James Ernest Newland, VC (22 August 1881 – 19 March 1949) was an Australian soldier, policeman was awarded the Victoria Cross following three separate actions in April 1917, during attacks against German forces retreating to the Hindenburg Line. While in command of a company, Newland successfully led his men in several assaults on German positions and repulsed subsequent counter-attacks.
Born in the Victorian town of Highton, Newland joined the Australian military in 1899 and saw active service during the Second Boer War. He continued to serve in the Australians Army’s permanent forces on his return to Australia, and completed several years' service in the artillery. Transferring to the militia in 1907, Newland became a police officer in Tasmania before re-joining the permanent forces in 1910. Following the outbreak of the First World War, he was appointed to the Australian Imperial Force and was among the first wave of men to land at Gallipoli. In the days following the landing, Newland was wounded and evacuated to Egypt where he was commissioned as a second lieutenant.
Transferring to the Western Front in 1916, Newland was mentioned in dispatches for his leadership while commanding a company during an attack at Mouquet Farm. He was wounded twice more during the war and medically discharged in March 1918; he returned to service with the permanent army. Newland held various appointments between the two world wars, and retired a lieutenant colonel in 1941. He died of heart failure in 1949.
Actions for which he was awarded the VC:
By early April 1917, there remained three German-held outpost villages—Boursies, Demicourt and Hermies—between the area to the south of the I Anzac Corps position and the Hindenburg Line. An attack by the 1st Australian Division to capture them was planned for 9 April, the same day the British offensive opened at Arras. For his actions on three separate occasions during the assault, Newland was awarded the Victoria Cross.
On the night of 7/8 April, the 12th Battalion was tasked with the capture of Boursies, on the Bapaume-Cambrai road. The attack was a feint to mislead the German forces on the direction from which Hermies was to be assaulted. Leading A Company as well as an attached platoon from B Company, Newland began his advance on the village at 03:00. The company was soon subject to heavy rifle and machine gun fire from a derelict mill approximately 400 metres (440 yd) short of the village, and began to suffer heavy casualties. Rallying his men, Newland charged the position and bombed the Germans with grenades. The attack dislodged the Germans, and the company secured the area and continued its advance.
Throughout 8 April, the Australians were subjected to heavy shellfire from German forces. At approximately 22:00, the Germans launched a fierce counter-attack under the cover of a barrage of bombs and trench mortars against A Company's position at the mill. They had some initial success and entered the forward posts of the mill, which were occupied by a platoon of Newland's men under the command of Sergeant John Whittle. Newland, bringing up a platoon from the battalion's reserve company, charged the attackers and re-established the lost ground with Whittle's assistance. The 12th Battalion was relieved by the 11th Battalion on 10 April, having succeeded in capturing Boursies at the cost of 240 casualties, of which 70 were killed or missing.
After a four-day reprieve from the frontline, the 12th Battalion relieved the 9th Battalion at Lagnicourt on 14 April. Around dawn the next day, the Germans launched a severe counter-attack against the 1st Australian Division's line. Breaking through, they forced back the 12th Battalion's D Company, which was to the right of Newland's A Company. Soon surrounded and under attack on three sides, Newland withdrew the company to a sunken road which had been held by Captain Percy Cherry during the capture of the village three weeks earlier, and lined the depleted company out in a defensive position on each bank.
The German forces attacked Newland's company several times during the battle, but were repulsed each time. During one of the assaults, Newland observed that the German attack was weakening and gathered a party of twenty men. Leading the group, he charged the Germans and seized forty as prisoners. As reinforcements from the 9th Battalion began to arrive, a combined counter-attack was launched and the line recaptured by approximately 11:00. During the engagement, the 12th Battalion suffered 125 casualties, including 66 killed or missing. Newland and Whittle were both awarded the Victoria Cross for their actions at Boursies and Lagnicourt; they were the only two permanent members of the Australian military to receive the decoration during the war. At 35 years and 7 months old, Newland was also the oldest Australian Victoria Cross recipient of the First World War.
The full citation for Newland's Victoria Cross appeared in a supplement to the London Gazette on 8 June 1917:
War Office, 8th June, 1917.
