The Explorers' Club Special: January 1916

Operation AXIOM: The World War
January 1916 carried on from December 1915: The Central Powers conquered Montenegro & the Ottomans tightened the noose around the British Indian force beseiged at Kut-al-Amara. The most competently planned & executed phase of the Entente misadventure at Gallipoli was the final withdrawal. The British introduced conscription.

Winston Churchill, who originally conceived of the Dardanelles Campaign while serving as First Lord of the Admiralty, was blamed almost solely for the Gallipoli disaster, which was unfair. He resigned from the government in November 1915 but remained a Member of Parliament; he returned to the Army, commanding the 6th Royal Scots Fusiliers on the Western Front. He returned to Whitehall in May 1916, returning to the government as Minister of Munitions in July 1917.

The Wayback Machine Tour of the World War: January 1916
"The Explorers' Club," № CDLXXVIII: The Siege of Kut, Part II: The Battle of Sheikh Sa'ad (6-8 January 1916)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDLXXIX: The Gallipoli Campaign, Part VII: The final evacuation (9 January 1916)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDLXXX: The Serbian Campaign, Part V: The Austro-Hungarian conquest of Montenegro (5-17 January 1916)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDLXXXI: The Military Service Act 1916 (27 January 1916)

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club Special: August 1915

Operation AXIOM: The World War
August 1915 saw the "Fokker Scourge," a period of German advantage in aerial combat that began in July, escalate; continued & very bloody futility in the Gallipoli Campaign; & Russia's Great Retreat, a well-executed strategic withdrawal that was the beginning of the end of the Russian Empire.

Commentary: August 2015 was bonkers: We published ten episodes of "The Explorers' Club," nine of them highlighting the Great War. The rules of "The Explorers' Club" require three days between episodes & we kept up that frenetic pace for pretty much the whole month. One of those ten episodes filled in important events we'd missed earlier in 2015. Please revisit the "Explorers' Club Specials" for April 1915, May-June 1915, & July 1915, which have been updated.

The Wayback Machine Tour of the World War: August 1915
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXLVIII: The Fokker Scourge, Part I: The synchronization gear
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXLIX: The Gallipoli Campaign, Part IV: The August Offensive (6-21 August 1915)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDL: The Gallipoli Campaign, Part V: Henry Moseley (10 August 1915)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDLI: The Fokker Scourge, Part II: The introduction of fighter aeroplanes
"The Explorers' Club," № CDLIII: The Sinking of the S.S. Arabic by the S.M. U-24 (19 August 1915)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDLIV: The Gallipoli Campaign, Part VI: The Battles of Scimitar Hill & Hill 60 (21-29 August 1915)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDLVI: The Great Retreat, Part III: The Siege of Novogeorgievsk (10-20 August 1915)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDLV: The Great Retreat, Part II: Tsar Nicholas II assumes direct command (21 August 1915)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDLXII: The Fokker Scourge, Part III: Adolphe Pégoud (31 August 1915)

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club Special: May-June 1915

Operation AXIOM: The World War
May 1915 saw more poison gas on the Western Front, stalemate at Gallipoli, & the infamous sinking of the ocean liner Lusitania by a German submarine.

Commentary: "The Explorers' Club" was in a bad way in the early summer of 2015, which is why we here present episodes out of numerical order & published from May-July 2015 cover April-June 1915. There won't be an "Operation AXIOM: The World War" post in June, but watch this space for the return in July.

The Wayback Machine Tour of the World War: May-June 1915
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXLIV: The Battles of Kitchener's Wood & St. Julien (The Second Battle of Ypres, Part II; 22 April-5 May 1915)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXLVII: The First & Second Battles of Kiritha & the Battle of Eski Hissarlik (The Gallipoli Campaign, Part III; 28 April-8 May 1915)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDLII: The Gorlice-Tarnów Offensive (The Great Retreat, Part I; 2 May-June 1915)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXLII: The Sinking of the R.M.S. Lusitania (7 May 1915)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXLIII: The Second Battle of Artois (9 May-18 June 1915)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDLX: The Shell Crisis, Part I (May 1915)

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club Special: April 1915

Operation AXIOM: The World War
Eight consecutive episodes across March & April 2015 were devoted exclusively to the Great War. The war took a particularly dark turn in April 1915, with the beginning of the Armenian Genocide, the introduction of poison gas on the Western Front, & the arrival of the A.N.Z.A.C.s at Gallipolli.

The Wayback Machine Tour of the World War: April 1915
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXXXVIII: The Defense of Van (The Armenian Genocide, Part I; 19 April-17 May 1915)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXXXIX: "Red Sunday" (The Armenian Genocide, Part II; 24 April 1915)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXL: The Battle of Gravenstafel Ridge (The Second Battle of Ypres, Part I; 22-23 April 1915)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXLI: The Landings at "Anzac Cove" & Cape Hellas (The Gallipolli Campaign, Part II; 25 April 1915)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDLVIII: The London Pact (26 April 1915)

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club Special: March 1915

Operation AXIOM: The World War
After a one-episode break from the grimness of 1914-1918, March 2015 was exclusively devoted to the Great War. Episodes focused on the Western Front, the Eastern Front, the final end of Germany's Asian colonies, & the beginning of the Gallipolli Campaign.

