Diary December 24, 1915

12-1915, Diary WWI, Year 1915 / 1 minute of reading

A Montenegrin Army captain in M1910 full-dress uniform with peaked service cap.

Diary for Friday, December 24, 1915:

Southern Fronts

Montenegro: Austrian 62nd Division finally crosses river Tara after heroic Montenegrin resistance.

Western Front

Germany – Falkenhayn initiates preparations for the Verdun offensive codenamed Gericht (Tribunal, Judgement, place of execution): Fifth Army (Crown Prince) to be reinforced with 4 army corps and 2,000 guns and to attack French centre between river Meuse and Woevre.

Eastern Front

Galicia: Heavy fighting on river Strypa.

Middle East

Gallipoli – Helles bridgehead: Fierce Turk shelling but British patrolling prevails.
Mesopotamia – Kut: Turk 52nd Division twice repulsed from fort until next day with 2,000 casualties for only 315 defenders (total 1,625 casualties since December 5). 4-hour burial truce on December 26.

African Fronts

Smith-Dorrien sails for Cape (where Brigade-General Northey arrived) but catches pneumonia.
Somaliland: Anglo-Italian Agreement on river Juba border.

Sea War

Mediterranean: U-boat torpedoes and sinks French liner Ville de Ciotat (80 lives lost).
Britain: First Lord of Admiralty Balfour in Commons refers to ‘terrible level’ of shipping freight charges.

Secret War

Britain: The word ‘tank’ is coined.

About The Author

Kretaner

My name is Norman 'Kretaner' and since my childhood I am interested in history and strategy games. Later, I have learned programming and the development of computer games, and finally with the Internet, also web design. I'm in the fortunate position to combine all my interests with my work and to live on a place of my choice, on Crete. All information, figures, specifications and statistics used here had been compiled from a variety of sources and the large, over decades collected, library of the author about military history, WW2 and weapons.