The Explorers' Club Special: October 1916

Operation AXIOM: The World War
October 1916: The Romanian invaders of Austro-Hungarian Transylvania were knocked back to their jumping off points, & their joining the war on the side of the Entente was about the backfire disastrously; the French seized the initiative at Verdun, recapturing forts the Germans had taken on the third day of the battle, back in February; the war continued at the Somme & the Isonzo, with half of October 2016's episodes devoted to battles that raged from September-November, & re-published last month.

The Wayback Machine Tour of the World War: October 1916
"The Explorers' Club," № DXXI: The Second Battle of Cobadin (19-25 October 1916)
"The Explorers' Club," № DXX: The Battle of Verdun, Part V: The French "First Offensive" (20 October-5 November 1916)
Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club Special: June 1916

Operation AXIOM: The World War
June 1916 saw Verdun, the longest battle of the war, continue; the Russians launched an offensive to take the pressure off the French at Verdun, ultimately their most effective offensive of the whole war; the British War Secretary, Lord Kitchener, was killed when a mine laid for the Battle of Jutland sank the ship on which he was traveling; & the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire broke out.

The Wayback Machine Tour of the World War: June 1916
"The Explorers' Club," № DI: The Battle of Verdun, Part IV (1-8 June 1916)
"The Explorers' Club," № DIII: The Brusilov Offensive, Part I (4 June-6 July 1916)
"The Explorers' Club," № D: The Sinking of the H.M.S. Hampshire (5 June 1916)
"The Explorers' Club," № DII: The Arab Revolt, Part I (June 1916)

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club Special: April 1916

Operation AXIOM: The World War
In April 1916, the "world blood-pump" at Verdun continued & Irish nationalists rebelled against the British Empire; in the "Chemists' War," offense (poison gas) still held the advantage over defense (gas masks); & the Anglo-Indian force besieged at Kut surrendered to the Ottomans, who treated the defeated commander as a celebrity & let most of his men die of maltreatment.

The Wayback Machine Tour of the World War: April 1916
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXCII: The Battle of Verdun, Part III: "They shall not pass!" (10 April-31 May 1916)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXCIV: The Easter Rising (24-29 April 1916)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXCIII: Poison gas cloud attacks near Hulluch, France (27-29 April 1916)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXCV: The Siege of Kut, Part IV: The British surrendered (29 April 1916)

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club Special: March 1916

Operation AXIOM: The World War
In March 1916, the Anglo-Indian effort to relieve their fellows besieged in Kut stumbled; the German assault toward Verdun stalled; the French goaded the Italians into attacking before they were ready & the Russians into a doomed direct assault on the Germans in order to relieve the pressure on Verdun; & the British & Imperial forces advanced into German East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika), driving the Germans from Mount Kilimanjaro & seizing control of Lake Tanganyika.

The Wayback Machine Tour of the World War: March 1916
"The Explorers' Club," № CDLXXXVI: The Siege of Kut, Part III: The Battle of Dujaila (8 March 1916)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDLXXXVII: The Battle of Verdun, Part II: The German Offensive (21 February-9 April 1916)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDLXXXVIII: The Endless Battles of the Isonzo, Part III: The Fifth Battle of the Isonzo (9-15 March 1916)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDLXXXIX: The Battles of Latema Nek & Kahe (11-18 March 1916)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXCI: The Lake Naroch Offensive (18-30 March 1916)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXC: The Battle of Lake Tanganyika (December 1915-July 1916)

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club Special: February 1916

Operation AXIOM: The World War
February 1916 saw the Russian Empire gain the upper hand against the Ottoman Empire in the western Caucasus with a surprise winter offensive & the Germans blunted the British & Imperial invasion of German East Africa (Deutsch-Ostafrika) near Mount Kilimanjaro. On the Western Front, the longest battle of the war began, the Battle of Verdun; the "World Blood Pump" would continue throughout 1916.

