100 Years Ago Today

[Jimbuna]

This is the second reminder that topics should be confined to as per title '100 Years Ago Today'.

[Jimbuna]

20th March 1915

Western Front

Germans regain some trench elements near Notre Dame de Lorette.

Eastern Front

Russians attack, taking 2,400 prisoners, near Smolnik.

Russian troops enter and capture the East Prussian port city of Memel.

Naval

Dardanelles: Violent storm. Despite high losses in the previous attempt, Allied warships resume operations in the Dardanelles straits.

Overseas Operations

German south-west Africa: General Botha defeats German force at Riet, on the Swakop.

Political etc.

German Socialist in the Reichstag criticizes the military for trying to “Germanize” people living in Alsace-Lorraine.

George Clemenceau predicts Britain will soon institute conscription as the war could continue for some time.

Edmond Rostand, French poet, calls on Greece to enter the war; says Achilles mourns to see the nation doing the goose step.

Austria offers to cede a part of the province of Trent to Italy if it will remain neutral in the war.

[Sailor Steve]

March 20:

German East Africa: The old Canopus-class Battleship HMS Goliath, flagship of Admiral King-Hall, moves south to the mouth of the Lindi River and opens fire with her secondary guns. The ship's log doesn't say what the target is, but records 53 rounds of 6" Common and Lyddite shell fired, so presumably it is German or native troops on land.

HMS Kinfauns Castle moves from Zanzibar to Mombasa, where S920 performs a couple more short test hops.



Saudi Arabia: Hellmuth von Mücke and his men set sail northward from Al Qunfudhah in their zambuk. The next stop will be Al Lith, 76 nautical miles to the north-northeast.

[Jimbuna]

21st March 1915

Western Front

French regain lost trench elements near Notre Dame de Lorette.

Severe fighting at Bagatelle (the Argonne).

Eastern Front

Germans re-occupy Memel.

Germans abandon attack on Osovyets and withdraw their artillery.

Aviation

Two German zeppelins drops fifty bombs on the Batignolles and Neuilly districts of Paris.

Naval

Dardanelles Campaign
TB.064, torpedo boat, Yarrow 125ft-type, c87t, 1886, 19kts, 2-3pdr/5-14in tt, 16 crew, Chief Gunner James Cottrell in command. One of a group of six torpedo boats, including TB’s 063 and 070, sailed on 17th from Port Said for Mudros on the island of Lemnos, in company with old light cruiser Doris and collier Kasala. On the 20th, off the island of Khio (or Chios) with the weather worsening, they coaled, but TB.064 only took on half her bunkers. Continuing on to Lemnos in strong NE gales and following a course change, 064 became separated, and Doris, after reaching Mudros with the other five TB's, went out to search for the missing one. She was found off the east coast of the island, at anchor, with hardly any remaining coal and in no condition to proceed. Night of 21st - anchors dragged, drifted ashore and wrecked E side of Lemnos island; no lives lost, crew saved after a stoker swam ashore with a line.

Political, etc.

Italian military attache leaves Vienna.

German government advises its citizens to leave Italy, as it becomes likely the country will enter the war.

Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria is wounded at the front, but the injuries are not serious.


7000 women respond to the British government’s call for female workers to replace men who have gone to the front.

Ship Losses:

Cairntorr ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship was torpedoed by U 34 and sunk in the English Channel 7 nautical miles (13 km) south of Beachy Head, East Sussex 50°40′N 0°15′E by SM U-34 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew were rescued by the Eastbourne Lifeboat and the Newhaven Lifeboat.
HM Torpedo Boat 64 ( Royal Navy): The torpedo boat ran aground and was wrecked in the Aegean Sea.

[Sailor Steve]

March 21:

English Channel: Claus Rücker, commanding U-34, torpedoes the British freighter SS Cairntorr, 3,588 tons, carrying a cargo of coal from Newcastle to Genoa, Italy. Rücker's score now stands at two ships and 8,789 tons.



German East Africa: HMS Goliath moves from the Lindi River back to Moresby Point on Mafia Island. Later she moves into the North Mafia Channel toward Tirene.

HMS Hyacinth moves from the South Mafia Channel to Tirene and back. Along the way she encounters Goliath and transfers a German civilian prisoner to the battleship.

S920 makes several more flights from Kinfauns Castle, anchored at Port Reitz, Mombasa. The longest lasts eight minutes.

[Jimbuna]

22nd March 1915

Western Front



Eastern Front

Capitulation of Przemsyl to the Russians; 126,000 prisoners and 700 big guns.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

Turkish raiding forces discovered near El Kubri (Suez).

Naval

1488 horses are loaded up on the French liner La Gascogne, which is the largest cargo of horses in history.

French battleship Jaureguiberry is ordered to join the Dardanelles fleet.


Political etc.

Germany issues $2.25 billion ($52.06 billion today) of war loans, which secures funding for the war until late autumn.

French Prize Court declare seizure of S.S. "Dacia" valid.

