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Thread: 100 Years Ago Today

  1. #1701

    Default

    I just wanted to reiterate everyone else's thanks. These summaries are absolutely amazing and the level of detail is quite phenomenal.

    Thank you so much and keep up the good work!

    Tom

  2. #1702

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    Wednesday 23rd August 1916
    Anniversary Events:

    1244
    Turks expel the crusaders under Frederick II from Jerusalem.

    1305
    Scottish patriot William Wallace is hanged, drawn, beheaded and quartered in London.

    1775
    King George III of England refuses the American colonies’ offer of peace and declares them in open rebellion.

    1851
    Order of the House of Hohenzollern instituted by Frederick William IV.

    1863
    Union batteries cease their first bombardment of Fort Sumter, leaving it a mass of rubble but still unconquered by the Northern besiegers.

    1914
    The Emperor of Japan declares war on Germany.

    Today we lost: 554

    Today’s losses include:

    • An Olympic Gold Medal Field Hockey player
    • Multiple families that will lose two sons in the Great War
    • A man who will lose three brothers in the Great War
    • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
    • A Margate Police Reserve Officer

    Today’s highlighted casualties include:

    • Captain and Adjutant John Yate Robinson MC (North Staffordshire Regiment) dies of wounds at home at age 31 received in action at El Hannah, Mesopotamia. He is the son of the Reverend Edward Cecil Robinson and was a field hockey player who won a gold medal with the English team at the 1908 Summer Olympics. He was on the Oxford hockey team from 1905 to 1909 eventually serving as captain. His brother will be killed in April 1918.
    • Lieutenant Francis Moran (Munster Fusiliers) is killed at age 23. He is the son of the Reverend Francis Moran.
    • Second Lieutenant John Alexander Raws (Australian Infantry) is killed in action at age 22, less than one month after his younger brother has been killed serving in the same regiment. The brothers are the subject of the book “Hail and Farewell, Letters from two brothers killed in France in 1916”.
    • Second Lieutenant Harold Thomas Thirlwall Gore Browne (King’s Royal Rifle Corps) is killed in action at age 20. He is the son of the Reverend Thirwall.
    • BQMS Joseph Alexander Ashford (Royal Field Artillery) dies of malaria on Salonika at age 42. He is a Margate Police Reserve Officer.
    • Sergeant Leslie Thomas Manning Fitzgerald (Australian Infantry) dies of wounds at age 23 four days before his cousin Harold Fitzgerald dies of wounds.
    • Corporal George Hunter Taylor (Highland Light Infantry) is killed in action at age 26. He is the first of four brothers who will lose their lives in the Great War.
    • Private William Willsher (Royal Fusiliers) dies of wounds received in action at age 23. His brother was killed on Gallipoli in 1915.


    Air Operations:


    Western Front:
    Germans form first regular fighter squadron Jasta 1 (Captain Martin Zander), Boelcke’s Jasta 2 (August 30), both and two more units assigned to Somme.
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    Jasta 2 Airfield

    Britain: Army Zeppelin LZ97 scatters 34 bombs over Suffolk (night 23/24, no casualties).

    News of the approach of a single army Zeppelin, LZ.97 (L51), likely commanded by Hauptmann Erich Linnarz, was received at Harwich at 23.33pm. The commander of the garrison gave the ‘Take Air Raid Action’ warning three minutes later. LZ.97 came inland over the mouth of the River Debden near the Bawdsey Ferry and took a south-west course towards Felixstowe and Harwich. Passing over the AA gun at the club house on the golf course south of the ferry, LZ.97 dropped a high-explosive bomb in a field about 200 yards north of the village of Old Felixstowe, followed by another on a field at Cowpasture Farm, about 600 yards north of Walton church. The raider then appeared to head towards Landguard Fort at Felixstowe but turned away before reaching it.

    Now heading northwards, LZ.97 passed over Blofield Hall and dropped five HE bombs in fields between there and Trimley station where a single incendiary bomb narrowly missed the station buildings. From the station, LZ.97 steered towards the village of
    Trimley St. Mary, dropping four incendiary bombs on the way then, circling over the village, she dropped five more incendiaries. One fell at Street Farm, one at The Grange, one at the Rectory and two at a house known as The Limes. There one landed in the garden and the other smashed through the roof of a barn but fell into a bath full of water which extinguished it.

    LZ.97 then took an easterly course away from Trimley, dropping an HE bomb at Mill Farm and another near Hill House in the parish of Walton but which failed to detonate. From there LZ.97 followed a north-east line, dropping another ten HE bombs between there and a stretch of water known as King’s Fleet, which all fell on fields or marshland without causing any damage. The sodden nature of the ground meant the exploding bombs made little noise. LZ.97 crossed back over the Debden, was heard at Hollesley at 12.12am and went out to sea near Orford Ness. At no point during the raid did anyone see LZ.97, her course only tracked by the sound of her engines and by her bombs.

    Casualties: 0 killed, 0 injured, Damage: £0


    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 1

    A Mech 2 Emmett, R. (Robert), No2 Aircraft Park ,RFC. Died 23 August 1916 aged 18.

    Claims: 5 + 1 unconfirmed

    Lt Chester Stairs Duffus claims his 2nd confirmed kill flying an FE2b for 22 Squadron, RFC. He shot down a Fokker E type near Bapaume. Chester Stairs Duffus joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1915. Before assuming command of 25 Squadron, he scored five victories in 1916 while serving with 22 Squadron as a Bristol FE2b pilot.
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    Sous Lieutenant Joseph Denis Bernard Robert De Bonnefoy, claims his 4th confirmed kill for N65 shooting down an enemy aircraft near Marchelepot. Joseph Denis Bernard Robert De Bonnefoy was a pre-war cavalryman who volunteered for aviation as soon as the war began. His first flying assignment was with Escadrille 101 as a Voisin pilot. He was removed from the front for a spell as an instructor and then served with two Nieuport squadrons: Escadrille 68 and Escadrille 65. He scored his first aerial victory on 2 July 1916 and scored five more by 5 November 1916.

    Sous Lieutenant René Pierre Marie Dorme,
    claims his 6th confirmed kill for N3 shooting down a LVG near Marchelepot. (see yesterday for more details).

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    Lt Francesco Baracca claims his 3rd confirmed kill fyling a Nieuport 11 for 1 Squadron., shooting down a Hansa-Brandenburg CI near Gorizia/Carso. The son of a nobleman, Francesco Baracca, Italy's greatest ace, entered the Scuola Militare at Modena in October 1907. Less than a year later, he was an officer in the Royal Piedmont Cavalry. In April 1912, Baracca and other cavalry officers were ordered to Reims, France for flight training. By the time the Kingdom of Italy declared war on the Austro-Hungarian Empire on 24 May 1915, Baracca was an experienced pilot and instructor. Flying Nieuport two-seaters along the Udine Front, his first attempts to shoot down enemy aircraft were frustrated by frequent machine gun jams.
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    Baracca's Nieuport

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    Hansa-Brandenburg CI

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    Capitano Fulco Ruffo di Calabria claims his 1st confirmed and 2nd unconfirmed kills for 1a. Shooting down a Hansa-Brandenburg CI near Gorizia/Carso and an unidentified enemy aircraft near Stariski. On 22 November 1904, Fulco Ruffo di Calabria joined the 11th Foggia Light Cavalry Regiment. After serving in Africa, he returned to Italy and transferred to aviation in 1914.

    Western Front


    Verdun
    :

    French progress south of Fleury (Verdun).

    Somme:


    Fighting south of Thiepval results in a slight British gain.

    Strong German attacks at Guillemont repulsed.

    Fierce artillery duel on French section of Somme front.

    Tunstills Men Wednesday 23rd August 1916:

    Huts along the Rue du Sac, near Pont d’Achelles

    As the recent fine weather continued, it was reported that, “The Battalion is being practised in musketry, handling of arms, inspections of arms, equipment, gas helmets and iron rations”. All of this was in preparation for an early return to the front line.

    The death of Acting Sgt. Albert Herd (see 22nd August) necessitated a review of some of the NCO’s in Tunstill’s Company and Lt. **** Bolton (see 22nd August) recorded in his notebook that Herd was to be replaced as platoon sergeant by Lance Sgt. William Walsh (I am as yet unable to make a positive identification of this man), who in turn would be replaced by the promotion of Cpl. Charles Edgar Parker (see 17th September 1914); Parker’s replacement would be Lce. Cpl. John Stewart (see 30th July) and to complete the changes Pte. Maurice Bannister
    (see below) would be promoted L. Cpl. In place of Stewart.

    Maurice Bannister
    had been one of the Keighley volunteers added to Tunstill’s original recruits in September 1914. He had enlisted, aged 31, having been working as an iron turner and living with his widowed mother, Adelaide, in Hainworth Wood Road, Keighley.

    Over the next two days the men were able to take baths and were occupied with some light physical exercise, training and inspection of kit in preparation for a return to the line.

    Sgt. Edgar Shuttleworth (see 6th August) was admitted first to no.8 Casualty Clearing Station and then transferred to 69th Field Ambulance; he was suffering from ‘synovitis’ (inflammation) of his right knee.

    2Lt. John Redington (see 27th July), who had left the Battalion six weeks earlier and had since been evacuated to England, appeared before a Medical Board, which found that, “This officer has been suffering from extreme weakness for the past six months in France. He was unable to march without pain, which was chiefly located in the left inguinal region. The pain is attributed to adhesions in the appendicular region.” He was granted one months’ leave before being re-examined.

    Enquiries continued regarding 2Lt Roland Herbert Wyndham Brinsley-Richards (see 16th August) who was officially reported ‘missing in action’ following the attack on Munster Alley. A statement was taken from Pte. Archibald Louis Norris, who was then at the Lewis Gun School at Le Touquet. Norris had been in Brinsley-Richards’ platoon and reported that, “He was killed at what is now Munster Alley, Contalmaison at the end of August (sic.). He got through the Friday all right, but got “knocked” on the Saturday. He was killed outright by a bomb. His body was badly smashed I saw him go down. This occurred near the German parapet. I don’t know if his body was brought in. The 8th Yorks., Durhams and Northumberland Fusiliers relieved us at this point and buried our dead. We were driven back from the ground where Mr. Richards fell, but it was recaptured soon afterwards.”

    Aside from the obvious error in the month, Norris’ account, given that he was an eye-witness, seems perhaps the most reliable version of what happened to Brinsley-Richards. It is considerably different from several of the other accounts. Norris had enlisted in November 1914 and been posted to 10DWR. He would be wounded in December 1916 and, having recovered, was transferred to the Labour Corps until discharged in February 1918.

    Lt. Thomas Beattie, (see 8th August) who had been wounded in the left shoulder by shrapnel three weeks earlier while serving with 9DWR underwent a third operation at no.2 Western General Hospital in Manchester. Beattie himself later reported that, “This operation was successful as all the shrapnel was extracted”.

    2Lt. Eric John Lassen (see 25th June), who had briefly served with the Battalion in June, was formally posted to join the Army Signals Service, a branch of the Royal Engineers.
    Southern Front:

    Activity on Salonika front, especially on left flank.

    Carnic Alps: Italian XVIII Corps begins advance to drive Austrians from Fassa Alp, captures Mt Cauriol (August 27).

    African, Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres:


    Russians retake Bitlis (lower Vau).

    Mesopotamia, Persia
    – Battle of Rayat (Turco-Persian frontier) : Russians defeat Turks who lose 2,300 PoW’s.

    East Africa:
    Smuts’ main advance resumes from Dakawa, but 2nd SA Mounted Brigade checked at Mlali (August 24-26) though 2 German naval guns abandoned.

    Naval Operations:


    Return of submarine "Deutschland" to Germany.

    Shipping Losses: 4


    HMT Birch:
    Royal Navy: The naval trawler struck a mine and sank in the North Sea off GreatYarmouth, Norfolk, with the loss of three of her crew.

    Elios:
    Italy: The brigantine was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea off the south coast of France by SM U-38, Kaiserliche Marine.

    Maria Brizzolari
    : Italy: The brigantine was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea off the south coast of France by SM U-38, Kaiserliche Marine.

    Tanina:
    Italy: The brigantine was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea off the south coast of France by SM U-38, Kaiserliche Marine.
    Last edited by Lt. S.Kafloc; 08-23-2016 at 15:26.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  3. #1703

    Default Addendum for 23 August 1916

    Female workers spinning aeroplane cord at a factory in Wakefield, England: http://imgur.com/SDTKz7N © IWM (Q 109940)

  4. #1704

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    Thursday 24th August 1916
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    Major William Anderson Bloomfield VC (30 January 1873 – 12 May 1954) was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross. He was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. His parents came to South Africa in 1878. He was 43 years old, and a captain in the Scout Corps, 2nd South African Mounted Brigade, South African Forces.

    On 24 August 1916 at Miali, Tanganyika (now Tanzania), when consolidating his new position after being heavily attacked and being forced to retire, Captain Bloomfield found that one of the wounded - a corporal - had not been evacuated with the rest. At considerable personal risk the captain went back over 400 yards of ground swept by machine-gun and rifle fire and managed to reach the wounded man and bring him back to safety.

    Whilst he was Scots born he is also considered South African as he emigrated there. Bloomfield later achieved the rank of major. He is buried in the cemetery in Ermelo, South Africa.

    Anniversary Events:


    79
    Mount Vesuvius erupts destroying Pompeii, Stabiae, Herculaneum and other smaller settlements.
    410 German Barbarians sack Rome.
    1814 British troops under General Robert Ross capture Washington, D.C., which they set on fire in retaliation for the American burning of the parliament building in York (Toronto), the capital of Upper Canada.
    1869 Cornelius Swarthout of Troy, New York, patents the waffle iron.
    1914 Fall of Namur.

    Today we lost: 1014

    Today’s losses include:

    • The son in law of a Baronet who will lose three sons in the Great War
    • Multiple families that will lose two sons in the Great War
    • Two families that will lose four sons in the Great War
    • The grandson of the 7th Earl of Bessborough
    • The son of a member of the clergy


    Today’s highlighted casualties include:


    • Captain Harold Stedman Richmond (King’s Royal Rifle Corps) is killed in action at age 26. His brother will be killed in March 1917.
    • Lieutenant Patrick Wallace Gould (King’s Royal Rifle Corps) is killed in action. He is the son-in-law of ‘Sir’ Alexander Perceval Matheson of Lochalsh 3rd Baronet and all three of his brothers-in-law will lose their lives in the War.
    • Lieutenant Cyril Thomas Ponsonby (King’s Royal Rifle Corps) is killed by a shell at Guillemont at age 21. He is the grandson of the 7th Earl of Bessborough.
    • Lieutenant Reginald Hugh Lawson MC (Rifle Brigade) is killed at Mametz at age 23. His brother was killed in September 1915.
    • Second Lieutenant George Howden Macalister (Scots Fusiliers attached Machine Gun Corps) is killed on Salonika at age 25. He is the son of the Reverend George Macalister DD.
    • Second Lieutenant Hugh Joseph Fleming (Dorsetshire Regiment) is killed in action at age 20. He is the son of ‘Sir’ Francis and Lady Fleming KCMG.
    • Second Lieutenant Havilland Le Mesurier (King’s Royal Rifle Corps) is killed at age 22. He is the son of ‘Sir’ Havilland Le Mesurier KCIE CSI.
    • Lance Corporal Lewis Hodgkin (Royal West Kent Regiment) is killed in Mesopotamia at age 26. His brother was killed in September 1914.
    • Acting Bombardier Frederick William Breed (Royal Field Artillery) dies in Mesopotamia at age 26. His brother was killed in November 1914.
    • Private Solomon Zimmerman (Oxford & Bucks Light Infantry) is killed at age 19. He is the first of 4 brothers who will be killed in the Great War.
    • Private Charles Edward Oliver (Black Watch) dies of wounds when a shell comes through the roof of his dugout. He is 18 years old and his brother in law will die of wounds next year.
    • Private William Wilkins (Berkshire Regiment) dies of wounds. He is the third of four brothers who lose their lives in the Great War.


    Air Operations:


    Zeppelin raid on east and south-east coast, nine killed, forty injured.

    Britain:
    6 of 12 Zeppelins (L 13 damaged by cruiser Conquest) cross Eastern Coast, L31 drops 44 bombs on East London (first since October 14, 1915), causing 49 civilian casualties (night August 24-25); 2 of 15 defending aircraft crash on landing (thunder*storms thwart 8-Zeppelin raid on August 29).

    Twenty-four hours after the raid by a single army Zeppelin, the navy launched a 12-airship raid of their own intended to strike London. Eight, however, dropped out and only four came inland with just one reaching London. Even so, it caused the second highest material damage cost of all the Zeppelin raids on the capital.

    Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Mathy brought L.31 up the Thames Estuary, passing Margate on the north Kent coast at 11.30pm and Herne Bay 25 minutes later where he circled for another 20 minutes. At about 12.45am L.31 crossed to the Essex shore, heading inland towards Vange where she turned west towards London. Low cloud hindered searchlights from locating the raider. Having passed between North Woolwich and Beckton, as she approached Blackwall, L.31 turned south over the Isle of Dogs. Here Mathy released his first four London bombs at about 1.30am, which fell along West Ferry Road damaging about 80 houses and causing £55,000 worth of damage at the works of an engineering company near Millwall Docks.
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    Crossing to the south of the Thames, Mathy then dropped bombs on Deptford causing damage to an army supply depot at the Foreign Cattle Market, to the Deptford Dry Dock (one injured) and the premises of the London Electric Supply Corporation (one killed) that amounted to another £43,695. Mathy continued in a south-east direction towards Greenwich where a bomb in Greenwich Road outside the station injured the station master and the driver of a horse-drawn van, also killing his two horses. Another bomb in South Street injured five people in their homes and caused much damage in surrounding houses. From Greenwich Mathy approached Blackheath where three HE and an incendiary landed on the Army Service Corps’ Reserve Horse Depot injuring 14 soldiers. Another bomb, landing in Southvale Road, killed a 70-year-old woman.

    From Blackheath Mathy changed his course to the east and, when over Eltham, dropped another five HE bombs. One wrecked a house in Well Hall Road, killing three members of the Allen family and 29-year-old Annie Tunnell. A bomb in Brome Road injured a young woman and another in ****son Road injured seven people. Numerous other houses in Eltham suffered damage too. Mathy’s last concentration of eleven bombs fell on Plumstead at about 1.40am wreaking significant destruction. One destroyed a house at 3 Bostall Hill and killed three members of the Pearce family: father, mother and child. Due to low cloud, searchlights only picked up L.31 at 1.35am with the south-east London AA guns opening fire two minutes later, getting off about 120 rounds. Mathy quickly took L.31 back across the Thames to the Essex side and dropped his last bomb, an HE, on Rainham, which broke a few windows, before passing Shoeburyness and out to sea at about 2.15am.

    At 1.30am Kapitänleutnant Eduard Prölss, commanding L.13, came inland at Denemouth, north of Hartlepool. Heading west he dropped an HE bomb at 1.45am in a field at Wingate that broke windows in about 10 houses, then continued on the same course attracted by a burning waste heap at Kelloe Colliery and possibly a burning limekiln at Quarrington. On approaching these lights Prölss dropped 12 HE and 14 incendiary bombs. At Kelloe the bombs ripped up 24 feet of colliery railway track and smashed 12 panes of glass in a weigh cabin. At Quarrington Hill the explosions smashed windows in 40 houses and a shop. Others fell in neighbouring Bowden seemingly without effect. L.13 then headed back to the coast and went out to sea over Easington at about 2.05am.

    L.30, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Horst von Buttlar, spent about 30 minutes off the north-east coast and dropped a number of bombs at sea before coming in over a blacked-out Hartlepool at 12.55am. It appears von Buttlar did not realise he was over the town and docks. Having turned south, von Buttlar dropped six HE bombs three minutes later in cornfields not far from the railway station and west of the Seaton Carew Ironworks, and three HE at the Ironworks close to a slag-tip. The explosions broke windows in Belle Vue and Longhill. A visible glow from the zinc works at Seaton Snook attracted a single incendiary but it did no damage. Caught by a searchlight at 1.05am, von Buttlar ended his raid and immediately went out over the mouth of the River Tees.

    Kapitänleutnant Martin Dietrich, commanding L.22, came inland near Hartlepool. Attracted to Redcar by flares burning on the RNAS airfield, which had been lit when a BE2c took off at about 12.15am, L.22 released five HE bombs over the airfield. These caused no damage other than gouging craters in the field. He released four more HE bombs to the east of Wheatlands Farm, which landed in a field forming part of a military camp, but again no damage occurred. Dietrich followed the coastline towards the south-east and near Saltburn an AA gun at Hunley Hall opened fire at 1.12am as he passed. Five minutes later L.22 approached Skinningrove, which was under attack by L.21, then turned about at Carlin How and appeared to circle back to locate the AA gun, which had now fired again. Dietrich passed over the gun then followed a route inland to the south until he reached the hamlet of Houlsyke near Danby and dropped a single incendiary bomb on the moor at about 1.35am without damage. Dietrich then headed back towards the coast and was seen going out to sea from Robin Hood’s Bay, south of Whitby, at 1.50am

    L.21 (Hauptmann August Stelling) attacked the armed yacht Miranda two miles north-east of Skinningrove with three HE bombs at 12.58am; the nearest landed 400 yards from the target. The yacht replied with five 3-pdr rounds. L.21 came inland over the cliffs east of Skinningrove at 1.17am, dropped three HE bombs in a quarry, then steered over the ironworks at 1.20am dropping seven HE bombs. They demolished a small wooden time-office and damaged some pipes, pumps and tanks but there were no casualties, after which L.21 went straight out to sea. The RNAS BE2c probably pursued both L.21 and L.22 at different times but was unable to climb to a position to make an attack.

    Far to the south of the other raiders, L.16 (Kapitänleutnant Erich Sommerfeldt) crossed the north-west Norfolk coast at Brancaster at about 12.30am. Sommerfeldt followed a course towards the south-west and ten minutes later dropped 20 bombs (ten HE and ten incendiary) at Dersingham. The bombs smashed windows and brought down ceilings at Wellswell House and 36 other dwellings with damage estimated at £40. Five minutes later another eight HE and seven incendiary bombs fell between Dersingham and Wolferton. A number of fires broke out on Sandringham Warren but local residents and special constables extinguished them quickly. Sommerfeldt then turned back to the north and followed the coast to Hunstanton where he went out to sea at about 1.09am

    Casualties: 9 killed, 40 injured, Damage: £130,203

    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 3


    Captain Hopwood, R.G. (Robert Gerald),
    70 Squadron, RFC. Killed in Action 24 August 1916 aged 31.

    Gnr Pearce, C.R. (Charles Rapley), 70 Squadron, RFC.

    Lt Stobart, W. (William), 29 Squadron, RFC. Killed in Action 24 August 1916 aged 21
    Claims: 4

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    Captain Albert Louis Deullin claims his 5th & 6th confirmed kills. Flying for N3 he shot down a balloon and an enemy aircraft near Lihons.

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    Hauptmann Rudolf Berthold claims his 6th confirmed kill for KEK Vaux, shooting down a Nieuport near Peronne. Berthold joined the infantry in 1910 and learned to fly by the end of 1913. When the war began, he transferred to the German Air Service as an observer. In 1916, he began flying single-seat fighters with KEK Vaux and was credited with five victories before crashing a Pfalz E.IV on 25 April 1916. Injured and wounded several times throughout the war, Berthold earned a reputation for returning to duty before he had fully recovered. In August, he formed Jasta 4.


    Offizierstellvertreter Leopold Rudolf Reimann claims his 1st confirmed kill for Jasta 1, shooting down a Sopwith 11/2 Struter (A890) near Metz-en-Couture.

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    Lt Ian Henry David Henderson claims his 1st confirmed kill, flying a BE12 of 19 Squadron, RFC. He shot down an enemy aircraft near Achiet-le-Grand. Ian Henry David Henderson was the son of Lieutenant General Sir David Henderson, commanding officer of the Royal Flying Corps. Serving with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, Henderson transferred to the RFC and was posted to 19 Squadron in 1916. Flying the B.E.12, he scored his first two victories in August.

    Western Front


    Somme:


    British GHQ letter to General Rawlinson (Fourth Army) emphasizes it is vital to secure Ginchy, Guillemont and Falfemont Farm without delay.

    German attacks west of Ginchy (Somme) driven off.

    British advance towards Thiepval and Delville Wood. Hard fighting east and north-east edge of Delville Wood, ground gained and prisoners taken.

    French battalion Frere (2nd battalion, 1st Regiment, 1st Division) captures all of Maurepas (until August 25) from Bavarians.

    Tunstills Men Thursday 24th August 1916:


    Huts along the Rue du Sac, near Pont d’Achelles

    All the men had the opportunity of taking a bath and “some physical training has also been indulged in”. Orders were received for the Battalion to be made ready to relieve 8th KOYLI in the trenches next day.

    Pte. Tom Darwin (see 22nd July), who had been in England receiving treatment for wounds and shell-shock suffered in the actions at Contalmaison, was now reported absent without leave from the Regimental Depot at Halifax.

    Southern Front:

    Italian progress in Dolomites.

    Salonika: Greek IV Corps hands over forts north of Kavalla to Bulgars.

    African, Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres:


    Mush (Armenia) recaptured by Russians and 2,300 prisoners taken on way to Mosul.

    Naval Operations:


    North Sea:
    Battleships Valiant and Warspite (only just out of Battle of Jutland repairs) collide, repairs until September 28.

    Salonika: Royal Navy monitor Picton shells the Bulgar troops in two villages on coast

    Shipping Losses: 4

    Alix:
    Italy: The brigantine was scuttled in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Algeria by SM U-34, Kaiserliche Marine.

    Angelina:
    Italy: The brigantine was scuttled in the Mediterranean Sea, 53 nautical miles (98 km) north north east of Bone, Algeria by SM U-34, Kaiserliche Marine.

    Isdalen:
    Norway: The cargo ship was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea, by SM U-38 Kaiserliche Marine. Her crew survived.

    Liegeoise:
    Belgium: The cargo ship was captured in the Mediterranean Sea by SM U-38 Kaiserliche Marine. She was shelled and sunk.

    Political:


    Conference at Calais on Franco-British war finance.

    The Australian Army council requests a special draft of 20,000 men with another 16,500 men in each of the following three months.
    Last edited by Lt. S.Kafloc; 08-24-2016 at 15:43.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  5. #1705

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    Friday 25th August 1916
    Anniversary Events:
    1346 Edward III of England defeats Philip VI's army at the Battle of Crecy in France.
    1830 The "Tom Thumb" steam locomotive runs its famous race with a horse-drawn car. The horse wins because the engine, which had been ahead, breaks down.
    1875 "Captain" Matthew Webb becomes the first man to swim across the English Channel.
    1916 The National Parks Service is established as part of the Department of the Interior.

    Today we lost: 626

    Today’s losses include:

    • The son of a General
    • Families that will lose two and three sons in the Great War
    • The son of a member of the clergy
    • A Worcester cricketer
    • Two men who will be executed one for murder one for desertion


    Today’s highlighted casualties include:


    • Captain John Maitland Stenhouse MC (Royal Army Medical Corps attached Royal Field Artillery) dies of wounds received in action at age 38. He is the son of Major General William Stenhouse (Indian Army).
    • Lieutenant Frederick William Sprott (Indian Army Reserve of Officers attached Punjabis) is killed in Mesopotamia at age 27. He is the son of ‘Sir’ Frederick & Lady Sprott.
    • Second Lieutenant Maurice Frisch (Rifle Brigade) is the last of three brothers to lose their lives in the Great War when he is killed at age 22.
    • Second Lieutenant Thomas Norbury Wilmot MC (Worcestershire Regiment) is killed in action at age 20 when he is struck in the stomach by shell fragments. He has two brothers who will lose their lives in 1917 and they are the sons of the late Reverend Francis Edmund William Wilmot.
    • Second Lieutenant William Frederick Adam (Cameronians) is killed at age 22. His brother will be killed in two years.
    • Staff Sergeant Christopher George Arthur Collier (Royal Army Ordnance Corps) is killed at Mametz two days after his 30th He played 53 cricket matches for Worcester.
    • Sergeant David Scott Hogg (Royal Field Artillery) is killed in action at age 23. His brother was killed in September 1915.
    • Private Angus McSween Whitelaw (Australian Infantry) is killed at age 18. He is the first of three brothers who will be killed in the Great War.
    • Private John Robert Pearson (Gloucestershire Regiment) is killed at age 42. He is the first of three brothers who are killed in the Great War.
    • Private Edward John Paxton (Sherwood Foresters) is killed at age 20. He is the middle of three brothers who are killed in the second half of this year.
    • Private Charles Stanley Sign (London Regiment) is killed at age 22. His brother will be killed in August 1918.
    • Driver Benjamin De Fehr (Canadian Army Service Corps) is executed for murder at age 28. Six days earlier he picked up his rifle and fired one shot through the back of his Regimental Sergeant Major J R Scott who died instantly.
    • Private Frank Hughes (Canterbury Regiment) is executed for desertion while en route to the front at age 28. He is the first New Zealander executed for desertion in the war.


    Air Operations:


    Naval aeroplanes attack airship sheds near Namur.

    Zeppelin raid on east and south-east coast and London continue. (See 24th for details).

    Italian air-squadron bombs railway-station at San Cristoforo.

    English aviators carry out raids in Palestine.

    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 4

    A Mech 2 Hare, A.J. (Alfred James).
    30 Squadron (Kut Garrison), RFC. Captured when British Garrison at Kut el Amara surrendered 29 April 1916. Died as a Prisoner of War in Turkish Hands 25 August 1916.

    Sgt Murray, B.F. (Bertram Fraser), 22 Squadron, RFC. Died of Wounds 25 August 1916, aged 21.

    A Mech 1 Warminger, H.P. (Herbert P.), 70 Squadron, RFC. While flying as passenger 5km North West of Albert the aeroplane was attacked and he was mortally wounded 25 August 1916 aged 30 and Died that evening.

    Cpl Wilson, A.C., Recruits Depot, RFC. 25 August 1916 aged 40.

    Claims: 7

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    LeutnantJosef "Josi" Kiss claims his 2nd confirmed kill for Flik 24 flying a Hansa-Brandenburg CI, shooting down a Caproni near Fort Lusern.

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    Captain Albert Ball claims his 12th confirmed kill for 11 Squadron, RFC, flying a Nieuport 17 he shot down a Roland CII south of Arras. (See Aug 22nd for history).

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    Major Stephen Price claims his 4th confirmed kill flying for 11 Squadron, RFC, in a FE2b he shot down a Aviatic C near Bapaume.

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    Sous Lt René Pierre Marie Dorme claims his 7th confirmed kill for N3 shooting down an LVG near Mesnit-St Nicaise.

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    Leutnant Rudolf Friedrich Otto Windisch claims his 1st confirmed kill flying for FA 62, he shot down a Balloon south east of Brody. When the war began, Rudolf Windisch was serving in the 177th Infantry Regiment. Wounded in action on 21 November 1914, he joined the German Air Force on 22 January 1915. After training at the Military Pilot's School in Leipzig-Lindenthal, he was promoted and assigned to FEA 6 as an instructor. On 1 May 1916, he joined FFA 62, flying two-seaters on the Russian front and downing an observation balloon for his first victory on 25 August.

