100 Years Ago Today

[Jimbuna]

27th October 1915

Western Front

King George, after visit to French Armies, issues Order of the Day to them.

Germans repulsed in Champagne.

Eastern Front

Indecisive fighting on most of front; Russians driven back from the Styr.

German troops pierce the Russian lines along a mile and a quarter front south of Dvinsk.

Southern Front

Bulgars capture Zayechar, Knyajevats and heights north-west of Pirot.

Naval and Overseas Operations

British submarine sinks four more German steamers in Baltic.

Russians bombard Varna.

Political etc.

Kaiser Wilhelm meets with American ambassador Gerard, the first time in 8 months the Kaiser met with a neutral country’s diplomat.

M. Pashich (Serbian Prime Minister) wires urgently for help.

Australian Cabinet changes.

South African elections (99 Botha-ists).

Ship Losses:

HMT Bonar Law ( Royal Navy): The naval trawler was lost on this date.

William Hughes becomes the 7th Prime Minister of Australia.

[Sailor Steve]

October 27, 1915:

North Sea: His Majesty's Trawler Bonar Law, 285 tons, employed as a minesweeper, is lost in a collision with freighter SS Dwina, off the coast of Deal, Kent, at the mouth of the English Channel. No lives are lost.

[Jimbuna]

28th October 1915

Western Front

French troops blow up mines at two locations under German trenches north of Arras, allowing them to advance.

King George thrown with horse whilst inspecting, and somewhat seriously injured.

Eastern Front

Enemy concentrating heavily near Riga; fierce fighting on Dvina river.

Southern Front

General Italian attack along coastal front, especially against Gorizia.

Bulgars take Pirot and threaten railway communications.

Naval and Overseas Operations

British cruiser HMS Argyll runs aground on Bell Rock near Dundee. The crew is saved, but the ship is lost.


H.M.S. "Hythe" sunk of Gallipoli.


Political etc.

M. Briand succeeds M. Viviani as French Prime Minister.
M. Briand

M. Viviani


Lt.-Gen. Sir B. Mahon to command on Salonika front.


Romanian Minister for Foreign Affairs states the country will not intervene in the war to help Serbia.

Ship Losses:

HMS Argyll ( Royal Navy): The Devonshire-class cruiser ran aground on Inchcape, Forfarshire and was wrecked.
HMS Hythe ( Royal Navy): The auxiliary minesweeper was run into and sunk by HMS Sarnia ( Royal Navy) in the Dardanelles with the loss of 154 lives.

Sir Ernest Shakleton orders his crew to abandon the Endurance, stuck in the Weddell Sea in Antarctica.

[Sailor Steve]

October 28, 1915:

North Sea:
British armoured cruiser HMS Argyll, 10,850 tons, runs aground on Bell Rock, off Dundee, Scotland. The crew are rescued by destroyers. The ship had just had a refit at Devonport and was underway to join her squadron. Later everything, including her guns, will be taken off and the wreck blown up.

Norwegian barque SV Teutonia, 647 tons, carrying a load of pit props from Sandefjord to Leith, is wrecked off Findon Ness. Five of her eleven crew are lost.

British fishing vessel Roman, 16 tons, founders and is lost while on a fishing trip out of Grimsby.



Skagerrak:
Norwgian sailing ketch Lina, 70 tons, bound from Alborg, Denmark to Porsgrund, Norway with a load of cement, goes missing with her three crew. The vessel is never heard from again.



Aegean Sea:
British auxiliary minesweeper HMS Hythe, 509 tons, is sunk in a collision with armed boarding steamer SS Sarnia. Two officers, a warrant officer, 9 crewmembers and 143 soldiers are lost.

[Jimbuna]

29th October 1915

Eastern Front

Russia claims it has captured 80,000 German and Austro-Hungarian prisoners in the month of September.

Southern Front

Bulgarian troops recapture the strategic city of Veles from Serbian and French forces.

French take Strumitsa Station.

Political etc.

Text published of agreement (5 September 1914) of Allies not to conclude separate peace.

[Sailor Steve]

October 29, 1915:

North Sea:
Norwegian Barque Erik Gjessen, 187 tons, bound from Haugesund to Aberdeen in ballast, is wrecked of Newburgh, Scotland.

French sailing ship Hoche, 2,211 tons, is being towed from Ipswich to Leith when the weather worsens, The tow cable parts and Hoche founders and is lost.



Alaska, United States:
Motor Fishing Vessel Shark, 19 tons, is destroyed by fire at the small port of Seldovia, south of Anchorage. The two crewmembers aboard at the time escape unharmed.

[Jimbuna]

30th October 1915

Western Front

Germans retake Butte de Tahure (Champagne).

Eastern Front

Russian success near Tarnopol (Galicia); claim 8,000 prisoners; Germans claim 3,000.

Southern Front

Enemy takes Kraguyevats.

British support French at Gevgeli. Latter repulse Bulgars at Krivolak (Vardar River).

Naval and Overseas Operations

Nigerian and Gold Coast troops under Colonel Mayer successful in Cameroons.

Political etc.

