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JANUARY 1915 Russian Front - German Gen Hindenburg pushes for a strategy of victory in the East, and in mid-month the Kaiser agrees to send four new German corps to reinforce the Eastern front. Hindenburg and the Austrian Conrad are to launch separate offensives from East Prussia and the Carpathians. German forces include the new Tenth Army (Gen von Eichhorn) on the northern flank of East Prussia, further south the Eighth Army (Gen von Below), and Ninth Army (Mackensen) on the southern flank of the German line opposite Warsaw. Here they join the Austrians - from north to south, the Second, First, Fourth, Third and Second Armies. Russian forces consist of the Tenth Army in the north just across the East Prussian border, the new Twelfth forming northeast of Warsaw, and the First and Second around Warsaw - all facing the Germans. Opposing the Austrians are the Fifth, Fourth, Ninth, Third, Eighth and Eleventh Armies.
Baltic Sea 25th January - German cruisers 'Augsburg' and 'Gazelle' - The Russian minelaying offensive continues to take a toll of German warships and merchantmen. Light cruiser 'Augsburg' and the older 'Gazelle' are damaged in separate cruiser-laid minefields near the Danish island of Bornholm on the night of the 24th/25th. FEBRUARY 1915 East Prussia - The new German Tenth Army attacks the Russian Tenth in the Winter Battle of Masuria between the 7th and 21st. Fighting in heavy snow, one Russian corps is lost to save the remaining three. The Russian army is out of the fight for the present with 200,000 casualties including prisoners - a tactical, but not a strategic victory for the Germans. MARCH 1915 East Prussia - In the north, the Russians are driven from East Prussia, but hold the Germans on the Narew, Bobr and Niemen Rivers. Galicia - The Austrian offensive led by Third and Fourth Armies, supported by a largely German southern army makes few gains, and on the 22nd, the besieged Przmesyl Fortress falls to the Russians with the loss of over 100,000 men. Through until mid April, the Austrians just manage to prevent the Russian Third and Eighth Armies breaking through the Carpathian mountain passes south and invading the Hungarian Plain. APRIL 1915 East Prussia - With fighting continuing in the south, German Gen Hindenburg launches a diversionary attack from East Prussia into Russian Lithuania and Courland. The naval base of Libau on the Baltic coast is captured in early May. Galicia - From mid March, the Austrians had managed to stop the Russians breaking through the Carpathians. Now German reinforcements reach them in preparation for a major offensive. The newly formed Eleventh Army is moved from the Western Front, covered by the attack on Ypres on the 22nd, and placed with the Austrian Fourth under Mackensen's command behind the Gorlice-Tarnow gap, south of the Vistula River. MAY 1915 Galicia - The Russians are not prepared for the coming German-Austrian offensive - the Battle of Gorlice-Tarnow. On the 2nd, a heavy bombardment starts along the line of the Vistula River south to the Carpathian Mountains. By the 4th, Russian Third Army is almost wiped out and the German-Austrians break through. As the great attack continues, the Russians are driven back from the Dunajec to the San Rivers by the 12th, and then towards Lemberg. German Gen Mackensen advances 100 miles in two weeks. The entire Russian line is unhinged in the south and the Carpathians abandoned. Until September 1915, with few pauses, the Central Powers attack at will, and the Russians forced to withdraw along the entire Eastern Front. 8th May - German torpedo boat 'V-107' (ex-Dutch small destroyer, 1915, 340t, 2-8.8cm, 2-45cm tt). As the Germans take Libau, 'V-107' has her bow blown off by a mine in the harbour entrance (56-33N, 20-58E), and becomes a total loss. Libau becomes an important base for the German Baltic Fleet. JUNE 1915 As the German-Austrian offensive continues along the Galician Front, and the Russians are driven back from the San River towards Lemberg, Przemysl Fortress is retaken by the Austrians on the 3rd and the German-Austrian forces regroup. In the Second Battle for Lemberg, the city is recaptured on the 22nd. Now the Eastern Front runs from Lithuania in the north, loops around Warsaw, and with most of Galicia back in Austrian hands, continues south to the Rumanian border. Little remains of the Russian-Polish salient. Baltic Sea 4th June - Russian minelayer 'YENISEI' (or 'Enisej', 1910, 2,900t, 320 mines). Russian minelaying operations are not without their losses. German 'U-26' (sank armour cruiser 'Pallada' in October 1914) torpedoes and sinks 'Yenisei' off the Gulf of Finland to the west of Revel (Tallinn) as she makes her way to Moon Sound. British submarine operations - As the two British submarines continue offensive patrols, 'E-9' (Horton) torpedoes and sinks a German collier and badly damages destroyer 'S-148', to the west of Windau on the 5th. JULY 1915 Converging attacks from the north and south are made on the Russian-Polish salient in the Third Battle for Warsaw. From the north, German Twelfth Army (Gen von Gallwitz) advances out of East Prussia, while in the south, the German-Austrian offensive, including Mackensen's German Eleventh Army, continues. As the Russians retreat, the province of Courland on the Baltic coast is occupied and pressure put on the Polish salient from the northwest and southwest. The Russians prepare to give up Warsaw. Baltic Sea 2nd July - German mine cruiser 'ALBATROSS' (1908, 2,200t, 288 mines, 8-8cm) and cruiser 'Prinz Adalbert' - On the evening of the 1st, 'Albatross' screened by armoured cruiser 'Roon', light cruisers 'Augsburg' (SNO, Cdre von Karpf) and 'Lubeck' with seven destroyers lay mines in the northern Baltic, south of the Aaland Islands. The same night, Russian armoured cruisers 'Adm Makarov' (flagship, Rear Adm Bakhirev) and 'Bayan', and light cruisers 'Bogatyr' and 'Oleg', followed by armoured cruiser 'Rurik' and destroyer 'Novik' sail south to shell Memel. Diverted to hunt for the Germans by wireless intelligence and Russian decoding, they encounter 'Albatros', 'Augsburg' and three of the destroyers on the morning of the 2nd.
