100 Years Ago Today

[Hedeby]

October 5th 1915

According to RFC records: No deaths were recorded amongst airmen/ground crew etc on this day in 1915

Hmm... I pick up the thread on a day when most usual sources come back blank, lets see what we can find.

The War in the Air

and its a big 'pat on the back for the RFC' as the Battle of Loos comes to a close...

In a special order of the day, the Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force Field Marshal Sir John French expresses to Brigadier General H.M. Trenchard and all ranks of the Royal Flying Corps his appreciation of "the valuable work they have performed during the battle of Loos, he desires especially to thank pilots and observers for their plucky work in co-operation with the artillery, in photography and bomb attacks.... Throughout these operations the RFC have gallantly maintained the splendid record they have achieved since the commencement of the campaign".



Western Front

British attack north of Loos and French attack in Champagne indecisive.

U-33 was the busiest of the German U-boats on this day

Alose ( French Navy): World War I: The naval trawler struck a mine and sank in the North Sea off the Galloper Lightship ( United Kingdom) with the loss of twelve of her crew.
Burrsfield ( United Kingdom): World War I: The collier was shelled and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 70 nautical miles (130 km) wast of Cape Matapan, Greece (35°57′N 21°00′E) by SM U-33 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of four crew.
Novocastrian ( United Kingdom): World War I: The cargo ship struck a mine and sank in the North Sea 3.5 nautical miles (6.5 km) south east by east of Lowestoft, Suffolk. Her crew survived.
X 130 ( Royal Navy): World War I: The barge, under tow of Burrswood ( United Kingdom), was shelled and sunk 70 nautical miles (130 km) west of Cape Matapan (35°57′N 21°00′E) by SM U-33 ( Kaiserliche Marine)

Eastern Front

Riga front active; lively actions near Smorgon.

Southern Front

Italians progress towards Rovereto (Trent.).

Allied troops land Salonika.

On October 5th 1915 a combined Franco-British force of some two large brigades was landed at Salonika (today called Thessalonika) at the request of the Greek Prime Minister. The objective was to help the Serbs in their fight against Bulgarian aggression. But the expedition arrived too late, the Serbs having been beaten before they landed. It was decided to keep the force in place for future operations, even against Greek opposition. The Greek Chief of the General Staff in Athens had told them " You will be driven into the sea, and you will not have time even to cry for mercy" (Some Greek factions, including King Constantine, were pro-German). The outcome of the Gallipoli campaign was in the balance and most shipping in the area was involved so they really had no choice. In December 1915 the British element fought a battle at Kosturino, north of Lake Doiran, after withdrawing from Serbia. After this there was little action except for occasional air-raids on Salonika.



The British Units Involved were as follows:

10th (Irish) Division (arrived October 1915, left August 1917)
28th Division (arrived October - November 1915
22nd Division (arrived November 1915)
26th Division (arrived November - December 1915)
27th Division (arrived November 1915 - March 1916)
60th (2/2nd London) Division (arrived December 1916, left June 1918)



Bulgarians moving under German orders.

Political, etc.

Dr. Dumba sails. (see previous posts concerning this dodgy 'gentleman')

Greek Premier M. Venizelos resigns again after the King of Greece refuses to support his policies.

Russia severs diplomatic relations with Bulgaria

Bulgaria joins the war on the side of the Central Powers although doesn't officially declare war on Serbia until October 14th

Lord Derby, Director of Recruiting.

Entente Ministers at Sofia demand passports.

[Hedeby]

October 6th 1915

RFC records show one casualty today: Lt. Christopher Deamer RNAS Armoured Car Squadron (Attached from the RNVR)- died of his wounds whilst serving in the Gallipoli campaign.

Lieutenant Christopher Dearmer (Royal Naval Air Service) dies of wounds at Suvla Bay at age 21. His mother died serving in the British Red Cross Ambulance in Serbia last July. He is the son of Chaplain Percy Dearmer of the British Red Cross who will lose a son born to his second wife in April 1943. His is an interesting story, not least the part played by his mother Mabel Dearmer...

A lifelong pacifist, Dearmer was initially indifferent to the events that led up to the First World War. However, after their two sons enlisted, her husband volunteered his services as chaplain to the British Red Cross, and Dearmer
decided to accompany him. She contracted typhoid and pneumonia and died while serving as a nursing orderly in Serbia in 1915. Her war experiences are recorded in her posthumously published Letters from a Field Hospital (1915).
Mabel was not the only casualty in the family. Her younger son, Christopher, died of wounds in Gallipoli three months after her death. Her elder son, Geoffrey, a celebrated World War I poet, lived to be 103.

Geoffrey Dearmer: Geoffrey Dearmer LVO (21 March 1893 – 18 August 1996) was a British poet. He was the son of Anglican liturgist and hymnologist Percy Dearmer.

During World War I, Dearmer was commissioned and served with the London Regiment at Gallipoli and on the Western Front. Many of his poems dealt with the overall brutality of war and violence, to which he was a direct eyewitness. His brother Christopher, a pilot with RNAS, died of wounds in 1915,[1] and his mother Mabel died the same year while serving with an ambulance unit in Serbia.



One of his most famous poems is "The Turkish Trench Dog". So for the first time in this thread I think it is pertinent to include some poetry

Night held me as I crawled and scrambled near
The Turkish lines. Above, the mocking stars
Silvered the curving parapet, and clear
Cloud-latticed beams o'erflecked the land with bars;
I, crouching, lay between
Tense-listening armies peering through the night,
Twin giants bound by tentacles unseen
Here in dim-shadowed light
I saw him, as a sudden movement turned
His eyes towards me, glowing eyes that burned
A moment ere his snuffling muzzle found
My trail; and then as serpents mesmerise
He chained me with those unrelenting eyes,
That muscle-sliding rhythm, knit and bound
In spare-limbed symmetry, those perfect jaws
And soft-approaching pitter-patter paws.
Nearer and nearer like a wolf he crept —
That moment had my swift revolver leapt —
But terror seized me, terror born of shame
Brought flooding revelation. For he came
As one who offers comradeship deserved,
An open ally of the human race,
And sniffling at my prostrate form unnerved
He licked my face!

Western Front

French carry Tahure and the Butte (Hill 192) (Champagne).

Eastern Front

Heavy fighting Dvina front and in Lakes district; Romanians fortifying Giurgevo (Ruschuk).

Southern Front

Austrians attack Belgrade forts.

Naval and Overseas Operations

German Submarine UM-33 continues to wreak havoc...

SM U-33 was a German Type U 31 U-boat of the Imperial German Navy.

Name: U-33
Ordered: 29 March 1912
Builder: Germaniawerft, Kiel
Laid down: 7 November 1912
Launched: 19 May 1914
Commissioned: 27 September 1914
Fate: Surrendered at the end of the war broken up at Blyth in 1919-20

Victories:
82 ships sunk for a total of 193,529 GRT.
8 ships damaged for a total of 36,452 tons.

1 ship taken as prize for a total of 453 tons.


A submarine of the same type us U-33 (actually U-45)

HMS Brighton Queen ( Royal Navy): World War I: The auxiliary minesweeper struck a mine and sank in the English Channel 5 nautical miles (9.3 km) west of Nieuwpoort, West Flanders, Belgium with the loss of eight of her crew.
Dimitrios Dandiolos ( Greece): World War I: The cargo ship was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea east of Malta (35°43′N 18°24′E) by SM U-33 ( Kaiserliche Marine).
Forth ( Norway): The cargo ship foundered in the Atlantic Ocean. Her crew were rescued by General Laurie ( United States).
Novocastrian ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship foundered. Her crew survived.
Scawby ( United Kingdom): World War I: The cargo ship was scuttled in the Mediterranean Sea 220 nautical miles (410 km) east of Malta by SM U-33 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
Silverash ( United Kingdom): World War I: The cargo ship was shelled and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 184 nautical miles (341 km) east of Malta by SM U-33 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
Texelstroom ( Netherlands): World War I: The cargo ship struck a mine and sank in the North Sea 1 nautical mile (1.9 km) west of the Shipwash Lightship ( United Kingdom). Her crew survived

Reports of valuable Belgian co-operation in Cameroons, beginning on Sanga in October 1914.

Political, etc.

Armenian massacres discussed, House of Lords; 80,000 reported killed since May, with connivance.
King of Greece gives assurance to British Minister that Greece will maintain neutrality, but Greek mobilisation (see September 23rd) and Allied disembarkation at Salonika will proceed (see 3rd, 5th and 8th).
M. Zaimis appointed Greek Premier.

[Hedeby]

Thanks for those who pointed out by U-Boat error, have amended

[Hedeby]

October 7th 1915

According to RFC and RAF records - NO DEATHS ARE RECORDED FOR THURSDAY OCTOBER 7TH 1915

There was one noteworthy casualty though...

Friedrich Hefty of the Austro Hungarian Air Service



Friedrich (Frigyes) Hefty was a World War I Hungarian flying ace credited with five confirmed and five unconfirmed aerial victories who held the rank of Offiziersstellvertreter.

Hefty was wounded in the right foot by Italian anti-aircraft fire on 7 October 1915. He transferred to Flik 42J in the Isonzo sector of the Italian front in October 1917, scoring his second victory during the Battle of Caporetto. During 1918, Hefty formed a strong friendship with fellow pilots Johann Risztics and Ferdinand Udvardy. Amongst the airmen of Flik 42J, the trio became known as the Arany Triumviratus (Golden Triumvirate).

Hefty began marking the sides of his Albatros D.III with the number "6."




Western Front

Vigorous fighting in Champagne and Argonne, indecisive.
French advance southeast of Tahure, French war poet Auguste Compagnon killed, aged 36 (Poemes et Lettres des Tranchees published 1916).

What was I saying yesterday about never featuring anything to do with poetry and now we have references on consecutive days...



Eastern Front

Continued fighting in Dvinsk region.

Southern Front

Austro-Germans across Drina, Save and Danube; total estimated 400,000. (See below)
Serbia: Austrian VIII Corps (Scheuchenstuel) and German XXII Reserve Corps (Falkenhayn‘s brother) cross 1000-yards wide Danube and Sava rivers by boat under searchlight and monitor cover on either side of Belgrade; 4 Anglo-French naval guns fight to end, damage 2 monitors, 6 remaining Royal Navy guns join Serb Army (after October 8) but all eventually lost.

Birjand (East Persia) occupied by British forces

20,000 Allied troops at Salonika.

Naval and Overseas Operations (Hopefully without any U-boat number mix ups....)

French transport sunk by Austrian submarine; two Russian destroyers sunk 19 Turkish supply ships, coast of Anatolia.
Amiral Hamelin ( France): World War I: The cargo ship was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 170 nautical miles (310 km) west of Cape Matapan, Greece (35°37′N 19°08′E) by SM U-33 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of 71 lives.
Halizones ( United Kingdom): World War I: The cargo ship was shelled and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 122 nautical miles (226 km) south east by east of Cape Martello, Crete, Greece by SM U-39 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
Katja ( Russia): World War I: The coaster was sunk in the Black Sea 15 nautical miles (28 km) north west of Sevastopol by SM UB-14 ( Kaiserliche Marine).
SMS T43 ( Kaiserliche Marine): World War I: The S7-class torpedo boat struck a mine and sank in the North Sea with the loss of three of her crew.

Political, etc.

New Greek Cabinet under M. Zaimis; benevolent neutrality programme.

British Labour Leaders appeal for volunteers for Army.

[Hedeby]

October 8th 1915

1 AIRMAN HAS FALLEN ON FRIDAY OCTOBER 8TH 1915

PO Mech Wright, P.R. (Percy R.) of the Royal Naval Air Service, he died in Dunkirk. Alas I can find no further details or images

Place of Birth: Willesden, Middlesex
Date of Birth: 14 December 1892


No.26 Squadron is formed at Netheravon from personnel of the South African Air Corps previously engaged in the campaign in German South-West Africa. The squadron subsequently embarked for East Africa in December 1915 to participate in operations against German forces in Tanganyika.

No. 26 Squadron was formed at Netheravon on 8 October 1915 from personnel of the South African Air Corps. It was equipped with B.E.s and Farmans and sent to East Africa in 1915, arriving in Mombasa at the end of January 1916. In February 1918 it was dispatched back to the UK where it was disbanded in July 1918.



