Year 1916

Diary for Saturday, March 4, 1916: Sea War Germany: Tirpitz and Admiral Holtzendorff fail to get Kaiser’s Crown Council to back unrestricted U-boat warfare, postponed till April 1. East Atlantic: […]

Diary for Friday, March 3, 1916: Western Front Verdun: French success at Douaumont (and on March 7). Middle East Armenia: General Abatsiev’s 10,000 men capture Bitlis after surprise night bayonet

Diary for Thursday, March 2, 1916: Western Front Flanders: British 17th Division retake positions lost on February 14 north of Ypres-Comines Canal. BEF Fourth Army relieve French Tenth Army (15-mile

Diary for Wednesday, March 1, 1916: Air War France: Only Royal Flying Corps Martinsyde G.100 (nicknamed the Elephant) unit arrives, No 27 Squadron. Britain: Two hit-and-run raids on East Kent

Diary for Tuesday, February 29, 1916: Western Front Verdun: Bloody struggle round Fresnes and salient. Falkenhayn finally agrees to attack on west bank of Meuse, releases 4 divisions and 84

Diary for Monday, February 28, 1916: Western Front Verdun: Sudden thaw after long cold spell turns battlefield into a sea of mud but Voie Sacree kept open with gravel by

Diary for Sunday, February 27, 1916: Western Front Verdun: Petain reorganizes defences, halts withdrawal from Woevre. French retake La Feuille wood (night 27/28), defend Soupple village and d’Eix­-Abaucourt station. On

Diary for Saturday, February 26, 1916: Western Front Verdun: GQG admits loss of Ft Douaumont. Recapture attempt fails. Petain orders ‘… retake immediately any piece of land taken by the

Diary for Friday, February 25, 1916: Home Fronts French Army orders 400 Schneider tanks by November 25, 1916. Western Front Verdun: Castelnau arrives at 0700 hours. Germans take Louve­mont, but

Diary for Thursday, February 24, 1916: Western Front Verdun: French artillery counter­-bombard. Germans take Samogneux (fighting all day), Hill 344, Beaumont Fosses wood and Chaume with 10,000 PoWs (now total

Diary for Wednesday, February 23, 1916: Western Front Verdun: French abandon Brabant-sur-Meuse; counter­attack without success south of Caures wood and at Wavrille. By end of day Germans also occupy Herbebuis

Diary for Tuesday, February 22, 1916: Western Front Verdun: Despite French counter-attacks (2,350 casualties), Germans develop gains of February 21 to win Brabant-sur-Meuse woods, all Caures wood (Colonel Driant killed,

Diary for Monday, February 21, 1916: Western Front BATTLE OF VERDUN BEGINS (until December 18): From 0715 hours violent 9-hour artillery preparation by 1,240 guns (including 150 mortars) on 8-mile

Diary for Sunday, February 20, 1916: Air War Western Front: 34 Anglo-German air combats (7 on February 24). Britain: 4 German seaplanes drop 25 bombs on Walmer and Lowestoft, 2

Diary for Saturday, February 19, 1916: African Fronts East Africa: Smuts reaches Mombasa and assumes command, forms Lake Force and reaches Nairobi on February 23. Kitchener approves his offensive on

Diary for Friday, February 18, 1916: Air War Austria – First long-distance Italian bombing raid: Caproni bombers drop almost 4,000 lb bombs on Laibach in retaliation for Austrian raid on

Diary for Thursday, February 17, 1916: Middle East Mesopotamia: King George V message of encouragement to Kut. Armenia: Siberian Cossacks and infantry take 5,000 PoWs and 42 guns in pursuit

Diary for Wednesday, February 16, 1916: Middle East Armenia: Yudenich captures Erzerum, many Arabs desert Turks, who have lost 15,000 men including 5,000 PoWs and 327 guns against 9,000 Russian

Diary for Tuesday, February 15, 1916: Air War Western Front: Ball joins No 13 Squadron (BE2c artillery spotters). Middle East Persia: Anglo-Bakhtiari agreement for oilfield protection. Neutrals USA: Senator Root

Diary for Monday, February 14, 1916: Western Front Flanders: German attacks take 600 yards of trench north of Ypres canal, south of Ypres­-Comines railway and near Saint­-Eloi. British 17th Division