As two more German armoured cruisers sail to give support, 'Prinz Adalbert' is torpedoed and badly damaged by British submarine 'E-9' (Horton) north of Danzig. AUGUST 1915 The Russians continue to retreat in Poland and both Warsaw and Brest-Litovsk fall - Warsaw on the 4th, and the fortress of Brest-Litovsk on the 25th. The Germans cross the border into Russia itself. Baltic Sea 8th-21st August 1915 - German Naval Attack on Gulf of Riga
As the Germans advance east and north into Russia, a strong naval force (Vice Adm Schmidt) complete with battleships stands ready on the 8th to break into the Gulf of Riga to destroy Russian naval forces and shipping, and lay mines. But first the minefields of the Irben Straits have to be clear. Supporting them are eight dreadnoughts, three battlecruisers, light cruisers and destroyers of the High Sea Fleet under the command of Vice Adm Hipper. The minefields prove a tough obstacle, and after German minesweeping torpedo-boats 'T-52' (ex-'S-52', 1890, 150t) and 'T-58' (ex-'S-58', 1892, 150t) are sunk by mines (57-42N, 21-50E), the first attack is broken off. The second attempt is made on the 16th. A third German minesweeper 'T-46' (ex-'S-46', 1889, 150t) is also mined (57-41N, 21-50E), but further Russian attempts to interfere with minesweeping are stopped when old battleship 'Slava' is driven off by German dreadnoughts 'Posen' and 'Nassau', accompanied by three light cruisers and two destroyers. The main support force - the remaining six dreadnoughts and three battlecruisers stay in the Baltic. On the night of the 16th/17th, German destroyers 'V-99' and 'V-100' break through the Irben Strait to look for the 'Slava'. In a running battle with Russian destroyers, German 'V-99' (1915, 1,350t, 4-8.8cm, 6-50cm tt, 24 mines) is hit by 'Novik's' gunfire, mined twice, and with severe battle damage and 21 men dead, scuttled on the morning of the 17th in position 57-37N, 21-52E. During the day of the 17th as minesweeping continues, Russian battleship 'Slava' is hit three times by shells from dreadnoughts 'Posen' and 'Nassau', and withdraw in to Moon Sound. The Germans eventually clear a passage through the dense minefields, and on the 19th, pass into the Gulf of Riga to attack Russian shipping. Late that night, German large torpedo boat 'S-31' (or destroyer, 1914, 800t, 3-8.8cm, 6-50cm tt, 24 mines) is mined and sunk within the Gulf of Riga off the island of Runö (57-47N, 23-05E).
15th August - Russian minelayer 'LADOGA' (ex-old armour cruiser 'Minin', 1878, 6,100t, c900 mines) is lost on mines laid by German 'UC-4' off the Aaland island of Oro in the northern Baltic. 19th August - British submarine 'E-13' (1915, 670t, 5tt, 1-12pdr). The Admiralty decide to reinforce the small Baltic flotilla with four more 'E'-class submarines. Sailing from the English East Coast port of Harwich on the 14th, 'E-8' gets through safely on the night of the 17th/18th, but 'E-13' runs aground on the neutral Danish island of Saltholm at the southern end of the Sound late on the 18th. Next morning, two German torpedo boats appear, including the 'G-132', and in spite of Danish Navy attempts to shield the submarine, open heavy fire. The disabled 'E-13' (Lt Cdr Layton) is interned and only returned to the Royal Navy at the end of the war. Cdr Layton escapes back to England.