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    Hauptmann Martin Zander claims his 3rd confirmed kill flying for JAsta 1, he shot down an FE2b near Gueudecourt.

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    Lt Frederick Libby claims his 5th confirmed kill to become the first American Ace. Flying for 11 Squadron, RFC in a FE2b he shot down a Aviatic C near Bapaume. The son of Freeman Libby and the first American to down five enemy aircraft during World War I, Frederick Libby never flew a combat mission for the United States Air Service. He became an ace while serving as an observer with 11 Squadron in the Royal Flying Corps. When the war began, Libby was in Canada where he joined the Canadian Overseas Expeditionary Force on 12 February 1915. Upon reaching France, he served as a truck driver but was wounded and returned to England in December 1915. When he recovered, he volunteered for service with the Royal Flying Corps. "I had 10 hours of flying before going into combat," he would later say. As anFe2b observer, the Colorado cowboy became the first American ace of the war in the summer of 1916.

    Western Front


    Champagne:

    Violent German attack repulsed west of Tahure.

    Ypres:
    New 4th Canadian Division arrives.

    Verdun
    :
    Germans active in Verdun region.

    Somme:

    British secure Delville Wood.

    Determined German attack south of Thiepval repulsed

    Tunstills Men Friday 25th August 1916:

    Huts along the Rue du Sac, near Pont d’Achelles


    The men were up early. Tea was provided at 2 am and the Battalion marched off at 3 am, via Romarin to rendezvous with their guides at Hyde Park Corner, west of Ploegsteert Wood. From there they were led to the front line positions which they were to occupy. These ran from just south of Factory Farm north-east to Prowse Point, including the new section of trench which they had themselves dug just a few days earlier. Company Commanders, along with the Lewis Gun and Bombing Officers, each accompanied by an NCO were in position by 2pm to take over trench stores and inspect the line. By 6 am all four Companies were in position in the front line. The weather remained fine and British artillery fired intermittently throughout the day. During the day the Germans were very quiet, but “as darkness came along he was somewhat busy with machine-gun and rifle fire, all of which passed harmlessly overhead”.

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    Six new subalterns posted to join the Battalion arrived in France. 2Lt. Robert Main Graham was 23 years old; he was the youngest son of Daniel and Isabella Graham. He had been born and brought up in Glasgow and had attended the University, where he was a member of the OTC. He had been commissioned in August 1915. 2Lt. Arthur Halstead (see 6th July) had been commissioned from the A.S.C.; he was 22 years old. 2Lt. Benjamin Owen Hunt was 21 years old; he was from Brighton, the second of nine children of Benjamin and Gertrude Hunt. His father, Benjamin, had built up a successful business but had died on 11th October 1910. On 15th September 1914 Hunt had volunteered to serve with 1st Home Counties (Territorial) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, with whom he served in England firstly as a gunner, and latterly as a driver, until he was commissioned on 31st May 1915. 2Lt. Godfrey Samuel Isaacs was 20 years old; he was the son of Samuel and Emma Isaacs and had been born and brought up in Brixton. He had enlisted as a trooper in the Surrey Yeomanry (Queen Mary’s Regiment) on 1st October 1914 and served in England until being commissioned on 18th May 1915. 2Lt. John Edward Lennard (sic.) Payne was 32 years old, the son of Rev. Charles Lennard Payne, Little Brunswick Rectory, Billericay, Essex. He had enlisted in 16th (Public Schools) Battalion, Middlesex Regiment on 5th September 1914, at which point he gave his occupation as ‘artist’ and declared that he had previously lived for some time in Brunswick, Germany. He had been commissioned on 7th May 1915. In the Spring of 1915 he had married Florence Rensham. George Henry Roberts was three days short of his 26th birthday; he was one of seven children of Edward and Mary Roberts. His father owned a clothier’s business in Huddersfield, while George had worked for a local grocer before the war. He had enlisted with West Ridings in August 1914 and had remained with 11th (Reserve) Battalion for the next year, rising to the rank of Acting Sergeant, before being commissioned on 15th September 1915.

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    2lt Benjamin owen hunt


    Acting Corporal Stephen Brown Airey, serving with 4th Cameron Highlanders, was confirmed Lance Corporal and posted to France; he would later be commissioned and serve with 10DWR. He was one of eight children of Francis and Isabella Airey and had been born, on 23rd October 1890, in Grassington, though the family had subsequently moved to Skipton. He initially worked as a factory hand but had then taken up a post as a policeman with West Riding Constabulary. On 13th August 1915, in Leeds, he had enlisted in 3rd (Territorial) Cameron Highlanders and six weeks later had been appointed Acting Corporal. He had been transferred to 3rd Battalion on 12th July.


    In Sedbergh, North Yorkshire, Mr. T.P. Shaw, proprietor of Shaws Grocers and Confectioners, wrote a character reference for Albert Hoggarth, who was shortly to be called up to join the Army; Albert would later be posted to 10DWR and serve with ‘A’ Company. Mr. Shaw stated that, “Albert Hoggarth has been in my employ since May 1913. During these three years he has had sole charge of the bakery and has done all the baking and cooking in the most satisfactory manner. He is very energetic and can be strongly recommended to any post.” Albert Hoggarth was 25 years old and had been born in Kendal, the only son (with three sisters) of Joseph and Elizabeth Hoggarth. His mother had died when Albert was only a child and his father had re-married in 1899 and he and his second wife, Mary Eleanor, had two further children before Jospeh had died in 1907. Albert had attested under the Derby Scheme on 20th November 1915.

    Eastern Front:

    Dobruja: Russian Dobruja Detachment (50,000 men in 3 divisions) crosses Danube into Rumania, invades Bulgaria (August 27).

    Southern Front:

    Macedonia: Bulgars occupy Seres in northeast Greece.

    Naval Operations:


    North Sea:
    The Armed Boarding Steamer HMS Duke of Albany (Captain Robert Lyttle survives) is sunk by a submarine twenty miles east of the Skerries in the North Sea. There are twenty-four casualties while eight-six of her crew are saved.

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    HMS Duke of Albany

    At Esher, Surrey Lieutenant John Neale (RNVR) is conducting certain experiments which involved the projection from a Stokes Mortar of a tube containing flare-power. An accident occurs leading to an imminent explosion of the tube before it leaves the mortar which will almost certainly result in the bursting of the mortar with loss of life to bystanders. Lieutenant Neale, in order to safeguard the lives of the working party, at once attempts to lift the tube from the mortar. It explodes while he is doing so with the result that he is severely injured, but owing to the fact that he had partly withdrawn the tube from the mortar no injury is caused to others. For his efforts Lieutenant Neale will be awarded the Albert Medal.

    British warships bombard the forts of Kavalla.

    Shipping Losses: 5


    HMS Duke of Albany:
    Royal Navy: The armed boarding steamer was torpedoed and sunk in the North Sea 20 nautical miles (37 km) east of the Pentland Skerries, Orkney Islands by SM UB-27, Kaiserliche Marine, with the loss of 24 crew.

    Equinox:
    United Kingdom: : The trawler struck a mine and sank in the North Sea 39 nautical miles (72 km) south east by east of the Humber Lightship with the loss of nine of her crew.

    Leandros:
    Greece: The cargo ship was sunk in theMediterranean Sea off Cape Creux by SM U-38, Kaiserliche Marine. Her crew survived.

    Nostra Senora del Carmine:
    Italy: The full rigged ship was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 40 nautical miles (74 km) off Cape Creux by SM U-38, Kaiserliche Marine.

    Socoa:
    France:The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 30 nautical miles (56 km) north east of Cape Carbon, Algeria by SM U-34, Kaiserliche Marine.

    Political:

    Correspondence between British and Swedish Governments about the detention of mail packets by either Government is published.
    Last edited by Lt. S.Kafloc; 08-25-2016 at 15:23.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  6. #1706

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    Saturday 26th August 1916
    Today we lost: 666

    Today’s losses include:


    • A 16-year old
    • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
    • Multiple families that will lose two sons in the Great War


    Today’s highlighted casualties include:


    • Captain Henry Morton Weyman (Royal Field Artillery) is accidentally killed by a horse at Colchester. His brother will die of wounds in October 1917.
    • Second Lieutenant Ernest Austen DCM (Hussars Indian Army) dies at age 46 at Meerut, India of enteric fever. He is a veteran of the South Africa War and his brother will die in the last month of the war on service.
    • Second Lieutenant Maurice Llewellyn Taylor (Rifle Brigade) is killed. He is the son of the Reverend J Taylor.
    • Lance Sergeant Frederick Ballard MM (Berkshire Regiment) dies of wounds at age 21. His brother died of wounds in July last year.
    • Private Frank Clifford John Mason (Middlesex Regiment) is killed at age 16.
    • Corporal W H Crellin (Liverpool Regiment) is killed in action. His brother will be killed in March 1918.
    • Private Charles Henry Jude (Australian Infantry) is killed at age 24. His brother died of wounds in July 1916.
    • Private Barlow Herbert Ellis Louisada MM (Australian Infantry) is killed at age 26. His brother will be killed in April 1918.
    • Private Charles Henry Jude (Australian Infantry) is killed at age 24. His brother died of wounds last month.
    • Private John Archibald Ingram (Central Ontario Regiment) dies of wounds at age 43 received his first day in the firing line. He is the son of Reverend J Ingram.


    Air Operations:

    Adriatic
    :
    Austrian air raid sinks an Royal Navy Otranto drifter.

    Palestine: Air raids continue.

    Rumania:
    Request 50 pilots and 55 aircraft from Paris. 2 French pilots arrive at Bucharest from Verdun via London, Oslo and Archangel;

    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 2


    2Lt Clarke, D. (Donald)
    , 7 Squadron, RFC. Killed while flying 26 August 1916 aged 21.

    Pte Scarf, C.K. (Charles Kenneth), RFC. Died 26 August 1916 aged 20.

    Claims: 1

    Leutnant Hans Karl Müller claims his 4th confirmed kill for Jasta 5 shooting down a Voisin or Caudron in the Verdun Sector.

    Western Front


    Somme:


    British take a short length of German trench north of Bazentin-le-Petit.

    German counter-attack near Thiepval. Australians capture heavily fortified Mouquet Farm.

    Tunstills Men Saturday 26th August 1916:

    Front line trenches east of Ploegsteert Wood
    On what was a very showery day, the German artillery was very quiet other than when sending over some trench mortar shells, causing damage to a dugout but no casualties. The Battalion provided a working party of three officers and 120 men for the Royal Engineers working on improving the British positions.

    Cpl. Christopher John Kelly (see 14th July) was discharged from 2nd Scottish General Hospital, Edinburgh where he had been under treatment having been wounded three months earlier.


    Eastern Front:


    Russians make slight advance towards Halicz (Galicia).

    Southern Front:

    Activity on left flank of Salonika front.

    Serbs beat off Bulgar counter-attacks north-west of Kukuruz and progress in Ostrovo region.

    General Moschopoulos appointed Chief of Greek General Staff in place of General Dusmanis.

    African, Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres:


    East Africa:
    Rhodesians and Baluchis occupy Morogoro on Central Railway (Smuts enters August 27), 115 miles east of Dar-es-Salaam; 28,000 British oxen lost since May 25. Lake Force begins advance south on Tabora, awaits news from Belgians 50 miles to west.

    Naval Operations:


    Shipping Losses: 1

    Atlantico: United Kingdom:
    The cargo ship was scuttled in the Mediterranean Sea 15 nautical miles (28 km) south east of Formentera, Spain by SM U-38, Kaiserliche Marine. Her crew survived

    Anniversary Events:


    1429
    Joan of Arc makes a triumphant entry into Paris.

    1789
    The Constituent Assembly in Versailles, France, approves the final version of the Declaration of Human Rights.

    1883
    The Indonesian island of Krakatoa erupts in the largest explosion recorded in history, heard 2,200 miles away in Madagascar. The resulting destruction sends volcanic ash up 50 miles into the atmosphere and kills almost 36,000 people–both on the island itself and from the resulting 131-foot tidal waves that obliterate 163 villages on the shores of nearby Java and Sumatra.
    Last edited by Lt. S.Kafloc; 08-25-2016 at 23:08.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  7. #1707

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    Thanks once more for all of your work Neil. It is much appreciated

  8. #1708

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    Addendum - 26 August 1916

    26 August 1916 was a disastrous day for 19 Squadron RFC operating from Flienvillers losing five aircraft with two pilots killed, a third who died later of his wounds and two taken as prisoners of war. From the squadron’s war diary:

    “At 5.18pm on a bombing raid on Bois de Havrincourt, Captain Williams dropped his bombs on target and was attacked by hostile aircraft twice on his way back but was unable to return the fire. He landed at 34 aerodrome because of rainstorm [elsewhere described as a violent thunderstorm]. Second Lieutenant Johnson’s bombs failed to release. His engine oiled up, and he force-landed in a field nearby. He was lost on other side of the lines for about one hour, fired at with fire balls, and his machine was shot through planes, main and tail, and longerons. His compass was out of adjustment which caused him to lose his way. Captain Henderson saw explosions in Holnon Wood, west of St Quentin.

    Eleven BE12s took part in this bombing raid, five machines failed to return:
    Lieutenant S.P. Briggs (6562) – missing [POW]
    Second Lieutenant R. Talbot (6513) – missing [KIA]
    Lieutenant H.M. Corbold (6551) – missing [died of wounds in hospital]
    Second Lieutenant A.W. Reynall (6532) – missing [POW]
    Lieutenant E. Callaghan (6545) – missing [KIA]"

    After the war one of the captured pilots on return from his imprisonment in Germany explained that as the leading machines of the formation entered the first thunder clouds, a large formation of enemy aircraft appeared out of the haze and the severed the rear machines from the rest of the formation. Compelled to fight an unequal contest, all five machines were driven down in combat.

    From a magazine article written by Peter G. Cooksley, titled The Captive

    Among the pilots of No 19 Squadron based at Fienvillers at this time, attached to ‘C’ Flight was a youthful Second Lieutenant Briggs, formerly of the Northamptonshire Regiment who, on 26 August found himself part of a formation detailed to bomb German troop billets near Mons.

    Only two bombs could be carried by each aircraft, one of 20lb being slung under each wing. These bombs were aimed by means of the Central Flying School bombsight, training in the use of which had been given on the aerodrome with the aid of a camera obscura. Defensive armament of these Bes consisted of a forward-firing synchronised Vickers gun, while a Lewis was free-mounted on the fuselage aft of the pilot’s seat.

    Poor weather meant that ‘C’ Flight was kept standing for several hours. It did not finally take off until late in the afternoon, although the subsequent journey to the target was uneventful except for some poorly-aimed anti-aircraft fire. However, a large formation of German interceptors were spotted which made no attempt to molest the British machines.

    Having dropped their bombs from 700 feet, the flight re-formed and set course back to base only to run immediately into a heavy rainstorm with thunder and lightning. As the aircraft made their way through this, Lieutenant Briggs lost contact with his fellows and was destined not to see them again.

    It was 2300 when his BE12 ran out of fuel and a forced landing had to be made almost at once. Fortunately this aircraft had a shallow gliding angle so getting down was not particularly hazardous, although the pilot had an uneasy moment when a tall chimney loomed out of the murk, causing him to take sharp evasive action.

    The light-coloured patch on the ground at which Briggs had been aiming, turned out to be a field from which the corn had recently been harvested so the machine rolled to a halt across the stubble without mishap. Uppermost in the young Lieutenant’s mind was the fact that, although he no idea of his exact position, he had landed on the enemy side of the lines. [The article goes on to describe his capture, interrogation and captivity.]

    Hope this is of interest.

    Tom
    Last edited by Conall; 08-27-2016 at 02:09. Reason: To correct mistake between Lt Corbold & Callaghan, in respect of the former dying of wounds in hospital

  9. #1709

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    Thanks for your time and effort this was nice.

  10. #1710

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    I wish I could give you some but. You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Skafloc again. I only give them out for good jobs.

  11. #1711

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    Unfortunatelythe RAF roll of honour for 100 years ago today show those KIA as being killed on Sunday 27th August 1916 not 26th. We do not get a look forward and actually have to wait until the actual date for the detailsto be released.

    Quote Originally Posted by Conall View Post
    Addendum - 26 August 1916

    26 August 1916 was a disastrous day for 19 Squadron RFC operating from Flienvillers losing five aircraft with two pilots killed, a third who died later of his wounds and two taken as prisoners of war. From the squadron’s war diary:

    “At 5.18pm on a bombing raid on Bois de Havrincourt, Captain Williams dropped his bombs on target and was attacked by hostile aircraft twice on his way back but was unable to return the fire. He landed at 34 aerodrome because of rainstorm [elsewhere described as a violent thunderstorm]. Second Lieutenant Johnson’s bombs failed to release. His engine oiled up, and he force-landed in a field nearby. He was lost on other side of the lines for about one hour, fired at with fire balls, and his machine was shot through planes, main and tail, and longerons. His compass was out of adjustment which caused him to lose his way. Captain Henderson saw explosions in Holnon Wood, west of St Quentin.

    Eleven BE12s took part in this bombing raid, five machines failed to return:
    Lieutenant S.P. Briggs (6562) – missing [POW]
    Second Lieutenant R. Talbot (6513) – missing [KIA]
    Lieutenant H.M. Corbold (6551) – missing [KIA]
    Second Lieutenant A.W. Reynall (6532) – missing [POW]
    Lieutenant E. Callaghan (6545) – missing [died of wounds in hospital]"

    After the war one of the captured pilots on return from his imprisonment in Germany explained that as the leading machines of the formation entered the first thunder clouds, a large formation of enemy aircraft appeared out of the haze and the severed the rear machines from the rest of the formation. Compelled to fight an unequal contest, all five machines were driven down in combat.

    From a magazine article written by Peter G. Cooksley, titled The Captive

    Among the pilots of No 19 Squadron based at Fienvillers at this time, attached to ‘C’ Flight was a youthful Second Lieutenant Briggs, formerly of the Northamptonshire Regiment who, on 26 August found himself part of a formation detailed to bomb German troop billets near Mons.

    Only two bombs could be carried by each aircraft, one of 20lb being slung under each wing. These bombs were aimed by means of the Central Flying School bombsight, training in the use of which had been given on the aerodrome with the aid of a camera obscura. Defensive armament of these Bes consisted of a forward-firing synchronised Vickers gun, while a Lewis was free-mounted on the fuselage aft of the pilot’s seat.

    Poor weather meant that ‘C’ Flight was kept standing for several hours. It did not finally take off until late in the afternoon, although the subsequent journey to the target was uneventful except for some poorly-aimed anti-aircraft fire. However, a large formation of German interceptors were spotted which made no attempt to molest the British machines.

    Having dropped their bombs from 700 feet, the flight re-formed and set course back to base only to run immediately into a heavy rainstorm with thunder and lightning. As the aircraft made their way through this, Lieutenant Briggs lost contact with his fellows and was destined not to see them again.

    It was 2300 when his BE12 ran out of fuel and a forced landing had to be made almost at once. Fortunately this aircraft had a shallow gliding angle so getting down was not particularly hazardous, although the pilot had an uneasy moment when a tall chimney loomed out of the murk, causing him to take sharp evasive action.

    The light-coloured patch on the ground at which Briggs had been aiming, turned out to be a field from which the corn had recently been harvested so the machine rolled to a halt across the stubble without mishap. Uppermost in the young Lieutenant’s mind was the fact that, although he no idea of his exact position, he had landed on the enemy side of the lines. [The article goes on to describe his capture, interrogation and captivity.]

    Hope this is of interest.

    Tom
    See you on the Dark Side......

  12. #1712

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    Quote Originally Posted by Skafloc View Post
    Unfortunatelythe RAF roll of honour for 100 years ago today show those KIA as being killed on Sunday 27th August 1916 not 26th. We do not get a look forward and actually have to wait until the actual date for the detailsto be released.
    Interesting that there is a discrepancy and the RAF roll of honour shows the KIA for Sunday 27 August. I wonder if this is because the operation was relatively late in the day on Saturday 26 August 1916 or if it reflects a delay in getting the information to HQ (unlikely as I think 9 Wing, of which 19 Squadron were part along with 27 Squadron and 70 Squadron were co-located with the advanced RFC HQ - so much so that 9 Wing, commanded by Lt-Col Dowding, was known as HQ Wing).

    Lieutenant William Chance (later Sir William Chance CBE), flying Martinsyde 'Elephants' with 27 Squadron, comments in his memoirs that:
    "Shortly after my arrival the H.Q. Wing was reinforced with a Squadron of B.E.12s (No. 19) - single seaters engined by a 12 cylinder, 140 horsepower R.A.F. We saw little of them as their hangars were on the opposite side of the aerodrome. The planes were out-dated before they arrived and were no match for the German Albatros DII with its twin Spandau machine guns firing through the propeller and manned by the pilots of Boelke's newly formed Jadgstaffel 2. In a westerly gale on August 26th the Squadron had great difficulty in getting home from a raid on Havrincourt Wood, and five of its planes were lost."

    Tom

  13. #1713

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    Again I can only go off the information that I have at hand .Having searched extensively through the RFC Casualty Cards,Aerodromeand RAF Casualty listings rom the Museum archive online, I could only find 1 aircraft loss and the death of Talbot. There is no mention of 5 aircraft missingnor of the other fatalities.Time available dictates how much I can spend looking for answers I dont even know exist but thanks for the info all the same.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  14. #1714

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    Quote Originally Posted by Skafloc View Post
    Again I can only go off the information that I have at hand .Having searched extensively through the RFC Casualty Cards,Aerodromeand RAF Casualty listings rom the Museum archive online, I could only find 1 aircraft loss and the death of Talbot. There is no mention of 5 aircraft missingnor of the other fatalities.Time available dictates how much I can spend looking for answers I dont even know exist but thanks for the info all the same.
    It's not a criticism (implied or otherwise) &, as I've said before, I think you do a fantastic job especially given the constraints of time & material. My intention was to add to your already comprehensive report. I only have additional information because of personal reasons (my grandfather was CO of 19 Squadron at the time) - I couldn't emulate the same level of detail, as you consistently do, with the same degree of fidelity or detail. So hats off to you

    And from a historian's perspective it shows just how difficult it is in compiling comprehensive accounts from the sources available, especially when official sources like the RAF roll of honour contain significant lacunae or inaccuracies.

    Tom

  15. #1715

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    Apologies didn't mean it to come out so direct. It's amazing that so much detail has survived as many WW1 records were destroyed by fire in the blitz. I also came across information compiled by someone else on entente air missions around the various campaign theatres. But again it is not complete. Hence I only know that British aircraft conducted many raids in Palestine over 8 days. If you have more info on the days coming about 19 squadron pm me and ill include them in a Tunstill Men like section. Concentrating on 1 unit will showcase the RFC commitment across the fronts.

    Neil
    See you on the Dark Side......

  16. #1716

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    Sunday 27th August 1916
    Today we lost: 579


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    Lieutenant Cyril William Winterbotham (Gloucestershire Regiment) is killed in action during an attack on the German positions near Mouquet Farm at age 28. He is a war poet.
    A CHRISTMAS PRAYER FROM THE TRENCHES
    Not yet for us may Christmas bring
    Good will to men, and peace:
    In our dark sky no angels sing,
    Nor yet the great release
    For men when war shall cease
    So must the guns our carols make,
    Our gifts must bullets be,
    For us no Christmas bells shall see
    These ruined homes shall see
    No Christmas revelry.
    For tired eyes are all too dim,
    Our hearts too full of pain,
    Our ears too deaf to hear the Hymn
    Which angels sing in vain,
    “The Christ is born again”.
    O Jesus, pityful, draw near,
    That even we may see
    The Little Child who knew not fear;
    Thus would we picture Thee
    Unmarred by agony.
    O’er death and pain triumphant yet
    Bid Thou Thy harpers play,
    That we may hear them, and forget
    Sorrow and all dismay,
    And welcome thee to stay
    With us on Christmas day.

    Today’s losses include:


    • A Victoria Cross winner
    • A Great War Poet
    • A published novelist
    • The grandson of an Admiral
    • Father of the future Baron Cockfield who will be born after his father’s death
    • Multiple sons of member of the clergy
    • Multiple families that will lose two sons in the Great War


    Today’s highlighted casualties include:


    • Captain Henry Cullen Gouldsbury (East African Unattached List attached King’s African Rifles) dies in Tanga at age 35. He is a novelist of Circe’s Garden and God’s Outpost and and the author of the classic ethnological work The Great Plateau of Northern Rhodesia.
    • Lieutenant Geoffrey Reynolds Day (Bedfordshire Regiment attached Warwickshire Regiment) is killed at age 28. He is the son of the Reverend Archibald Day Vicar of Malvern Link.
    • Lieutenant Geoffrey Reynolds Day (Bedfordshire Regiment attached Warwickshire Regiment) is killed in action at age 28. He is the son of the Reverend Archibald Day of the Vicarage, Malvern Link. He was a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
    • Second Lieutenant William Cargill Stuart Macfarlane (Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders) is killed at age 19. He is the son of the Reverend A Macfarlane.
    • Second Lieutenant Reginald Fitzroy Talbot (Royal Flying Corps) is killed at age 29. His brother will be killed in August 1918 and they are grandsons of Rear Admiral ‘Sir’ Charles Talbot.
    • Second Lieutenant Charles Francis Cockfield (Royal Garrison Artillery) is killed in action. He is the father of the Right Honorable Francis Arthur Cockfield Baron Cockfield who will be born after his father’s death.
    • Second Lieutenant Gordon Amhurst Forsyth (Royal Fusiliers) is killed by a trench mortar bomb at age 28. His brother will be killed in August 1918.
    • Private Alfred James Redfern (South Wales Borderers) is killed at age 23. His brother was killed in June 1915.
    • Rifleman Herbert Entwisle (London Regiment) is killed on his 21st
    • Private William Young VC (East Lancashire Regiment) dies following an operation at home at age 40. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for efforts last 22nd December in which he was wounded and sent home. He spent four months in hospital and was well enough to attend a civic reception in his honor in Preston in April. He went into Cambridge Hospital, Aldershot, for a final operation in August, but he never recovered consciousness; the anesthetic caused his heart to fail.

    Air Operations:


    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 2



    2Lt Cruess-Callaghan, E. (Eugene),
    19 Squadron, RFC. Died of Wounds 27 August 1916 aged 18.


    2Lt
    Talbot, R.F.R. (Reginald FitzRoy),
    19 Squadron, RFC.


    Claims: No claims today.



    Western Front



    Somme:


    British 3rd Brigade attacks Grevillers.


    German attack in front of Fleury repulsed



    Tunstills Men Sunday 27th August 1916:



    Front line trenches east of Ploegsteert Wood
    A similar, large working party was again provided as had been the case the previous day. The War Diary noted, “The enemy fired this morning about 20 70mm shells at a working party of the 9th South Staffords doing a certain amount of damage, particulars as to the extent are not to hand. Our 60 lb trench mortars registered this morning. The enemy retaliated with a few trench mortars all along the line we were holding. There was also considerable enemy rifle and machine gun fire last night and early this morning. The day has been showery”.

    Acting L.Cpl. Fred Dyson (see 26th July), attached from 2DWR to 23rd Northumberland Fusiliers (4th Tyneside Scottish) was confirmed, and paid, in his rank. He would later be commissioned and serve with 10DWR.

    Trooper Claude Darwin (see 8th April), serving with 11th Australian Light Horse in Egypt was taken ill, suffering from diarrhoea; he was admitted first to 1st/2nd East Anglian Field Ambulance and then transferred to 53rd Welsh Field Ambulance. He was the brother of Tunstill recruit, Pte. Tom Darwin (see 24th August).



    Eastern Front:


    RUMANIA INVADES HUNGARIAN TRANSYLVANIA (Austria-Hungary) via eight major passes, a month earlier than Falkenhayn expected; Kaiser’s reaction ‘The war is lost’.


    Carpathians: Brusilov offensive, Lechitski (17 divisions) attacks on 75-mile front between Nadworna and Dorna Watra, takes Mt Pantyr (August 29).



    Southern Front:


    Ground gained by Serbs near Vetrenik (Salonika) in a general offensive.

    African, Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres:



    British capture large artillery dump and occupy Mgeta.


    East Africa:
    British 1st and 2nd Divisions link on Railway 12 miles east of Kilosa.


    Naval Operations:



    Shipping Losses: 3



    HMIT Ocean:
    Royal Navy: The naval trawler struck a naval mine and sank in the North Sea off Lowestoft, Suffolk with the loss of five of her crew.


    Torridon: Italy: The full rigged ship was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 30 nautical miles (56 km) by SM U-34, Kaiserliche Marine.


    Unnamed Barge:
    Austria-Hungary: The fuel-loaded barge was hit by a torpedo and exploded when the torpedo boats Rândunica, Bujorescu and Catinca attacked Austro-Hungarian warships near the Bulgarian city of Rutschek.


    Political:


    Italy declares war on Germany.

    Romania mobilises and declares War on Austria-Hungary.

    Rumania – Bucharest: Crown Council at Cotroceni Palace, King Ferdinand rebuffs opposition to split with Berlin ‘Then I have conquered the Hohenzollern who was in me, I fear no one’.

    Neutrals:


    Greece:
    Venizelos addresses Athens protest meeting against King Constantine's policy (Metaxas dismissed August 26).


    Anniversary Events:


    1266
    The Danes are crushed by the Catholic League in Germany, marking the end of Danish intervention in European wars.


    1776
    The Americans are defeated by the British at the Battle of Long Island, New York.


    1813
    The Allies defeat Napoleon at the Battle of Dresden.


    1910
    Thomas Edison demonstrates the first "talking" pictures--using a phonograph--in his New Jersey laboratory.


    1912
    Edgar Rice Burrough’s's Tarzan of the Apes first appears in a magazine.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  17. #1717

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    Great work Neil, thanks for the last week or so, I am at a gig tomorrow but am available to pick up the reins from Monday if that is of any use?

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  18. #1718

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    I have this squared away until week Monday then its all yours.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  19. #1719

  20. #1720

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    Thanks again gents, for a splendid job all round

  21. #1721

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    Monday 28th August 1916
    Today we lost: 536

    Today’s losses include:

    • A solider shot at dawn
    • Multiple families that will lose two and three sons in the clergy
    • Multiple sons of members of the clergy


    Today’s highlighted casualties include:


    • Major Albert Julian Pell (Suffolk Regiment) dies on service at home at age 52. He is the son of the Reverend Beauchamp Henry St John Pell Rector of Ickenham who has lost another son in November 1914.
    • Lieutenant Robert Burleigh (Royal Engineers and Royal Flying Corps) is killed at age 23. He is the middle of three sons of war correspondent Bennet Burleigh who died in 1914 and who serviced in the Confederacy in the American Civil War who will lose their lives in the Great War.
    • Lance Corporal Albert Crich (King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry) is killed at age 31 becoming the last of three brothers who lose their lives in the Great War.
    • Private George Miles (Lancers) dies at home at age 18. His brother died of wounds in May 1915.
    • Private Donovan Myles Proby (East Yorkshire Regiment) is killed at age 20. His brother will be killed in March 1918.
    • Private David Ross Ryrie (Gordon Highlanders) dies of wounds at age 22. He is the son of the Reverend William Ryrie.
    • Private John Bennett (Hampshire Regiment) is executed for cowardice at age 19.
    • Private George Edward Larking (Welsh Fusiliers) is killed at age 19. His brother was killed on the first day of the Battle of the Somme.


