September 10th 1915
According to RAF and RFC records: NO DEATHS ARE RECORDED FOR FRIDAY SEPTEMBER 10TH 1915
Bizarre day today with Sweden despite being neutral featuring in a major way - twice !
Western Front
Flanders: German artillery shells Ramscapelle and Skenstraate.
Southern Fronts
Greece: Greek officers summoned to Athens.
Middle East & Africa
Aden: Indian 28th Brigade leaves for Mesopotamia; Brig*ade-General Price GOC, regains Waht on September 25.
Skirmish south of Songwe River (border of German East Africa)
Sea War
HMS Lion with 1st and 2nd Battle Cruiser Squadrons and light forces covered mine-laying operations in the Blight.
HMS Lion was a battlecruiser of the Royal Navy, the lead ship of her class, which were nicknamed the "Splendid Cats".[1] They were significant improvements over their predecessors of the Indefatigable class in terms of speed, armament and armour. The Lion-class ships were 2 knots (3.7 km/h; 2.3 mph) faster, exchanged the 12-inch (305 mm) guns of the older ships for the same number of 13.5-inch (343 mm) guns, and had a waterline belt 9 inches (229 mm) thick versus the 6 inches (152 mm) of the Indefatigables. This was in response to the first German battlecruisers, the Moltke class, which were very much larger and more powerful than the first British battlecruisers, the Invincible class.
Lion served as the flagship of the Grand Fleet's battlecruisers throughout World War I, except when she was being refitted or under repair. She sank the German light cruiser Cöln during the Battle of Heligoland Bight and served as Vice Admiral Beatty's flagship at the battles of Dogger Bank and Jutland. She was so badly damaged at the first of these battles that she had to be towed back to port by the battle cruiser Indomitable and was under repair for more than two months. During the Battle of Jutland she suffered a serious propellant fire that could have destroyed the ship had it not been for the bravery of Royal Marine Major Francis Harvey, the turret commander, who posthumously received the Victoria Cross for having ordered the magazine flooded. The fire destroyed one gun turret which had to be removed for rebuilding while she was under repair for several months. She spent the rest of the war on uneventful patrols in the North Sea, although she did provide distant cover during the Second Battle of Heligoland Bight in 1917. She was put into reserve in 1920 and sold for scrap in 1924 under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty.
HMS Fearless at sea damaged by collision with a destroyer.
SS Antilochus (9,039 tons) warded off U-boat by gunfire in Mediterranean.
North Sea: Harwich and Rosyth forces escort 3 minelayers laying 3 fields west and northwest of Amrum Bank.
Boy Ernie ( United Kingdom): World War I: The fishing smack was scuttled in the North Sea 58 nautical miles (107 km) east of Cromer, Norfolk by SM UB-2 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
Nimrod ( United Kingdom): World War I: The fishing smack was scuttled in the North Sea 45 nautical miles (83 km) east by south of Lowestoft, Suffolk by SM UB-16 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
Presto ( Norway): World War I: The sailing ship was sunk in the North Sea 55 nautical miles (102 km) off Lindesnes, Vest-Agder (56°48′N 6°18′E) by SM U-6 ( Kaiserliche Marine).
Wallsend ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship collided with another ship and sank in the North Sea 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) off the Gull Lightship'' ( United Kingdom).
Eastern Front
Enemy attacks north of Vilna, serious fighting in centre.
Russian success continued in southern Galicia.
Occupied countries
Poland: Germans suppress Polish law courts.
Neutrals
Sweden: *Disguised British Stockholm Telgrambyra Bureau set up. (Wish I could find an article on this - sounds fascinating and is linked to what was known in espionage parlance as the 'Swedish Roundabout' a convoluted 7,000 information and coding detour set up by the Germans to pass information through supposedly neutral Sweden to its embassies across the globe)
Home Fronts
Britain: Churchill asks Asquith if he can leave Government and command brigade on Western Front, Kitchener prevents it on September 13.
Crime and punishment: At the Tower of London, at 6.00AM, Ernst Waldemar Melin, a Swedish national, is executed by firing squad for the crime of spying on behalf of the German government.
Ernst Melin
Ernst Melin was a Swede, aged 49 in 1915. Melin's Father was Olaf Melin, who had been a member of the Swedish Parliament for 30 years and owned a shipping company business in Gothenburg. Ernst Melin always claimed that his brother was a Colonel in the Swedish Army.
When the First World War started on 4 August 1914, Melin lost his job in a shipbroker's office located in the Russian town of Nikolaieff. He suggested to his Father that he was going to Hamburg, in Germany, as he had several long-standing friends living there.
When he arrived in Hamburg, his friends proved of little assistance in find a job for Melin. However, Melin's Father suggested a friend who was a Swedish commission agent based in Hamburg, a man called Gerdes. One day Gerdes asked Melin to have lucnh with him, as he had a proposition to put to him. After lunch, Melin was introduced to several of Gerdes' German visitors. Later in a private meeting one of the Germans suggested that Melin should go to London and find out naval and military secrets. The next day, Melin accepted the German's offer.
Melin then travelled to Antwerp, where he met Dierks. A meeting was held with a German Captain Lieutenant Larsson and another man called Schnitzner. They told Melin that he should go to various ports around England and Scotland. Melin left Rotterdam, later arriving in London and, on 12 January 1915, took lodgings in Hampstead near Belsize Park Underground Station.
After a fortnight of reporting various interesting items he had seen around London, Melin returned to Rotterdam, and on to Antwerp where he met his German contacts including Dierks. It was eventually agreed that Melin would be paid £50 per month. Melin then returned to England on 26 February 1915.
The British Security Services had been suspicious of Melin for sometime. Also Dierks was already known to to be one of the main people organising German spying activities.
However, things became much more serious when the security services intercepted two parcels address to Melin's UK lodgings. One was posted in the Tilbury area, the other parcel had been posted in Gravesend. One of the parcels contain an envelope of unused stamps. Another envelope contained a letter, which when examined, had some hidden writing in both English and German. The Gravesend parcel contained another innocently worded letter in English, but under examination yet more invisible writing, in English, was discovered. This invisible letter was discussing the movements of certain Royal Navy ships, and whether Melin would be able to find out more definite information.
At 10.15pm on 14 June 1915, Divisional Detective Inspector Thomas Duggan and Sergeant Askew went to Melin's lodgings and arrested him. One of the books in Melin's possession was a guide book with dots placed against the names of places like Glasgow, Norwich, Portsmouth and Plymouth. There was also a collection of writing nibs, and several dictionaries for working in German, Swedish and English. When examined, the nibs had been used to write invisible ink. One of the notebooks also contained notes about some of the soldiers, and their regiments, that Melin had seen on his journey in and around London.
Melin's court-martial took place on 20-21 August 1915 at the Middlesex Guildhall, with the President being Major-General Lord Cheylesmore. The Prosecution case was presented by Captain Wedderburn and Mr. Bodkin. The defence team were Mr. George Elliott and Mr. H.D. Roome. Melin was found guilty and sentenced to death by shooting.
It was observed that in the period between his trial and execution, Melin was a model prisoner who gave no trouble to his guards. At 6am on 10 September 1915, Ernst Waldemar Melin was executed by a firing squad composed of members of the Scots Guards. The execution took place in the Tower of London's Miniature Rifle Range.
Bookmarks