The Year 1915

On 28 February, on the Northwest Front, Hindenburg and Ludendorff called off their northern drive after suffering stiff resistance and heavy losses.

The Russian War Ministry issued a decree establishing the Special Administrative Commission on Artillery, chaired by Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, to provide tighter control on orders and production of shells, but his authority was largely constrained. During this period Russian Purchasing Commissions were set up in London, Paris and Washington (later in Italy and Japan) to acquire arms, munitions and materials from foreign firms.

On 28 February, at Constantinople, there was a meeting of Turkish Ministers, attended by German Generals von der Goltz and Liman von Sanders, to discuss the defense of the Dardanelles.

During February, Russian medical services at the front were deplorable; lacking even the most basic medicines. Wounded died by the hundreds for lack of attention despite the best efforts of doctors and nurses. Prince Oldenburgskiy who headed the Medical Division was capricious, stubborn and an extremely limited person.

The railway network was inadequate to supply provisions for the army. The transport of men and supplies suffered from the inability to efficiently organize railway movement. There were bottlenecks at key railway junctions, where hundreds of railway wagons choked the system.

During February, the shell requirements of the Russian armies were estimated at sixty parks (2.4 million rounds) per month. Instead they received only eight parks (320,000 rounds) per month. Requests were flooding in from every sector of the front to Stavka, which were duly forwarded to the War Ministry, who then passed them on to the Artillery Administration where they piled up in disorder.

During February, the Germans formed Flugstation San Stefano at Yesilkoy, which served as a base to form Turkish and German aviation units. Only those units which operated against the Russians will be covered.

During March, Russian state factories, then the sole source of supply, were able to turn out only one third of the weapons required of them.

By the beginning of March, German Naval Aviation numbered 59 seaplanes and 64 land-planes, most of them stationed in the West and North Sea area. The German Army air service now had 72 Feldfliegerabteilungen, two Fortress Fliegerabteilungen and sixteen Armee Flug Parks. Aircraft were now being equipped with Mauser automatic rifles.