    Air Operations:

    70 Squadron reports Lt HF Mase & Lt VG Odling are captured when their Sopwith crashes behind enemy lines.

    Coastal airship C-16 is sent out on her first ‘war-patrol’. After an hour, one engine has failed through a faulty magneto. Within the next hour the other fails of the same cause. Fortunately an onshore wind blows C-16 into Coldingham Bay, near Berwick, where the captain deflates the envelope and though the crew is saved, the C-16 is a complete wreck.
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    Similar to C16 a British Coastal Airship on patrol.

    Rumania:
    First Army Zeppelin raid on Bucharest (night August 28/29, 4 more in September).

    19 Squadron Royal Flying Corps:
    Courtesy of Tom(Conall).

    At 7.35pm on a practice flight, Second Lieutenant Chappell in B.E.12 6552, made a forced landing outside the aerodrome. The machine was wrecked, and the pilot sustained serious injuries.


    Palestine: Air raids continue.

    Southern Front: Air raids continue behind Kavala.

    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 1

    AC1 Hornby, S. (Samuel), Royal Naval Air Service, H.M.S. 'President II'.

    Claims: 7


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    Lt Alan Duncan Bell-Irving claims his confirmed killflying a Morane for 60 Squadron, RFC.He shot down a Roland C type near Bapaume. The third son of Henry Ogle Bell-Irving of Vancouver, British Columbia, Alan Duncan Bell-Irving transferred to the Royal Flying Corps from the Gordon Highlanders. While serving as an observer with 7 Squadron in 1915, he was shot down in September and was wounded in action in December. He recovered and received Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate 2664 on a Maurice Farman biplane at military school, Farnborough on 31 March 1916. Posted to 60 Squadron in May 1916,

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    Captain Albert Ball claims his 13th,14th & 15th confirmed kills flying a Nieuport 17 for 60 Squadron, RFC. He shot down 2 Roland CII’s and an unknown C type south east of Bapaume, east of Ayette and north of Grevillers respectively.

    “ For conspicuous gallantry in action. He attacked three hostile machines and brought one down, displaying great courage and skill. He has brought down eight hostile machines in a short period, and has forced many others to land.”
    (The Distinguished Service Order was awarded in London Gazette dated 26th Sept. 1916.


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    Lt Arthur William Keenclaims his 1st confirmed kill flying a Sopwith 11/2 Strutter for 70 Squadron, RFC. He shot down a Fokker DII near Bapaume. The son of Arthur Thomas and Isabel Charlotte Eliza (née Willan) Keen, Arthur Willan Keen was schooled at Aldro, Dunchurch Hall and Rugby before commencing an engineering degree at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1913. His degree unfinished, Keen joined the Army Service Corp (Mechanical Transport) in 1915, as a 2nd Lieutenant.

    In November 1915 he joined the Royal Flying Corps and attended the School of Instruction, Reading, Berkshire. Basic flying training followed at Catterick, Yorkshire where Keen achieved his Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate 2298 on 17 January 1916, flying a Maurice Farman biplane.

    In late January 1916 Keen moved to Montrose, Forfarshire in Scotland, for advanced flying training. By mid-February he had been awarded his RFC Pilot Brevet and was selected to remain at Montrose as a flying instructor. On 17 June 1916, whilst airborne, Keen witnessed another aircraft crash into the sea close to Montrose airfield. He quickly landed, leapt into his car, drove rapidly for the beach, and swam out about 150 yards to rescue injured Canadian pilot 2nd Lt Robert E. A. Macbeth from the submerging wreck. This incident earned Keen the Bronze Medal of the Royal Humane Society (see citation below).

    August 1916 saw Keen join his first operational unit, 70 Squadron. Operating the Sopwith 1½ Strutter, the squadron had already begun deploying in July, by individual Flights, to Fienvillers, France, in support of the Somme offensives. On 28 August Keen scored both his, and 70 Squadron's, first aerial combat victory.



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    Lt Alan Machin Wilkinson claims his 8th confirmed kill flying a DH2 for 24 Squadron, RFC. He shot down a enemy aircraft near Le Sars-Fler.

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    Flt Lt Samuel Marcus "Kink" Kinkead claims his 2nd confirmed kill flying a Bristol Scout for 3W, shooting down a Fokker E north east of Zinelli. After he joined the Royal Naval Air Service in September 1915, Samuel Marcus Kinkead was posted to the Dardanelles with 3 Naval Wing in 1916. Here he scored his first three victories flying Nieuport and Bristol Scouts.

    Western Front


    At Number One military prison at Blargies an Australian Private Alexander Little verbally abuses an NCO after the water has been cut off while he is showering. He is arrested and as he is about to placed in the punishment compound by the arresting sergeant he resists. Other soldiers in the prison camp both New Zealanders and Australians rush over, push the sergeant out of the way and release Private Little. They then hurry back to their tents before they can be identified. However Lance Corporal John Braitwaite (Otago Regiment) is a mess orderly and known by many of the NCOs and other soldiers in the camp. He and three Australians are identified as having been involved in the incident and are arrested and charged with mutiny. All four are sentenced to death but the Australians sentences are reviewed and commuted to two years imprisonment. Braitwaite has been court-martialed a number of times for desertion and his sentence is confirmed by Douglas Haig. He will be executed on 29th October the only New Zealander executed for mutiny in the Great War.

    Verdun
    :

    French repulse German attacks against a position near Fort Vaux.

    Somme:


    French gain ground south-east of Thiaumont work and repulse German attacks against Fleury.

    Artillery activity on Somme front.
    Army Group Crown Prince Rupprecht created for duration. General Gallwitz in command of German Second Army records that since June 26 1,068 field guns of 1,208 plus 379 of 820 heavy guns have been captured, destroyed or become unserviceable in his two armies.

    Tunstills Men, Monday 28th August 1916:


    Front line trenches east of Ploegsteert Wood

    The events of the day are clearly described in the War Diary, “Very dull day. There has been no hostile shelling on the front-line, but about six howitzer shells fell in the neighbourhood of BHQ during the late afternoon. Enemy aircraft has been unusually active during the day. The usual machine gun and rifle fire was indulged in by the enemy during the night. Much progress has been made in wiring the new trench, valuable assistance has been given by the 9th South Staffs.”

    Sgt. Edgar Shuttleworth (see 23rd August) was transferred from 69th Field Ambulance via 70th to 23rd Divisional Rest Station, following treatment to his injured right knee.

    A Medical Board meeting at Osborne Hospital on the Isle of Wight considered the condition of 2Lt. Ernest Cyril Coke (see 2nd August), who had been wounded in the actions around Munster Alley, losing the tip of the middle finger of his left hand; the Board found that, “The wound has now almost healed and there is a good stump”. Coke was discharged from hospital, but declared unfit for any duty for a further month.

    Lt. Frank Hird, brother of Lt. Frederick Hird (see 14th August) who had been killed at Munster Alley, wrote to the War Office regarding his brother’s effects; “My brother, Lieut. Frederick Hird, 10th DWR and attached to Trench Mortar Battery A69, was killed on 29th July. I should be deeply obliged if you could let know whether my brother left any directions with the War Office as to the disposal of his effects and any money that may be standing to his credit at Cox’s”. Frank Hird was himself engaged as a “Church Army Commissioner”, attached to VIth Corps Headquarters, BEF.

    Sgt. John Davis, serving with 7th Battalion Worcestershire Regiment was posted back to England to begin his officer training; once commissioned, he would serve with 10DWR. John Davis (born January 1895) was the eldest of seven children of John Henry and Selina Davis and had been born and brought up in West Bromwich where his father worked as a whitesmith for a typewriter manufacturer. John junior had himself worked as an assistant cashier for J. Brockhouse & Co. and then for the City of Birmingham gas department. He was also a territorial soldier, having joined 7th Worcesters on 18th April 1912, aged 17. He was called up for service on 5th August 1914 and appointed Lance Corporal, being promoted Acting Corporal on 4th December. He embarked for France with his Battalion on 31st March 1915 and was formally promoted Corporal on 24th April; by 7th January 1916 he had been promoted three times more, attaining the rank of Sergeant.

    Patrick Sweeney signed his enlistment papers at the West Riding Regimental Depot in Halifax and was posted to 3rd Battalion at North Shields; he would later serve with 10DWR. Patrick Sweeney was 32 years old and had been living in Ormskirk, Lancs. and working as a marine fireman. He had a long and chequered military career behind him. Sweeney had first joined the Army in September 1904, aged 20; he had served for over seven years with 1DWR, including more than six years spent in India. However, he had a series of brushes with military discipline, notably spending ten days in detention in 1910 for “using obscene language and attempting to strike an NCO” and a further 28 days detention in 1911 for being asleep whilst on sentry. He had been transferred to the Reserve in March 1912 and had, within two months, been convicted on two charges of assault and served time in prison. It was following this that he had taken up his job as a marine fireman and had been granted ‘sea leave’ from the Army Reserve for two years from November 1912. However, on the outbreak of war he had been called up from the Reserve and posted to the Regimental Depot at Halifax on 5th August 1914. He was then transferred to 3DWR on 6th November and was, briefly, promoted Lance Corporal, before reverting to the ranks after just a month on account of misconduct. He was posted to France on 27th January 1915 to join 2DWR. Within ten days he had been wounded while the Battalion was occupying trenches near Dranoutre, south of Ypres and was evacuated to England on 8th February. He was formally discharged from the Army as no longer physically fit on 8th July 1915. Despite this, he now re-joined and was declared fit for service.
    Eastern Front:

    Germany: Prince Leopold of Bavaria replaces Hindenburg as C-in*-C East (Hoffmann his CoS is the real chief).

    Rumania: Austrian monitors shell Danube towns.

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    Austro-Hungarian monitor SMS Leitha.

    African, Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres:

    Mesopotamia:
    Maude succeeds Lake as C-in-C thanks to CIGS, Major-General Cobbe (Victoria Cross) takes over Tigris Corps which now has 64 river steamers supplying 460t per day (but 560t needed), 3 railways being built. 11,000 troops invalided out in August.

    Naval Operations:


    Shipping Losses: 1


    Gorgona:
    Italy: The barque was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 20 nautical miles (37 km) north east of Cape Palos, Spain,by Sm U-34, Kaiserliche Marine.

    Political:

    Germany declares war on Rumania (Turkey on August 30).

    Italy declares war on Germany.

    Anniversary Events:


    1914
    Three German cruisers are sunk by ships of the Royal Navy in the Battle of Heligoland Bight, the first major naval battle of World War 1.
    Last edited by Lt. S.Kafloc; 08-28-2016 at 16:05.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  22. #1722

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    Thanks Neil. That was a bit harsh on Braitwaite. Wonder what a modern military court would make of that one? Sounds like the authorities just wanted to make an example of somebody and he drew the short straw

  23. #1723

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    Tuesday 29th August 1916
    Today we lost: 564

    Today’s losses include:

    • Son of the former Bishop of Ripon
    • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
    • Families that will lose two and three sons in the Great War


    Today’s highlighted casualties include:

    Private John Stuart Fox (Canterbury Regiment) dies of illness at age 20 in the village of Allery on the Somme. He is the son of the Reverend John Elliot Fox.

    • Private Charles David Benjamin (South Lancashire Regiment) is killed in action at age age 31. His brother Thomas Henry Benjamin also fell.
    • Private Robert Morris (Welsh Fusiliers) is killed at age 21. He is the middle of three brothers who are killed in the Great War.
    • Lieutenant Victor Charles Douglas Boyd-Carpenter (Royal Engineers) is killed by shrapnel in Delville Wood when in charge of a party who are returning after putting up wire entanglements at age 28. He makes his men go first so as to give them the safer position, but is killed on reaching the open. He is the son of the late William Boyd Carpenter former Bishop of Ripon. Acting on Mr. Pierpont Morgan’s advice he went to America and was employed on the Southern Railway in the United States and on the Canadian Pacific. While on the Southern Railway he had charge of construction work at Brunswick, Georgia. Lieutenant Boyd-Carpenter, who was in America when the War broke out, returned to England and was given a commission in the Royal Engineers. He went to the Front in January 1916 and was primarily employed in bringing up materials as the line advanced, in erecting necessary fortifications, and preparing the road for further advance.


    Air Operations:

    Palestine: Air operations continue.

    Southern Theatre: English aircraft bomb Drama


    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 6

    A Mech 1 Boyd, M. (Moses),
    35 Squadron, RFC. Killed while flying, lost flying speed in turn. 29 August 1916 aged 24.

    Lt Burleigh, R. (Robert), 15 Squadron, RFC. Killed in Action 29 August 1916 aged 23, during an aerial combat over Thiepval Wood.

    2Lt Harry, R.C. (Reginald Charles),15 Squadron, RFC. Killed in Action 29 August 1916.

    A Mech 2 Hobbs, R.A. (Reginald Alfred),3 Squadron, RFC. Killed in Action 29 August 1916 aged 16.

    A Mech 1 Langton, J.T. (John Thomas), RFC. 29 August 1916 aged 25.

    A Mech 2 Wagner, W.H.,8 Squadron, RFC.

    Claims: 1


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    Leutnant Hans Bethge claims his 1st confirmed kill flying for Jasta 1 he shot down a BE2c (4187) south of Auchonvillers.

    Western Front


    Somme:


    British capture of German prisoners since the beginning of British offensive 1 July, 266 officers, 15,203 men, 86 guns, 160 machine guns.

    Tunstills Men, Tuesday 29th August 1916:


    Front line trenches east of Ploegsteert Wood

    The weather took a marked turn for the worse, with heavy rain for much of the day. It was reported that, “Trenches became bad as a result and collapsed in places”. Faced with similar problems, the Germans had been “according to report … working particularly hard improving his trenches, he has also become most persistent in rifle and machine gun fire during late night and early morning”. It had been intended to launch a gas attack against the German lines at 1.30am on the morning of the 30th, to coincide with raiding parties attacking the German lines, but these operations were postponed owing to a change in the wind direction.

    Enquiries continued regarding 2Lt Roland Herbert Wyndham Brinsley-Richards (see 23rd August) who was officially reported ‘missing in action’ following the attack on Munster Alley. A statement was taken, at no.5 General Hospital, Rouen, from Pte. George Slater, who was a member of ‘B’ Company, but not in Brinsley-Richards’ platoon. Slater said simply, “Mr. Richards belonged to B Company, 8 Platoon. I believe he was killed but cannot give any details. I was told that he was killed by Pte. Bell of No.6 Platoon”.
    George Slater (see 21st August) never returned to active service; he was discharged on account of his wounds on 21st July 1917.

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    2Lt Roland Herbert Wyndham Brinsley-Richards.

    Pte. Tom Darwin (see 24th August), having been absent without leave from the Regimental Depot at Halifax for the previous five days, now returned to duty. On the same day, Darwin’s brother, Trooper Claude Darwin (see 27th August), serving with 11th Australian Light Horse in Egypt, who had been taken ill two days earlier was transferred from 53rd Welsh Field Ambulance to 24th Stationary Hospital.

    Eastern Front:

    Russians capture Mount Pantyr (north-west of Jablonica Pass, Carpathians).

    Austrians retreat before Romanian advance in Transylvanian Alps.

    Kronstadt, Petrozseny and Kezdi-Vasarhely occupied by Romanians.

    Transylvania
    :
    Rumanians occupy evacuated Kronstadt, Petrosani and Kezdiasarhely.

    African, Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres:

    East Africa:
    NRFF occupies Iringa (760 Germans evacuate on August 27) in Southern Highlands, 250 miles marched since May 25. Hannyngton’s 2nd East African Brigade (1st Division) crosses river Msumbisi in heavy rain.

    Naval Operations:


    Shipping Losses: 4


    Antigoon:
    Belgium: The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 30 nautical miles (56 km) north of Dragonera, Spain by SM U-38,Kaiserliche Marine. Her crew survived.

    Fede:
    Italy: The barque was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea off the east coast of Spain by SmU-34,Kaiserliche Marine.

    Francois Joseph:
    France: The brigantine was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea off the east coast of Spain by SM U-38,Kaiserliche Marine.

    Stella delMare:Italy: The full-rigged ship was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 25 nautical miles (46 km) north of Majorca, Spain by SM U-38,Kaiserliche Marine. Her crew survived.

    Political:

    Germany: Falkenhayn (German CoS) dismissed by Kaiser,replaced by FM Hindenburg with General Ludendorff (1st QMG) as his assistant.
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    Hindenburg & Ludendorff

    Neutrals:

    USA:
    Army
    and Navy Appropriation Acts authorize $580 million spending and create Council of national Defense. Marine Corps Reserve created and USMC increased to 15,578 men.

    Memphis:
    USA: The United States Navy Tennessee-class armoured cruiser was wrecked when struck in rapid succession by three large waves of up to 70 feet (21 meters) in height while at anchor in the harbor at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, suffering 40 dead and 204 badly injured

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    USS Memphis



    Anniversary Events:


    70
    The Temple of Jerusalem burns after a nine-month Roman siege.

    1526
    Ottoman Suleiman the Magnificent crushes a Hungarian army under Lewis II at the Battle of Mohacs.

    1533 In Peru, the Inca chief Atahualpa is executed by orders of Francisco Pizarro, although the chief had already paid his ransom.

    1776
    General George Washington retreats during the night from Long Island to New York City.

    1882
    Australia defeats England in cricket for the first time. The following day an obituary appears in the Sporting Times addressed to the British team.
    Last edited by Lt. S.Kafloc; 08-29-2016 at 14:41.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  24. #1724

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    Wednesday 30th August 1916
    Today we lost: 420
    Today’s losses include:

    • A Penarth Rugby Footballer
    • Multiple families that will lose two sons in the Great War


    Today’s highlighted casualties include:


    • Captain Thomas Russell Crawley-Boevey (Gloucestershire Regiment) is killed in action at age 36. He is the second son of the late ‘Sir’ Thomas Crawley-Boevey to be killed in the Great War.
    • Battery Sergeant Major Tom Bartlett (Royal Garrison Artillery) is killed at age 36. He is a member of the Penarth Rugby Club.
    • Private Oliver William Devereux (Gloucestershire Regiment) is killed in action at age 23. His brother will be accidentally killed in February 1918.
    • Private Arthur James Goodhall (Worcestershire Regiment) dies of wounds at home at age 35. His brother will be killed in July 1918.
    • Private William Conway (Australian Infantry) is killed at age 28. His brother will be killed in May 1918.
    • Private Leonard Sibbring (Machine Gun Corps) is killed at age 22. His brother will be killed next June.


    Air Operations:


    Western Front:
    No 24 Squadron encounters first time 3 Albatros DI Scouts (Jasta 1).
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    Albatros DIin combat

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    flight line Albtros DI's.

    Macedonia:
    Allied air raid on Buk bridges northeast of Drama.


    Palestine:
    Air operations continue.

    Southern Theatre:
    Naval air raids continue behind Kavala.

    2 Lt FR Mangham,
    17th Reserve Squadron, RFC, UK, was wounded today as he landed too steeply and failed to flatten out his Avro.

    Royal Flying Corps Losses today:
    No deaths are recorded for today.

    Claims: No claims today.


    Western Front


    France:
    Colonel Estienne promoted Brigade-General and commander of French Assault Artillery (tanks).

    Somme:

    Bavarians surrender south of Martinpuich.

    Tunstills Men Wednesday 30th August 1916:


    Front line trenches east of Ploegsteert Wood


    In preparation for the planned gas attack, officers of the Battalion conducted a gas helmet inspection in the morning. There was heavy and persistent rain throughout the day but the with the wind veering round to the west, conditions became more favourable for the proposed gas attack and trench raids and, after a final check on conditions at 10 pm, orders were confirmed for the release of gas in the early hours of 31st August.


    Southern Front:

    Tepelini (Albania) occupied by Italians.


    Venizelist revolution at Salonika.


    African, Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres:

    East Africa:Lettow retreats from Morogoro (German East Africa) over river Ruvu. British 1st Division pursues across (August 31 – September 1).

    Naval Operations:


    Shipping Losses: 2


    Nostra Signora Della Guardia: Italy:
    The full-rigged ship was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 30 nautical miles (56 km) off Cape San Antonio, Spain by SM U-38, Kaiserliche Marine.

    Wellamo:
    Finland: The passenger ship was sunk in the Baltic Sea 9 nautical miles (17 km) off the Tankar Lighthouse by SM U-47, Kaiserliche Marine.

    Political:


    Turkey declares war on Romania.


    Neutrals:


    Greece:
    Venizelists seize Salonika barracks and proclaim provisional republic.

    Anniversary Events:


    1617
    Rosa de Lima of Peru becomes the first American saint to be canonized.

    1781
    The French fleet arrives in the Chesapeake Bay to aid the American Revolution.

    1813
    Creek Indians massacre over 500 whites at Fort Mims, Alabama.

    1860
    The first British tramway is inaugurated at Birkenhead by an American, George Francis Train.

    1861
    Union General John Fremont declares martial law throughout Missouri and makes his own emancipation proclamation to free slavesin the state. President Lincoln overrules the general.

    1892
    The Moravia, a passenger ship arriving from Germany, brings cholera to the United States.

    1914
    New Zealanders in Samoa.

    1915
    Germany prohibits its submarines from sinking merchant vessels without warning following American demands.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  25. #1725

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    1892 The Moravia, a passenger ship arriving from Germany, brings cholera to the United States.

    Another great European export - makes you so proud...

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  26. #1726

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    Thanks again Neil

    1892 The Moravia, a passenger ship arriving from Germany, brings cholera to the United States.

    Another great European export - makes you so proud...
    I guess that's what you call a "sick" joke Chris - Sorry!!!!!

  27. #1727

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    Today's post will be a trifle late as I'm off to work, half done, still got some 16 claims to get typed up and the shipping losses. Hopefully not too late!

    Oh and did I mention the exhaust on the pool car dropped off yesterday! And I'm told the tyres need replacing...all 4! (So guess who didnt get to play with his toys! AGAIN).
    See you on the Dark Side......

  28. #1728

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    Thursday 31st August 1916

    Today we lost: 811


    Today’s losses include:


    • The subject of a published book
    • The author of a book of poetry
    • The son of a General
    • Multiple families that will lose two sons in the Great War
    • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
    • The son of a military Chaplain
    • An Australian Rules footballers


    Today’s highlighted casualties include:


    • Lieutenant Colonel Charles Edward Stewart (Royal Field Artillery) dies of wounds at age 47. He is the son of Major General R C Stewart.
    • Captain John Peake Knight DSO (Royal Field Artillery) is killed at age 26. He was awarded his Distinguished Service Order for conspicuous and consistent gallantry in assisting infantry in November 1914.
    • Captain John Wilmshurst Granger Smith (South Staffordshire Regiment) is killed in action at age 24. His brother will be killed in exactly two months on the last day in October.
    • Captain Bernard St John Glanfield (Suffolk Regiment) dies of wounds at age 35. His brother was killed in November 1915.
    • Second Lieutenant L A H Barrow (Sussex Regiment) is killed at age 21. He is the son of the Reverend A H Barrow.
    • Second Lieutenant Tudor Ralph Castle (Royal West Surrey Regiment) is killed by a gas shell at Delville Wood during a heavy bombardment at age 33. He is the author of a book of poems entitled “The Gentle Shepherd and other poems”.
    • Second Lieutenant James Caulfield Tuckey (Middlesex Regiment) is killed at age 19. He is the son of the Reverend James Grove White Tuckey Assistant Chaplain General to the Forces.
    • Second Lieutenant Harry Augustus Butters (Royal Field Artillery) is killed in action by a gas shell at age 24. He was the subject of a book “Harry Butters, RFA ‘An American Citizen’”, written by Mrs. Denis O’Sullivan and published by John Lane Company. It is the story of a man from California who gave his life for England.
    • Sergeant James Leslie Merson (Australian Infantry) is killed at age 32. His brother will be killed in April 1918.
    • Lance Corporal Jesse Mead (Signal Depot, Royal Engineers) dies at home at age 30. His brother will be killed next May.
    • Private Bertie Frederick Cooper (Australian Infantry) is killed at age 24. He is an Australian Rules footballer who played 83 games for the South Fremantle Football Club in the West Australian Football League between 1910 and 1915, captaining the team in 1913 and 1915. He joinedthe Australian Imperial Force and is killed during the Battle of Mouquet Farm in Pozieres.
    • Private Bertram Lonsdale Bedward (South Staffordshire Regiment) is killed at age 22. His brother was killed last September.


    Air Operations:

    19 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps Diary: (courtesy of Conall: Tom)
    The Squadron took off at 3.25pm on a bombing raid on the hutments and ammunition dumps at Bois de Havrincourt. Second Lieutenant Johnson dropped his bombs from 11,000 feet. Captain Tidswell and Captain Allen dropped from 10,500 feet. Second Lieutenant Carline was attacked by hostile aircraft after dropping his bombs and returned with a wound in the leg. He was admitted to hospital. Captain Henderson crossed the lines with his formation, dropped his bombs over the objective from 10,000 feet. Captain Henderson observed six hostile aircraft attacking two of ours, and at once returned to their help, and soon brought down one of the enemy aircraft apparently out of control, with the observer hanging out over the side. He escorted them back to the lines, endeavouring to ward off attacks by the remaining five hostile aircraft.

    The 9th (HQ) Wing War Dairy makes the following reference to the incidence:

    “Captain Henderson apparently killed the observer in a Roland and the machine is believed to have been brought down. This Officer went back to assist two of his comrades whom he saw in difficulties, and in all probability, saved them from disaster.”

    Somme:

    German aircraft losses in combat since July 1 are 51.
    Royal Flying Corps on Western Front destroyed and missing are 66.

    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 1


    Captain Skinner, A. (Alfred),
    27 Squadron, RFC & 4th Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment. Shot down flying a Martinsyde and killed in Action 31 August 1916 aged 25.
    (2Lt AJ O’ Byrne captured POW)

    An FE2b of 27 Squadron, RFC was shot down. 2Lt FG Macintosh POW/2Lt JDA Macfie missing.

    Claims: 16!


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    Captain Albert Ball claims his 16th & 17th confirmed kills. Flying a Nieuport 17 for 60 Squadron, RFC. Shooting down 2 Roland CII’s south east of Bapaume.

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    Lt James Douglas Latta claims his 4th confirmed kill flying a Nieuport (A135) for 60 Squadron, RFC. Shooting down a LVG C near Bapaume. The younger son of J. G. Latta, James Douglas Latta was educated at University College School, London. When the war began, he and his brother, John Latta, enlisted in the London Scottish. Both of them transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in 1915. 2nd Lieutenant James Latta received Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate 2067 on a Maurice Farman biplane at Military School, Norwich on 16 November 1915. Flying Nieuport scouts in 1916, Latta scored three victories with 1 Squadron in June and two more victories with 60 Squadron.

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    2Lt Guy Patrick Spence Reid claims his 4th confirmed kill flying a FE2b for 20 Squadron, RFC. Shooting down a Fokker E type near Boeschere. The son of Thomas Miller and Lisette (Livings) Reid, 2nd Lieutenant Guy Patrick Spence Reid received Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate 1693 on a Maurice Farman biplane at military school, Farnborough on 4 September 1915. He transferred from the Seaforth Highlanders to the Royal Flying Corps and was posted to 20 Squadron in 1916. An FE2b pilot, he scored 5 victories with his observers and was awarded the Military Cross in September 1916.

    2nd Lt. Guy Patrick Spence Reid, Sea. Highrs. and R.F.C.
    For conspicuous skill and gallantry on many occasions. Capt. Dixon-Spain, with 2nd Lt. Reid as pilot, attacked and drove back a hostile machine. A few minutes later four hostile machines were seen, three of which were attacked one after another and driven back, the fourth being accounted for by another patrol. Another time they attacked two hostile machines, shot down one and drove the other back. Two days later they attacked two more machines, of which one is believed to have been destroyed, the other being pursued back to its aerodrome.”


    2Lt Laurence Henry Scott
    , with pilot Captain George Reid, claims his 3rd confirmed kill, observer in a FE2b for 20 Squadron, shooting down a Fokker D type near Langemarck. Laurence Henry Scott was living in St. Stephen, Hertfordshire in 1901. His birth was registered in the 2nd quarter of 1896 at West Ham.

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    Lt Alan Machin Wilkinson claims his 9th & 10th confirmed kills flying a DH2 for 24 Squadron, RFC. Shooting down a Roland C type and a LVG C type near Villers and High Wood respectively.

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    Sous Lieutenant René Pierre Marie Dorme claims his 8th confirmed kill flying for N3 he shot down an LVG near Manancourt.

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    Lieutenant Paul Albert Pierre Tarascon claims his 4th confirmed kill flying for N62 he shot down an Albatros near Pargny. While learning to fly in 1911, Tarascon was seriously injured in a crash, losing his right leg. Despite his handicap, he volunteered for the French Air Service in August 1914. He was accepted and received a Pilot's Brevet in December. During World War I, he became known as "l'as la jambe de bois" (the ace with the wooden leg). During World War II, Tarascon was a Colonel in the French Resistance.

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    Leutnant Hans Bethge claims his 2nd confirmed kill flying for Jasta 1, he shot down a Martinsyde G.100 near Fins.

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    Leutnant Hans von Keudell claims his 1st confirmed kill flying for Jasta 1 he shot down a Martinsyde G.100 near Beaumetz. Hans von Keudell began his military career as a cadet in 1904 and joined the Kaiser Alexander II von Russland Uhlan Regiment #3 in 1911. After serving in combat in Poland and France, he transferred to the German Air Force on 7 June 1915 and received preliminary training as a two-seater pilot at Adlershof. Posted to Breiftauben Abteilung Ostende at Ghistelle on 13 December 1915, von Keudell took part in the Verdun offensive and flew missions over Dunkirk and Toul. After training on single-seat fighters in the summer of 1916, he was posted to KEK B on 4 August but was reassigned to Jasta 1 when it was formed on 22 August.

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    Leutnant Gustav Leffers claims his 6th confirmed kill flying for Jasta 1 he shot down a Martinsyde G.100 near Moislains.

    Leutnant Hans Karl Müller
    claims his 5th confirmed kill flying for Jasta 5 he shot down a balloon near Maasbogen.

    Lieutenant Patrick Anthony Langan-Byrne
    claims his 1st confirmed kill flying a DH2 for 24 Squadron, RFC. He shot down a HA north of Bapaume. After serving with the Royal Artillery, Patrick Anthony Langan-Byrne transferred to the Royal Flying Corps.

    Captain Ian Henry David Henderson
    claims his 2nd confirmed kill flying a BE12 for 19 Squadron, RFC. He shot down aDtype near Havrincourt Wood. Ian Henry David Henderson was the son of Lieutenant General Sir David Henderson, commanding officer of the Royal Flying Corps. Serving with the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, Henderson transferred to the RFC and was posted to 19 Squadron in 1916. Flying the B.E.12, he scored his first two victories in August.

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    Captain George Ranald MacFarlane Reid, with observer Lt Laurence Scott, claims his 6th confirmed kill flying an FE2d for 20 Squadron, RFC. He shot down a Fokker DII near Langemarck.The son of George and Gertrude Reid, George Ranald MacFarlane Reid served with the 4th Battalion of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders and was promoted to Second Lieutenant (on probation) on 15 August 1914. He received Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate 1900 on a Maurice Farman biplane at Military School, Montrose on 16 October 1915. An FE2 pilot in 1916, he downed three enemy aircraft with 25 Squadron and six more with 20 Squadron.

