Last week the Central Powers made a breakthrough
on the Italian Front, so this week the Allies counter with a breakthrough of their own – on
the Palestine Front. I’m Indy Neidell; welcome to the Great War. Last week the Germans continued their occupation
of the Russian islands in the Gulf of Riga, their combined offensive with Austria – Hungary
smashed through on the Italian Front, they were beaten by the French at La Malmaison,
and they held their ground against the Canadians at Passchendaele. The Canadians were trying again this week,
though. On October 30th, they managed to enter the
ruins of Passchendaele, but were driven back with heavy casualties. They attacked at dawn, trying to take the
Red Line positions not taken the 26th, and the Blue Line positions beyond as well. But the Bellevue Spur, that had frustrated
the ANZACs, loomed large. The Germans hung onto it with torrents of
machine gun fire, but the Canadians took it, though they used up the attacking battalions
in the process. Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry
lost 80% of its officers and 60% of its men. The Edmonton Battalion on its left lost 75%
(Generals). The attacks that day were also made worse
by a shortage of drinking water. It was as hard to bring up to the front as
artillery shells were, and the endless swamp of the battlefield had been poisoned by human
waste and rotting bodies. But the Canadian Corps advanced a half mile,
in spite of the heavy casualties. Commander Arthur Currie now had to bring up
his two reserve divisions for his next attack next week. The British War Cabinet on November 1st updated
its estimates of the cost in men of the battle. Losses for October alone were 110,000. They also pointed out, though, that in a quiet
month the Ypres salient would see 35,000 casualties, so the current offensive was only responsible
for the extra 75,000. “Only”. At a conference addressed by British Commander
Sir Douglas Haig, Alan Brooke wrote, “I could hardly believe that my ears were not
deceiving me! He spoke in the rosiest terms of our chances
of breaking through. I had been all over the ground and to my mind
such an eventuality was quite impossible. I was certain he was misinformed and had never
seen the ground for himself.” But the army would try again next week. There was a breakthrough currently in progress,
though, the Central Powers one on the Italian Front. Italian army Chief of Staff Luigi Cadorna,
when the attack had begun and turned into that breakthrough last week, had not issued
rallying calls to his men, but issued blame, as usual blaming everyone except himself for
the collapse of the armies. Now on the 27th he ordered a general retreat. In the space of four days, the Central Powers
had destroyed the Italian Second Army. On the 28th, the Austrians occupy Gorizia. The next day, the Germans capture Udine, former
Italian HQ, and by end of week, the Italian armies have retreated behind the Tagliamento
River, Germany claims over 180,000 prisoners and 1,500 guns so far. The British army also had big success this
week, in the Middle East. On the Palestine Front, where they had attacked
and failed twice at Gaza so far this year, but now it would be a different attack. They had spent a two-month campaign of deception
aimed at convincing the Ottomans under Kress von Kressenstein that Gaza was again the target,
including having false orders “captured”. A few weeks ago, a British officer had allowed
Turkish guards to chase him from their guard post, and just as he escaped, he dropped a
haversack smeared with horse blood, so it looked like he’d been wounded. The sack contained details of the next “attack”
on Gaza, and the impracticality of an attack on Beersheba. So the British offensive against Beersheba,
under General Edmund Allenby, kicked off October 31st. The Turks were totally fooled and suddenly
saw 40,000 men bearing down on them. The first attackers to go into action were
the New Zealand Mounted Rifles, but troops of the Australian mounted division, the 4th
Light Horse Brigade, in spectacular fashion launched a full on improvised cavalry charge,
using sharpened bayonets as swords. See, aerial recon showed that the Turks had
neither barbed wire nor anti-cavalry ditches. The 4th Brigade took over 1,000 prisoners. (Hart) “At a mile distant their thousand
hooves were stuttering thunder… they were an awe-inspiring sight, galloping through
the red haze – knee to knee and horse to horse…. Machine guns and rifle fire just roared but
the 4th Brigade galloped on… The last half mile was a berserk gallop with
the squadrons in magnificent line… they plunged up the slope… the Turkish bayonets
thrusting up for the bellies of the horses… we heard the mad shouts as the men jumped