Western Front

Important German attack near Loss repulsed. Huge enemy losses.

Having been forced to give ground on the 25th September the German forces opposite Haig’s First Army recovered quickly enough to be able to foil British attempts to break their second line on the 26th. Intelligence reports were soon suggesting that the Germans were increasing the number of batteries opposite the British at Loos and French at Vimy.

German efforts to counter attack in strength, however, had been hindered by a constant drain on units trying to hold Vimy Ridge (Which the French had once again taken and lost).

On the morning of the 8th October the French in the Hill 70 sector remarked that holes had been cut through the German wire — a sure sign that an attack was pending. At noon the German guns opened up with a bombardment, along the entire front between Lens and the La Bassée Canal, that lasted until 1600 hours.

At 1600 hours a major assault by the German 7th and 8th Infantry Divisions began against the French either side of the Lens – Béthune Road. This was rebuffed apart from a short stretch of trench being lost near the Double Crassier.

The right of the German attack fell on the British 1st Division, holding the line between Puits 14 bis to the north of Chalk Pit Wood. The 1st Bn Gloucestershire Regiment and 1/9th Bn King’s Regiment on the left halted the Germans coming from Bois Hugo whilst, on the right, the 2nd Bn Royal Munster Fusiliers facing the pit poured rifle fire into the attack emanating from there and drove it back.



On the northern half of the battlefield an attempt was made by the Germans to recapture the final portions of their old front line still held by the British: Quarry and Big Willie Trenches. Fortunately the Guards Division had been in receipt of nine thousand Mills grenades; the importance of an adequate supply of these weapons in trench fighting having been recognised.

An attempt by the Germans to bomb their way down the communications trenches running into the southern end of Quarry Trench was beaten back by the 2nd Bn Coldstream Guards. The 3rd Bn Grenadier Guards in Big Willie Trench had a much harder time of things when they were assailed from three sides. Those of the garrison who were not killed were forced back down towards Dump Trench where a party from the 3rd Bn Coldstream Guards under Lance Sergeant Oliver Brooks turned the tide and threw the invaders back up the trench. By the end of the action the Grenadiers were back in their former position and Oliver Brooks had been awarded the Victoria Cross.

8 October 1915: German counter-attack
Noon: German artillery opened a bombardment on the whole front between the La Bassee Canal and Lens, increasing in intensity at 3.00pm. At around 4.00pm, their infantry attacked between the Double Crassier and the Chalk Pit. On the Allied right, the shelling failed to sufficiently damage French wire, and the German attack was halted with heavy loss. At the same hour, enemy bombers attacked from the Quarries and Fosse 8 against the forward British positions in Quarry Trench and Big Willie. On the left of the Loos attack, the attack fell against the 2/Royal Munster Fusiliers, 1/Gloucesters and 1/9th King's of 1st Division, between the Loos-Puits 14 bis track, and North of the Chalk Pit. Despite heavy shellfire casualties among the defenders, British machine-guns destroyed the attack within 40 yards of the front line. On the Hohenzollern Redoubt front, the 2/Coldstream Guards repelled all attacks, as they were by now armed with many Mills bombs. The 3/Grenadier Guards were pushed back some way, but eventually formed a block and then counterattacked (supported by two companies of the 1/Scots Guards and the bombers of the Irish Guards) recovered the lost trenches and caused heavy loss to the enemy.
6.15pm: 37th Brigade of 12th Division, led by 6/Royal West Kents, attacked against Gun Trench near Hulluch, but after gaining a footing in the trench had to retire due to lack of grenades.

Although the Germans had made very few gains during the afternoon and evening their attack had forced General Haig to postpone his own attack planned for the following morning (9th October 1915).



The new date was set for the 13th October and by then the Guards Division had been replaced in front of the Hohenzollern Redoubt by the 46th (North Midland) Division.

A French attack on the 11th October went ahead, despite the delay in British preparations, and achieved nothing. Beaten back on all fronts for the loss of a further two thousand casualties they had encountered a German defence that was now more than prepared and in strength.



The problem for Général Ferdinand Foch was that the French trenches were now at the bottom of Vimy Ridge and overlooked by the Germans on the heights. Foch wanted one more effort to dislodge the defenders but he was overruled by his Commander in Chief, Général Joseph Joffre. French heavy artillery units had run out of ammunition (The French having been conducting battles both in Artois and Champagne — where they had made very little progress).

Thus, this attack on the 11th October formed the last infantry engagement of the battle by the French. They would provide a bombardment on the British right on the 13th October but that would be the limit of their involvement.

The British would inherit the French lines just under Vimy Ridge in March 1916.

Eastern Front

Russians capture 1,000 prisoners, Novo Alexinatz (Galician border, east of Lemberg).

Southern Front

Austrians enter Belgrade; Serbs evacuate it after checking advanced guard.

Sir Ian Hamilton's despatch on Suvla Bay.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

British force attacks 9,000 Mohmands (Indian frontier), scoring heavily.

Naval and Overseas Operations

British submarine destroys German transport in Baltic.
Apscheron ( Imperial Russian Navy): World War I: The transport ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Black Sea 24 nmi (44 km) south of Cape Chersones by SM UB-14 ( Kaiserliche Marine).
Thorpwood ( United Kingdom): World War I: The collier was shelled and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 122 nautical miles (226 km) south of Cape Martello, Crete, Greece (33°12′N 25°28′E) by SM U-39 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

Political, etc.

Anglo-French munitions agreement; Miners' Federation "triple alliance".

[Hedeby]

October 9th 1915

RFC records show that NO DEATHS ARE RECORDED FOR SATURDAY OCTOBER 9TH 1915

Western Front

Severe fighting near Loos, held by French and British.

9-13 October 1915: preparing to renew the offensive
3,170 new gas cylinders were installed in the forward positions facing the Hohenzollern Redoubt and Fosse 8 on each night of this period (although only 1,100 of them would actually be discharged on 13th October, as it turned out). On the night of 10th October, the 2/Grenadier Guards captured an enemy position called The Loop (a portion of communication trench near Big Willie from which they had been able to shoot down the Guards trenches), after heavy hand-to-hand fighting. An enemy counterattack the next day was beaten off, as was another on 12th October. Shell and mortar fire from the Germans continued so heavy that the relief of the battalion by the 7/Suffolks of 12th Division and 1/5th South Staffords of 46th Division was delayed until 6.45pm.

French Tenth Army attacked at Vimy Ridge on 11th October, together with a local action to recover some trenches at the Double Crassier that had been lost on 8th October. The main attack failed with heavy losses (2,200 casualties) while the Loos attack was cut down before it reached the German wire. Tenth Army made no further attack in the area, due to dwindling ammunition supplies: Joffre formally closed down the Artois offensive on 15th October.



On 12th October, Sir John French wrote to Haig that the French Tenth Army was going to stand fast, unable to get beyond Vimy Ridge. First Army would not, in the circumstances, be required to achieve the distant objectives given on 18th September. The Army would however continue its efforts to secure such localities as would enable it to maintain its position and be ready to renew the offensive when ordered.

The Scots Guards at Loos


Sir John French's despatch on last five days.

Eastern Front

Russians pressed back north-west of Dvinsk and south-west of Pinsk; heavy losses in Volhynia.

Southern Front

Austrians attack Montenegrin frontier; occupy Belgrade; Gallwitz crosses below Semendria.

Belgrade taken by Austrian forces (see December 15th, 1914 and November 1st, 1918)

On October 9, 1915, Austro-Hungarian forces capture the Serbian capital of Belgrade, assisted in their defeat of Serbian forces by German troops under the command of General August von Mackensen.

It was not the first time during World War I that Austrian troops had occupied Belgrade. They had captured the city on December 1, 1914, effectively accomplishing what might have been their foremost war-making objective the previous summer: bringing the upstart Serbia to its knees after a Bosnian Serb nationalist shot and killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria during an official visit to Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital. As the American war correspondent John Reed observed during his visit to Serbia that winter, Austro-Hungarian forces reduced many areas of Belgrade to ruins, including its university: “The Austrians had made it their special target, for there had been the hotbed of pan-Serbian propaganda, and among the students that formed the secret society whose members murdered the Archduke Franz Ferdinand.” Two weeks after the Austrians entered Belgrade, however, Serbian forces recaptured the city, taking 40,000 Austrian prisoners.

By the autumn of 1915, though, Serbia’s prospects were dwindling, and at the end of September, the Austrian army—composed of both Austrian and German troops—stood to the northwest and north of Belgrade, reinforced by the German 11th Army nearby. On October 6, German and Austro-Hungarian troops under the command of General von Mackensen crossed the wide Danube River in heavy rains, closing in on Belgrade. Three days later, they entered and took control of the city, forcing the Serbs to evacuate.

Though the Serbs planned to counterattack, their defeat was sealed only days later by the entrance into the war of Bulgaria, whose forces immediately invaded Serbia and Macedonia, the former Ottoman province in the Balkans it had long coveted. Bulgaria’s expressed reason for joining the Central Powers—aside from its economic relationships with Germany and Austria—was to annex Serbian territory. Its army neatly closed Serbian forces off from its allies, including a British and French force newly arrived in Greece for the purpose of aiding the Serbs. By the end of November, both Serbia and Macedonia were in the hands of the Central Powers.

Of all the belligerent nations during World War I, Serbia suffered the greatest number of casualties in relation to the size of its population. Its losses were staggering: Of some 420,000 soldiers in September 1915, 94,000 were killed in action and another 174,000 were captured or missing, while undoubtedly great numbers of civilian casualties remained uncalculated.


Austrian attack on Isonzo front repulsed.

Naval and Overseas Operations

British capture Wumbiagas (Cameroons).
Second Affair of Hafiz Kor (North-West Frontier of India) I can find plenty on the third affair but little to nothing on the second - it remains an enigma...

Political, etc.

Bulgarian Cabinet reconstructed.

U.S.A. naval programme issued.

[Hedeby]

October 10th 1915

Records show the loss of three airmen on this day in 1915...

Petty Officer Mechanic John Leo Fairclough Service number: f/2046 of the RNAS Armoured Car Squadron died of Dysentery in Egypt on this day aged 41

Son of Joseph Austin Fairclough and Elizabeth Fairclough, of Southport; husband of Margaret Ellen Fairclough, of 14, Birch St., Southport, Lancs.

Petty Officer Mechanic Edward Osmond Parsons of the RNAS Armoured Car Squadron died of Dysentery whilst serving in the Dardanelles

2nd Lieutenant John "Jack" Gay of 16 Squadron RFC. Killed in Action 10 October 1915 aged 22, while flying a BE2c.

Lieutenant Gay was shot down and killed in aerial combat at 15:00hrs by the German Ace Max Immelmann flying a Fokker Eindecker. I can find no record of what happened to the other member of the BE2c crew - one Lieutenant David Gleeson.
This was Immelmann's 4th kill, he would be waiting until 26th October before he was proclaimed an 'Ace' by shooting down an FB.5.

There were also two other 'Kills' claimed on this date -

A Voisin of the French Air Force by Walter von Bülow-Bothkamp shot down near Metz (his first kill)


Robert Ritter von Greim also claimed his first kill - a Farman biplane shot down (location unknown)


Max Immelmann - The Eagle of Lille




Western Front

According to the Battalion diary of the Loyal North Lancashire Regiment, there was some action around Hannescamps

Hannescamps
At day-break, it was discovered that the Germans were working
on a new line of trenches in front of Ouvrages Blancs. A good view could be
obtained from trench 67 under covering fire from heavy machine guns that
made observation from trench 66 unsafe. At least 12 men could be seen
turning up brown earth – 5 rounds rapid fire discouraged them, but not for
long. They were believed to be joining up their line, as shown by the
dotted line below.

French progress in Souchez Valley (Artois), Givenchy-en-Gochell Wood, and the ridges toward La Follie; French gains in Champagne extended.





1934 S/Lieut. Alfred Marie Alexandre Jauffret, 149e Régiment d’Infanterie

Born at Marseille on 10th March 1879, Alfred completed his compulsory military service in 1902.

As an NCO and Aspirant in the reserve at the time of the outbreak of war, he was mobilised in August 1914 and saw service in the Vosges and Flanders during 1914.