His Majesty the KING has been graciously pleased to approve of the award of the Victoria Cross to the undermentioned Officers, Non-commissioned Officers and Men: —
Capt. James Ernest Newlands, Inf. Bn., Aus. Imp. Force.
For most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty, in the face of heavy odds, on three separate occasions.
On the first occasion he organised the attack by his company on a most important objective, and led personally, under heavy fire, a bombing attack. He then rallied his company, which had suffered heavy casualties, and he was one of the first to reach the objective.
On the following night his company, holding the captured position, was heavily counter-attacked. By personal exertion, utter disregard of fire, and judicious use of reserves, he succeeded in dispersing the enemy and regaining the position.
On a subsequent occasion, when the company on his left was overpowered and his own company attacked from the rear, he drove off a combined attack which had developed from these directions.
These attacks were renewed three or four times, and it was Capt. Newland's tenacity and disregard for his own safety that encouraged the men to hold out.
The stand made by this officer was of the greatest importance, and produced far-reaching results.
John William Ormsby VC. MM (10 January 1881 – 20 July 1952) was 36 years old, and a sergeant in the 2nd Battalion, The Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. On 14 April 1917 at Fayet, France, during operations which culminated in the capture of an important position, Sergeant Ormsby, acting as company sergeant-major showed complete indifference to the heavy machine-gun and rifle fire and set a fine example. After clearing a village he pushed on and drove out many snipers from localities further forward. When the only surviving officer was wounded he took command of the company and led them forward under heavy fire for 400 yards to a new position, holding it until relieved.
His Victoria Cross is displayed at the Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Museum, Doncaster, England.
Today we lost: 1652
Heavy Newfoundland Regiment losses include:
· Lieutenant Cyril Gardner DCM (Newfoundland Regiment) is killed at age 32. His brother was killed in July of last year.
· Lieutenant Norman A Outerbridge (Newfoundland Regiment) is killed at age 33. He is the son of ‘Sir’ Joseph Outerbridge.
· Lance Corporals Hector age 20 and William age 22 Bennett DCM (Newfoundland Regiment) are killed together.
· Private Albert Follett (Newfoundland Regiment) is killed in action at age 20. His nephew and namesake will be killed in action in November 1943 while serving in the Royal Air Force.
· Private Arthur Joseph Jackman (Newfoundland Regiment) is killed in action at age 24. His brother was killed in July 1916.
· Private Joseph P Vaughan (Newfoundland Regiment) is killed at age 20. He has two brothers who will die on service at home.
· Private Edmond L Dunphy (Newfoundland Regiment) is killed at age 17. His brother was killed last November.
· Private William Donnelly (Newfoundland Regiment) is killed at age 19. His brother will be killed next November.
· Private Walter J Clarke (Newfoundland Regiment) is killed at age 23. His brother will be killed next October.
· Private George Chuck (Newfoundland Regiment) is killed. His brother will die on service in January 1919. · Multiple families that will lose two and three sons in the Great War
· Brothers killed together
· A man’s nephew and namesake who will be killed in the Second World War
· The son of a Justice of the Peace
· The son of a General
· An Artist
· The nephew of the Countess of Moray
· The son of a member of the clergy
· A member of the Bedfordshire Constabulary
· The acting manager of the Palladium in London
Today’s highlighted casualties include:
· Captain George Barclay Lockhart (Royal Flying Corps) is killed at age 24. He is the only son of Barclay Lockhart JP and nephew of Provost ‘Sir’ Robert Lockhart.
· Captain Daniel James Christopher Veresmith (Royal Field Artillery) dies of wounds received two days earlier. His brother died of wounds last July.
· Captain Douglas Cameron Foster (Cameronians) dies of wounds. He is the son of Brigadier General Turville Douglas Foster.
· Captain George Parsons Denham (Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders) dies of wounds received at Battle of Arras four days ago at age 27. He is an artist with the degree of A. R. C. A., Kensington London who is famous for his prints and posters. He illustrated the Irish Fairy Book for Alfred Graves.
· Captain Daniel James Christopher Vereesmith (Royal Field Artillery) dies of wounds at age 23. His brother was killed in July 1916.
