100 Years Ago Today

[Sailor Steve]

June 15:

Air War: The first Fokker M5K/MG, factory number 191 (probably E.1/15), leaves the factory. The date on which Idflieg gave the aircraft the military designation E.I is unknown. Otto Parschau's plane, deliverd May 30, was still designated A.III and numbered A.16/15.

Maxime Lenoir of France, flying a Caudron with an unnamed observer, is credited with shooting down a German balloon. This is Lenoir's second aerial victory.



Celtic Sea: Bruno Hoppe, commanding U-22, begins his second war patrol by torpedoing British freighter SS Strathnairn, 4,336 tons, bound from Penarth to Archangelsk with a cargo of coal. Hoppe's score is now 3 ships and 5,389 tons.



German East Africa: The log of HMS Weymouth notes that at 0400 Bosun James Flynn was cautioned for coming on board drunk the previous night.

At 0915 HMS Severn receives two maxim machine guns from the cruiser Hyacinth, plus five gun stands and spare parts. At 1015 she sets out for anchoring and mooring trials, then at 1405 puts out to sea, drops off a target and begins gun trials. She drops anchor back in port at 1755.

At 1115 HMS Mersey receives a visit from Admiral King-Hall and his staff, who leave the monitor at 1220. At 1630 Mersey puts out for a trial run. The starboard rudder is found to be out of alignment, and the ship stops to make adjustments, returning to port at 1830.

[Jimbuna]

16th June 1915

Western Front

British advance north of Hooge, and east of Festubert.

French gain ground in severe fighting north of Arras.

French advance in the Vosges.

Eastern Front

Continued fighting east of the San.

Aviation

H.J. Tennant, British Under Secretary for War, reports that airplanes with “great carrying capacity” are being built to counter Zeppelins.

Naval

Kaiser Wilhelm awards the captain of the U-boat that sank the Lusitania with the Order Pour le Merite.

Political, etc.

Mr. Lloyd George takes the oath as Minister of Munitions.

The old War Office building on Whitehall, London. It housed the directorates and staffs that were so vital to recruitment, movement, supply and top-level military decision-making.

The Allies offer Bulgaria territory in Macedonia if it joins the war against the Central Powers.

Ship Losses:

Trafford ( United Kingdom): The coaster was shelled and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 30 nautical miles (56 km) west south west of the Tuskar Rock by SM U-22 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

Welt im Bild cover shows German soldiers shooting at an enemy plane.

[Sailor Steve]

June 16:

Air War: Otto Parschau completes tour as instructor at FFA 62, Douai. He and his aircraft are now released for combat duty.



Celtic Sea: Bruno Hoppe and U-22 stop the tiny British freighter SS Trafford, 215 tons, travelling from Newport to Sydney with a cargo described as "light". This likely means that there was no cargo but the ship was also not ballasted. After the crew is allowed to abandon ship Trafford is sunk with fire from U-22's deck gun.

Later U-22 stops SS Turnwell, 4,264 tons, bound from Liverpool to New York with an unspecified cargo. The crew abandon ship and the crew of U-22 open the ship's valves and detonate scuttling charges. After the u-boat departs the ship fails to sink. Turnwell's crew reboard their ship and manage to get her safely to port.



German East Africa: The crew of HMS Mersey spend the day "...preparing ship for battle." Between 1630 and 1800 gunnery practice is held, firing four rounds from each gun at a target prepared by the tug Sarah Joliffe.

Meanwhile the crew of HMS Severn are still putting up armour plating. At 0900 the ship is swung about for calibrating the compass.

[Jimbuna]

17th June 1915

Western Front

French carry Buval Bottom (north of Arras).

Germans set fire to and evacuate Metzeral (Alsace).

Eastern Front

Russians announce enemy loss of 120,000 on Dniester during the last month.

Russian forces begin withdrawing from Galicia in the face of the combined German and Austro-Hungarian offensive.

Southern Front

Italians complete capture of heights on left bank of the Isonzo, dominating Plava.

Aviation

Shortly after a ceremony in Paris in which he receives the French Légion d'honneur for shooting down the Zeppelin LZ 37 on June 7, Royal Naval Air Service Flight Sub-Lieutenant Reginald Warneford dies in the crash of a new Farman biplane during takeoff from Buc, France.