    Home Fronts:

    Germany:
    Hindenburg letter to War Minister; demands doubled munitions, trebled artillery and machine-gun production by May 1917.

    Western Front


    Artois/Flanders:

    British gas attacks at Arras and Armentieres.

    Verdun
    :

    French defensive Battle of
    Verdun ends.

    Somme:


    4 German counter-attacks fail at Delville Wood; British XV Corps suffers heavy casualties. Fierce German counter-attacks between Ginchy,
    Bois Foureaux and High Wood. By this time BEF has consulting psychiatrist and neurologist for ‘shell shock’ cases.

    Tunstills Men Thursday 31st August 1916:


    Front line trenches east of Ploegsteert Wood


    With the change in the wind direction, the gas attack and trench raids which had originally been planned for 24 hours earlier were now to be carried out. All ranks in the front line had their gas helmets checked and adjusted before 1.30am. The Battalion was under strict orders that the bays in which the gas cylinders were placed were to be vacated once the release began and all men were to wear their gas helmets until ordered to remove them by a suitably-trained officer or NCO (at which point they were still to be kept in the ‘alert position’). The actual raids were to be undertaken by men from 9th Yorkshires who were brought up from the reserve trenches near Creslow Farm. Starting at 1.30 am, gas, interspersed with smoke, was released from cylinders placed in bays along the British lines. After twenty minutes the release of gas was stopped and the raiding parties went out towards the German lines, their movements covered by 10DWR, supported by Stokes mortars firing against positions near Factory Farm and by a continuation of the artillery bombardment which had accompanied the gas attack.


    The gas attack did not achieve its desired results. The raiding parties failed to obtain any useful information “owing to gas hanging about and enemy machine gun fire” and also because “the enemy’s wire, which is exceptionally strong, had apparently remained undamaged by our artillery fire”. The response of the Germans was noted; “A noticeable feature of the gas attack was the entire absence of any noise or commotion in the enemy line. No Strombus Horns, bugles or bells of any kind were heard. On the other hand a number of red Very lights were sent up by the enemy”. The red Very lights were the signals from the Germans for a supportive bombardment from their artillery. However, “His (ie. the Germans) artillery fire in retaliation to ours was almost ineffective. He succeeded only in doing damage to the actual front line trenches, the repairing of which has been carried out today. His machine gun and rifle fire was spasmodic. It is thought that a certain number of his guns on our right became temporarily jammed from the effects of our gas”.

    There were ‘self-inflicted’ casualties from the gas, despite the rigorous precautions which had been put in place; gas drifted over the Battalion’s own positions, resulting in the deaths of three men. The men who died were Sgt. Lewis Thomas King and Ptes. John Thompson and Frederick Blackwell; King and Thompson were buried at Berks Cemetery Extension and Blackwell, who had died in the care of 1st Canadian Casualty Clearing Station, at Bailleul Communal Cemetery Extension. Four other men were admitted to 69th Field Ambulance suffering the effects of gas.
    The remainder of the day, which remained fine and dry, passed off without incident.

    A written statement was given by a Major (name unknown) in the RAMC regarding Lt. Cecil Edward Merryweather (see 17th July) who had been wounded on 5th July, and subsequently treated in England and had been on leave for the previous month. It was now stated that Merryweather, “has been attending at this hospital (name not stated) under me since July 1916. He is suffering from neurasthenia and weakness in right thigh. He is improving, but says he does not sleep well”.


    Following the findings of an Army Medical Board, Pte. Carl Parrington Branthwaite (see 14th August), was permanently discharged from the Army on account of illness. He had enlisted almost two years earlier but had been taken ill within three months and had spent much of the intervening period in hospital.

    James Bell enlisted (aged 40 years and 8 months) in the Royal Engineers; he was the elder brother of Pte. Robert William Bell (see 21st September 1914) who had been one of Tunstill’s original recruits. James had previously served in both 3rd and 6th Battalions DWR, rising to the rank of Colour Sergeant.

    69th Brigade War Diary recorded casualties for the Brigade for the month of August:

    Killed 1 officer and 31 other ranks

    Accidentally killed 0

    Died of wounds 1 officer and 5 other ranks

    Wounded 12 officers and 208 other ranks
    Accidentally wounded 6 other ranks
    Missing 15 other ranks

    10DWR’s casualties were recorded as:
    Killed 5 other ranks
    Accidentally killed 0
    Died of wounds 2 other ranks
    Wounded 23 other ranks
    Accidentally wounded 2 other ranks
    Missing 6 other ranks

    The official cumulative casualty figures for the Battalion since arriving in France were now:
    Killed 97
    Accidentally killed 4
    Died of wounds 6
    Wounded 492
    Accidentally wounded 45
    Missing 74

    Eastern Front:

    Fighting at Halicz and east of Lemberg; many prisoners taken in Lutsk area by Russians.

    Austrian losses since 4 June 614,000, German 150,000 including 15,000 today.

    Southern Front:

    Buk (north-east Drama, Macedonia) air raid on bridges.

    African, Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres:


    East Africa:
    Smuts’ advance split by Uluguru Mountains 600 South African mounted troops go round west side, 1,900 British march on Dar-es*-Salaam.

    Western Desert: British armoured cars capture Senussi convoy northwest of Jaghbub.

    West Africa: Slavery abolished in Nigeria.

    Naval Operations:


    Allied shipping losses 205,000t (British 23 ships worth 43,354t with 8 lives lost). Total including 77 ships (129,368t) to U-boats in Mediterranean. 2 U-boats lost.
    At Pless Hindenburg and Ludendorff press for unrestricted U-boat war without delay, Beth*mann’s opposition now confined to timing and fear of breach with Scandinavia. Fronts must be stabilized lest Holland or Denmark declare war while Germany has no reserves.


    Shipping Losses: 8


    Bacchus
    : France: The cargo ship was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 20 nautical miles (37 km) north of Cape Cherchell, Algeria by SM U-38, Kaiserliche Marine.

    Duart:
    United Kingdom: The cargo ship was shelled and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 60 nautical miles (110 km) north by east of Cape Cherchellby SM U-38, Kaiserliche Marine. Her crew survived

    Nostra Signora Assunta:
    Italy: The barque was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 30 nautical miles (56 km) north east of Cape Palos, Spain by SM U-34, Kaiserliche Marine.

    Piero Maroncelli:
    Italy: The cargo ship was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 55 nautical miles (102 km) north west of Cape Caxine, Algeria SM U-38, Kaiserliche Marine.

    Quinto:Italy:
    The barque was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 35 nautical miles (65 km) off Cape San Antonio by SM U-34, Kaiserliche Marine.

    Santa Maria:
    Italy: The barque was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 30 nautical miles (56 km) off Cape San Antonio, Spain by SM U-34, Kaiserliche Marine.

    Tevere:
    Regia Marina: The cargo ship was sunk in the Black Sea off Poti, Russia by SM U-45, Kaiserliche Marine.

    HMT Tuberose:
    Roy al Navy: The navy trawler struck a mine and sank in the North Sea off Lowestoft, Suffolk with the loss of eight of her crew.

    Political:


    Canadian casualties to date (published 22 September 1916): 8,644 killed (or died), 27,212 wounded, 2,005 missing.


    Anniversary Events:


    1765
    The British at Fort William Henry, New York, surrender to Louis Montcalm of France.

    1802
    Captain Meriwether Lewis leaves Pittsburgh to meet up with Captain William Clark and begin their trek to the Pacific Ocean.

    1864
    At the Democratic convention in Chicago, General George B. McClellan is nominated for president.

    And in the future........

    2016
    England cricket team score the highest 1 day limited over score to date. 444 for 3 off 50 overs.
    Last edited by Lt. S.Kafloc; 09-01-2016 at 15:07.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  29. #1729

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    Apologies just amended the wrong date on the last issue . Someone the proof reader....oh that's me...well consider myself well and truelly .
    See you on the Dark Side......

  30. #1730

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    Friday 1st September 1916
    Today we lost: 633
    Today’s losses include:

    • The son-in-law of the 4th Marques of Ormonde
    • The uncle of man who will be killed at Dieppe in August 1942
    • A man and his nephew killed on the same day, both are cricket players
    • The son of a Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales
    • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
    • Multiple families that will lose two and three sons in the Great War


    Today’s highlighted casualties include:


    • Captain Edward Brassey Egerton (Lancers) dies of wounds at age 27. He is the son of Lady Mabelle Egerton and son-in-law of the 4th Marques of Ormonde. His nephew will be killed in the raid on Dieppe in August 1942.
    • Lieutenant Arthur Hugh Johns (Royal Sussex Regiment) is killed at age 23. He is the son of the Reverend Roger Owen Johns Vicar of Billingshurts.
    • Lieutenant Oswald Hood (Sussex Regiment) is killed. He is the son of the Reverend E P Hood.
    • Second Lieutenant Eric Clarence Symons (Machine Gun Corps) dies of wounds at age 22. He is the son of the Very Reverend Dean Charles J F Symons Shanghai China.
    • Second Lieutenant Roderic Alan Edward O’Connor (Leinster Regiment) is killed at age 22. His brother was killed last July and they are sons of Justice of the Supreme Court of New South Wales Richard Edward O’Connor.
    • Second Lieutenant Herbert Flowers (Royal West Kent Regiment) is killed at age 36. He played cricket for Hertford College, Eastbourne and Steyning. His nephew Second Lieutenant John Arthur Flowers (Sussex Regiment) is also killed at age 20. He played cricket for the Lancing Eleven.
    • Corporal John Bennett MM (Welsh Fusiliers) dies of wounds at home at age 28. He is the first of three brothers who will lose their lives in the Great War.
    • Corporal George Perry (Worcestershire Regiment) is killed at age 28. His brother died of wounds in July.
    • Private John Howard Newberry Gleave (Canadian Pioneers) is killed at age 22. He is the son of the Reverend Thomas Gleave Vicar of Douglas.


    Air Operations:


    25 bombs dropped on Port Said.


    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 2


    Jack, H.C. (Henry Claude),
    41 Squadron, RFC, UK. Flying a Henry Farman, stalled in a sideslip, nosedived, aircraft crashed and burst into flames.

    Cpl Moore, W.G. (William George), 20 Squadron, RFC. 1 September 1916 aged 22.

    Claims: 1


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    Hauptmann Raoul Stojsavljevic claims his 4th conformed kill flying a Hansa-Brandenburg for Flik 16, he shot down a Farman near Val Bologna. Stojsavljevic graduated from the Maria Theresa Military Academy in 1908. After serving in the infantry, he transferred to the Army Air Service in 1913 and was posted to Flik 13 as a reconnaissance pilot in November 1914. On 16 February 1915, he and his observer were captured by the Russians when their two-seater was forced down by a snow storm. Escaping six days later, the two men evaded the enemy for months until they reached the safety of their own lines in June 1915. Stojsavljevic was posted to Flik 17 later that summer and in September 1915 he joined Flik 16 where he scored his first four victories in 1916.

    Western Front


    Somme:

    4 German counter*-attacks fail at High Wood (and on September 3, 8 and 15) but they recapture East side of Delville Wood
    .

    Tunstills Men Friday 1st September 1916:


    Front line trenches east of Ploegsteert Wood


    At 1.30am further gas attacks were carried out by 36th Division on the left of the Battalion. The German response was noted in the War Diary; “the first warning signals issued by the enemy were two whistle blasts and came from the direction of Barricade Avenue at 1.45am. Immediately afterwards bells and gongs were sounded and lasted about 30 seconds, it is generally thought that these alarms were sounded from some distance behind their front line system. There was the usual amount of machine gun fire during the night from the enemy who also threw about 20 trench mortar shells at our lines without doing damage”.

    The rest of the day was dull, but remained dry. There was rather more trench mortar activity than usual from the Germans and also British artillery activity, though it was noted that this appeared largely to be directed against the German reserve positions. Orders were received for the Battalion to be relieved next day by 11th West Yorks, and to retire to reserve trenches at Lewisham Lodge in Ploegsteert Wood.

    Pte. Sydney Charles Nicholls left the Battalion and was admitted to a General Hospital in Boulogne, suffering from inflammation of the tissue in his forearm. He had been one of the men from other local villages who had been added to Tunstill’s original volunteers in September 1916. His family originated from Norfolk, where his father, Charles, had been a gamekeeper. Sydney, who was born in 1879, however, had moved to Yorkshire and had married Eleanor Kirkbright on 11th March 1900 at Pateley Bridge. The couple set up home in Peel Place, Burley-in-Wharfedale. By the time Sydney enlisted, in Burley, on 17th September 1914, the couple had seven children and Sydney was working as a stonemason’s labourer.

    Ex-Tunstill’s Man, Dvr. Arthur Overend (see 19th February), now serving with the ASC at Cirencester, was transferred from territorial service to the regular ASC.

    Pte. Fred Richmond (see 15th July), who had been seriously wounded while serving with Tunstill’s Company in November 1915, was transferred, from 11th (Reserve) Battalion West Ridings at Brocton Camp, Cannock Chase, Staffs., to the newly-formed 12th Training Reserve Battalion.

    Another man who had previously served with Tunstill’s Company, Pte. Joseph Simpson (see 11th March), was transferred from 11DWR to 14th Training Reserve Battalion. He had been wounded almost a year earlier.

    Official notice was published in the London Gazette of the award of the Military Medal to Sgt. Thomas Henry Edmondson (see 29th July), for his actions at Contalmaison; he had subsequently been seriously wounded and evacuated to England.

    2Lt. John Edward Lennard (sic.) Payne (see 25th August) who was en route to join 10DWR, was promoted Lieutenant.

    Pte. Andrew Aaron Jackson, (see 4th August) who would later be commissioned and serve with 10DWR, was transferred from 27th Battalion Royal Fusiliers at Portobello, near Edinburgh, to 103rd Training Reserve Battalion.

    The doctor who had recently treated Lt. Paul James Sainsbury, (see 3rd August) who would later serve with 10DWR, reported on his current condition, “I operated on the right maxillary antrum (sinus) on August 3rd, letting out much pus. The patient is now able to pass a tube and wash out the antrum by himself. Since August 18th the washing has been clean or have contained a little mucus.” Sainsbury was due to appear before a Medical Board to consider the extent of his recovery from the symptoms of shellshock which had arisen following 1st July.

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    Lt Paul Sainsbury


    Cpl. Vincent Edwards (see 16th June) serving with 28th (Reserve) Battalion Royal Fusiliers, was transferred to 104th Training Reserve Battalion; he would later be commissioned and join 10DWR.


    Albert Hoggarth (see 25th August), who had originally attested under the Derby Scheme in November 1915, was mobilized for active service and posted to the West Riding Regimental Depot at Halifax; he would later be posted to 10DWR and serve with ‘A’ Company.

    Home Fronts:


    Britain:
    Retail Food Price 65% (up 5%). Munition factories total 4,212 (with 435 canteens for 640,000 workers). Civilian war prisoners to be supplied to private firms. In September War Propaganda Bureau starts monthly War Pictorial magazine (circ 750,000 by November 1917).
    Eastern Front:

    Romanians capture Hermannstadt.

    Fresh successful Russian advance in Volhynia


    Turk VI Corps placed under Mackensen.

    Galicia: Brusilov Offensive, Russian General Shcherbachev takes 19,000 PoW’s on river Zlota Lipa (until September 4).

    Southern Front:

    Bulgars in possession of 17 Greek forts.

    African, Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres:


    Chormuk, N. Euphrates, captured by Russians.


    Armenia:
    Turk IV Corps attacks south of Kigi but Russian reinforcements stabilize front by September 10. French Arab Mission reaches Alexandria.

    Naval Operations:


    Channel, North Sea:
    Flanders UB-type boats sink over 30 ships in a week without encountering one warship (570 ASW vessels available); 1,949 British merchantmen now armed with guns.

    Black Sea:
    New Russian dreadnought Imperatritsa Maria fires at and pursues Goeben (rescues Turk seaplane) to within 60 miles of Bosphorus.

    Aegean: 23 Allied warships and 4 transports (from Salonika) anchor 4 miles off Piraeus near Greek Fleet at Salamis.

    Shipping Losses: 5


    Baron Yarborough:
    United Kingdom: The cargo ship was scuttled in the Mediterranean Sea 27 nautical miles (50 km) north west of Dragonera, Spain by SM U-34, Kaiserliche Marine. Her crew survived

    Dronning Maud:
    Norway: The cargo ship struck a mine and sank in the North Sea 5 nautical miles (9.3 km) north east of Southwold, Suffolk with the loss of three of her crew

    Giuseppe:
    Italy: The brigantine was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 30 nautical miles (56 km) north ofIbiza, Spain by SM U-34, Kaiserliche Marine.

    San Francesco di Paola:
    Italy: The sailing vessel was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea east of Algiers, Algeria by SM U-38, Kaiserliche Marine.

    Swift Wings:
    United Kingdom: The collier was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 18 nautical miles (33 km) east of Cape Bengut, Algeria by SM U-38, Kaiserliche Marine, with the loss of two crew. Her captain was taken as a prisoner of war

    Political:


    BULGARIA DECLARES WAR ON RUMANIA.


    New York, value of German Mark at 30% discount.


    Britain and Russia sign Sykes-Picot Agreement.


    In September Anglo-Russian Bureau (propaganda) opens in Petrograd.


    Neutrals:


    Greece:
    Allied fleet seizes 13 interned Austro-German ships.

    Anniversary Events:


    1676
    Nathaniel Bacon leads an uprising against English Governor William Berkeley at Jamestown, Virginia, resulting in the settlement being burned to the ground. Bacon’s Rebellion came in response to the governor’s repeated refusal to defend the colonists against the Indians.

    1773
    Phillis Wheatley, a slave from Boston, publishes a collection of poetry, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, in London.

    1821
    William Becknell leads a group of traders from Independence, Mo., toward Santa Fe on what would become the Santa Fe Trail.

    1864
    Confederate forces under General John Bell Hood evacuate Atlanta in anticipation of the arrival of Union General William T. Sherman‘s troops.

    1870
    The Prussian army crushes the French at Sedan, the last battle of the Franco-Prussian War.

    1894
    By an act of Congress, Labor Day is declared a national holiday.

    1904
    Helen Keller graduates with honours from Radcliffe College.
    Last edited by Lt. S.Kafloc; 09-01-2016 at 15:18.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  31. #1731

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    Quote Originally Posted by mikeemagnus View Post
    Thanks Neil. That was a bit harsh on Braitwaite. Wonder what a modern military court would make of that one? Sounds like the authorities just wanted to make an example of somebody and he drew the short straw
    Just a bit... reminds me a little of the events covered in the 'Breaker Morant' film... bloody top brass looking to exercise their absolute control at the cost of some poor low ranking sod....

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  32. #1732

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    Just been down and tidied up the double posts for you.
    Great work bye the way.
    Rob.
    "Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death."

  33. #1733

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hedeby View Post
    Just a bit... reminds me a little of the events covered in the 'Breaker Morant' film... bloody top brass looking to exercise their absolute control at the cost of some poor low ranking sod....
    Stanley Kubrick film 'Paths of Glory' with Kirk Douglas is another prime example as well as being a great film. Can't believe that film came out in 1957! I saw it at the cinema. Am I really that old?

  34. #1734

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    Thanks for your time and effort, good work

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    Saturday 2nd September 1916
    William Leefe Robinson VC (14 July 1895 – 31 December 1918) was the first British pilot to shoot down a German airship over Britain. He was the first person to be awarded the VC for action in the UK, Robinson was born in Coorg, India, on 14 July 1895, the youngest son of Horace Robinson and Elizabeth Leefe. Raised on his parents' coffee estate, Kaima Betta Estate, at Pollibetta, in Coorg, he attended Bishop Cotton Boy’s School, Bangalore, and the Dragon School, Oxford, before following his elder brother Harold to St. Bees School, Cumberland in September, 1909. While there he succeeded his brother as Head of Eaglesfield House in 1913, played in the Rugby 1st XV and became a sergeant in the school Officer Training Corps.

    In August, 1914 he entered the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and was gazetted into the Worcestershire Regiment in December. In March, 1915 he went to France as an observer with the Royal Flying Corps, to which he had transferred. After having been wounded over Lille he underwent pilot training in Britain, before being attached to No. 39 (Home Defence) Squadron, a night-flying squadron at Sutton’s Farm airfield near Hornchurch in Essex.

    On the night of 2/3 September 1916 over Cuffley, Hertfordshire, Lieutenant Robinson, flying a converted B.E.2c night fighter No. 2693, sighted a German airship – one of 16 which had left bases in Germany for a mass raid over England. The airship was the wooden-framed Schutte-Lanz SL 11, although at the time and for many years after, it was misidentified as Zeppelin L21. Robinson made an attack at an altitude of 11,500 ft (3,500 m) approaching from below and closing to within 500 ft (150 m) raking the airship with machine-gun fire. As he was preparing for another attack, the airship burst into flames and crashed in a field behind the Plough Inn at Cuffley, killing Commander Hauptmann Wilhelm Schramm and his 15-man crew.

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    This action was witnessed by thousands of Londoners who, as they saw the airship descend in flames, cheered and sang the national anthem, one even played the bagpipes. The propaganda value of this success was enormous to the British Government, as it indicated that the German airship threat could be countered. When Robinson was awarded the VC by the King at Windsor Castle, huge crowds of admirers and onlookers were in attendance Robinson was also awarded £3,500 in prize money and a silver cup donated by the people of Hornchurch.

    In a memo to his Commanding Officer, Leefe Robinson wrote:

    September 1916
    From: Lieutenant Leefe Robinson, Sutton's Farm.
    To: The Officer Commanding No. 39 H. D. Squadron.
    Sir:
    I have the honour to make the following report on night patrol made by me on the night of the 2-3 instant. I went up at about 11.08 p.m. on the night of the second with instructions to patrol between Sutton's Farm and Joyce Green.

    I climbed to 10,000 feet in fifty-three minutes. I counted what I thought were ten sets of flares - there were a few clouds below me, but on the whole it was a beautifully clear night. I saw nothing until 1.10 a.m., when two searchlights picked up a Zeppelin S.E. of Woolwich. The clouds had collected in this quarter and the searchlights had some difficulty in keeping on the airship.

    By this time I had managed to climb to 12,000 feet and I made in the direction of the Zeppelin - which was being fired on by a few anti-aircraft guns - hoping to cut it off on its way eastward. I very slowly gained on it for about ten minutes.

    I judged it to be about 800 feet below me and I sacrificed some speed in order to keep the height. It went behind some clouds, avoiding the searchlight, and I lost sight of it. After fifteen minutes of fruitless search I returned to my patrol.

    I managed to pick up and distinguish my flares again. At about 1.50 a.m. I noticed a red glow in the N.E. of London. Taking it to be an outbreak of fire, I went in that direction. At 2.05 a Zeppelin was picked up by the searchlights over N.N.E. London (as far as I could judge).

    Remembering my last failure, I sacrificed height (I was at about 12,900 feet) for speed and nosed down in the direction of the Zeppelin. I saw shells bursting and night tracers flying around it.

    When I drew closer I noticed that the anti-aircraft aim was too high or too low; also a good many shells burst about 800 feet behind-a few tracers went right over. I could hear the bursts when about 3,000 feet from the Zeppelin.

    I flew about 800 feet below it from bow to stem and distributed one drum among it (alternate New Brock and Pomeroy). It seemed to have no effect;

    I therefore moved to one side and gave them another drum along the side - also without effect. I then got behind it and by this time I was very close - 500 feet or less below, and concentrated one drum on one part (underneath rear). I was then at a height of 11,500 feet when attacking the Zeppelin.

    I had hardly finished the drum before I saw the part fired at, glow. In a few seconds the whole rear part was blazing. When the third drum was fired, there were no searchlights on the Zeppelin, and no anti-aircraft was firing.

    I quickly got out of the way of the falling, blazing Zeppelin and, being very excited, fired off a few red Very lights and dropped a parachute flare.

    Having little oil or petrol left, I returned to Sutton's Farm, landing at 2.45 a.m. On landing, I found the Zeppelin gunners had shot away the machine-gun wire guard, the rear part of my centre section, and had pierced the main spar several times.

    I have the honour to be, sir,
    Your obedient servant,
    (Signed)
    W. Leefe Robinson, Lieutenant
    No. 39 Squadron, R.F.C.

    Today we lost: 440

    Today’s losses include:

    • A member of the Surrey Constabulary
    • Twin brothers killed together
    • A man whose sister will die on service in 1918
    • Multiple families that will lose two or three sons in the Great War


    Today’s highlighted casualties include:


    • Lieutenant Ian Hannon (Liverpool Regiment) is killed. His two brothers have been previously killed in the Great War.
    • Second Lieutenant Laurence Dobree Russell (Royal Flying Corps) dies of wounds at age 18. His brother will be killed next January.
    • Sergeant Ernest Alfred Warrell (King’s Royal Rifle Corps) is killed in action at age 27. He has been a member of the Surrey Constabulary since 1912.
    • Private Herbert Bruce (Norfolk Regiment) is killed in action in Baghdad. His brother was killed in November 1914.
    • Twins and Privates Frank Ernest and Herbert Thomas Bindoff (Royal Sussex Regiment) are killed together at age 21.
    • Private William Frank Cotton (West Surrey Regiment) is killed in action at age 39. His sister will die on service in 1918 serving in Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps at home.


    Air Operations:


    Britain:
    Combined raid on London by 12 Navy and 4 Army Zeppelins thwarted by adverse weather, navigational and technical problems; c. 16t bombs scattered across 11 counties and North London suburbs (only 16 casualties). At 0223 hours Second Lieutenant Leefe Robinson (awarded VC, first in Britain) in BE2c of No 39 SquadronRoyal Flying Corps shoots down Army SL 11 (Schramm) at Cuffley, Herts (all 16 crew killed).

    Occupied Belgium:
    17 RNAS aircraft drop 82 bombs on Ghistelles airfield southeast of Ostend (repeated September 9 and 23), St Denis Westrem attacked by 18 aircrafts (September 7), as well as Zeppelin sheds near Brussels (September 27).

    Hoboken, near Antwerp, British drop bombs on ship building yards.


    Largest Zeppelin Raid on England to date:

    This raid, the largest of the war (12 navy and 4 army airships), resulted in over 500 bombs being dropped and marks one of the most dramatic nights of the Zeppelin war.

    Oberleutnant-zur-See Ernst Lehmann, commanding LZ.98, crossed Littlestone on the Kent coast at midnight. Flying on a north-west course, she circled south of Maidstone at about 12.45am before being fired on by AA guns at Southfleet and Dartford at 1.10am when she was caught in searchlights south-west of Gravesend. At 1.15am she dropped six incendiary bombs near the railway at Longfield followed by a high-explosive (HE) and 11 incendiaries close to the Gravesend branch line. Three HE bombs aimed at the Southfleet searchlight caused a wheat stack to burn and broke a number of windows in Church Street and at Cook’s Cottages, Redstreet. Moments later two HE bombs fell at Northfleet Green Farm; one failed to ignite but the other destroyed a coal shed, a stables and a pollard house. The guns lost her when she went behind a cloud and passed south of Gravesend, dropping an incendiary and an HE on the golf course, followed by another incendiary in the River Thames as she crossed to the Essex shore. There the AA guns at Tilbury and Fobbing opened fire while Lehmann dropped two incendiaries at Corringham, three HE at Fobbing and, at 1.30am, eight incendiaries at Vange, although none caused any damage. Another HE bomb dropped at Great Waltham at about 1.40am before LZ.98 crossed into Suffolk, where Lehmann dropped his last two bombs near Ipswich at 2.13am. One fell in a field near Rushmere and the other near Playford, destroying crops of oats and turnips. Lehmann went out to sea near Aldeburgh at about 2.35am. Unknown to Lehmann, Lieutenant William Leefe Robinson of 39 Squadron had been closing in to attack but lost LZ.98 in the clouds near Gravesend.

    Army Zeppelin LZ.90 (possibly commanded by Hauptmann La Quiante) crossed the Essex coast near Frinton just after 11.00pm and headed north-west. At 11.20pm she stopped her engines over Mistley, a village on the outskirts of Manningtree, where it appears she had a problem with her observation car, which fell to the ground. At 11.45pm LZ.90 moved off again and at Foxearth, west of Sudbury, she dropped two incendiaries before approaching Wixoe at about 12.30am where she unloaded her remaining bombs - 21 HE and 16 incendiary - on the unsuspecting village. No one was hurt but the bombs broke windows at the school, the school house and another house. Shortly afterwards the crew dropped the jettisoned observation car’s winch, which landed at Poslingford. LZ.90 then steered out across East Anglia and exited just north of Great Yarmouth at 1.45am.

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    The third army airship was a Schütte-Lanz, SL.11, commanded by Hauptmann Wilhelm Schramm. She came inland at Foulness on the Essex coast at 10.40pm and followed a course across Essex and Hertfordshire to approach London from the north-west. Arriving near St. Albans at 1.10am, SL.11 dropped three HE and three incendiary bombs in fields near Bell Lane,
    London Colney, and St. Alban’s Road, South Mimms, with two more of each landing near a wood at North Mymms. Three bombs followed at Little Heath (two incendiaries at Boltons Park and an HE in Heath Road) then a single HE bomb in the grounds of Northaw House. Approaching Enfield, SL.11 dropped two incendiary bombs either side of the railway, just south of Crews Hill station, and then released a number of bombs which fell close to the Glasgow Stud Farm at Clayhill, killing three racehorses. An incendiary then fell in a field by The Ridgeway, followed by another in a field close to the Enfield Isolation Hospital and three in fields on Oak Lodge Farm, Southgate, before SL.11 headed westwards towards Hadley Wood where she dropped two incendiaries at about 1.45am in a field at Greenwood Farm on Beech Hill. Schramm then turned and set a course for north London. Meanwhile, Robinson of 39 Squadron, who had earlier tried to engage LZ.98 near Gravesend, had seen the fires caused by SL.11’s bombs and flew towards them to investigate.

    At 1.58am, as Schramm approached North London, the searchlights at Finsbury Park and Victoria Park caught him and the London AA guns opened a fearsome storm of fire causing SL.11 to shy away to the north-east. Over Edmonton SL.11 dropped six HE bombs (of which two failed to detonate) but none caused damage. Two HE bombs exploded in the High Street at Ponders End, one damaged the road and seven houses, and the other damaged the road, shattered windows in 56 houses, smashed a water main and broke tram and telephone wires. The next six HE bombs fell on Enfield Highway slightly damaging 15 houses and a number of commercial greenhouses. Two HE bombs landed in Mr Burton’s a field at Turkey Street: one failed to detonate, the other damaged the backs of three houses. Then eight HE bombs landed on a market garden owned by Mr Hollington at Bulls Cross, damaging his crops, followed by one dropping by the bank of New River. The final bombs dropped harmlessly at Burnt Farm, Goff’s Oak, but by then SL.11 was doomed.
    Lieutenant Robinson had caught up with SL.11 as she dropped her bombs over Enfield Highway and Turkey Street. His first two attacks failed but his third attack, using new explosive and incendiary bullets, ignited her hydrogen sending SL.11 crashing to earth as a raging inferno. The wreckage came to ground in a field at the village of Cuffley in Hertfordshire, the first German airship brought down over British soil. Schramm and his entire crew perished.

