100 Years Ago Today

[Jimbuna]

5th October 1915

Western Front

British attack north of Loos and French attack in Champagne indecisive.

Heavy artillery exchanges resume across the Western front as the Allied offensives largely stagnate.

Eastern Front

Riga front active; lively actions near Smorgon.

Southern Front

Italians progress towards Rovereto (Trent.).

Allied troops land Salonika.

Bulgarians moving under German orders.

Political etc.

Dr. Dumba sails.

M. Venizelos resigns.

Lord Derby, Director of Recruiting.

Entente Ministers at Sofia demand passports.

Germany agrees to pay an indemnity for American lives lost in the SS Arabic sinking.


French Commander-in-Chief Joffre having lunch with King of Italy during his recent visit there.


Ship Losses:

Alose ( French Navy): The naval trawler struck a mine and sank in the North Sea off the Galloper Lightship ( United Kingdom) with the loss of twelve of her crew.
Burrsfield ( United Kingdom): The collier was shelled and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 70 nautical miles (130 km) wast of Cape Matapan, Greece (35°57′N 21°00′E) by SM U-33 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of four crew.
Novocastrian ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship struck a mine and sank in the North Sea 3.5 nautical miles (6.5 km) south east by east of Lowestoft, Suffolk. Her crew survived.
X 130 ( Royal Navy): The barge, under tow of Burrswood ( United Kingdom), was shelled and sunk 70 nautical miles (130 km) west of Cape Matapan (35°57′N 21°00′E) by SM U-33 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

[Sailor Steve]

October 5, 1915:

North Sea:
French naval trawler Alose, 214 tons, is sunk by a mine laid by UC-6, under Matthias von Schmettow. His score is now 11 ships and 7,103 tons.

British freighter SS Novocastrian, 1,151 tons, heading from London to Newcastle with a general cargo, is sunk by a mine laid by UC-7, commanded by Franz Wäger. His score is now 7 ships and 14,459 tons.



Mediterranean Sea:
Konrad Gansser, commanding U-33, sinks British freighter SS Burrsfield, 4,037 tons, bound from Malta to Gallipoli with stores, and X-130, 160 tons, a barge towed by Burrsfield. His score is now 22 ships and 53,890 tons.



United States:
Sailing schooner Schuylkill, 825 tons, founders off Winter Quarter Shoal, Virginia.

[Jimbuna]

6th October 1915

Western Front

French troops capture Tahure in Champagne, putting them within 1.5 miles of a German-controlled railroad, a key supply line.

Eastern Front

Heavy fighting Dvina front and in Lakes district; Romanians fortifying Giurgevo (Ruschuk).

Southern Front

Austrians attack Belgrade forts.

Naval and Overseas Operations

Reports of valuable Belgian co-operation in Cameroons, beginning on Sanga in October 1914.

Political etc.

Diplomats of Russia, France, Britain, Italy, and Serbia in Sofia begin preparations to leave Bulgaria.

Armenian massacres discussed, House of Lords; 80,000 reported killed since May, with connivance.

President Wilson formally announces his engagement with Edith Bolling Galt.


The horse of King Victor Emmanuel of Italy is killed by shrapnel while he was visiting the frontlines.

King Constantine of Greece says the country must remain neutral at all costs and will not protect Serbia against Bulgaria.

Ship Losses:

HMS Brighton Queen ( Royal Navy): The auxiliary minesweeper struck a mine and sank in the English Channel 5 nautical miles (9.3 km) west of Nieuwpoort, West Flanders, Belgium with the loss of eight of her crew.
Dimitrios Dandiolos ( Greece): The cargo ship was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea east of Malta (35°43′N 18°24′E) by SM U-33 ( Kaiserliche Marine).
Forth ( Norway): The cargo ship foundered in the Atlantic Ocean. Her crew were rescued by General Laurie ( United States).
Novocastrian ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship foundered. Her crew survived.
Scawby ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship was scuttled in the Mediterranean Sea 220 nautical miles (410 km) east of Malta by SM U-33 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
Silverash ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship was shelled and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 184 nautical miles (341 km) east of Malta by SM U-33 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
Texelstroom ( Netherlands): The cargo ship struck a mine and sank in the North Sea 1 nautical mile (1.9 km) west of the Shipwash Lightship ( United Kingdom). Her crew survived.