He was commissioned into the 149e RI in 1915 and fought on the Artois front. This included seeing much action during the capture of the Lorette Spur. He was wounded in action near Aix-Noulette during the 3rd Battle of Artois.

Alfred died of wounds in Ambulance 5/17a at Houdain on 10th October 1915.

His grave location is unrecorded.



Eastern Front

Scattered fighting along most of the line, except Dvinsk.

Southern Front

Enemy cross Danube in force at Semendria; many civilians killed at Belgrade.

Naval and Overseas Operations

British submarine sinks "Lulea" German metal steamer.
British 3rd Light Cruiser Squadron from Scapa swept down to Little Fisher Bank.

British ss Newcastle mined off Folkestone Pier.

A British submarine sank Germans from Garbunovka (Dvinsk).

A British submarine sank German ss Lulea off Lübeck.

SS Ajax shelled by U-Boat in Mediterranean; rescued.



Political, etc.

Popular discontent in Bulgaria at Germanophile policy.
Greek Government reject Serbian claim for help under Serbo-Greek Treaty of 1912.

[Hedeby]

October 11th 1915

Records show the loss of one airman on this day in 1915...

Petty Officer Mechanic Bertram Henry Pearsalll of the RNAS Armoured Car Squadron (we seem to have had a lot of these poor chaps mentioned recently) He was 21 when he died. Alas I have not been able to unearth nay more information. So to all members of that brave unit - I salute you, and trust that somewhere Bertram Pearsall is remembered and honoured properly as I am unable to do so here.



Aerial Combat Claims Today:

William Douglas Stock Sanday (RFC) flying a BE2c claimed an Albatross C over Noyelles-les-Vermelles (must have been a boom card, how else would a BE2c win against an Albatross?)

Walter von Bülow-Bothkamp with his 2nd claim in consecutive days, claiming a victory over a Farman biplane (location unknown)

Hauptman Martin Zander claimed a BE2c over Villeret (this was his second kill, he would have to wait until August 1916 to claim his third)



Eastern Front

Desperate fighting near Dvinsk; Ivanov captures 2,000 Austrians on Strypa (Galicia).

Southern Front

Bulgars attack Serbs from Byelogradchik; Belgrade partly destroyed.
Hostilities commence between Bulgarian and Serbian forces
Semendria (Serbia) taken by Austrian forces


Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

Turkish offensive at Ichkau (Transcaucasia) repulsed.

Naval and Overseas Operations

Admiral D'Artiges du Fournet French naval Commander-in-Chief, vice Boue de Lapeyrere in eastern Meditteranean.

Political, etc.

Lord Derby produces recruiting scheme.

Prohibition of "treating".

Teaser Alert : Major story tomorrow and lots more Zeppelin action coming your way on Tuesday 13th.

[Hedeby]

Thank you to those who spotted I had gone into auto pilot mode and put down an Albatross D.II for William Sanday's claim - when in fact it should have been a C- Type in 1915.
I stand corrected (obviously still traumatised by D.IIs following the last three battles against them in Spad VIIs). I have amended accordingly

[Flying Officer Kyte]

More like still traumatized after your near miss by that low flying Vulcan.
Rob.

[Hedeby]

More like still traumatized after your near miss by that low flying Vulcan.
Rob.

It was very low on both occasions Rob !

[Hedeby]

12th October 1915

1 AIRMAN HAS FALLEN ON TUESDAY OCTOBER 12TH 1915:

Chief Petty Officer W. McLellan RNAS Eastern Mediterranean Squadron- Unfortunately I can find no additional information other than that he is buried at Imbros Cemetery.(Gallipoli - Turkey)

There no claimed 'Kills' by pilots of either side on this day.

Today is the 100th Anniversary of the Death of Nurse Edith Cavell A tale of courage and compassion, showing you don't have to be a soldier to show true courage....

Edith Cavell was a British nurse. She is celebrated for saving the lives of soldiers from both sides without discrimination and in helping some 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium during the First World War, for which she was arrested. She was subsequently court-martialled, found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. Despite international pressure for mercy, she was shot by a German firing squad. Her execution received worldwide condemnation and extensive press coverage.

She is well known for her statement that "patriotism is not enough". Her strong Anglican beliefs propelled her to help all those who needed it, both German and Allied soldiers. She was quoted as saying, "I can’t stop while there are lives to be saved." The Church of England commemorates her in their Calendar of Saints on 12 October.

Edith Cavell, who was 49 at the time of her execution, was already notable as a pioneer of modern nursing in Belgium.



Edith Cavell was born on 4 December 1865 in Swardeston, a village near Norwich, where her father was vicar for 45 years. She was the eldest of the four children of the Reverend Frederick and Louisa Sophia Cavell and was taught always to share with the less fortunate, despite her family’s meagre income. After a period as a governess, including for a family in Brussels 1890–1895, she trained as a nurse at the London Hospital under Matron Eva Luckes and worked in various hospitals in England, including Shoreditch Infirmary. In 1907, Cavell was recruited by Dr Antoine Depage to be matron of a newly established nursing school, L'École Belge d’Infirmières Diplômées, (or The Berkendael Medical Institute) on the Rue de la Culture (now Rue Franz Merjay), Ixelles in Brussels. By 1910, "Miss Cavell 'felt that the profession of nursing had gained sufficient foothold in Belgium to warrant the publishing of a professional journal' and, therefore, launched the nursing journal, L'infirmière". A year later, she was a training nurse for three hospitals, 24 schools, and 13 kindergartens in Belgium.

When the First World War broke out, she was visiting her widowed mother in Norfolk in the East of England. She returned to Brussels, where her clinic and nursing school were taken over by the Red Cross.

In November 1914, after the German occupation of Brussels, Cavell began sheltering British soldiers and funnelling them out of occupied Belgium to the neutral Netherlands. Wounded British and French soldiers and Belgian and French civilians of military age were hidden from the Germans and provided with false papers by Prince Reginald de Croy at his château of Bellignies near Mons. From there, they were conducted by various guides to the houses of Cavell, Louis Séverin and others in Brussels, and furnished by them with money to reach the Dutch frontier and with guides obtained through Philippe Baucq. This placed Cavell in violation of German military law.German authorities became increasingly suspicious of the nurse's actions, which were backed up by her outspokenness.

She was arrested on 3 August 1915 and charged with harbouring Allied soldiers. She had been betrayed by Gaston Quien, who was later convicted by a French court as a collaborator. She was held in Saint-Gilles prison for 10 weeks, the last two in solitary confinement. She made three depositions to the German police (on 8, 18 and 22 August), admitting that she had been instrumental in conveying about 60 British and 15 French soldiers and about 100 French and Belgians of military age to the frontier and had sheltered most of them in her house.

In her court-martial she was prosecuted for aiding British and French soldiers, in addition to young Belgian men, to cross the border and eventually enter Britain. She admitted her guilt when she signed a statement the day before the trial. Cavell declared that the soldiers she had helped escape thanked her in writing when arriving safely in Britain. This admission confirmed that Cavell had helped the soldiers navigate the Dutch frontier, but it also established that she helped them escape to a country at war with Germany.The penalty according to German military law was death. Paragraph 58 of the German Military Code said; "Will be sentenced to death for treason any person who, with the intention of helping the hostile Power, or of causing harm to the German or allied troops, is guilty of one of the crimes of paragraph 90 of the German Penal Code.The case referred to in the above-mentioned paragraph 90 consists of "Conducting soldiers to the enemy", although this was not traditionally punishable by death. Additionally, the penalties according to paragraph 160 of the German Code, in case of war, apply to foreigners as well as Germans.


A propaganda stamp issued shortly after Cavell's death.





While the First Geneva Convention ordinarily guaranteed protection of medical personnel, that protection was forfeit if used as cover for any belligerent action. This forfeiture is expressed in article 7 of the 1906 version of the Convention, which was the version in force at the time. The German authorities instead justified prosecution merely on the basis of the German law and the interests of the German state. The British government could do nothing to help her. Sir Horace Rowland of the Foreign Office said, "I am afraid that it is likely to go hard with Miss Cavell; I am afraid we are powerless." Lord Robert Cecil, Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, said, "Any representation by us", he advised, "will do her more harm than good." The United States, however, had not yet joined the war and was in a position to apply diplomatic pressure. Hugh S. Gibson, First Secretary of the U.S. legation at Brussels, made clear to the German government that executing Cavell would further harm Germany's already damaged reputation. Later, he wrote:

We reminded [German civil governor Baron von der Lancken] of the burning of Louvain and the sinking of the Lusitania, and told him that this murder would rank with those two affairs and would stir all civilised countries with horror and disgust. Count Harrach broke in at this with the rather irrelevant remark that he would rather see Miss Cavell shot than have harm come to the humblest German soldier, and his only regret was that they had not "three or four old English women to shoot.

Baron von der Lancken is known to have stated that Cavell should be pardoned because of her complete honesty and because she had helped save so many lives, German as well as Allied. However, General von Sauberzweig, the military governor of Brussels, ordered that "in the interests of the State" the implementation of the death penalty against Baucq and Cavell should be immediate,[4] denying higher authorities an opportunity to consider clemency. Cavell was defended by lawyer Sadi Kirschen from Brussels. Of the 27 put on trial, five were condemned to death: Cavell, Baucq (an architect in his thirties), Louise Thuliez, Séverin and Countess Jeanne de Belleville. Of the five sentenced to death, only Cavell and Baucq were executed; the other three were reprieved.

On October 11, the day before her execution, the prison chaplain, Reverend Gahan, visited Edith and found her at peace. He later stated that she told him, “I want my friends to know that I willingly give my life for my country. I have no fear nor shirking. I have seen death so often that it is not strange or fearful to me.” In her final hours, she famously stated, “Patriotism is not enough. I must have no hatred or bitterness for anyone.”. The next morning, October 12, 1915, Edith Cavell was taken to the National Rifle Range just outside of Brussels and executed by firing squad.



Cavell was not arrested for espionage, as many were led to believe, but for 'treason', though not a German national. She may have been recruited by the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) and turned away from her espionage duties in order to help Allied soldiers escape, although this is not widely accepted. Rankin cites the published statement of M. R. D. Foot, historian and WW2 British intelligence officer, as to Cavell's having been part of SIS or MI6.

Eastern Front

Fighting Dvinsk region continues.

Southern Front

Bulgars driven off by Serbs south of Zayechar (Bulgar-Serb border).

Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

Russians repel Turks in Van Pass and at Arkhava (Coast).

Naval and Overseas Theatres

There were three reported ships lost on this day

Germania ( Germany): The cargo ship ran aground off the coast of Sweden and was subsequently sunk by an on board explosion.
Seileren ( Norway): The four-masted barque collided with another vessel in the Irish Sea off Torr Head, County Antrim, United Kingdom. Her crew were rescued.
Thorpwood ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship foundered. Her crew were rescued

Political, etc.

Greece refuses Serbia's appeal.


Tomorrow - the Zeppelins return !!!!

[Flying Officer Kyte]

Very concise piece on Edith Cavell.
Thanks Chris.
Rob.

[Hedeby]

Thanks Rob - unlike many of the stories we try to put on here this one was not short of pages devoted to it. The trouble was trying to make in concise enough to include on this thread without missing any of the salient points. One thing I found interesting was that she was executed for treason rather than for espionage - most tales you read say she was shot as a spy. Bit of a moot point I guess but an interesting one none the less.

[Hedeby]

October 13th 1915

According to RFC records - NO DEATHS ARE RECORDED FOR WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 13TH 1915

Aerial Combat 'Kills' claimed today:

Just the one claimant today, but its a DOUBLE !!!

Major Charles Gordon Bell No.10 Squadron RFC - Flying a Bristol Scout claimed two kills on this day - an LVG South of Don, and an Albatross West of Lens.



A well known pre-war aviator, Charles Gordon Bell was an experienced and aggressive pilot when he joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1914. The highest scoring Bristol Scout pilot of the war, he was posted to 10 Squadron and claimed 5 victories in 1915 before ill health forced his return to England at the end of the year. Famous for his stammer and the monocle he sometimes wore, he helped train James McCudden. He was killed during a test flight in 1918.