    Navy Zeppelin L.16 (Kapitänleutnant Erich Sommerfeldt) crossed the Norfolk coast at Salthouse at 10.40pm and, heading southwards, dropped her first bomb, an incendiary at Kimberley, west of Norwich, at 11.28pm. Three HE bombs followed at Little Livermere, north of Bury St. Edmunds, at 11.45pm after which L.16 followed a course to the north-west of London. At 1.30am, when over the Midland Railway line at Harpenden, Sommerfeldt dropped an HE bomb (breaking three windows in two cottages) and five near Redbourn without damage. At 1.50am L.16 was at South Mimms, heading towards Hatfield, but when the AA guns opened on SL.11, nearby at 2.00am, L.16 turned south to Potters Bar where she arrived at 2.15 as SL.11, just six or seven miles away, struggled to free herself from the searchlights and AA guns. At this point Sommerfeldt steered away, attracted by a searchlight at the village of Essendon. At 2.20am he circled over the village dropping 16 HE and nine incendiary bombs. The bombs killed two sisters, Frances (26) and Eleanor (12) Bamford and injured a man and child, and seriously damaged the church and rectory, wrecked three cottages and damaged others. Moments after the bombs dropped, the crew saw SL.11 burst into flames and made off towards the north-east. Sommerfeldt dropped an incendiary over Aston, near Stevenage, and a final bomb at about 3.30am, an incendiary at West Stow near Bury St. Edmunds before he went out to sea near Great Yarmouth at about 4.20am.

    Oberleutnant-zur-See Werner Peterson, commanding L.32, came inland at Sheringham on the Norfolk coast at around 10.00pm and took a south-west course. At 11.10pm Peterson dropped three HE bombs at both Ovington and Saham Toney, the only damage being broken windows at Joseph Bullen’s farm at Ovington. At 11.45pm L.32 dropped an incendiary at Two Mile Bottom, north of Thetford, then continued on a south-west course to Tring in Hertfordshire where she arrived as the flames from the burning SL.11 flared in the distance, presuading Peterson to turn back east. At 2.45am he passed near Redbourn and nine minutes later began dropping his bombs near Hertford. Five HE and 11 incendiaries fell on Hertford Heath killing two horses, followed by 16 HE and eight incendiaries at Great Amwell, which killed a pony and broke windows in three houses. L.32’s final two HE bombs landed near Ware causing no damage as Peterson steered a north-east course and went out to sea near Corton, north of Lowestoft, at about 4.15am.

    Zeppelin L.21, commanded by Oberleutnant-zur-See Kurt Frankenburg, came inland near Mundesley on the Norfolk coast at 10.20pm. After following an at times hesitant south-west course, L.21 reached Hitchin in Hertfordshire at 2.25am, as Lieutenant Robinson destroyed SL.11. Frankenburg turned away from London, heading back northwards and began dropping his bombs at Dunton, east of Biggleswade at about 2.40am. Two incendiaries landed but failed to cause damage, followed by another at Hatley Park near Gamlingay. Twenty minutes later L.21 dropped an HE bomb at Sutton, west of Ely, on North Fen, followed by an HE and an incendiary at Horselode Fen at Chatteris, which damaged some wheat sheaves and mangelwurzels. She dropped an HE and incendiary at Tilney St. Lawrence at 3.35am without effect, and now approaching King’s Lynn she dropped two HE bombs at West Lynn and two incendiaries at North Lynn, all of which landed harmlessly. At 3.42am an incendiary landed at Wolferton, followed three minutes later by seven HE and two incendiaries near Dersingham, then four HE and three incendiaries struck Snettisham, followed at 3.50am by six HE and four incendiary bombs at Sedgeford with a final incendiary at Thornham at 4.00am before L.21 passed out over the coast. Only the bombs near Dersingham had any effect, injuring three people at Doddshill, one of whom one later died, and seriously damaging six houses and eight others to a lesser extent.

    L.14, commanded by Hauptmann Kuno Manger, came inland near Wells-next-the-Sea at about 9.50pm before flying a tortuous course over Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex. She dropped a number of bombs as she went, although none caused any damage: an incendiary at Wells, an HE at Ringstead, an incendiary on Terrington Marsh, two HE bombs at Gayton, east of King’s Lynn, an HE at Wormegay Fen, and three HE on The Warren at Shouldham. At 12.20am Manger dropped an incendiary at Upwood in Cambridgeshire before reaching a position between Thaxted and Great Dunmow in Essex at about 2.25am as SL.11 burst into flames about 25 miles away. Manger took L.14 away from London on a north-east course, dropping 18 bombs over the next 30 miles. Single HE bombs fell at Little Bardfield and at Finchingfield at 2.30am, two HE bombs at Lavenham at 2.45am, followed quickly by a single HE bomb at Thorpe Morieux and another at Brettenham, then two incendiaries near Drinkstone at 2.50am. None of these caused damage. Manger released his last bombs either side of Stowmarket. Four HE and one incendiary fell in fields at Buxhall damaging a crop of barley, followed by five HE bombs near Haughley that damaged fields of clover and wheat. He went out to sea near Bacton at 4.05am.

    Kapitänleutnant Guido Wolff, commanding an airship over Britain for the first time, brought SL.8 inland over the Norfolk coast near Holkham at 11.05pm. Ten minutes later two incendiaries landed harmlessly at Burnham Thorpe before Wolff headed south, reaching Swaffham at around 12.20am. Wolff, uncertain of his position, dropped an incendiary at Littleport, south of Downham Market, followed by another six incendiaries on Oxlode Fen, between Little Downham and Pymoor, without damage. SL.8 then meandered around the Fens between Ely and Huntingdon for the next 90 minutes. At Haddenham, although about 45 miles from the destruction of SL.11, it is possible that Wolff saw the flare of the burning airship and turned away as SL.8 was not observed again until 2.55am at East Winch, east of King’s Lynn. Wolff began dropping bombs again at Congham at around 3.00am, where three HE and three incendiaries broke windows and damaged roof tiles at two cottages, followed by an incendiary at Harpley Dams. At 3.05am three HE bombs fell at East Rudham, then an incendiary landed at Hellhoughton, three HE at Syderstone and two more at South Creake, which broke windows in four cottages. At 3.15am Wolff dropped an HE bomb at Great Walsingham without damage, followed by two at Wighton with similar result. SL.8 went out over Cley-next-the-Sea at 3.20am, dropping an HE bomb as it did so, which broke windows in Mrs Webb’s house, followed by eight dumped in the sea.

    Kapitänleutnant Robert Koch, commanding L.24, came in over the Norfolk coast at Trimingham, near Mundesley, at about 12.30am, but did not venture far inland. Ten minutes later he had reached Blickling, about nine miles from the coast, then dropped two HE bombs harmlessly at Briston at 12.50am, followed by an incendiary at the village of Plumstead before returning to the coast at Bacton around 1.00am where AA guns opened fire. L.24 followed the coast to Mundesley where she was engaged by an AA gun at 1.12am and retaliated by dropping five HE bombs which fell on the beach below the cliff where the gun was positioned. Koch brought L.24 inland again, dropping two incendiaries without effect at the village of Trunch at 1.25am then, homing in on the flares burning at RNAS airfield at Bacton, dropped 13 HE and 28 incendiary bombs five minutes later near the neighbouring village of Ridlington, all without causing any damage. L.24 then steered out to sea over Bacton.

    Zeppelin L.30, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Horst von Buttlar, crossed the Suffolk coast at Southwold at 10.40pm and travelled on a north-west course inland for 15 miles into Norfolk. At Earsham, near Bungay, von Buttlar dropped nine HE and 12 incendiary bombs at about 11.15pm, injuring a man and partly demolishing the farm house and other buildings at Hill Farm, and also smashing windows and damaging buildings at Park Farm. Eight HE bombs and an incendiary fell moments later on Bungay Common, killing two cows and injuring three others, followed by six HE bombs that landed at Ditchingham. Here bombs broke 50 window panes at Ditchingham House, another 21 panes at The Grange as well as removing roof tiles then, at the House of Mercy, a female reformatory, the blast broke 52 windows and a number of roof tiles, while two windows were also smashed at St. Mary’s Church. Three minutes after the bombs struck Ditchingham, four more HE fell north of Broome, smashing cottage windows at Redhouse Farm. Two 3-pdr AA guns at Fritton, about four miles south-west of Great Yarmouth, opened fire claiming hits on L.30 but she went out to sea and returned home safely.

    Korvettenkapitän Viktor Schütze brought L.11 inland over Great Yarmouth at 10.15pm. Three minutes later he dropped an HE and an incendiary bomb on marshy land about half a mile north-west of Southtown railway station without effect. These were the only bombs L.11 dropped on land. Schütze dropped more bombs at sea after AA guns opened fire and then followed the coast south towards Felixstowe and Harwich. At about 2.30am L.11 dropped three HE and an incendiary bomb over Harwich harbour but all fell in the water. Six AA guns of the Harwich garrison then opened fire at which point L.11 turned away, headed back up the coast and went out to sea at Aldeburgh at 2.50am.

    Commanding L.23 over England for the first time, Kapitänleutnant Wilhelm Ganzel approached the Norfolk coast over The Wash, releasing a number of incendiary bombs in the sea at 10.15pm near Snettisham. He then crossed The Wash, appearing over Kirton Fen, south of Boston, where he dropped an HE bomb. it broke windows and damaged buildings while also demolishing a fowlhouse and killing some chickens. Five minutes later another HE bomb dropped, landing at Kirton Holme, then two landed at Swineshead before L.23 turned south and released another that fell at Gosberton. There was no recorded damage. Having followed a great circle since coming inland, Ganzel then turned north dropping four HE and an incendiary on Boston at 10.54pm. These bombs damaged a signal box on the Great Northern Railway and smashed glass at a workshop and an office at the gasworks as well as damaging the interiors. A house was also partly wrecked in Fydell Street and windows smashed in 75 homes with some doors blown in. A bomb at the Grand Sluice on the River Witham killed 18-year-old Tom Oughton, also injuring his parents and another man. Heading south from Boston, L.23 circled between Wisbech and Spalding for about 35 minutes before dropping an incendiary bomb without effect at Weston. She then flew out over The Wash at 11.55pm, dropping 23 bombs at sea.

    Zeppelin L.13, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Eduard Prölss, came inland south of Cleethorpes on the Lincolnshire coast at 10.56pm where, attracted by a searchlight, she dropped six HE and two incendiary bombs at Humberston four minutes later, without causing damage. She passed Market Rasen and at 11.40pm dropped an incendiary, which fell harmlessly at the hamlet of Caenby, south of Glentham. Following a westward course, Prölss passed north of Gainsborough before releasing four incendiaries at Morton without damage, then five HE and five incendiary bombs over the village of East Stockwith at about 12.15am. These demolished two cottages, injuring a woman who later died of shock, smashing windows in other dwellings as well as breaking others in the neighbouring village of West Stockwith. L.13 reached Tickhill at 12.47am before heading towards Retford in Nottinghamshire where she began to drop the first of 15 HE and four incendiary bombs at 12.56am. These demolished a small fruit warehouse in Spital Hill, broke windows at the Wesleyan School Room on Grove Street, seriously damaged a house in Grove Street and seven more in Trent Street, where three women were injured. The most significant damage occurred at the Retford Gasworks. A combination of HE and incendiary bombs destroyed all three gasholders, accounting for most of the monetary damage that night. Damage also occurred to the manager’s house and the Works office. Throughout the town another 67 houses had windows smashed. Prölss headed back towards Gainsborough and at 1.05am dropped an HE bomb that fell harmlessly at Lea. A final incendiary landed at Aylesby, west of Grimsby at 1.25am, before L.13 went out to sea a few miles south of Cleethorpes five minutes later.

    Zeppelin L.22, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Martin Dietrich, came inland near Donna Nook at about 10.50pm and meandered across Lincolnshire. She reached Goole in East Yorkshire before turning back towards Scunthorpe where she arrived at about 12.20am. From there Dietrich picked out the Humber, which he crossed near Killingholme at about 12.35am. When east of Hull seven minutes later, AA guns at Marfleet and Sutton-on-Hull opened fire on L.22. Dietrich continued on a north-east course towards the coast, dropping his only bombs of the raid on the village of Flinton, where three HE bombs landed harmlessly in fields. L.22 went out to sea at Aldbrough at 12.55am.

    Casualties: 4 killed, 12 injured, Damage: £21,072

    2Lt OR Purnell,
    64 Squadron, RFC (UK), was wounded when the Henry Farman he was flying stalled on a turn and entered a spinning nosedive on 1st solo on type.

    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 3


    2Lt Allen, G.M. (Geoffrey May),
    10 Squadron, RFC. Killed in Action 2 September 1916, during an aerial combat over Bapaume.

    Flt Lt Bower, H.A. (Harold Alexander), Northern Aircraft School, Windermere, RNAS. Accidentally Killed on evening of 2 September 1916 aged 23, while flying in F.B.A. flying boat No.3648. He was demonstrating take off and landing procedures to Flt. Sub Lieut. E. G. F. Thompson. Aircraft broke up in air over lake.

    2Lt Russell, L.D. (Laurance Dobree), 7 Squadron, RFC. Died 2 September 1916 of wounds received while flying 26 August aged 18

    Claims: 10


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    2Lt Arthur Gerald "Gerry" Knight claims his 3rd confirmed kill flying a DH2 for 24 Squadron, RFC. He shot down a D type near Warlencourt. The son of Arthur Cecil Knight, Arthur Gerald Knight was studying Applied Science at the Upper Canada College when he was appointed to the Royal Flying Corps in 1915.

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    2Lt Alan John Bott, Observer, claims his 1st & 2nd confirmed kills with pilot 2Lt Awdry Vancour, flying a Sopwith 11/2 Strutter shot down 2 Fokker E types near Bourlon Wood and Ytres-Sailly respectively. Alan Bott joined the Royal Flying Corps after serving with the Royal Garrison Artillery. Posted to 70 Squadron in 1916, he scored 3 victories as an observer aboard Sopwith 1/12 Strutters. On 24 August 1916, Bott and his pilot, Awdry Vancour, were shot up and forced to land by Leopold Reimann of Jasta 1.

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    2Lt John Bowley Quested claims his 2nd & 3rd confirmed kills with observer 2Lt WJ Wyatt, flying an FE2b for 11 Squadron, RFC He shot down 2 Roland C types near Bapaume. Commissioned in November 1914, John Bowley Quested began flying as an observer with 11 Squadron in April 1915. Following flight training in 1916, he became an FE2b pilot.

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    2Lt Awdry Morris "Bunny" Vaucour claims his 1st & 2nd confirmed kills flying with Observer 2Lt AJ Bott, in a Sopwith 11/2 Strutter shot down 2 Fokker E types near Bourlon Wood and Ytres-Sailly respectively. Before he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, Awdry Morris Vaucour served with the Royal Field Artillery. 2nd Lieutenant Vaucour received Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate 2765 on a Maurice Farman biplane at military school, Catterick Bridge on 10 April 1916. On 24 August 1916, he and his observer, Alan Bott, were shot up and forced to land by Leopold Reimann of Jasta 1.

    Lt Patrick Anthony Langan-Byrne
    claims his 2nd confirmed kill flying a DH2 for 24 Squadron, RFC. He shot down a D type near Beaulencourt. After serving with the Royal Artillery, Patrick Anthony Langan-Byrne transferred to the Royal Flying Corps.

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    Sous Lt Jean Pie Hyacinthe Paul Jerome Casale claims his 2nd confirmed kill flying for N23 he shot down an enemy aircraft near Dieppe. Jean Casale, Marquis de Montferato, joined the army in 1913. On 1 October 1914, he transferred to the French Air Service.

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    Hauptmann Oswald Boelcke
    claims his 20th confirmed kill flying for Jasta 2 he shot down an FE2b near Flers. In 1915, Boelcke was the pilot chosen to test Anthony Fokker's new machine gun synchronizing device. It was a great success and Boelcke used the new invention to become the first German ace. He and Max Immelmann were awarded the Order Pour le Merite on 12 January 1916. They were the first two pilots to receive Prussia's highest award for bravery. By the summer of the same year, Immelmann had been killed and Boelcke, promoted to Hauptmann on 22 May 1916, was Germany's leading ace. Author of the "Dicta Boelcke," he developed rules for air combat, many of which remain relevant today.

    Western Front


    Somme:
    Rawlinson inspects British Tank Mk I force and is dissatisfied with readiness.

    Tunstills Men Saturday 2nd September 1916:


    Front line trenches east of Ploegsteert Wood


    At 9am the Battalion was relieved by 11th West Yorkshires and withdrawn a few hundred yards to close reserve trenches in Ploegsteert Wood. The relieving troops were first guided in to their new positions, with Tunstill’s Man Sgt. Norman Roberts (see 3rd December 1915) responsible for the safe arrival of the new Lewis gun teams, before the men moved off, proceeding by half companies, with 100 yards between, to their new positions. ‘A’ Company were now to be positioned at St. Andrew’s Drive (this seems to have been close to Mud Corner); ‘B’ at Hunter’s Avenue (Dead Horse Corner); ‘C’ “just beyond Gloster House”; and a’D’ at Gloster House. It was noted in the War Diary that, “there was some aeroplane activity during the afternoon”.


    In their new positions the Battalion was joined by the six new officers who were to replace the casualties of the previous month. Lt. Payne (see 1st September) and 2Lts. Graham, Halstead, Hunt, Isaacs and Roberts had all arrived in France a week earlier (see 25th August).


    In a letter home to his wife, Brig. Genl. T.S. Lambert, commanding 69th Brigade, reported, “It is nearly midnight now so this letter should really be dated the 3rd. We are off again so I may not have much time for writing and certainly none for leave, but we shall have a short time for training I hope. In the meanwhile things still seem to be going very well everywhere and I don’t think the Boche can be happy, though we shall have to do a good deal more yet before it is over. It will never do to let the war end before we have made Germany suffer the personal discomforts of invasion and have let the French, Belgians, Serbians and others get a bit of their own back, not in territory only”.

    Pte. Edward Smitham, the eldest son of Sgt. George Edward Smitham (see 30th July), who had attested for service (though underage), was transferred from 6th Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders to 2nd (Garrison) Battalion West Yorks.


    Trooper Claude Darwin (see 29th August), serving with 11th Australian Light Horse in Egypt, who had been taken ill a few days previously was relaeased from 24th Stationary Hospital and discharged to duty. He was the brother of Tunstill recruit, Pte. Tom Darwin (see 24th August).
    Eastern Front:

    Russians cross the Danube into the Dobruja.

    African, Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres:


    Egypt:
    Commanding general and McMahon confer on Arab Revolt at Ismailia.

    Arabia: Turk Berne Legation press release denigrates Sherif’s revolt, most Arabs fighting for Sultan.

    Naval Operations:


    Shipping Losses: 4


    Gioconda:
    Imperial Russian Navy: The transport ship was damaged in the Black Sea 45 nautical miles (83 km) off Trabzon, Turkey by SM U-45, Kaiserliche Marine. She was towed to Trabzon and beached for use as a landing stage. Not repaired post-war.

    Kelvinia:
    United Kingdom: The cargo ship struck a mine in the Bristol Channel 9 nautical miles (17 km) south by west of Caldey Island, Pembrokeshire.. Her crew survived

    Strathallan:
    United Kingdom: The cargo ship was shelled and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 20 nautical miles (37 km) north east of Phillipville, Algeria by SM U-38, Kaiserliche Marine. Her crew survived, but her captain was taken as a PoW.

    Uranie:
    France: The sailing vessel was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea off Philippeville by SM U-38, Kaiserliche Marine.

    Neutrals:


    Greece: Allies demand control of posts and telegraphs.


    Athens: three German vessels seized at Piraeus by Allies, Greek arsenal seized.


    Anniversary Events:

    No anniversary events included due to length of report.
    Last edited by Lt. S.Kafloc; 09-02-2016 at 10:58.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  36. #1736

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    Epic post Neil you lucky man an RFC VC and a large Zeppelin raid - very jealous old chap...

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  37. #1737

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    Thank you Neil. This thread is one huge piece of work, worth more than rep. But that is all I can give..

  38. #1738

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    Sunday 3rd September 1916
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    Major William Barnsley Allen VC DSO MC* (8 June 1892 – 27 August 1933. Allen attended St Cuthbert’s College, now Worksop College, then studied medicine at Sheffield University. He graduated MB and ChB in 1914 and joined the Royal Army Medical Corps a few days after the United Kingdom declared war on Germany. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant attached to the 3rd West Riding Field Ambulance.

    In September 1916 Allen, by then promoted to captain, was awarded the Military Cross for actions on unspecified dates:

    For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He was telephoned for when an artilleryman was severely wounded, and came in at once over ground which was being heavily shelled at the time. On another occasion he did similar fine work under heavy shell fire.

    On 3 September 1916 Allen was attached to 246th (West Riding) Brigade, Royal Field Artillery, near Mesnil. When the following event took place for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross "for most conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty":

    When gun detachments were unloading HE ammunition from wagons which had just come up, the enemy suddenly began to shell the battery position. The first shell fell on one of the limbers, exploded the ammunition and caused several casualties.
    Captain Allen saw the occurrence and at once, with utter disregard of danger, ran straight across the open, under heavy shell fire, commenced dressing the wounded, and undoubtedly by his promptness saved many of them from bleeding to death.
    He was himself hit four times during the first hour by pieces of shells, one of which fractured two of his ribs, but he never even mentioned this at the time, and coolly went on with his work till the last man was dressed and safely removed.
    He then went over to another battery and tended a wounded officer. It was only when this was done that he returned to his dug-out and reported his own injury

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    John Vincent Holland
    VC (19 July 1889 – 27 February 1975), Holland was born into a middle-class family in Athy, County Kildare, the son of veterinary surgeon John Holland and Catherine Peppard. He was educated first at Clongowes Wood College and later at Liverpool University and was one of 600 Old Clongovians to enlist in the army during World War One.

    He enlisted in 1914 in the 2nd Life Guards. In March 1915 he was attached to the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers and sent to France. He was then wounded in August and returned to England and Ireland to convalesce, but soon returned to the battlefield—this time with the 7th Battalion, serving as battalion bombing officer.

    On 3 September 1916 at Guillemont, France, he performed a deed for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. The London Gazette stated that, "During a heavy engagement, Lieutenant Holland, not content with bombing hostile dug-outs, fearlessly led his troops through our own artillery barrage and cleared a great part of the village in front. He started out with 26 troops and finished with only five after capturing some 50 prisoners. By this gallant action he undoubtedly broke the spirit of the enemy and saved many casualties."
    Holland was also promoted to Captain, Mentioned in Dispatches and given the Hickie Parchment for his bravery.

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    Thomas Hughes
    VC (10 November 1885 – 4 January 1942), Hughes was born 30 May 1885 in Corravoo near Castleblayney, County Monaghan. He was 31 years old, and a private in the 6th Battalion, The Connaught Rangers.

    On 3 September 1916 at Guillemont, France, Private Hughes was wounded in an attack but returned at once to the firing line after having his wounds dressed. Later, seeing a hostile machine-gun, he dashed out in front of his company, shot the gunner and, single-handed, captured the gun. Though again wounded, he brought back three or four prisoners.

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    David Jones
    VC (10 January 1891 – 7 October 1916),Jones was 25 years old, and a sergeant in the 12th Battalion, The Kings (Liverpool) Regiment.

    On 3 September 1916 at Guillemont, the platoon to which Sergeant Jones belonged was ordered to a forward position and during the advance came under heavy machine-gun fire, the officer being killed and the platoon suffering a great many casualties. The sergeant led forward the survivors, occupied the position and held it for two days and two nights, without food or water, until relieved. On the second day he drove back three counter-attacks, inflicting heavy losses.

    Today we lost: 4056

    Today’s losses include:

    • A battalion commander
    • Two men who will have sons killed in 1944
    • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
    • Multiple families that will lose two, three and four sons in the Great War
    • Brothers killed together
    • A man who lost a brother and a brother-in-law in the Great War
    • The brother of novelist and poet Flora Thompson
    • The son of mystery and detective writer J E Preston Muddock who is almost as popular as Arthur Conan Doyle
    • A former police constable
    • The son of the founder of the Newlyn School of Artists
    • The 1st British Ace killed in the Great War
    • A Victoria Cross winner
    • A Welsh Rugby International
    • An England Cricket International
    • Rosslyn Park Rugby player
    • The son of a General
    • The grandson of a General
    • The son of the Vice Consul at Jerez de Fronters, Spain
    • The son of a Baronet
    • The nephew of a Titanic survivor
    • A man whose father was previously killed in the Great War
    • A man whose brother will be killed in the Second World War


    Today’s highlighted casualties include:

    · Second Lieutenant Grey de Leche Leach (Scots Guards) is examining bombs in a building at Morlancourt, France in which two non-commissioned officers are also working when the fuse of one the bombs ignites. Shouting a warning he makes for the door carrying the bomb pressed close to his body but on reaching the door he finds other men outside so he cannot throw the bomb away without exposing others to grave danger. He continues to press the bomb to his body until it explodes mortally wounding him at age 22. For his sacrifice he will be awarded a posthumous Albert Medal.
    · Lieutenant Colonel John Staples Molesworth Lenox-Conyngham (commanding 6th Connaught Rangers) is killed at age 54. His brother will die in March 1918 and they are sons of Colonel ‘Sir’ William Lenox-Conyngham.

    • Lieutenant Colonel William Beresford Gibbs (commanding 3rd Worcestershire Regiment) is killed at age 35. He is the son of the Reverend William Cobham Gibbs Rector of Clyst St George who will lose another son serving as a Chaplain in March 1918 and a veteran of the South Africa War.
    • Lieutenant Colonel George Henry Bell (commanding 27th Punjabis) dies on service in India at age 47. He previously served in Egypt in 1914 and in France in 1915.
    • Major Montague Nathan Abrahams (Rifle Brigade) is killed at age 41. He is the son-in-law of ‘Sir’ Joseph Duveen.
    • Captain Harry King (Worcestershire Regiment) is killed at age 25. He is the adopted son of Canon Knox Little.
    • Captain Francis Dacres Byng (Rifle Brigade) is killed in action at age 36. He is the son of ‘the Honorable’ Sydney Dacres and he has a son who will be killed in July 1944 at age 27 while serving in the Royal Field Artillery.
    • Captain Edwin Tudor Jones (Royal Welsh Fusiliers) is killed at age 47. He is the son of Lieutenant General Griffith Turner Jones.
    • Captain Edmund Hilton Dadd MC (Welsh Fusiliers) is killed. His brother was killed on Gallipoli in July 1915.
    • Captain Edward Stafford Northcote (Sussex Regiment) is killed at age 30. His brother was killed last April and they are sons of Prebendary the Honorable John Staffofrd Northcote.
    • Captain Laurence William Tuttiett (Sussex Regiment) is killed at age 26. He is the son of the Reverend Laurence Rayner Tuttiett Rector of Kelvedon Hatch.
    • Lieutenant Kenneth Lotherington Hutchings (Liverpool Regiment) is killed in action at La Ginchy at age 33. He is an amateur cricket player for Kent and also played seven test matches for England. He is regarded as the most graceful English batsman of the so-called ‘Golden Age’ of English cricket.
    • Lieutenant Robert de Hougham Mark Bell (King’s Royal Rifle Corps) is killed in action at age 20. He is the son of Colonel Mark Bell VC CB ADC Royal Engineers.
    • Lieutenant Leonard Keid (Australian Infantry) is killed. His two brothers will also be killed in the war, the first tomorrow.
    • Lieutenant Bertram Forstere Buck (Sherwood Foresters) is killed in action at age 45. He is the only son of the British Vice Consul at Jerez de la Frontera, Spain.
    • Lieutenant David William Arnott (Royal Warwickshire Regiment) is killed in action at age 32. His received his Bachelor of Arts Degree at Caius College and was a member of the Ceylon Civil Service.
    • Lieutenant William Stewart Robertson MC (Black Watch) is killed at age 23. He is the son of the Reverend Dr. D R Robertson.
    • Lieutenant Cosmo Lewis Duff-Gordon (Herefordshire Regiment attached Machine Gun Corps) is killed at age 19. He is the son of ‘Sir’ Henry William Duff-Gordon 6th Baronet and the nephew of ‘Sir’ Cosmo Duff-Gordon who is best known for surviving the Titanic sinking under questionable circumstances.
    • Second Lieutenant Arthur John Basil Butcher (King’s Royal Rifle Corps) is killed at age 32. He is the son of Colonel Henry Townsend Butcher (Royal Field Artillery) who was killed last September and the grandson of the late Major General Athur Butcher (RM). His brother will be killed in December 1942 in Tunisia serving as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Royal Army Medical Corps.
    • Second Lieutenant Austin Lancelot Forrest (King’s Royal Rifle Corps) is killed at age 23. His brother will be killed in May next year and they are sons of Canon Ernest Francis Forrest Vicar of Pemberton.
    • Second Lieutenant Francis James Ormsby (Sussex Regiment) is killed at age 32. He is a Rosslyn Park Rugby player and his brother was killed in June 1915.
    • Second Lieutenant Thomas Firminger (East Kent Regiment) is killed at aged 30. He is the son of the Reverend Thomas David Charles Firminger Vicar of Charlton Adam.
    • Second Lieutenant Horace Wyndham Thomas (Rifle Brigade) is killed at age 26. He is the son of the Reverend Morgan Thomas and a Welsh Rugby International.
    • Second Lieutenant Ernest Andrade Haines (East Surrey Regiment) is killed at age 28. He is the son of the Reverend Marcus Haines.
    • Second Lieutenant Henry Cope Evans DSO (General List attached Royal Flying Corps) is killed at age 37. He is the first British Ace to be killed in the Great War and is a veteran of the South African War.
    • Second Lieutenant Godfrey Robert Greene (Machine Gun Corps) is killed at age 20. He is the son of the Reverend Canon Godfrey George Greene.
    • Second Lieutenant Reginald Bennett (Gloucestershire Regiment) is killed in action at age 27. He is the son of the Reverend Joseph Bennett Vicar of Stanton.
    • Second Lieutenant Hubert Lionel Houssemayne Du Boulay (Wiltshire Regiment) is killed at age 19. His brother will die during the influenza outbreak in October 1918.
    • Second Lieutenant William Alexander Stanhope Forbes (Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry) is killed in action on Guillemont at age 23. He is the son of the famous founder of the Newlyn School of artists and his father painted his portrait last month. The portrait now hangs in the Regimental museum of the Cornwall’s as a memorial to the officers of the regiment who lost their lives in the Great War. The inscription on his grave: He saw beyond the filth of battle and thought death a fair price to pay to belong to the company of these fellows.
    • Corporal Edward Dwyer VC (East Surrey Regiment) who was awarded the Victoria Cross for actions on 20th April 1915 in the Ypres Salient is killed in action.
    • Lance Corporal Leonard Buckle (West Yorkshire Regiment) is killed at age 23. His brothers will be killed over the next two Octobers.
    • Corporal Frank Thistlewood (Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry) is killed. His brother will be killed next August.
    • Lance Corporal Henry Tom Preece (King’s Royal Rifle Corps) dies of wounds at home. His brother was killed last July.
    • Lance Corporal Oliver James Haines (Corps of Military Police) by shell fire at age 22. He is a former police constable.
    • Lance Corporal Ernest Stanley Creasey (Sussex Regiment) is killed at age 23. His brother was killed last September.
    • Private Leonard Waterfall (Sherwood Foresters) becomes the second of four brothers to be killed in the Great War when he is killed in action at age 29.
    • Private David John Hatton (East Kent Regiment) is killed in action at age 21. His brother will be killed in August 1918 in Bulgaria.
    • Private Ralph Blair Hornsby (Duke of Wellington’s Regiment) is killed in action. His brother was killed in July of this year.
    • Private George C Hannay (Black Watch) is killed at age 19 near Hamel. His brother died serving in the Black Watch at Saltcoats, India on 30 August 1911 at age 28.
    • Private Alexander Bell Mitchell (Black Watch) killed at age 30. His brother will be killed in April 1918 while his brother-in-law will be killed next month.
    • Private Horace Fensome (Bedfordshire Regiment) is killed at age 24. His brother will be killed in March 1918. Rifleman Edward Quinn (Rifle Brigade) is killed at age 21. He is the first of four sons of Mrs. A N Quinn of Lower Sydenham to lose their lives in the Great War.
    • Brothers Charles, 39, and Thomas Porter, 37 are killed serving in the Somerset Light Infantry.
    • Private Alfred Mann (Northamptonshire Regiment) is killed ten days before his brother will meet the same fate.
    • Private Alec Cuthbert Johnson (Hampshire Regiment) is killed at Becourt at age 18. His two brothers are also killed in the Great War.
    • Private Walter Simpson (Warwickshire Regiment) is killed. His brother will be killed in October 1918.
    • Private Edgar Charles Ashton (Wiltshire Regiment) is killed at age 25. His brother was killed in the opening days of the war.
    • Private Edward Robinson (Gloucestershire Regiment) is killed in action. His brother died on service in February 1915.
    • Private James Marcham (Berkshire Regiment) is killed at age 25. His brother was killed last October.
    • Private John William Turner (Sherwood Foresters) is killed at age 24. His brother will be killed in July 1917.
    • Private William Freebury (Welsh Fusiliers) is killed at age 35. His brother was killed in December 1914.
    • Private Frank Arthur (West Surrey Regiment) dies of wounds at age 20. His brother will die on Salonika in October 1918.
    • Private C H Smith (Duke of Wellington’s Regiment) is killed at age 21. He is the first of three brothers who will die as a result of war service.
    • Private Sidney Arthur Halford (Warwickshire Regiment) dies of wounds at age 20. His brother will be killed next June.
    • Private Arthur Henry Smith (Australian Infantry) is killed at age 33. His brothers were killed earlier this year.
    • Private Harry Hockenhull (Cheshire Regiment) is killed at age 22. His brother will be killed next June.
    • Private Edwin Beckett Hide (Sussex Regiment) dies of wounds received at Doullens at age 30. His brother will be killed later this month.
    • Private William Henry Duke (Sussex Regiment) is killed at age 21. His brother will be killed next month.
    • Private George Mould (King’s Own Scottish Borderers) is killed. His brother will be killed three days before the Armistice.
    • Private Edward Reginald Preston Muddock (Central Ontario Regiment) is killed at age 30. His brother will be killed in November 1917 and they are sons of the author J E Preston Muddock who wrote nearly 300 detective and mystery stories that are almost as popular as the works of Arthur Conan Doyle in their time.
    • Private Walter Simpson (Warwickshire Regiment) is killed at age 22. His brother will be killed in October 1918.
    • Private James Dell (Oxford and Bucks Light Infantry) is killed at age 23. His brother will be killed next month. Private Edward Dipper (Hampshire Regiment) is killed. He is the favorite brother of novelist and poet Flora Thompson famous for her semi-autobiographical trilogy about the English countryside Lark Rise to Candleford.
    • Private Miles Gill (Duke of Wellington’s Regiment) is killed in action. His brother will be killed next year.

