Diary January 1, 1915

Sea War

Channel: Unescorted battleship Formidable sunk at 0230 hours in bad weather by U24 (Schneider) (547 killed, 201 survivors).
Germany: First of 25 A1-type small torpedo boats commissioned for Flanders coastal operations; 16 assembled at Antwerp, 4 lost in 1915.

Western Front

BEF orders assign 3 corps apiece to new Western Front Armies.
Flanders: Artillery duels at Nieuport and Zonnebeke.
Cham­pagne: French capture wood near Menil-Ies-Hurlus.

Eastern Front

German Chief of Staff Falkenhayn, Austrian Conrad and Luden­dorff meet in Berlin (later at Breslau on January 8).
Russian field army now 3,850,000 men strong.
Hungary: Russians advance at Uzsok Pass (until next day) and in Bukovina.

Southern Fronts

Serbia: Austrians redesignated Combined Corps Krauss to XIX Corps. Both sides stricken by typhus epidemic until May. British women take out 108t of hospital material to Valjevo.

Middle East

Armenia: Turk X Corps be­gins retreat, evades pursuit by January 4.
Mesopotamia: British reconnaissance mission finds Tigris blocked and Turk defenses on Ruta Creek, 8 miles (ca. 13 km) north of Qurna (Ruta bombarded on January 21).

African Fronts

Cameroons: Lieutenant-Colonel Mair’s 400 Nigerian troops cross river Col and occupy Ossindinge.
East Af­rica: Kenya Police Service battalion leaves Nairobi for Turkana Province in the north, where it operates from January 4.

Air War

Western Front: French increase Voisin bomber units from 5 to 8.
Wing Commander Maitland of RNAS inspects Belgian ‘Drachen’-type kite-balloon at Alveringheim; he sends Flight Commander Mackworth to Chalain-Meudon, HQ of the French balloon sections.
Russia: First Russian 2-seat fighter, Sikorsky S16, under test, its imperfectly synchro­nized MG frequently damages the airscrew.
South Africa: South African Aviation Corps formed.