100 Years Ago Today

[Sailor Steve]

May 1, 1916

Air War:
German ace Oswald Boelcke, flying a Fokker E.IV, shoots down an unidentified French biplane. Despite lack of confirmation Boelcke is awarded victory number 15.



Celtic Sea:
Walther Schwieger, commanding U-20, sinks French schooner Bernadette, 486 tons, bound from Fécamp for Newfoundland with a load of salt. Schwieger's score is now 27 ships and 113,724 tons.



English Channel:
British freighter SS Caterham, 3,411 tons, sinks eight miles off Eastbourne. Further details unknown.



North Sea:
Vicktor Dieckmann, in UB-27, torpedoes Brazilian freighter SS Rio Branco, 2,258 tons, en route from Chrisiania to Hull with a general cargo. His score is now 4 ships and 3,707 tons.

German destroyer S123 hits a mine near the island of Sylt, off the coast of Denmark.

British freighter SS Hendonhall, 3,994 tons, carrying a load of wheat from Portland, Maine to Rotterdam, hits a mine laid by Alfred Nitzsche in UC-10, bringing his score to 12 ships and 23,874 tons.



Indian Ocean:
Norwegian schooner SV Vardvik, 393 tons, travelling from Quelimane, Mozambique to Beria (modern Veria), Greece, is wrecked shortly after departing Quelimane.

[Jimbuna]

2nd May 1916

Western Front

At Verdun, a French counterattack captures a mile of trenches, with a depth of between 300-600 meters.

Southern Front

French occupy Florina (23 miles south of Monastir).

Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

King's Message to Mesopotamian Force.

Aviation

Zeppelin raid on east coast and Scotland, 9 killed, 30 injured.



Political, etc.

Germany agrees to British proposal for transfer of prisoners of war to Switzerland.

Premier Asquith states that since the war’s start, the number of divisions has increased from 26 to 83 and 5 million men have been recruited.

U.S. War Department orders the halt of all shipment of war munitions to Mexico. A shipment of 500,000 rifle rounds is held up.

Ship Losses:

Fridland (Sweden) The cargo ship struck a mine laid by UC 1 (Kurt Ramien) and was damaged in the North Sea off the Longsand Lightship ( United Kingdom) (51°51′N 1°56′E) and was beached at Blyth, Northumberland without loss of life. She was later refloated, repaired and returned to service.
Le Pilier (France) The barque was torpedoed and sunk in the Bay of Biscay (47°50′N 5°50′W) by SM U-45 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
Maud (United Kingdom) The schooner was shelled and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 50 nautical miles (93 km) south west of Ouessant, Finistère, France (47°50′N 7°30′W) by SM U-45 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
Mars (Norway) The barge was scuttled in the North Sea by SM UB-27 ( Kaiserliche Marine).
Memento (Norway) The sailing vessel was sunk in the North Sea (56°15′N 2°46′E) by SM UB-27 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
Rochester City (United Kingdom) The cargo ship struck a mine laid by UC 10 (Alfred Nitzsche) and sank in the North Sea 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) off Southwold, Suffolk (52°10′N 1°47′E) with the loss of a crew member.
Ruabon (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was captured, torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 160 nautical miles (300 km) west by south of Ouessant by SM U-20 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived. Her crew were rescued by Misurata ( Italy).
Superb (Norway) The lighter, a converted barque, was scuttled in the North Sea (56°16′N 3°55′E) by SM UB-27 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

"The Auxiliary Force" (Western Mail cartoon).

[Sailor Steve]

May 2, 1916

Air War:
Austro-Hungaria pilot Kurt Gruber and observer Godwin Brumowski, in Albatros B.I 22.30, shoot down a Morane parasol. Victory number 2 for Gruber, number 3 for Brumowski.



Celtic Sea:
Walther Schwieger, commanding U-20, captures and torpedoes british freighter SS Ruabon, 2,004 tons, bound from Seville to Troon with a load of iron ore. His score is now 28 ships and 115,728 tons.

Erich Sittenfeld, in U-45, captures and torpedoes French barque SV Le Pillier, 2,427 tons, travelling in ballast from London to Buenos Aires. The crew are rescued by Danish freighter SS Lineskov and taken to Liverpool. Sittenfeld then captures and sinks British schooner SV Maud, 120 tons, travelling in ballast from Jersey to Cadiz. His score is now 4 ships and 8,032 tons.