The Allied Powers give a joint declaration that they will fight to the end and will not conclude separate peace with the Central Powers.

French Commander in Chief General Joffre meets with Field Marshal Kitchener to discuss closer cooperation between France and the UK.

German occupation forces in Belgium execute 9 people on charges of spying and sentence 10 others to penal servitude.

Pope Benedict appeals to Austria-Hungary to spare Venice from air attacks.

Count W. Metternich appointed German Ambassador at Constantinople.


Ship Losses:

Turquoise ( French Navy): The Émeraude-class submarine was sunk in the Dardanelles off Nagara Point, Turkey. She was refloated by Ottoman forces on 3 November and taken into the Ottoman Navy as Mustadieh Ombashi.

[Sailor Steve]

October 30, 1915:

Air War:
German ace Oswald Boelke, Flying a Fokker E.I, shoots down Voisin B.I for kill number 6. French Lts. Pierre Marie Dulin and Marie Louis Leclerc are both killed in the crash.



Gulf of Bothnia:
German freighter SS Claus Horn, 2,690 tons, carrying iron ore from Oxelösund to Stettin, runs aground on Blanchan Reef, at the Oscarshamn Skerries.



Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada:
Canadian freighter SS Leona, 700 tons, bound from Howe Sound to Tacoma, Washington with a load of copper ore, founders in the Strait of Georgia.

[Jimbuna]

31st October 1915

Western Front

Steel helmets being introduced on British front.

After a night battle, German troops succeed in capturing the hills near Tahure in Champagne.

Southern Front

British take part in action Gevgeli Doiran front (Macedonia).

Political etc.

Japan warns China against monarchical movement.

King Ferdinand of Romania declares he will let Parliament and the government decide whether or not to enter the war.

Dutch government publishes an “Orange Book” detailing infractions committed by both Germany and the Allied powers in the war.

Ship Losses:

HMY Aries ( Royal Navy): The naval yacht struck a mine and sank in the English Channel off Leathercote Point, Kent (51°00′N 1°24′E) with the loss of 22 of her crew.
Eidsiva ( Norway): The cargo ship struck a mine and sank in the English Channel off South Foreland, Kent. Her crew survived.
HMT John G. Watson ( Royal Navy): The naval trawler was lost on this date.
HMS Louis ( Royal Navy): Dardanelles Campaign: The Laforey-class destroyer was shelled and sunk in Suvla Bay by Turkish coastal artillery.
HMT Othello II ( Royal Navy): The naval trawler struck a mine and sank in the English Channel off Lethercote Point with the loss of nine of her crew.
Toward ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship struck a mine and sank in the English Channel off South Foreland. Her crew survived.

MERCHANT SHIPPING
British, Allied and Neutral ships lost to enemy submarines, mines and cruisers etc in the month - 41 ships of 84,000 tons gross (Lloyd's War Losses).

[Sailor Steve]

October 31, 1915:

Air War:
Welsh ace Lionel Rees, now with "F/S Raymond" manning the gun of his Vickers FB.5, brings down an Albatros two-seater for kill number 6.

Idflieg reports 58 German fighters at the front.
Fokker:
23 E.I
8 E.II
23 E.III
1 E.IV

Pfalz:
2 E.I
1 E.III



Scotland:
His Majesty's Trawler John G. Watson,196 tons, acting as a minesweeper, founders after a collision in Stornoway bay, Isle of Lewis.

American tanker SS Llama, 3,189 tons, is wrecked on Skea Skerries reef, in Westray Firth.



English Channel:
His Majesty's Yacht Airies, 258 tons; Norwegian freighter Eidsiva, 1,092 tons, carrying a load of coal from Shields to Rouen; HM Trawler Othello II, 206 tons; and British freighter SS Toward, 1,218 tons, bound from London to Belfast with a general cargo, all run onto a minefield laid by Matthias von Schmettow and UC-6. His score is now 17 ships and 14,222 tons.



North Sea:
Dutch steel trawler FV Gerard (YM-167), 199 tons, runs aground off Ameland, part of the island chain off the Netherlands coast.



White Sea, Russia:
Russian schooner SV Sorkholm, 205 tons, en route from Arkhangelsk to Pert with a load of wood, is wrecked on Modyugski Island.



Gallipoli:
British 'L' class destroyer HMS Louis is wrecked in Suvia Bay, then destroyed by Turkish coastal guns.



Washington State, United States:
American passenger ferry MV Alert, 14 tons, founders off Cape Alava, south of the Juan de Fuca Strait. All six aboard reach the shore safely.



German East Africa:
British monitor HMS Severn probes the mouth of the Msala River, and fires 5 6" shrapnel shells at a German lookout platform.

[Jimbuna]

1st November 1915

Western Front

Sir John French's Despatch published, covering period 25 September to 8 October 1915.

Eastern Front

Battle of Dvinsk ends.

Food scarcity in Petrograd owing to lack of system.

Southern Front

Italian successes near Gorizia and Zagora (Jul.).

Babuna Pass (between Uskub and Prilep) held by 5,000 Serbians for more than a week against six divisions.

Austro-German brutality.

