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Operation Unicorn

 

 

by Tom B

 

 

“GENERAL HEADQUARTERS
                                                             30th May, 1915
            Having at long last accepted the grim reality of our tactical situation, my mind with great trepidation then turned to face what was an even greater horror.  How was I ever going to communicate this dreadful revelation to Lord K?”
                                                ---Sir Ian Hamilton, Ireland Diary

------Kilkenny city 0010 hrs Sunday May 30, 1915

            Yesterday afternoon the 7th Cavalry Division consolidated its grip on not just the city of Kilkenny but the northern part of the county.  A squadron of the 25th Dragoon Regiment reached as far north as the small town of Ballyragget, which lay close to the border of Queen’s County and had a railroad station on the line leading to Maryborough.  The local R.I.C. fled to Maryborough in motor vehicles after a brief firefight.  The German cavalry carefully inspected the nearby railroad tracks and before nightfall discovered another mine which they disarmed.   To their east another squadron from the same regiment also overcame a small band of constables to capture the town of Castlecomer. There they soon began arming a company of Irish Volunteers which came forward and now had grown to 77 men and 2 women with every sign of growing further.

            Meanwhile to the east of Kilkenny, 2 squadrons of the 9th Hussar Regiment had reached Bagenalstown over the border inside County Carlow.  There too the R.I.C. offered only perfunctory resistance and a small but growing company of Irish Volunteers was formed before dusk.

            Most of the 7th Cavalry Division remained near Kilkenny, resting their mounts---feeding them as well.  In the short term General von Unger’s most pressing concern was feeding his men and his horses, not necessarily in that order.  With the assistance of the company of Irish Volunteers at Kilkenny city, which had by now expanded to 232 men and 9 women, he secured what supplies he could in the local area.   The fact that the Irish Volunteers usually started by seizing any warehouse or storage bin owned by local Protestants bothered him only a little. 

            Earlier in the evening his wireless station received a message that 3 squadrons of the 15th Uhlan Regiment which now had been provided suitable mounts, would be joining him around noon.  The 4th squadron of that regiment would arrive by train without mounts at roughly the same time.  The 7th Cavalry Division was gathering horses in County Kilkenny with the aid of the Irish Volunteers and optimistically expected to have enough mounts for the 4th squadron by then.   When the 15th Uhlan Regiment arrived General von Unger planned to activate the 42nd Cavalry Brigade HQ absorbing the ad hoc Brigade Frauenau into it.  This would permit Oberst von Frauenau to go back to giving his undivided attention to his Chevauleger regiment.  

The general was now handed a newly decrypted wireless message from General von François.  It read

LEAVE KILKENNY AT FIRST LIGHT AND PROCEED QUICKLY TO MARYBOROUGH TO CUT ENEMY COMMUNICATIONS REPEAT LEAVE KILKENNY AT FIRST LIGHT AND PROCEED QUICKLY TO MARYBOROUGH TO CUT ENEMY COMMUNICATIONS STOP  DO NOT WAIT FOR 15TH UHLANS TO ARRIVE REPEAT DO NOT WAIT FOR 15TH UHLANS TO ARRIVE STOP

------Arklow (Wicklow) 0015 hrs

            Hauptmann Schumacher had summoned Rommel to meet with him at Arklow.  “I have some very important news from Count Tisza,” stated Schumacher, “Two Irish battalions arrived in the late afternoon and with their help the count was able to defeat the British infantry he had been fighting near Gorey, though he is sorely disappointed that he was unable to completely destroy the enemy which he blames on poor leadership by the Irish commandants.”

            “Hmm did he tell you which battalions, hauptmann?   I have some familiarity with quite a few of them.”

            “Uh yes he did.  They were the 1st Waterford Battalion and the 3rd Tipperary Battalion.”

            “Ah, yes, I have worked with both of those battalions, hauptmann.  By any chance did he tell you who their commandants are?”

            “No, he did not.  Is there something I should be made aware of?”

            “Uh, perhaps.  The 3rd Tipperary Battalion had a Tipperary Volunteer commandant named McElroy.  I have had some trouble with him in the past.  To some degree he reminds me of Barry and his diabolical mentor, the late Joseph Flynn.”

            “Hmm I will bear that in mind if it turns out that Herr McElroy is still their commandant.  The two new battalions brought a considerable amount of ammunition with them which we need badly.  They also brought word that two more battalions will be crossing into County Wexford. Around noon.  One of them is Irish but the other is American.”

            Rommel’s jaw dropped.  “Americans!  The United States has joined us as an ally?”

            Schumacher shook his head, “Sadly no.  After supporting the initial landing, Admiral von Spee took some of warships and headed for the United States.  There he liberated the remaining ocean liners which had taken shelter from the British.  Several thousand Americans of either German or Irish ancestry who volunteered to fight for us were placed aboard those vessels and brought here.”

            “This is all new to me, hauptmann.  Even before I arrived at Dublin, I was remote from the main action and so did not hear much about what was happening elsewhere.”

            “Yes, I can see how that could happen. Even I was unaware of what is apparently called the American Volunteer Brigade until the count told me about it based upon what he read in newspapers before he came here.”

            “With Wexford reinforced the count should concentrate on guarding against the threat from the north, hauptmann.  He could start by returning the two Dublin companies we sent him.”

            “He has already agreed to do that.  He is also sending a squadron of his Hussars to help provide reconnaissance.”

            “Good.  Some cavalry would be useful.”

            Schumacher remained quiet for nearly a minute. Finally he said somewhat hesitantly, “The count said that the 1st Waterford Battalion brought with them several orders they claimed to have received from General Hamilton via telegraph.  One of those orders is for Commandant Pearse to proceed to Waterford once we have regained firm control of County Wexford.”

            “Waterford?  Why Waterford?”

            “Once he makes it to Waterford, the general will arrange transportation to bring him to Cork.”

            “And do we know why the general needs Herr Pearse at Cork?”

            Schumacher shook his head, “No I do not.  But it has been my experience that generals seldom share their reasons with junior officers.  Now if I were to speculate I would guess that the general feels that it is best to have an interim Irish government he can exploit.”

            At a purely intellectual level Rommel agreed with Schumacher’s conjecture.  At an emotional level though, it made him feel uncomfortable.  After a few seconds he replied, ”Yes, that is the most likely explanation.  I am not sure that Pearse will want to go.”

            Schumacher arched an eyebrow, “You know him better than I but still I find that hard to believe.  Cork is the center of things right now.  It would be much better for him to go there instead of hiding out in the Wicklow Mountains.”

            Rommel sighed slightly taking his time before answering, “What you are saying makes a great deal of sense, hauptmann.  What worries me is that Pearse is a romantic who espouses some very strange notions.  Sometimes I think that he genuinely wants to die and become a martyr for his cause.”

            “Yes, that is definitely strange, even for an Irishman.  Whatever plans the general has for Pearse would be ruined if he were to die, yes?”

            “Yes, we already have enough martyrs.  We do not need anymore,” replied Rommel.  As he said it he once again remembered the Countess and how she had saved his life when he arrived at Dublin with the 3rd Kerry Battalion.  His eyes started to grow moist. He kept himself from crying by transforming his sorrow into wrath.  The British will pay for her death!

-----east of Vilna (Lithuania) 0030 hrs

            General Alexeev, the commander of Northwestern Front, had been displeased by Second Army’s failure and ordered its commander, General Smirnov to make further efforts to rescue the units trapped at Vilna.  Smirnov was confused by the reports he was receiving from his corps commanders and thought the enemy he was facing was mostly cavalry reinforced with some additional artillery.  Second Army’s artillery had fired off most of their shells in their attacks and more was not scheduled to arrive before Monday.  Smirnov therefore felt that his best option was to try a night attack.  When the orders had been given it had been raining and the bright moon was largely obscured by dense clouds.  However the rain had tapered off and the clouds had begun to thin admitting some moonlight. 

            The attack failed to achieve surprise.  The moonlight was soon supplemented by German star shells.  The Germans had been able to add another strand to their wire barrier after dark and defeated most attempts by teams of Russian engineers to create lanes through the wire.  General Smirnov continued to believe that the key to success was to have overwhelming superiority of numbers at the point of attack.  This led him once again to funnel the attack of his 5 infantry divisions into a narrow corridor.  The congested formations were savaged first by German shrapnel shells and then by machinegun fire before they reached the largely uncut wire barrier.  Once again the poorly trained men of XXXV Army Corps panicked into a mindless horde in front of the wire.  Once again the better trained men of V Siberian Corps demonstrated better discipline and tried to work their way through the wire into the enemy trench.  A few succeeded but it was not enough as the enemy strength was much greater than had been expected. . Meanwhile many of their comrades were slaughtered.  The end result was that this attack was yet another costly failure.

            Meanwhile inside Vilna the Germans continued to make very slow progress in house to house fighting.  A company of pioneers equipped with flamethrowers had arrived yesterday and they were already proving useful.   Other bands of pioneers used explosives to create pathways between adjourning buildings.  At sunup General von Mackensen resumed making heavy use of minenwerfers. Both sides employed snipers some of whom were becoming very skilled.

-------Galicia 0045 hrs

            The 1st Finland Division had made a desperate effort throughout the night to break out of its encirclement.  This had resulted in fierce fighting.  The clouds were not thick enough to totally block out the bright moon.  The Russian attacks suffered heavy losses.  One of their battalions found a weak point in the cordon it could infiltrate and made its escape to the northeast, but the rest of the 1st Finland Division was blocked.  Meanwhile Center Army attacked from the south trying to overrun 1st Finland Division as it changed direction.  These attacks were driven off because the Russian commander has the foresight to deploy a strong rearguard.  With the approach of dawn he stubbornly refused to consider negotiating a surrender.

            As General von Linsingen had feared the need to maintain a tight cordon around the trapped enemy division was hobbling his pursuit of the Russian Eleventh Army.  Compounding his problem the assistance which he was getting from the Austro-Hungarian Fourth Army struck him as being diffident bordering on lackadaisical.  He has already sent two complaints about this to their commander, Archduke Josef Ferdinand.  His first missive received a polite rejoinder from the Archduke that he understood the problem and was doing everything in his power to rectify it, though General von Linsingen had yet to detect any sign of a noticeable improvement.  He had not received any response to his second complaint.  He was sorely tempted to send a complaint to Conrad as well but on further reflection realized that step was highly unlikely to accomplish anything productive.

------Athlone (Westmeath) 0200 hrs

            An additional 2,000 Ulster Volunteers had detrained at Tullamore late Friday.  They spent the night at Tullamore then at first light they marched out to Athlone.  Like all the U.V.F. formations they had few wagons to haul supplies which is just as well as they did not have that many supplies to haul.  Their motley collection of donkeys, mules, ponies and draught horses were not up to army standards and by yesterday they were slowing the march of the Ulster Volunteers. Despite this problem they all managed to join their fellow Orangemen outside of Athlone before nightfall.  There was a lot of pressure coming from General Hamilton to take Athlone as quickly as possible.  It was felt that lacking artillery a night attack was their best hope.

            This attack now commenced.   The original batch of Ulster Volunteers had some time to train and prepare for this but not the new arrivals.  The U.V.F. commandants believed that the rebel forces inside Athlone had been seriously weakened from the losses they had suffered in yesterday’s unsuccessful attack.  Not only did they overestimate the rebels’ casualties they were also blissfully unaware that the rebels had been reinforced since then with the arrival of the South Mayo Battalion. 

            The attack of the U.V.F. amounted to one huge rush trying to overwhelm the rebel defenses from the east and southeast.  The two badly understrength battalions of the Royal Irish Rifles were held back as a reserve to exploit the expected success of their fellow Orangemen. Unfortunately there was no success to exploit.  In a battlefield quickly illuminated by flares the rifle fire of the defenders augmented by 2 machineguns were enough to repel the Ulster Volunteers.

------SMS Friedrich der Grosse 10° 35’ W 55° 48’ N 0450 hrs

            “Why are we now running into British merchantmen while our commerce raiders could scarcely find any in the last two weeks?” Admiral von Ingenohl complained in disgust after being awakened and told that one of his torpedo boat flotillas had spotted a lone vessel WSW of von Spee’s predreadnoughts at the rear of the High Seas Fleet.  This vessel was soon determined to be a British flagged freighter.  Two of the torpedoboats were now rapidly approaching the 5,400 ton merchantman. Their officers were relieved to see no sign of a wireless antenna.  The freighter was out of New Orleans hauling cotton to Glasgow which did not interest the Germans enough to consider trying to send her into Galway.  They sank her as soon as the crew was evacuated.  They were not left at sea but distributed amongst the flotilla as von Ingenohl feared that it there were discovered in the next 24 hrs they good provide the enemy with dangerous intelligence about the whereabouts of the High Seas Fleet.

