Rosyjski projekt operacji desantowej w strefie Kanału Cesarza Wilhelma w 1914 roku
Russian Scheme of a Landing Operation in the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal Area in 1914

Summary/Abstract: The paper discusses a scheme for a landing operation in the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal area (German Kaiser-Wilhelm-Kanal, from 1948 the Nord-Ostsee-Kanal, the Kiel Ca- nal in international terminology), whose aim was to capture and destroy the German- built transportation route that connected the Baltic Sea with the North Sea. The canal bore a strategic importance after the outbreak of World War I, as the German navy had to operate both in the North Sea against its main adversary, the British fleet, and to ensure Germany’s strategic control in the Baltic. The scheme, which has received little attention in literature to date, was developed after the outbreak of World War I, in the autumn of 1914, by Captain 2nd Rank (Commander) Alexander Bubnov, an officer in the Staff of the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Russian Army, Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich. The article proposes an analysis of the assumptions of Bubnov’s scheme, the question of who it was inspired by, and discusses the reasons why the scheme was not implemented, also in the context of the cooperation between the Al- lies (Russia and Great Britain) at the beginning of the war.

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