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Great Britain declared the entire North Sea a military zone as of November 5, 1914, imposing a blockade of Germany with nets, mines, and ships from Scotland across the northern end of the North Sea, and at the mouth of the English Channel. Germany's response depended on its submarine fleet.
Anzac Cove, Ari Burnu, from John Masefield's 'Gallipoli.'
The poet, novelist, and political activist Gabriele d'Annunzio speaking in favor of Italy's entry into the war on the side of the Entente Allies, and against 'Giolittismo' at the Costanzi Theater in Rome, May, 1915. Giovanni Giolitti was five-time Prime Minister of Italy, and opposed intervention in the Great War. Illustration by Achille Beltrame.
A squadron of the German Imperial Navy under the eye of a Zeppelin off the North Sea island and port of Helgoland.
Chosen Boy, a 1918 watercolor by Paul Klee. From Paul Klee: Early and Late Years: 1894-1940. © 2013 Moeller Fine Art
"The Special Service ship or Q-boat of 1915 was a tramp or collier with a concealed armament for the decoying and destruction of submarines. The first success was achieved on July 25, 1915, when one of them, the Prince Charles (Lieutenant W.P. Mark-Wardlaw), was pursued and shelled by U 36, near North Rona Island. Her crew abandoned ship, leaving their gunners concealed on board. The U-boat thereupon closed; but when she was within five hundred yards of her apparently helpless prey, the British guns were suddenly unmasked, and the submarine sank under their fire, leaving fifteen of her crew to be rescued by the victors." ((1), more)
"In this war of digging, the daily life in the trenches gives digging enough to every soldier. Men dig daily even if they do not fight. At Anzac in July the Australians had a double share of digging—their daily share in the front lines, and when that was finished their nightly share, preparing cover for the new troops. During the nights of the latter half of July the Australians at Anzac dug, roofed, and covered not less than twenty miles of dug-outs. All this work was done in their sleep time, after the normal days work of fighting, digging, and carrying up stores. Besides digging these hiding-places they carried up, fixed, hid, and filled the water-tanks which were to supply the newcomers." ((2), more)
"On July 27th, the Italians again stormed the Plava Heights and St. Michels with bombs and bayonets. Though they gained both summits, they could not retain the positions, so withering was the enemy's artillery fire. Gorizia itself seemed impregnable. Further assaults on the stronghold were postponed. The Italians and Austrians each were said to have lost 150,000 in this engagement." ((3), more)
"The Austrians counterattacked in the central Adriatic on 23 July. Cruisers, destroyers, and torpedo boats raided the Tremiti Islands and the Italian coast from Grottamare to Termoli. They repeated the attacks, joined by aircraft, somewhat farther to the north between Fano and Ancona on the 28th. The same day they made an unsuccessful attempt to recapture Pelagosa. The expedition consisted of two cruisers, six destroyers, and a number of torpedo boats, with the submarine UB.14 scouting in advance." ((4), more)
"The Germans tempered the cruelty of war by shielding their troops with expensive technology; the Austro-Hungarians economized—before and during the war—and threw their infantry away like trash. 'The Germans expend metal, we expend life,' a Russian general confessed in 1915, and the same could be said of the Austrians. . . . Gorlice-Tarnów was more of a breakthrough for the Germans than the Austrians. Despite the fact that whole Russian artillery regiments were limited to just ten shells a day by this date, Austro-Hungarian battle reports spoke of yet more fruitless and costly attacks and limited gains." ((5), more)
(1) Great Britain declared the entire North Sea a military zone as of November 5, 1914, imposing a blockade of Germany with nets, mines, and ships from Scotland across the northern end of the North Sea, and at the mouth of the English Channel. Germany responded on February 4, 1915 by declaring a war zone around the British Isles, within which ships of Britain and its allies were subject to being sunk. The submarine was Germany's only weapon for enforcing the zone. After the sinking of Lusitania on May 7 and subsequent American protests, Germany suspended its campaign of unrestricted submarine warfare. In his Naval History of World War I, Paul G. Halpern dates the sinking of U-36 on July 24.
Days To Remember: The British Empire in the Great War by John Buchan and Herny Newbolt , page 142, publisher: Thomas Nelson and Sons, Ltd., publication date: 1922
(2) Since the April 25, 1915 Allied landing of the Gallipoli peninsula, the Turkish defenders had confined the invaders to two footholds on the peninsula, one at the southern end, where British, Indian, French, and Senagalese troops had made little headway, the second at Anzac Cove, named for the men of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps, the ANZACs who held the beach and some of the hills above it at the Cove. Just as the Allies had hoped that the invasion would lead to a breakthrough in the war by opening a new front against the Central Powers, they hoped to break the stalemate at Gallipoli by launching a new invasion, at Suvla Bay, north of Anzac. On the same day, August 7, the ANZACs would be reinforced for an advance of their own. In preparation, in July, the men dug.
Gallipoli by John Masefield by John Masefield, pp. 110, 111, publisher: William Heinemann, publication date: 1916
(3) From Switzerland to the Adriatic Sea, Austria-Hungary held the high ground along its border with Italy. Along the narrow front northeast of Venice, Italy would attack repeatedly in Battles of the Isonzo. The Second Battle, July 18 to August 3, 1915, saw small Italian advances. The Austro-Hungarians, who fought poorly against Russia and Serbia, fared better against the Italians.
King's Complete History of the World War by W.C. King, page 164, copyright © 1922, by W.C. King, publisher: The History Associates, publication date: 1922
(4) Italy had declared war on Austria-Hungary on May 23, 1915. One July 11, Italian troops occupied the Austro-Hungarian island Pelagosa in the Adriatic Sea.
A Naval History of World War I by Paul G. Halpern, page 149, copyright © 1994 by the United States Naval Institute, publisher: UCL Press, publication date: 1994
(5) July 28, 1915: Austria-Hungary's war is one year old, as is Serbia's. The Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive, a joint German, Austro-Hungarian offensive begun on May 2, 1915, continued to drive Russia back, out of Austro-Hungarian territory, but also out of Polish-Russia with Warsaw itself threatened. But Austria-Hungary was no match for Russia, and its victories were Germany's. After a year of war, Austria-Hungary's casualty toll was approaching two million men, dead, missing, prisoner, wounded.
A Mad Catastrophe by Geoffrey Wawro, pp. 371, 372, copyright © 2014 by Geoffrey Wawro, publisher: Basic Books
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