------northeast of Abbeville (Picardy) 0500 hrs

            After a day to rest and regroup the German attack on Abbeville resumed even though the forecasted weather was marginal.  General Plumer had continued to press the case for abandoning St. Riquier.  Late yesterday morning he finally persuaded Sir John French to grudgingly approve his plan.  Much of the withdrawal had been accomplished last night   The 5th Division had been sent marching west to reinforce I Army Corps while nearly half of the 3rd Division had been sent south to the new trench line which was anchored at Bussus-Bussuel.  The rest of the 3rd Division along with the Belgians continued to hold on to St. Riquier.  Plumer intended to withdraw them to the new trench line tonight.

 The German bombardment which included nearly all of the heavy artillery of Sixth Army, once again commenced firing on the positions of the British V Army Corps in an arc to the northwest of Abbeville.  General Plumer had tried in the last two days to reposition Second Army’s RGA batteries so roughly half of them could be used to defend both Abbeville and I Army Corps near the bay.  Most of II Army Corps’ guns which might have been able to provide assistance were no longer available due to Plumer’s nighttime redeployment.  The British guns tried their best to duel with the German batteries but were soon suppressed by the sheer intensity of the German bombardment. 

------near Montsec (Woëvre) 0525 hrs

            The German 33rd Reserve Division and 121st Infantry Division continued their advance against what was left of the French 75th Reserve Division.  With signs of a complete enemy collapse General von Strantz ordered these units to advance as far as possible throughout the night without stopping to entrench.  The advance of the 130th Infantry Regiment on the right flank of  the 33rd Reserve Division had been stopped before dawn by enfilading fire coming from the north.  Further south the 8th Bavarian Infantry Regiment which also belonged to the 33rd Reserve Division now discovered that the butte at Montsec had been abandoned by the fleeing French remnants and quickly occupied it.  However when they tried to push beyond Montsec they soon encountered a French brigade that had been formed from the garrison at Belfort and had been held as a reserve at St. Mihiel. It had been hurriedly committed by General Pierre Roques, the commander of the French First Army, to shoring up the dangerous breach in the French line resulting from the devastation suffered by the 75th Reserve Division.  Upon arrival the Belfort Brigade had rallied the fleeing remnants of the 75th Reserve Division.  Together they were was furiously digging a crude trench line that extended all the way south to Xivray.   They already had 16 Hotchkiss machineguns along with 5 batteries of 75s well positioned.  These defenses easily stopped the further advance of the 8th Bavarian Infantry Regiment which had outrun its supporting artillery. .
 
Meanwhile the 7th Reserve Regiment belonging to the 121st Infantry Division had captured Richecourt without much trouble but as it tried to continue its advancing moving on towards Xivray, it came under a sharp shelling by French 75s which broke up the German column.  Another regiment of the 121st Infantry Division, the 60th, had captured Seichepey and from there it was able to move south and take Beaumont against weak disorganized resistance.  The 60th Infantry Regiment then turned WSW heading down the Grand Rue for the village of Rambucourt.  They did not get very far before coming under a sharp shelling by not only French 75s but 2 batteries of motor drawn Schneider 155mm howitzers which had recently arrived to reinforce the French defenses. 

Because the 121st Infantry Division had advanced further than expected a disturbing gap had opened up between them and the Guard Ersatz Division.  Both intrigued and worried about this development, General Karl von Ditfurth, the commander of 121st Infantry Division, sent his division’s cavalry component, which consisted of 2 squadrons of the 12th Jäger zu Pferde Regiment, to scout the gap.  Neither they nor the early morning air patrols discovered any French units in the gap.  The German cavalry captured 2 strongpoints that had been abandoned.

To the east there was heavy fighting between the Guard Ersatz Division and the French 16th Division at Domevre.  While this going on General von Twardowski, the commander of the Guard Ersatz Division tried to outflank the enemy by advancing through Minorville.  The French reacted at the last minute by rushing a regiment to Manoncourt-en-Woëvre.   This resulted in a spirited meeting engagement between the two forces that steadily escalated.
 
------War Office London 0610 hrs

            Lord Kitchener arrived at the War Office.  He took one look at General Sir James Murray and asked, “What’s wrong, Muuray?  Is it Ireland or France?”

            Murray nodded with a grim expression on his face and reached forward to hand Kitchener a sheet of paper, “Ireland, sir.  We received this cable from General Hamilton during the night.”

TACTICAL SITUATION OF VI ARMY CORPS HAS DETERIORATED FURTHER REPEAT TACTICAL SITUATION OF VI ARMY CORPS HAS DETERIORATED FURTHER STOP WEST RIDING DIVISION NOW BELIEVED TO BE DESTROYED REPEAT RIDING DIVISION NOW BELIEVED TO BE DESTROYED STOP  WITHDRAWING TO LINE FROM ROSCREA TO TEMPLEMORE BUT DO NOT BELIEVE THAT POSITION CAN BE HELD FOR LONG REPEAT WITHDRAWING TO LINE FROM ROSCREA TO TEMPLEMORE BUT DO NOT BELIEVE THAT POSITION CAN BE HELD FOR LONG STOP FURTHER WITHDRAWAL TO VICINITY OF MARYBOROUGH OR STILL FURTHER IS LIKELY TO BE NECESSARY REPEAT FURTHER WITHDRAWAL TO VICINITY OF MARYBOROUGH OR STILL FURTHER IS LIKELY TO BE NECESSARY STOP WILL NEED MINIMUM REINFORCEMENTS OF ONE INFANTRY AND  ONE CAVALRY DIVISION TO REGAIN INITIATIVE REPEAT WILL NEED MINIMUM REINFORCEMENTS OF ONE INFANTRY AND  ONE CAVALRY DIVISION TO REGAIN INITIATIVE STOP

            Kitchener’s face reddened and contorted in rage. He reread the message in the vain hope that he had misread it the first time.  With some hesitation Murray commented, “For the last few days I was growing suspicious that General Hamilton was not telling us the whole story, sir, but I did not think that his situation was this bad.”

            Kitchener’s complexion darkened further.  Finally he spoke, “After all I have done for Sir Ian and this is how he repays me! The monumental ingratitude!  Well I am not going to let him wallow in defeatism and self-pity.  And I am sure in hell not going to let him humiliate me in front of the new prime minister!”

            Murray did not quite know how to respond to his superior’s remarks which struck him as being more personal than professional.  Finally he said, “We should give some thought about his replacement, sir.”   In the last two weeks Murray had brought up the possible need to replace Hamilton only to suffer Kitchener’s ire.  He now felt vindicated but feared that saying so would only make Kitchener angrier.

            “Perhaps, but early in the war I was considering replacing Sir John French who was for a while demonstrating a similar sort of defeatism.  I paid him a visit and turned him around.  I intend to go to Ireland after tomorrow’s meeting of the War Committee and see if I can do the same with Sir Ian.”

            “And just what are you planning to tell the War Committee, sir?  The prime minister is already accusing him of feeding us distorted information.”

            “Hmm that is not going to be easy.  If it turns out that West Riding Division is in fact destroyed then I see no good reason to withhold that piece of unpleasant information from the prime minister.  Moreover I am not going to interfere with the withdrawal that Hamilton is undertaking but I am certainly not going to mention a possible withdrawal all the way to Maryborough.”

            “And what about sending General Hamilton the additional reinforcements he is demanding?”

            “He has quite obviously forgotten that is completely inappropriate for a subordinate officer to be making demands!”

            “Uh, I would respectfully point out that his exact wording is---“

            “---Do not split hairs with me, Murray!” Kitchener roared, “Sir Ian may technically be within the bounds of proper protocol but read between the lines and it is painfully clear that he is making demands.  Now we have had our differences with the king about how strong we need to be her to counter a possible invasion of England, but the fact of the matter is that His Majesty does make a valid point.  Until the Grand Fleet completes the destruction of the German battle fleet, there is some threat of invasion and we must keep sufficient strength here at home to counter that most dire of threats.  Our differences with the sovereign is merely over the level of strength that is needed.  We have of late been thinking that one more of the First New Army divisions, probably the 14th Division, could be spared for either France or Ireland.  I had been leaning towards sending to the B.E.F. as it is imperative that Second Army reopen the line of communication to First Army.  We both knew that Hamilton was having problems in Ireland and we both suspected that he was not being completely accurate in his reports, but now suddenly he swings to a defeatist attitude.  As of this minute I am leaning towards recommending that the 14th Division be sent to France.    If the German fleet is destroyed soon we shall dispatch three infantry divisions to Ireland immediately.  If not then we shall have to wait for the 2nd Canadian Division to arrive before we send another division to Ireland.”

            “We have talked about releasing the 3rd Cavalry Division from the GHQ Reserve, sir, and then sending it to Ireland where cavalry can be put to good use.”

Kitchener moved his head from side to side ambivalently, “Yes, but if the king’s nightmare comes to pass and the Germans wade ashore in either Kent or Suffolk and are then able to establish a beachhead, cavalry may prove useful here as well.”

“We had discussed this before, sir.  Even if the Germans do establish a beachhead here we should be able to cordon it off with trenches in which case England will resemble France more than Ireland.”

“Hopefully we should be trying to exterminate the invaders on the beaches not trying to merely box them in.  And I am not willing to bet the fate of our nation that we can box them in esp. if they land at multiple locations.”

“Sir, in that case we should bring one of the cavalry divisions in France back to England to replace 3rd Cavalry Division.  Dovetailing with that idea is the thought that General Allenby would make a good replacement for General Hamilton.”

“You are full of yourself this morning, now aren’t you, Murray?” Kitchener snarled contemptuously.

General Murray gulped.  After a few seconds he stammered, “I, uh, meant no offense, field marshal.  I merely felt it was my duty to offer a few suggestions.”

With nostrils flaring Kitchener glared at his deputy for a few icy seconds before replying,.  “I will give your ‘suggestions’ due consideration.” 

------GQG Chantilly 0620 hrs

            Premier Clemenceau surprised General Joffre with an early morning visit disrupting the general’s breakfast, which annoyed him greatly.  “I take it that you have heard that the Spanish are going to increase their mobilization still further,” said Clemenceau, “ I seriously wonder if that was their plan all along but they wanted to make it seem that we are responsible.”

            “Well we did occupy Andorra and make some veiled threats, premier,” replied Joffre once again upset at Clemenceau for being Clemenceau, “While it is still my opinion that King Alphonso wants to avoid war, I think it is now highly likely that he will extend his embargo to us as well though it is possible that we can avoid that with some very skillful diplomacy.  The new British prime minister shows signs of wanting a reconciliation with Spain.”

            Clemenceau sighed deeply then shook his head, ”I have been hearing that as well.  Balfour is a philosopher at heart.   As such he sometimes flies off to Cloud Cuckoo Land.  The current Spanish government believes Germany will win the war and looks to curry their favor.  Until Balfour deprives the Spanish ministers of their cherished delusion his efforts will be in vain.  Unfortunately except for eliminating the rebels inside Dublin, capturing Ludendorff in Serbia and the small naval victory the British do not have any tangible successes that they can trumpet, n’est-ce-pas?”

            “They were for a while boasting about how they had defeated the repeated German attempts to isolate and destroy their First Army.  They have yet to admit that the Germans have in fact finally succeeded in cutting the precious line of communication.”
           
            “Has General Plumer given up on reopening the road?  Do they expect us to do it for them?  Can they do anything?”

            “Field Marshal French’s pleas for assistance do grow more intense every day, premier.”

            “We have already provided him with two infantry divisions and a cavalry division.  Surely that is enough!”

            Joffre shook his head, “Apparently not, premier.  The British want more.  In particular they want as much heavy artillery as they can get.  Even before we started preparing for a possible invasion of Spain, we could spare very little heavy artillery, esp. the more modern weapons, due to the ongoing needs of your Grand Offensive.”

            “So you are blaming me for the plight of the British First Army?”

            In a way yes you monster thought Joffre who instead said, “Oh, no, premier, you misunderstand me.  I fully comprehend the strategic importance of your offensive.  I was merely pointing out that we are severely constrained in what we can hope to accomplish at this moment.”