[Sailor Steve]

October 6, 1915:

North Sea:
British paddle steamer and auxiliary minesweeper Brighton Queen is sunk by a mine laid by UC-5, under Herbert Pustkuchen. His score is now 8 ships and 9,475 tons.

Dutch freighter SS Texelstroom, 1,601 tons, travelling from Swansea to Amsterdam with a mixed cargo of coffee, coal, tinplant and motor tires, is sunk by a mine laid off Harwich by UC-7. Franz Wäger's score is now 8 ships and 16,060 tons.



Mediterranean Sea:
Konrad Gansser, in U-33, sinks Greek freighter SS Dimitrios Dandiolos, 2,508 tons, bound from Alexandria to London; and British freighters Scawby, 3,658 tons, carrying a load of coal from Mudros to Malta; and Silverash, 3,753 tons, heading from Malta to Mudros. His score is now 25 ships and 63,809 tons.

[Jimbuna]

7th October 1915

Western Front

Vigorous fighting in Champagne and Argonne, indecisive.

Eastern Front

German troops pierce Russian lines at Dvinsk (Daugavpils) over a front of three miles.

Southern Front

Austro-Germans across Drina, Save and Danube; total estimated 400,000.

20,000 Allied troops at Salonika.

Naval and Overseas Operations

French transport sunk by Austrian submarine; two Russian destroyers sink 19 Turkish supply ships, coast of Anatolia.

Political, etc.

British Labour Leaders appeal for volunteers for Army.

US General John F. O’Ryan orders commissioned officers to refrain from alcoholic liquors as an example to their men.

6000 Armenian refugees from the Ottoman Empire arrive by boat to Port Said, British-occupied Egypt.

Japan threatens China with force unless it gives Japan jurisdiction over Koreans residing in the province of Jilin.

Ship Losses:

Amiral Hamelin ( France): The cargo ship was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 170 nautical miles (310 km) west of Cape Matapan, Greece (35°37′N 19°08′E) by SM U-33 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of 71 lives.
Halizones ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship was shelled and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 122 nautical miles (226 km) south east by east of Cape Martello, Crete, Greece by SM U-39 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
Katja ( Russia): The coaster was sunk in the Black Sea 15 nautical miles (28 km) north west of Sevastopol by SM UB-14 ( Kaiserliche Marine).
SMS T43 ( Kaiserliche Marine): The S7-class torpedo boat struck a mine and sank in the North Sea with the loss of three of her crew.

[Sailor Steve]

October 7, 1915:

Air War:
French pilot Georges Guynemer makes his first flight in a Nieuport 10.



Black Sea:
Heino von Heimburg, Commanding UB-14, sinks Russian freighter SS Katja, 474 tons, bringing his score to 3 ships and 21,709 tons.



Mediterranean Sea:
Konrad Gansser, in U-33, sinks French freighter SS Amiral Hamelin, 5,051 tons, bound from Marseille to Salonica with a load of military stores. His score is now 26 ships and 68,860 tons.



Walter Forstmann, in U-39, sinks British freighter SS Halizones, 5,093 tons, heading from Bombay to Liverpool with a general cargo. His score is now 30 ships and 64,741 tons.

[Jimbuna]

8th October 1915

Western Front

Important German attack near Loss repulsed. Huge enemy losses.

Eastern Front

Russians capture 1,000 prisoners, Novo Alexinatz (Galician border, east of Lemberg).

Austro-Hungarian and German troops cross the Danube and enter Belgrade. Serbian troops prepare to withdraw.

Southern Front

Austrians enter Belgrade; Serbs evacuate it after checking advanced guard.

Sir Ian Hamilton's despatch on Suvla Bay.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

British force attacks 9,000 Mohmands (Indian frontier), scoring heavily.

Aviation

Seven American volunteer aviators fighting in France are awarded military honors for their part in the Battle of Champagne.

Political etc.

London newspapers criticize British “diplomatic failure” in the Balkans. “The Globe” declares Sir Grey’s work as “ghastly.”

King Constantine of Greece deplores Greek emigration to the U.S. “There is plenty of room here for the population to spread out…”

U.S. Embassy in Constantinople receive $100,000 ($2.4 million today) to aid Armenians in the country.

Coopers working in French oil companies go on strike to protest the exportation of oil to Switzerland (which then goes to Germany).