Bell was an early British pilot. He was one of the first hundred licensed pilots in the United Kingdom, and in a short career became known as one of the most skilled and experienced pilots in the country. During the First World War he became an ace, shooting down five German aircraft, before returning to England to work as a flying instructor and test pilot. He was killed in July 1918, when an experimental aircraft he was flying crashed in France.

Gordon Bell was awarded Aviator's Certificate #100 by the Royal Aero Club in 1911, making him one of the earliest qualified pilots in the country. As with many early aviators, he had learned at the Brooklands flying school.He then moved to France, where he worked for Robert Esnault-Pelterie's aircraft firm R.E.P.; while demonstrating one of their aircraft to potential buyers in Turkey, he became the first person to fly across the Sea of Marmara. Over the following years, he became famous in flying circles, and was considered one of the most skilled pilots in the country. By 1914, he had flown over sixty different models of aircraft. However, his reputation had been damaged by a fatal accident at Brooklands in 1913, where Gordon Bell's aircraft crashed whilst flying low over the airfield. The accident was ruled entirely due to pilot error, and he was formally cautioned by the Royal Aero Club.The passenger, a naval lieutenant, was killed, and Gordon Bell was badly injured.

At the time of the outbreak of the First World War, he was called up as a Special Reserve officer by the Royal Flying Corps, and flew on active service over the Western Front. He became an "ace", credited with shooting down five enemy aircraft. He served with No. 10 Squadron RFC, flying Bristol Scouts.

Ill-health caused Gordon Bell to be invalided back to England at the end of 1915, where he was appointed to command a squadron at the Central Flying School, Upavon, rising to the temporary rank of Major. In late 1917 he was invalided out of the Army, and joined Vickers as a test pilot. He was killed on 29 July 1918 while flying an experimental Vickers F.B.16E at Villacoublay Airfield, and buried at Cimetière des Gonards in Versailles.

LARGEST ZEPPELIN RAID OF THE WAR:

The German Navy Zeppelins involved were L11 (von Buttlar), L13 (Mathy), L14 (Bocker), L15 (Breithaupt)and L16 (Peterson).
British casualties 71 dead, 128 injured.

Zeppelins of World War One has the raid being started by five ships based in Hage and Nordholz under the overall command of Mathy. It claims that four were forced to turn back before reaching London. L-15 commanded by Breithaupt dropped all the bombs on the capital that night. Breithaupt dropped all his bombs on the City (near the Bank of England).

L11 Jettisoned its bombs near Coltsham after being fired on
L13 became lost and first bombed near Guildford (in mistake for Hampton) but did reach London and bombed Woolwich
L14 also became lost and dropped bombs at Shorncliffe, Tunbridge Wells and Croydon but had used all its bombs by the time it flew over central London
L15 Bombed London between the Strand and Limehouse
L16 Reached the outskirts of London but mistook the River Lea for the Thames, turned the wrong way and bombed Hertford in mistake for East London.

Not the best example of German navigation. As it happened the air defence was equally inept launching its aircraft too early so they were having to land when the best chance for interception occurred.

A period of inclement weather kept the airships in their sheds until October 13 when it was considered that conditions were reasonable enough to risk another venture against London.
Airships LZ.11, LZ.13, LZ.14, LZ.15, and LZ.16 were assigned to this mission, three from Nordholz and two from Hage. They assembled in the afternoon and were soon above a solid overcast at 2600 feet. From Ameland they headed for the coast of Norfolk with the intention of flying from Haisbrough(sic) to Cambridge and attacking London from the north. Mathy, who was in command, spread his airships for safety and took the lead to London.
Von Buttlar aboard LZ.11 (got lost over Norfolk, dropped his bombs on some inland villages and then went home), on his return to Nordholz reported that he had flown up the Thames and bombed West Ham and some docks at Woolwich. He returned to base safely.
Joachim Breithaupt in LZ.15 was over Britain for the first time, (mistaking Broxbourne for Tottenham, he jettisoned two tanks of fuel and rid himself of most of his water ballast, enabling him to rise to 8500 feet. He then ordered top speed and headed for the city. The airship was clearly seen crossing the Thames as she was picked up almost immediately by two searchlights. (With AA shrapnel bursting around him and aircraft below him he dropped ballast to gain altitude and quickly headed for home. Fog and shortage of fuel stopped him from landing at Nordholz and he eventually had to ditch in moorland about 3 miles away).
Airship LZ.13, Heinrich Mathy, (dropped bombs on an AA unit NW of Hatfield on his way to his target, the waterworks at Hampton, he missed a bend in the Thames, followed the River Wey, mistook the village of Shalford for Hampton and bombed it. He then bombed Woolwich Arsenal by mistake, thinking he was over Victoria Docks. She got back to her base the next morning after a close call with Dutch guns on the island of Vlieland ).
LZ.14, Alois Bocker, steered a course for Woolwich, veered off to the left crossing the Thames at the Isle of Sheppey and reached the sea at Hythe, which he mistook for the mouth of the Thames. Thinking he was over Woolwich Dockyard he dropped 9 bombs on an army camp overlooking the Channel, killing 15 soldiers and wounding 11. He eventually found his way to Croydon where he dropped the rest of his bombs on private houses. Her landing at Nordholz was delayed for 5 hours because of fog.

Alois Bocker



(L1) LZ-14 over Helgoland 1915


LZ.16, Werner Peterson, (after technical troubles over the North Sea reached London in time to see LZ.15 lit up by the searchlights. He reported that he's dropped his bombs on factories and rail yards in Stratford, East Ham and West Ham. Unfortunately for the people of Hertford he'd got it wrong, 18 bombs and 30 incendiaries plastered the town and surrounding countryside killing 9 and injuring 15. They also got back to base safely).

Another perspective:

A raid by six Zeppelins was mounted by the German Navy on the 13th October 1915, with the intention of bombing civilian targets in London. Five of them arrived at the rendezvous point and crossed the coast of Norfolk at around 1830 hours and headed towards their destination - only one, L15, navigated its way to the target successfully and dropped bombs that caused casualties and panic in the Capital. The popular press of the time made much of the incident, and the attack was dubbed the "Theatreland Raid" due to the death and destruction that was wrought on The Lyceum and Gaity theatres. One of the other airships, however, brought an equal amount of carnage to a Kent military camp after it had strayed far off course..

Zeppelin L14, commanded by Alois Bocker, had made its way to the south-west until the airship reached the English Channel. Turning back inland near Hythe, the airship crew spotted Otterpool and Westenhanger Camps, which at that time were occupied mainly by three Brigades of the Canadian 2nd Division. "Lights Out" had only just been sounded when L14 appeared over Otterpool Camp at 2105 hours and began to release her payload. Five bombs were dropped in quick succession, the first exploding harmlessly in a hedge, but three of the others did what was intended - one struck the guard tent and killed the occupants instantly, another fell among the tents of the men's lines, and another struck the stables. Five more bombs were dropped as the Zeppelin moved off towards Westenhanger Camp, but fortunately for the Canadians at this site the bombs all fell within the nearby race-track enclosure.

Departing from the devastated military camp, Bocker headed further inland and disposed of L14's remaining ordnance over Tunbridge and Croydon, causing further casualties when houses near to a railway junction at Croydon were damaged. The Zeppelin then made its way back to the Continent, having inflicted a severe blow against what was, after all, only a military 'target of opportunity'. The attack on London received far more publicity in the newspapers, due no doubt to the propaganda value to the British authorities of this blatant onslaught on innocent civilians. While not exactly 'hushed up', the Otterpool incident was reported in the vaguest of terms, with local newspapers such as the Dover Express merely recounting the names of the Canadian soldiers killed by 'hostile aircraft'.

Thirteen Canadian soldiers were killed in the attack or died immediately after, with two of the most seriously wounded dying in the following days, raising the total number of dead to fifteen. In addition to the deaths, according to some sources there were twelve injured at Otterpool Camp, but the records of the 2nd Division give the figure as twenty-one.

A More Personal Perspective: This gives another (more personal view) of the events of that night Alas I don't have the name of the writer...

Totally nothing to do with the bombs on the camp (see above), but the same zeppelin, in the same night, did have a serious go at trying to kill my Dad who was then 14. Here from the family history is the story.

In 1914 Cecily and Mary moved in again with Annie Fairman [Grandmother], and stayed there until October 1915. She remembers clearly that it was in 1915 that a Zeppelin dropped a bomb in a manure pile in the yard of Lyon’s bakery opposite. [Cherry Tree Road, Croyden]. The bomb exploded and damaged all the surrounding houses, mainly blowing their windows out. At the time Annie was brushing her hair at the dressing table set between the two front windows. (Cecily remembers that Annie had really long hair, which she kept up in a bun). The bomb blew out both windows causing cuts to Annie’s arms. Standing between the windows no doubt saved her from much more serious injuries. Cyril [my Dad], was in the room with her but escaped unhurt. Cecily and Mary bound her wounds. Basil, Charles Dean’s son, was asleep in the back room and slept through the whole incident.

Annie decided not to tell Mary and Cecily’s father for fear of worrying him. However he came home to see them and was disgusted at the state the house was in. He then took Cecily and Mary away and packed them off to Alice Vickers’s house at 11 Cuthbert Road, Croydon.

Records suggest that the bombing was on October 13, 1915

Other News

Western Front

Successful British attack south-west of Hulluch.

Eastern Front

Russians hold their own at L. Drisviati (Dvinsk), but driven back across Strypa.

Southern Front

Serbs tenaciously hold country south of Belgrade; Sarrail arrives at Salonika.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

Renewed Armenian atrocities reported by U.S. Ambassador at Constantinople.

Naval and Overseas Operations

Action near Broen (Denmark) between British submarine and German force. 1 T.B.D. sunk.

Political, etc.

M. Delcasse resigns.

Romania declines to act.

Viviani on Balkan situation.

[Hedeby]

October 14th 1915

Well in the last few days, we have had, dogfights and poetry, Zeppelins and heroic nurses, the Battle of Loos and the RNAS Armoured Car Squadron (no I still don't get it, they are a naval air service and they have an armoured car unit ????) Its a bit 'after the lord mayor's show today - most of the wells of stories seem to have run dry, so it may be a short one today so bare with your editorial team...

RFC Record show: 3 AIRMEN HAVE FALLEN ON THURSDAY OCTOBER 14TH 1915

Capt. Frederic George Alleyne Arkwright No.6 Reserve Aeroplane Squadron (attached from 11th Prince Albert's Own Hussars) Killed while flying 14 October 1915 aged 29.
2nd. Lt Alan Herbert Hardy No.6 Reserve Aeroplane Squadron (attached from the Royal East Kent Yeomanry) Killed while flying 14 October 1915 aged 25, when his machine crashed between Glamis and Forfar

Captain F G A ARKWRIGHT , RFC together with Lieut Allan Hardy, RFC were accidentally killed whilst flying between GLAMIS and FORFAR on October 14th , 1915 . Capt Arkwright was aged 29 years old and was the son of Mr F C Arkwright of Willesley , Matlock. Capt Arkwright had been wounded whilst serving with the 11th Hussars in November 1914 . Lieut Allan Hardy was 25 years of age and was the son of Col Hardy of Chilham castle Kent. Capt Arkwright together with Lieut Hardy were stationed at RFC Montrose in Forfarshire Scotland in 1915 and they had flown from Montrose aerodrome on 13th October 1915 when owing to a defect in the machinery they landed near GLAMIS CASTLE . ( The home of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Capt The Hon Fergus Bowes- lyon , BLACK WATCH (kia Loos Sept 1915) .

A new propeller was fitted and the following day the officers began to return back to RFC Montrose but soon they were seen to be in difficulties when flying at a height of three or four hundred feet . The machine circled once or twice and then crashed to the ground with great force. The machine was wrecked and both officers were killed instantaneously.

Both officers bodies were removed and military funerals took place in England at their home locations .

Flight Magazine dated 22nd October 1915, page 803, states: Double R.F.C. Fatality in Scotland.It is with the greatest regret that we have to record that two officers of the R.F.C. lost their lives in an accident near Forfar on the 14th inst. It appears that on the 13th they had flown from Montrose, and had to descend near Glamis Castle, After a new propeller had been fitted the next morning they started to return, but they were soon seen to be in difficulties, and after circling once or twice the machine crashed to the ground. Both the pilot (Lieut. Allan Hardy) and the passenger (Capt. F. G. A. Arkwright) were instantly killed.

