8th September
German troops are forced back over the river Marne as French and British troops advance.
General Foch at the Marne Battle: “My centre is giving way, my right is in retreat, situation excellent. I attack.”
A census is conducted in Paris in order to ascertain how many people must be fed if the city comes under siege.
Thomas Highgate becomes the first British soldier to be executed for desertion (he is pardoned in 2006).
Quote:
|
On 5 September 1914, the first day of the Battle of Marne, Thomas Highgate, a 19-year-old British private, was found hiding in a barn dressed in civilian clothes. Highgate was tried by court martial, convicted of desertion and, in the early hours of 8 September, was executed by firing squad. His was the first of 306 executions carried out by the British during the First World War.
|
http://www.historyinanhour.com/2013/...world-war-one/
Ottoman ambassador to the U.S. warns that Britain is trying to drag America into the war.
A German Zeppelin commanded by Heinrich Mathy, one of the great airship commanders of World War I, hits Aldersgate in central London, killing 22 people and causing £500,000 worth of damage.
RMS Oceanic of the White Star Line runs aground off the Isle of Foula.
Ship Losses:
Kamerun ( Germany): The cargo ship was scuttled at Duala, Kamerun. She was subsequently refloated, repaired and entered British service as Cameronia.
HMS Oceanic ( Royal Navy) The armed merchant cruiser ran aground off Foula, Shetland Islands. All on board were rescued by the fishing trawler Glenogil ( United Kingdom and transferred to HMS Alsatian and HMS Forward (both Royal Navy. Oceanic was wrecked in a storm on 29 September.