Ship Losses:

Apscheron ( Imperial Russian Navy): The transport ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Black Sea 24 nmi (44 km) south of Cape Chersones by SM UB-14 ( Kaiserliche Marine).
Thorpwood ( United Kingdom): The collier was shelled and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 122 nautical miles (226 km) south of Cape Martello, Crete, Greece (33°12′N 25°28′E) by SM U-39 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

[Sailor Steve]

October 8, 1915:

Black Sea:
Heino von Heimburg, commanding UB-14, torpedoes Russian Freighter SS Apscheron, 1,864 tons. His score is now 4 ships and 23,573 tons.



Mediterranean Sea:
Walter Forstmann, in U-39, sinks British freighter SS Thorpwood, 3,184 tons, outbound from Malta with a load of coal. His score is now 31 ships and 67,925 tons.

[Jimbuna]

9th October 1915

Western Front

Severe fighting near Loos, held by French and British.

Eastern Front

Russians pressed back north-west of Dvinsk and south-west of Pinsk; heavy losses in Volhynia.

Southern Front

Austrians attack Montenegrin frontier; occupy Belgrade; Gallwitz crosses below Semendria.

Austrian attack on Isonzo front repulsed.

Naval and Overseas Operations

British capture Wumbiagas (Cameroons).

Political etc.

Earl of Selborne, president of the Board of Agriculture, criticizes British censorship as “mischievous stupidity.”

Bulgarian Cabinet reconstructed.

U.S.A. naval programme issued.

Pope Benedict negotiates a pledge from all belligerent nations to not force prisoners of war to work on Sundays.

Ship Losses:

HMS Apollo ( Royal Navy): The collier was shelled and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 63 nautical miles (117 km) south of Gavdos, Greece (33°44′N 24°40′E) by SM U-39 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
Arabia ( Germany): The cargo ship ran aground at Ystad, Sweden.

[Sailor Steve]

October 9, 1915:

Mediterranean Sea:
Walter Forstmann, commanding U-39, sinks British freighter SS Apollo, 3,774 tons, bound from Cardiff to Port Said with a load of coal. His score is now 32 ships and 71,699 tons.

[Jimbuna]

10th October 1915

Eastern Front

Scattered fighting along most of the line, except Dvinsk.

Southern Front

Enemy cross Danube in force at Semendria; many civilians killed at Belgrade.

Naval and Overseas Operations

British submarine sinks "Lulea" German metal steamer.

Political etc.

Popular discontent in Bulgaria at Germanophil policy.

Bulgaria claims that the majority of the inhabitants in Serbian-controlled Macedonia are ethnic Bulgarians.

Greek Government reject Serbian claim for help under Serbo-Greek Treaty of 1912.

Ship Losses:

Newcastle ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship struck a mine laid by UC 5 (Herbert Pustkuchen) and sank in the English Channel 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) south west of Folkestone, Kent. Her crew survived.
Wrestler ( United Kingdom): The tug was lost on this date.

[Sailor Steve]

October 10, 1915:

I have few exact dates, so the adventure of Julius Lauterbach had to wait for his return to Germany. When SMS Emden captured collier SS Exford, Lauterbach, as senior prize officer, was put in command and ordered to depart the area to await a rendezvous. After Emden was destroyed by HMAS Sydney on November 9, 1914, Sydney took off to capture Exford. It was this departure which allowed Helmuth von Mucke to take the schooner Ayesha and escape the area.

When Sydney found Exford and ordered her to heave to, Lauterback fixed the ship's compass to give a false direction. Some time later Exford ran aground and sank. Lauterbach, along with most of Emden's crew, was imprisoned at Singapore. Lauterbach was renowned as a ladies' man, and had a "friend" in Singapore who arranged for a boat to take him away.

Some sources suggest that Lauterbach had a hand in the Singapore Mutiny, but he himself denied that allegation. He certainly made good use of it, though, and escaped the prison where he was held. He managed to procure Swedish, Dutch and Belgian passports and a number of disguises, and travelled from Singapore to Manila via Cebu and Padang. He then spent two months in Manila, and spent some of that time sending postcards to British friends, including the commandant of the prison in Singapore from which he had escaped.

From Singapore Lauterbach boarded a Japanese collier and made his way to Tintsin and then Shanghai. While there another lady friend warned him of an attempt on his life. When the attempt was made Lauterbach escaped by leaping into the river. Lauterbach then managed to steal the passport of a U.S. navy petty officer W. Johnson. He then boarded a ship for Japan. In Yokohama he was questioned by a Japanese investigator, but managed to convince the man he was American.