I cannot find which Maurice Farman the chaps were flying when they crashed (although they look an utter nightmare to me) but best guess would be the MF.11 Shorthorn



The third casualty of the day was Flt. Lt. Cyril Frederick Lan Davis of the RNAS (HMS Ark Royal). Flt. Lt. Davis was killed while flying 14 October 1915 aged 28. Missing while travelling from the Greek Island of Kos to Malta. He was something of an inventor and photographer.

Cyril Frederick Lan-Davis was born at Bromley, Kent, on 25th April, 1887, and was elected in 1897 to a Scholarship at St. Paul's School, being placed first in the examination after allowance for age. His preparatory school was Mr. Har die's, Linton House, Holland
Park. On leaving St. Paul's he studied at the Royal Polytechnic and under Professor Carl Pearson and others at University College, London, matriculating at London University. He spent a short time as a working engineer at the great Elswick factory of Armstrongs, Newcastle, under Mr. James Thomson. C. F. Lan-Davis entered the employment of J. H. Dallmeyer, Ltd., when the late Earl of Crawford, F.R.S., was chairman, and Mr. T. R. Dallmeyer was managing director, while the scientific adviser was Mr. St. Lawrence Carson, M.A. He became secretary and a director of the company, the new factory at Willesden being erected under his supervision. While thus engaged he took out several patents for improvements in photographic and telephotographic lenses. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society, and a member of Council of the Optical Society. At the Optical Society he read on December I3th, 1910, an essay on the Theory of the Iris Diaphragm, which attracted much attention. Another dissertation, on Sector
Shutters, given before the same Society on June 20th, 1912, indicated further the attention which he was bestowing on mechanical adjuncts to lenses, in connection with which he made useful practical inventions. C. F. Lan-Davis had been early interested in motoring, and when aerial flight became practicable he embraced the new pursuit with enthusiasm. He first constructed a glider, but purchased a Valkyrie aeroplane, took lessons under Grahame White at Hendon, and after an accident there in July I2th, 1913,
which proved no deterrent to his zeal, " took his ticket " (gained his certificate as a pilot from the Aero Club) at Brooklands in March, 1914. He had served three years as a Naval volunteer on the Buzzard in the Thames, and in June, 1914, he offered himself and was accepted for the Royal Naval Air Reserve. At the outbreak of war he volunteered for immediate service, and was gazetted sub-Lieutenant on August 5th, 1914, and Lieutenant on October 3ist, 1914, in the Royal Naval Air Service. He trained at Eastchurch, and was employed in the patrol of the East coast of England. Here he had a second accident through the premature explosion of a bomb during a flight over the sea, was saved from drowning by his observer, Hendry, and was restored to health at Lady Somerleyton's Hospital.

Rather ironic that for someone with such an interest in photography he doesn't seem to have any surving photos (well none that I can find anyway)

There were no claimed 'Kills' on this day

Eastern Front

Violent fighting at Illukst (Dvina); enemy checked on Strypa.

Southern Front

Austro-Germans storm Pozharevats; Bulgars attack on Nishava river.

Naval and Overseas Operations

E.19 sinks German T.B.D. near Faxo.

Political, etc.

U.S.A. Army increase approved.

Bulgaria declares war on Serbia.

British policy expounded by Sir Edward Grey.

[Naharaht]

Regarding the RNAS use of armoured cars, Wikipedia has the following:


RNAS Armoured Car Section


The RNAS engaged in interservice rivalry on land as well as in the air, possessing for a time the UK's only mechanised land forces in the form of the RNAS Armoured Car Section made up of squadrons of Rolls-Royce Armoured Cars. Commanded by Commander Charles Samson, the section was originally equipped with unarmoured touring cars and intended to provide line of communications security and to pick up aircrew who had been forced to land in hostile territory. Samson saw the possibilities when he armed one vehicle with a Maxim gun and ambushed a German car near Cassel on 4 September 1914. He then had a shipbuilders in Dunkirk add boilerplate to his Rolls Royce and Mercedes vehicles. The new armoured car squadrons were soon used to great effect forming part of Naval mechanised raiding columns against the Germans. By November 1914 the Section had become the Royal Naval Armoured Car Division (RNACD) eventually expanding to 20 squadrons. As trench warfare developed, the armoured cars could no longer operate on the Western Front and were redeployed to other theatres including the Middle East, Romania and Russia.

In the summer of 1915 the RNACD was disbanded and the army took over control of armoured cars, with the units soon coming under the command of the Motor Branch of the Machine Gun Corps.

However RNAS experience of the Western Front would not be lost, No. 20 Squadron RNAS was retained under Naval control to further develop armoured vehicles for land battle, these personnel later becoming the nucleus of the team working under the Landships Committee that developed the first tanks.

The RAF would later inherit some ex-RNAS armoured cars left in the Middle East, and during World War II, the Number 1 Armoured Car Company RAF played an important role in the defence of RAF Habbaniya when the base was attacked by Iraqi nationalists.

[Flying Officer Kyte]

As I recall the Armoured Car section were a pet of Winston Churchill's when he was First Sea Lord, and were used to some effect by him along with the Naval Brigade in delaying the German's Right hook towards Antwerp. This allowed sections of the BEF. to withdraw from the city, and for the Belgian Administration to also withdraw in safety.
Rob.

[Hedeby]

Regarding the RNAS use of armoured cars, Wikipedia has the following:


RNAS Armoured Car Section


The RNAS engaged in interservice rivalry on land as well as in the air, possessing for a time the UK's only mechanised land forces in the form of the RNAS Armoured Car Section made up of squadrons of Rolls-Royce Armoured Cars. Commanded by Commander Charles Samson, the section was originally equipped with unarmoured touring cars and intended to provide line of communications security and to pick up aircrew who had been forced to land in hostile territory. Samson saw the possibilities when he armed one vehicle with a Maxim gun and ambushed a German car near Cassel on 4 September 1914. He then had a shipbuilders in Dunkirk add boilerplate to his Rolls Royce and Mercedes vehicles. The new armoured car squadrons were soon used to great effect forming part of Naval mechanised raiding columns against the Germans. By November 1914 the Section had become the Royal Naval Armoured Car Division (RNACD) eventually expanding to 20 squadrons. As trench warfare developed, the armoured cars could no longer operate on the Western Front and were redeployed to other theatres including the Middle East, Romania and Russia.

In the summer of 1915 the RNACD was disbanded and the army took over control of armoured cars, with the units soon coming under the command of the Motor Branch of the Machine Gun Corps.

However RNAS experience of the Western Front would not be lost, No. 20 Squadron RNAS was retained under Naval control to further develop armoured vehicles for land battle, these personnel later becoming the nucleus of the team working under the Landships Committee that developed the first tanks.

The RAF would later inherit some ex-RNAS armoured cars left in the Middle East, and during World War II, the Number 1 Armoured Car Company RAF played an important role in the defence of RAF Habbaniya when the base was attacked by Iraqi nationalists.

Thanks for this very useful addition Dave - goes a long way to explaining WHY !!!!
ps. the Rolls Royce armoured car is actually really cool, I would love to drive to work along the M62 in one

[Hedeby]

15th October 1915

Quite surprised how much we managed to extract from a quiet day yesterday - lets see what today brings....

RFC records show NO DEATHS ARE RECORDED FOR FRIDAY OCTOBER 15TH 1915 (good news for the RFC, bad news for editors 100 years later)

There were no claimed kills today, but interestingly today marks the death (in 1946) of a famous WW1 fighter ace - although I think he gained a little more fame/infamy a couple of decades later

The dashing fighter ace


A few years (and several pies later) - the utter bastard...


Good riddance !


Rant over - on with the war...

Western Front

Lively fighting along French front. Third Battle of Artois ends



The Third Battle of Artois was on the Western Front of World War I, is also known as the Loos–Artois Offensive and included the big British offensive, known as the Battle of Loos. The offensive, meant to complement the Second Battle of Champagne, was the last attempt of 1915 by the French commander-in-chief Joseph Joffre to exploit an Allied numerical advantage over Germany. Joffre's plan was for simultaneous attacks in Champagne-Ardenne and Artois, to capture the railways at Attigny and Douai, to force a German withdrawal from the Noyon salient.

Joffre's plan was a series of attacks along the Western Front, supported by Italian attacks across the Isonzo River and a British Expeditionary Force (BEF) attack near Loos-en-Gohelle. At first, Field Marshal John French and General Sir Douglas Haig opposed the attack, because of the lie of the land, a lack of heavy artillery, ammunition and reserves. The generals were overruled by the British minister of war, Lord Horatio Kitchener, who ordered French and Haig to conduct the offensive.

Following a four-day artillery bombardment starting on 21 September, infantry of the French Tenth Army attacked. By 26 September, the XXXIII and XXI corps had taken the village of Souchez but the III and XII corps had made little progress south-east of Neuville-St Vaast. The French failed to breach the German second line of defence and a breakthrough could not be achieved. Joffre sent the French IX Corps to assist the British attacks at Loos but this action also yielded little of strategic value.The German Official Historians of the Reichsarchiv recorded German casualties to the end of October as 51,100 men. Sheldon used figures taken from the French Official History to record 48,230 casualties, which was fewer than half of the casualties of the spring offensive from April to June. J. E. Edmonds, the British Official Historian recorded 61,713 British and c. 26,000 German casualties at the Battle of Loos.

SMS S100 ( Kaiserliche Marine): The S90-class torpedo boat collided with Preussen ( Germany) and sank in the Baltic Sea.




Southern Front

Salerno (United Kingdom): World War I: The cargo ship struck a mine and sank in the North Sea 2.5 nautical miles (4.6 km) south of the Longsand Lightship ( United Kingdom) (51°45′N 1°42′E). Her crew survived

General Sir Charles Monro appointed to succeed Sir Ian Hamilton as Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean Expeditionary Force



General Sir Charles Carmichael Monro, 1st Baronet, GCB, GCSI, GCMG, (15 June 1860 – 7 December 1929) was a British Army general officer during the First World War and Commander-in-Chief, India for the latter part of the conflict. He later served as Governor of Gibraltar from 1923 to 1929. Educated at Sherborne School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Monro was commissioned into the 2nd Regiment of Foot as a second lieutenant on 13 August 1879.He was promoted to lieutenant on 15 May 1881 and to captain on 24 July 1889.[4][5] Promoted to major on 23 February 1898,[6] he served in the Second Boer War and was successively appointed a brigade major and a deputy assistant adjutant general on 15 April 1899.[7] He was present at the Battle of Paardeberg in 1900. Promoted to temporary lieutenant-colonel in 1900, he was brevetted to lieutenant-colonel on 29 November 1900.[8] On 28 March 1903, he was promoted to the substantive rank of lieutenant-colonel and appointed commandant of the School of Musketry. Promoted to colonel in 1906, he was appointed Commander of 13th Infantry Brigade in Dublin on 12 May 1907, with the temporary rank of brigadier-general. Promoted to major-general on 31 October 1910, on 31 March 1912 he became General Officer Commanding 2nd London Division.

On 5 August 1914, at the start of the First World War, Monro was deployed to France as General Officer Commanding 2nd Division and played an important part in the First Battle of Ypres. On 27 December 1914 he became General Officer Commanding I Corps, with the temporary rank of lieutenant-general. On 15 July 1915, he was made General Officer Commanding Third Army, with the temporary rank of general. He was promoted to the permanent rank of lieutenant-general on 28 October. After the Gallipoli Campaign, General Ian Hamilton was dismissed as Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force and replaced by Charles Monro in October 1915. Monro ordered the evacuation of troops from Gallipoli.

In 1916 Monro briefly commanded the British First Army in France before becoming Commander-in-Chief India later that year.[1] As Commander-in-Chief, India Monro had responsibility for the Mesopotamian campaign. Robertson told him to “keep up a good show” (1 August 1916) in Mesopotamia but not to make any further attempt to take Baghdad, but this was overruled by Curzon and Chamberlain on the War Committee. Monro inspected Maude’s forces on his way out to India, and after receiving his favourable report the War Committee authorised Maude to attack (18 September 1916).On 1 October 1916, Monro was promoted to the substantive rank of general as a reward for his wartime service.