Ship Losses:

Turbine ( Regia Marina): The Nembo-class destroyer was sunk in the Adriatic Sea by SMS Helgoland and two destroyers (all Austro-Hungarian Navy).


A captured German Taube monoplane, on display in the courtyard of Les Invalides in Paris, in 1915.

[Sailor Steve]

March 22:

Eastern Front: During the fighting around Przemsyl, at a town called Okna a Croatian sergeant named Josip Broz is stabbed in the back by a Russian cavalryman's lance. "I fainted. The Circassians began to butcher the wounded, even slashing them with their knives. Fortunately Russian infantrymen reached the positions and put an end to the orgy."

Josip Broz is the youngest sergeant-major in the Austro-Hungarian army. Later he will be (in)famous as the Yugoslavian dictator Tito.



English Channel: Claus Rücker, in SMS U-34, torpedoes British freighter Concord, 2,861 tons, carrying a cargo of mixed grains from Rosario to Leith. Rücker's score is now three ships and 11,650 tons.



Gibraltar: The monitor convoy stops off the coast of Gibraltar. The tugs Danube II, Southampton and T.A. Joliffe unship their towing lines and move into the harbor for recoaling. The convoy continues on at slow speed. After replenishing the three tugs rejoin the convoy and the same process is repeated with Blackcock, Sarah Joliffe and Revenger. As it is now late the latter three remain in harbor overnight.



Adriatic Sea: Egon Lerch, commanding Austro-Hungarian submarine KEK U-12, takes two prizes: Montenegrin sailing vessels Fiore Di Dulcigno and Hilussie.



Africa: HMS Goliath anchors at Zanzibar, then departs for Mombasa.

Light cruiser HMS Hyacinth is patrolling down the coast from Mafia Island.

At Port Reitz, Mombasa, HMS Kinfauns Castle again hoists S920 into the water. The plane makes three flights, the longest being nine minutes.

[Jimbuna]

23rd March 1915

Western Front

Germans bombard Reims and Soissons; French silence the German guns at Soissons.

German occupation forces executes 17 Belgians on charges of doing espionage for the Allies.

Southern Front

Dardanelles: Bombardment resumed.

40,000 Austria-Hungarian troops are sent to Trieste to protect the port from a possible Italian attack.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

Turkish raiding forces routed by British near El Kubri.

Italy begins fortifying the Aegean Islands, which had been recently taken from the Ottoman Empire in the Italy-Ottoman War.

Naval

First kite-balloon ship, H.M.S. "Manica" commissioned.


Political, etc.

U.S. government asks the Japanese government what exactly are its intentions in China.

Chinese and Japanese Governments conclude secret agreement as to future policy in Manchuria.

An American is shot and wounded by a British sentry, after he sailed too close to a German POW camp in Bermuda.

[Sailor Steve]

March 23:

Writing at Charleville, Admiral von Tirpitz compares the fall of Przemysl to the Allied failure at the Dardanelles: "The one will lessen the effect of the other, but everywhere the Russians are attacking ruthlessly and the Austrians are always beaten, and we too are getting nervous. Hindenburg is coming to the end of his resources."



Gibraltar: The tugs Blackcock, Sarah Joliffe and Revenger rejoin the monitors' convoy and they all proceed on toward Malta at their full six knots.



Africa: HMS Goliath reaches Mombasa and recoals.

HMS Hyacinth moves from the South Mafia Channel into the Indian Ocean.

[Jimbuna]

24th March 1915

Eastern Front

Russian forces launch a push south of the Carpathians as troops are freed up after the fall of Prmysl.

Naval

North Sea
Undaunted, light cruiser, Arethusa-class, 4,400t, 3rd DF leader and Landrail, destroyer, L-class, c1,300t, 3rd DF, Harwich Force, in collision. Damaged to Undaunted not known but three crew drowned, Landrail towed home with badly crumpled bow.

Aviation

Five Royal Naval Air Service Avro 504s of No. 1 Squadron bomb the German submarine depot at Hoboken in Antwerp, Belgium, starting a fire in the shipyard that destroys two German submarines.

Political, etc.

Chile protests against violation of her territorial waters by the British at the battle of Juan Fernandez.

Russian nobility passes a resolution that it is in the vital interests of Russia to take control of Constantinople & the Dardanelles Straits.

China tentatively accepts 5 of the 21 Demands made by Japan; anti-Japanese riots occur in the south.

Mary Anna Jackson, 2nd wife of General “Stonewall” Jackson, has passed away.

[Sailor Steve]

March 24:

Air War: Five Avro 504s from No. 1 Squadron RNAS attack the submarine base at Hoboken, The Netherlands. The pilots are Squadron Commander Ivor T. Courtney, Flight Lieutenants Bernard Crossley-Meates and Harold L. Rosher, and Flight Sub-Lieutenants B.L. Huskisson and F.G. Andreae.

