100 Years Ago Today

[Jimbuna]

11th November 1915

Eastern Front

German retreat near Riga.

Russian victory at Kemmern near Gulf of Riga, co-operation of fleet.

Southern Front

Serbians re-conquer greater part of Kachanik Gorge.

French victory over Bulgarians after three days' fighting from Gradsko to Veles.

Naval and Overseas Operations

Transport "Mercian" attacked by submarine U 38; 103 casualties.
Link to article: http://www.lincsmag.com/Lincolnshire...ed_At_Sea.html

Political etc.

Greek Chamber dissolved; new elections to be held.

Lord Derby warns unmarried men of compulsion if fail to enlist voluntarily before 30 November.

Ship Losses:

Rhineland ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship struck a mine laid by UC 3 (Erwin Waßner) and sank in the North Sea 6.5 nautical miles (12.0 km) south east of Southwold, Suffolk with the loss of twenty of her crew.

[Sailor Steve]

November 11, 1915:

Air War:
German pilot Hans-Joachim Buddecke, flying a Fokker E.I, shoots down BE.2c 1725 for kill number 3. Lt. W.A. Harvey is wounded and taken prisoner. There is no observer.



North Sea:
British freighter SS Rhineland, 1,501 tons, bound from Tees to Nantes with a load of steel bars, runs on a mine laid by Erwin Waßner in UC-3. His score is now 5 ships and 5,797 tons.

British trawler FV Greenock, 165 tons, founders off Spurn Point at the mouth of the Humber River.



Celtic Sea:
British fishing ketch SV Girl Gladys, 37 tons, founders in St. George's Channel on the night of November 11/12, and is lost with all hands.



Atlantic Ocean:
British freighter SS Avetoro, 1,255 tons, departs from Barry, Wales, for Las Palmas, Canary Islands, with a load of coal. The ship is not heard from again.

Swedish barque SV Dagmar, 2,143 tons, goes missing. She had departed from Glasgow for Göteborg on November 5th. Her last message was to the signal station at Tail-Of-The-Bank on the 11th.

[Jimbuna]

12th November 1915

Western Front

French mining successes in Argonne.

Eastern Front

Meeting between Kaiser and Hindenburg. Hindenburg threatens to resign if Kaiser insists on capture of Riga and Dvinsk.

Southern Front

Germans control railway from Belgrade to Constantinople.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

British force under Townshend advances to within seven miles of Ctesiphon.

Shah of Persia receives Allied Ministers and declares himself friendly.

Political etc.

Winston Churchill announces he will resign from the government and join the Army at the front.

German Chancellor claims the British blockade will not be able to starve Germany.

German government begins regulating the sale of coffee, tea, cocoa,
buckwheat, millet, marmalade, honey, vegetables, fruits, & sauerkraut.

Both former Presidents Taft and Roosevelt advocate expanding the U.S. Navy to be 2nd in the world, at least matching Germany’s.

Ship Losses:

Carthese ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship was driven ashore in a gale at Goodwick, Pembrokeshire.
Dinorwic ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship was driven ashore in a gale at Goodwick. She was later refloated.
Emerald Ray ( United Kingdom): The schooner was wrecked in a gale at Kingstown, County Dublin.
Echo ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship was driven ashorein a gale at Goodwick.
Holme Wood ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship was driven ashore in a gale at Goodwick.
Industry ( United Kingdom): The schooner was wrecked in a gale at Kingstown.
Inveresk ( United Kingdom): The barque was wrecked in a gale at Kingstown.
Moorside ( United Kingdom): The coaster struck a mine and sank in the English Channel off Boulogne, Pas-de-Calais, France with the loss of eight of her crew.
Nigel ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship struck a mine and sank in the English Channel off Boulogne with the loss of five of her crew.
HMY Resource II ( Royal Navy): The naval yacht was lost on this date.
Thora ( United Kingdom): The ketch was wrecked in a gale at Fishguard, Pembrokeshire. Her crew were rescued by the Fishguard Lifeboat.
Tryfilia ( Greece): The cargo ship was wrecked at Wexford, Ireland. Her twenty crew were rescued.