SEPTEMBER 1915 By the end of September, German General Hindenburg has reach the outskirts of Riga in Latvia, and in the Battle of Vilna (or Vilnius), captures Vilna on the border with Lithuania. Subsequent German thrusts towards Riga and Dvinsk, both on the Dvina River are repulsed. To offset this, the Russian Baltic provinces of Courland and Lithuania have been occupied, the Polish salient eliminated, Austrian Galicia retaken, and the Russian threat to the Hungarian Plains removed. The Russian Front now runs north to south 600 miles from Riga and the Dvina River, then just short of Minsk, through the Pripet marshes and on to the Dniester River at the Rumanian frontier. The Russian C-in-C, Grand Duke Nicholas is dismissed and his nephew, the Czar assumes personal command. Baltic Sea 4th September - German 'U-26' (1914, 670t, 4-50cm tt, 1-8.8cm). Operating off the Gulf of Finland, and after presumably torpedoing a Russian transport to the NW of the island of Worms on the 30th August, 'U-26' disappears. Her previous victims included armour cruiser 'Pallada' and minelayer 'Yenesei'. She is believed to have been a victim of mines to the west of the larger island of Dago (c 59-40N, 23-50E) around the 4th September. OCTOBER 1915 Baltic Sea British submarine successes - The few Russian and British submarines have been sent out to attack shipping between Germany and Sweden. The British boats score their greatest successes of the war in the Baltic. On the 3rd, the first German merchant ship victim - 'Svionia' - is sunk by the gunfire of 'E-19' (Cromie) off Sassnitz in the western Baltic. Over the next three weeks, another nine vessels, mostly ore-carriers go down mainly to gunfire or scuttling by 'E-8' (one ship), 'E-19' (five ships) off the Swedish island of Oland, and 'E-9' (three ships) further north off Norrkopping. 15th October - German large torpedo boat 'T-100' (or 'S-100', 1901, 390t, 3tt) is lost in collision with the 2,900grt railway ferry 'Preussen' off Sassnitz on the German coast (54-30N, 13-43E). 23rd October - German armoured cruiser 'PRINZ ADALBERT' (1904, 9,700t, 4-21cm) sole sister ship of the 'Friedrich Carl' lost on mines in November 1914, is also sunk in the Baltic. In July three months before, 'Prinz Adalbert' was badly damaged by a torpedo from Lt Horton's 'E-9'. On the 23rd October as the escorted cruiser sails into Libau on her first cruise, she is attacked by Lt Cdr Goodhart's 'E-8'. Hit in a magazine by one torpedo, she explodes and sinks with the loss of 672 crew (56-33N, 20-28E). German heavy warships withdrew from the Baltic as the British flotilla continues to attack the Swedish iron ore trade. NOVEMBER 1915 Baltic Sea 7th November - German light cruiser 'UNDINE' (1904, 2,700t, 10-10.5cm). British submarines continue their 1915 successes. On patrol in the western Baltic, 'E-19' (Lt Cdr Cromie) hits 'Undine' with two torpedoes, sinking her south of the southern Swedish town of Trelleborg (54-59N, 13-51E). 25th November - German light cruiser 'Danzig' is badly damaged in a newly-laid Russian minefield south of the Swedish island of Gotland. 28th November - Russian submarine 'AKULA' (c1911, 370t, 4-45.7cm tt and 4 drop collars). Three days after the mine damage to the German 'Danzig', 'Akula', herself on a mining mission is probably sunk in a German minefield in the area off Libau. DECEMBER 1915 By the end of the year, with Riga in the north threatened, half the Russian Baltic provinces and all Poland lost, and the hard-won gains in Austrian Galicia retaken by the Central Powers, Russia counts the cost. Although Russian casualty figures are hard to confirm, over two million men have been killed, wounded or taken prisoner. Baltic Sea 17th December - German light cruiser 'BREMEN' (1904, 3,760t, 10-10.5cm) and large torpedo boat 'V-191' (or destroyer, 1911, 650t, 2-8.8cm, 4-50cm tt). A Russian minefield off German-occupied Courland between Windau and Lyserort account for three German warships in December. On the 17th, cruiser 'Bremen' and destroyer 'V-191' go down, both at position 57-31N, 21-24E. (Some sources report both ships torpedoed by British submarine 'E-9'). 23rd December - German large torpedo boat 'S-177' (or destroyer, 1911, 650t, 2-8.8cm, 4-50cm tt). Six days later, the same Russian minefield off Courland accounts for 'S-177', same class as 'V-191' at position 57-30N, 21-27E. |
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