North Sea:
Victor Dieckmann, in UB-27, comes across Norwegian barges Mars, 581 tons, and Superb, 770 tons, being towed by steamer SS Veslefjell. Dieckmann scuttles Mars and Superb. Veslefjell manages to escape. Dieckmann also sinks Norwegian barque SV Memento, 654 tons, bringing his score to 7 ships and 5,712 tons.



Swedish freighter SS Fridland, 4,960 tons, carrying a load of grain from Portland, Maine to Rotterdam, hits a mine laid by Kurt Ramien in UC-1. The damaged ship survives.

British freighter SS Rochester City, 1,239 tons, bound from Seaham for Rochester with a load of coal, hits a mine laid by Alfred Nitzsche in UC-10, bringing his score to 13 ships and 25,113 tons.



German East Africa:
Monitor HMS Severn sees a little action, shelling Government House at Kilwa.

[Jimbuna]

3rd May 1916

Western Front

Battle of Verdun: French success at Mort Homme; Germans bombard Hill 304.

Aviation

Aeroplane raid on Deal, 4 injured.

Zeppelin L20 6 reconnaissance missions; 2 attacks on England dropping a total 2,864 kilograms (6,314 lb) bombs; ran out of fuel after raiding Scotland on 3 May 1916, drifted and stranded near Stavanger (Norway). The crew destroyed the airship. 16 were captured, 3 died. Kapitänleutnant Stabbert escaped six months later.

The German crew survives the crash landing and is interned by Norwegian authorities.




Naval and Overseas Operations

Belgians occupy Shanzugu on Lake Kivu (German East Africa).

Political, etc.

Three Irish leaders shot; Mr. Birrell resigns Irish Secretaryship. The executions by the British will continue for the next few days, which turns public opinion in Ireland decidedly against British rule.

Military Service Bill, extending compulsion to married men, introduced. First reading of a military bill for immediate general conscription passes the House of Commons on its first reading, accompanied by cheers.

Judge Peter A. O’Boyle of Pennsylvania announces that members of the IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) cannot get U.S. citizenship.

Ship Losses:

Marie Molinos (France) The barque was intercepted, shelled and sunk in the Bay of Biscay (46°35′N 5°05′W) by SM U-20 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew abandoned ship before she was scuttled and were rescued the next day by Wenceslao ( Spain).

[Sailor Steve]

May 3, 1916

Air War:
German ace Ernst von Althaus, flying a Fokker E.IV, shoots down a French two-seater for victory number 6.



Bay of Biscay:
Walther Schwieger, commanding U-20, stops French barque Marie Molinos, 1,945 tons, tavelling in ballast from Nantes to New York, and sinks her with his deck gun. His score is now 29 ships and 117,674 tons.
According to the French captain the u-boat fired 15 shells to sink his ship. The Germans then sailed away. The crew were rescued the following morning by Spanish freighter SS Wenceslao and taken to Villagarcia, Spain.

[Jimbuna]

4th May 1916

Western Front

Battle of Verdun: Struggle for Hill 304.

Naval and Overseas Operations

Zeppelin L.7 destroyed by British warships off Schleswig coast by anti-aircraft fire from HMS Phaeton and HMS Galatea and its wreck was destroyed by the Royal Navy submarine E31

Political, etc.

Germany issues the Sussex Pledge to the United States, promising that it will not target passenger ships and unarmed merchant ships.

Tighter call-up net snares married men.


Ship Losses:

HMT Crownsin (Royal Navy) The naval trawler struck a mine laid by U 73 (Gustav Sieß) and sank in the Mediterranean Sea off Malta with the loss of eleven crew.

[Sailor Steve]

May 4, 1916

Air War:
0900 Irish RFC pilot Sidney Edward Cowan, flying DH.2 5966, shoots down a German two-seater for victory number 1.

1200 Austrian pilot Adolf Herowsky and observer Benno Fiala, in Hansa-Brandenburg C.I 61.55, shoot down Italian airship M-4. Victory number 3 for Heyrowsky and number 2 for Fiala.

French pilot Louis fernand Coudouret, in a Nieuport 11, brings down an LVG two-seater for victory number 1.

German pilot Wilhelm Frankl, in a Fokker E.III, shoots down BE.2c 4109 for victory number 5. Canadian 2nd Lts Edward Gurney Rycksman and John Romeyn Dennistoun both jump to their deaths to escape their burning plane.