· Lieutenant George Edward Cleather Collinson (Cameron Highlanders attached Royal Flying Corps) is accidentally killed flying at home at age 20. He is the nephew of Anna, Countess of Moray.
· Lieutenant Bernard William Theodore Wickham MC (South Staffordshire Regiment) is killed at age 22. He is the only son of the Reverend William Arthur Wickham Rector of Ampton.
· Second Lieutenant Douglas (Bedfordshire Regiment) is killed at age 21. His brother will be killed in September. · Second Lieutenant Alec Philip Watson (Hampshire Regiment) dies of wounds on the Western Front at age 22. His brother was killed in August 1915 on Gallipoli.
· Sergeant John MacLaren Erskine VC (Cameronians) is killed in action at age 22. He was awarded the Victoria Cross last year.
· Acting Corporal William Dean (Bedfordshire Regiment) dies of wounds at age 24. He is a member of the Bedfordshire Constabulary.
· Private Alexander Coutts (King’s Own Scottish Borderers) is killed at age 21. His brother was killed last October and they both came from Chicago, Illinois to join the cause.
· Private Arthur Blockley (Leicestershire Regiment) is killed in action. His brother was killed last August.
· Rifleman Charles Robertson Gibbon (London Regiment) is killed at age 36. He is the acting manager of the Palladium in London.
· Private Wilberforce West (Essex Regiment) is killed in action at age 21. He has one brother who has died of wounds the previous year and another brother who will be killed in action in July of this year.
· Private William Woodley (Essex Regiment) is killed in action at age 25. His brother was killed in March 1916.
· Private Ernest Charles Mayes (Essex Regiment) is killed in action at age 22. His brother was killed in April 1916. · Private George Henry Feetham (Essex Regiment) dies of wounds as a prisoner of war received 10 days earlier. His brother will be killed in March 1918
Air Operations:
The Third Wing Royal Naval Air Service carries out a reprisal raid to Freiburg. This raid carried out by this specialist strategic bombing unit before it is disbanded. So much assistance has been offered to the Royal Flying Corps by the Admiralty in the previous weeks that 3 Wing can no longer be maintained, and its resources are re-allocated to 10th (Naval) Squadron. During the raid three Sopwith Strutter aircraft are shot down three of the crew being killed the other three being taken prisoner. Shortly after leaving the objective Flight Lieutenant Walter Ernest Flett is engaged by three enemy machines two single-seaters and one two-seater. His gun layer, Air Mechanic, R G Kimberley, is slightly wounded in the wrist, which numbs his hand. Notwithstanding this, he succeeds in bringing down two of the enemy machines, being again wounded by an explosive bullet in the ankle. Their machine is riddled with bullets, and owing to the damage, navigation is most difficult and the return journey is very slow. Consequently Lieutenant Flett is again attacked, but although the gun layer is twice wounded, the enemy machine is driven off.
Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 15
Lt Capper, E.W. (Edward Walter), 19 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action.
2Lt Carter, S.R. (Seton Rodney), 52 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 21.
Lt Chalk, W.J. (William Joseph), 59 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 27.
2Lt Cock, J.H. (John Herbert), 60 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 23.
A Mech 1 Coghlan, J.L. (Joseph L.), 2 (N) Squadron, B Flight, 3 (N) Wing. Killed in Action when Sopwith 11/2 Strutter N5117, flown by Flt. Sub Lieut. H. Edwards was shot down on Freiburg Reprisal Raid near Schlett by Vzfw Rudolf Rath of Jasta35. Pilot, Flight Sub Lieut. H Edwards was made a Prisoner of War.
Lt Cowan, W.W. (William Wilson), 7 Squadron, RFC. Killed while on night bombing raid near St Quentin aged 24.
2Lt Cramb, W.B. (Wilfred Brown), 9 Squadron, RFC. Killed in Action aged 26. B.E. 2f 2562 flown by 2nd Lieut W B Cramb, with Lieut W Harle was on a Corps Artillery Patrol. Under heavy anti-aircraft fire over St Quentin and was shot down.
Lt Donaldson, C.T.L. (Cleweth Thomas Lee), 52 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 20.