    Air Operations:

    Britain:
    Largest Zeppelin raid to date continues (see Saturday 2nd September issue)

    Constanza (Romania) bombed.

    Ghistelles (five miles south-east Ostend) British naval air squadron effectively attacks.


    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 2


    2Lt Evans, H.C. (Henry Cope),
    24 Squadron, RFC. Evans, H.C. (Henry Cope)

    2Lt McCutcheon, H.E. (Hugh Edward), 4 Squadron, RFC. Killed in Action 3 September 1916 aged 27, Hit by anti-aircraft fire and crashed

    Claims: 2

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    Lt Geoffrey Hilton Bowman claims his 1st confirmed kill flying a DH2 for 29 Squadron, RFC when he shot down a Roland east of Linselles. The son of George and Mary Bowman, Geoffrey Hilton Bowman's father was a physician. Flying the DH2, Bowman scored his first two victories with 29 Squadron in 1916.

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    Lt Gustav Leffers claims his 7th confirmed kill flying for Jasta 1 when he shot down a Martinsyde G. 100 near Mory.

    Western Front


    British defeat Prussian Guard attack at Thiepval.
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    Battle of the Somme: Fourth major joint Allied push to aid Rumania. At 1200 hours French Sixth Army attacks north of Somme, captures most of Ciery and German defences along road north to Le Forest and Le Forest village, but at junction with BEF (on extreme left) little help possible and Germans launch strong counter-attacks (September 4).

    Battle of Guillemont (until September 6): large-scale British attack, 20th Division captures Guillemont and part of Mouquet Farm.

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    The battle of Guillemont, 3-6 September 1916, was the official name given to the fighting that captured the village of Guillemont during the first battle of the Somme. The dates of the battle are rather misleading. Guillemont had been on the right flank of the British line since the middle of July, and had been attacked without success during August. The official name also covers the fighting further north in Delville Wood and around Ginchy.

    Progress on this eastern flank of the British line was essential if the French and British were to cooperate properly north of the Somme. By the start of September the capture of Guillemont was becoming more urgent, as the plans for an attack north toward Flers and Courcelette began to take shape.

    The successful attack on Guillemont was made by XIV corps, and was led by the 20th Division, with the 5th Division to their right. Their target was Leuze Wood, 1,500 yards beyond the village, on a ridge overlooking the village of Combles.

    The southern part of the attack on 3 September suffered the most heavily. There the 13th Brigade had been relying on the French for a final bombardment of their objective, Falfemont Farm, but the French became stuck in Combles Ravine, and were unable to make and progress. The leading waves of the first battalion to attack were wiped out by German fire. To their left the 95th Brigade (5th Division) captured its first three objectives, and reached a line east of Guillemont.

    The Sixth Army was reinforced near the river on 3 September, by XXXIII Corps with the 70th and 77th divisions astride the river and VII Corps with the 45th, 46th, 47th and 66th divisions. XX Corps on the French left was relieved by I Corps, with the 1st and 2nd divisions and several fresh or rested brigades were distributed to each corps. Control of the creeping barrage was delegated to commanders closer to the battle and a communications system using flares, Roman candles, flags and panels, telephones, optical signals, pigeons and message runners, was set up to maintain contact with the front line.

    Four French divisions attacked north of the Somme at noon on 3 September. Cléry was subjected to a machine-gun barrage from the south bank and VII Corps captured most of Cléry, much of the German position along the Cléry–Le Forêt road and all of the village of Le Forêt. On the left, I Corps advanced 1-kilometre (0.62 mi), occupied high ground south of Combles and entered Bois Douage in one hour

    The 20th Division attack on Guillemont began from a series of trenches very close to the German front line. The village itself had been destroyed by repeated artillery bombardments, but underneath it was a maze of German strongpoints. Despite this the 20th Division attack succeeded, captured its three objectives and reaching the Ginchy-Wedge Wood road, east of Guillemont. Elsewhere British attacks on Ginchy and further west around the front met with little or no success on 3 September.

    The advance east of Guillemont continued over the next three days.

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    German dead lie outside the shell-blasted remains of their machine-gun post near Guillemont

    Battle of Pozieres Ridge ends. Continuous fighting near Falfemont Farm.

    British attacks on Schwaben Redoubt and High Wood fail.

    Verdun: German attack fails on Vaux-Chapitre defences. French gradual if costly advance. (until September 13).

    Ypres:
    I Canadian Corps hands sector to I Anzac Corps and is switched to Somme.

    Tunstills Men Sunday 27th August 1916:

    Close reserve trenches in Ploegsteert Wood
    The Battalion provided working parties of 160 men for the Royal Engineers. In the afternoon, orders were received for the Battalion to be relieved next day by 7th South Lancs. Overnight three men were wounded by German shelling.

    Sgt. Edgar Shuttleworth (see 28th August) returned to duty following treatment to his injured right knee. He was now promoted Company Quarter Master Sergeant with ‘D’ Company.

    Pte. Sydney Charles Nicholls (see 1st September), who had been admitted to hospital in Boulogne two days earlier, was now diagnosed as suffering from, not only the inflammation of the forearm for which he had originally been admitted, but also from “PUO” (ie pyrexia, or raised temperature, of unknown origin), which was attributed to the condition known as ‘trench fever’. Nicholls himself identified his illness as having started, “in June on the Somme … got rheumatism from laying so much in the wet”.

    2Lt. Philip Howard Morrisand 2Lt. Fred Helliwell Baume (see 6th July), having both completed their officer training at Denham, arrived in France, en route to 10DWR.

    Pte. Albert Hoggarth (see 1st September) was posted from the Regimental Depot at Halifax to join 3DWR to begin his military training; would later be posted to 10DWR and serve with ‘A’ Company.

    Within a week of re-joining the Army Pte. Patrick Sweeney (see 28th August) found himself on a charge, having been absent from 10pm on the night of 2nd September until 12.40 am on 3rd; he was sentenced to be confined to barracks for two days.

    Pte. Percy Wharton, brother of Pte. Allan Wharton (see 10th July) who had left 10DWR after being wounded in action with Tunstill’s Company at Contalmaison, was reported missing in action whilst serving with 1st/6th DWR; his Battalion had launched an attack against German positions near Thiepval, and though their advance was initially successful, they were forced to withdraw as units around them failed to achieve their objectives.


    Eastern Front:


    Near Orsova on Danube, Austrians withdraw to west bank of Cherna.

    Russians close to Zlota Lipa capture position near Brzezany, taking many prisoners,


    Carpathians: Brusilov Offensive, Lechitski success near Dorna Watra, takes 4,500 Pow’s southeast of Halicz (September 5).

    Dobruja: Mackensen’s tri-national Danube Army invades Rumania.

    African, Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres:

    Dar-es-Salaam, capital of German East Africa, surrenders to British Naval Forces.

    Naval Operations:


    Germany:
    Unrestricted U-boat warfare to be postponed until peace initiative (Pless council, Chancellor, Admiral Holtzendorff, Hindenburg and Ludendorff present).

    Shipping Losses: 8


    Gerneral Archinard:
    France: The barque was sunk in the English Channel 16 nautical miles (30 km) south east of the Royal Sovereign Lightship by SM UB-23, Kaiserliche Marine. Her crew survived

    Gotthard:
    Norway: The cargo ship was sunk in the English Channel 45 nautical miles (83 km) west south west of Beachy Head, East Sussex, by Sm UB-29, Kaiserliche Marine. Her crew survived

    Mascotte:
    United Kingdom: The cargo ship struck a mine and sank in the North Sea 6.5 nautical miles (12.0 km) off Southwold, Suffolk with the loss of a crew member. by SM UC-6, Kaiserliche Marine. Her crew survived.

    Netta:
    United Kingdom: The coaster was scuttled in the English Channel 35 nautical miles (65 km) north east of Cap d’Antifer, Manche, France by SM UB-18, Kaiserliche Marine. Her crew survived

    Notre Dame de Lourdes: France: The fishing vessel was sunk in the English by SM UB-29, Kaiserliche Marine.

    Peter Darcy:
    Imperial Russian Navy: The transport ship was sunk in the Black Sea north of Snake Island by Sm UB-42, Kaiserliche Marine. Her crew survived

    Rievaulx Abbey:
    United Kingdom: The cargo liner struck a mine and sank in theHumber Estuary with the loss of two lives

    Teesborough: United Kingdom: The coaster was scuttled in the English Channel 30 nautical miles (56 km) off Fecamp, Seine-Maritime, France by Sm UB-18, Kaiserliche Marine. Her crew survived
    Villa de Oro: Italy: The sailing vessel was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 60 nautical miles (110 km) off Zembra, Tunisia by SM U-38, Kaiserliche Marine. Her crew survived
    Last edited by Lt. S.Kafloc; 09-04-2016 at 01:20.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  39. #1739

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    Dispatch rider has just arrived with news of Tunstills men (Sunday 3rd Sept). Copy amended and posted,
    See you on the Dark Side......

  40. #1740

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    Monday 4th September 1916
    Today we lost: 1166

    Today’s losses include:
    • A Member of Parliament
    • A battalion commander
    • The son of a General
    • Multiple sons of members of the clergy
    • Multiple families that will lose two, three and four sons in the Great War
    • A member of the Bedfordshire Constabulary
    • A member of the Isle of Ely Constabulary


    Today’s highlighted casualties include:

    • Lieutenant Colonel Duncan Frederick Campbell DSO (Black Watch commanding 2nd/7th Duke of Wellington’s Regiment) dies of injuries at home sustained in a mine explosion at age 39. He was wounded at Ypres in November 1914, is a Member of Parliament for North Ayrshire from 1911 until his death and a veteran of the South Africa War.
    • Captain Richard Francis Newdigate (Border Regiment) is killed at age 22. He is the son of Lieutenant General ‘Sir’ Henry Newdigate KCB.
    • Captain William Stapleton de Courcy Stretton (Warwickshire Regiment) is killed at age 27. He is the second of four brothers who will lose their lives in the Great War.
    • Second Lieutenant Samuel Wyness Hutcheon (Highland Light Infantry) dies of tetanus following wounds received on 29th August in the first Battle of the Somme at age 29. He is the English master at Buckie Higher Grade School, Banffshire and he enlisted on 18th September 1914.
    • Second Lieutenant Charles Lewarne Teape (Devonshire Regiment) is killed in action at Ginchy at age 20. He is the son of the Reverend Charles Richard Teape Vicar of St Michael’s Devonport.
    • Sergeant Bennett Walter Keid (Australian Infantry) is killed in action at age 23 one day after his brother was killed. A third brother will be killed November 1917.
    • Sergeant Walter Frederick Surridge (Bedfordshire Regiment) is killed at age 28. He is a member of the Bedfordshire Constabulary.
    • Corporal Ernest Owen Peel (King’s Royal Rifle Corps) a member of the Wisbech Isle of Ely Constabulary is killed at age 29. He is the third and final member of the force to lose his life in the Great War.
    • Lance Corporal Arthur Cannell (Norfolk Regiment) is killed at age 18. His brother will be killed in September 1917.
    • Private Joe Hodgkinson (Cheshire Regiment) is killed in action at age 21. His brother will be killed in March 1918.
    • Private Langton Benson-Brown (Manitoba Regiment) is killed in action at age 22. He is the son of the Very Reverend William Henry Benson-Brown.
    • Private Albert Fordham Abbott (Bedfordshire Regiment) is killed at age 21. His brother was killed in June 1915.
    • Private Ernest W Chandler (Bedfordshire Regiment) is killed at age 18. He has two brothers who will die in the service of their King in 1918.
    • Private Harry Edward Gall (Cambridgeshire Regiment) dies of wounds received the previous day at age 22. His brother will be killed in October 1917.
    • Private Albert Edward Page (Gloucestershire Regiment) is killed at age 22. His brother will be killed in June 1918.
    • Private Gilbert Con**** (Devonshire Regiment) is killed at age 24. His two brothers have previously lost their lives in the Great War.
    • Private Henry Walter J Hill (Devonshire Regiment) is killed at age 18. His brother will be killed next March.
    • Private James David Thomas Nunn (West Surrey Regiment) is killed at age 35. His brother will be killed in November 1917.
    • Private Samuel Vivian Veall (Australian Infantry) is killed at age 18 six weeks after his brother was killed.
    • Private Charles Alexander Baring (Australian Infantry) is killed at age 23. He is the first of four brothers who will lose their lives in the Great War.
    • Private John Edward Bloom (Norfolk Regiment) is killed at age 26. His brother was killed in January 1915.


    Air Operations:



    Levant:
    RFC bomb Mazar.


    Royal Flying Corps Losses today: No deaths are recorded for today.



    Claims: 1



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    Offizierstellvertreter Julius Arigi claims his 6th confirmed kill flying with Observer Johann Lasi in a Hansa-Brandenburg CI for Flik 6, forcing down a Farman which was then captured, near Fjeri. On 5 October 1913, Arigi joined the Austrian army, serving with an artillery regiment before transferring to the air service in March 1914. The Austro-Hungarian Empire's most highly decorated ace was greatly admired by the public and the monarchy.

    Western Front



    Somme:


    French offensive continues, Barleux to south of Chaulnes, many prisoners taken.
    French take village of Chilly.
    Tunstill’s Men, Monday 4th September 1916:


    At 8 am Lt. **** Bolton (see 23rd August), accompanied by an NCO from each Company, set off by bicycle to secure the new billets about one mile south-east of Bailleul. At 5 pm, in pouring rain, the remainder of the Battalion was relieved by 7th South Lancs. The men then began their nine mile march. For the first three miles, as far as Pont d’Achelles, they marched by half companies, maintaining a distance of 200 yards between, before closing up to companies, with 100 yards between for the remainder of the march. The final company arrived at 9 pm.


    A Medical Board meeting in Sheffield considered the case of Lt. Cecil Edward Merryweather (see 31st August) who had been wounded on 5th July, and subsequently treated in England; he had been on leave for the previous month. The Board found that, “The wound on the right thigh is quite healed and causing no disability. The general condition not quite satisfactory”. Their deliberations would likely have taken account of the diagnosis of neurasthenia which had been provided a few days earlier. Merryweather was declared fit for light duty at home and instructed to join 11th (Reserve) Battalion DWR at Brocton Camp, Staffs., where he duly reported for duty next day.

    Ex-Tunstill’s Man, Dvr. Arthur Overend (see 1st September), now serving with the ASC at Cirencester, was formally confirmed as having qualified as a “cold shoer”.

    Solicitors, Torr & Co., wrote to the War Office on behalf of the mother of Capt. Herbert Montagu Soames Carpenter (see 27th July), who had been killed in action on 5th July. They appealed that the case should be exempt from payment of death duties, given the circumstances and that the estate would amount to around £256, all of which would go to his mother.

    Eastern Front:

    Zlota Lipa front, General Brusilov's troops successful, 19,000 prisoners within four days.
    Unsuccessful German gas attacks near Baronovichi (C.).
    African, Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres:


    The Deputy Burgomaster at Dar es Salaam is received aboard HMS Echo to accept the terms of surrender of the city and troops, headed by the 129th Baluchis, enter the city.

    South of River Elen, west of Trebizond, Russian offensive continues; over 500 prisoners.
    South-west of Lake Nimrud, west of Lake Van, British armoured cars engage Kurdish forces.
    Naval Operations:


    At 07:00 the submarine E7 dives to 100 feet in an attempt to break through the anti-submarine nets at Nagara Point in the Dardanelles. The attempt fails when the starboard propeller becomes entangled in the nets. All attempts to free the vessel fail and the activity draws the attention of Turkish craft in the area. After numerous attacks E7 is forced to surface. After the crew has been removed to safety, the vessel is scuttled.


    Shipping Losses: 4



    HMT Jessie:
    Royal Navy: The naval trawler struck mine and sank in the North Sea off Lowestoft, Suffolk with the loss of five of her crew.


    Laristan:
    United Kingdom: The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 30 nautical miles (56 km) south east of Gozo, Malta by SM U-38, Kaiserliche Marine. Her crew survived but her captain was taken as a prisoner of war.


    Pasquale Lauro:
    Italy The barque was scuttled in the Gulf of Lion by SM U-34, Kaiserliche Marine Her crew took to the lifeboats but were not seen again.


    Silverstream:
    Italy: The barque was scuttled in the Gulf of Lion by SM U-34, Kaiserliche Marine.


    Neutrals:


    Athens reports that King Constantine will reconsider the attitude of Greece.
    The Greek Government accepts the three demands of the Anglo-French note.
    Anniversary Events:


    1189
    After the death of Henry II, Richard Lionheart is crowned king of England.


    1260
    Mamelukes under Sultan Qutuz defeat Mongols and Crusaders at Ain Jalut.


    1346
    Edward III of England begins the siege of Calais, along the coast of France.


    1650
    The English under Cromwell defeat a superior Scottish army under David Leslie at the Battle of Dunbar’.


    1777
    The American flag (stars & stripes), approved by Congress on June 14th, is carried into battle for the first time by a force under General William Maxwell.


    1783
    The Treaty of Paris is signed by Great Britain and the new United States, formally bringing the American Revolution to an end.


    1895
    The first professional American football game is played in Latrobe, Pennsylvania between the Latrobe Young Men's Christian Association and the Jeannette Athletic Club. Latrobe wins 12-0.


    1914
    1st Battle of the Marne started. French capital is moved from Paris to Bordeaux.


    1914
    Pact of London signed.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  41. #1741

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    My stint at the front is over for the time being so I hand the baton over to Chris to carry on the good work.
    See you on the Dark Side......

  42. #1742

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    Just settling down to resume my editorial duties with a cup of brown joy... just as the professor says

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eELH0ivexKA

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

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    Well its good to be back, huge thanks to Neil for the past few weeks whilst I was off skiving again - mind you RFC VCs and Zeppelin raids.. oh lucky man - lets see what he has left for me.

    5th September 1916

    1 airman lost their life on this day... Lieutenant Eric Fothergill Bainbridge Killed in Action 5 September 1916 aged 18.

    Eric was born on 11th December 1896 at St. Helier in Jersey, Channel Islands, the younger son of Reginald Newton Bainbridge and Emily Bainbridge. His father had been born c1842 in Putney, Surrey; his mother c1860 in Malta. Eric’s father had at least eight children from a previous marriage.His siblings were: Godwin Augustus Bainbridge (1886-1940), Estelle Bainbridge (born 1888), Ruby Bainbridge (born 1892) and Edward Bainbridge (born 1899).Eric was educated at St. Ignatius College in Malta and then Victoria College in Jersey. At the latter he was a member of the Officer Training Corps. He left the College on 31st August 1914. After working as an apprentice electrician at Crompton’s in Chelmsford Eric subsequently volunteered for the army. He passed a medical examination carried out in Chelmsford on 23rd November 1915 , which described him as five feet five and three-quarter inches tall, weighing 125 pounds. Six days later he attested to join the army for the duration of the war and was posted as Private 9695 with the 29th (Reserve) Battalion of the Royal Fusiliers.

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    Within weeks of joining the army Eric applied to join the Royal Flying Corps, giving his permanent address as Valdona (later number 11 and today number 25, pictured), Braemar Avenue in Chelmsford, and his wartime address as 53 Mill Street, Olney in Oxford. His peacetime occupation was a Pupil Apprentice to Crompton and Company, electrical engineers of Chelmsford. His application, which stated he had knowledge of motor mechanics, and was countersigned by his mother as he was less than 21 years of age. On 18th January 1916 Eric passed his medical examination at Oxford and a week later his application was endorsed at Oxford by the commanding officer of Eric’s battalion. A letter dated 5th March 1916 confirmed that Eric was successful so with effect from 15th April 1916 Eric was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant on the General List and Royal Flying Corps. He was directed to join at Christ’s Church College, Oxford on that date for instruction in aviation. He trained for flying at Oxford and Hythe, and gained his Royal Aero Club Aviators’ Certificate (number 3004) on 27th May 1916 when flying a Maurice Farman Biplane at Military School, Brooklands in Surrey. Having received his commission he went out to France on 11th August 1916 and was posted to 32nd Squadron, Royal Flying Corps.Eric went missing in aerial combat above the Somme on 5th September 1916, the date that was later assumed to be that of his death.

    There were no aerial victories claimed on this day - its a bit of a quiet one.

    On a day when we lost 707 today’s losses include:


    A Victoria Cross winner
    The nephew of a Victoria Cross winner
    A school master
    Multiple families that will lose two and three sons in the Great War
    A man who will have two cousins killed in the Great War
    A father and son killed and buried together

    Today’s highlighted casualties include:

    Captain Robert Davis Murray (Australian Infantry) is killed at age 29. His brother will be killed in September 1918.
    Second Lieutenant Arthur Roscoe MC (Royal West Kent Regiment) is killed at age 26. He is a schoolmaster by profession and an honours graduate of Cambridge in Classics and History.
    Second Lieutenant Charles Herbert Hills (Manchester Regiment) is killed at age 21. His brother will be killed next March.
    Private John William Taylor (Alberta Regiment) is killed at age 31. He is the middle of three brothers who will lose their lives in the Great War.
    Private William Harbour (Liverpool Regiment) is killed at age 28. He has two cousins who will lose their lives in the Great War.
    Private Herbert Payne (Berkshire Regiment) is killed at age 20. His brother will be killed in March 1918.
    Sergeant George Lee, age 44 and his son Corporal Robert Frederick Lee, age 19, both members of the Royal Field Artillery are killed in action together. They are buried side by side.

    Western Front:

    The 1st Bedfordshire Regiment 15th Brigade 5th Division and the 16th Warwickshire Regiment attack and capture Falfemont Farm including a fortified German strong point known as Wedge Wood.

    Lieutenant John Fitzhardinge Paul Butler VC DSO (King’s Royal Rifle Corps attached Gold Coast Regiment, West Africa Frontier Force) dies of wounds at Motomba at age 27. He had been awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions in November and December of 1914 in the Cameroons. He is the nephew of Lord Gifford VC.

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    Capt. Tunstill's Men: The weather was again vey wet and a quiet day was spent cleaning kit and equipment and making ready for a further move, to billets in Eperlecques, to be made next day. Further British artillery activity was noted overnight. Capt. John Atkinson (see 21st August), left the Battalion, having been taken ill, suffering from trench fever. Enquiries continued regarding 2Lt Roland Herbert Wyndham Brinsley-Richards (see 29th August) who was officially reported ‘missing in action’ following the attack on Munster Alley. A statement was taken, at no.3 Canadian General Hospital, Boulogne, from Pte. John Edmund Popplewell, who was a member of ‘D’ Company. According to Popplewell, “Lt. Brinsley-Richards went up with a bombing party out of our Munster Trench. I was with a machine gun section close by and saw him start. I didn’t see him hit, but word was passed down the line. It was in no-man’s land near the German trench. The other machine gun section behind him must have passed him as they went on and took the German trench, and that bit of it we have never given up since”. Pte.Popplewell was subsequently transferred to the Tank Corps.


    8/Devons moved into ZZ Trench for an attack on the maze of trenches between Ginchy and Delville Wood timed for 3.30am on 5th September. However, delays and poor conditions meant that they didn't relieve the 21/Manchesters until 8am. The attack was postponed until 3.30am next morning. Meantime, later that afternoon, No1 Platoon A Co was sent to the assistance of the 2/Queens in a bombing attack on Ale Alley. By their fire support they enabled the Queens to capture the trench.
    After dark, 2 platoons of D Co were sent forward and dug in on the south-east corner of Delville Wood. Overnight these 2 platoons held South Street and Pilsen Lane. On 6th September the renewed advance was delayed until 6.30am. 8/Devons moved out of ZZ Trench and dug in from its junction with Delville Wood along Pilsen Lane towards Ginchy as a defensive flank. As a result of the Gordons' failure to clear Ginchy one platoon of C Co became isolated at Point 13 on the Longueval-Ginchy road and had to drive off a determined German to cut it off. Later this platoon had to withdraw to a safer position

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    5th September 1916

    With the relief of the 13th Brigade the participation of the Australians in this phase of the Somme battle had come to an end. The Fourth Army to the right had succeeded at Guillemont, but on the orders of General Haig the Reserve Army’s attempt at securing Thiepval before the mid-September offensive was given up. Seven times the Australians had launched against Mouquet Farm and only on the last and greatest effort was any success made, and this on a front so narrow that it would not hold a deliberate counter-offensive which inevitably came on the 8th September causing terrible loses for the Canadians, and resulting in the Germans retaking the Fabeck Graben.

    The War at Sea: The U-boats were active again today

    City of Ghent United Kingdom The coaster was scuttled in the English Channel 18 nautical miles (33 km) south east of Barfleur, Manche, France by SM UB-18 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
    Jeanne Denmark The cargo ship was sunk in the English Channel 16 nautical miles (30 km) north east of the Casquets, Channel Islands (49°51′N 2°17′W) by SM UB-29 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
    Marcel Belgium The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel 20 nautical miles (37 km) north of Barfleur by SM UB-18 ( Kaiserliche Marine).
    Saint Marc France The cargo ship was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 58 nautical miles (107 km) south east of Malta (35°08′N 15°23′E) by SM U-38 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived and were rescued by La Savoie ( French Navy).
    Spence United Kingdom The schooner was driven ashore 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) west of Point of Ayre, Isle of Man and was wrecked. Her three crew were rescued.

    Eastern Front

    Seven miles south-east of Halicz the Russians claim success; many prisoners taken.

    Polish autonomy granted by Central Powers.

    Southern Front

    In the Dolomites operations now developing, the whole of Val Cismone free.

    Bucharest bombed by Bulgars.

    Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

    British bomb Turkish aerodrome at El Arish (90 miles east of Port Said).

    Political, etc.


    Mr. Balfour at Glasgow appeals to local trade unions re: shipyard labour.

    Trade Union Congress at Birmingham rejects invitation of U.S.A. Federation of Labour, re: "Terms of Peace".

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  44. #1744

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    6th September 1916

    Well it would appear that both Neil and I are now 'forbidden' to access one of our most useful resource sites, which is a little bit of a frustration, but never mind, we shall have to dig a little deeper elsewhere....

    4 AIRMEN HAVE FALLEN ON WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 6TH 1916

    Lieutenant Ernest Charles Kemp 25 Squadron RFC. Lt. Kemp was an observer when killed in aerial combat near Lens 6 September 1916 aged 2. He was the observer in FE2b 5238

    2nd Lieutenant James Leslie Robertson 25 Squadron RFC. He was the pilot of FE2b 5238 when he was killed in action on this day, aged 21.

    He was the youngest son of Robert Hopkins Roberton J.P. and his wife Mary Louisa, who was the daughter of William Parren. James was educated at Magdalen College School, Oxford, and in the Spring of 1913 went to South Africa to study farming at the Rhodesian Government Experimental Farm, returning to England in 1914 he matriculated at the University of London and entered the Medical College as a student. He joined the O.T.C. in May 1915, and obtained a commission in the Yorkshire Regiment on the 12th August 1915. He was for some time a Machine Gun Instructor, and transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in April 1916. He gained his Pilot’s Certificate in August 1916 and served with the Expeditionary Force in France and Flanders from August 1916, and was killed in action near Hulloch and Lens on the 6th September 1916. He was patrolling the lines and had crossed to attack a hostile craft, while doing so his machine was shot down by a Fokker. Death was supposed to be instantaneous and due to the explosion of the petrol tank. James was unmarried. Other sources show his surname spelling as ROBERTON.

    Both men's names can be found on the Arras Flying Services Memorial...