Bulgarians bombard Valandova; occupy Vranya.

Italians occupy Pregasina (north of Lake Garda).

Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

Germans evacuate Kermanshah (Persia).

Political, etc.

A State of war between Great Britain and Bulgaria was declared from 10 p.m.

Bulgaria and Serbia also declare war on one another

[Hedeby]

October 16th 1915

We have more great tales from the aerial conflict today. As the 'Fokker Scourge' begins and aerial combat becomes more widespread, i make no apologies for focussing on those aspects of the war. I will endeavour to make sure all prominent stories are covered but priority will be given to tales from the skies...

According to records - NO DEATHS ARE RECORDED FOR SATURDAY OCTOBER 16TH 1915 (that's two days in a row - obviously a lull, or perhaps the weather was bad)

Alas the same cannot be said of the French Air Force - who lost a Voisin B1 over St. Souplet.

The significance of this action is that it marked the 5th Kill, and therefore the creation of an official fighter ace for one HAUPTMANN OSWALD BOELCKE (FA.62 Jasta 2)

His fifth aerial victory was scored over a French Voisin LAS two-seater of VB110 over Saint-Souplet-sur-Py. After crashing on German held ground the crew was buried with full military honors at Sommepy-Tahure communal cemetery.
The burial and the memorial stone was paid for by Boelcke himself. (Salute !) This was not the only time Boelcke showed his chivalrous and honourable side - but they are stories for another day...



"I fly close to my man, aim well and then of course he falls down." Oswald Boelcke...
"Whatever Boelcke told us was taken as Gospel!" Manfred von Richthofen...
"I will be like Boelcke." German pilots' motto

Oswald Boelcke developed the most successful flying tactics used by German aces, making possible the later achievements of Manfred von Richthofen. Boelcke flew the first Fokker E.I, won the Pour le Mérite, commanded Jasta 2, mentored many younger German fliers, and was even decorated by the French for rescuing a child from drowning. He was born in 1891, son of a schoolteacher. His older brothers, Wilhelm and Friederich, had been born in Argentina, but by 1891, the Boelcke family had returned to Halle, Germany. Both studious and athletic as a youth, Oswald excelled at mathematics and physics, and also took up swimming, tennis, rowing, and gymnastics. Imbued with German nationalism and militarism from his father, young Oswald took the outrageous step of writing Kaiser Wilhelm directly for an appointment to military school - at the age of thirteen. He joined the military and at Darmstadt first encountered the aviation branch, which he joined as an NCO pilot. His older brother Wilhelm also joined the aviation service, as an NCO observer. (In those early days, observers had more status than pilots, who were likened to mere chauffeurs.) Both were decorated in the first year of the war.

After a bout with bronchial illness, in early 1915 Oswald Boelcke was assigned to the newly formed aviation Section 62 at Döberitz. Here, Tony Fokker first demonstrated his first E-I monoplane, Eindecker, equipped with a fixed Spandau machine gun, which fired forward through the propeller arc, thanks to an interrupter mechanism. Together with Max Immelmann the two of the went after some British bombers and Immelmann shot one down. The so-called "Fokker Scourge" had begun.



Boelcke downed five enemy aircraft by the end of 1915, while flying the Fokker monoplane. Despite its revolutionary armament, German pilots never really liked the Fokker, and when Halberstadt and Albatros introduced new biplanes in early 1916, these were eagerly adopted. The French Nieuport 11 and the British pusher biplanes were giving the Germans trouble, and Boelcke focused on tactics to counter them: accurate gunnery, tight formations, and staying within the German lines.



Some of Boelcke's rules for aerial combat: The Dicta Boelcke

1. Try to secure advantages before you attack. If possible, keep the sun behind you.
2. Always carry through an attack when you have started it.
3. Fire only at close range and only when your opponent is properly in your sights.
4. Always keep your eye on your opponent, and never let yourself be deceived by ruses.
5. In any form of attack, it is essential to assail your opponent from behind.
6. If your opponent dives on you, do not try to evade his onslaught, but fly to meet it.
7. When over the enemy's lines, never forget your own line of retreat.
8. Tip for squadrons - In principle it is better to attack in groups of 4 or 6 - avoid 2 aircraft attacking the same opponent.

Meanwhile in the rest of the war

Eastern Front

Heavy fighting along Russian front, specially near Mitau (Riga).

Southern Front

Austro-Germans storm Vranovo (Pozharevats), and Bulgars forts east of Zayechar.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

Termination of British occupation of Bushire (by agreement with Persia).

Naval and Overseas Operations

British submarine sinks five German transports in Baltic. (again some dispute over exact days - reported vs. actual etc)

HMS E19 was an E-class submarine of the Royal Navy, commissioned in 1914 at Vickers, Barrow-in-Furness. During World War I she was part of the British submarine flotilla in the Baltic.



Under the command of Lieutenant Commander Francis Cromie, E19 was able to sink several German ships, most notably on the 11 October 1915 when she sank 4 German transport ships, just south of Öland, within a few hours and without any casualties. On 7 November 1915 E19 sank the German light cruiser SMS Undine.

E19 was scuttled by her crew outside Helsinki 1.5nm south of Harmaja Light, Gulf of Finland, along with E1, E8, E9, C26, C27, and C35 to avoid seizure by advancing German forces who had landed nearby.

A fascinating postscript to this is that A beer, Slottskällans Vrak, has been brewed using yeast recovered from beer bottles found on the wreck of SS Nicomedia, a ship sunk by E19 off Öland.

CHEERS E-19 !!


Blockade declared of Bulgarian (Aegean) Coast.

Political, etc.

State of war between France and Bulgaria from 6 a.m.

British Government offer Cyprus to Greece if she will support Serbia

[grumpybear]

Thanks for interesting info on WW1.

[Hedeby]

Thanks for interesting info on WW1.

Always delighted to see that people read what Rob and I cobble together on a daily basis. Thanks Darrell.

[Hedeby]

October 17th 1915

According to RFC records NO DEATHS ARE RECORDED FOR SUNDAY OCTOBER 17TH 1915, so that's three days in a row for the RFC.

All quiet in the skies over the battlefields today as there were no claimed kills from pilots of either side. (which has made the editor's job here an awful lot more difficult, lol)
If this was 1916 there would have been 8, if it was 1917 there would have been 14 - guess we have the vast majority of the air war still to unfold.

Eastern Front

Enemy active about Jakobstadt (Riga); Russians successful on middle Styr (S. Polesia).

Southern Front

Bulgars force Timok Valley and take Egri Palanka; Franco-Serbs defeat Bulgars at Strumitsa (sout-west Bulgaria).
General Sir William Birdwood takes over temporary command of Mediterranean Expeditionary Force from Sir Ian Hamilton

Field Marshal William Riddell Birdwood, 1st Baron Birdwood GCB, GCSI, GCMG, GCVO, CIE, DSO (13 September 1865 – 17 May 1951) was a British Army officer. He saw active service in the Second Boer War on the staff of Lord Kitchener. He saw action again in the First World War as Commander of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps during the Gallipoli Campaign in 1915, leading the landings on the peninsula and then the evacuation later in the year, before becoming Commander-in-Chief of the Fifth Army on the Western Front during the closing stages of the war. He went on to be General Officer Commanding the Northern Army in India in 1920 and Commander-in-Chief, India, in 1925.



After securing a militia commission in the 4th Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers in 1883,Birdwood trained at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, from which he was commissioned early, owing to the Russian war scare of 1885, becoming a lieutenant in the 12th (Prince of Wales's) Royal Lancers on 9 May 1885. He joined his regiment in India and then transferred from the 12th Royal Lancers[6] to the Bengal Staff Corps on 20 December 1886. He subsequently transferred to the 11th Bengal Lancers in 1887, seeing action on the North-West Frontier in 1891. He later became adjutant of the Viceroy's Bodyguard in 1893. He was promoted to captain on 9 May 1896[8] and saw action during the Tirah Campaign in 1897.

Birdwood served in the Second Boer War, initially as brigade-major with a mounted brigade in Natal from 10 January 1900 and then as Deputy-Assistant Adjutant-General on the staff of Lord Kitchener from 15 October 1900.Promoted to brevet major on 20 November 1901 and local lieutenant-colonel in October 1901, he became Military secretary to Lord Kitchener on 5 June 1902. When Kitchener went to India as Commander-in-Chief in November 1902, Birdwood joined him there as Assistant Military Secretary. He was promoted to the substantive rank of major on 9 May 1903 and appointed Military Secretary to Lord Kitchener with the rank of full colonel on 26 June 1905. Having been appointed an Aide-de-Camp to the King on 14 February 1906, he was given command of the Kohat Brigade on the North West Frontier in 1908 and promoted to temporary brigadier-general on 28 June 1909.

n November 1914 Birdwood was instructed by Kitchener to form an army corps from the Australian and New Zealand troops that were training in Egypt.[12] He was promoted to temporary lieutenant-general on 12 December 1914[20] and given command of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. Kitchener instructed General Sir Ian Hamilton, Commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, to carry out an operation to capture the Gallipoli peninsula and placed Birdwood's ANZAC Corps under Hamilton's command. Hamilton ordered Birdwood to carry out a landing on 25 April 1915 north of Kabatepe at a site now known as ANZAC Cove.The ANZAC Corps encountered high ridges, narrow gullies, dense scrub and strong Turkish resistance and became pinned down.Major-General William Bridges and Major-General Alexander Godley, the divisional commanders, were both of the view that the Allied forces, dealing with stiffer-than-expected resistance, should be evacuated ahead of an expected attack by Turkish forces.Nevertheless, Hamilton ordered them to hold fast.


Anzac Cove 1915

Birdwood took effective command of the Australian Imperial Force, i.e. all Australian Forces in May 1915 while still commanding Allied troops on the ground at Gallipoli. He launched a major attack on the Turks in August 1915 (the Battle of Sari Bair) but still failed to dislodge them from the peninsula. Notwithstanding this he was the only corps commander opposed to abandoning Gallipoli. He was promoted to the permanent rank of lieutenant-general on 28 October 1915 and given command of the newly formed Dardanelles Army: the one outstanding success of the campaign was the evacuation led by Birdwood, which took place in December 1915 and January 1916, when the entire force was withdrawn before any Turkish reaction.

Promoted to the rank of major-general on 3 October 1911,Birdwood became Quartermaster-General in India and a member of the Viceroy's Legislative Council in 1912 and then Secretary of the Indian Army Department in 1913.

Affectionately known as 'Birdy' by the Australian troops, Sir William Birdwood (1865-1951) led the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps - the ANZACs - from 1914 almost to the end of the war in 1918, during which time Birdwood himself received numerous promotions, despite antipathy from the British Commander in Chief, Sir Douglas Haig. He was one of the few men to come out of the Gallipoli fiasco with his reputation intact (where, to his surprise, Birdwood and his forces were placed under the direction of General Hamilton). Birdwood's indulgent style of leadership - he was a genial man, though well-aware of the benefits attached to his reputation - endeared him to the men under him. Indeed, Birdwood's popularity engendered a good deal of suspicion in Haig, who suspected that Birdwood achieved popularity at the expense of discipline.

Naval and Overseas Operations

Zeebrugge bombarded from the sea.

HMT Javelin ( Royal Navy): World War I: The naval trawler struck a mine and sank in the North Sea 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) south of the Longsand Lightship ( United Kingdom) with the loss of a crew member.

The Javelin was an admiralty owned trawler built by Hall & Co in Aberdeen and launched in 1913. The naval trawler struck a mine that had been laid by the German submarine UC-3

The Navy had a trawler reserve force - here is a brief extract detailing the impact on the fishing fleets of Hull and Grimsby: During 1907 Admiral Lord Charles Beresford recommended that steam trawlers be used in the role of minesweepers in the event of war. This would free up warships for other, more appropriate, duties. With the outbreak of WW2 in 1914, many of Hull's trawlers were requisitioned for minesweeping and anti-submarine duties. Around 800 trawlers from the Hull and Grimsby fishing fleets and a new rank, Skipper Royal Navy Reserve, introduced for trawler skippers who, quite naturally, had no regard for regular Navy discipline.