            “Ah, and do these constraints happen to include defensive operations?  Are they going to be your pitiful excuse for the German success in the Woëvre yesterday?”

            Joffre took his time before he responded to that quip.  He had reluctantly informed the prime minister who was also the war minister of the German attack there yesterday but he had been very vague as to the details.  This vagueness was only partially deliberate.  Joffre was himself less than completely sure what was going on.  He had faith in the competence of both General Roques, the commander of First Army, and his superior General Dubail, the commander of the Eastern Army Group, so he stoically accepted that it would take some time for them to provide him with a report that was both detailed and accurate.  Whatever was going on in the Woëvre, it was certainly not worth losing sleep over.

 “The Germans achieved a small success, premier.  They lack the reserves to follow it up and so it is my estimation that it is nothing more than a strategic diversion.  Falkenhayn is desperately hoping that we will panic and suspend the grand offensive to needlessly buttress our forces in the Woëvre,” he replied.

            “Oh, so you are not even considering the possibility that they hope to cut the railroad line which would deprive Verdun of supplies?”

            He treats me like a rank amateur! This is outrageous! Joffre wailed to himself, saying, “I am well aware of that possibility, premier but as I said previously, the Falkenhayn has no reserves to follow up on his limited success.  Further I must point out that our control of the Heights of the Meuse give our forces there an important advantage.  If they really do try to reach the river we will slaughter them in great numbers---which is another reason why I strongly suspect that this effort is merely a diversion.”

            Clemenceau’s nostrils flared for a few seconds then he shrugged and said, “Perhaps this is true.  I would very much like to believe it.  Though it is obvious that just how much you want to believe it and that worries me.  You are not taking the threat posed by this Boche offensive seriously.”

            Joffre ground his teeth which trying to keep his anger under control.  Finally he gained enough composure to reply, “Please let me reassure you, premier.  General Roques and General Dubail now have the situation well under control.”

            “Implying that they previously did not it under control?”

            “You are twisting my words, premier.  I have already conceded that we were taken by surprise with this Boche attack but the advantage that the enemy has achieved from it has now completely dissipated.  Yes, they now possess more of our sacred soil, which is most unfortunate, but unless they do cut the railroad line they have achieved nothing of any strategic value.  Which is why I remain convinced that it is nothing more than a desperate attempt at a diversion intended to distract us from our war winning offensive.”

            Clemenceau was partially appeased by this and remained silent. Finally he said, “Even our modest initial preparations for a possible invasion of Spain have reduced our available reserves though you try your hardest to avoid admitting it.  This will get much worse if we go ahead with the invasion.  The more I think about the more I worry that taking that step will end up undermining our offensive.  Yet if we wait until the Spanish are fully mobilized the invasion will be all the more difficult.”

            Joffre’s staff had in the last two days become less sanguine about the prospects of a quick and easy defeat of Spain.   The persistent theme in these second thoughts, were worries about the rugged Spanish terrain.  Even if the Pyrenees were crossed there were other mountain ranges such as the Cantabrian that stood in the way of the French Army.  They had come up with one new option that Joffre now decided to share, “Hmm I have giving the matter some thought and wonder if we really need to march into Madrid to get Spain to do what we want.”

            “What alternative do you have in mind, general?”

            “If we were to land a single division by sea at mouth of the Nervión Estuary we should be able to take Bilbao quickly.  This is the heart of their most important industrial area with a considerable number of important mines nearby.  And strategically it would allow us to outflank any attempt by the Spanish to establish a defensive position in the high ground to the south of San Sebastion if we should go ahead with our attack as well.”

            “Ah, that is an interesting idea and has some merit at first glance.  However I seem to recall that Spain has a navy.  Not a very big one but enough that our invasion force with require a fairly strong escort and I do not believe the squadron of old armored cruisers we have at Brest would be sufficient.   Have you contacted anyone at the Ministry of Marine?”

            “Uh, not yet premier, this idea of taking Bilbao by sea is fairly recent and I want my staff to study it in some detail before we get the navy involved.”

            Clemenceau paused for a few seconds then shrugged, “Take some time but not too much time, general.  If there is any substance to this idea I want the navy to be consulted tomorrow afternoon.  We cannot afford to dawdle.  If we must go to war with Spain, the sooner the better.  If warships need to be removed from the Mediterranean then we must do so promptly.”

            Joffre thought he detected more than a hint of trepidation in that last sentence.  “Are you still thinking about seizing Llívia, premier?  If the Spanish Right are looking for a causus belli that might do it.”

            Clemenceau sighed deeply, “Yes, I understand that though everyone who mentions it seems to think I do not.  The same people seem to think that I am incapable of subtlety!  So let me confound them with some subtlety. We shall notify the Spanish tomorrow night that we shall not permit any weapons of any sort to be brought into Llívia.  Starting at midnight anyone crossing the border en route to Llívia will be subject to inspection for weapons.  This way we respond to King Alphonso’s latest tirade but deny Dato any semblance of a causus belli.”

            Joffre thought this over. “Yes, it is a less provocative response,” he conceded. He wanted to say more to reinforce the sentiment but the thought of praising The Tiger for subtlety made him nauseous.

------southwest of Nenagh (Tipperary) 0630 hrs

            Major Jack White had awakened the Limerick City Battalion soon after first light as Admiral Jacobsen wanted that battalion to be the spear point of the Naval Division.  There was a battalion of German Marines which followed close behind them as they advanced with another Marine battalion well to their left which was to advance to Youghal Bay while they headed for Nenagh.   Mother Superior told him that the general’s decision was a great honor which showed that the Germans had finally come around to appreciating the fighting skills of the Irish.  White had his doubts about that hypothesis.  He felt it more likely that they were being used similar to the way coal miners used canaries.

The Irish Volunteers advanced a little more than a mile and the only sign of the enemy was some debris they had left behind.  Their march now came to an abrupt halt due to the sound of artillery firing off to their west.  These were the 10cm field guns of the Naval Division which  been brought across the Shannon during the night taking up positions in the eastern foothills of the Arra Mountains.  The shelling was brief and targeted enemy positions west of Nenagh.  When the bombardment was over the Limerick City Battalion continued its advance but a more cautious slower pace.   It seemed to Major White that some of the German shells were detonating not that far from his current position.  This upset him a bit because he had received no prior notification of the bombardment and could have had an advanced party in the area that was shelled.  However he also realized that the shelling provided him with a clue as to where at least some of the enemy were likely to be.

 So Major White was not surprised when his vanguard encountered a British rear guard belonging to the Lowland Division a few minutes later..  The enemy had not had enough time to dig a full scale trench.  Some of the British soldiers fought from hastily dug shallow slit trenches.  The rest were in the open trying to make use of what cover they could find.  They numbered about a hundred but they had a Vickers machinegun with them and were able to give the rebels a hard time.  Bridget strongly suggested that they launch an immediate attack supported by the battalion’s infantry guns.  In White’s estimation Sergeant Donahue had several virtues but patience was definitely not one of them and decided to wait a while. The battalion of German Marines which had been trailing behind them soon joined them. 

The weak British rearguard in this sector had been preparing to pull out of Nenagh when the shelling started which delayed their departure.  They were again on the verge of leaving when the Limerick City Battalion showed up.  The lieutenant in charge of the rearguard detachment again delayed his departure to see if the Irishmen would attack.  Soon after the German Marines arrived a messenger informed the Scottish lieutenant that another portion of the rearguard was under heavy attack by Germans northeast of the city.  Fearing that his unit would soon be trapped at Nenagh the lieutenant finally ordered his men to pull out. 

Major White was meeting with the commander of the Marine battalion, when Mother Superior burst in on them, “Pardon my interruption, major, but the Tommies are hauling away their machinegun.”

   She had spoken in English which the German officer did not understand.  Major White translated.  “It looks like the enemy is preparing to withdraw, yes?  Both of our battalions must prepare to attack!”

Bridget had been steadily working on her German. She believed she understood what had been said and liked what she heard.  “You are grinning like a school girl who has just had her first kiss,” White kidded her and she blushed which made him chuckle.

The German Marines and the Limerick City Battalion attacked as the Scots were withdrawing.  It soon turned into a chase which did not last long.  The Scots soon ran headlong into the 1st Kerry Battalion had entered Nenagh unopposed from the southeast.  With their retreat cutoff most of the trapped Scots soon surrendered.  Their Vickers machinegun was captured which caused an argument between Major White and the commandant of 1st Kerry Battalion about which battalion should get the weapon.  Eventually White let the Kerrymen keep the machinegun in exchange for one of the British supply wagons they had captured.

Soon afterwards 2 battalions of the 73rd Fusiliers Regiment was penetrating into Nenagh from the north and northwest.  These soon made contact with the German Marines, thereby linking the 111th Infantry Division and the Naval Division.  This was cause for some jubilation.  On the outskirts of town the 73rd Fusiliers Regiment recaptured the aerodrome, which had been abandoned again. The rearguard captured by the two I.R.A. battalions turned out to be the only British units inside Nenagh. The enemy had skillfully evacuated all of their ammunition though they had been forced to leave some of their food behind. The main body of the Lowland Division was well to west near the village of Ballymackey. 

Meanwhile the British 11th (Northern) Division had withdrawn to a gently curved line running through the village of Toomyvarra.  General von Gyssling, the commander of the 6th Bavarian Division continued to fret about the possibility of the enemy turning on him. He used the Bavarian Jäger Regiment, which was still under his command, to cautiously probe the British line. What the commander of the Jäger Regiment told him was that the enemy was too strong to engage without incurring heavy casualties.   
           
------northeast of Abbeville (Picardy) 0700 hrs

            In the last half hour of the German bombardment their minenwerfers joined in and half of the 15cm howitzers began switching to the improved version of the T-Shell.  The British had recently developed what was commonly called the ‘Black Veil’ respirator to protect the nose and mouth from chlorine gas.  The disruption of their line of communication across the Channel had slowed the distribution of this item and even now only a little more than half of the troops in the Second Army were equipped with one.  The device offered no protection to the eyes and this left the British batteries vulnerable to tear gas.  The Germans succeeded with concentrated fire in temporarily neutralizing most of the enemy’s guns. 

            The German assault consisted of 8 battalions.  The shelling had hit the British forward trench and cut an adequate number of lanes in the British wire barrier.  In the center of the attack there was a handful of Tommies who put up a stubborn resistance but unfortunately most of the British soldiers who were still alive were wounded or at least badly dazed from the intense shelling.  There was more trouble on the flanks of the advance where there were British forces which had suffered little from the bombardment.  These soon began to move in to reinforce the devastated sector of the line. 

            Even in the center of the salient the Germans had trouble in advancing beyond the first trench line.  Most of the British batteries that had been temporarily overcome by the German tear gas soon recovered.  Furthermore at General Plumer’s insistence, V Army Corps had positioned a relatively strong reserve inside the second trench line.  Plumer had also insisted that this reserve not be wasted in a desperate counterattack.  When the Germans tried to continue their advance they encountered unexpectedly strong resistance and soon found themselves scurrying back into the first trench.  After that they tried to expand their gains laterally which resulted in spirited fighting with the British forces on their flanks.  The Germans used their hand grenades copiously in this struggle and this was what tipped the scales in their favor as V Army Corps had received none of the Mills bombs and had only a few jam tin bombs due to a shortage of explosives in Second Army. Despite this advantage the process of expanding the flanks of their advance proved tiring and time consuming on account of the usual British stubbornness.  

------Cloughjordan (Tipperary) 0800 hrs

            With news that Nenagh had been abandoned by the enemy reached General Sontag, the commander of the 111th Infantry Division, he ordered an attack by the 76th Infantry Regiment in the vicinity of Cloughjordan.  This attack began with a brief shelling by 4 of the division’s 7 batteries incl. the 15cm howitzers.  The current defenders in this sector belonged to the Welsh Division, which had not had time to dig a continuous trench line.  They did have some shallow slit trenches but not enough to hold too many so most of the Welsh Division was out in the open.  The remaining batteries of the Welsh Division were very low on ammunition so they declined to duel with their German counterparts.  Instead they waited for the German infantry to show themselves. 

            They did not have to wait long.  Two battalions of the 76th Infantry Regiment soon came into sight.  Shrapnel shells from the British artillery mostly 15 pounders but also a powerful battery of 60 pounders disrupted the attack and it soon became apparent that the enemy was in greater than expected strength.  The attackers soon fell back to their starting positions.