down into the trenches… a following regiment thundered over… and to a triumphant roar
of voices and hooves was galloping down the half mile slope right into the town… Beersheba had fallen.” A much larger city was possibly about to fall
as well, but to revolution. On November 1st, there was unrest in Petrograd,
as the Maximalists threaten armed action. This was a radical wing of socialist revolutionaries
mainly active early in the century. They got their name for demanding full implementation
of the maximum socialization of the expected revolution. They also had a much more favorable view of
terrorism than other revolutionaries, endorsing political terror – attacks on members of the
government, expropriations – things like bank robberies, and economic terror – attacks on
property or people like factory bosses. They were often compared to anarchists, though
they rejected that comparison since they generally believed in a popular revolutionary dictatorship,
rejecting parliamentary democracy in any form in favor of a secret disciplined organization
that controlled the general population. They had been nearly destroyed by arrests
in 1906 and 1907 after the abortive 1905 revolution in Russia. They weren’t the only people making plans,
though. Lenin had finally returned to Russia from
his exile in Finland, clean-shaven and disguised with a wig and glasses, to now lead the Bolsheviks
and plot the final downfall of the Kerensky government. Last week, the Bolshevik Central Committee
had met and had voted 10 – 2 for an immediate armed uprising. They finally reached consensus for it to happen
next week at the All-Russian Congress of Soviets. Russia’s Allies were certainly concerned
about the possibility of the fall the Kerensky government, which could lead to Russia leaving
the war. In Britain, the Balfour Declaration was issued
November 2nd. It was a letter from Foreign Secretary Lord
Balfour to Lord Rothschild that expressed Britain’s support for a National Home for
the Jewish people in Palestine. The final discussions leading to the public
declaration were partly about how it could be used to rally Russia’s Jews to persuade
their compatriots to continue fighting, but Colonel Alfred Knox, observing in Russia for
Britain, had written in his diary, “there is evidently not the slightest hope that the
Russian army will ever fight again.” A British Foreign office official, Ronald
Graham, had written to Balfour last week, “Almost every Jew in Russia is a Zionist,
and if they can be made to realize that the success of Zionist aspirations depends on
the support of the Allies and the expulsion of the Turks from Palestine, we shall enlist
a most powerful element in our favor.” It was now arranged for three leading Zionists
to go to Petrograd to rally Russian Jews to the Allied cause. The British Under secretary of State believed
that the situation there could be restored by spring. (SEGUE 5)
But whether or not Russia would fight again, a newer ally was joining the fight in the
field this week. On November 2nd, an American battalion took
over from a French one at Bathélemont. This was the first time regular American troops
had gone into action in the war. The next morning one of their outposts was
shelled by artillery and then raided by 213 Bavarians (Gilbert). This outnumbered the Americans 4 – 1, and
three Americans were killed. Two Germans were killed and one deserted to
the Americans, but the Germans took 12 American POWs. The rest were found with “white, drawn faces
and haunted eyes”. General John Pershing apparently wept when
he heard of the attack. An inquiry concluded that the Americans were
not fully trained and should be taken off the lines. And we come to the end of the week. Canadians frustrated in Belgium, Australians
and New Zealanders victorious in the Middle East, the Germans still breaking through in
Italy, plans for a coup in Russia, and for a Jewish Homeland in Palestine. Think about that American battalion, taking
over the line. I’m not certain if any training away from
the field could really prepare you for the actual brutal reality of modern war. The world had never before seen such wholesale,
impersonal, anonymous slaughter. There is one way and one way only to train
for such combat – experience it firsthand, day after day, and month after month. Of course, this will involve the slaughter
of tens of thousands of your men, but that is what’s going to have to happen to really
train those Americans. If you want to know more about the Americans
that served in Europe but never returned, you can watch our episode from the American
Meuse-Argonne cemetery right here. Our Patreon supporter of the week is Karen
Eastman – help us out on Patreon to make this show better and better and get cool perks
in return. Don’t forget to subscribe, see you next
time.