100 Years Ago Today

[Jimbuna]

12 August 1920

Entrance to Argonne Cemetery, the site of the largest American offensive in US military history.


Greek Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos survives an assassination attempt by two royalist Greek soldiers in Paris after signing the Treaty of Sèvres with the Ottoman Empire. Venizelos after the assassination attempt.


The Battle of Warsaw begins as Soviet troops being attacking the Polish capital. Polish soldiers defending near Warsaw against the Soviet Offensive.


Ship Losses:

Matra (United Kingdom) The cargo ship ran aground on the Curlew Reef, off Port Augusta, South Australia. She was refloated on 17 August.
Norman (United Kingdom) The whaler foundered off the Aliwal Shoal with the loss of all hands.

[Jimbuna]

13th August 1920

Female Polish soldiers during the Battle of Warsaw.

[Jimbuna]

14th August 1920

Polish infantry at the Battle of Warsaw fighting against Soviet forces.


Battle of Radzymin (1920): On August 14 the Red Army broke through Polish lines and reached the villages of Ossów and Izabelin, some 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) from Warsaw, but this was the closest that Russian forces would come.


Ship Losses:

Alma (Russia White Movement) Russian Civil War: The transport was sunk in the Sea of Azov off Primorsko-Akhtorsk by mines.
Smolensk (Russia White Movement) Russian Civil War: The cargo ship was sunk in the Sea of Azov off Primorsko-Akhtorsk by mines.

[Jimbuna]

15th August 1920

Italian poet and nationalist leader Gabriele D’Annunzio shaking hands with Italian soldiers occupying the Free State of Fiume (Rijeka, Croatia)


Polish women volunteers man a machine gun during the Battle of Warsaw.


15-16 Aug. In the so-called "Miracle on the Vistula" Polish forces (with French help) rout the Red Army in the battle of Warsaw. Poland and Russia sign a peace treaty at Tartu in Estonia on 12 Oct. The westward march of Bolshevism has been checked (for the time being) (artwork by Jerzy Kossak)


Ship Losses:

Dorcas The Thames barge was destroyed by fire in the River Thames at Woolwich, London with the loss of one of her three crew.
Snug Harbor (United States) During a voyage from Baltimore, Maryland, to Portland, Maine, the cargo ship sank in 60 feet (18 m) of water in the Atlantic Ocean 4.5 nautical miles (8.3 km; 5.2 mi) east by north of Montauk Point Light on Montauk Point, Long Island, New York, after colliding with the barge Pottsville ( United States), which was under tow by Covington ( United States). Snug Harbor was declared a total loss.

[Jimbuna]

16th August 1920

Blue Army under general Józef Haller von Hallenburg defending Warsaw in the Battle of Warsaw in Polish-Soviet War 1920.


Ship Losses:

A.S.310 (France) The tug foundered in the English Channel off the East Goodwin Lightship ( United Kingdom). Her crew were rescued.
Seresia (Belgium) The cargo ship collided with Eglantier ( Belgium) at Antwerp and was beached. She was refloated on 18 August.

[Jimbuna]

17th August 1920

Polish-American delegation visit the White House to urge American support for Poland against its war against the Soviets.


An Airplane Ensuring The First Postal Flight Between Saint-Louis And Chicago. UNITED STATES - AUGUST 17: Chicago. A view of the American airplane that made the Saint Louis-Chicago line. It made the postal service for the first time.


Ship Losses:

Fife (United Kingdom) The cargo ship ran aground at Kaskinen, Finland. She was refloated on 24 August.

[Jimbuna]

18th August 1920

British soldiers manning a wall with the graffiti, “Vote Sinn Fein”


Search for Boche shells in Douage wood, Maurepas, France.


Ship Losses:

Ponrabbel II (United Kingdom) The dredger ran aground on San Martiño, Galicia, Spain. She was refloated on 8 September.

[Jimbuna]

19th August 1920

Polish fighters in German-controlled Upper Silesia rise up against ethnic violence in the region, starting the 2nd Silesian Civil War.