            The 2nd American Volunteer Battalion was still under the temporary command of the 76th Infantry Regiment.  It had followed close behind the two attacking German battalions.  It had a clear view of what was happening including the withdrawal. 

            “I sure hope they don’t throw us into that,” Jack Moran anxiously remarked in a soft voice to Fred Austerlitz and James Cagney.

            “I hope so too,” Fred replied.

            James said nothing pretending that he had not heard these comments.  A few minutes later it became obvious that the Germans were retreating.  This produced an animated response from Cagney, “Jesus Christ!  What are you stupid Krauts doing?  You had those damn limey bastards on the ropes f’r cryin’ out loud!  Send us in!   We’ll show you how it’s done!”

            “Cagney!  Stop that yelling!” commanded their platoon leader.
           
            Cagney wanted very much to say something derogatory to the platoon leader, whom he disliked, but decided against that.  He was already been in trouble once for doing that.  He got off with only some extra duties that time because Fred’s father was their company commandant.  He was unsure if he could count on that again.  Instead he swore under breath.   Suddenly there was an ominous whistling sound. 

            “Hit the dirt!” yelled their platoon leader and some of the other officers.  Some of the soldiers immediately did as but a greater number were unable to react quickly.

            KABOOM!  KABOOM!

            The British RGA battery had decided to shift their 60 pounders from the now retreating Germans to the Americans.  Mercifully the first few shells fell short. 

            “Get down!  Hit the dirt!” yelled nearly all the officers and this time everyone obeyed.

            KABOOM! KABOOM!

            The British gunners slowly increased their elevation and soon 60 pound shrapnel shells were bursting in the midst of the terrified Yanks.  Even lying prone the battalion suffered casualties with men shrieking in agony. Sometimes those shrieks stopped with an ominous suddenness. 

            “We’re all going to die,” Moran blubbered.

            “Shut up, Jack,” hissed Cagney.

             KABOOM! KABOOM!

            “We’re dead!  We’re all dead,” said Moran.

            “Shut the fuck up, Jack!” yelled Cagney.

            The shelling did not last long because the RGA battery was nearly out of shells.  When it was over the 2nd American Volunteer Battalion withdrew.  Many of the soldiers had soiled themselves during the shelling.  Moran was one of them but so was Cagney.

------Ballinasloe (Galway) 1005 hrs

            Ballinasloe had blossomed into a bustling supply center.  Ammunition was brought there by rail from Cork.   To that was added food that was collected throughout much of County Galway.  These supplies were then hauled southeast to the 111th Infantry Division and 183rd Infantry Brigade. 

There were now two German railway officials at Ballinasloe.  The senior official summoned St. James to his office.  They spoke in German.  “Leutnant St. James, your role in helping us run this supply station will be coming to an end today.”

            Cornelius was surprised at this. “Have I done something wrong?” he asked.

            “Oh no, on the contrary, even though you have made some mistakes, on the whole you have performed rather well, leutnant.  Much better than I thought your race was capable of.”

            Cornelius decided to treat the last remark as a compliment. He had heard worse.  “Then why am I being replaced?” he asked plaintively.
 
            “That is a fair question.  What it all boils down to is that Ballinasloe is becoming less important as a supply hub.  Sometime today if it has not happened already, the 1111th Infantry Division is expected to link up with Naval Division at Nenagh.  Once that happens they along with the 183rd Infantry Brigade, will get most of their supplies from Limerick and then eventually from Nenagh. General von François will be not sending any more ammunition here.  We still will be funneling food from County Galway to the army but that is obviously a less important mission.  The local detachment of Irish Volunteers have grown in both size and experience so I believe that they can now perform our reduced mission without you.  Not as well, of course, but well enough.”

            “So where then is the Black Sheep Squadron being assigned?  Are we heading into North Tipperary to assist the main force?”

            The official shook his head, “No, that is not they want you to do.”

            “Oh, so they are sending us to assist the rebels at Athlone?”

            “Uh, no though perhaps I should say ‘not directly’.  That is they want you to take what you so colorfully call the ‘Black Sheep Squadron’ and head due north proceeding to Roscommon town. Using that as a base you are to reconnoiter the northern portion of County Roscommon.  We do not have any significant presence there right now and are wide open to an attack coming from that direction.  You will also try to recruit new members for the Irish Republican Army while trying to secure food locally.  Oh, and horses.  It appears that Armee François is still short on draft animals.”

            St. James nodded.  This new mission made sense to him. One of his concerns while helping to run the supply station was that British cavalry might suddenly erupt out of Roscommon to raid Ballinasloe.  The Germans had no air patrols that far north.  There were supposedly some I.R.A. battalions in the far north causing mischief but there have been no consistent communications with them so where they were and what they were doing or even if they still existed was largely unknown.  “How soon do you want me to leave?” he asked.

            “Your mission is important but in my estimation it is not urgent.  You can take a few hours to get your men properly organized and prepare your mounts.”

            “I appreciate that.  When are we going to argue about what motor vehicles I can take with my unit?” asked Cornelius trying to disarm the official with a grin.

            The official snorted and shook his balding head, “You are a clever monkey, thinking you can catch me at a disadvantage springing that on me all of a sudden like that.  But I have given this some thought in advance so maybe you are not so clever after all, yes?  You can take those trucks that Dr. Goddard has his rockets in.  You are the only who has much interest in those quaint things and I certainly don’t want them around here so he and his trucks are going with you.  Other than that I am giving you 2 cars, 2 medium sized trucks and a bus---all in working condition.  Don’t argue with me.  It’s all you are going to get.”

            Cornelius sighed but only slightly.  He had hoped for more but in truth he was glad that he was getting even this much.  “Thank you, those will come in handy.  How much petrol can you spare?”

            “Not much.  Oh, enough to get all the vehicles to Roscommon town but not much further than that, so you should begin looking to appropriate some of that precious liquid as soon as you arrive there.”

------HQ Ireland Command Curragh (Kildare) 1010 hrs

            General Wilson had just placed a telephone call to General Hamilton.  He quickly got to the point, “General Hamilton, one of my warplanes has spotted a large formation of enemy cavalry riding north in the vicinity of Ballyragget.  My two guesses as to their destination are Ballybrophy or Maryborough.”

            Hamilton gazed at his map for a few seconds before replying, “Those would be my guesses as well.  There is even some chance that they will split up and try for both.  Which do you view as the most likely?”

              “I would say Ballybrophy as it is closer, sir.”

            “I see, so you are not going to move your headquarters then?”

            “Uh, no I did not say that, sir.  While I regard Ballybrophy as the more likely target it would be foolhardy to rule out Maryborough.  I have already given orders for my staff to prepare to move to Portarlington.  In the early afternoon it should become clear where the German cavalry are headed.” 

            “I hope that you are aware that if the German objective is in fact Maryborough and you move to Portarlington they will be able to severe your communications with your divisions.”

            “Well of course I am aware of that, sir,” Wilson protested, “But I see no viable alternative.  If and when he have a clear indication that the German cavalry are coming here, I intend to send the 13th Division marching here at the fastest pace they can sustain.  Late tomorrow they will deal the German cavalry a crippling blow.”

            “More likely the German horsemen will saddle up and ride away.  Mobility is after all the essence of cavalry.”

            “Perhaps, but in any event the line of communications will be restored in less than a full day, sir.”
 
“Ah, but conversely it means that it would be severed for nearly a full day and to restore it you intend to remove one of your strongest divisions from your line.  That would leave only three of your divisions---two of which are very weak---to face three German divisions plus an Austrian division and an independent German brigade without any communications to your headquarters to coordinate their defense.  Needless to say this worries me deeply.  I am surprised that it does worry you as well---which gives me yet another reason to fret as if I did not have enough already.”

“Will due respect, sir, it is my professional judgment that you are overestimating the enemy’s offensive capabilities.   You have remarked that two of my divisions are very weak, but in turn I would point out that two of the German divisions are still weaker and that the Austrian division is obviously much inferior in quality to the Germans.”

“You keep saying that, Wilson, but the failure of your counterattack against the enemy’s right flank leads me to question that cherished assumption.”

“General Shaw would have prevailed in that attack, sir, but he let the German cavalry distract him.”

“That is one interpretation, Wilson. Not one that I accept, well at least not completely.”

------Bantry (Cork) 1045 hrs

            The 10th Jäger Battalion marched into the seaside town of Bantry that lay at the far eastern end of the bay named after it.  The battalion’s bicycle company had arrived at Bantry more than hour ago along with the troop of Uhlans assigned to Regiment Kurzbach.  Mounted on a horse Oberst Kurbach, commander of the regiment preceded the head of the marching column.  He was greeted at the edge of town by two sentries wearing I.R.A. tunics (uniform trousers were still in short supply) with steel helmets perched on their heads.  They saluted him sharply which Kurzbach had found to be more the exception than the norm with the Irish Volunteers.  “Our commandant is expecting you, colonel,” said the senior of the two sentries, “I shall escort you to him.”           

            Bantry was the headquarters of the West Cork Battalion which had been fighting the British forces in the Beara Peninsula for some time.  They had held their own on defense so far but were incapable of seizing the initiative.  Eliminating the enemy in the Beara Peninsula was the mission of the newly formed Regiment Kurzbach within which they would be a key component.  There was also a large I.R.A. support company at Bantry made up of women and the men deemed least fit for combat.  

            The sentry ushered Kurzbach into the office of Major Eggemann I.R.A., the commandant of the West Cork Battalion.  He was another leutnant who had been brought into the Irish Brigade and made into an apocryphal “major” to impress their gullible Irish underlings. He wore the officer’s version of the I.R.A. uniform with its shade of green which was more pronounced than that of feldgrau.

 “Welcome to Bantry, oberst,” Major Eggemann greeted his new commander as he saluted.

 Oberst Kurzbach returned the salute, “From what I have been told you have performed admirably here.  With these minimally trained rabble you have been able to defend yourself against British infantry, cavalry and even a small amount of artillery.”

“Yes, oberst.  The enemy cavalry brought some horse artillery with them which they have used against us on three separate occasions.  Then there was one day when an armed British trawler shelled us.  At high tide she was able to make it around Whiddy Island and indiscriminately shelled the town at close range resulting in mostly civilian casualties. They also destroyed several fishing boats.”

“Yes, on the way here I saw signs of the damage caused by the shelling.  It must have put a great strain on the morale of your battalion.”

“We had a few men who deserted afterwards, oberst.  But more came forward from the civilian population afterwards to take their place.”

“Ah, that is an encouraging sign.  And so this shelling from the sea occurred only once?”

“Yes, only once, oberst.  It happened nearly three weeks ago.  Soon after that the High Seas Fleet arrived which may be why it has not happened again.  Though I must say that I have been deeply disappointed that we have yet to see a German warship in Bantry Bay.”

 Kurzbach shrugged, “I am not a naval officer.  There could be any number of reasons why that it is so.   The good news is that at least for the time being the proximity of the High Seas Fleet is apparently deterring the return of the British warships.”

“Yes, that is my conclusion as well, oberst.  However as a precaution I installed an outpost on Whiddy Island to give us some warning if the British should try it again.  We are using an abandoned fort erected on the island during the Napoleonic era.  Did you know that a French invasion force very nearly landed in Bantry Bay in 1796?”

“No I did not but quite frankly I did not come here to study Irish history.  What is the current strength of your battalion?”

“Oberst, the battalion has a current strength of 1,295 men including myself.  That includes a few men who are moderately sick at this time but not the wounded and gravely ill.  The support company has 242 men and 73 women.  These numbers could change while we are talking.  Since Tuesday afternoon we have been experienced a sharp increase in the number of new recruits.”

“Yes, South Cork Battalion which is also part of my regiment has experienced the same thing.  Their commandant believes it is mostly due to the British government recently deciding to use the Ulster Volunteers, a paramilitary force that is widely detested by the Irish Catholics.”

 “Though I have others speculate that this surge in enlistments is at least partially due to the recent execution of a prominent woman rebel, the Countess Markievicz, who was greatly admired.”

“I have heard that as well but I find it hard to believe that people could get so worked up over a single execution, even if it’s a woman.”

“In this case it is not just one execution but many starting with that controversial Connolly fellow they hanged over in England.  It could be that executing the Countess may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

Kurzbach thought that over for a few seconds before saying, “That is interesting speculation that I might like to discuss further at some point but not now. How is West Cork Battalion currently organized?”