[Sailor Steve]

November 12, 1915:

Irish Sea:
Norwegian barque SV Sigrid, 596 tons, is wrecked by a storm in Ramsey Bay, Isle of Man.



English Channel:
British freighter SS Moorside, 311 tons, bound from Leith to Boulogne, hits a mine laid by Matthias von Schmettow in UC-6. SS Nigel, 1,400 tons, carrying government supplies from Newhaven to Boulogne, also his a mine laid by UC-6. Von Schmettow's score is now 20 ships and 16,197 tons.



Atlantic Ocean:
Brazilian schooner SV Storeng, 298 tons, travelling from Rio De Janeiro to Malmo, is abandoned in the North Atlantic.



United States:
American motor passenger ferry, MV Susitna, 11 tons, is stranded at Kalgin Island, Alaska. All three people aboard are rescued.

[Jimbuna]

13th November 1915

Southern Front

Very successful attack on Turkish trenches by 52nd Division at Gallipoli.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

Publication by Foreign Office of attacks on British officers, etc., in Persia.

Political etc.

Mr. Winston Churchill's speech re: Antwerp and Dardanelles expeditions. Rejoins his regiment.

Swiss military estimates that the total deaths in the war so far has exceeded 5 million.

Bulgarian markets are opened to supply German and Austria-Hungary with grain and fodder.

Ship Losses:

HMT Silvery Wave ( Royal Navy): The naval trawler was lost on this date.
St. Malo ( France): The cargo ship capsized and sank in the English Channel off Guernsey, Channel Islands with the loss of eleven of her crew.

[Sailor Steve]

November 13, 1915:

St. George's Channel, between Ireland and Wales:
British sailing freighter SV Calburga, 1,406 tons, bound from Halifax to Liverpool with a load of timber, loses her masts in a storm and is wrecked at Strumble Head, near Fishguard, Wales.

Norwegian barque SV Formosa, 1,649 tons, carrying timber from Pictou, Nova Scotia to Mersey, runs aground near Ramsey Island The ship is salvaged and moved to Hazelbeach, but is then lost to a fire.

Greek freighter SS Trifylia, 1,336 tons, travelling from Aye to Rouen with a load of coal, is wrecked off Killoughter, County Wicklow, Ireland.



Baltic Sea:
German freighter SS Uranus, 926 tons, carrying coal and machinery from Hamburg to Stockholm, is wrecked off Hasslö Island.



North Sea:
Norwegian whaler Nimrod, 77 tons, is abandoned by her crew while travelling from Hull to Kristiania.

British barque SV Ruby, 197 tons, carrying burnt ore from London to Tyne, is wrecked off Hartlepool.

British barquentine SV Tweed, 165 tons, departed Tyne for Dunkirk with a load of fireclay on November 8th. Last seen on November 11th while anchored at Corton Roads. Listed as missing on November 13th.



English Channel:
Norwegian freighter SS Oksfjord, 2,094 tons, travelling in ballast from Bordeaux to England, is wrecked off Belle Ile.

French freighter SS St. Malo, 1,243 tons, is wrecked off the Isle of Guernsey.



Bay of Biscay:
Spanish freighter SS Bernabe, 2,227 tons, runs aground and is wrecked at Roitre des Bassets, France.



Atlantic Ocean:
Norwegian freighter SS Origin, 1,662 tons, en route from Philadelphia to Copenhagen, goes missing with her 22 crew.



South China Sea:
Japanese freighter Taro Maru, 3,165 tons, headed from Hongay, Vietnam to Japan with a load of coal, is wrecked in the Hainan Strait.



United States:
American schooner SV Frank Leaming, 206 tons, founders and sinks while under tow in Long Island Sound, New York.

[Jimbuna]

14th November 1915

Western Front

Violent German attacks in "Labyrinth" (Artois) repelled by French. Enemy losses very severe.

