Chapter seventeen: Sailing to Byzantium.
Afterwards, even Asquith would agree that the most vicious figthing of the whole campaign took place in London. As Lord Fisher stuck to his guns and remained fixed in his conviction that the landings had to take place in Bokkum, his relation with Churchill worsened, as the First Lord of the Admiralty insisted on forcing the Dardanelles, which gave rise to bitter arguments among the two.
However, if Fisher's attitude blocked Churchill's Mediterranean expedition, he was also in troubles, as Kitchener remarked that he had no troops to spare for such an operation. When Fisher suggested using some of the Territorial divisions that were to be ready in Spring, he was blocked again, this time by Field Marshal French interjected and demanded that no extra troops be spared from the western front, insisting that the war would be won there. The stalemate was broken by Churchill, that pointed out that his operation did not need waiting for new troops to be ready but it can go on with part of the divisions already present in Egypt. Then the problem was that Kitchener was momentarily enrapted by the idea of attacking Germany in the flank and said that Fisher’s idea should not be discounted.
The debate continued for some time, with Admiral Jellicoe joining the fighting, as he opposed tsending the Grand Fleet to the Heligoland Bight to protect the invasion force because it would meant taking the fleet within close range of Germany, in danger of being ravaged by aubmarines, mines and torpedo attacks, something that would not be possible in the North Sea. In that juncture, Asquith tried desesperately to find some sort of compromise that satisfied all the parts implied. Finally, a compromise was reached: Churchill would allow for the planning of a Baltic campaign, and Fisher would let Churchill launch a
limited naval campaign in the Dardanelles. The deal was accepted and Fisher began to study the chances of an amphibious assault on the German coast, which was to be presented at the next War Council meeting for consideration.
"
Risking my battleships you say, sir? Bollocks, sir, utter bollocks!" From "
Apocryphal memories of a Baldrick being in the Great War".
Meanwhile, as urgent telegram from St. Petersburg demanding inmediate action kept arrivign to London, the Dardanelles campagin had to be rushed forwards. It was a recipe for disaster.
It began on February 13th, 1915. It was Friday (1). The Mediterranean Fleet, reinforced by the battleship
HMS Queen Elizabeth -to the great and mighty anger of Jellicoe-, under the command of Admiral Sir Frederick Tower Hamilton, GCVO, KCB, bombarded the Turkish artillery forts along the Dardanelles straits. Despite some damage sustained by ships engaging the Ottoman forts, minesweepers were ordered to proceed along the straits. Then, as the Ottoman guns remained in silence, disaster struck. The battlecruiser
HMS Indomitable was heavily damaged by a mine, threatining to capsize. Then, the Turks opened fire again, raining shells over the minesweepers, which retreated leaving the minefields largely intact. The battlecruiser
HMS Inflexible and the cruiser
HMS Defence both sustained critical damage from mines, although there was confusion during the battle about the cause of the damage—some blamed torpedoes. A protected cruiser, the
HMS Black Prince, sent to help the
Irresistible, was itself struck by an explosion and had, in its turn, to be rescued. To keep pressing was sheer mandness and Admiral Hamilton decided to turn back.
HMS Inflexible bombarding Turkish positions
Even if no ships were lost, the losses caused the abortion of any further attempts to force the straits by naval power alone. Losses had been anticipated during the planning of the campaign, so mainly obsolete battleships had been sent which were unfit to face the German fleet. However, many naval officers—including Admiral de Robeck and Lord Fisher—did not consider the losses acceptable. It was obvious that ground forces were necessary to eliminate the Turkish artillery.
A Turkish heavy gun. An 11 inch gun placed in a fortress at Kilitbahir
(1) I must confess that when I checked the day after selecting the date I burst out laughing like a Peti who has landed in Pizzaland.
[GAME NOTES: Thus, I've decided for the Dardanelles. I said that I was not to repeat all the Allies mistakes but something compelled me to try this. As you will see, I was not so willing to be trashed as in OTL, but this belong to the future... The damage on the ships here presented come from a mysterious event: suddenly the Mediterranean Fleet set sailing for the Adriatic wihout me ordering so (how amusing!) and met the Austrian fleet. I discovered that when I was looking at the current battles and, yikes!, I was able to extract them from that unrequested meeting. No one expects the Austrian Naval Inquisition, it seems. As said, the Baltic scheme as not been entirely forgotten.
BTW, now I see that a Hamilton did begin the Dardannelles scheme. How funny
.]
@Razgriz: Well, fog of war... need to react fast... If you think that those mistakes were stupid, let's not mention the Dardanelles action here described.
@Enewald: That's the idea. I'll defend Britain by attacking!
@Nathan Madien: The problem is/was that none of those options promised any chance of success at that stage. If it was not logistics, there were the commanders in the field... Well, what will happen in this AAR? Keep tunned...
@Davout:
Well, perhaps it was not the question of "where" but of "what". Today Scarborough, tomorrow, dunno... Bognor Regis?
Perhaps the advantages of K's idea is that the area wasn't so narrow nor so heavily protected, but... The British Army, making amphibious assaults since 1809.
@FlyingDutchie: Well, there was some military sense in that. Landing in Northern Germany was to avoid the principal trench lines, for instance. And it was nearer to Berlin than Flanders.
The problem of K's idea, from my point of view, is logistics. Bearing in mind the mess that they made in Mesopotamia, I'm afraid that another Townshed would manage to get encircled in some Syrian city and screw all the plan. Remember, some plans sometimes were senseless, but some commanders weren't much better...
@c0d5579;11747698: Me too, but I'm afraid that in this I feel slightly inclined to repeat Gallipoli, for sake of some historical need -Aussies and Kiwies (with all due respect and my complete and deepest sympathy for them) may wonder if there is such a need, of course, but, what would be Australia and New Zealand without Anzac Day? Think about poor Mel Gibson, for God's sake!
About bringing Greece to war... welll, right now, to have Greece on the war I'd need to invade them, as they are pretty stubborn. Thanks, king Constantine... I must confess that I've not forgotten the Alexandretta and the Baltic Plan and, in the future, if the situation arises, in due course, in the fullness of time, At the appropriate juncture, when the moment is ripe...
@StephenT: And Salonica was made possible by Gallipoli, so, which operation did won the war there?
@Tommy4ever: Me too, but, at time will solve, our boys in Kuwait and Egypt are quite resorceful...
@soulking;: Yes, that is a mistake that I'm afraid is going to be repeated here, unless Nicky is struck by a lightining or else...
@Porkman: But the Czar only talks about Imperial policies with God...
@Nathan Madien: "Erm... dear Nicky?"
"Yes, Alix?"
"Forgive me the interruption, but, even if we are winning the war, I see some Picklehaubes moving to our Winter palace, you see, my dear."