Cpl Hodgson, W. (William), 11 squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 23.
Capt Lockhart, G.B. (George Barclay), 2 Squadron, RFC. Missing – Killed in action aged 24.
A Mech 1 Lockyer, A.G. (Alfred George), RNAS. Killed in action aged 20.
2Lt Morrison, N.W. (Norman Walter), 25 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 19.
2Lt Pascoe, E.J. (Eric John), 29 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 23.
A Mech 1 Turner, G.V. (Gilbert V.), Royal Naval Air Station Luxeuil, RNAS.
Lt Wilson, A.P. (Alexander Philip), 2 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 23.
Claims: 35 (Entente 18: Central Powers 17)
Reginald Macolm #4
Charles Booker #3
Edward Crundall claims his 1st & 2nd confirmed victories with 8 Naval Squadron, RNAS, shooting down 2 Albatros C types near Henin-Lietard.Edward Duncan Crundall joined the Royal Naval Air Service in 1914. Flight Sub-Lieutenant Crundall received Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate 3543 on a Maurice Farman biplane at Royal Naval Air Station, Eastbourne on 5 September 1916. He was posted to 8 Naval Squadron in 1916 and in 1917 he scored 3 victories flying the Sopwith Triplane. Wounded in action on 10 May 1917, he was forced to land near Bethune by Alois Heldmann of Jasta 10. On 28 July 1917, he was downed by Adolf von Tutschek. In 1918, Crundall was posted to 210 Squadron as a flight commander and scored 4 more victories flying the Sopwith Camel. During World War II, he served as the commanding officer of 116 Calibration Squadron and was awarded the AFC. Crundall continued flying in civilian life, accumulating over 8,500 hours of flight time on charter routes to Africa. His autobiography, Fighter Pilot on the Western Front, was published in 1975.
Thomas Gerrard #2
William Ernest Reed claims his first victory with 19 Squadron, RFC, shooting down a C type near Douai.
William Strugnell #3
Gustave Daladier claims his first victory with N93, shooting down a 2 seater near St Marie-aux-Mines.
Georges Guynemer #36
Henri Languedoc #5
Didier Lecour Grandmaison #5
Armand Pinsard #8
Achille Rousseaux #5
Marie Vitalis #7
Nikolai Kokorin #3
Konstantin Vakulovsky #3
Ian Napier claims his 1st confirmed victory with 40 Squadron, RFC, shooting down an Albatros DIII near Mericourt-La Coulette. The son of Henry Melville and Margaret (Muter) Napier, Ian Patrick Robert Napier attended Eton before joining the army. With the 9th (The Dumbartonshire) Battalion of Princess Louise's Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, Lieutenant Napier received Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate 3269 on a BE2c biplane at Military School, Hounslow Heath on 18 July 1916. Seconded to the Royal Flying Corps on 4 August 1916, he was posted to 40 Squadron. He scored 12 victories flying Nieuport scouts and the SE5a and served as a liaison officer with the French army. After the war he entered the family shipbuilding business.
Arthur Jones-Williams claims his 1st confirmed victory with 29 Squadron, RFC, shooting down an Albatros DIII near Neuvireuil-Vitry. Arthur Gordon Jones-Williams scored eight victories flying Nieuport scouts with 29 Squadron in 1917 and three more with 65 Squadron in 1918. Post-war, Squadron Leader Jones-Williams and Flight Lieutenant N. A. Jenkins made the first non-stop flight from England to India in 1929. Both were killed later that year when their Fairey-Napier monoplane crashed in the Atlas Mountains during a non-stop flight from Cranwell, England to Cape Town, South Africa.
Hans von Adam #2
Hartmut Baldamus #18
Rudolf Berthold #12
Kurt-Bertram von Doring claims his 1st confirmed victory with Jasta 4, shooting down a Nieuport Scout south of Fresnoy.
Eduard von Dostler #5
Sebastian Festner #11
Hermann Frommherz #2
Heinrich Gontermann#11
Fritz Putter claims his 1st confirmed victory with Jasta 9, shooting down a balloon east of Suippes. When the war began, Pütter joined the infantry and distinguished himself in combat on the Eastern Front before transferring to the German Air Force in May 1916. After nearly a month in a military hospital, he died from severe burns received when his Fokker's incendiary ammunition ignited on 16 July 1918.
