[Sailor Steve]

March 31:

Air War: Aleksandr Alexandrovich Kozakov repeats the feat of Pyotr Nestorov the previous September when he rams an Albatros two-seater with his Morane-Saulnier G. Unlike his predecessor, Kazakov survives the collision. The story goes that he first tried to snare his opponent with a grappling hook. Kozakov will go on to become Russia's highest-scoring ace.

This event was previously recorded as taking place on March 18th. This is due to Russia still using the Julian Calendar at the time.



English Channel: Erich Wilke, commanding U-37, sinks the small French freighter Emma, 1,617 tons, travelling in ballast from Dunkerque to Bordeaux.



North Sea: U-10, commanded by Fritz Stuhr, stops the Norwegian sailing vessel Nor, 544 tons, carrying a load of lumber from Fredrikstad to Hull. The crew are allowed to abandon ship and the vessel scuttled.



Adriatic Sea: Egon Lerch in the Austro-Hungarian submarine U-12 rounds up a small fishing fleet and takes them back to his base as prizes. Tonnages are unknown.



Saudi Arabia: Around 1100 hours von Mücke's caravan arrives at the next watering hole. They find there a Turkish officer and seventeen soldiers sent from Jeddah to meet them. The Turks have brought a supply of water. The grateful Germans set up their straw mats for cover and settle in for the day. They are only one day from Jeddah and a garrison of more than three hundred soldiers.

At 1600 hours they break camp and start the final night's journey. The terrain consists of sand dunes overgrown with clumps of grass. Visibility is only about 400 meters. As they are riding along in the moonlight they catch sight of a group of twelve or so Bedouins, who immediately trot out of sight. The Turkish officer tells von Mücke that he believes them to be bandits, based on the rumors in Jeddah of a group of forty or so robbers roaming the area. Von Mücke had sent word from Al Lith that they were coming, and assumed that the whole area knew that they were not a merchant caravan but a group of fifty armed men with four machine guns.

Von Mücke divides his caravan into two columns and orders his men to have their weapons at the ready. As the sky starts to grow lighter they relax a little, having heard that the bandits never attack in daylight. He is riding down the columns to make sure everything is in order when a shrill whistle sounds, followed by a heavy volley of gunfire. Von Mücke and his mean leap from their camels and run to the front of the caravan. They cannot see the enemy, but can see the flashes from the rifles. They assume the bandits cannot see them either, lying prone in the sand, and conclude that their camels must be the intended targets.

With fire coming in from all sides, von Mücke decides the first order of business is to get the machine guns ready. They are tied to the backs of camels, two at the head of the caravan and two at the rear. After a few minutes the machine guns are ready and open fire. This unexpected turn of events silences the enemy's fire for the moment. The Germans take advantage of the lull to drag the camels to the ground where they will be a little safer. Once this is done the men organize themselves and prepare for the next round.

Taking stock of their weapons they count the four machine guns, thirteen German and three modern Turkish rifles, ten older Turkish rifles and twenty-four pistols. As the sky grows lighter von Mücke concludes that they might be facing as many as three hundred Bedouins. Von Mücke records that his men behave splendidly, mounting bayonets as a group without being ordered to do so. In the quiet a young sailor calls to his Captain. When von Mücke asks what he wants the boy says "How soon are we going at it, Sir?"
"Going at what?"
"Why, storming the enemy, sir."
"Exactly, my man. Up! March! March!"

The Germans leap to their feet and charge the bandits, who have never seen this type of tactic. They start to mill about in confusion, then begin to run. The bandits at the rear of the caravan also beat a hasty retreat, even though no one is rushing them. When the Bedouins are an estimated twelve hundred meters away the Germans return to their caravan to take stock. They have suffered only one man wounded. Their escort of Turkish gendarmes have mostly fled, leaving seven of the original twenty-four. Of these several have been wounded in the legs. They had attempted to hide behind the camels, which were the enemy's prime target. The Germans count fifteen Bedouin bodies. The rest are still visible in the distance.

Several of the camels are dead. Von Mücke and his men strip the supplies and distribute them among the uninjured camels. The machine guns are stripped and remounted to the camels. Von Mücke decides that they will be safer with the sea protecting one flank, and the caravan turns to its left, toward the coast. The caravan is divided into four rows, with a skirmish line of ten men walking 150 meters ahead. Leutnant Gerdts is in command of the advance guard, with Leutnant Schmidt in charge of the rear and Leutnant Gyssling commanding the flanks.

After marching no more than ten minutes the bandits again start firing from about four hundred meters' distance. Their new tactic is to appear ten or twenty at a time, fire a volley and disappear again. The main burden is on the rear guard. To everyone's surprise not one man is hit during all this. Von Mücke is with the rear guard when he receives a report of heavy fire from the front. When he gets to the head of the caravan he sees what he describes as "...the whole horizon was black with Bedouins." He then hears from Lt. Schmidt at the rear requesting additional camels, as one of the beasts carrying a machine gun has been shot. Then the sound of machine gun fire can be heard from the rear. Schmidt has taken it upon himself to set up the guns and start using them. On his way back to the rear von Mücke finds that one of his sailors, Rademacher by name, has been killed and that Lt. Schmidt is mortally wounded. Leutnant Wellmann, who had taken the two camels to the rear for the machine guns, is now commanding the defense.

Suddenly the enemy fire ceases, and von Mücke sees two of the Turkish gendarmes running toward the Bedouins waving a white flag. The Germans take advantage of this lull to dig trenches and fortify them with saddles and sacks of rice and coffee. The water bottles are buried in the sand to protect them from rifle fire. The camels are gathered in the middle and a protective wall built from empty cans filled with sand. Leutnant Schmidt is carried there on a litter and seaman Rademacher hastily buried.

The negotiations are conducted by the Turkish dragoman and his wife. They will not be seen again until the Germans reach Jeddah. The two gendarmes return from their parley with the bandits' demands. The Germans are to surrender all their arms, provisions, water and camels, and pay £11,000 in gold. Von Mücke sends his reply: "In the first place, we have no money; in the second, we are guests of the country - get your money in Djidda; thirdly, it is not customary with Germans to surrender their arms."

The attack begins anew. The Turkish gendarmes and camel drivers follow the dragoman's example and vanish into the dunes. A new problem begins - the store of ammunition that was rescued from the wrecked zambuk begins to misfire. Several more camels are shot, and the men make use of them for extra protection.

The running fight has lasted the entire day. In the hour between sunset and moonrise they can see nothing at all, and prepare for a possible assault. When the moon rises they can see about three hundred meters, and there is no enemy in sight. The Germans increase their fortifications and distribute water and the first food they have eaten in several hours. trenches are deepened and camel carcasses dragged downwind. Von Mücke sends an Arab who has been with him since Al Hudaydah, to try to get to Jeddah with news of their situation.

At about 2100 Leutnant Schmidt dies. They dig as deep a grave as the sand will allow, and he is buried around 2300. Guards are posted and everyone tries to get some sleep.