Mediterranean Sea:
His Majesty's Trawler Crownsin, 173 tons, hits a mine laid by Gustav Seiß in U-73, bringing his score to 6 ships and 22,035 tons. HMT Crownsin was originally German trawler Varel, captured by HMS Arethusa on October 7, 1915 and pressed into British service.

British freighter SS St. Catherine, 4,278 tons, carrying a load of grain from Baltimore to Naples, is wrecked off Asinara, Sardinia.



German East Africa:
British monitor HMS Severn boards a landing party of 60 men in anticipation of a raid the following day.


Indian Ocean:
British paddle steamer Kelat, 245 tons, on a voyage from Rangoon, Burma to Colombo, Ceylon (modern Sri Lanka), founders in a cyclone.

[Jimbuna]

5th May 1916

Western Front

Battle of Verdun: Germans gain a footing on Hill 304.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

Russians defeat Turks at Sermil (Persia).

Naval and Overseas Operations

North Sea: The Grand Fleet waits at the entrance to the Skagerrak, hoping to lure out the High Seas Fleet with a seaplane raid on the Zeppelin base at Tondern. But Admiral Scheer does not respond to the provocation.

Aviation

Austro-Hungarian aeroplanes raid Ravenna, targeting barracks and a sulphur factory. A nearby naval clash is inconclusive.

Political, etc.

House of Commons passes the 2nd reading of the general military compulsion bill by a vote of 328 to 36.

Rioting occurs in Charlottenburg in Berlin due to revelations that butchers were withholding meat and selling them on the black market.

Three Swedish socialist editors are sentenced to jail for urging soldiers to strike if Sweden became involved in the war.

Major John MacBride, one of the leaders of the Easter Rising, is executed by the British.


Easter Rising leaders Joseph Plunkett, William Pearse, Edward Daly and Michael O’Hanrahan are executed by the British.

Constance Markievicz on trial: “…It does not matter what happens to me. I did what I though & right and I stand by it.”

Constance Markievicz is sentenced to death for her part in the Easter Rising, but the sentence is reduced to imprisonment due to her sex.

Ship Losses:

Harald (Sweden) The schooner was sunk in the North Sea by SM UB-21 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

[Sailor Steve]

May 5, 1916

Air War:
0900 Austran pilot Karl Urban and Bohemia-born observer Otto Jäger, flying Albatros B.I 22.10, shoot down a three-seat bomber. Victory number 1 for both.

German pilot Kurt Reinert and observer Erich Bönisch, in an unidentified two-seater, shoot down a Nieuport 12 for victory number 1.



Irish Sea:
British schooner James W. Fisher, 153 tons, carrying a load of coal from Ellesmere Port to Granville, is wrecked at West Bull Bay, Amlwch, Wales.



North Sea:
Ernst Hashagen begins his career in UB-21 with the sinking of Swedish schooner Harald, 275 tons, bound from Goteborg to Tyne with a load of pit props.



German East Africa:
British battleship HMS Vengeance stands by while monitor HMS Severn and armed whales Styx and Charon cover the advance of troops in motorboats into the mouth of the Simba Uranga River. The troops capture two skiffs and seven native troops, but find no other opposition. Back at Tirene Major Brooks and his sixty troops return to their shore posts.

[Jimbuna]

6th May 1916

Western Front

Battle of Verdun: Continued struggle for Hill 304.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

Russians occupy Serin el Kerind (Persia).

Naval and Overseas Operations

Belgians occupy Kigali (German East Africa).

Aviation

Four Italian aeroplanes bombard the Albanian seaport of Durazzo (Dürres), while Austro-Hungary bombs Avlona and Brindisi.

Political, etc.

Pope Benedict XV urges the United States to maintain neutrality and do the utmost to mediate peace in Europe.

Djemal Pasha, Ottoman Minister of the Navy, executes 21 Arab nationalists in Damascus & Beirut as “traitors” to the Ottoman Empire.

Mexican bandits raid Boquillas and Glenn Springs, Texas and clash with U.S. cavalry. Four Americans are killed and 2 are taken as hostages.

Ship Losses:

Galgate (United Kingdom) The four-masted full-rigged ship was shelled and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 190 nautical miles (350 km) south west by west of The Lizard, Cornwall by SM U-20 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
James W. Fischer (United Kingdom) The schooner was driven ashore at Bull Bay, Anglesey and was wrecked with the loss of all but one of her crew.
Rosa (Sweden) The barquentine was driven ashore at North Sunderland, County Durham, United Kingdom and was wrecked. Her eight crew were rescued by the Seahouses Lifeboat.
St. Catherine (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was driven ashore at Genoa, Italy. Her crew were rescued.