Lothar von Richthofen #6 & #7
Manfred von Richthofen #44
Karl Schafer #18 & #19
Joepsh Veltiens claims his 1st confirmed victory with Jasta 14, shooting down a Sapd near Craonne. In August 1914, Veltjens joined the army and rapidly rose to the rank of Vizefeldwebel. Toward the end of 1915, he transferred to the German Air Force and was assigned to Flieger Abteilung 23 in May 1916. His skills as a reconnaisance pilot were quickly recognized and by March 1917, he was flying single-seat fighters with Jasta 14. By the time he was reassigned to Jasta 18 in August, he'd already shot down five enemy aircraft. Veltjens assumed command of Jasta 15 for the first time on 18 May 1918. Two days later, he received the Knight's Cross with Swords of the Order of the House of Hohenzollern followed by the coveted Orden Pour le Mérite in August. On 22 August 1918, he assumed command of Jasta 15 for the second time, serving as its commanding officer until the end of the war. Veltjens' aircraft were often easily identified by a barbed arrow painted on the fuselage.
During World War II, Colonel Veltjens was Hermann Gorings personal emissary to Finland in 1940. In 1943, he was killed on a flight to Rome in an aircraft provided by Feldmarschall Kesselring. On Göring's behalf, he was to negotiate with Benito Mussolini for the removal of Italy's gold reserves to avoid capture by the approaching Allied forces.When the plane landed in Milano, the pilot was informed that British fighter aircraft where out to intercept his flight. As the pilot attempted to cross the Appenine mountains, he flew as low as possible to evade the British but the aircraft crashed into the side of a mountain near Piacenza. With the exception of one crew member, everyone aboard was killed.
Kurt Wolff #14 & #15
Western Front
British capture Vimy Station, Lievin, and Cite St. Pierre (Lens).
German attack on British at Monchy-le-Preux repulsed.
Artois: Battle of Vimy Ridge and First Battle of the Scarpe 1917 end. 10 men of Royal Newfoundland Regiment (485 casualties) hold Monchy against 3rd Bavarian Division for 5 hours until reinforced. Canadian losses 10,602 for a 4,500 yards advance capturing 4,000+ PoWs, 54 guns, 104 mortars and 124 MGs.
End of first phase of Battle of Arras:
At dawn on the morning of Easter Monday 1917 - 9 April - the Canadian attack comprising four divisions began following a heavy three-week British artillery barrage and was supported by a well-devised creeping barrage.
Within thirty minutes the Canadian 1st Division, under Arthur Currie, had succeeded in capturing German front line positions in spite of a snowstorm; within a further half hour the second line had similarly passed into Canadian hands.
With the entire ridge wholly under Allied control by 12 April (when Hill 145, the highest feature on the ridge, fell) the operation was judged a spectacular success, the single most successful Allied advance on the Western Front to that date. The ridge remained in Allied hands for the remainder of the war.
It did not come without cost however: 10,602 Canadians were wounded during the attack, and 3,598 killed. The opposing German force suffered even more heavily: 20,000 casualties.
Julian Byng later served as Canadian Governor-General, and Arthur Currie was knighted for his wartime services. Four VC’s were awarded as a consequence of fighting at Vimy Ridge: to Private William Milne, Lance-Sergeant Ellis Sifton, Captain Thaine MacDowell and Private John Pattison.
The defensive flank: 4th Northumberland Fusiliers:
The 151st Bde was to advance the attack in order to protect the left flank of the 56th Divn, who were tasked with capturing Cherisy, and form a defensive flank facing north along the high ground roughly just south of the 80 metre contour, with their left flank in Wancourt Tower. Zero hour was set for 5.30am. The 6th DLI would advance at zero hour with the 8th Bn DLI and 5th Bn Borders following later. This attack met with some success with the 6th Bn DLI reaching German trenches just south of Wancourt Tower. Wancourt Tower was destined to become the scene of continual fighting during the next few days because it commanded a view of all the Divns approaches from Telegraph Hill.