Ireland: Following his conviction by court martial for sedition, the Lord Mayor of Cork, Terence MacSwiney, goes on hunger strike in Brixton Prison (London).


Ship Losses:

Zharkyi (Russian Navy White Movement) Russian Civil War: The torpedo boat was sunk in the Sea of Azov off Primorsko-Akhtorsk by mines.
Volga (Russia White Movement) Russian Civil War: The transport was sunk in the Sea of Azov off Akhtar by mines.

[Jimbuna]

20th August 1920

29 people are killed when the freighter SS Superior City collides with another ship on Lake Superior.


Commemoration of the Allied cemetery at Metz.


Captain A. J. Hailey with his cat on the RMS ‘Empress of Canada’


Ship Losses:

Superior City (United States) The cargo ship collided with Willis L. King ( United States) in Whitefish Bay, Lake Superior and sank with the loss of 29 of her 33 crew. The boiler exploded as the vessel sank.

[Jimbuna]

21st August 1920

Unveiling of the statue of Marquis de Lafayette at Metz, France.


Polish women volunteers manning an artillery gun during the Battle of Warsaw. Soviet troops continue to retreat in the face of the Polish counteroffensive.


Christopher Robin Milne, son of author A.A. Milne and the inspiration for his Winnie-the-Pooh series, is born in London.


Ship Losses:

Hammonia (flag unknown) The ship struck a submerged wreck in the Baltic Sea off Fehmarn, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany and sank.
Panos (Greece) The cargo ship foundered in the Bay of Biscay 55 nautical miles (102 km) off Bilbao, Biscay, Spain.

[Jimbuna]

22nd August 1920

Templemore, Ireland attracts thousands of pilgrims after an alleged Marian apparition and the appearance of “bleeding” statues of Mary. The alleged miracles bring a temporary truce to the region between IRA and British forces.


Irish policemen at school - ex-soldier recruits to the RIC, most of them still wearing their army uniform, in the law school at the depot of the force. They are given six months tuition under a specially qualified tutor.

[Jimbuna]

23rd August 1920

The U.S. Army’s “Black Wolf Squadron” of four De Havilland DH-4B aircraft complete a month-long journey from New York to Nome, Alaska, demonstrating the feasibility of long-distance air travel in the U.S.


A large artillery gun abandoned from the Great War, possibly near Wadi Nimrin, Palestine.


Ship Losses:

Haaber (Denmark) The schooner was wrecked at Hyrdalsand, Iceland with some loss of life.
Hebe (Denmark) The schooner foundered off Keflavík, Iceland.
Old Point Comfort (United States) The cargo ship was destroyed by fire at Baltimore, Maryland.

[Jimbuna]

24th August 1920

King Alexander of Greece being greeted by local Greeks after his troops captured Panormos (Bandırma, Turkey)

[Jimbuna]

25th August 1920

The Battle of Warsaw ends with a decisive Polish victory as disorganized Soviet forces retreat. Polish soldiers displaying captured Soviet battle flags.


Ship Losses:

Sea Breeze (United States) The 8-gross register ton, 35-foot (11 m) fishing vessel was destroyed by fire at Yasha Island (56°57′59″N 134°33′37″W) in Sumner Strait in the Alexander Archipelago in Southeast Alaska. Two of her three crewmen were killed.

[Jimbuna]

26th August 1920

Albanian militiamen and a woman pose for the camera.


The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing women's suffrage.


Ship Losses:

Electra (Netherlands) The schooner was driven ashore on Trinidad and was wrecked.
Friend Ship (United States) The schooner collided with a scow she was towing in the Atlantic Ocean off Hoffman Island, New York and was beached.
J. A. McKee (United Kingdom) The cargo ship ran aground in the Saint Lawrence River at Saguenay, Quebec, Canada. She was refloated on 29 August.
Lady C (United Kingdom) The schooner foundered in Placentia Bay. Her crew were rescued.