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    The ARRAS FLYING SERVICES MEMORIAL commemorates nearly 1,000 airmen of the Royal Naval Air Service, the Royal Flying Corps, and the Royal Air Force, either by attachment from other arms of the forces of the Commonwealth or by original enlistment, who were killed on the whole Western Front and who have no known grave. The British Air Services originated in the use of balloons for purposes of reconnaissance. The balloon gave way to power-driven air machines and in 1911 an Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers was formed. In 1912 the Air Battalion was superseded by the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) which was organised into two branches; one military (army) and one naval. However, divergent priorities prompted the Royal Navy to form its own air arm, the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) which was officially recognised in July 1914. Towards the end of the First World War, on 1 April 1918 both the RFC and the RNAS were merged to form the Royal Air Force. The Arras Flying Services Memorial will be found in the Faubourg-d'Amiens Cemetery, which is in the Boulevard du General de Gaulle in the western part of the town of Arras.

    Flight Sub. Lt. Lewis Radmore RNAS No. 6 Kite Balloon Section. He died of pneumonia on this day in 1916

    2nd Lieutenant Cyril Llewellyn Seymour 42 Squadron RFC. Spare a thought today for Cyril Llewellyn Seymour Thomas. Imagine what it would be like age 19 to take off solo on a bombing raid in WW1. You are flying a Be2e biplane solo because leaving your gunner/observer behind means you can carry 2 x 50kg bombs. That’s what 2nd Lt Cyril Thomas, Border Regt & 42 Sqn RFC did with other Sqn pilots on 6 Sept 1916. They took off from La Gorgue to fly 25km and attack the railway station at Quesnoy-sur-Deûle near Lille. Cyril was brought down by a German aircraft inside enemy lines. He died of wounds later that day and was buried in the German cemetery at Verlinghem. In 1923 he was reburied at Pont-du-Hem CWGC military cemetery near Neuve-Chapelle. Cyril was the first member of 42 Sqn to fall in combat. He was born in Ceylon, educated at Epsom School and joined the Border Regt from school. He transferred to the RFC in May 1916; on Aug 8 1916 he flew over with 42 Sqn when it deployed to France.

    British airmen raid Turkish camps, supply depots and camel lines at Mazar in the Sinai Peninsula with good results. The British advance is checked north of Kissaki in the Uluguru Mountains.

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    On this day we lost 768 men (I am terribly sorry that we are unable to report on French and German losses with equal clarity - alas my language /translation skills are not up to it)

    Today’s highlighted casualties include:

    Captain Thomas Gordon Fitzpatrick
    (Royal Irish Fusiliers) is killed in action at age 35. He is the son of the Reverend William Fitzpatrick Rector of Dysart.
    Lieutenant Bertram Glossop (Devonshire Regiment) is killed in action at age 21. He is the son of the Reverend Canon G H P Glossop.
    Lieutenant Rolf Guillaume Bertram (Manitoba Regiment) is killed at age 24. He is the son of ‘the Honorable’ Louis John Bertram CMG.
    Lieutenant Albert Edward Kinghan (Royal Irish Fusiliers) is killed in action at age 24. He is the son of the late Reverend D P Kinghan.
    Lieutenant Francis Campion Mulcahy Morgan (Irish Rifles) is killed at age 21. His brother was killed in October 1914 and their nephew will be killed serving in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve on 4th January 1945.
    Lieutenant Sinclair M Gunn MC (Black Watch) dies of wounds in High Wood. His brother was killed in April of this year.
    Second Lieutenant Leonard Marriott Davenport (Irish Fusiliers) dies of wounds at age 27. His brother will be killed in March 1918 and they are grandsons of James Clutterbuck Vicar of Long Wittenham and their brothers will go on to become a Vice Admiral and Brigadier.
    Second Lieutenant Frederick John Cruse Dixon (Black Watch) is killed in action at age 26. He had been a graduate student of the Royal Academy of London.
    Lance Corporal James Thomas Sadgrove (London) is killed at age 23. His brother will be killed in September 1918.
    Lance Corporal Tommy Stafford (Dublin Fusiliers) is killed in action at age 24, two years after his older brother was killed.
    Private Walter Henry Cox (Bedfordshire Regiment) dies of wounds at age 27. His brother will be killed next April.
    Driver Samuel Bater MM (Devonshire Regiment) is killed. His two brothers will be killed in 1918.
    Private Alfred Frederick James Newman (Sussex Regiment) dies of wounds at age 32. His brother will be killed on HMS Viking when it is involved in a collision in February 1918.
    Private Christopher James Brown (East Kent Regiment) is killed at age 33. His brother will be killed next May.
    Private James Henry Searles (Devonshire Regiment) is killed at age 19. His brother was killed in December 1914.

    Tunstill's Men:

    The Battalion was once again on the move, this time to the training and reserve area near Eperlecques (north-west of St Omer). Reveille was at 6am, with the Battalion assembled by 8am ready to move off. Company officers were ordered to, “inspect all packs before parade and see that nothing is carried outside ordinary kit. All parcels etc must be sent by lorry which will be provided for Officers’ kits”. The journey to Eperlecques took the Battalion first on a short march in to Bailleul. Here the boarding of trains was supervised by Major Robert Harwar Gill (see 21st August). The main body of the Battalion boarded a train for St Omer at 9.28am from Bailleul main station while the cookers, mess carts, water carts etc. left from Bailleul West station two hours later. The Battalion Transport Officer, Lt. Charles Wolffe (see 24th June) was put in charge of transport arrangements for the whole of 69th Brigade. The rail journey to St Omer took one hour and twenty minutes and on arrival the men formed up for a seven mile march to billets in and around Eperlecques, arriving at 3pm. Lt. **** Bolton (see 4th September) was billeted at Gandspette, just north-east of Eperlecques, as evident from a photograph which he kept among his personal possessions.

    There were nine aces claiming aerial victories on this day: Staring with the first aerial victory of the brilliant yet tragically unsung hero that was Sergeant (later Major) James Thomas Byford 'Mac' McCudden VC, DSO & Bar, MC & Bar, MM

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    Born in 1895 to a middle class family with military traditions, McCudden joined the Royal Engineers in 1910. Having an interest in mechanics he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) in 1913 at which time he first came into regular contact with aircraft. At the outbreak of war in 1914 he flew as an observer before training as a fighter pilot in 1916.

    McCudden claimed his first victory in September 1916. He claimed his fifth victory—making him an ace—on 15 February 1917. For the next six months he served as an instructor and flew defensive patrols over London. He returned to the frontline in summer 1917. That same year he dispatched a further 31 enemy aircraft while claiming multiple victories in one day on 11 occasions. With his six British medals and one French, McCudden received more awards for gallantry than any other airman of British nationality serving in the First World War. He was also one of the longest serving. By 1918, in part due to a campaign by the Daily Mail newspaper, McCudden became one of the most famous airmen in the British Isles. At his death he had achieved 57 aerial victories, placing him seventh on the list of the war's most successful aces. Just under two-thirds of his victims can be identified by name. This is possible since, unlike other Allied aces, a substantial proportion of McCudden's claims were made over Allied-held territory. The majority of his successes were achieved with 56 Squadron RFC and all but five fell while flying the S.E.5a. On 9 July 1918 McCudden was killed in a flying accident when his aircraft crashed following an engine fault. His rank at the time of his death was major, a significant achievement for a man who had begun his career in the RFC as an air mechanic. McCudden is buried at the British war cemetery at Beauvoir-Wavans.

    McCudden's modified SE5a
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    McCudden's long-term interest in mechanics prompted him to modify his own aircraft to increase combat performance. He made a series of modifications to his aircraft which caused them to excel in performance in comparison to any other S.E.5 at the front and perhaps any other German fighter available at the time. Performance, a generic term, required improvements in all-round capability. McCudden's changes were made with one main objective in mind: high-altitude performance.[74] He had achieved some success without these personal experiments. On 23 December 1917, for example, he intercepted an enemy aircraft at 18,000 feet and drove it down to 8,000 feet before shooting it down for his 30th victory. Incidentally, he was nearly killed in action when one of the wings broke away from his victim and nearly struck his own aircraft. McCudden had always found it difficult to intercept high-flying German reconnaissance aircraft. The latest Rumpler C.VII which had entered service proved particularly elusive. With a 240 horse power engine, it could reach 24,000 feet and was thus beyond the reach of any prospective adversary. The average S.E.5, at that point, could reach only 17,000 feet. While most pilots were prepared to accept this tactical-technological situation, McCudden was not. Through an as yet unspecified channel, he obtained high compression pistons used in the latest Hispano-Suiza 8 or V8 engine and fitted them to his power plant. It delivered revolutions at a much faster rate on the test bench. He removed any excess weight by shortening the exhaust pipes by several feet. He also added a spinner from a captured enemy aircraft which he believed added an extra 3 mph to his speed while also reducing the wing dihedral to increase agility.

    A final alteration was to fit a simpler shutter (radiator vent) which had the object of warming the cockpit by directing heat from the engine. For McCudden this aspect was very important. At high altitude McCudden was to spend long periods of time in an extremely chilly environment. Operating the D.H.2 in 1916, he suffered terrible agonies as adequate blood circulation returned to his muscles once he reached terra firma. McCudden reported few general side-effects from high flight. Dizziness was a feature but he put this down to the cold rather than any form of anoxia. High altitude oxygen was too thin for humans which induced breathlessness. Aviation medicine was still in its infancy meaning pilots were left to solve operational problems themselves. Only the high-altitude bombers were equipped with oxygen equipment to assist with breathing. Despite his circulation difficulties, McCudden proved remarkably resistant to the effects of high altitude flying without oxygen. The results of these personal modifications mostly went unrecorded. It is believed he achieved a height of 10,000 feet in nine minutes, curtailing the standard time by some five minutes. It was perhaps on exaggeration but no record remains to certify what McCudden did. He did note the maximum ground-level speed as 135 mph in his log book. He achieved these feats with the limited resources of a front-line squadron and without any official assistance.

    Captain Bernard Paul Gascoigne Beanlands also claimed his first victory on this day.

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    Bernard Paul Gascoigne Beanlands joined the Hampshire Regiment in December 1914. 2nd Lieutenant Beanlands received Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate 2473 on a Maurice Farman biplane at military school, Shoreham on 20 February 1916 and transferred to the Royal Flying Corps later that year. Posted to 70 Squadron, he scored his first victory flying a Sopwith 1½ Strutter on 6 September 1916. In the summer of 1917, he was reassigned to 24 Squadron as a flight commander. After scoring seven victories flying the D.H.5, his squadron was re-equipped with the S.E.5a. With this aircraft, Beanlands scored his final victory on 18 March 1918. Three days later, he was wounded in action and did not return to combat duty.

    Claiming his 5th (and unfortunately final) kill and becoming an ace on this day was Captain Guy Patrick Spence Reid MC

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    The son of Thomas Miller and Lisette (Livings) Reid, 2nd Lieutenant Guy Patrick Spence Reid received Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate 1693 on a Maurice Farman biplane at military school, Farnborough on 4 September 1915. He transferred from the Seaforth Highlanders to the Royal Flying Corps and was posted to 20 Squadron in 1916. An F.E.2b pilot, he scored 5 victories with his observers and was awarded the Military Cross in September 1916. His MC citation reads as follows...

    For conspicuous skill and gallantry on many occasions. Capt. Dixon-Spain, with 2nd Lt. Reid as pilot, attacked and drove back a hostile machine. A few minutes later four hostile machines were seen, three of which were attacked one after another and driven back, the fourth being accounted for by another patrol. Another time they attacked two hostile machines, shot down one and drove the other back. Two days later they attacked two more machines, of which one is believed to have been destroyed, the other being pursued back to its aerodrome.

    Another Strutter pilot claiming a kill today was Major William Douglas Stock Sanday. on 6 September, Sanday was leading three aircraft in a reconnaissance of Cambrai and Busigny when they were attacked by enemy aircraft from Kampfstaffel 1. Sanday and Lieutenant Bernard Beanlands (See above) shared in the destruction of one aircraft, a Roland C.II over Élincourt, killing the pilot Wilhelm Fahlbusch and observer Hans Rosencrantz, and the others were driven off.

    Claiming his second victory was Captain Robert Henry Magnus Spencer Saundby Saundy would rise up through the ranks eventually becoming Air Marshal Sir Robert Henry Magnus Spencer Saundby KCB, KBE, MC, DFC, AFC

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    Adjutant Chef Marie Gaston Fulerand Leon Vitalis of the French Air Service claims his third victory on this day..

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    Claiming his second kill whilst flying a Halberstadt D for Jasta 4 we have Oberleutnant Fritz Otto Bernert


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    The son of a Burghermeister, Otto Bernert was in the infantry when the war began. Wounded on several occasions, he eventually transferred to the Fliegertruppe as an observer. The following year, despite the bayonet wound that rendered his left arm useless, Bernert became a pilot. On 24 April 1917, he set a record by shooting down five British aircraft in less than 30 minutes. In June, Bernert became commander of Jasta 2 (Jasta Boelcke) but on 18 August 1917, he was wounded again and his days as a fighting pilot came to an end. Bernert died from influenza the following year.

    Claiming his 15th kill (8th confirmed) we have Hans Joachim BUddecke also of Jasta 4 - who was responsible for downing FE2b 5238 and killing lieutenants Kemp and Robertson (See above)

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    and finally in this very bust air war section we have Polkovnik Aleksandr Alexandrovich Kozakovclaiming his 4th kill whilst flying a Nieuport 11.

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    Russia's highest scoring ace was educated in military schools and entered the army in 1908. After serving in the cavalry, he transferred to aviation in 1913 and by the following year was posted to the 4th Corps Air Detachment in Poland where he flew reconnaissance and bombing missions in a Morane-Saulnier. Having made several unsuccessful attempts to bring down enemy aircraft by dangling explosives and grappling hooks beneath his plane, Kozakov scored his first victory in the spring of 1915 by ramming his opponent. In September 1915, he assumed command of the 19th Corps Air Detachment but scored no additional victories that year and only 2 more by August 1916 when he assumed command of the 1st Combat Air Group. In February 1917, his CAG was ordered to Romania where Kozakov scored eight more victories before being wounded in action on 27 June 1917. With 20 victories, he resigned his commission in January 1918 and joined the British Joint Military forces at Murmansk in June. Promoted to the rank of Major, he commanded the Slavo-British air detachment at Benezniky and continued flying combat missions until he was again wounded in January 1919. In March, he returned to duty but became deeply depressed by the withdrawal of British forces from Russia in the summer of 1919. On the evening of 1 August 1919, ignoring an invitation to a farewell dinner for British pilots, he took off in a Sopwith only to crash to his death a few moments later. Having watched Kozakov pull a loop at low altitude and stall the plane, Ira Jones concluded the Russian Ace of Aces "brought about his own death and staged it in the most dramatic manner."

    The Western Front - after today it becomes very quiet on the Verdun front.

    Somme front: British gain Leuze Wood. Leuze Wood (known to the troops as 'Lousy Wood') occupied an important position as it provided protection to the approaches of Combles, Guillemont and Ginchy. The narrow north-eastern adjunct to the wood was known separately as Bouleaux Wood.

    The southern end of Leuze Wood commanded the low ground between Hardecourt and Guillemont. Not as badly damaged as Delville or High Wood (at least in early September) its undergrowth was well furnished with German barbed wire and defensive posts. Clear evidence of the wood's importance was shown during Sir Douglas Haig's visit to Fourth Army's HQ on the afternoon of 4 September when he made clear that the capture of the wood and nearby high ground was of the utmost urgency.

    South-west of Barleux and south of Belloy, Generals von Stein and Kirchbach make ten attempts against the French, all hopelessly beaten by "75's" and "105" guns.

    Capture of Guillemont and advance to Ginchy completed.

    Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres


    Mazar (Sinai Peninsula), British airmen raid camps, supply depots and camel lines, good results.

    Naval and Overseas Operations

    British checked north of Kissaki (Uluguru Mountains).

    Political, etc.

    Birmingham: Trades Union Congress insists on restoration of Trade Union customs and practices after the war.

    New Zealand: Bill passed for Compulsory military service; recruitment stimulated.

    Simla: Viceroy's important speech, re: supply of labour to Colonies, and record of India's great services during the War.

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  45. #1745

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    Jimmy McCudden 56 Squadron RFC

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

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    7th September 1916

    5 AIRMEN HAVE FALLEN ON THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 7TH 1916...

    Air Mechanic 2nd Class Robert Anderson 8 Squadron RFC Killed in action on this day 1916 aged 21. Apologies but I can find no other references.

    Flight Commander George Henry Beard DFC RNAS 'B' Squadron, 7 Flight, No.5 Wing. Missing, Confirmed Killed in Action, after flying Caudron G.IV No.9114 on raid to St Denis Westrem on 7 September 1916. Body was found at sea 23 September 1916. HIs name is on the Chatham Naval Memorial. Son of Richard Beard, of The Downs, Dunmow, Essex.

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     Born around West Ham to parents Richard and Margaret. He had siblings, Margaret E (b.1889), Richard (b.1890), Rebecca R.R. (b.1895). The family moved to High Street, Great Dunmow and then later The Downs in Dunmow, Essex.

    By 1911, his father, Richard is recorded as a widower working for the County Council and George as a Relieving Officer for the "Board of Guardians".
    Family : Probate record: BEARD, George Hency of The Downs, Dunmow, Essex flight commander, R.N.A.S. D.S.C. was last seen alive on 7th September 1916 and whose dead body was found on the 23rd September 1916 at sea. Administration, with will, at London 24th January to Richard Beard senior esquire. Effects £167 11s 10d.
    Education & Career : Union Master's Clerk (1901) and Relieving Officer (1909). He had gained his aviators certificate no. 1095 whilst serving as a Flight Sub-Lieut in the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), in a Wright Biplane, at the Beatty School, Hendon on the February 20th, 1915.
    Military : BEARD, George Henry, Flight Commander, 7 Flight, B Squadron, No 5 Wing, RFC, George BEARD was killed in action, flying Caudron G.IV No. 9114 on a raid to St Denis Westrem. His body was recovered from the sea on 23 September 1916. He was awarded the DSC for services at Dunkerque since May 1915. He had twice attacked German submarines. Naval Campaign is defined as to include all sea operations that do not fall within specific naval battles such as Jutland, Coronel, Falklands etc. This includes all Merchant Navy losses.

    Lieutenant Warren Knight Campbell
    Curtiss Aircraft Company - Accidentally Killed while flying in Curtiss JN 7 September 1916 aged 23

    2nd Lieutenant Francis Cardno Lamb 8 Reserve Squadron RFC. Killed while flying 7 September 1916. Maurice Farman Shorthorn A939, 8 RS, Netheravon. Crashed, Milston, near Netheravon. 2Lt Francis Cardno Lamb (20) killed

    Air Mechanic Horace Henry W Plain RFC - Died of cerebro-spinal meningitis 7 September 1916 aged 26

    My records also show two additional losses on this day - the result of another air accident - after 100 years some of the dates can be inaccurate, referring sometimes to the date the death was recorded rather than the actual day of death....

    Wight 1916 Landplane 9841, J Samuel White & Co. Crashed on test flight, Northwood, IOW; rebuilt as seaplane. Ralph Oliver Lashmar (29) killed and Allan Frank Lashmar (24) killed I am guessing that these two were not members of the RFC but were in fact civilian casualties instead. Civilian brothers Pilot Ralph Oliver and Observer Allan Frank Lashmore employees of J Samuel While Aircraft Builders are killed when the Wight Landplane they are testing crashes on the Isle of Wight. Ralph is 28 while Allan is 24. Their younger brother was killed at Kut last April and a fourth brother will be killed in the loss of submarine K5 off the Isle of Scilly in January 1921.

    Alan Frank Lashmar
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    Chaplain the Reverend Noel Aldridge dies of pneumonia in the Transvaal at age 37. He entered school in 1893 and left in 1897, after which he took a B.A. degree at Liverpool University. In 1901-2 he fought in the South Africa War as a sergeant in the Royal Engineers. Returning to England in 1903 he entered Lichfield Theological College, and was ordained in the same year. He returned to South Africa, and in 1906 was vicar of Rodepoort, and in 1910 of Cleveland, Transvaal. When the war broke out he took an Army Chaplaincy and served through the campaign in German South-West Africa, being mentioned in despatches. He was worn out as the result of this campaign and would have come home, but it was important that ‘St. George’s Home’ an orphanage of which he had been appointed ‘Head.’ should be built. At this he worked as bricklayer, joiner, etc., and got everything in order; but three days before the chapel is to be opened he dies, after five days’ illness.

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    Today’s highlighted casualties include: on this day we lost 626 men.

    Lieutenant William Felix MacCarthy-O’Leary
    (Munster Fusiliers) is killed at age 22. He is the son of Lieutenant Colonel William MacCarthy-O’Leary (commanding 1st South Lancashire Regiment) who was killed leading them in a charge at Pieter’s Hill on 27th February 1900.
    Second Lieutenant Allan James Cleghorn (Gordon Highlanders) is the first of three brothers to lose his life when he is killed at age 20. His two brothers will be killed over the next two years.
    Private Albert Wilkinson (King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry) dies of wounds received in action at age 36. He is a veteran of the South Africa War.
    Private James Keiller (Black Watch) is killed at age 19. His brother will die of wounds in June 1917.

    Tunstill's Men: raining and musketry practice continued. The Battalion was instructed to be made ready for a possible return to the Somme front on 10th September. A Medical Board convened in Nottingham declared that 2Lt. Cecil Crowther Hart (see 8th August) who had been suffered gunshot wounds to the right leg in the fighting around Munster Alley, would be unfit for duty for at least a further month. The Board found that, “the wounds discharged until a few days ago; they are now healed over and dry. There is pain on walking and weakness. His sleep is disturbed by dreams; he suffers from severe headaches”. A payment of £11 7s. 3d was authorised, being the amount outstanding in pay and allowances for the late Pte. John Bruce Davidson (see 23rd July), who had died of wounds sustained during the advance on Contalmaison. The payment would go to his father, Joseph.

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    The War Office wrote to Capt. James Christopher Bull (see 21st August) regarding a cheque which had been found among the effects of the late 2Lt. Walter Douglas Taylor (see 27th July). The cheque, for £9 16s. was signed by Bull but had no payee named. The War Office requested that Bull confirm whether the cheque was indeed intended for Taylor; under what circumstances it had been written and asked, if appropriate, that a new cheque be issued which could be credited to Taylor’s account.

    The following ‘comforts’ have been sent to A Company, 10th West Riding Regiment, this month: 2,500 cigarettes, 130 lemonade powders, 50 shaving sticks, 100 handkerchiefs, 150 fly papers, 12 tablets soap, 20 lbs. of sweets and 100 pairs of socks. No parcels of woollens have come in this month and as it is now getting cold in France, especially at night, Mrs. H.G. Tunstill will be glad of contributions of socks, shirts, mufflers, mittens, or any other useful things, and will gratefully acknowledge them if sent to her at Milford Hall, South Milford, and will forward them to the men.

    African Fronts
    Actions near Kisaki (until September 8): c.2,600 Germans with 22 MGs beat 1,700 South Africans troops, forcing retreat and halt (until September 13).
    On coast British land and occupy both Kilwas 140 miles south of Dar-es-Salaam (1,100 soldiers land and occupy Mikindani 120 miles south of Kilwa on September 13).

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    German Schutztruppe in East Africa with a Maxim machine gun and a light field piece.



    Eastern Front
    Galicia: Lechitski takes burning Halicz on Dniester. Turk XV Corps loses 1,500 casualties (until September 8) but stands firm after 10-mile retreat.

    Neutrals
    USA: US Shipping Board created to form Govt Owned merchant fleet. Congress authorizes Wilson to retaliate against Britain, signs legislation (September 8). Emer*gency Revenue Act doubles normal income tax (September 8).

    War in the Air

    There was another raft of claimed aerial victories on this day including three first timers...

    Captain Alwyne Travers "Button" Loyd 25 Squadron RFC - flying an FE2b (6993) he shoots down an Eindecker over Pont a Vendin.

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    Captain Alwyne Travers 'Button' Loyd was born in 1894 at Hawkhurst and educated at Eton. He was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, 5th Bn. East Kent Regiment on 23rd August 1914, and was granted a commission as Temporary 2nd Lieutenant Flying Officer on 19th June 1916. Between 7th September 1916 and 20th September 1917, Loyd claimed six 'victories' (some shared); he served variously during this period with 25, 22 and 32 Squadrons (full details in 'Above the Trenches' by Shores, Franks and Guest). On 28th September 1917, Loyd took off on Offensive Patrol at 1 p.m. flying a D.H.5 of 32 Squadron, when the aircraft was hit by a shell and broke up. 'Above the Trenches' states "He was killed in action east of Ypres ... when A9211 was shot down either by Flak or by Oberleutnant Rudolph Berthold of Jasta 18.". He was buried in Poperinghe Military Cemetery.

    Sous Lieutenant René Pierre Marie Dorme
    French Air Service had two unconfirmed victories on this day

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    Leutnant Wilhelm Frank claims his 10th victory on this day by shooting down a Nieuport whilst flying for Jasta 4

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    Claiming his second kill by shooting down a Nieuport 11 over Miraumont we have Leutnant Hans von Keudell

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    Captain Konstantin Konstantinovich Vakulovsky of the Russian Imperial Air Service claims his first victory by downing an enemy aircraft over Lake Kwakshta. He was flying a Nieuport 11 at the time

    Captain Konstantin Konstantinovich Vakulovsky (born 28 October 1894, died Summer 1918) was a World War I flying ace credited with six aerial victories. A major general's son, he volunteered for aviation duty on 8 August 1914, six days after graduating from university. He taught himself to fly, and became one of Russia's first military pilots on 13 June 1915. After escaping the fall of the Novogeorgievsk Fortress in a hazardous flight, Vakylovsky flew reconnaissance missions, some through heavy ground fire. Given command of the newly formed First Fighter Detachment, he became a flying ace credited with six aerial victories. He died in a flying accident during Summer 1918.

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    Konstantin Konstantinovich Vakulovsky was a major general's son, born on 28 October 1894 in Dagestan.[1] When young, he served in the Vladikavkaz Cadet Corps. However, he was schooled in Saint Petersburg at the Military Engineering-Technical University, graduating on 2 August 1914. Beginning 8 August 1914, he served as an aerial observer with the air detachment at the Novogeorgievsk Fortress. While doing so, he enrolled in basic aviation courses and taught himself to fly.[2] After flying 50 training flights without an instructor, he passed his graduation flight with distinction. On 13 June 1915, he was appointed a military pilot by the Supreme Commander in Chief of the Imperial Russian Army. On 20 August 1915, the Novogeorgievsk Fortress fell to the invading Germans. Vakulovsky departed the siege in a hazardous low level flight through ground fire and foul foggy weather. After five hours flying, he reached friendly forces with news of the fortress' fall, and with the battle standards of the fort. The feat earned the gallant pilot the Order of Saint George Fourth Class. Vakulovsky and the other surviving pilots from the fallen fort were formed into the 33rd Corps Detachment of the Imperial Russian Air Service on 29 October 1915. They flew reconnaissance missions throughout the winter of 1915/1916. On 18 February 1916, Vakulovsky flew an aerial photography mission over Bushof through heavy anti-aircraft fire. On 10 April 1916, by order of the czar, he was granted the Gold Sword for Bravery; the citation took special notice of the Bushof sortie.[2]

    On 16 July 1916, Vakulovsky was promoted to Poruchik. Within the week, he was given command of the nascent First Fighter Detachment, on the recommendation of Grand Duke Alexander. Vakulovsky scored his first aerial victory on 7 September 1916. On the 19th, he was so severely stunned by the blast of an antiaircraft shell over Postav that he was sidelined for some weeks. He returned to duty 25 October 1916, and scored his second victory three days afterward. He came under fire immediately after that, his craft suffering a shattered propeller and splintered frame. On 28 October, he flew four sorties; on the last one, he scored a victory, but crashlanded afterwards at his own airfield. Vakulovsky recorded no more victories for some months, but continued to fly combat. He was promoted to Stabskapitän on 12 April 1917; two days later, he scored his third victory. On 12 May 1917, he participated on a raid on an enemy aerodrome at Kabilnichachby and claimed a victory that went unconfirmed.[2] His reconnaissance patrols also had its hazards; on 13 June 1917, for instance, he flew an aerial photography mission over the enemy's third line trenches over Baldohn at 500 meters. Antiaircraft fire set his plane afire, and he glided to a flaming landing on Dalen Island under artillery fire. Although scorched, wounded, and shocked, he escaped the wreckage. Vakulovsky scored his next victory on 21 August 1917. He would have another pair of victories accredited to him on 1 September 1917. On that day, he fought on 16 separate occasions. The following month, a few Sopwith Triplanes were delivered to the First Air Division, and he requested one of them for his personal craft.

    Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

    Baghdad railway, over Taurus Mountains being constructed by Turkish peasants, large bodies of Turkish troops moving to Aleppo, for Mesopotamia.

    Southern Front

    Tutrakan (on Danube, south-east of Bucharest) captured by Bulgars; the enemy claim 20,000 prisoners and 100 guns.

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

  47. #1747

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    Something to fill the gap created by the duplication - in honour of the first victory for Jasta 4 (actually yesterday)

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    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

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    8th September 1916

    Bit of a late one this evening as I have only just got in, so have 50 minutes before my PC turns into a pumpkin - so without delay....

    5 AIRMEN HAVE FALLEN ON FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 8TH 1916

    Lieutenant Eynon George Arthur Bowen 22 Squadron RFC Killed in Action 8 September 1916 aged 23. Son of the late Eynon George Rice Bowen, of Troedyraur, Cardiganshire, and of Georgina Catherine Bowen, of Harcombes, Hambrook, Bristol. Scholar of Sherborne School. R.M.A. Woolwich Cadet.

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    Lieutenant Robert MacAllan Stalker 22 Squadron RFC Killed in Action while flying near Le Barque 8 September 1916 aged 25. Son of George and Charlotte Stalker, of Aukengill, Wick, Caithness. Robert Macallan Stalker, Student in Arts, 1909-14. Lieutenant, 5th (Sutherland and Caithness) Battalion, Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, The Duke of Albany's), attached to Royal Flying Corps. Born 17th February 1891. Reported "missing," later presumed killed, 8th September 1916, while flying between Ligny-Thilloy and Le Barque.

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    Squadron Commander Ian Hew Waldegrave Stair Dalrymple-Clark RNAS Cranwell Central Depot and Training Establishment. He was flying his Bristol Scout Type D 5564/8975, when he was in a mid air collision with a Bristol type D.