Eastern Front

German retreat south-west from Riga and the Shlok and Kemmern regions.

Southern Front

Austrian aircraft bomb Verona; 30 killed, 49 injured.

Serbs evacuate Babuna position east of Prilep.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

Turks and Germans defeated by Russians in Persia.

Turkish Ambassador and Austro-German Ministers leave.

Political etc.

Russian government announces plans to open around 5000 new banks at post offices.

Prince Albert, 2nd son of King George, again falls sick, this time due to gastric disorder, and will take leave and rest in London.

German Kaiser thanks Krupp Steel Company for gifting over a million Marks to families of soldiers who died on the battlefield.

Ship Losses:

Treneglos ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 70 nautical miles (130 km) south west of Gavdos, Greece (34°30′N 22°42′E) by SM U-34 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of three crew.

[Sailor Steve]

November 14, 1915:

"Am postponing my leave until still later, as it is rather important for me to stay here at the moment. Good things so very rarely come off though. I shall be most bitterly disappointed, however, if another two months does not see me on Active Service again."
-Harold Rosher, letter to his father, November 14th, 1915



North Sea:
Norwegian freighter SS Ardour, 1,355 tons, en route from West Hartlepool to Halmstad with a load of coal, is wrecked off Tylö.



Baltic Sea:
Swedish schooner SV Lydia, 213 tons, carrying a load of fireproof bricks from Rønne, on the Island of Bornholm to Mäntyluoto, Finland, is wrecked off Torngrundskbak.



Mediterranean Sea:
Claus Rücker, Commanding U-34, torpedoes British freighter SS Treneglos, 3,886 tons, bound from Port Louis, Mauritius for Britain with a load of sugar. Rücker's score is now 12 ships and 30,434 tons.

[Jimbuna]

15th November 1915

Political etc.

Winston Churchill makes a speech in the House of Commons on the eve of his departure and defends his record in the Cabinet.

Ship Losses:

Masséna ( French Navy): The Pre-Dreadnought battleship was scuttled at Cape Helles, Turkey.
Orange Prince ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 85 nautical miles (157 km) south west by west of Gavdos, Greece (33°56′N 22°46′E) by SM U-34 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of three crew.
Wandra ( Australia): The cargo ship was wrecked in Jervis Bay, New South Wales.

[Sailor Steve]

November 15, 1915:

English Channel:
French brigantine SV Egalité, carrying a load of coal from Swansea to Brest, goes missing.



North Sea:
British fishing vessel King William, 162 tons, hits a mine and is lost.



Mediterranean Sea:
Claus Rücker, Commanding U-34, sinks British freighter SS Orange Prince, 3,583 tons, bound from Alexandria to Mudros with a general cargo. His score is now 13 ships and 34,017 tons.



United States:
Former Great Lakes freighter, now unpowered barge SS Philip D. Armour, 1,990 tons, breaks loose from tug Henry E. Gillen while under tow with a load of coal from Ashtabula to Welland and strikes a reef on Lake Erie. After the crew abandons her the ship slips off the reef and sinks.

[Jimbuna]

16th November 1915

Southern Front

Bulgarian troops capture the strategic Babuna Pass in southern Serbia (present-day Macedonia).

Bulgars take Prilep.

Serious Serbian position.

Monastir evacuated.

Bulgars fall back from Cherna river after defeat by French.

Political etc.

Winston Churchill makes a speech in the House of Commons on the eve of his departure and defends his record in the Cabinet. "We are passing through a bad time, & it will probably be worse before it is better, but it will be better, if we only endure."

Kartar Singh Sarabha, a Sikh revolutionary, is executed by the British government for planning a revolt in India.

United States makes a formal declaration that it will be neutral in the fight between Bulgaria and the Allies.

The last buffalo in the state of Kansas is sold by Frank Rockefeller to a butcher to be killed on Christmas.

Ship Losses:

Oksfjord ( Norway): The barque was driven ashore on Île Houat, Morbihan, France with the loss of six of her crew.
HMT Xerxes ( Royal Navy): The naval trawler collided with another vessel and sank in the North Sea off Girdle Ness, Aberdeenshire with the loss of a crew member.

