World War I Day by Day Read online

  19

  Western Front: Germans launch a heavy assault in the Vosges.

  Two Germans take cover as a third throws a stick grenade.

  Clouds of German poison gas drift towards Russian lines.

  20

  Middle East/War at sea: Violent storms in the Dardanelles halt hostilities.

  22

  Eastern Front: Austrian fortress of Przemysl surrenders to the Russians – siege started 11 November 1914 – taking 126,000 Austro-Hungarian prisoners.

  Western Front: Two Zeppelins attack Paris.

  23

  Middle East: Near El Kubri British soldiers rout raiding Turkish forces.

  Western Front: German guns bombard Reims and Soissons.

  24

  Politics: Chile makes a diplomatic protest to Britain about violation of her territorial waters during the battle off Juan Fernandez (14 March).

  Western Front: British naval airmen raid Hoboken near Antwerp.

  25

  Eastern Front: Russian counter offensive in the Carpathians: take 5,700 prisoners.

  War at sea: First neutral ship to be sunk after a stop and search. German submarine U-29 captures and sinks Dutch SS Medea.

  26

  Western Front: Six French airmen bomb Metz.

  28

  War at sea: SS Falaba outbound for South Africa sunk by German torpedoes. 100 lives lost, many of them women and children.

  Russian Black Sea Fleet bombards Bosphorus forts.

  Wayside dressing station as the wounded are brought in after an attack. Lightly wounded made their own way, those needing more attention visited first aid posts before walking to the dressing station, while severely wounded arrived on stretchers.

  APRIL

  Gallipoli landings; Germans use gas at Ypres

  April 1915

  Reports start to reach the Allies of the Turkish massacre of some 800,000 Armenians. Germans attention is primarily on the Eastern Front where they attempt to break through Gorlice-Tarnow and force Russia out of Poland. Italy renounces the Central Powers and joins the Allies.

  1

  Africa: In German South-West Africa South African troops occupy Hasuur.

  War at sea: British SS Seven Seas torpedoed off Beachy Head.

  Western Front: British air raid on Zeebrugge and Hoboken.

  2

  Eastern Front: Russian cavalry defeat the German cavalry in north Poland.

  War at sea: In the North Sea German submarine U-10 sinks British trawlers Nellie, Gloxinia, and Jason.

  3

  Middle East: French expeditionary force starts to disembark at Alexandria.

  War at sea: Russian Black Sea Fleet engage Goeben and Breslau.

  Off Odessa Turkish cruiser Medjidia is sunk by a mine.

  4

  Caucasus: In Armenia the Russian beat the Turks at Olty.

  Eastern Front: Germans bomb a Russian hospital at Radom, Poland.

  The air war intensified throughout the conflict.

  German troops rest up during the day in preparation for a night raiding party.

  8

  Caucasus: The Ottoman Empire begins a program of deportation and massacre against the Armenians starting in Cilicia.

  9

  Gallipoli: Near the Dardenelles British and French forces led by Generals Hamilton and d’Amade start to gather.

  Western Front: French troops capture Les Eparges.

  10

  Balkans: Belgrade is shelled by an Austrian gunboat.

  Politics: Germany protests to the U.S. about her pro-Allied stance.

  War at sea: While engaged in Belgian relief work and holding a German safe conduct pass British steamer Harpalyce is torpedoed without warning by UB-4, midway between Harwich and the Hook of Holland. 15 crewmen lost.

  11

  Mesopotamia: British troops attacked by Turks at Kurna and in the Persian Gulf at Ahwaz.

  War at sea: Harrison liner Wayfarer torpedoed.

  12

  Middle East: Gaza bombarded by French cruiser St. Louis.

  Western Front: German airship bombs Nancy.

  Carpathians, 1915. The Austrians retreat from the Russian advance leaving their dead and munitions as they go.

  14

  Great Britain: German Zeppelins raid Tyneside.

  Politics: Australian government confirms that it will send every available man to support the Allies in the war.

  15

  War at sea: Russian Black Sea Fleet bombs Anatolian coastal positions.

  Western Front: 15 Allied planes bomb Ostend.

  Freiburg bombed by French airship.

  16

  Great Britain: German Zeppelins raid East Anglia, England.

  Faversham and Sittingbourne in Kent are bombed by German planes.

  War at sea: El Arish bombarded by French cruiser. Turkish torpedo boat sinks British transport Manitou. 51 lives are lost.

  22

  War at sea: Due to shipping losses British Admiralty suspends passenger traffic between Britain and the Netherlands.

  Western Front: Second Battle of Ypres sees first use of poison gas on the Western Front.

  German Fourth Army launces a surprise attack on Canadian troops at Ypres. However, the Canadians manage to check the German advance.

  German use chlorine gas against British forces at Langemarck.

  23

  Italian Front: Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary and begins invasion on a 60-mile front. creating another battle front.

  Politics: Britain declares a blockade of the Cameroons.

  War at sea: Allied fleet bombard Turkish coast in the Gulf of Saros.