Only around one quarter of the Hull fleet remained on fishing duties and the North Sea fisheries placed out of bounds due to the dangers of enemy action. Fleeting was suspended and the 'boxer fleets' of Helyers and Great Northern were put to single-boat fishing. Although the overall effect was that the supply of fish dropped nationally, Hull's share of the British catch actually increased as the Barents and Icelandic fishing grounds remained open.

By the end of the war, over 200 British trawlers had been lost along with 50% of their crews. The surviving ex-Navy trawlers were offered for sale and refitted for a return to fishing.



Political, etc.

British government offers Cyprus to Greece if she will fulfil her treaty obligations to Serbia. (of course that will have absolutely no ramifications in later decades...)

[Jager]

October 17th 1915

According to RFC records NO DEATHS ARE RECORDED FOR SUNDAY OCTOBER 17TH 1915, so that's three days in a row for the RFC.

All quiet in the skies over the battlefields today as there were no claimed kills from pilots of either side. (which has made the editor's job here an awful lot more difficult, lol)

Let's see...Northwest Europe......mid October.....lousy weather?

Political, etc.

British government offers Cyprus to Greece if she will fulfil her treaty obligations to Serbia. (of course that will have absolutely no ramifications in later decades...)

Now there's a surprise
Karl

[Flying Officer Kyte]

Would you like me to take back over for you from tomorrow Chris?
Rob.

[Hedeby]

That would be great thanks Rob - I'm away for a few days from the 27th but otherwise no worries. So I will complete today's (18th) then over to you for the 19th

[Flying Helmut]

You chaps should discuss when to swap over in a PM, and then you could check to see whether any of us readers spotted when you switched, possibly by the change in editorial style.

[Mike George]

Thanks I read it every day.

[Hedeby]

You chaps should discuss when to swap over in a PM, and then you could check to see whether any of us readers spotted when you switched, possibly by the change in editorial style.

Far be it from me to highlight the glaring flaw in your otherwise perfect plan Tim, but surely the name of the person posting is a bit of a give away? lol

[Hedeby]

Thanks I read it every day.

Thanks for that Mike - its great to know that our efforts are appreciated - cheers ! (hey it won't be too long before we will be able to tell tales of our brothers in arms from across the pond)

[Hedeby]

October 18th 1915

After three days of no reports (which indeed could be down to the less than predictable weather in Northern Europe in October - good point Karl) there was one reported loss on this day...

Flt Sub-Lt John Turner Bone RNAS Eastchurch Naval Air Station, 1 (N) Wing.

Flt Sub-Lt John Turner Bone drowned on the 18 October 1915 aged 22. After a raid on Airship Sheds at Berchem Ste. Agathe, near Brussels, his Nieuport Type 10 Scout No.3177 suffered an engine failure. He was killed in a force landing on sands near Bray Dunes and is buried at ZUYDCOOTE MILITARY CEMETERY. Zuydcoote is a village in the Department of the Nord about 10 kilometres north-east of Dunkirk. The ZUYDCOOTE MILITARY CEMETERY is west of the village and about 550 metres east of Zuydcoote Halte. His location marker is as follows : United Kingdom Flight Sub-Lieutenant Royal Naval Air Service 18/10/1915 Age: 22 II. E. 5.

A Nieuport 10


A great day for aerial combat with claims a plenty - if we were discussing 1916, 1917 or 1918 - nothing however for 1915

Western Front

The 18th October 1915 is generally accepted as the final day of the Battle of Loos Fighting continued until the 18th October. British casualties were estimated at 50,000 whilst German losses were thought considerably lower at around 25,000.

Eastern Front

Germans advance on the Dvina; Russians capture Chartorysk (Styr).

Southern Front

Austro-Germans and Bulgarians advancing in force (from north and east respectively).

Third Battle of the Isonzo begins

The Third Battle of the Isonzo was fought from October 18 through November 3 of 1915 between the armies of Italy and Austria-Hungary. After roughly two and a half months of reprieve to recuperate from the casualties incurred from frontal assaults from the First and Second Battle of the Isonzo, Luigi Cadorna, Italian commander-in-chief, understood that artillery played a fundamental role on the front and brought the total number to 1,200 pieces.

The main objectives were to take the Austro-Hungarian bridgeheads at Bovec (Plezzo in Italian) and Tolmin, if possible the town of Gorizia. Cadorna's tactic, of deploying his forces evenly along the entire Soča (Isonzo), proved indecisive. The Austro-Hungarians took advantage of the relatively small areas of attack to concentrate their firepower on those areas. Thanks to extensive artillery barrages, the Italians were able to advance to Plave (Plava in Italian) near Kanal ob Soči, beneath the southern end of the Banjšice Plateau (Bainsizza), and on Mount San Michele on the Kras plateau in an attempt to outflank those forces defending Gorizia. The plateau near San Michele was the scene of heavy attacks and counterattacks involving the Italian Third Army and Austro-Hungarian reinforcements from the Eastern and Balkan fronts under the command of Svetozar Boroević; both sides suffering heavy casualties. Thanks to the low profile held by Boroević's forces, the Austrians were able to hold their positions with heavy casualties, inferior however to those of the Italians. This battle showed Boroević's tactical brilliance despite the limited scope of the front.

Located in present-day Slovenia, the 60-mile-long Isonzo River ran north to south just inside what was then the Austrian border with Italy, at the head of the Adriatic Sea. The river was flanked by mountains on either side and was prone to flooding, making the terrain especially ill-suited to offensive operations. Nonetheless, it became the most practical spot for Italian forces to attack their Austrian enemy, due to Austro-Hungarian dominance of most other sections of the border.

After the Italian entrance into World War I in late May 1915, Chief of Staff Luigi Cadorna determined that his troops could most effectively strike in the eastern section of the Isonzo region, aiming to capture points on the line from Gorizia to Trieste. For this reason, he poured an immense amount of resources into this area, launching no fewer than 11 offensive operations against the Austrians from June 1915 to September 1917. Like the two attacks that preceded it, the Third Battle of the Isonzo, begun on October 18, 1915, proved disappointing for the Italians. Despite their numerical superiority—19 divisions of troops versus 11 Austrian divisions—Cadorna’s forces failed over two weeks of fighting to capture the two objectives of the attack, Mount Sabotino and Mount San Michele, suffering heavy casualties along the way. All the same, Cadorna waited just one week to begin his next offensive, the Fourth Battle of the Isonzo, effectively an extension of the third.





The lull in action lasted barely two weeks after which the Italian offensive started anew.


Naval & Overseas

Not a good day to be on a bargo ship with 5 reported as lost on this day... two struck mines, one ran aground and one from each side fell to an enemy submarine

Aleppo ( United Kingdom): World War I: The cargo ship struck a mine and was damaged in the North Sea. She was beached but was later refloated.
Algardi ( United Kingdom): The cargo ship ran aground on the Longsand, in the Thames Estuary, and was abandoned by her crew. She was refloated on 22 October.
Pernambuco ( Germany): World War I: The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Baltic Sea off Oxelösund, Södermanland County, Sweden by a Royal Navy submarine.
Salerno ( Norway): World War I: The cargo ship struck a mine and sank in the North Sea. Her crew survived.
Scilla ( Italy): World War I: The cargo ship was sunk in the Aegean Sea off the Sporades, Greece by SM U-35 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

Political, etc.

Sir Edward Carson resigns office of Attorney-General. (see more tomorrow - no pressure Rob, lol)

[Flying Officer Kyte]

Far be it from me to highlight the glaring flaw in your otherwise perfect plan Tim, but surely the name of the person posting is a bit of a give away? lol

I would also like to point out that my style of reportage is far inferior to that of the Maestro.
He fleshes out the stories far more than I do as his sub-editor.
Spot the sub!
Rob.

[Flying Helmut]

Far be it from me to highlight the glaring flaw in your otherwise perfect plan Tim, but surely the name of the person posting is a bit of a give away? lol

It was the Brandy, I tell you, the Brandy...................

[Jager]

It was the Brandy, I tell you, the Brandy...................

See there, if you would stick with the port, you'd have less of these problems
Karl

[Flying Helmut]

See there, if you would stick with the port, you'd have less of these problems
Karl

Ah, but "any Port in a storm", and all that, whiffs a bit of SAILS

and I'll have none of that malarkey!

[Flying Officer Kyte]

Meanwhile back to the raison d'etre for this thread.

19th October 1915.

RFC. No deaths are recorded for Tuesday October 19th 1915.


Western Front.

Aftermath to the final day of the Battle of Loos.
Many new units, fighting in the Great War for the first time, were completely dislocated and losses were particularly high among Scottish troops and officers. The German's suffered approximately half the losses of the Allies. At the same time the French offensives in Artois and Champagne were coming to a close amid great disappointment.

The failure at Loos led to the removal of General French from his position as commander-in-chief of the British Army and he was replaced by General Haig on 19 December 1915. Despite the severe setbacks, volunteers continued to swell the ranks of Kitchener's New Army.

Formations that lost more than 5,000 men
15th (Scottish) Division: 6,896 of which 228 officers
9th (Scottish) Division: 6,058 of which 190 officers
1st Division: 6,030 of which 246 officers
7th Division: 5,224 of which 220 officers
Major infantry casualties, by battalion
Infantry battalions that lost more than 300 men N ote: the typical attacking strength of a battalion at this time was 650-750 troops
7th Cameron Highlanders	687, of which 19 officers	Second wave of 44th Brigade, in Loos
9th Black Watch	680, of which 20 officers	First wave of 44th Brigade, in Loos
6th King's Own Scottish Borderers	650, of which 20 officers	First wave of 28th Brigade, in front of Auchy
10th Highland Light Infantry	648, of which 20 officers	First wave of 28th Brigade, in front of Auchy
7th King's Own Scottish Borderers	631, of which 20 officers	First wave of 46th Brigade, in Loos and on Hill 70
8th Devons	619, of which 19 officers	First wave of 20th Brigade, near Hulluch
8th Royal West Kents	580, of which 24 officers	72nd Brigade, attacking German second line near Chalk Pit
8th Buffs	558, of which 24 officers	72nd Brigade, attacking German second line near Chalk Pit
12th Highland Light Infantry	553, of which 23 officers	First wave of 46th Brigade, in Loos and on Hill 70
8th Black Watch	511, of which 19 officers	Reserve reinforcements of 26th Brigade, near Auchy
5th North Staffordshire	505, of which 20 officers	137th Brigade, at Hohenzollern redoubt, 13 October
8th Seaforth Highlanders	502, of which 23 officers	First wave of 44th Brigade, in Loos
8th Royal Berkshire	493	First wave of 1st Brigade, near Hulluch
1st Loyal North Lancashire	489	First wave of 2nd Brigade, near Hulluch
10th Scottish Rifles	485, of which 21 officers	First wave of 46th Brigade, in Loos and on Hill 70
5th Lincolns	483, of which 22 officers	138th Brigade, at Hohenzollern redoubt, 13 October
12th Northumberland Fusiliers	481, of which 22 officers	62nd Brigade, between Loos and Hulluch
2nd Royal Sussex	481	First wave of 2nd Brigade, near Hulluch
9th East Surrey	477, of which 22 officers	72nd Brigade, attacking German second line near Chalk Pit
1st Scots Guards	474, of which 14 officers	2nd Guards Brigade, at Puits 14 bis and Hill 70
4th Leicesters	473, of which 20 officers	138th Brigade, at Hohenzollern redoubt, 13 October
8th Lincolns	466, of which 12 officers	63rd Brigade, between Loos and Hulluch
15th Durham LI	462, of which 22 officers	64th Brigade, between Loos and Hulluch
2nd King's Royal Rifle Corps	460	First wave of 2nd Brigade, near Hulluch
10th Gloucesters	459	First wave of 1st Brigade, near Hulluch
1st Middlesex	455, of which 16 officers	First wave of 19th Brigade, on Cambrin road
1st South Staffordshire	448, of which 18 officers	First wave of 22nd Brigade, on Cite St Elie and Quarries
1st Royal Welch Fusiliers	442, of which 16 officers	Second wave of 22nd Brigade, on Cite St Elie and Quarries
8th Queens	439, of which 12 officers	72nd Brigade, attacking German second line near Chalk Pit
9th Norfolks	422, of which 12 officers	Reserve battalion, rushed into hasty counterattack at Hulluch Quarries
6th Buffs	409, of which 18 officers	37th Brigade, at Gun Trench, 13 October
6th South Staffordshire	407, of which 18 officers	137th Brigade, at Hohenzollern redoubt, 13 October
4th Lincolns	397, of which 10 officers	138th Brigade, at Hohenzollern redoubt, 13 October
13th Northumberland Fusiliers	396, of which 17 officers	62nd Brigade, between Loos and Hulluch
8th King's Own Scottish Borderers	383, of which 14 officers	Second wave of 46th Brigade, in Loos and on Hill 70
10th Gordon Highlanders	381, of which 7 officers	Second wave of 44th Brigade, in Loos
1/19th London	386, of which 14 officers	First wave of 141st Brigade, near Loos
1st Cameron Highlanders	387	Second wave of 1st Brigade, near Hulluch
9th Royal Sussex	379, of which 18 officers	73rd Brigade, in Fosse 8
7th Northamptonshire	377, of which 11 officers	73rd Brigade, in Fosse 8
11th Essex	371, of which 18 officers	71st Brigade, attacking German second line near Chalk Pit
2nd Highland Light Infantry	358, of which 8 officers	First wave of 5th Brigade, near Givenchy
2nd Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders	330, of which 15 officers	First wave of 19th Brigade, on Cambrin road
8th East Yorks	320, of which 21 officers	62nd Brigade, between Loos and Hulluch
10th Yorks and Lancs	319, of which 16 officers	63rd Brigade, between Loos and Hulluch
5th South Staffords	319, of which 13 officers	137th Brigade, at Hohenzollern redoubt, 13 October
1st Queens	317, of which 9 officers	First wave of 5th Brigade, near Givenchy
6th North Staffordshire	315, of which 17 officers	137th Brigade, at Hohenzollern redoubt, 13 October
12th West Yorkshire	314, of which 16 officers	63rd Brigade, between Loos and Hulluch
2nd Welsh	311	3rd Brigade, in support near Hulluch
In addition, a further 23 battalions lost more than 200 men each.