The Wayback Machine Tour of the World War: March 1915
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXXXIV: The Battle of Neuve Chapelle (10-13 March 1915)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXXXV: The Battle of Más a Tierra (14 March 1915)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXXXVI: The Battle of 18 March 1915 (The Gallipolli Campaign, Part I)
"The Explorers' Club," № CDXXXVII: The Siege of Przemyśl (24 September 1914-22 March 1915)

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № DLXI

Operation AXIOM: The World War
August 1917: Dazzle camouflage, promoted by First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill early in the war ('til May 1915, taking the fall for the Gallipoli fiasco), was reintroduced as a countermeasure against rising Entente shipping loses due to German unrestricted submarine warfare; the purpose was not to conceal, but to confuse & confound enemy ranging & targeting systems—to dazzle.

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № CDLXXIX

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Gallipoli Campaign, Part VII
9 January 1916: The last British, French, & A.N.Z.A.C. forces were evacuated from Cape Helles, Anzac Cove & Suvla Bay having been evacuated on 20 December 1915. The evacuation was the most competently planned & executed phase of the Entente Powers' misadventure at Gallipoli.









From the initial naval attempts to force the Dardanelles to a final aerial battle days after the evacuation, Entente casualties exceeded fifty-six thousand killed & one hundred twenty-three thousand wounded. The defending Turks suffered over fifty-six thousand killed & one hundred seven thousand wounded. Winston Churchill was forced to resign from his position as First Lord of the Admiralty over the failure his Gallipoli gambit, & later the Dardanelles Commission would conduct on official inquiry into the conduct of the campaign.

The "Anzac spirit" looms large in the Australian & New Zealander national identities, I suppose much as Bunker Hill & Valley Forge do for Americans. 25 April, the anniversary of the first landings at Gallipoli, holds the annual observance of Anzac Day, commemorating & mourning the Australasian nations' war dead, much as Remembrance Day does in most of the other Commonwealth nations & Memorial Day does in these United States.

The Wayback Machine Tour of the Gallipoli Campaign
№ CDXXXVI: The Battle of 18 March 1915 (Part I)
№ CDXLI: The Landings at Anzac Cove & Cape Helles (Part II)
№ CDXLVII: The Battles of 1st & 2nd Kiritha & Eski Hissarlik (Part III)
№ CDXLIX: The August Offensive (Part IV)
№ CDL: Henry Moseley (Part V)
№ CDLIV: The Battles of Scimitar Hill & Hill 60 (Part VI)

Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № CDLIV

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Gallipoli Campaign, Part VI
21-29 August 1915: The Battles of Scimitar Hill (21 August) & Hill 60 (21-29 August)—The last British & A.N.Z.A.C. attacks of the entire Gallipoli adventure, a failed attempt to secure & link the tenuous holdings at Anzac Cove & Suvla Bay, once again undermined by poor planning & grievous errors in communication, coordination, & command.









Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № CDL

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Gallipoli Campaign, Part V
Henry Moseley (1887-1915), the British chemist & physicist, who in a brief, brilliant career devised Moseley's Law that justified the sorting of elements by atomic number in the Periodic Table, an achievement that likely would have won him the Nobel Prize in Physics had he not been killed at Gallipoli by a Turkish sniper on 10 August 1915.







Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № CDXLIX

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Gallipoli Campaign, Part IV
6-21 August 1915: The August Offensive—The British & A.N.Z.A.C. incompetence & lethargy would rise to the level of farce had not such a dear price been paid in blood; the Battle of Sari Bair (6-21 August), the landing at Suvla Bay (6-15 August), the Battle of Krithia Vineyard (6-13 August), the Battle of Lone Pine (6-10 August), & the Battle of the Nek (7 August), et al.









Lest we forget.

Bonus! Song of the Day
Eric Bogle, "And the Band Played 'Waltzing Matilda'" courtesy The Watergirl (Mike Papa Whiskey)

Commentary:

"So they gathered the crippled, the wounded, the maimed,
And they shipped us back home to Australia,
The legless, the armless, the blind, the insane,
Those proud wounded heroes of Suvla.

"And as our ship pulled into Circular Key,
And looked at the planks where me legs used to be,
And thanked Christ there was nobody waitin' for me,
To grieve, to mourn, and to pity.

"But the band played 'Waltzing Matilda'
As they carried us down the gangway,
But nobody cheered, they just stood and stared,
And they turned all their faces away…"

The Explorers' Club, № CDXLVII

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Gallipoli Campaign, Part III
28 April-8 May 1915: The First Battle of Kiritha (28 April), the Battle of Eski Hissarlik (1 May), & the Second Battle of Krithia (6-8 May)—repeated British, A.N.Z.A.C., & French assaults against the Turks fail to gain objectives meant to be captured on the first day ashore; Turkish assaults fail to push the Allies into the sea.







Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № CDXLI

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Gallipoli Campaign, Part II
25 April 1915: The Landings at "Anzac Cove" & Cape Helles—amphibious assaults by the Australian & New Zealand Army Corps (A.N.Z.A.C.) & British & French forces aimed at the Ottoman forts that commanded the Dardanelles; one of the most bungled operations of the whole war, marked by lethargic command & chaotic communications, which might have succeeded anyway were it not for the exceptional Turkish commander, Mustafa Kemal, later immortalized as Atatürk.











Lest we forget.

The Explorers' Club, № CDXXXVI

Operation AXIOM: The World War—The Gallipoli Campaign, Part I
The Battle of 18 March 1915—an Ottoman victory that thwarted the Franco-British attempt to seize control of the Dardanelles by purely naval force, prompting the bloody Gallipoli Campaign; the British battleships H.M.S. Irresistible & H.M.S. Ocean & the French battleship Bouvet were sunk, with two further French battleships & a British battlecruiser severely damaged, all by mines.









French & British casualties: 700 killed.
Ottoman casualties: 40 killed, approximately 80 wounded.

Lest we forget.