Wednesday 20th December 1916
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Today we lost: 310
- The 13th victim of the Red Baron
- The 14th & 15th victims of the Red Baron
- A flying Ace
- Multiple sons of members of the clergy
- A family that will lose four sons in the Great War
Today’s highlighted casualties include:
- Lieutenant Robert Eric Odell (Black Watch) is killed at age 22. He is the son of the Reverend Robert William Odell Vicar of St Mathew’s Brighton.
- Second Lieutenant Nigel Felton Drummond (King’s Royal Rifle Corps) is killed at age 21. He is the grandson of the Reverend Arthur Hislop Drummond.
- Corporal Jack Ware (Royal Army Medical Corps) dies of disease at age 21. He is one of four brothers all of whom will lose their lives in the Great War.
Air Operations:
Eastern Front: German Navy airships L35 (Ehrlich) and L38 (Dietrich) arrive at Wainoden for Operation Eisernes Kreuz (Iron Cross), a raid on Petrograd (Dec 26th) advocated since early 1915 by Grand-Admiral Prince Heinrich, C-in-C Baltic Fleet.
Western Front:
5 Jasta 2’ scouts’ (led by Richthofen) shoot or force down 5 DH2’s.
RFC observers engage 85 targets including destroying 3-gun anti-aircraft batteries, takes 741 photos.
Royal Flying Corps Losses today: 7
2Lt D'arcy, L.G. (Lionel George), 18 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 28.
Lt Fiske, H. (Harold), 18 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action.
Lt Smith, R. (Reginald), 18 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 24.
Sub Lt Whiteside, R.C. (Reginald Cuthbert), 18 Squadron, RFC, aged 21.
2Lt Garner, F.L. (Frank Leslie), 5 Reserve Squadron, RFC. Killed whilst flying aged 21.
Lt Simpson, H.R.D. (Henry Richard Deighton), 60 Squadron, RFC. Killed when the right wing of his aeroplane gave way while he was doing acrobatics and he crashed from 150m, aged 20.
Capt Knight, A.G. (Arthur Gerald), 29 Squadron, RFC. Killed in action aged 21.Captain Arthur Gerald Knight DSO MC (Royal Flying Corps) is shot down in flames and killed after bringing down his eighth German machine. He is flying a DH2 when he becomes the thirteen the victim of Manfred von Richthofen near Monchy au Bois. Knight and Alfred McKay were indirectly responsible for the death of the great German pilot Oswald Boelcke last month. While on patrol over the Somme trench lines, Knight and McKay’s DH2s were attacked by Germany’s leading ace (40 victories). A momentary lapse in concentration on the part of either Boelcke or his friend Erwin Bohme, resulted in a contact between their two machines as they dived in on the British pilots. Although Bohme’s machine escapes comparatively unscathed, Boelcke’s upper wing breaks away and he is killed in the ensuing crash. Captain Knight dies at age 21. Captain McKay will be killed in December of next year. Later this day another two men become the fourteenth victims of the Red Baron when their plane is shot down. Second Lieutenant Lionel George D’Arcy (Connaught Rangers attached Royal Flying Corps) and Sub Lieutenant Reginald Cuthbert Whiteside (Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve attached Royal Flying Corps) are shot down while on an offensive patrol on the 5th Army front. D’Arcy is the son of Hyacinth D’Arcy DL and is killed at age 28. Whiteside is the son of the Reverend W C Whiteside and is killed at age 21.
Claims: 14
Lt Robert Alexander ‘Bob’ Little claims his 3rd victory with 8 RNAS.
Capt Edwin Louis ‘Lobo’ Benbow, claims his 5th confirmed victory with 40 Squadron, RFC. Flying an FE8 he shot down an Albatros C type near Lens. After serving with the Royal Field Artillery in France, Edwin Louis Benbow transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in 1916. He received Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate 3109 on a Maurice Farman biplane at military school, Ruislip on 21 June 1916. Benbow was only the ace to score all of his victories flying the F.E.8.
FE8
2Lt Kevin Crawford claims his 3rd victory with 24 Squadron, RFC.
2Lt Selden Herbert ‘Tubby’ Long claims his 4th confirmed victory with 24 Squadron, RFC.
2Lt John Bowley Quested claims his 6th confirmed victory with 11 Squadron, RFC.
2Lt Reginald Rhys Soar claims his 1st & 2nd confirmed victories with 8 RNAS.
Sous Lt Joseph-Henri Guiguet claims his 3rd confirmed victory with N3.
Sous Lt Lucien Jailler claims his 6th confirmed victory with N15.
Lt Charles Nungesser claims his 21st confirmed victory with N65.
Lt Hans Immelmann claims his 6th confirmed victory with Jasta 2.
Lt Hans Karl Muller claims his 8th confirmed victory with Jasta 5.
Lt Manfred Albrecht Freiherr von Richthofen claims his 13th & 14th confirmed victories flying for Jasta 2.
Combat Report Victory 13:
DH2 No 7927 29 Squadron RFC Engine No.30413 Wd 4134 Gun: 19234
1130 hrs, above Menchy.
Vickers One-Seater, No 7929, Motor Gnome, 30413. Occupant: Arthur Gerald Knight, Lieutenant RFC (Knight was a Captain, winning the DSO & MC during the battle of the Somme), killed. Valuables enclosed, 1 machine gun taken.