“The battalion is divided into 5 rifles companies, oberst,  plus a machinegun section and a small cyclist platoon that performs reconnaissance.  There are also some small outposts such as the one on Whiddy Island I previously mentioned.  The 5th rifle company is the largest with over 300 members.  That is because when we get a new recruit we assign him to the 5th company.  After a week of very intensive training we either relegate the recruit to the support company if the trainers feel they are ill suited for combat else they get moved into one of the other companies.  Of course the rest of the battalion receives training whenever possible but it is not as basic for the soldiers in the other companies.”

“At first glance this strikes me as a reasonable arrangement.  When we begin our campaign I want you to keep the 5th rifle company behind here at Bantry along with the support company.  The 5th company will in effect be our feldersatz formation.”

“I will do that, oberst.  May I ask as to when the campaign will start?”

“It will be more than 3 hours before the other components of my regiment, the South Cork Battalion, the 3rd American Volunteer Battalion and the infamous Sealgair Battalion arrive here.  I will spend the afternoon trying to combine these disparate units into something that resembles a cohesive fighting force.  Meanwhile I will send out my cavalry troop and the Jäger bicycle company to reconnoiter.  The combined regiment will leave at first light tomorrow.”

“Ah, so the legendary Sealgairs still exist, oberst?  They originated not far from here.  They are regarded as inspiring heroes by quite a few of my men.”

“Yes, they still exist, though they only number just over 300 men.  Their original leader, someone by the name of Flynn is dead.  As I hear it Commandant Flynn was very unorthodox in his tactics and remains a very controversial figure.  While his successor Kerns is regarded as being more stable and reliable, the unit still retains a reputation for being a band of unruly savages.”

“Hmm that is most unfortunate, oberst.  They could possibly exert a pernicious influence on my lads.  We will need to keep an eye on them.  I am curious though about the American battalion that will be part of the regiment.  What are they like?  I must confess that when I first heard that there were American battalions in Ireland I mistakenly thought that the United States had become our ally.”

“Yes that seems to be a common misunderstanding.  They are Americans who volunteered to fight whom Admiral von Spee brought back with him.  In the battalion that was assigned to me a little more than half are Germans, most of the rest are Irish.  Of the former more than a third have had some military training.  On their voyage across the Atlantic those who had military experience were called upon to train the rest.   They also function as their officers and unteroffiziers now that they are in Ireland.  They have yet to see combat---well at least the battalion I was provided, I know nothing of the other American battalions---and so they are an unknown quantity.  I cannot see them being any worse than the I.R.A.”

“They I.R.A. has its shortcomings, oberst but overall the performance of my battalion has been more than satisfactory exceeding my expectations.”

“Your opinion is duly noted but I will judge that for myself.  What is this about some problems in Skibbereen?  I do not like the idea of having a potential threat in my rear when I advance into the Beara Peninsula.”

“Inside County Cork there are some enclaves of AngloIrish Protestants.  There is a fairly large one at Skibbereen and they have acquired a small number of firearms probably from the R.I.C who had previously confiscated them from the local Irish Volunteers and National Volunteers.  These armed Protestants are now organized and control Skibbereen.  Mostly they are content to patrol only a short distance from town but on occasion they have tried to assist some AngloIrish landowners further away.”

“I see.  And what action have you taken to deal with this dangerous situation?”

“There is nothing I could do, oberst,” Eggemann replied defensively, “I would have had to send at least one full rifle company to deal with them.  With the threat posed by the British forces to the north I did not feel that I could spare an entire company.  It is one reason why I have requested reinforcements.”

Oberst Kurzbach shook his head.  He was disappointed by this but not furious as he understood his subordinate’s dilemma and was otherwise impressed by what he was finding at Bantry.. “We need to take care of Skibbereen before long but we cannot let it distract us from our primary mission. I am tempted to send the Sealgairs to Skibbereen.  It would give them something to do that I believe they can handle while keeping them from corrupting your battalion.”

------Nolette (Picardy) 1100 hrs

            While fighting continued northeast of Abbeville much of the artillery of General Plumer’s Second Army commenced.  Plumer had wanted to postpone this attack until the middle of the afternoon to give the 5th Division more time to move into the jumping off position replacing elements of the 1st Division in some of the trenches.  It would also allow the attacking soldiers to get more sleep giving their officers more time to prepare.  Field Marshal French though was adamant that the attack take place before noon and with great reluctance Plumer had acceded.  

            The B.E.F. continued to be short on artillery shells.  The RGA batteries with the heavy weapons as well as field howitzer batteries involved in this attack were literally firing off all of their remaining ammunition.  Plumer had assumed that there was to be another convoy from England today only to learn from Sir John French that the Admiralty had informed him at the last minute that there would be no convoy.  The Admiralty also told the B.E.F. that the warships of Dover Patrol would not be able to assist in bombarding the Germans.  The Admiralty did not see fit to tell the army that this was due to their belief that the High Seas Fleet would be passing through the English Channel today.

            While some of General von Fabeck’s artillery had been shifted a few important kilometers east to support the attack on Abbeville, there was still a powerful contingent guarding this very important sector.  These were more than willing to duel with their British counterparts esp. as they did not have any British warships offer to distract them today.  The artillery duel was very intense and the batteries on both sides suffered.  The British succeeded in suppressing most but not all of the enemy batteries but in doing so many of their pieces incl. the howitzers were diverted from the task of smashing the enemy trenches.  Those batteries that did target the German trenches were firing much shrapnel than HE shells.  This was worse than usual as I Army Corps had expended nearly all of its HE shells in prior attacks.

            The British shortage of shells limited their bombardment to only 45 minutes. The infantry assault that followed was made by 6 battalions of the 5th Division, which were nearly full strength and 3 battalions of the 1st Division, which were not.  Many of the German batteries had been suppressed but some were still able to open fire.  Once again General Plumer had instructed General Munro not to attempt to lunge directly for Morlay where the German defenses were the strongest.  This did not mean that the German defenses were feeble where I Army Corps attacked.  There were well dug trenches topped with breastworks that had suffer some damage from the bombardment but still remained formidable.  The no man’s land was short here.  As a result German Maxims opened fire as soon as the Tommies went over the top causing many of them to fall back into their own trench often knocking down their own men below them. 

While they had been given inadequate rest the night before the soldiers of the 5th Division possessed incredible determination to help rescue their comrades in First Army.  Even though the bombardment had done little to cut the German wire barrier, enough of the Old Contemptibles managed to get through the wire often scrambling over entangled corpses.  The 5th Division did not possess any Mills Bombs and were forced to carry improvised jam tin bombs.  The 1st Division had only a small number of Mills bombs leftover from their previous attack and mostly used jam tin bombs.

 The defenders were once again the 1st Guard Division.  The Prussian Guards had paid a heavy price since the offensive began back in April.  The replacements they had received were only a fraction of their cumulative losses. Their own supply line had been under pressure several times with the result that they often received less than their full ration of food.  While the combat they experienced was not actually continuous it was so frequent that it was beginning to seem that way.  This close to the coast trenches flooded easily due to the water table.  The prolonged hardships of trench warfare had dulled the edge on the Prussian Guards.  The end result was that the attacking battalions of the British 5th Division despite horrendous losses were able by sheer force of will to capture a small piece of the German line.  They were able to hold on to their small gain against the German counterattacks which were marred by a little less ferocity than usual by the Prussian Guards compounded by the problem that the requested assistance from the neighboring 42nd Infantry Division arrived late because two Prussian Guard messengers had been killed before they could deliver their messages.

The fighting continued well into the afternoon.  The ratio of casualties favored the Germans by a modest margin due to their minenwerfers and superior grenades but with a fresh division in line the British had more immediately available reserves to call on, allowing them to keep their modest gains.  Further complicating the situation Sixth Army continued to worry that this attack was merely a diversion and that the British Second Army would launch its real attack directed at Morlay in the afternoon.  This caused them to restrict the amount of assistance that the 42nd Infantry Division could give the 1st Guard Division as it was the 42nd Infantry Division that occupied Morlay.

------Nish (Serbia) 1150 hrs GMT

            There was a commotion on the northeast edge of the city of Nish.  A regiment of the Bulgarian First Army had broken through the crumbling resistance of the Serbian Second Army.  With great fanfare the Bulgarian soldiers were welcomed by the Ottoman 7th Infantry Division.  The Bulgarians had thoughtfully brought some supplies with them.  They were not much but they supplemented the not quite adequate supplies that the German armored train had brought the Ottoman III Corps.  Esat Paşa ordered a celebration for the evening.
^^^^
            “Sunday morning I was granted a little bit of extra sleep while the practicing Catholics in our battalion attended Mass.   Many of the Germans in our battalion were Lutherans but it seems that in Ireland Lutheranism is about as common as Hinduism.  There was a small contingent of German naval personnel at Waterford harbor but they apparently lacked a Lutheran chaplain.
            Once the Catholics returned from Mass we were back on the march.  Accompanied by the 1st East Cork Battalion we soon crossed the River Suir and entered County Kilkenny.  We continued marching north and then in the early after we crossed the River Barrow and entered County Wexford at the town of New Ross.  One of the most unusual members was a young Irishman named Kennedy who claimed to be not only the president of a bank but the youngest bank president in the United States.  If true he is surely listed in Mr. Marquis’ influential tome thereby certifying him to be an honest to God celebrity, i.e. someone who is known to many people he is glad he doesn’t know.  When we rested at New Ross His Famousness told anyone who would listen and even a few who would not, about how his grandfather had left for America from New Ross having grown up not far from there.” 
                                   ----H.L. Mencken, Over There

------ Kilkenny city 1220 hrs

            The lead squadron of the 15th Uhlan Regiment rode into Kilkenny.  Riding at the head of the column was the commander of the 42nd Cavalry Brigade.  Waiting for him were two officers.  One was the commander of the 15th Uhlan Regiment’s 4th squadron which had arrived by train 20 minutes earlier.  The other officer was Oberst von Frauenau, the commander of the 2nd Chevauleger Regiment.  The brigade commander had expected to report to General von Unger, the commander of the 7th Cavalry Division. 

            “Is General von Unger in the city?” the brigade commander as von Frauenau, “If he is I need to speak with him.”

            “General von Unger is not here, Oberst,” replied von Frauenau, “He received orders from General von François to attack Maryborough.   He departed at dawn with all of his division except for my regiment.  There are a few hundred British soldiers holed up in a section of the city.  My regiment along with a fairly weak newly formed I.R.A. battalion were assigned to whittle the enemy down and contain them.”

            As if on cue a few rifle shots could be heard in the distance.  “I see,” replied by brigade commander, “I was informed that your regiment as well as the 16th Uhlan Regiment would be coming under my command in lieu of the 11th Uhlan Regiment which is still deprived of mounts.”

            “Oberst, my regiment is indeed at your disposal but the 16th Uhlans are currently heading for Maryborough with the rest of the 7th Cavalry Division.  General von Unger told me that once you caught up with the rest of the division he would place the 16th Uhlans as well under your command.”

            “That is all well and good but the 15th Uhlan Regiment has ridden hard all morning.  Our mounts need to be rested and fed before we can continue on to Maryborough. Are your Chevaulegers ready to leave?”

            “Half of them are still positioned in the cordon around the British contingent, Oberst.”

            “We will replace them with two squadrons of the 15th Uhlans as quickly as possible.  Once that has been accomplished your regiment will then go on ahead as far as Ballragget,” said the brigade commander who then turned to hauptmann who commanded the 4th squadron, “Has your squadron been provided with a sufficient number of riding mounts of acceptable quality?”

            The hauptmann had been expecting that question but nevertheless he hesitated a few seconds before answering.  There were at least twenty of the riding horses he thought were marginal at best.  The rebels were continuing to gather horses and he was hoping they would soon have enough better quality replacements.  The brigade commander had a reputation for disliking lengthy responses from junior officers, so the hauptmann finally replied, “The quality is not as consistently good as I would like, oberst, but it will do.  We are ready to ride out as soon as you give the word.”

            “Which will be soon but not too soon.  Let us see what we can do to rid ourselves of this British thorn in our side.”

------Toomevarra (Tipperary) 1325 hrs

            With Nenagh secured and the Naval Division linked with the 111th Infantry Division, the pursuit of the retreating British forces soon resumed.  This required some disentangling of the units for both divisions.  The 3rd Marine Fusilier Regiment was at long last returned to the Naval Division making Admiral Jacobsen a little less cautious.  The pursuit would consist of the 111th Infantry Division, the Naval Division and the 6th Bavarian Division pressing the steadily contracting enemy salient.  Once again Admiral Jacobsen put the Limerick City Battalion in his van. 