[Sailor Steve]

May 6, 1916

Air War:
1745 Kurt Jentsch, in a German two-seater, brings down a Voisin for victory number 2. I previously had Jentsch listed as an observer, but he may have been the pilot.



Celtic Sea:
Walther Schwieger, commanding U-20, stops and sinks British sailing ship Galgate, 2,356 tons, bound from Portland, Oregon, for Falmouth with a load of barley. His score is now 30 ships and 120,030 tons.



Bristol Channel:
Norwegian freighter SS Speed, 707 tons, travelling from Swansea to Rouen with a load of coal, collides with SS Knutsford and is lost, along with five crew members who tried to run the ship aground to prevent her sinking.



North Sea:
Swedish barque Rosa, 242 tons, carrying a load of pit props from Arendal to West Hartlepool, runs aground at North Sunderland Point.



South Africa:
British coaster SS St. Ebba, 205 tons, en route from the Seychelles Islands to Durban with a load of whale oil, is wrecked at Cape Seal.

[Jimbuna]

7th May 1916

Western Front

Battle of Verdun: Germans make progress on Hill 304 and between Haudromont Wood and Douaumont Fort.

Political, etc.

Number of volunteers in Canada dropped to the lowest in April, leading to calls for a military draft.

The Government of Canada authorizes the creation of an all black battalion that became No. 2 Construction Battalion of the Canadian Expeditionary Force.

Outrage grows at the May 5th Mexican raid in Texas. Journalist Robert Dunn: “All Northern Mexico is in a state of anarchy.”

General Robert Nivelle succeeds General Philippe Pétain as commander of the 2nd Army at Verdun.


Ship Losses:

Speed (Norway) The cargo ship collided with another vessel and sank in the Bristol Channel off Barry, Glamorgan, United Kingdom with the loss of five of her thirteen crew.

Today is the 1st year anniversary of RMS Lusitania’s sinking. Satirical medal of the event printed in Germany.

[Sailor Steve]

May 7, 1916

Greenland Sea:
Norwegian ketch Rivalen, 71 tons, catches fire while fishing near Spitsbergen.



South Africa:
South African coaster SS Natal, 158 tons, bound from Cape Town to Pringle Bay with a load of coal, is wrecked at Cape Hangklip.



South Atlantic Ocean:
Argentinian sailing ship Argos, 537 tons, departs Buenos Aires for South Georgia Island with a load of coal and empty barrels, and is not heard from again. Evidence is later found that at least some of her crew survived for awhile at King Haakon Bay, South Georgia.

[Jimbuna]

8th May 1916

Western Front

Battle of Verdun: Germans repulsed at Hill 304, severe fighting at Thiaumont Farm.

Inside Fort Douaumont, a cooking fire accidentally sets off grenades, flamethrower fuel, & ammunition, causing 800 to 900 German deaths.

Anzacs in line in France.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

Turks claim victory over Russians at Pirnakapan (Armenia).

Air raid on Port Said.

Naval and Overseas Operations

Ocean liner SS Cymric is torpedoed three times by the German U-20 (which sunk the Lusitania), killing 4 crew.


German attack repulsed at Nhika (Portuguese East Africa).

Political, etc.

Due to the war, the British Royal family substitutes pheasants’ eggs instead of plovers’ eggs during meals.

Thomas James Macnamara, financial secretary of the Admiralty, discloses to the House of Commons that Britain is building a zeppelin fleet.

U.S.A. Note to Germany on submarine warfare.

Four more Irish rebels shot.

Ship Losses:

Cymric (United Kingdom) The ocean liner was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 140 nautical miles (260 km) west north west of the Fastnet Rock by U-20 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of five lives.

[Sailor Steve]

May 8, 1916

Air War:
0552 German pilot (or observer) Kurt Jentsch, in a two seater, is credited with a Farman for victory number 3. Jentsch claims a second Farman but it is unconfirmed.



Celtic Sea:
Walther Schwieger, commanding U-20, sinks British passenger liner SS Cymric, 13,370 tons, bound from New York for Liverpool with a general cargo. His score is now 31 ships and 133,400 tons. The ship also carried 106 crew but only 6 passengers.



Carribean Sea:
American schooner Mary E.H.G. Dow, 1208 tons, travelling from Ilha do Faial, part of the Azores, to Norfolk, Virginia, is wrecked off Punta del Fraile, Cuba.