Political etc.

Former Secretary of State Bryan states that the war in Europe was caused by the false philosophy of “might makes right.”

Sir Edwin A. Cornwall remarks in the House of Commons that 3 of the present Ministers have secretaries of German origin.

In Munich, Army expropriation of beer causes supplies to drop to one-third of the prewar levels.

[Sailor Steve]

June 17:

Air War: Eugene Gilbert, flying a Morane-Saulnier 'L' parasol with machine gun firing through deflector plates, shoots down an unspecified German two-seater. This is Gilbert's fifth and final victory, making him France's (and the world's) second ace.

Only ten days after being the first pilot to bring down a Zeppelin, Reginald John Alexander 'Rex' Warneford dies in a plane crash in Paris, along with his passenger, American journalist Henry Beach Newman.
https://cemeteryclub.wordpress.com/2...fortable-hero/



German East Africa: In the morning HMS Mersey and Severn both conduct firing trials to calibrate their guns. In the afternoon Severn's crew are again busy setting up armour plate and painting the ship.

[Jimbuna]

18th June 1915

Western Front

French army ends offensive operations in Artois after suffering more than 100,000 casualties, ending the 2nd Battle of Artois.

Eastern Front

Official report issued on the Russian operations during the past month on the Dniester.

German forces launches an offensive into Russian Poland and captures the town of Tarnogrod.

Naval and Overseas Operations

Austrian warships raid the Adriatic coast of Italy.

Political etc.

Total Allied prisoners of war held by Germany and Austria-Hungary now number 1.61 million.

Russian War Ministry orders the military expropriation of munition factories in order to improve ammunition supplies.

Ship Losses:

Ailsa ( United Kingdom): The coaster was captured and sunk in the North Sea 12 nautical miles (22 km) south of Arbroath, Forfarshire by SM U-17 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

[Sailor Steve]

June 18:

Air War: The second Fokker M5K/MG, s/n 4/15, is retained at the factory for testing.

French pilot Victor Louis Georges Sayaret, in a Voisin, is credited with shooting down an unidentified enemy aircraft for his first aerial victory. The other crewmember seems to be unknown, as is whether Sayaret is pilot or observer.



North Sea: Hans Walther, commanding U-17, sinks the small British steamer SS Ailsa, 876 tons, Bound from Trondheim to Leith with a cargo of wood. Walther finishes his first war patrol with 3 ships and 7,008 tons.



Aegean Sea: German Submarine UB-15, which has been operating in the Aegean Sea and sank the Italian Submarine Medusa, is handed over to the Austrian K.u.K., becoming SM U-11.



German East Africa: At 0500 hours HMS Severn receives 300 rounds of 1" practice ammunition. The crew are then employed rigging armour plating and cleaning the ship. At 1645 a target is laid out and light gun practice held.

At 0540 the tug Sarah Joliffe brings still more armour plates to HMS Mersey. At 1655 Mersey carries out aiming practice.

At 0911 HMS Laurentic arrives with four new landplanes to help with reconnaissance duties - two Caudrons and two Maurice Farmans. A landing strip has been constructed on Mafia Island and everything is ready for them.

[Jimbuna]

19th June 1915

Western Front

French gain ground near Souchez.

French bombard Munster (Alsace).

Eastern Front

Austro-Germans attack the Grodek line (Galicia); Russians retreat.

Naval

The SM UC-5 (a German U-boat that will sink 29 ships during its career) is commissioned into the German Navy.


North Sea
Birmingham, light cruiser, Birmingham-class, 2nd LCS Grand Fleet, with sister-ship Nottingham, 3rd CS including Argyll and Roxburgh and just four screening destroyers making sweep from Rosyth across North Sea between the 18th and 21st. Attacked by U.32 without success, one of a series of attacks by four U-boats.

Liberty, destroyer, L-class, 3rd DF, with Harwich Force on patrol for Zeppelins attacking England. Liberty stopped to pick up a dog that had fallen overboard, bombed and nearly hit by a German seaplane.

Political, etc.

Conference at Boulogne between Mr. Lloyd George and M. Albert Thomas, French Under Secretary for War.