The Wayback Machine Tour of the World War: February 1916
"The Explorers' Club," № CDLXXXIII: The Erzurum Offensive (10 January-16 February 1916)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDLXXXIV: The Battle of Salaita Hill (12 February 1916)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDLXXXV: The Battle of Verdun, Part I: The First Day (21 February 1916)

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DXXVIII

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Battle of Verdun, Part VI
15-17 December 1916: The "Second Offensive"—Again preceded by a six-day artillery bombardment, French infantry attacked, finding two-thirds of the German defenders still sheltering from the creeping barrage; 13,000-plus men & over a hundred heavy guns were captured; Verdun was a defeat for the Germans & a victory for the French, but the morale & discipline of the French army was crumbling.

The Wayback Machine Tour of the Battle of Verdun
№ CDLXXXV: "Bleed France Dry" (Part I)
№ CDLXXXVII: The Capture of Fort Douaumont (Part II)
№ CDXCII: "On ne passe pas! ("They Shall Not Pass!") (Part III)
№ DI: The Siege & Capture of Fort Vaux (Part IV)
№ DXX: The "First Offensive" Recaptures Forts Douaumont & Vaux (Part V)

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DXX

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Battle of Verdun, Part V
20 October-5 November 1916: The "First Offensive" (from the French perspective)—Preceded by a six-day artillery bombardment (including massive railway guns), reorganized & refreshed French infantry advanced, recapturing Fort Douaumont (24 October) & Fort Vaux (2 November), & reached the lines held on 24 February, the third day of the Germans' Verdun offensive.

Lest we forget.

Commentary: The German captures of the forts, via the Wayback Machine: Doumaumont on 25 February (№ CDLXXXVII) & Vaux on 8 June (№ DI).

The Explorers' Club, № DI

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Battle of Verdun, Part IV
1-8 June 1916: The Siege of Fort Vaux—German Sturmtruppen ("assault troops") stormed the fort, rendered vulnerable by a shortage of artillery; the French defenders retreated into the interior & fought in the corridors, surrendering only after exhausting their water supply; they remained prisoners of war 'til the Armistice in 1918.











Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № CDXCII

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Battle of Verdun, Part III
10 April-31 Mary 1916: The German offensive is caught between needing to go forward to reach more naturally defensible terrain, despite the difficulty of such advances in the face of fierce French resistance, or having to return to its 21 February jumping off points; the German commanders vote to continue the attack; the French rally around the motto, "On ne passe pas!" ("They shall not pass!")









Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № CDXCI

Operation AXIOM: The World War
18-30 March 1916: The Lake Naroch Offensive—The Imperial Russian Army attacked behind a two-day artillery barrage & with a four-to-one manpower advantage, but directly into well-prepared & deep German defensive fortifications, & thus suffered massive casualties; the offensive was initiated at the desperate insistence of the French, designed to draw German forces away from Verdun.









Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № CDLXXXVIII

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Endless Battles of the Isonzo, Part III
9-15 March 1916: The Fifth Battle of the Isonzo—The Italians attacked again, having regrouped & reorganized their forces over the winter; the offensive was initiated at the desperate insistence of the French, designed more to draw Central Powers forces away from the Eastern Front & the "world blood pump" at Verdun than directly to achieve Italy's war aims.









Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № CDLXXXVII

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Battle of Verdun, Part II
21 February-9 April 1916: The German advance bogged down short of its objectives, due to the inability of supporting artillery to keep up with advancing infantry through muddy terrain, leaving the German infantry & communications exposed to French artillery & poison gas bombardment; the fall of the all-but-abandoned Fort Douaumont (25 February) shocked France & galvanized the defense.









Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № CDLXXXV

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Battle of Verdun, Part I
21 February 1916: The longest battle of the war began with a massive German artillery bombardment (over 1,000,000 shells were fired); the plan was to "bleed France dry," to incense the French into committing all their reserves into a series of suicidal infantry attacks that would be annihilated by the gathered German heavy guns; the French knew the attack was coming, but dismissed it as a feint.









Lest we forget.

Commentary: Verdun was fought between the French & the Germans, so it does not occupy the same place in the Anglophone imagination as the contemporaneous but British-fought Battle of the Somme. Yet Verdun was every bit as much the First World War in microcosm: helmeted infantry attacking out of trenches across shell-cratered No Man's Land, throwing themselves against barbed wire & machine-gun fire while clouds of poison gas drift across the weird, treeless moonscape. I won't lie to you: Things are going to get much, much worse before they begin to get even a little better.