  In the sky over Paris a light French plane swoops to do battle with a slow-moving German Zeppelin.

  German machine gun post ready to cover a new attack.

  View of Scapa Flow, the great British Navy base in the Orkneys. It was large enough to easily accommodate the entire Grand Fleet.

  24

  Africa: In German East Africa there is fighting around Mount Kilimanjaro.

  25

  Gallipoli: 70,000 British and French troops land at at Helles & Anzac Cove, Gallipoli to try to take Turkey out of the war. Immediate heavy fighting.

  War at sea: Russian Black Sea Fleet shells forts around the Bosphorus coast.

  26

  Politics: Italy joins the Entente on signing the secret Treaty of London with Britain, France, and Russia.

  War at sea: Under international law the armed German liner Kronprinz Wilhelm is interned at Newport News, VA. after being forced into port. She had sunk over 60,000 tons of Allied shipping.

  27

  Gallipoli: The Allies are established across the peninsula.

  Western Front: Germans again deploy gas during the Second Battle of Ypres.

  28

  Eastern Front: Germans and Austrians led by von Mackensen mount a strong new offensive which drives the Russians back.

  Gallipoli: supported by Queen Elizabeth, Allies advance to First Battle of Krithia and of Krithia when the.

  Russian troops surrendering — they would be put to work as captive labour in munition factories or on the land.

  29

  Middle East: Turks withdraw from the Suez Canal region.

  War at sea: In the Sea of Marmora submarine E14 sinks a Turkish transport.

  Western Front: Canadian troops are withdrawn from Ypres.

  30

  General: Germany publishes a newspaper warning to U.S. citizens not to sail in the Lusitania.

  War at sea: In the Sea of Marmora a Turkish warship sinks Australian submarine AE2.

  Great Britain: Zeppelins again raid East Anglia.

  31

  Great Britain: German Zeppelins bombard the London suburbs.

  MAY

  Sinking of Lusitania; first zeppelin raid on London

  May 1915

  The Russian armies in Poland collapse. The sinking of the liner Lusitania provokes an international outrage and
horror and a German-American crisis when a large number of Americans lose their lives. In Gallipoli the Allied ANZAC soldiers are unable to break out of the peninsula.

  1

  Far East: Chinese demand the restoration of Kiao-chau from Japan.

  Gallipoli: Fierce fighting between Turkish and Allied forces as Turks counter attack at Eski Hissarlik.

  War at sea: First U.S. ship attacked by German submarines: oil tanker Gulflight torpedoed off the Scilly Isles by German submarine U-30, she was badly damaged but did not sink: three lives lost.

  British troops trundling wire hoops through the mud up to the front lines.

  Improvised Lewis gun table. The gun is tied by a cord to a wheel revolving on a pole securely fixed in the ground.

  Troops of the London Rifle Brigade ‘taking it easy’ in a reserve trench.

  2

  Africa: In German Southwest Africa British South Africa troops under General Botha capture Otymbingue,.

  Eastern Front: Start of major Austro-German offensive in Galicia at Gorlice-Tarnow. By summer’s end Germany controls an area covered by present-day Poland, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine.

  War at sea: Russian Black Sea Fleet shells Bosphorus forts.

  3

  Politics: Italy denounces the Triple Alliance, in particular Austrian actions in July 1914.

  4

  Western Front: A kite balloon is used for artillery observation for the first time.

  6

  Gallipoli: Second Battle of Krithia begins.

  7

  Eastern Front: Germans capture the Russian Baltic port of Libau.

  General: Christians are massacred in the Ottoman Empire.

  War at sea: British Cunard liner Lusitania en route from New York to Liverpool torpedoed without warning and sunk within 18 minutes by German submarine U-20 off the Irish coast at Kinsale Head. 1,195 lives (out of 1,959) are lost, including 124 American passengers.

  River Clyde, a 4,000-ton collier, played a significant part in the April 25, 1915 landings. She was run ashore on V beach with 2,000 troops on board.

  9

  Western Front: Battle of Aubers Ridge – a British preliminary bombardment – starts the Artois Offensive. The main battle was a French attempt to break through the Germans lines with a massive infantry assault.

  13

  Eastern Front: End of the Battle of Gorlice-Tarnow, in which the Germans push the Russians into retreat.

  War at sea: In the Dardanelles HMS Goliath is struck by three Turkish torpedos from Muavenet. 570 sailors are lost.

  Western Front: Heavy German bombardments at Ypres.

  14

  Eastern Front: Russians take Kolomea and Austro-Germans take Jaroslav.

  Politics: Britain begins to intern enemy aliens.

  Western Front: End of the Second battle of Ypres leaves the town largely as rubble. BEF casualties are triple those of Germans.

  15

  Western Front: Battle of Festubert in the Ypres salient starts with British attack. During the battle British, Indian, and Canadian troops are involved.

  Map of Gallipoli peninsula showing British, Australian and New Zealand landing points in April 1915. The inset shows Cape Hellesand the five British landing beaches.

  Australian troops, Anzac Cove, land a field gun.

  French gunners, Gallipoli.