    2nd Lieutenant Aubrey Edward Glew
    24 Squadron RFC. Killed while flying 8 September 1916 aged 25

    Aubrey Edward Glew was born in 1891, the son of Walter Glew of South Kelsey Hall. His younger brother, Montague Francis Glew, was a well-known pioneer aviator. Aubrey attended De Aston School in Market Rasen from 1903 to 1905 and shortly after the outbreak of war he joined the Lincolnshire Yeomanry, serving as a despatch rider. He subsequently joined the Royal Flying Corps and in 1916 he was sent to France with Number 24 Squadron, which was equipped with the DH2 fighter. The DH2 was not an easy aircraft to fly, but 24 Squadron's commanding officer, Lanoe Hawker, was an inspirational commander who showed his men how to get the best from their aircraft. Aubrey Glew was evidently an excellent pupil, as he shot down four enemy aircraft in his first six weeks at the Front. One more aerial victory would have made Aubrey Glew officially an ace, but on the 8th September 1916 he was flying over the German lines when his engine burst into flames. He managed to control the DH2's descent to roughly 500 feet, but the aircraft was then seen to plummet from the sky and it was completely destroyed on impact with the ground. Aubrey Glew was buried in St Pierre Cemetery, near Amiens; he was 25 years old. Aubrey Glew was admitted at De Aston School School on 30th April 1903 and his obituary in the De Astonian Magazine reads as follows: "Aubrey Glew, who entered De Aston in April 1903 and left at Easter 1905 was the son of Mrs Glew of Wittering and the late Mr W T Glew of South Kelsey. He obtained his commission in the Flying Corps in March, and gained his "wings" six weeks later. Though he has been abroad only six weeks he had been engaged in many hazardous expeditions, and fought many battles with enemy pilots, accounting for no less than four of them. Earlier in the war Lieut Glew, then a member of the Lincolnshire Yeomanry, had seen active service as a despatch rider. He died of wounds received on September 8th this year, the sad news being received by his mother at the moment when she was reading a letter from her son expressing his anticipation of being home on leave in a few days. He was engaged to be married to Miss Davis of "The Chestnuts", Market Rasen, with whom and with his mother we feel the deepest sympathy."

    Flight Lieutenant Charles Walter Graham RNAS Yarmouth Naval Air Station: Accidentally Killed while flying 8 September 1916 aged 23, crashed into sea off Yarmouth. Short 184 Type 8385, RNAS, Yarmouth Stalled and dived in sea after take-off; bombs exploded.

    There were three pilots claiming victories on this day...

    Claiming his 21st victory by shooting down F.E.2b (4921) we have Hauptmann Oswald Boelcke.

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    Captain William Henry Hubbard
    RFC 2 Squadron claims his first victory whilst flying a BE2c. He shot down an EIndecker !

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    2nd Lieutenant William Henry Hubbard joined the Royal Flying Corps at Toronto on 9 August 1915 and received Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate 2871 on a Maurice Farman biplane at military school, Catterick Bridge on 9 May 1916. As a reconnaissance pilot serving with 5 and 7 Squadrons, he flew the B.E.2c and scored one victory against a Fokker Eindecker on 8 September 1916. Badly wounded by Erwin Böhme on 26 December 1916, he eventually returned to duty as a flight instructor during the summer of 1917. In March 1918, he was assigned to 73 Squadron as a flight commander. Flying the Sopwith Camel, he scored eleven more victories before the Armistice was signed.

    2nd Lieutenant Percy Henry Olieff
    should have opened his account on this day whilst flying his Moraine Saulnier - alas his shooting down of an EIndecker was unconfirmed...

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    Seventy three conscientious objectors will die as a result of the treatment during the Great War. The first of those who died is Walter Roberts age 20 of Stockport. He dies today of a high fever, contracted from being constantly wet through living in the rotten and condemned tents on the muddy hill-side at Dyce. He was nursed in a stable, and was only ill for five days, dying in a broken-down cottage. His appeal for exemption from the draft was dismissed after a three minute hearing four days after it was heard.

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    On a day when we lost 686 men

    Today’s highlighted casualties include:

    Brigadier General Louis Murray Phillpotts CMG DSO, Commanding Royal Artillery is killed in action at age 46 at Guillemont. He is the second son of the Reverend H J Phillpotts and he served in the South Africa War 1899-1901. Killed with him is his Brigade Major Captain Harry William Crippin MC (Royal Field Artillery) age 27.
    Lieutenant Colonel Hugo Beaumont Burnaby DSO (commanding 11th West Surrey Regiment) is killed at age 42. He is the son of the Reverend Sherrard Beaumont Burnaby Vicar of Hamstead.
    Lieutenant Colonel William Selby DSO (Indian Medical Service) dies on service in India at age 47. He is the Honorary Surgeon to the Viceroy of India.
    Squadron Commander Ian Hew Waldsgrave Stair Dalrymple-Clark (Royal Naval Air Service) is killed in a flying accident at home. He carried out the first British bombing raid of the war on 5 September 1914.
    Second Lieutenant Roderick Kyrle Matheson (Royal West Kent Regiment attached Manchester Regiment) dies of wounds received when he was shot in the chest five days earlier as a prisoner of war at age 18. He is the son of the 3rd Baronet ‘Sir’ Alexander Perceval Matheson and he has two brothers who will be killed next year and his brother-in-law was killed earlier this year.
    Second Lieutenant John Balfour Ireland (Black Watch) is killed in action at age 25. He is the son of the Reverend John A Ireland.
    Second Lieutenant Alan Francis Donald Brown (Gloucestershire Regiment) is killed in action. His brother will be accidentally killed in April 1917.
    Sergeant Beresford John Gray (Gloucestershire) is killed at age 25. His brother will be killed in less than two months.
    Private Herbert Hoole (Cheshire Regiment) is killed at age 20. His brother will be killed in October 1917.

    Western Front
    Germany: Hindenburg and Ludendorff in first visit to Western Front, hold meeting at Cambrai to develop new tactical doctrine of defence – in-depth; OHL publishes key lessons.
    Battle of the Somme: Glos Regiment suffers heavy casualties in attack near West end of High Wood. German counter-attacks on Mouquet Farm (until September 12).

    It was now definitely planned to use tanks in a large attack on the 15th of September, but before that there was to be another drive to improve the British position at High Wood. On the 8th of September, the 1st Gloucesters and the 2nd Welsh Regiment attacked the west side of High Wood, but suffered badly, especially the Gloucesters. On the east side, the machine-gun in the crater blown on the 3rd of September still prevented progress near Wood Lane. The tunnellers thus placed another 3000 lbs of ammonal below the craters edge, and this second mine was blown 30 seconds before the infantry attack. Once again, however, although the crater was briefly held, the Germans soon overran it again. The infantry assaulting here had suffered from their own barrage as they went up to the line, and although men of the 2nd Royal Sussex and the 2nd Kings Royal Rifle Corps did capture Wood lane to the south-east of High Wood, there was little success in the wood itself. The double crater formed by the mines blown on the 3rd and 9th of September can still be seen today, in the eastern corner of High Wood shortly before the track running round the wood turns to the west. As a double crater it measured 135 by 185 feet, and was 35 feet deep. Today it is water filled, unlike other craters in the Somme area, and was blown by two charges of 3,000 lbs of ammonal each. For comparison, the large crater at Lochnagar was created by a mine containing 60,000 lbs of ammonal. Wood Lane had however been captured, and elsewhere there was success also at Ginchy, and the British finally took the last part of Delville Wood. But the intention of the 9th of September attack, to obtain a better starting position for the large-scale offensive on the 15th, had not really been met.

    Sea War
    North Sea: Dover Patrol monitors shell Flanders coast between Middlekerke and Westende (until September 15) as diversion for Somme offensive.

    11 ships were reported as lost on this day - mostly to U-Boat action

    Butetown United Kingdom The collier was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 55 nautical miles (102 km) west south west of Cape Matapan, Greece (36°00′N 21°15′E) by SM UB-47 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
    Elizabeth IV Norway The cargo ship was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea west of Sardinia, Italy by SM U-34 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.[
    Gamen Sweden The cargo ship, en route from Barry to Algiers, was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 35 nautical miles (65 km) south west of the Bishop Rock, Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom by SM UB-18 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
    Jeune Union FranceThe schooner was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 28 nautical miles (52 km) west by north of Ouessant, Finistère by SM UB-39 ( Kaiserliche Marine).
    Llangorse United Kingdom The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 48 nautical miles (89 km) west south west of Cape Matapan (36°00′N 21°55′E) by SM UB-47 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
    Lyderhorn Norway The cargo ship was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 25 nautical miles (46 km) south east of Ouessant by SM UB-39 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
    Marie Louise France The sailing vessel was set afire and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 23 nautical miles (43 km) north by west of Ouessant (48°50′N 5°18′W) by SM UB-23 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
    Mayo Spain The cargo ship was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean off Ouessant (48°53′N 5°28′W) by SM UB-23 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
    Olazarri Spain The cargo ship was scuttled in the Atlantic Ocean 20 nautical miles (37 km) south west of Ouessant by SM UB-39 ( Kaiserliche Marine).
    Prince Georgios Greece The coaster caught fire at Malta. She was towed out of port but sank 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) offshire.
    Spetzai Greece: The cargo ship was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 60 nautical miles (110 km) west of Cape Matapan (36°00′N 21°12′E) by SM UB-47 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived

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    A German 38-cm gun L/45 with armor plates fires in coastal protection in Flanders.

    Naval and Overseas Operations

    British naval aeroplanes bomb aerodrome at St. Denis Westrem (5 miles west of Ghent).

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

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    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

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    9th September 1916

    Right its not too late and I am ready for this one - cold beer? check, chicken sandwich? check, lots of obscure Prog Rock on You Tube? check... right lets go

    and lets start with the award of a Victoria Cross

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    Lionel (Leo) Beaumaurice Clarke VC (1 December 1892 – 19 October 1916) was a Canadian recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. This is one hell of a soldier... if his VC action was in a movie no one would believe a word of it...

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    Clarke was born in Waterdown, Ontario. He spent his early years in England, home of his parents, but later returned and settled in Winnipeg, Manitoba in about 1903. When World War I started, he was working as a surveyor for the Canadian National Railway in the Canadian north. He returned to Winnipeg to enlist in the 27th Battalion, and after arriving in England in June 1915, transferred to the 2nd (Eastern Ontario Regiment) Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force to be with his brother, Charles.

    The main assault of the Battle of Flers-Courcelette was scheduled for September 15, 1916. Its objective was to occupy a chain of trenches between Martinpuich and Courcelette. On 1 September 1916, Clarke's battalion was charged with capturing a 50-yard-long salient between the Canadian position at Mouquet Farm and Courcelette to the north.

    On 9 September 1916, near Pozières, France, the first three companies of Clarke's battalion went over the top, leaving the fourth in reserve. Clarke, an Acting Corporal at the time, was assigned to take a section to clear the enemy on the left flank to allow his company sergeant to build a fortified dugout that would secure the Canadian position once the salient was overrun. When his section reached the trench, it was so heavily defended that they had to battle their way through with hand grenades, bayonets and their rifles as clubs. Clarke was the only man left standing; the rest had either been killed or wounded. At that time, about 20 Germans, including two officers, counter-attacked. Clarke advanced, emptying his revolver into their ranks. He then picked up two enemy rifles and fired those too. One of the officers attacked with a bayonet, wounding Clarke in the leg, but Clarke shot him dead. The Germans retreated, but Clarke pursued, shooting four more and capturing a fifth. In all, Clarke killed 19 of the enemy, capturing one.

    On 11 October 1916, Clarke's battalion was ordered forward to secure the newly captured Regina Trench which was still under heavy enemy artillery fire. Clarke was crouching in a hole at the rear of a trench when a shell exploded and the back of the trench caved in, burying him. His brother dug him out, but Clarke was paralyzed; the weight of the earth had crushed his back and injured his spine. Clarke was taken to No. 1 General Hospital, but died on 19 October. He is buried in Plot II, Row C, Grave 3A, in Etretat Churchyard, 16 miles north of Le Havre, France. According to a contemporary newspaper article, shortly before his death he wrote his parents, stating: "I don't care so much for the Victoria Cross as getting home for a couple of months."

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    Sergeant Clarke's Medals

    Clarke was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross in the spring of 1917. It was presented, by the Duke of Devonshire (Governor General of Canada in 1917), to Leo's father before a crowd of 30,000. In 1925, Pine Street in Winnipeg was renamed "Valour Road" in honour of Clarke and fellow Victoria Cross winners Frederick William Hall and Robert Shankland, all of whom lived on the 700 block. A plaque in his honour was erected by the Ontario Heritage Foundation at the Royal Canadian Legion branch in Waterdown. Clarke's story was featured in a Historical vignette, which was run nationally in Canada.

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    6 AIRMEN HAVE FALLEN ON SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 9TH 1916

    Lieutenant Arthur James Bowerman 22 Squadron RFC. Killed in action on this day aged 20. Son of Frederick Robert and Florence Mary Bowerman, of Grangemount, Wellington, Somerset. He was flying FE2b 6366.

    Lieutenant Hamish Strathy Mackay 22 Squadron RFC. Killed in action on this day aged 20. He was flying FE2b 6366

    MacKay, Hamish Strathy: Lieutenant, 1st Hampshire Heavy Brigade, Royal Garrison Artillery attached 22nd Squadron, Royal Flying Corps. Born on 31/03/1894 at Whitehouse, Cramond. A son of Col James Francis Mackay, C.B.E., and Annie Alma MacKay of Whitehouse, Cramond. Lieutenant MacKay was educated at Routtenburn & Sedberg and was employed as a Practical Engineer. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the RGA during August 1914 and after being promoted to Lieutenant he attended the Military Flying School at Shoreham from 17/12/1915. He was attached to the 22nd Squadron, RFC on 10/02/1916 and entered France as a theatre of war during March 1916, flying an FE2D in combat. He was killed in action on 09/09/1916, aged 22, and is buried in Allonville Communal Cemetery, Somme, France, Grave A.10. He was awarded the British War Medal & Victory Medal and was mentioned in and De Ruvigny’s Roll Of Honour 1914-1918 and a biographical note in The Scotsman, 22/09/1916. He is remembered on the Cramond Kirk Memorial, a family gravestone in Cramond Kirk Kirkyard and The Grange Cricket Club Memorial.

    2nd Lieutenant Guy Newsome Cousans 70 Squadron RFC Killed in Action near Bapaume 9 September 1916 aged 19. He was flying Strutter A1911 at the time of his death.

    Air Mechanic 2nd Class Charles E Goff RNAS - Kingsnorth Naval Airship Station. Accidentally Killed 9 September 1916, when struck by propeller of an airship

    Lieutenant Neville Phillip Manfield 24 Squadron RFC. He was the son of James and Louisa Manfield of Weston Favell House Northampton. He was a member of the 24th Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps and the 4th Battalion of the Northamptonshire Regiment. He was shot down over France on 9th September, 1916, aged 22. He was flying DH2 7842.

    Air Mechanic Charles Eric Norman
    13 Squadron RFC Died of accidental injuries 9 September 1916 aged 19. Died in a motorcycle accident 9-9-16, age 19. Son of Charles & Dora Ellen Norman, of Somersham. Buried Aubigny Communal Cemetery Extension, Pas de Calais, France. Also listed Somersham Baptist Chapel memorial plaque.

    Letter to Mrs Norman Eric's mother from the Douglas Percy Rolfe. R.F.C. B.E,F.
    France.
    Sept 10th. 1916.
    Dear Mrs Norman, I hope you will forgive me a perfect stranger for writing to you, but I feel I must tell you the sad news of Eric. Last night he was returning from a run with two other chaps when he collided with another motorbike coming in the opposite direction. A car took him to hospital unconscious. It was with very deep grief that I tell you he never gained consciousness but passed quickly away at 10.45pm the same night. Eric and I were pals and I think that only a mother can appreciate what that means. It means that for nearly two years we have shared everything, slept near each other and made our plans for the future together in fact become precious to each other. His death leaves me heartbroken. Only yesterday we were arranging a little celebration of his promotion to first class air mechanic to take place tomorrow night. Tomorrow we were going to be photographed together and then without a word of farewell Eric is gone. He had no scratch on him and I think that death resulted from shock. Major Powell is writing to you I think. He is dreadfully upset as he thought such a lot of poor Eric. Indeed everyone did for his cheery nature and endearing ways and entire lack of malice gave no room for even a single enemy. I wish to God it had never happened or that I could have taken his place. It all seems a hideous nightmare.We all loved Eric, I am afraid this letter is very disjointed but everything seems upside down. - From his sorrowing friend. Douglas Percy Rolfe.

    There were four pilots claiming victories on this day...

    Racking up victory number 22 we have Hauptmann Oswald Boelcke who show down DH2 7842 killing Lieutenant Neville Phillip Manfield (See above)

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    Major Ernest Leslie 'Feet' Foot 11 Squadron RFC opened his account with a double on this day...

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    Ernest Leslie Foot, Albert Ball's best friend, scored five victories before he was shot down in flames over Serre by Hans Imelmann of Jasta 2 on 26 October 1916. Uninjured, Foot was posted to 56 Squadron on 10 March 1917 but was injured in a car crash the night before the squadron left for France. Foot did not fly in combat again. He was killed in a crash on 23 June 1923 when the Bristol monoplane he was flying lost a wing and came down near Chertsey.

    Foot was commissioned as a temporary second lieutenant in the infantry on 27 October 1914,and was promoted to lieutenant in the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry on 28 December 1914. He was transferred from the OBLI to the General List and appointed a flying officer (observer) in the Royal Flying Corps on 21 October 1915. On 20 December 1915 he was granted Aviators' Certificate No. 2257 after flying a Maurice Farman biplane at the Military Flying School at Farnborough, and was appointed a flying officer on 10 February 1916.

    Foot was assigned to No. 11 Squadron RFC, where he befriended Ball. On 23 July 1916 he was appointed a flight commander with the temporary rank of captain. Between 9 September and 15 September 1916, flying Royal Aircraft Factory FE.2b No. 7016, Foot destroyed three enemy aircraft. The day after his third win, he transferred to No. 60 Squadron. There was a SPAD S.VII on trial with the unit; Foot used it to destroy an Albatros two-seater on 28 September. He then used a Nieuport 17 to drive down a Roland C.II on 21 October 1916. On 26 October, Foot was shot down in flames by German ace Hans Imelmann; somehow, Foot crash-landed unscathed. On 3 November, he was sent back to England for a rest. Shortly afterwards his award of the Military Cross was gazetted. He joined No. 56 Squadron on 10 March 1917, as it mobilized as the first squadron to operate the Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5. Once again, he was a flight commander. However, an auto accident the night before the squadron departed for France knocked Foot out of flying for the remainder of the war. However, he continued to serve, being promoted to temporary major on 30 April 1918, and was an instructor at the No. 1 School of Special Flying based at RAF Gosport. Finally, on 11 April 1919, Foot was transferred to the RAF's unemployed list, bringing his military career to an end.

    After leaving the Royal Air Force Foot joined the Handley Page Transport company as a commercial pilot flying the London to Paris passenger route, finally leaving the company in April 1923 to take a position with the Bristol Aeroplane Company as a test pilot and instructor with their flying school operated on behalf of the Royal Air Force Reserve. On 21 April 1923 Foot was granted a commission as a probationary flying officer (Class "A") in the General Duties Branch of the RAF Reserve.

    Foot was also a noted competitor in the popular air races of the day. In July 1921 he took part in the Sixth Aerial Derby, organised by the Royal Aero Club, flying a 100-mile (160 km) circuit around London twice, in a Martinsyde F.4 fitted with a 300 hp Hispano-Suiza engine. Unfortunately engine problems caused his retirement during the first lap. In September 1921 he led the "White Team" in a relay team event for the Air League Challenge Cup, as part of the first Aviation Race Meeting held by the Royal Aero Club at Croydon Aerodrome. Again mechanical problems meant that his team had to withdraw. In June 1922, at the Third Croydon Aviation Race Meeting, Foot took 3rd place in the First Sprint Handicap flying the Martinsyde F.4. A year later, in June 1923, Foot was entered into the first Grosvenor Challenge Cup. He was sponsored by Sir George Stanley White, the Managing Director of the Bristol Company, and flew the Bristol M.1D monoplane, registered G-EAVP, fitted with a 100 hp Bristol Lucifer engine. The race took place in stages, beginning at Lympne, Kent, with stops at Croydon, Birmingham, and Bristol, before returning to Croydon, and ending at Lympne. When Foot landed at Filton Aerodrome, Bristol, his aircraft had developed a fuel leak, and Foot appeared affected by petrol fumes. However, after repairs he set off again, but his aircraft crashed on the Stonehill Road between Chertsey and Chobham, and burst into flames. Foot was killed instantly. He had been married only a few months before.

    Sous Lieutenant Rene Pierre Marie Dorme French Air Service - claimed his 9th kill as well as another unconfirmed kill on this day shooting down an LVG over Beaulencourt...

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    Lieutenant Mikhail Ivanovich Safonov of the Russian IMperial Air Service claims his fist victory on this day. Lieutenant Mikhail Ivanovich Safonov (13 November 1893 – May 1924) was a World War I flying ace credited with five aerial victories. He began his naval service on 20 September 1909, when he entered Saint Peterburg's Imperial Russian Naval Academy. When he applied for aviation training in September 1915, he was a professional sailor with six years naval training and seagoing service. On 1 December 1915, he soloed. On 2 April 1916, he was classified as a naval pilot. He was posted to pilot Grigorovich M-9 flying boats that mounted a Madsen machine gun. After two aerial victories while piloting flying boats, with consequent decorations for valor, Safonov was appointed to command his Glagol Detachment on 14 July 1917. He gained access to a Nieuport fighter, which he used for his third victory on 7 September 1917. After a promotion to Senior Lieutenant on 25 October, he married while on a brief leave. He returned to command the 2nd Fighter Detachment and score two more aerial victories with the Nieuport. He was mustered out in March 1918. Safonov then became an itinerant aerial mercenary in the Finnish Civil War. In 1919, he changed loyalties to join the White Russians. After traveling with his wife through Persia and India, he joined Britain's Royal Air Force. In May 1924, he was killed in a flying accident in China.

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    He graduated as a Warrant Officer in May 1914, and was posted to the battleship Gromoboi on 2 August 1914. On 30 September 1914, he was transferred to another battleship, the Sevastopol. In September 1915, he applied for a transfer to aviation service.[2]

    On 24 November 1915, he was assigned to the Officer's School of Naval Aviation for the Baltic Fleet and forwarded to the Polytechnic Institute of Peter the Great in Saint Petersburg to study aerodynamics. After mastering this, he moved to the winter location of the school in Baku to pass all the examinations to qualify as a pilot. On 1 December 1915, he soloed. On 24 February 1916, Safanov was posted to the Liaison/Signal Service Corps of the Baltic Fleet. During March, he polished his piloting skills at the Tallinn Naval Air Station. He was then tasked to fly Farman MF.11 float plane serial no. 31 for the local Third Air Station. On 2 April 1916, he was classified as a naval pilot at the annual salary of 960 rubles. The Air Arm of the Baltic Fleet was organized into two Air Divisions. Safanov was assigned to the First Air Detachment (Glagol) of the 2nd Air Division on 11 August 1916. The Grigorovich M-9 flying boats equipping this detachment mounted a Madsen machine gun. After several air combats, including his first aerial victory on 9 September 1916, he was awarded the Order of Saint Anne Fourth Class and the Order of Saint Vladimir Third Class with Swords and Bow. He was wounded in action on 13 September 1916 while flying Grigorovich M-9 serial no. 39.

    Safanov was appointed as a lieutenant on 10 July 1917. He was selected to command the Glagol Detachment on 14 July 1917. He scored his second aerial victory that day, this time using a Grigorovich M-15, even though the enemy plane was not seen to crash. At 1140 hours on 7 September, Safonov used Nieuport serial no. NR-1 in an attack on an enemy two-seater. He closed to 50 meters range, and fired a short burst for his third victory. On 25 October, Safonov was promoted to Senior Lieutenant and granted a short leave. He married Ludmila Tschebotarioff. Upon his return to duty, he was posted to command the 2nd Land Fighter Detachment at Kuivastoin. He scored two more aerial victories on successive days, 16 and 17 November 1917. However, the Russian Revolution ended his war then; Safonov was inactive until discharged from the military by the Bolsheviks in March 1918. As Russia was wracked by revolution, Finland declared its independence on 6 December 1917. Safanov was one of five Russian pilots approached by a cabal of Finnish activists; they offered 25,000 rubles and Finnish citizenship if the pilots would serve in General Mannerheim's air force. On 11 April 1918, the newly civilianized Smirnov tucked his wife into a Nieuport 10 and took off to join the Finns. While flying reconnaissance flights in the Finnish Civil War, he used the nom de guerre Mikko Vuorenheimo. However, by Summer 1918, the distrustful Finns had not kept their bargain, so Smirnov wangled the permits needed to transit German-occupied Russia and join the White Russians' Volunteer Army.

    Lieutenant Thomas Michael Kettle (Royal Dublin Fusiliers) is killed in action at age 36 at Givenchy. He is a Great War Poet, his poems including To My Daughter Betty, Paddy, and On Leaving Ireland. He is the Nationalist Member of Parliament for East Tyrone and the Professor of National Economics at University College, Dublin. In addition those roles he is also a journalist, essayist and idealist. A leading Irish Nationalist, he joined the Dublin Fusiliers when Belgium was attacked to fight ‘not for England, but for small nations.” Considered one of the outstanding Irishmen of his generation, he wrote a number of war poems. Poems and Parodies, published 1916, and The Ways of War, published 1917.

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    TO MY DAUGHTER BETTY, THE GIFT OF GOD.

    In wiser days, my darling rosebud, blown
    To beauty proud as was your mother’s prime,
    In that desired , delayed, incredible time,
    You’ll ask why abandoned you, my own,
    And the dear heart that was your baby throne,
    To dice with death. And oh ! they”ll give you rhyme
    And reason: some will call the thing sublime,
    And some decry it in knowing tone.
    So here while the mad guns curse overhead,
    And tired men sigh with mud for couch and floor,
    Know that we fools, know with the foolish dead,
    Died not for flag, nor King, nor Emperor,
    But for a dream, born in a herdsman’s shed,
    And for the secret Scripture of the poor.

    Western Front - More on Clarke's VC: Near Pozieres, the first three companies of the 2nd Ontario Regiment go over the top, leaving the fourth in reserve. Acting Corporal Leo Clarke is assigned to take a section to clear the enemy on the left flank to allow his company sergeant to build a fortified dugout that will secure the Canadian position once the salient is overrun. When his section reaches the trench, it is so heavily defended that they have to battle their way through with hand grenades, bayonets and their rifles as clubs. Clarke is the only man left standing; the rest having either been killed or wounded. At that time, about 20 Germans, including two officers, counter-attack. Clarke advances, emptying his revolver into their ranks. He then picks up two enemy’s rifles and fires those too. One of the officers attacks with a bayonet, wounding Clarke in the leg, but Clarke shoots him dead. The Germans retreat, but Clarke pursues, shooting four more and capturing a fifth. In all, Clarke killed 19 of the enemy, capturing one. For his actions Clarke will be awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross as he will die of wounds received next month.

    The Battle of Ginchy

    The Battle of Ginchy took place on 9 September 1916 during the Battle of the Somme, when the 16th Division captured the German-held village. Ginchy is 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) north-east of Guillemont, at the junction of six roads on a rise overlooking Combles, 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) to the south-east. After the conclusion of the Battle of Guillemont on 6 September, XIV Corps and XV Corps were required to complete the advance to positions which would give observation over the German third position, ready for a general attack in mid-September, for which the Anglo-French armies had been preparing since early August.

    British attacks from the boundary between the Fourth Army and the French Sixth Army from Leuze Wood north to Ginchy, had begun on 3 September when the 7th Division captured the village, before being forced out by a German counter-attack. Attacks on Leuze Wood and attempts to re-take Ginchy on 4 and 5 September were also defeated by German counter-attacks. The 7th Division was relieved by the 16th Division and 55th Division on the evening of 7 September and the 5th Division was replaced by the 56th Division on the right at the army boundary.

    On 9 September the British began a bombardment early in the morning but waited until late afternoon to advance, to deny the Germans time to counter-attack before dark. The British assault in the south by the 56th Division and the 16th Division reached Bouleaux Wood but the attack in the centre was repulsed. On the northern flank Ginchy was captured by the 16th Division and several German counter-attacks were defeated. The loss of Ginchy deprived the Germans of observation posts, from which they could observe all of the battlefield and eliminated the salient at Delville Wood, which had been costly to defend, due to observed German artillery-fire from three sides and the many counter-attacks by German infantry in July and August, the attack on 31 August being the largest mounted by the Germans during the Battle of the Somme.

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    The 22nd Brigade, 7th Division had been withdrawn for only two days, before being sent forward again for the attack on Ginchy. The ground had been torn by shell-fire and made muddy by rain, as the brigade took over the south end of Edge Trench and Devil's Trench in Delville Wood on the left, Stout and Porter trenches on the right facing Ginchy, with a battalion in support in Montauban Alley and a battalion in reserve in Pommiers Trench. A noon attack was planned to mislead the Germans.[12] On 6 September, a new attack was ordered with XIV Corps to advance to a line from Combles to Leuze Wood road, the Quadrilateral and Ginchy. The 55th Division to the north in the XV Corps area, was to support the attack on Ginchy by attacking with the 164th Brigade, between the outskirts of the village and the eastern edge of Delville Wood. The advance was then to continue to Hop Alley and Ale Alley, then from Pint Trench to Lager Lane on the road from Ginchy to Flers; III Corps was to take Wood Lane and the east corner of High Wood.[13]

    A bombardment was to begin on 9 September at 7:00 a.m., with no increase in intensity before zero at 4:45 p.m., to deceive the Germans as to the time of the attack and to deny them an opportunity to counter-attack before dark. The French Sixth Army attack as part of the joint plan to isolate Combles further south, also scheduled for 9 September was postponed on 8 September to 12 September due to supply difficulties.[14] On the 56th Division front, between the Combles ravine and the boundary with the 16th Division on the Combles–Guillemont road, the attack of 9 September was to be made behind a creeping barrage from half of the divisional artillery, moving at 100 yards (91 m) per minute. As the creeping barrage met a standing barrage fired by the other half of the divisional artillery on each barrage line successively, the standing barrage would jump ahead to the next objective.

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    British 60 pounder Battery


    On this day we lost 1802 men - Even the highlighted list is alas too long to reproduce here...

    African Fronts
    East Africa: Main British advance of 1st Division reaches Tulo but Lettow’s 2,200 men with 24 MGs check it at river Dutumi (until September 12).

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    The German newspaper ‘Illustrierte Zeitung’ reported about the struggle of the colonial forces ‘Schutztruppen’.
    Western Front
    German GHQ transferred from Charleville to Pless.
    Battle of the Somme, Battle of Ginchy: British 16th (Irish) Division (Irish nationalist and poet Lt Tom Kettle killed, aged 36) capture Ginchy, 7 miles east of Albert and trenches west and east of Leuze Wood.
    Southern sector: Germans begin counter-attacks against French Tenth Army round Berny and recover some ground (until September 12).
    Colonel Lossberg, CoS German First Army, awarded Pour le Merite for outstanding Western Front service.

    Eastern Front
    Pripet: Kaiser visits Kovel, awards Hoffmann Pour le Merite.
    Transylvania, Battle of Selimbar: Rumanians advance southwest of Hermannstadt.
    Dobruja: Mackensen’s Bulgar cavalry of 1st Infantry Divisions takes Silistria on Danube southern bank.

    Neutrals
    Greece: ‘Greek reservists’ shoot at French Athens legation, Government apologies on September 11 (for what is really a secret French ploy).

    Home Fronts
    Germany: Hindenburg and Ludendorff meet industrialists Gustav Krupp and Carl Duisberg (IG Farben) to discuss workforce shortage and Hindenburg programme.
    Austria: Common Ministers Council discuss food crisis, War Minister mentions malnutrition signs in Army.

    Never Knowingly Undergunned !!

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