The city of Kragujevac, Serbia, the site of an important arsenal, is captured by German and Austro-Hungarian troops.

Aviation

The Royal Naval Air Service adopted the same roundel as used by the Royal Flying Corps and discontinued the use of the Union Jack on fuselage sides.

Naval and Overseas Operations

S.S. "Hocking", flying U.S. flag, but under German management, seized and taken to Halifax.

Political etc.

Return of the King from France after his accident.

Justice Sir Henry Bargrave Deane rules that divorce cases against soldiers at the front must wait until they return to Britain.

Agricultural Relief Committee visits France.

BEF Commander Sir John French’s 9th Despatch, detailing action during the summer and Battle of Loos, is published.
http://www.1914-1918.net/french_ninth_despatch.html

Ship Losses:

Edith May ( United Kingdom): The schooner was abandoned off the coast of Ireland. Her crew were rescued by the Ballygarry Lifeboat.
Glynn ( United Kingdom): The schooner was driven ashore in South Bay, Wexford. Her crew survived.
Maria Reed ( United Kingdom): The schooner was abandoned off the coast of Ireland. Her crew were rescued by the Ballygeary Lifeboat.
Marsden ( United Kingdom): The tug was lost in the Mediterranean Sea on this date.
Sea View ( United Kingdom): The schooner was driven ashore in South Bay, Wexford. Her crew survived.
HM Torpedo Boat 96 ( Royal Navy): The torpedo boat collided with the troopship Tringa ( Royal Fleet Auxiliary) off Gibraltar and sank with the loss of eleven of her eighteen crew.

[Sailor Steve]

November 1, 1915:

Mediterranean Sea:
British torpedo boat TB-96, on patrol east of Gibraltar, collides with merchant SS Tringa at 0115 hours. Her commander, Chief Gunner John Summer, one other officer and nine ratings are lost. Seven survivors.



Namibia, West Africa:
British freighter SS British Prince, 5,936 tons, bound from Cape Town to Luderitz Bay carrying passengers, mail and general cargo, runs aground on Possession Island. With her keel broken the ship is considered a total loss.

[Jimbuna]

2nd November 1915

Western Front

General Maunoury succeeds General Gallieni as Military Governor of Paris.

Eastern Front

German troops continue its attack on Riga, while Russian troops counterattack across the front to divert German troops away the city.

German Press cheerful about prospect of Russian dissensions yielding profit to Central Powers.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

British and Russian Ministers at Teheran assured by Persian Foreign Office that report of agreement with Germany without foundation.

Political etc.

Bank of England sends £919,000 of gold to the United States in order to pay for increased imports.

Sir Edward Carson, Leader of the Opposition, criticizes Asquith and his Cabinet, signaling a break in the political truce in Britain.

Prime Minister Asquith makes a speech in front of the House of Commons on the course of the war, admitting failure in the Dardanelles.

German ambassador von Berstorff expresses confidence that the U.S. and Germany have settled their differences over the Lusitania.

China declines Japan's advice on subject of monarchical movement.

[Sailor Steve]

November 2, 1915:

English Channel:
British schooner SV Dairymaid, 138 tons, bound from Teignemouth, Cornwall for Runcorn, near Liverpool with a load of china clay, is listed as missing. Her fate has never been determined.

[Jimbuna]

3rd November 1915

Western Front

German attack in Champagne; French trenches penetrated, Hill 199.

Eastern Front

Russian victory in Galicia (Siemikowice on Strypa), 5,000 prisoners; successful actions also in region of Dvinsk.

Southern Front

Serbian armies defending Kraguyevatz is able to escape encirclement, but continue to give up territory.

Serbian Government leave Nish.

3rd Battle of the Isonzo ends in an Austro-Hungarian victory. The Italian offensive has been stopped with heavy casualties on both sides.

Aviation

Royal Naval Air Service Flight Sub-Lieutenant Fowler makes the first British take-off of an aircraft with a conventional, wheeled undercarriage from a ship when he flies a Bristol Scout from HMS "Vindex".


Political etc.

Port and Transit Executive Committee formed in Great Britain.

First meeting of newly-constituted War Committee of British Cabinet to replace the Dardanelles Committee.

Declaration of policy by M. Briand: closer co-operation with Allies.

New French Prime Minister Briand: “We have the will to vanquish. We shall vanquish in the end.”

France, Britain, Russia, and Japan pressure China to postpone a vote to reestablish the monarchy until after the war.

Ship Losses:

Friargate ( United Kingdom): The coaster struck a mine and sank in the North Sea 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) east of Aldeburgh, Suffolk with the loss of two of her crew.
Woodfield ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship was shelled and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 40 nautical miles (74 km) east south east of Ceuta, Spain (35°42′N 4°28′W) by SM U-38 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of eight of her crew.
Woolwich ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship was shelled and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 104 nautical miles (193 km) south of Cape Sidero, Greece (33°35′N 26°30′E) by SM U-35 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
Yakusuni Maru ( Japan): The cargo ship was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea off Alboran, Morocco (35°46′N 3°42′W) by SM U-38 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.