The morale of the Irishmen was high on account of their recent successes.  Mother Superior continued to pressure Major Jack White to pursue the enemy with the utmost tenacity.  White appreciated Donahue’s enthusiasm but he tempered it with some prudent caution.  As their lead company approached the town of Toomevarra it came under a brief shelling by a battery of 15 pounders.  The men of the Limerick City Battalion had been shelled a great many times during the Siege of Limerick.  The Irish Volunteers respected artillery but it had long since ceased to cause blind panic.  Their formation was spread out and their conditioned reflexes cause them to dive to the ground with the first ominous whistle of the incoming shells.

The shelling did not last long as the British batteries were again running low on shells and so felt a need to conserve. The shelling was followed by a bayonet charge by the 5th Battalion Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.  General Egerton, the commander of the Lowland Division, had noticed that his closest pursuers were rebels and that they were now well in front of the rest of the Naval Division.  The commander of the 5th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, a Protestant Ulsterman like the vast majority of his men, thought he saw a chance to wipe out the detested Catholic traitors. He felt that bullets were too merciful for the rebels.  They deserved to be disemboweled.

The lead company of the Limerick City Battalion did fall back in disarray from the bayonets of the Ulstermen, but when they reached the rest of the battalion Major White rallied them.   Those men who were tempted to run did not want to shame themselves in front of Mother Superior.  The 5th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers had lost more than half its strength during the Siege of Limerick so they were barely equal in size to the rebels, who were quickly setting up their machineguns and infantry guns.  The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers were driven off with heavy losses by the Irish Volunteers. German Marines began to arrive at the late stage of this engagement.  Their presence encouraged Major White to order the counterattack that Bridget was strenuously recommending.  The German Marines soon followed close behind.  This counterattack quickly captured Toomevarra but soon after that the rest of the 31st Brigade came to the aid of the 5th Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers putting a temporary     

While this was going on General Wilson had finally concluded that Maryborough was where the German cavalry division was headed.  He ordered General Sitwell, the acting commander of the 11th (Northern) Division to move at the greatest possible speed to Mayborough. However the 11th (Northern) Division was currently occupying a 4 mile stretch of the front between the Lowland Division and 13th (Western) Division so Wilson ordered Sitwell to leave behind one of his brigades plus a battery of 18 pounders.  Sitwell selected the 32nd Brigade.  He was methodical erring on the side of being overly cautious, in repositioning them to take over the entire front of his division, which was being steadily pressed by the Bavarian Jaeger Regiment and the 1st Kerry Battalion.  This in turn caused some additional delay in the departure of the 11th (Northern) Division.

------HQ Armee Abteilung François Charleville (Cork) 1340 hrs

            A few minutes ago a telephone link had been established between General von François’ headquarters at Charleville and the current headquarters of the 111th Infantry Division at Borrisokane. General von François was now speaking with General Sontag, the commander of the 111th Infantry Division, “How is the 183rd Infantry Brigade faring?  Are they still heavily pressed by British attacks?”

            “No, Your Excellency.  The British have halted all attacks and are now digging in on the northwestern outskirts of Roscrea.  To prevent the enemy from finishing their entrenchment I ordered the 183rd Brigade to attack at noon but the British artillery broke up that attack.  My plan is to use most of my artillery to support a second attack.”

            “No.  Do not go ahead with that attack.  Instead I want the 183rd Brigade to move to the north of the Slieve Bloom Mountains going through Kinnitty.  While your division will now be receiving supplies through Nenagh, the 183rd Brigade will continue to receive theirs through Birr.   After they reach Kinnitty they are to proceed to the town of Mountrath where they will come under the temporary command of the 7th Cavalry Division which is descending on Maryborough.  I am expecting this to draw a response from the enemy so General Schußler should be made aware that could have an opportunity to attack the left flank of the enemy as they rush towards Maryborough.  To that end he should set up observation posts in the Slieve Bloom Mountains and use their woodlands to hide from enemy air patrols whenever possible even if it slows his rate of march a little.  He should have enough time provided he starts quickly.”

            General Sontag’s sigh could be heard over the telephone, ”Your Excellency, this abrupt redeployment of the 183rd Brigade will expose my left flank.”

            “Yes, it will.  However the fact that enemy is digging trenches leads us to believe that they are not planning to renew their attack anytime soon, yes?  You should have more than enough time to create a new flank guard out of your remaining units.”

            “Doing that will weaken my pursuit of the British, Your Excellency.”

            “I understand and accept that.  It is a modest problem you need to address but it is most definitely not a good argument against my plan, which I expect to be implemented with enthusiasm.  Am I understood?”

            “Yes, Your Excellency.  I understand completely.”

------south of Joniskis (Lithuania) 1400 hrs GMT

            The Army of the Dvina was busy chasing the Russian Fifth Army with the exception of the newly arrived Division Breugel which was allowed to rest at Shavli after its hard march.  I Army Corps with the help of the 8th Cavalry division, the Reserve Cavalry Division and the 11th Landwehr Division was pursuing the XIX Army Corps which was heading towards Pasvalys.  However the I Army Corps was suffering from exhaustion which hindered its ability to pursue.  The two German cavalry divisions had their hands full with the Russian 3rd Cavalry Division and the 1st Don Cossacks Division, so were unable to do anything to harass the retreat of XIX Army Corps.   General von Marwitz decided not to use the 1st Cavalry Division in the pursuit of the XIX Army Corps.  Instead he ordered that division to probe further to the east in the direction of Jakobstadt and if possible try to secure a crossing there by coup de main.  To this end he provided the 1st Cavalry Division with the half dozen armored cars Ober Ost had recently sent him.

            The other two Russian corps were heading directly for Riga on the main road running through Yelgava.  The XXXVII Army Corps had already reached Eleja.  The Russian III Army Corps on the other hand paused to rest at the city of Joniskis.  They were being pursued by the XXV Reserve Corps with the aid of the 4th Cavalry Division and the 2nd Motorized Heavy Artillery Regiment.  General von Marwitz continued to worry about a Russian riposte and had repeatedly told General Scheffer-Boyadel, the commander of XXV Reserve Corps to be cautious, since its two divisions had suffered serious losses during the Battle of Shavli.

 Scheffer-Boyadel decided to make good use of the 2nd Motorized Heavy Artillery Regiment now that the enemy had paused.  The Russian rearguard which lay in an arc 4 km south of the city consisted of the 27th Infantry Division.  They had not have time to dig a continuous trench line but had set up 4 strongpoints plus a few slit trenches.  The 4 batteries of 15cm ex-naval guns and 2 batteries of 21cm Mörsers hit the Russians hard opening up a hole that the 50th Reserve Division was able to exploit.  The 25th Infantry Division was forced to fall back into the city but this was a well executed fighting withdrawal not a panicked flight.  Scheffer-Boyadel then ordered the 4th Cavalry Division to try to envelop the city from the west but this maneuver was blocked by elements of the Russian 28th Infantry Division.  After that he methodically blasted with his artillery.

------Maryborough (Queen’s) 1430 hrs

            There was an Irish Volunteers company in Maryborough. It had grown steadily in size during May mostly by absorbing disenchanted Redmondites.  This growth had accelerated in the last week with the news that the British government was using the U.V.F.  The R.I.C. had arrested the company commandant soon after the Germans had landed and seized most of the company’s meager arsenal.  Peter Clancy, the company’s deputy commandant, went into hiding and managed to avoid capture.   Lacking weapons Clancy had decided that his best course of action was to sabotage the enemy’s line of communications under the cover of darkness.  Telegraph and telephone lines were snipped while other Irish Volunteers tried to damage railroad lines with sledgehammers.  Explosives would have been much more effective in damaging the rails but the Irish Volunteers at Maryborough were unable to get their hands on any.  These activities were not without risk of course.  There were nighttime patrols, usually by the R.I.C. but sometimes by British soldiers intended to stop the sabotage.  These patrols proved more effective defending the railroad tracks than the wires as sledgehammers generated more noise than scissors.  The rebels sustained some losses but persevered nonetheless.

 Maryborough Company currently had but 2 rifles.  One was a Lee-Enfield they had recently acquired by ambushing a constable.  The other was a feeble .22.  Their other firearms consisted of 4 shotguns and 9 pistols. For this reason Clancy had viewed launching an uprising as suicidal. However in the last week the news from the front starting with the lifting of the siege of Limerick increasingly indicated that the British were being hard pressed.  Just before noon word reached him that the British were evacuating the town in a hurry. This was soon followed by rumors that a strong German force---cavalry in some rumors and infantry in the others---were rapidly approaching Maryborough.  With some apprehension Clancy finally ordered his company to try to seize the town.  Most of those without a firearm carried an improvised pike though a few were armed with pitchforks.

 The sole Lee-Enfield was assigned to someone believed to be the best marksman in the outfit.  He was provided with a sniper’s post on the east end of town.  He got to fire a few shots at the last British supply wagon leaving Maryborough, badly wounding one British soldier.  Meanwhile the rebels swarmed over the town.  The British had evacuated their entire stock of ammunition but were forced to leave behind a considerable quantity of food most of it bully beef.

The rebels were also looking for draught animals.  Three of them wearing armbands crudely marked IRA entered a stable that had been used by the British Army.  Two of them carried pikes.   The third was armed with a butcher’s knife.  Inside the stable they found four horses, all of which were bandaged from wounds they had suffered.  Suddenly one of rebels noticed a sudden stirring inside a haystack.  A man in civilian clothing emerged from the haystack.

The rebels advanced towards him with their weapons pointing ominously in his direction.  The man who emerged from the hay raised his hands.

“Who are you and what are you doing here?” demanded one of the pikemen.

“My name is C.P. Connolly.  I am an American journalist currently in the employ of Collier’s Weekly.  They sent me to cover the Irish campaign.  I take it that you three are rebels.”

The Irish Volunteers slowly lowered their weapons.  “Yes, we are members of the Irish Republican Army,” one of them answered, “Your accent does sound American, Mr. Connolly, but you still have not told us why you were hiding in this haystack.  If you are in fact a reporter as you claim and not a horse thief, that strikes me as the strangest place f’r you to be doin’ your job.”

While brushing off the hay on his clothes, Connolly answered, “You see my dear fellows, I was assigned by the British to General Wilson’s headquarters along with some British reporters.  We were provided with whatever information the general and his staff wanted us to know.  I soon became convinced that we were being a lopsided picture.  There is at least two sides to every good story and I thought it was high time that I became acquainted with another one.  So when there was a great commotion earlier today and my fellow reporters and I were summarily informed that we would be moving once again I decided to seize the opportunity.  I found an excuse to separate myself from my fellow reporters and quickly hid myself here.”

“That is a very good story, Mr. Connolly but I am not sure I believe it.  We are going to escort you back to our company commandant and let him listen to y’r story.  He will decide what to do with you.”

-------Templetuohy (Tipperary) 1450 hrs

            Yesterday the Erzherzog Karl Division had cautiously followed the 13th (Western) Division as it pulled back to Templemore.  Feldmarshalleutnant Krauss did not underestimate his opponent.  Late yesterday the only fighting was only some light skirmishing in the vicinity of Loughmoe.  Both sides wanted to conserve their artillery shells.  The British started digging a trench line in an arc around Templemore.  The Austro-Hungarians also entrenched even though Krauss felt that either side’s trenches could be outflanked.

            There was only a few more skirmishes between patrols in the early morning with most of the Erzherzog Karl Division attending Mass.  As the day wore on General von François became increasingly critical of what he perceived as passivity on the part of his allies.  He also informed Krauss that there was intelligence that a substantial portion of the 13th (Western) Division had been moved to Roscrea which meant less than the full division remained at Templemore. Moreover news from the neighboring 6th Bavarian Division did indicate that the British were in retreat.

            Krauss finally decided to try to attack the left flank of the 13th (Western) Division.  He sent one of his Czech regiments along with the 1st Tipperary Battalion to seize the village of Templetuohy, which east of the British trench.  Krauss’ latest intelligence was that this village was unoccupied but this intelligence was no longer accurate.  Around the same time that von François was pressuring Krauss to be more aggressive, General Wilson was exerting similar pressure on General Shaw, the commander of the 13th (Western) Division.  Shaw was reluctant to comply esp. after he learned that most of the 11th (Northern) Division was leaving for Maryborough.  Eventually he could no longer stall Wilson who remained unshaken in his belief that the “blacklegs” were sorely lacking in both competency and morale. 