He then travelled to Honolulu and San Francisco, where he found he was a celebrity. The British had a 1,000-pound reward for him, and the Japanese were offering 250,000 yen.

Lauterbach's next move was to catch a train to New York, where he took a job as a stoker on a Danish freighter bound for Oslo. Off the Orkney Islands the ship was stopped by a Royal Navy vessel. Lauterbach convinced them he was a Dane, and the ship continued on its way. From Oslo he travelled to Copenhagen.

On October 10, 1915, eleven months after the loss of Emden, Julius Lauterbch arrived in Germany.



Air War:
German pilot Max Immelmann, flying a Fokker E.I, shoots down Be.2c 2033 for kill #4.

German pilot Walter von Bülow-Bothkamp, flying an AEG G.II, is credited with victory #1, a Morane. Since the AEG is a three-seat bomber the shooting was one by one or both gunners, neither of whom is named in this record.

German observer Robert Ritter von Greim, riding in an undesignated two-seater with an unnamed pilot, shoots down a Voisin for kill #1.



North Sea:
British freighter SS Newcastle, bound from Mauritius to London with a general cargo, hits a mine laid by Herbert Pustkuchen and UC-5. Pustkuchen's score is now 9 ships and 12,878 tons.

[Jimbuna]

11th October 1915

Eastern Front

Desperate fighting near Dvinsk; Ivanov captures 2,000 Austrians on Strypa (Galicia).

Southern Front

Bulgars attack Serbs from Byelogradchik; Belgrade partly destroyed.

Austria-Hungary and Germany continue to push south from Belgrade and drive off Serbian troops from the hills south of the capital.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

Turkish offensive at Ichkau (Transcaucasia) repulsed.

Naval and Overseas Operations

French Admiral Boué de Lapeyrère, commander of the Allied Mediterranean forces, resigns.


Political etc.

Since October 1st, Britain has lost (killed, wounded, captured, or missing) 981 officers and 20,351 men.

Lord Derby produces recruiting scheme.

Ship Losses:

Germania ( Germany): The cargo ship ran aground off the coast of Sweden and was subsequently sunk by an on board explosion.
Seileren ( Norway): The four-masted barque collided with another vessel in the Irish Sea off Torr Head, County Antrim, United Kingdom. Her crew were rescued.
Thorpwood ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship foundered. Her crew were rescued.

[Sailor Steve]

October 11, 1915:

Air War:
0900 English pilot William Douglas Stock Sanday and observer 2nd Lt Ellison, in a BE.2c, shoot down an Albatros two-seater for victory number 1. Two other BE.2s are involved, crewed by a Cpt Barrat and Lt Cleaver, and Lts Clark and Stammers.

German pilot Otto Parschau, friend of Anthony Fokker and the man who taught Oswald Boelke and Max Immelmann to fly wing-warpers, flying a Fokker E.II, shoots down a Farman two-seater for kill number 1.

Walter von Bülow-Bothkamp's gunners shoot down a Farman from their AEG bomber, earning the pilot official kill number 2.

[Jimbuna]

12th October 1915

Eastern Front

Fighting Dvinsk region continues.

Southern Front

Bulgars driven off by Serbs south of Zayechar (Bulgar-Serb border).

Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

Russians repel Turks in Van Pass and at Arkhava (Coast).

Political etc.

Greece refuses Serbia's appeal. Greek Prime Minister Venizelos: “The national soul says it is to the interest of Greece that Bulgaria should be crushed.”

Edith Cavell, British nurse who helped 200 soldiers escape German-occupied Belgium, is executed by Germany. The execution causes an uproar in Britain and increases Allied sympathy in the U.S.


King Ferdinand of Bulgaria on joining the Central Powers: “But what else can I do? Germany will be victorious…”

Kaiser Wilhelm visits the headquarters of von Mackensen, who is leading the German attack on Serbia.

Ship Losses:

Combe ( United Kingdom): The ammunition carrier was lost in the Arctic Sea on this date.
HMT Frons Olivae ( Royal Navy): The naval trawler struck a mine and sank in the North Sea with the loss of eleven of her crew.
HMT Restore ( Royal Navy): The naval trawler was shelled and sunk in the Otranto Channel (40°20′N 18°42′E) by SM U-39 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of two crew.