewn to the sleeve.
This insignia was also worn by similar male battalions, and indicated that these soldiers
vowed to fight to the death for Holy Russia and for the Allies.
Thousands of people turned up to pay their respects to the battalion on its march to
Petrograd’s Warsaw station to head to the front, but there were plenty of people that
were not so enthusiastic.
Large groups of male soldiers stood and jeered at them.
One soldier in the crowd said that they had only enlisted for purposes of prostitution;
the women in the crowd nearly beat him to death.
Vladimir Lenin’s Bolshevik anti-war supporters were at the station trying to get the crowd
to turn on the women, but they fought their way through to the train, where they had the
honor of second-class carriages instead of the usual third-class for troops.
And the train left the station, taking the Battalion toward Molodechno, where they would
join the 10th army.
There were fresh troops arriving on the Western Front as well.
On the 25th, the first contingent of American soldiers arrived in France - 14,000 men at
St. Nazaire.
They still have to train, and the next contingent won’t even arrive for another three months,
though.
Martin Gilbert had this to say, “America was in the war, but in France her effort was
necessarily focused on building up port and training facilities, supply lines and store
depots.
Some gaps were immediately evident.
Some of the artillerymen had not only arrived without their guns, but had no idea what those
guns looked like or how they operated.
Many of the infantrymen were recent recruits, as most regular soldiers had been kept back
in America to act as leaven for the recruits still being assembled.
Even Pershing was shocked by the poor quality of his men.”
General John Pershing, leading the American Expeditionary Force, was a great organizer,
though, and he established a network of training schools and created a huge apparatus for supply
and preparation.
And elsewhere in Europe we may see yet more soldiers enter the fray.
King Constantine of Greece, under heavy Allied pressure, had abdicated his throne two weeks
ago.
Now, also under pressure, Prime Minister Alexandros Zaimis resigns his position.
Eleftherios Venizelos will take over this week and so the declaration of war that his
Provisional Government in Salonika had declared on Germany and Bulgaria last November 23rd
is now effect for all of Greece.
A state of war is soon also in effect against Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire.
Interestingly enough, different sources site four different dates for the actual declaration
of war, though most Greek sources say June 28th, so let’s roll with that.
Whatever the date, though, Greece is officially joining the war.
And though this week was quiet in the field except for the Italian front, there was a
lot going on backstage as the Russians prepare to launch a major offensive, American troops
arrive in France, Greece gets a new Prime Minister, and on the 28th General Edmund Allenby
officially succeeds Sir Archibald Murray as commander of the British forces in Egypt.
And the Women’s Battalion of Death heads for the front lines to fight.
We’ve talked a lot about Greece and the war over the months, so I’d like to look
more at the Women’s battalion to end today.
That fighting force had a big cross-section of women.
There were former Red Cross nurses, stenographers, dressmakers, servants, students; the oldest
was a 48-year-old doctor.
1,500 women had answered Bochkareva’s call to arms earlier in the spring, though the
battalion had by now been pruned to fewer than 300.
They were featured in the world’s press and they now headed off to war, and you and
I know exactly what would happen.
They would fight, and kill, and die, exactly like the millions of men also under arms,
and it wouldn’t in the end make any difference if they were male or female, because after
all they were just more bodies for the slaughter.
If you are still curious about Greece in World War 1, you can also check out our recent episode
about King Constantine right here.
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