I’ll try to catch up by summarizing the main developments in the various theaters of World War I during the period from late September to early November, 1914 - though I can’t promise to stay on track, as life gets in the way.
The French and the British won the First Battle of the Marne. This crucial victory stopped the rapid German advance and saved Paris from being cptured. If this bat t- though I can’t prole would have ended with a German victory, it could well have meant the defeat of France.
But now that the Germans had been turned back, the Allies tried to follow up on their success and started a flanking maneuver in an attempt to envelop the right flank of the German army in what would become the First Battle of the Aisne. The Aisne, like the Marne, runs east-west, but is some 25 miles further to the north.
The Germans countered this by sending troops south from Belgium. And during the weeks that followed this game of flanking and countering continued, resulting in the inconclusive battles of Picardy, Albert and Arras. As the focus of the fighting gradually moved north, this stage of the war has been dubbed the “Race to the Sea”, though neither party actually intended to reach the sea - it was just the direction that the respective maneuvers followed. This period also saw the beginning of the entrenchments that would become so characteristic of the Western Front.
In early October, the Belgians were still holding on to their fortress of Antwerp, where the king and the government resided after the loss of Brussels. Antwerp was defended by two circles of forts, an inner line immediately near the city, and an outer line some 5-10 miles away. The Germans kept advancing slowly but steadily, and they captured several of the outer forts after heavy artillery bombardments. A problem began to form further south, where the Germans were starting to threaten Ghent, thereby separating the Belgian forces at Antwerp from the Allied front further to the South. Despite British and French aid, the Belgian position became untenable, especially when the Germans gained enough ground to bring their heavy artillery within range. Antwerp surrendered on October 10. The majority of what remained of the Belgian army had retreated to fight another day, but some 30,000 were captured by the Germans, and even more fled north to the Netherlands, where they were interned. During the war, the Dutch interned all soldiers found on their soil: mostly Belgians, but also a British force that had been cut off at Antwerp, a few thousand Germans, and a few French and American pilots.
After the fall of Antwerp, the Germans continued to push westward, capturing Ghent a few days later. The Belgian army fell back behind the river Yser, almost the last natural line of defence that was actually in Belgium. German pressure was intense, and the Belgians, now joined by French and British forces, were gradually forced back. To stop this, the Belgian inundated a large part of the area toward the end of October, and this indeed worked: the terrain became almost impossible to traverse, and at the end of what became known as the First Battle of the Yser, the Belgians were still holding on to a small part of their country. King Albert I would continue leading his army in that area for four more years.
On the Eastern front, the Russian attempt to capture East Prussia had been crushed at the Battle of Tannenberg. Soon after, they suffered another major defeat, when the Russian First Army was soundly beaten at the Battle of the Masurian Lakes. The Russians were much more successful against Austria-Hungary, however. The Battle of Rawa was a major Russian victory, and the Russian third army laid siege to the fortress of Przemysl. Lemberg, the capital of the province of Galicia, had already fallen of September 3, and by the end of the month, the Austro-Hungarian army was in full retreat towards the Carpathian mountains. The situation alarmed Germany, that saw its key industrial area of Silesia threatened as Austrian resistance in neighboring Galicia collapsed. Von Hindenburg therefore started to advance southward from Eastern Prussia, but this time he was unsuccessful. On the other hand, a genuine Russian threat to Silesia never materialized.
In the South, the Serbians actually launched a limited offensive into Austro-Hungarian territory in September, but were soon confronted with a massive counterattack from their numerically superior opponent. The ensuing Battle of the Drina River lasted until early October and was inconclusive, but the Austrians could better afford the losses. Moreover, the ensuing trench warfare didn’t go well for the Serbians, who were seriously short of heavy artillery and suffered many casualties from Austrian bombardments. Eventually, they had to retreat and established a new position on the Kolubara river, where a lengthy and costly battle began on November 16.
Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire on November 2, and launched a campaign in the Caucasus. Their attack was repulsed a few weeks later, however.
In Africa, the Germans were rapidly losing ground in their Kamerun colony. The major city of Douala had fallen on September 27, and aided by their naval superiority, the British and French took the eniter coastal area. In East Africa, it was a different story however. The famous German commander Paul Emil von Lettow-Vorbeck, leading a combined force of Germans and native Askari’s, defeated a British naval invasion attempt at Tanga in early November, despite being heavily outnumbered. The parallel land invasion was also defeated at the Kilimanjaro, where the Germans were actually being led by a major actually named Georg K raut (I had to put the space in to make the forum show the man’s name!). Finally, the anticipated South African invasion into German Southwest Africa (present-day Namibia), was thwarted by a rebellion among South African soldiers of Boer descent. The Boers, who were of Dutch origin and had been defeated by the British in their own independence war a little over a decade earlier, were not at all eager to fight for the British cause. But the South Africans still captured Luderitz, and all in all, the German prospects here were looking bleak in the face of the South African numerical superiority.
Germany’s Kiautschou Bay Concession in China had been under attack by the Japanese since September. The Japanese military had been strengthened considerable during the pre-World War I period, and they were eager to capitalize on their power by extending Japan’s influence. A British request for assistance against the German colonies gave Japan a welcome opportunity, and they sent an overwhelming force against Kiautschou. The attack culminated in the siege of Tsingtao, which capitulated on November 7 after heavy bombardments. By then, the Japanese had already captured Germany’s Pacific islands, that Germany itself had bought from Spain some 15-20 years earlier. German New Guinea had been captured by Australian troops in September. Lieutenant Hermann Detzner and a few of his men would hold out in the jungle for the remainder of the war, however.
Various naval engagements that took place during these months have already been covered by AB Worsham an Wittmann (thanks, gentlemen!), but we might add SMS Emden, a German cruiser that sank a Russian cruiser and a French destroyer at the battle of Penang in late October, but had to be beached in the Cocos Islands when HMAS Sydney proved too strong an opponent on November 9.