  17

  Great Britain: Zeppelins raid Dunkirk and Ramsgate.

  19

  Gallipoli: Start of the Turkish attack at Anzac Cove.

  20

  Eastern Front: Przemysl bombarded by von Mackensen’s troops.

  22

  Politics: Italy orders the mobilization of her troops.

  War at sea: In the Black Sea the Russian battleship Penteleimon is torpedoed.

  Western Front: Paris undergoes German air raid.

  The Daily Telegraph records the sinking of the Lusitania, May 7, 1915.

  23

  Italian Front: On the Southern Front Austrian troops attack in the Carnic Alps.

  Politics: Despite treaty agreements with the Central Powers, Italy declares war on Austria-Hungary.

  24

  Italian Front: On the Isonzo Front Italian troops occupy Caporetto and Cormons; and advance towards Trentino and Carnic.

  War at sea: Austrian naval raids along the Italian Adriatic coast and first air raid over Venice.

  Western Front: The Allies make headway on the Western Front.

  25

  General: Turkey expelles Christian Armenians from their homeland to Aleppo in Syria: leads to deaths of some 800,000 men, women and children.

  Italian Front: Italians capture Monte Altinino in Trentino.

  Politics: Britain forms a coalition government when PM Asquith reorganizes his Liberal government as a coalition of the parties.

  War at sea: Off Gallipoli HMS Triumph is torpedoed.

  U.S. ship SS Nebraskan is torpedoed.

  Western Front: End of the Battle of Festubert when Allies captured the village. Allies won less than half a mile of territory and lost some 16,000 men during the battle. Germany abandons Ypres offensive ending the Second Battle of Ypres: 105,000 Allied casualties.

  Austrian troops flood into Prezemysl after retaking it in May 1915.

  British troops after gas attack.

  Damage to Bartholomew Close, London, after a Zeppelin attack.

  26

  Great Britain: Zeppelins raid Southend on the Essex coast of England.

  27

  War at sea: In Sheerness harbor British minelayer HMS Irene is blown up.

  Off Gallipoli HMS Majestic is torpedoed.

  31

  Great Britain: First Zeppelin raid on London. LZ-38 kills seven people and injures 35. Damage estimated at some £19,000.

  JUNE

  Italian Front opens

  June 1915

  The Italian Front opens up as Austria and Italy fight for advantage in the first of the ten, eleven or even twelve battles of the Isonzo (experts disagree about which battles strictly count). Poland is increasingly occupied by Austro-German troops.

  1

  Eastern Front: Germans use gas in an attack west of Warsaw.

  Italian Front: Bari and Brindisi bombed by Austrian planes.

  Mesopotamia: Turks retreat along the Tigris pursued by British naval flotilla.

  Western Front: british take the trenches at Givenchy.

  3

  Eastern Front: After fierce fighting Austro-German troops retake Przemysl.

  Italian troops dig in 10,000ft above sea level.

  4

  Gallipoli: Start of the Third Battle of Krithia. Initially successful, it turns into a costly failure with the loss of 6,000 men.

  6

  Great Britain: Zeppelin raids on the east coast of England kill 24 and injure 30.

  8

  Western Front: French make important gains at Neuville St. Vaast, in ‘The Labyrinth’ (north of Arras) and at Hébuterne.

  15

  Western Front: Zeppelins raid the north-east coast of Britain.

  Karlsruhe in Baden bombed by French airmen.

  17

  Italian Front: Italian troops capture the heights above the left bank of the Isonzo overlooking Plava.

  Western Front: Retreating Germans torch Metzeral in Alsace.

  18

  War at sea: Austrian warships carry out raids along the Italian Adriatic.

  22

  Eastern Front: Lemberg (Lvov) is recaptured by the Austrians.

  Italian Front: Italy starts the Isonzo Offensive (the first of 10, some count 12, attacks) against fortified Austrian positions along a 50-mile front in the Trentino area and central Isonzo around Gorizia.

  Western Front: Fierce fighting along the River Meuse with both sides winning and losing ground.

  Bersaglieri in a trench overlooking the River Eisack.

  The Minenwerfer or ‘Minnie’ was first used as shown here on the Isonzo front. Designed by the Krupp Works at
Essen, it had a 2in calibre and fired a 250lb spherical bomb to a maximum range of 450 yards.

  Italian troops check a civilian: spies abounded in territories taken from the enemy.

  26

  Balkans: Montenegrin soldiers enter Scutari in Albania.

  Western Front: Start of the Battle of the Argonne.

  27

  Eastern Front: Russian setbacks on the Eastern Front see them retreating in Galicia.

  Gallipoli: The Allies take four Turkish lines near Krithia.Positions on the Asia Minor coats are bombed by HMS Hussar.

  28

  War at sea: Windau in the Baltic is bombarded by German warships.

  29

  Eastern Front: Major Austro-German advance towards the rivers Vistula and Bug.

  30

  Italian Front: French forces take six lines of Turkish trenches.

  JULY

  Russia retreats from Poland; Germany surrenders in SW Africa