[Sailor Steve]

August 25:

The Belgian army begins a successful counter-attack on Louvain. In a panic German troops begin to burn the city. Among the buildings destroyed is the University Library, founded in 1426. Thousands of ancient manuscripts are lost forever. The bigger coup for Entente (Allied) propagandists is the partial burning of the city cathedral. Still more civilians are executed as snipers and spies.

SMS Emden and SS Markomannia arrive at the rendesvous point off Timor. Yet again the expected collier fails to appear, and again Emden has to use the dwindling coal supplies from Markomannia. Some of the crew are sent ashore to hunt for food. After coaling the ships set a course for the island of Tanah Jampeia.

On a lighter note, the first aerial 'victory' of the war took place when a trio of B.E.2c aircraft, led by Hubert Harvey-Kelly (the first British pilot to land in France for the war) encounted a lone Taube and proceeded to buzz the hapless German, none of them being armed. Panicked by the game of 'chicken', the German pilot landed in a field and disappeared into the forest. Harvey-Kelly took a trophy from the Taube and then burned it.

There is a further story that Harvey-Kelly discovered that the Taube had been disabled by pistol fire from an Avro 504, the 'gunner' being Cuthbert Euan Charles Rabagliati and the pilot C.W. 'Daddy' Wilson, and that Harvey-Kelly handed his trophy over to Wilson. If that story is true, the Rabagliati should be credited for the first 'kill' of the war, and perhaps ever. I could only find one source for that part of the story, so take it for what it's worth.