[Sailor Steve]

November 16, 1915:

Air War:
German pilot Hermann Wilhelm Göring, flying an Albatros C.I with a Lt Bernert as observer, shoots down a Farman two-seater for his first victory.



North Sea:
His Majesty's Trawler Xerxes, 243 tons, is lost off Aberdeen following a collision.



Lake Superior, Michigan, United States:
Great Lakes Ship SS Alfred P. Wright, 2,207 tons, catches fire while sheltering at the south end of the Sturgeon River Portage Canal. The crew escape, but the ship is a total loss.

[Jimbuna]

17th November 1915

Western Front

French Army Committee of Senate insist on use of asphyxiating gas.

Naval and Overseas Operations

HMHS Anglia, a British hospital ship, strikes a mine and sinks in the English Channel. 85 people are killed.


Political etc.

Anglo-French War Council meets in Paris to discuss the deteriorating situation in the Balkans.

Canadian government announces plans to raise $50 million through a domestic loan.

Russian Council of Ministers decides to suspend all remaining commercial and industrial enterprises in Russia belonging to enemy subjects.

Ship Losses:

HMHS Anglia ( United Kingdom): The hospital ship struck a mine laid by UC 5 (Herbert Pustkuchen) in the English Channel 1 nautical mile (1.9 km) off Folkestone, Kent (51°02′N 1°19′E) and sank with the loss of 134 lives.
Lusitania ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship struck a mine laid by UC 5 (Herbert Pustkuchen) and sank in the English Channel 1 nautical mile (1.9 km) east of Folkestone. Her crew survived.
Ulriken ( Norway): The cargo ship struck a mine and sank in the North Sea 3.5 nautical miles (6.5 km) east of the Galloper Lightship ( United Kingdom) with the loss of four of her crew.

[Sailor Steve]

November 17, 1915:

Irish Sea:
British coaster E, 558 tons, sinks after a collision in the Crosby Channel, near the mouth of the Mersey River at Liverpool.



North Sea:
Norwegian freighter SS Ulriken, 2,379 tons, bound from New York to Rotterdam with a cargo of wheat, runs on a mine laid by UC-3 under Irwin Waßner. His score is now 6 ships and 8,176 tons.

British Hospital ship Anglia, 1,862 tons, and freighter Lusitania, 1,834 tons, carrying a general cargo from London to Cadiz, both run into a minefield laid by Herbert Pustkuchen in UC-5. His score is now 15 ships and 20,015 tons.



Baltic Sea:
German freighter SS Luleä, 2,239 tons, carrying a cargo of ore from Oxelosund to Lübeck, is wrecked off Kalmar Sound, Oland, Sweden.



Atlantic Ocean:
Canadian barquentine SV Lake Simcoe, 317 tons, departs Naples for St. John's, and is not heard from again. Whether the port of departure was Naples Italy or Naples Florida does not seem to be listed anywhere.

[Jimbuna]

18th November 1915

Western Front

Canadians raid enemy trenches south-west of Messines.

Southern Front

Austro-German advance parallel to Kosovo plateau.

Serbian army divided within two fronts - Mitrovitsa-Prishtina and Prilep-Monastir.

Bulgarian troops capture the city of Monastir (today Bitola) from Serbian troops. Four-fifths of Serbia is now occupied.

Political etc.

Winston Churchill leaves London for France to rejoin the Army. “Across there, there’s quite a lot of work to do.”

Churchill: “I’m simply joining my regiment as any other officer does, and there’s nothing more in it than that.”

M. Cochin, French envoy, received by King Constantine.

United States Navy opens bids for two new battleships, Nos. 43 and 44, costing $15 million each ($353 million today).

British Embassy in the U.S. warns that Germany is erecting a secret radio station near Portland, Maine.

Ship Losses:

Enosis ( United Kingdom): The collier was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 150 nautical miles (280 km) east south east of Malta by SM U-33 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of a crew member.