Former Secretary of State Bryan attacks President Wilson and Roosevelt, stating they are foes of peace.

Benjamin F. Isherwood, former U.S. Navy admiral and Engineer-in-Chief of the Navy during the Civil War, has passed away.


Ship Losses:

Dulcie ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the North Sea 6 nautical miles (11 km) east of Aldeburgh, Suffolk by SM UB-13 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of a crew member.

[Sailor Steve]

June 19:

"There is no mistaking the battle line in this part of the world - a long, narrow winding blighted patch of land, extending roughly N. and S. as far as the eye can see. In the middle of it two rows of trenches, in places only 50 yards apart, stand out very conspicuously. These are our first line and that of the Huns. Behind each are the second and third lines, with little zigzag communicating trenches between.

Terrible trouble with machines. I crashed an undercarriage the other day and cannot get an engie to go. Isn't it terrible news about Warneford? he fell out of his machine, not being strapped in. Babiington is in hospital. Hes foot is giving him trouble again, so fear we shall not get away with him yet awhile."

-Harold Rosher, letter to his mother, June 19, 1915

Homer H. Ladd receives telegram from Secretary of State Lansing, asking if he can supply witnesses to misuse of the American flag aboard British liner Colonian. Ladd replies immediately, giving already-obtained statements from Thomas G. O'Hare, Pheas H. Bond and Charles Goldberg, all testifying to having seen the British liner flying the American flag.
(See June 12 above)



Air War: Third Fokker M5K/MG, s/n 5/15, leaves factory. It is delivered to FFa 6b, where it is assigned to Lt. Kurt Wintgens.



North Sea: Walther Gustav Becker begins his career commanding UB-13 with the sinking of SS Dulcie, 2,033 tons, bound from Dunston to Havre with a load of coal.



German East Africa: At 0830 Admiral King-Hall again visits HMS Severn. At 0930 target practice is held for the 1" anti-boarding guns and the .303 machine guns. At 1500 the crew begins putting up more armour plating.

At 1530 HMS Mersey again conducts target practice.

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

June 19:


Air War: Third Fokker M5K/MG, s/n 5/15, leaves factory. It is delivered to FFa 6b, where it is assigned to Lt. Kurt Wintgens.

[Jimbuna]

20th June 1915

Western Front

Further French advance near Souchez.

German counter-attacks on the heights of the Meuse repulsed.

French air raid against Karlsruhe hits the castle of the Prince of Baden. The Queen of Sweden was also staying there.

Eastern Front

In the past 7 weeks, Austro-Hungarian and German forces have pushed back Russian troops 150 miles (241 km) in Galicia.

Southern Front

Italians consolidated their positions in the Monte Nero region.

Naval and Overseas Operations

H.M.S. "Roxburgh" cruiser damaged by torpedo.
North Sea
Argyll and Roxburgh, armoured cruisers, Devonshire-class, 10,850t, 4-7.5in/6-6in, 3rd CS, Nottingham, light cruiser, Birmingham-class, 2nd LCS, all Grand Fleet, as the 3rd CS sweep continued, more torpedo attacks took place: Roxburgh, Argyll and Nottingham all missed by U.17, Nottingham missed for a second time by U.6. Before the latter attack, Roxburgh (Capt C Foot), zigzagging at high speed was hit well forward in the bows by U.38 (Max Valentiner) (Cn - U.39) at 1400 in 56.47N, 00.38E, maintained speed at 14kts returning to Rosyth, met by destroyers of 1st DF and escorted in. Considerably damaged, repairs were not completed until April 1916.

Political etc.

Russia states that the recent anti-German riots in Moscow caused more than $20 million in damages. Number of fatalities is not known.

Ship Losses:

Anda ( Norway): The barque ran aground on the Ridings Rocks, Bahamas and was wrecked. Her crew survived.
Nuria ( United Kingdom): The cargo liner was driven ashore and wrecked near Colombo, Ceylon.
Premier ( United Kingdom): The trawler was shelled and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 70 nautical miles (130 km) north north east of Cape Wrath, Sutherland by SM U-22 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

The U.S.S. Arizona (made famous during the Pearl Harbor attack) is launched.