At 5.30pm the 4th Bn moved in coy and platoon order from Ronville Caves to the north end of 'The Harp' by the route reconnoitred earlier. The first to arrive discovered that the 7th Bn, whose positions the Bn were supposed to take over, were still there, so they had to lay down to the rear of the trench. However, during the move orders were received to move to 'Cojeul Switch' at the south end of 'The Harp' (map ref: N7A).
At 8pm, once the 5th Bn had moved forward from its positions, the Bn moved in.
The First Battle of the Scarpe officially ended on this day, however the 4th Bns involvement with this sector had only just begun.
Tunstills Men Saturday 14th April 1917:
Scottish Camp, south-west of Brandhoek
At 7.40pm the Battalion left their billets to relieve 8th Yorks and Lancs in the front line trenches in the Hill 60 sub-sector, opposite the Caterpillar, south of the railway cutting. The main body of the Battalion met their guides at 9pm near Kruistraat, south-west of Ypres and the detachment who had been based for the previous three days at Zillebeke Bund (see 11th April) were guided in directly from there. On arrival, two Companies, ‘A’ under Capt. **** Bolton (see 8th December 1916) and ‘C’ under Capt. Alfred Percy Harrison (see 11th April) went into the front line from the railway cutting south west to I.34.b.7.8. ‘B’ Company was in close support in the sunken road at I.28.d.3.3 and ‘D’ Company was held in reserve with two platoons at Railway Dugouts (I.28.b.9.9) and two at what was known as SP9 (I.28.a.6.4). The relief was not completed until 3.15 am on 15th.
Frank Hird, Church Army Commissioner, Third Army and elder brother of Lt. Frederick Hird (see 19th October 1916) who had been killed at Munster Alley in 1916, wrote to the War Office regarding the administration of his late brother’s estate. No payment of Frederick Hird’s outstanding pay and allowances had yet been made due to the uncertainty over Hird’s marital status. Frank Hird now told the War Office,
“My late brother, Lt. Frederick Hird, was divorced by his wife in 1914, before he entered the Army … The address in his papers is that of my own house which, after his divorce, was my brother’s home in England, and which he asked permission to put down in the War Office papers as his address. He also told me that he had entered his name upon his enlistment in the Coldstream Guards in August 1914, as unmarried, he then being divorced … Since he died intestate, I am his heir and the only surviving member of his family”.
Eastern Front:
Russia: 7,688 deserters from Russian North and West Fronts (until April 21) considerable underestimate.
Naval Operations:
Shipping Losses: 14 ( 6 to mines & 8 to U-Boat action)
Political:
Appeals to farmers by Mr. Lloyd George and Board of Trade.
Note of Allies (France, England, Italy) to Russia re: Poland.
U.S.A. War Bill (loan of �1,400,000,000) passes House of Representatives
Austria: Emperor Charles draft letter to Czernin ‘A smashing German victory would be ruin’. Russia spurns Austrian peace-feeler.
Anniversary Events:
1471 |
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The Earl of Warwick, who fought on both sides in the War of the Roses, is killed at the Battle of Barnet with the defeat of the Lancastrians. |
1543 |
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Bartolome Ferrelo returns to Spain after discovering a large bay in the New World (San Francisco). |
1775 |
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The first abolitionist society in United States is organized in Philadelphia. |
1793 |
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A royalist rebellion in Santo Domingo is crushed by French republican troops. |
1828 |
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The first edition of Noah Webster’s dictionary is published. |
1860 |
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The first Pony Express rider arrives in San Francisco with mail originating in St. Joseph, Missouri. |
1865 |
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Five days after General Robert E. Lee’s surrender at Appomattox, President Abraham Lincoln is shot at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth. Lincoln succumbs to his wounds the following day. |
1894 |
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Thomas Edison’s kinetoscope is shown to the public for the first time. |
1900 |
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The World Exposition opens in Paris. |
1912 |
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The passenger liner Titanic–deemed unsinkable–strikes an iceberg on her maiden voyage and begins to sink. The ship will go under the next day with a loss of 1,500 lives. |
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