            General Shaw decided that his best chance was to outflank the Austrian right and saw Templetuohy as the logical place to pivot his flanking maneuver.  He committed the 40th Brigade, the weaker of the two brigades he still had at Templemore, to this attack.  That brigade’s lead battalion, the 4th South Wales Borderers, had secured Templetuohy and was now advancing south to search for the enemy flank. These now encountered Czechs and Tipperary Volunteers and erupted into a small arms fight. The Welshmen had an edge in marksmanship but not an overwhelming one while their opponents which included the Tipperary Volunteers outnumbered them by a modest margin.  The Welshmen were more determined and were able to press slowly forward to the outskirts of the village of Barnalsheen.  The 1st Tipperary Battalion eventually got its two machineguns into action and their allies soon brought 4 of their machineguns into action as well.  This halted the British advance.

------HQ Armee Abteilung Chambley (Woëvre) 1535 hrs
                     
            “It is becoming more and more obvious that the enemy has finally regrouped and with the help of reinforcements is halting the forward progress of the 121st Infantry Division,” General von Strantz commented to Oberst Fischer, his chief of staff, “General Wagner has finally taken Xivray but at a heavy cost while his division has been repelled yet again at Rambucourt.”

            “Nevertheless we have done very well, Your Excellency.  We have advanced faster than expected and have captured a very important feature at Montsec.  Wagner should entrench at Xivray.  Once it is dark he should try to outflank the enemy through the Forest de La Reine.”

            “Yes that is an obvious tactic, maybe too obvious.  And we still have the bright moon to contend with. What is the latest from the meteorological section?  Will we have enough cloud cover to blot out the moonlight or not?”

            “I will show you the report, Your Excellency, but it is extremely uncertain. Once again this so called new science strikes me as being little more than educated guesswork.”

            “Of course, if the night is too dark, then the risk of our men getting lost in the forest becomes all the greater.”

            “I understand that, Your Excellency, but nonetheless we should give it a try.”

            The general waited a few seconds before responding, ”I am not overly optimistic about its chances but unless General Wagner has a better idea we should give it a try.”

            “I will inform V Army Corps of your decision, Your Excellency.”

            “Am I correct that we still have not detected an enemy presence in the large gap that exists between our two corps?”

            “That is correct, Your Excellency.  Both our airplanes and our cavalry have found only emptiness perhaps extending as far south as the outer forts of Toul.”

             “And is the gap still 8 kilometers wide?”

            “Yes it is, Your Excellency.   Gaps always present both a great risk and a great opportunity.”

            “Yes they do but unfortunately right now the risk is clearly greater.  We are completely vulnerable to a thrust emerging from Toul.  Even a cavalry division would be very destructive under these circumstances.  We must plug the gap and the only unit we currently have available in reserve is the 37th Landwehr Brigade.  We must send them into the gap as quickly as possible.”

            “Jawohl, Your Excellency.  How far south should we send the Landwehr?”

            The general briefly consulted a map then replied, “Once it is dark they should try to reach Sanzey and Andilly then they must entrench as quickly as possible because from there they will be exposed to some of Toul’s northern guns come dawn.  We will obviously need to provide the Landwehr with a battery of field guns for defense but I am now thinking that we should also assign them a battery of 21cm Mörsers with which to strike back at Ft. de Lucey.”

            “An excellent idea, Your Excellency!  It might cause the French to worry about a possible threat to Toul and so provide us with an inexpensive diversion.”

------Admiralstab Berlin 1605 hrs

            Admiral von Tirpitz had just arrived.  “Is there any sign that the Grand Fleet is at sea?” he demanded to know.

            “No, there is not, admiral,” replied Admiral Gustav Bachmann, the head of the Admiralstab,  “In addition to the L.10 returning from Ireland, we sent the L.6 out to scout the the English Channel from St. Omer as well as 3 seaplanes from Boulogne.  They have found nothing but a few British submarines on the surface.”

            “Hopefully our U-Boats will find that information useful,” replied von Tirpitz, “I am not at all surprised that we have failed to locate the Grand Fleet.  This proves that I correct about they’re being too weak after Celtic Sea to risk another fleet action right away.  They are cowering at Devonport not trying to intercept von Ingenohl.”

            “It does look that way, admiral.  In the meantime to reinforce our deception the minesweepers of Flanders Flotilla are hard at work clearing a path through the mines the Royal Navy has recently laid.”

            “So our minesweepers are finding new mines?  Good!  It means the enemy has accepted our deception.”

            “Yes, it certainly seems that way, admiral.  Hopefully they will not discover Admiral von Ingenohl’s true plans until too late.  Of course when they do they will strongly suspect that he know about their code breaking.   It is an advantage that we shall not be able to use again.”

            “Yes, yes!  It is one of several advantages the so called ‘German Nelson’ has squandered lately.”

------Goldingen (Courland) 1635 hrs

            Early yesterday General von Marwitz ordered the 2nd Cavalry Division which had been stationed near Libau to capture the large town of Goldingen as a jumping off point for further activity in Courland.   The lead squadron of the 2nd Cavalry Division now approached Goldingen.  The local defenders consisted of an opolchenie battalion plus a Cossack squadron which had recently arrived with orders to evacuate the sizable local Jewish population.  Less than half of the soldiers in the Territorial battalion had a rifle and those rifles it did have were ancient Berdan single shot weapons.   However dug in on the edge of town they were able to delay the fall of the town by forcing the German cavalry to dismount and concentrate.  The horse artillery was eventually used as well firing at short range.  The bombardment demoralized the poorly trained defenders who surrendered just before last light.  .

------northwest of Templemore (Tipperary) 1700 hrs

            During the afternoon a German warplane had spotted the 11th (Northern) Division marching towards Maryborough.  General von François had been disappointed with the day’s fighting.  He ordered General von Gyssling to attack more aggressively and let him use two of the foot artillery batteries with 15cm howitzers though with usual admonition against wasting ammunition.  General von Gyssling now began his bombardment against the British 32nd Brigade which had not had an opportunity to entrench.  The shelling only lasted only 15 minutes but it was enough to inflict heavy casualties on two British battalions and suppress the lone field artillery battery supporting them.

            The assault was made by the Bavarian Jäger Regiment and the 1st Kerry Battalion with 2 battalions of the 6th Bavarian Infantry Regiment following close behind with the division’s pioneer company behind them.  They encountered very little resistance at first and advanced at a fairly rapid pace. 

------HQ British VI Army Corps Portarlington (Queen’s County) 1850 hrs

            Portarlington was less than 10 miles from Maryborough so there remained a very serious risk that the 7th Cavalry Division might try to take it.  To counter this threat General Hamilton ordered both of the Royal Irish Rifles battalions at Dublin moved by rail to Portarlinggton to guard the headquarters of VI Army Corps.  When they arrived General Wilson was appalled by how depleted they were.  He was downright shocked to hear about their losses fighting the rebels in first Dublin and then the Wicklow Mountains.

------Old Admiralty Building 1915 hrs

            Carson had arrived a few minutes ago.  He did not like the puzzled look he saw etched on the faces of the admirals and asked, “What is the matter, Admiral Callaghan?”

            “We still have not detected the German fleet, First Lord.  While the Channel does not have the best weather for flying right now our airplanes still have spotted the Germans by now but have found nothing.  None of our submarines have reported seeing anything either.”

            “Hmm Very strange and somewhat disturbing.  Admiral Oliver has Room 40 been able to shed any light on this?”

            “I am afraid no, First Lord.  The Germans have been very quiet all day which is in itself yet another mystery,” replied Admiral Oliver, who decided not mention that they did in fact intercept three brief wireless transmissions but the Room 40 had been unable to decipher them.”

            Carson pounded the conference table in frustration, “The High Seas Fleet is not invisible!  Why are we unable to find them?”

            “The most likely hypothesis that we have come up with is that one of their dreadnoughts has developed very serious problems with her machinery and this is slowing down the entire fleet,” said Admiral Jackson.

            “Yes, that would make a good deal of sense, I suppose.  But surely if that were the case, Admiral von Ingenohl would be informing Berlin of this delay?”

            “You would think so, First Lord,” replied Admiral Callaghan, ”There is an alternative theory that the Germans were hoping to pounce on one of our cross Channel convoys and not finding any are circling in the west of the Cotentin Peninsula where they are least likely to be discovered.”

            “Which means that we must continue to suspend all sea traffic.  Lord Kitchener is not going to like that.  Not one bit.  The enemy is still trying to destroy First Army and is threatening to take Abbeville.”

            “Despite what some in the War Office may be thinking, First Lord, we fully commiserate with the B.E.F. which we realize is under extraordinary pressure at this time.  Yet he can ill afford to pass up an opportunity to destroy the High Seas Fleet in order to escort supplies to France at this time.”

            “I understand that all too well, Admiral Callaghan, but I must point out that not only are we not sending any supplies to the B.E.F., we have halted our shipments of coal to France.  Clemenceau repeatedly reminds us that he is receiving less than half the coal he was receiving a month ago and virtually no steel and pig iron, which he finds completely intolerable.  Now we have halted all sea traffic again and this situation looks like it will last longer than originally anticipated.  He is going to become even more upset with us.”

            “The Germans must coal their TBD’s soon, First Lord, so that means that the additional delay in resuming sea traffic with France is at most another day,” remarked Admiral Wilson, ”And if Admiral von Ingenohl waits too long this will present us with yet another important tactical advantage.”

            “Well that at least is reassuring,” replied Carson, “What are your suggestions besides delaying the next cross Channel convoy?”

            “The weather is currently deteriorating over the Channel, First Lord,” said Admiral Callaghan, “It is already at the point where it is dangerous for seaplanes to take off.  Things are not quite that bad for land based aircraft but still they are rather handicapped at the moment.  We are planning to commit Dover Patrol to act as scouting force and if an opportunity arises that has acceptable chances they will attempt one or more night torpedo attacks.  Around midnight Harwich Force   will reinforce Dover Patrol.”

            “Hmm I thought that we promised Admiral Bayly that Harwich Force would reinforce the Grand Fleet’s screen, which he constantly complains is inadequate.”

            “That is correct, First Lord, but that was based on the assumption that we would have the enemy fleet located by now.  In our estimation the need to locate the enemy outweighs the benefits of strengthening the Grand Fleet’s screen”

            “This all sounds perfectly reasonable to me, admiral.  We must first locate the infernal German fleet before we can destroy it.”

“First Lord, one vexing source of uncertainty comes from our meteorological section,” Admiral Wilson noted, “While they believe that it is probable that it will remain overcast throughout the night they also concede that there some chance that the clouds could suddenly  break up leaving our light forces exposed to gunfire illuminated by a bright moon.”

“I am well aware that Harwich Force and Dover Patrol, have suffered badly in this war.  Yet if they need to make one more sacrifice to effectuate the destruction of the German fleet then so be it.”

------near Laragh (Wicklow) 2005 hrs

            Padraig Pearse had a visitor.  “Do you have some time to talk, Padraig?” as Michael Joseph O’Rahilly speaking in Irish.

            “But of course, my darling Michael,” replied Pearse, “It has been a while since we have talked at length. What is on your mind?”

            The O’Rahilly took his time before answering and avoided making eye contact with Pearse.  Finally he mumbled, “Uh, how is Colonel Churchill doing? Is that rascal going to live?”

            Pearse’s initial pleasure at the O’Rahilly’s presence began to be replaced by apprehension.  Mumbling was very uncharacteristic of this man.  “Why yes he is making slow but steady progress. So it looks like Sir Winston’s life is no longer in peril.   I cannot be completely certain, mind you.  Unexpected relapses do happen.”

            “That is uh, good to hear, sir,” replied the O’Rahilly again in a weak voice lacking conviction.  He continued to look sheepish avoiding eye contact.

            This only increased Pearse’s uneasy puzzlement.  After a few seconds he asked, “You didn’t come here to ask me about Churchill’s health, now did you?”

            The O’Rahilly licked his lips nervously for a few seconds.  Then he finally looked Pearse straight in the eye.  Pearse could see that the man’s emotions were jumbled.  “You are quite right, Padraig.”

            “Then what in blazes is this all about, Michael?”