Loos lessons learned - or not

There were many points of learning at the tactical level:

• Intelligence about the newly-strengthened Geman positions was not available or given insufficient attention
• No surprise was achieved; the blowing of mines well before the attack placed the enemy on the alert
• Smoke screens were effective; cloud gas was not. Its behaviour proved unpredictable
• The duration and weight of the British bombardment was insufficient to break the German wire and breastwork defences, or to destroy or suppress the front-line machine-guns German artillery and free movement of reserves were insufficiently suppressed
• Trench layouts, traffic flows and organisation behind the British front line did not allow for easy movement of reinforcements and casualties
• British grenades were of poor design and manufacture and were easily outranged by the enemy ones
• It soon became impossible to tell precisely where British troops were; accurate close-support artillery fire was impossible; RFC observation was very limited due to poor weather
• The New Army Divisions fought bravely but were clearly not yet trained to a sufficiently high fighting standard as a formation; they would need a period of familiarity with war conditions and could not be reliably deployed 'straight off the boat'
• The withdrawal of cookers to Divisional control was a disaster, with many men going hungry to battle.

From a strategic viewpoint, Loos showed that even with those tactical weaknesses, it was possible to break into the most strongly defended German positions (although casualties were inevitably high). Commander of First Army, Sir Douglas Haig, was adamant that a fleeting opportunity to break through the enemy lines had been lost because of mishandling of the reserves. They had arrived too late to provide the punch that was necessary.


Repulse of Germans near Hulluch.

Eastern Front.

Heavy fighting round Mitau; Russians successful on Styr.

Southern Front.

Italian offensive in Trentino continues.

Ishtip (Serbia) taken by Bulgarian forces.


Naval and overseas.

During 18 and 19 October, the British sub E-9, commanded by Max Horton, was very successful. He waited for passing-by prey between Landsort and Häradskär, south of the Stockholm archipelago. During the evening of 18 and 19 October, E-9 intercepted four German steamers. Each ship was hailed on international water. After inspection a decision was made to sink her, and the crew was given time to enter the lifeboats.

Soederhamn.
This was the first on the evening of 18 October. Soederhamn carried a cargo of Swedish wood. Despite setting off explosives in the engine room and having opened the bottom valves, this ship refused to sink. Apparently it floated on the cargo. E-9 finally gave up, the crew returned onboard, and managed to take the ship to the port of Oxelösund!

Pernambuco.
This ship was also sunk on the evening of 18 October.


Johannes Russ.
Was caught by E-9 in the morning of 19 October. This ship carried coal destined for Sundsvall in north Sweden. She was stopped on international water, so after inspection a decision was made to sink it, and the crew was given time to enter the lifeboats. For some reason this ship refused to sink, and was left drifting.
The Swedish navy destroyer Wale arrived, taking the German crew onboard. Then Wale rushed to the steamer Dalälfven (below) that was already under attack by E-9. Once there, the British commander ordered the Swedish warship to stay away. "We are on international water and I am going to sink this ship". The Swedes obliged, rescued the German crew, and returned towards land.
They found that Johannes Russ was still floating, so they started towing the ship towards land. Later, a Swedish tugboat arrived and took over the tow towards land. But suddenly there was an explosion onboard and the steamer started to sink quickly. The tugboat had to cut the tow quickly to avoid being pulled down.

Dalalfven.
This steamer from Hamburg was loaded with coal headed for Swedish port Gävle. It was the last ship caught by E-9. After the initial difficulties, and after arguing with the Swedish destroyer, commander Horton decided to use one of the expensive torpedoes for sinking. The ship sank as intended 10.30 AM and the crew was rescued by the destroyer Wale.

Far East.

Malay Archipelago patrols by HMAS Warrego, Parramatta, Yarra and Una
HMAS Warrego HMAS Parramatta HMAS Yarra
HMAS UNA
HMAS UNA the former German Ship Komet was captured by Australians in New
Guinea in 1914.


The British Navy Trawler Erin Ii was mined and sunk by UC 5 Captain Herbert Putkuchen, off the Nab LV with the loss of 7 crew members.




Political, etc.

Russia and Italy declare war on Bulgaria.

US bankers arrange a $500 million loan to the British and French.

Japan declares adherence to the Pact of London.

Rob.

[Flying Officer Kyte]

20th October 1915.

3 airmen have fallen on Wednesday October 20th 1915.

A Mech 2 Hibbert, J.H. (Joseph Henry) Royal Flying Corps.
Capt Newton, A.V. (Arthur Victor) 5 Squadron Royal Flying Corps.

2Lt Tallentire, A.T. (Arthur Tom) Royal Flying Corps.
Born 6th April, 1888. He went into the Stock Exchange and in 1907 joined the Artists Rifles. In October, 1914, he was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant and left with his regiment the same month for France. He joined the Royal Flying Corps in September 1915, as Observer, being attached to No. 5 Squadron, 2nd Wing, and was killed in Flanders while going up for reconnaissance work, as also was the pilot, on 20th October 1915. The pilot was Capt Newton named above.

Western Front.

German gas attack east of Reims heavily repulsed.

2nd Worcestershire's. Captain G E G McClellan was shot through the heart by a sniper. His loss was much felt, for he had inspired all who saw him by his courage and contempt for danger. Hohenzollern Redoubt blazed with fighting. 11th Worcestershires recalled to Fouilloy.10th Batt: Are in reserve trenches at Mauvais, except for A Coy who are occupying Festubert East and Le Plantin Post East.

Eastern Front.

Ivanov takes 7,500 prisoners near Tarnopol.

Southern Front.

Serbians holding Orsovo region bravely, but pushed back towards Shabats (in north-west).

Naval and overseas.

UC 5 and Herbert Pustkuchen were at it again. this time the British Drifter Star of Buchan, mined off the Nab LV with seven casualties.



Political, etc.



Sir C. Monro Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean.


Lord Derby explains his scheme: 46 groups.





On 11 October 1915 Lord Derby was appointed Director-General of Recruiting. He brought forward a programme five days later, often called the Derby Scheme although its official title was the Group Scheme, for raising the numbers. Men aged 18 to 40 were informed that under the scheme they could continue to enlist voluntarily or attest with an obligation to come if called up later on. The War Office notified the public that voluntary enlistment would soon cease and that the last day of registration would be 15 December 1915.

Greek Government reject British offer of Cyprus.

The 1915 South African general election was held on 20 October 1915 for the 130 seats in the House of Assembly of the Union of South Africa. This was the second Union Parliament. The governing South African Party (SAP) of General Louis Botha emerged from the election as the largest party, but did not receive an overall majority.



Botha formed a minority government, during the second successive term of the SAP in office, which survived with some parliamentary support from the official opposition Unionist Party.

Anyone spot the resemblance between Botha and Lord Derby?

Rob.

[Naharaht]

It is the moustaches that make them look similar.

[Hedeby]

Moustaches were mandatory in the army at the start of the war (well for officers anyway)

[Пилот]

August 8th 1914.
Montenegro declares war on Germany.

Montenegro??? Really!
Karl

Montenegro even declared a war on Japan in 1905 and sent small detachment to help Russia. It seems peace treaty was never signed, until 2006.

Btw, at Port Arthur, Lekso Sajčić fought in classical "old school" pre-battle duel with one Japanese samurai - and cut his head off.

[Jager]

Montenegro even declared a war on Japan in 1905 and sent small detachment to help Russia. It seems peace treaty was never signed, until 2006.

Btw, at Port Arthur, Lekso Sajčić fought in classical "old school" pre-battle duel with one Japanese samurai - and cut his head off.

Wow; somehow I missed the news that Montenegro became a country again
I wonder how high on the honey-do list that peace treaty was
Karl

[Lt. S.Kafloc]

That's alright Berwick only recently signed a peace treaty with Russia!

[Jager]

That's alright Berwick only recently signed a peace treaty with Russia!

Why was Berwick at war with Russia??? And did the Queen know?
Karl

[Пилот]

Wiki says HM did know!

[Flying Officer Kyte]

Wiki leaks again!
Rob.

[Lt. S.Kafloc]

Relations with Russia

There is an apocryphal story that Berwick is (or recently was) technically at war with Russia.^[53] The story tells that since Berwick had changed hands several times, it was traditionally regarded as a special, separate entity, and some proclamations referred to "England, Scotland and the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed". One such was the declaration of the Crimean War against Russia in 1853, which Queen Victoria supposedly signed as "Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, Ireland, Berwick-upon-Tweed and all British Dominions". When the Treaty of Paris was signed to conclude the war, "Berwick-upon-Tweed" was left out. This meant that, supposedly, one of Britain's smallest towns was officially at war with one of the world's largest powers – and the conflict extended by the lack of a peace treaty for over a century.^[54]
The BBC programme Nationwide investigated this story in the 1970s, and found that while Berwick was not mentioned in the Treaty of Paris, it was not mentioned in the declaration of war either. The question remained as to whether Berwick had ever been at war with Russia in the first place. The true situation is that since the Wales and Berwick Act 1746 had already made it clear that all references to England included Berwick, the town had no special status at either the start or end of the war. The grain of truth in this legend could be that some important documents from the 17th century did mention Berwick separately, but this became unnecessary after 1746.
According to a story by George Hawthorne in The Guardian of 28 December 1966, the London correspondent of Pravda visited the Mayor of Berwick, Councillor Robert Knox, and the two made a mutual declaration of peace. Knox said "Please tell the Russian people through your newspaper that they can sleep peacefully in their beds." The same story, cited to the Associated Press, appeared in The Baltimore Sun of 17 December 1966; The Washington Post of 18 December 1966; and The Christian Science Monitor of 22 December 1966. At some point in turn the real events seem to have been turned into a story of a "Soviet official" having signed a "peace treaty" with Mayor Knox; Knox's remark to the Pravda correspondent was preserved in this version

[Flying Officer Kyte]

Thanks for clarifying that Neil.
I can now sleep easy in my bed too.
Kyte.

[Lt. S.Kafloc]

Twas the very same who got it all mixed up, but sorted in the end. Can you imagine Berwick invading Russia!

Why was Berwick at war with Russia??? And did the Queen know?
Karl

[Jager]

Twas the very same who got it all mixed up, but sorted in the end. Can you imagine Berwick invading Russia!

Maybe their rugby team
Karl