[Sailor Steve]

June 20:

Celtic Sea: Bruno Hoppe, commanding U-22, stops the British trawler Premier, 169 tons, allows the crew to abandon ship and then sinks her with his deck gun. Hoppe ends his second war patrol with 5 ships and 5,773 tons.



North Sea: Max Valentiner, in U-38, torpedoes the armoured cruiser HMS Roxburgh, 10,850 tons. The damaged cruiser manages to make port safely. It will be a year before Roxburgh can return to duty.



German East Africa: HMS Laconia reports the transfer aboard of several RNAS ratings and petty officers from HMS Laurentic.

At 1045 HMS Duplex supplies HMS Severn with petrol tins, sandbags and armour plates.

At 1518 HMS Duplex brings 3,000 empty kerosene tins to HMS Mersey. The purpose is added bouyancy in case the monitor is hit below the waterline.

[Jimbuna]

21st June 1915

Western Front

French repulse German counter-attacks north of Arras.

French gain ground in Lorraine.

Eastern Front

Austro-Germans take Zolkiew and Rawa Ruska.

Austrians repulsed at Nizniow (Dniester).

Southern Front

Gallipoli: French troops attack at Kereves Dere, gaining two hundred yards but sustaining twenty-five hundred casualties. The Turks' casualties number six thousand.

Political, etc.

House of Commons approves an unlimited internal war loan to meet the budget deficit for this year.

New York City Police raid a warehouse and find 100 rifles and 1.4 million rounds of ammunition, which were intended for Germany.

Rudyard Kipling, English writer, addresses a crowd of 10,000 people stating an “unbroken Germany” makes life intolerable for all humans.

General Christian De Wet, a Boer who led a rebellion against Britain in South Africa, is convicted of high treason.


Ship Losses:

Carisbrook ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship was shelled and sunk in the North Sea 70 nautical miles (130 km) south by west of Start Point, Sanday, Orkney Islands by SM U-38 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
Sigurd Hund (Norway): The steamer enroute from Fredrikstad - Glasgow with a cargo of whale oil was taken as a prize by U-33 (Konrad Gansser) at position 59° 15'N, 2° 30'E.

[Sailor Steve]

June 21:

Air War: The fourth Fokker M5K/MG, s/n 2/15, leaves the factory.

At 1945 hours English pilot Lanoe George Hawker, flying Bristol Scout C number 1609, shoots down a DFW two-seater for his first kill. This is accomplished with a Lewis gun on the port side of the cockpit, mounted rigidly in a frame set so the gun fires 30 degrees outward, avoiding the propeller altogether. The mounting is was designed by Louis Strange and built by Hawker himself.

Bristol Scout C No. 1611, Hawker's second fighter, showing the 30-degree gun mounting.





North Sea: Konrad Gansser, commanding U-33, captures the small Norwegian steamer SS Sigurd Hund, 453 tons, bound from Fredrikstad to Glasgow with a load of whale oil, and takes her as a prize, bringing his total to 7 ships and 10,185 tons

Max Valentiner, in U-38, Sinks the British freighter SS Carlsbrook, 2,352 tons, travelling from Montreal to Leith with a cargo of wheat. His score is now 4 ships and 5,798 tons.



German East Africa: At 0500 hours the day begins for the crew of HMS Mersey, again laying steel plates and painting the ship. At 0545 HMS Hyacinth comes alongside and her shipwrights board Mersey. At 1600 the monitor is moved and ties up to HMFM Trent. At 1800 Hyacinth anchors alongside, and her shipwrights return to their cruiser. At 2000 several tanks are found to be leaking, and at the order of Admiral King-Hall 5.25 tons of parafin and 3 tons of fuel oil are pumped overboard.

At 0600 the crew of HMS Severn are busy cleaning the ship and stowing kerosene tins. At 0800 they begin anew the task of installing armour plating. At 0930 Severn moves alongside Trent and the crew begin taking aboard ammunition and provisions. At 1730 Severn casts off and anchors.

[HailRider]

I recently found your thread. I must say I wish I had discovered it earlier. I have been reading the NYTimes daily, from 100years ago, for the past year and a half. This thread will help me see what actually occurred, and complement my readings.

In case anyone is interested, I am posting interesting articles from the NYtimes on my blood:

http://www.perceptiveart.com/thegreatwar