About 1130 I attacked, together with 4 planes and at 3,000 metres altitude, enemy one-seater squadron above Menchy. After some curve fighting I managed to press adversary down to 1,500 metres, where I attacked him at closest range (plane length). I saw immediately that i has hit enemy; first he went down in curves, then he dashed to the ground. I pursued him until 100 metres above the ground. This plane had been only attacked by me.
Weather fine all day.
Combat Report Victory 14:
FE2b No A5446 (Malaya No 11) 18 Squadron RFC Engine No.791 Wd 7151 Guns: 16021: 17924
1345 hrs, above Moreuil.
Vickers two-Seater, No A5446, Motor Beardmore, No. 791. Occupants: Pilot Lieut D’Arcy, observer unknown, had no identification disc. Occupants dead, plane smashed one machine gun taken, valuables please find enclosed.
About 1345 I attacked, together with 4 planes of our Staffel, at 3,000 metres altitude, enemy squadron above Moreuil. The English squadron had thus far not been attacked by Germans and was flying somewhat apart. I had, therefore, the opportunity to attack the last machine. I was foremost of our own people and other German planes where not to be seen. Already after the first attack, the enemy motor began to smoke; the observer had been wounded. The plane went down in large curves. I followed and fired at closest range. I had also killed, as was ascertained later on, the pilot. Finally the plane crashed on the ground. The plane is lying between Queant and Lagnicourt.
Weather fine all day.
Home Fronts:
Germany:
Chancellor Bethmann comes under sustained pressure from German Army and Navy for unlimited U-Boat warfare without delay (December 20-26). Ludendorff urges immediate unrestricted U-Boat war in view of Lloyd George reply.
Reich Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg (left in uniform) with Vice-Chancellor Helfferich and Foreign Secretary of State Jagow. The Chancellor was never able to contend with the ‘falcons’ in the government, the military, and the national circles with their annexation plans. He lost more and more power and influence and his opponent succeeded in 1917 finally to overthrow him.
Western Front
A winters view of the front line.
Tunstills Men Wednesday 20th December 1916:
Winnipeg Camp
In the evening a party was again despatched to Ypres, by train, to work with the Royal Engineers.
2Lt. Tom Pickles (see 13th December), formerly of Tunstill’s Company, but currently on home leave while serving with 9DWR, was taken ill. He became, in his own words, “severely indisposed”. He then saw his local doctor, who advised him to see the Military Medical Officer at Keighley. A Colonel in the RAMC at Keighley advised him to go back to his own doctor, but would not give Pickles a medical certificate.
John Widdup, younger brother of 2Lt. Harry Widdup (see 16th December), who had attested ten days earlier, passed his Army medical at Keighley.
2Lt. Robert Aubrey Hildyard, serving with 1st King’s Own Royal Lancasters, was killed in action on the Somme; he was 19 years old and the only son of Maj. Harry Robert Hildyard, (see 20th May) who had been the original senior officer of Tunstill’s Company but who was now serving with 1st (Home Service) Garrison Battalion, Leics. Regt., having been declared no longer fit for active service. Both Robert Hildyard and 18 year old 2Lt. Godfrey James Wilding, who was killed alongside him as they sheltered in a dug-out, were buried in marked graves close to where they had fallen; in 1920 their remains would be exhumed and re-buried at Peronne Road Cemetery, Maricourt. The original grave marker from Hildyard's grave was returned to England and is now in the parish church in his home town of Hythe, where there is also a memorial window, erected by his parents.
Eastern Front:
German advance on Braila.
Galicia: Severe fighting west of Brody.
Rumania: Russian 12th Cavalry Division reaches Odobesti 15 miles northwest of Focsani (after 450-mile ride without losing a single horse).
Southern Front:
Fierce local encounters Cherna bend (Monastir).
Africa, Asiatic & Egyptian Theatres:
Turks evacuate El Arish (northern Sinai) and fall back 20 miles south-east of Magdhaba.
Germans retire from Nangadi (East Africa).
Naval Operations:
Shipping Losses: 6
Political:
Germany: As the war went on conditions deteriorated rapidly on the home front, with severe food shortages reported in all urban areas by 1915. Causes involved the transfer of many farmers and food workers into the military, an overburdened railroad system, shortages of coal, and the British blockade that cut off imports from abroad. The winter of 1916–1917 was known as the "turnip winter," because that vegetable, usually fed to livestock, was used by people as a substitute for potatoes and meat, which were increasingly scarce. Thousands of soup kitchens were opened to feed the hungry people, who grumbled that the farmers were keeping the food for themselves. Even the army had to cut the rations for soldiers. Morale of both civilians and soldiers continued to sink.
1916 German War Loan 535,000,000 Marks.
Neutrals:
President Wilson's Peace Conference Note handed to Belligerents.
Anniversary Events:
69 |
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Vespians’s supporters enter Rome and discover Vitellius in hiding. He is dragged through the streets before being brutally murdered. |
1355 |
|
Stephen Urosh IV of Serbia dies while marching to attack Constantinople. |
1802 |
|
The United States buys the Louisiana territory from France. |
1860 |
|
South Carolina secedes from the Union. |
1861 |
|
English transports loaded with 8,000 troops set sail for Canada so that troops are available if the “Trent Affair” is not settled without war. |
"Hey Tom, what day is it?"
"I'm sleeping!".
"I need to know".
"20th".
"What Month?"
"December".
"What Year?"
"..........."
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