The flight takes off from Dunkirk at 0530 and flies at 2,500 feet to Zeebrugge. They rise to 5,000 feet and continue toward Antwerp. Courtney drops to 500 feet and drops his bombs. Rosher glides down from 5,500 feet to 2,500 then 1,000 for his bomb run, under fire the entire time. Rosher is convinced his plane is shredded, but when he gets home he discovers it was only hit twice. Courtney and Rosher make it home safely, but Meates comes down in Holland with engine trouble and is enterned. Andreae gets lost in the fog and returns home. Huskisson also becomes lost but manages to drop his bombs on Ostende.

"At Hoboken the Antwerp ship-building yard was set on fire and two submarines were destroyed, while a third was damaged. Forty German workmen were killed and sixty-two wounded."
-French official communique

Some information from With The Flying Squadron: Being the War Letters of the Late Harold Rosher to his Family, Macmillan, New York, 1916



Africa: HMS Goliath departs Mombasa to return to Zanzibar.

HMS Hyacinth rounds the Cape Delgado lighthouse to examine Keonge Bay and Lindi Bay.



Saudi Arabia: After four days at sea Hellmuth von Mücke and his party arrive at Al Lith which he calls "Leet".

[Jimbuna]

25th March 1915

Eastern Front

Russian counter-offensive makes progress in the Carpathians; 5,700 prisoners taken.

Naval

Submarine U29 sunk.


First deliberate neutral sinking, Dutch SS Medea, 1,235grt, sailing Valencia for London with oranges, stopped and searched, then sunk by U.28 in English Channel off Beachy Head. Dutch government made strong protests.


Overseas

Indian Expeditionary Force "F" (in Egypt) absorbed into Indian Expeditionary Force "E".

General Liman von Sanders appointed to command Turco-German Forces, Dardanelles.

Political etc.

Duchess Victoria Louise, daughter of Kaiser Wilhelm, gives birth to her second son, Prince George William.

Japan holds general elections; Prime Minister Okuma’s Rikken Doshikai party wins the most seats.


Ship Losses:

Delmira ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship was intercepted in the English Channel 23 nautical miles (43 km) north north east of the Cap d'Antifer, Pas-de-Calais, France by SM U-37 ( Kaiserliche Marine). An attempt was made to scuttle her but it did not succeed. Delmira subsequently drifted ashore. Later salvaged, repaired and returned to service.
USS F-4 ( United States Navy): The F-class submarine sank in the Pacific Ocean 1.5 nautical miles (2.8 km) off Honolulu, Hawaii with the loss of all 21 crew.
Medea ( Netherlands): The cargo ship was shelled and sunk in the English Channel off Beachy Head, East Sussex, United Kingdom by SM U-28 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew were rescued by HMS Teviot ( Royal Navy).
Tamar ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship was shelled and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 500 nautical miles (930 km) east nort east of Pernambuco, Brazil by SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm ( Kaiserliche Marine).

USS F-4

[Sailor Steve]

March 25:

London: Colonial Secretary Lewis Harcourt sends the British War Council a memorandum suggesting that after Turkey is defeated Britain should annex the region as "an outlet for Indian immigration", and that they should offer Palestine as a mandate to the United States.*

*Martin Gilbert, The First World War, page 139



Saudi Arabia: Hellmuth von Mücke discovers that the British have warships blockading the port of Jeddah, some 100 nautical miles to the northeast. They are stopping even the smallest boats, so there is no chance of travel by sea. They are also at the northernmost end of the Farasan Bank, so there is no more protection from the reefs. Von Mücke realizes that the only option left to him is to travel by land. He begins looking for the means to make that happen.

[Jimbuna]

26th March 1915

Western Front

French gain summit of Hartmannsweilerkopf.

Belgian troops drive back Germans south of Diksmuide with only light losses.

Aviation

Six French airmen bomb Metz.

Eastern Front

Continued Russian advance in the Carpathians, 2.500 prisoners reported.

Lupkow Pass taken.

Political etc.

Despite warnings from the British government, docks in Liverpool threaten to strike, which would hold up vital supplies.

Troop transport Sardinia, in dazzle camouflage, at a wharf during World War I.

[Sailor Steve]

March 26:

German East Africa: In a pouring rain storm HMS Goliath returns to Mafia Island. HMS Hyacinth moves from Mafia Island to the Rufiji Delta. HMS Weymouth returns from Rufiji to Mafia to repair a damaged steering gear.

At Mombasa, HMS Kinfauns Castle is discharging all the seaplane stores. The RN has finally given up on the Sopwith seaplane.



Saudi Arabia: In an attempt to gather enough animals to transport his party over land, Hellmuth von Mücke contacts the Sheik of Al Lith. The town is small - only a few hundred people - and even the Sheik is poor. He invites von Mücke to dinner at his home. Von Mücke describes it as a hut with no windows, with weapons hanging on all the walls. The only furniture is described as "smoking apparatus". To eat they lie on mats on the floor. The meal consists of a large pile of rice and a whole roast sheep.

The Sheik agrees to do everything he can to acquire sufficient camels for the journey.