            The O’Rahilly once again turned away but after a few seconds his gaze returned to meet Pearse’s.  This time what was etched on the man’s face was resolve.  “I have come here to talk you into going to Cork, Padraig,” he said. 

            Pearse was shocked but not completely surprised.  He took his time before replying, “Who put you up to this, Michael?  Was it Rommel, Schumacher?  Count Tisza, perhaps?”

            “Major Rommel persuaded me to do this, Padraig.  I would not be here if I did not agree with him.  You need to go to Cork as the head of the provisional government of the Irish Republic.  Count Tisza now believes that we have regained control of County Wexford so it should be safe for you to travel to Waterford and from there on to Cork.”

            The O’Rahilly had feared that Pearse might explode at his suggestion.  Instead he looked more sad than angry.  “What claim could I have to lead the Irish people if I were to abandon Dublin Brigade when it needed me most and flee to the comfortable safety of Cork?  How could I possibly ask the Irish people to shed their blood if I am not willing to shed my own?”

            “What is it that you are trying to say, Padraig?  Is it that you must die to prove yourself worthy to lead us?  Corpses make very poor leaders.”

            Annoyance showed on Pearse’s face, “I know that!  I am not fool, you know.”

            “Then why do you insist on acting like one?  A glorious fool is still just another fool, Padraig.  After what we went through at Dublin, no one is going to accuse you of being one of those generals who never heard a shot fired in anger.  Rommel has remarked to me that Ireland has had more than enough martyrs already and you know what?  I am beginning to think he has a point.”

            “You are losing sight of the spiritual element of our struggle.”

            “Why?  Because all this lovely talk about the holy blood of Irish martyrs no longer inspires me?   You have done one important job already and done it well, Padraig.   You are not a failure because you have survived!  Mother of Mercy, what does it take for me to drive this simple idea through your thick Irish skull?”

             Pearse remained silent for a few seconds.  Finally he sighed deeply then spoke in a sorrowful tone, “Believe it nor not there is little you have just said that I have not debated with myself for some time. I do wonder sometimes if am turning into one of the characters in my plays.”

            “Your poetry and plays are wonderful creations, Padraig.  But we happen to be in the middle of war, a war that you can help win not by making some sort of mystical blood sacrifice, but by assuming the mantle of leadership.”

              “I do not need to go to Cork to do that, Michael.  In fact I have already done so.”

            “For heaven’s sake, Padraig, we are isolated out here in Wicklow.  For better or worse Cork has become the center of things.”

            “Dublin is Ireland’s proper capital.”

            “Yes, it is but right now there’s a war going on.         

------UB.12 west of Boulogne 2015 hrs

            The U-Boats of Flandern Flotilla had been told before they set to sea for their current mission that there was a chance that they would encounter British battleships this day but it was only a small chance.  They were told that there was likely to be a large number of British submarines in the eastern half of the English Channel this day.  Maybe some French submarines as well.  The U-Boat commanders were reminded that submarines could sink submarines.  This advice was given as both a warning and an invitation.

            Three hours ago those U-Boats on the service received a very brief encrypted wireless message from the Flandern Flotilla telling them that enemy heavy units had not yet been detected.   This was interpreted by most of the U-Boat skippers to avail themselves of any targets of opportunity. Throughout the afternoon the L.6 had transmitted brief wireless messages about where enemy submarines had been spotted.

Though they were dreadfully slow the coastal UB subs were hard to spot due to their small size.  The same could not be said of the British ‘E’ class subs.  Kapitänleutnant Hans Nieland was now looking at one through his periscope.

            “Fire one!” he ordered.

            “Torpedo los!”

            Nieland clicked a stopwatch then lowered the periscope and ordered the U-Boat to dive to a slightly lower depth.  He checked his stopwatch every few seconds.  At one point he thought he had missed.  Then came the sound of the explosion.  He was tempted to raise the periscope again to see if could visually confirm the kill but decided against it.  There were likely to be other British submarines not that far away and he did not want to draw attention to his vessel.

------HQ British 13th (Western) Division Templemore (Tipperary) 2025 hrs

            As had been feared the German cavalry in Queen’s County had severed all communications between VI Army Corps HQ and its divisions.  When General Shaw, the commander of the 13th (Western) Division, learned that the 32nd Brigade was falling back rapidly after a sharp bombardment, he concluded that this would soon expose his right flank.  Shaw realized that he not have the strength available to guard his right flank, esp. as he continued to worry about a renewed Austrian effort against his left flank.  He therefore decided that he must abandon Templemore and retreat to the northeast.  The only question in his mind was how far he would retreat.  He now decided he would form his new divisional front on a line running from the village of Boggaun to Erril over in Queen’s County which meant moving about 6 miles.  Shaw quickly worked out plans with his staff to begin the withdrawal as soon as it was dark.  Hopefully the enemy would not notice. 

------HQ British Second Army (Picardy) 2045 hrs

            General Plumer had just received another telephone call from Field Marshal French, who asked in a loud voice, “Did you accomplish anything useful this morning, Plumer?”

            “Uh, well as I said in my report the 5th Division was able to advance the line a good 500 yards in the main sector of the attack.”

            “Yeah, yeah, I read your report.  I am not disputing that there was some small advance.  But it was to the northeast not due north towards Morlay, so as far as I can see you have made no the slightest contribution towards reopening the line of communication to First Army.”

            “Field Marshal the ground we took today gives us an improved position from which to pry open the formidable German trenches at Morlay.”

            “When?”

            The brevity of French’s question caught Plumer off guard causing a small delay before he could reply, “If what you are asking is when can I attack Morlay with some hope of reestablishing communications with First Army, I must answer that it will depend on when we get the next shipment of artillery shells from England.  Some more Mills bombs if they are available would be helpful.”

            “Blast it all to bloody pieces, I knew you were going to say that!”

            “Uh, well I will confess that my reasoning on that matter is so straightforward that it should be obvious to anyone.”

            “Obvious even to an imbecile like me?”

            “That was not what I was implying, sir.  Not at all, sir.  The question does remain---how soon before we receive supplies from England?”

            “The Admiralty has informed the War Office that the next convoy will not depart before tomorrow afternoon at the earliest”

            “Tomorrow afternoon, sir?  Previously I was hearing that it would be late tomorrow morning.  Did they give any reason for the increased delay?”

            “Of course not!  When does the Royal Navy tell us what is really going on?  However in all fairness we are only talking about a few hours.”

            “A few hours delay could make a big difference, sir.  The plain fact of the matter is that my entire army is nearly out of artillery shells right now.  I am not so much worried about the plight of First Army as I am about the threat to Abbeville.  We are hanging on by the proverbial thread there, sir.   However if this small delay is on account of the War Office sending us another division, then I would be more forgiving.”

            “So would I but I don’t think that eventuality is bloody likely.  Lord Kitchener has informed me that a decision about reinforcing us won’t be reached until tomorrow.  Even if they decide to send it the division won’t arrive before Wednesday.”
           
------Roscommon town 2120 hrs

            There was just a faint fading twinge of twilight in the sky when St. James approached Roscommon town at the head of his cavalry.            He had sent his infantry incl. the Ghaidars on ahead in motor vehicles along with Dr. Goddard and his rockets.  There was not enough motor transport for Garvey’s U.N.I.A. contingent, which were marching on foot and would not make it to Roscommon before midmorning tomorrow.

 One of his Buffalo Soldier corporals met him on the edge of town holding a lantern.  Cornelius’ instincts told him that something was amiss.

            “What’s wrong Williams?” he asked.

           “We arrived here with much too much trouble, sir.  We made contact with the local support company as ordered and besides the usual stares and---”

            “----Is something wrong or not?” St. James impatiently interrupted, “Get to the point, soldier!”

            “Uh, well sir, about an hour ago, a cyclist arrived here.  He said he was part of the Sligo Support Company.  He told us that a large force of Ulster Volunteers attacked and completely massacred a combat battalion at Sligo late Thursday.  The support company managed to escape and fled south.  The Ulster Volunteers have been pursuing them.  The Sligo Support Company is too exhausted to reach here tonight.  They are in the process of making camp a little more than four miles north of here.”

            “I was told that your telegraph connection to Athlone is working.  Is that true?  If so has Athlone been notified?”

            “Yes, lieutenant, the Roscommon Support Company sent a warning by telegraph to Athlone.”

            “And did Athlone send a reply?” 

            “Yes, they did.  They wanted to know to the size of the enemy force---“

            “---So do I .  What did you tell them?”

            “That’s a bit of a problem, sir.  The survivors don’t rightly know.  ‘Thousands’ is what they say.  It could be only 1,000 or more than 10,000 for all they know.”

            “Not good.  Even if it is only 2,000 it could pose a serious threat not just to our forces here but to the I.R.A. units at Athlone.  Do we at least know how far off the enemy is?”

            “The Sligo support company estimates that the vanguard of the enemy force is 8 or 9 miles behind them, sir.”

            “That is too close.  I don’t care how exhausted the men of the Sligo Support Company are.  They can rest for an hour if need but after that they are coming here to sleep.  Has Athlone sent us any orders?”

            “They want the two support companies to depart Roscommon and head for Athlone.  One of the combat battalions at Athlone will meet them halfway.  They want you to scout the enemy force and get an accurate estimate as to their size and whether or not they are accompanied by any British soldiers.  You also to delay the enemy’s progress in any way possible.”

            “It looks like we have our work cut out for us.

------ Templemore (Tipperary) 2250 hrs

            General von Gyssling decided to send the 11th Bavarian Infantry Regiment to attack what he thought might be the now exposed flank of the 13th (Western) Division.  The lead battalion anxiously stumbled its way forward through the darkness.  It was inside the town itself before it encountered resistance.  This was from half of the 7th Battalion North Staffordshire Regiment along with 2 machineguns.  These were acting as a rearguard for the division, while 5 large supply wagons were being loaded with the last of the supplies the division had in Templemore.  Flares were fired into the air and shots were soon exchanged.  Protected from the Bavarians by the  North Staffordshire infantrymen the supply wagons quickly departed to the  northeast leaving behind some supplies, which was mostly food. 

Meanwhile the rest of the 11th Bavarian Infantry Regiment arrived to join in the   fray.  The British rearguard .did a good job of keeping them preoccupied but were eventually faced with the tricky problem of executing their own withdrawal while engaged with the enemy.  One company was sent back first and in the darkness was able to escape without much trouble.  When the remaining the remaining company and the machineguns tried to withdraw.  The Bavarians had been very slowly approaching them during the firefight.  Once they say the machineguns being limbered they fired off a few rifle grenades then rushed the British position and in a brief but intense struggle captured 71 prisoners and more importantly both of the machineguns.

------Bouvron north of Fortress Toul 2305 hrs

            The 37th Landwehr Brigade worked its way south through patchy fog.  As the cavalry squadrons had discovered earlier they encountered no resistance.  The gap was indeed very large.  The brigade commander sent one battalion to make contact with the Guard Ersatz Division on his left north of Andilly while another Landwehr battalion linked up the 121st Infantry Division in the Forest de la Reine. 

            The objectives given by General von Strantz were Sanzey and Andilly, which were taken almost effortlessly.  In the darkness the brigade stumbled further south into the village of Bouvron.  There they surprised 2 companies of French Territorial troops.  The Landwehr quickly took more than 80 prisoners.  The rest of the Territorials fled southwest towards Fort de Lucey and Fort de Bruley.  The Landwehr did not pursue in that direction but instead they discovered that the Ouvrage du Bouvron, one of Toul’s outer works was very weakly held and overwhelmed it. 

At that the brigade commander felt that he had more than accomplished his mission and that he was dangerously close to a major fortress with a very wide front to defend.  He let his men sleep in shifts with those who were neither sleeping nor on guard duty busy digging trenches. 

------HMS Iron Duke off Yarmouth heading 170° 2340 hrs
           
            Admiral Madden held a slip of paper in his hands. There was a puzzled look on his face. “They just decrypted this wireless message from the Admiralty, sir,” he declared to Admiral Bayly as he handed him the slip.

WE STILL HAVE NOT YET LOCATED THE GERMAN FLEET REPEAT WE STILL HAVE NOT YET LOCATED THE GERMAN FLEET STOP

            Admiral Bayly looked at it for a few seconds while scratching his chin.  Finally Madden asked, “Well what do you think, sir?”

            Bayly grinned ever so slightly and said, “Curiouser and curiouser.”

 

 

To be continued...

 

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