The Great War (1914-1918) in real time

Day 561 of the Great War, February 10th 1916

Western Front

Germans are repulsed south of Frise.

Germany

German Government sends note to United States Government stating that defensively armed merchantmen will be treated as belligerents starting March 1st.

United States: US Secretary of War Resigns

As the war in Europe continued, many in America argued for an increase in the size of the Army in case the United States should be brought into the war. Secretary of War Lindley Garrison argued for the creation of a “Continental Army,” hearkening back to Washington’s force in the Revolutionary War. This 400,000 man volunteer reserve force would supplement the regular army and be under the control of the federal government, allowing for uniform standards, coordination with the regular army, and its use beyond the continental US if necessary. The plan attracted many critics, with many saying that expansion of the existing National Guard (with contingents controlled by each state) would be sufficient, with other militant preparedness advocates saying the plan did not go far enough. In the end, Wilson sided with the former group, siding with Congressional leaders over his Secretary of War.

Garrison also opposed Wilson’s policy on the Philippines, which currently was in favor of a bill that would allow Wilson to grant the Philippines independence in two to four years. Garrison believed that this was a betrayal of the American duty to the Filipino people, and would also risk the Philippines falling into the hands of Japan. In protest to both of these policies, Garrison resigned on February 10, saying that “it is evident that we hopelessly disagree on what I conceive to be fundamental principles.”

Naval operations: North Sea

German destroyers attack a British group conducting minesweeping operations near the Dogger Bank. All the ships involved in the operation manage to escape except for sloop HMS ARABIS, 1,250 tons, which manages to drive off three attackers single-handed. A second attack results in ARABIS being torpedoed with the loss of 56 of her 79 crew.

Day 563 of the Great War, February 12th 1916

Western Front

German offensive west of Soissons and temporary success at Pilkem, norh of Ypres.

Eastern Front

Russian attack on Erzerum begins.

East African campaign: British Attack Near Kilimanjaro Repulsed

Despite Kitchener’s objections, the British were preparing a fresh offensive into German East Africa [Tanzania]. A new brigade had arrived from South Africa. General Smith-Dorrien, tapped to head the offensive, had contracted pneumonia on the way to Africa and had been replaced by General Smuts, victor in South-West Africa. While Smuts was on the way north to Kenya, General Tighe planned a preliminary attack in advance of his arrival.

The target was Salaita Hill, on the plains below Kilimanjaro near the border with German East Africa. Tighe believed that the Germans only had 300 men defending the hill, and planned to attack from two sides: beginning with the crack Kenyan troops on the center and following up with the green South African troops on the right–committing all 4000 of his men and leaving little reserve. However, the Germans in fact had 1300 defending the hill, with several hundred within easy reach.

The Kenyans and then the South Africans were stopped at least 1000 yards short of the German positions by heavy fire. German reinforcements arrived from the north and south, hitting the South Africans from three sides. They essentially broke, and fell back in considerably disarray. The Germans pursued; they were only stopped by heavy British artillery fire and the resistance of an Indian battalion. The British, despite their still-substantial numerical advantage, had been relatively easily repulsed and suffered far more casualties than the Germans. The casual application of reinforcements from across the Empire would not be enough to take German East Africa, it seemed.

Naval operations: North Sea

Belgian freighter SS ADUATIEK, 2,221 tons, bound from Newcastle to Savona with a load of coal, hits a mine laid by Friedrich Moecke in UC-4. British freighter SS CEDARWOOD, 654 tons, carrying a load of pig iron from Middlesbrough to Fécamp, also runs on a mine laid by UC-4.

Naval operations: English Channel

British freighter SS LEICESTER, 1,001 tons, carrying a general cargo from Portsmouth to Cromarty, hits a mine laid by Matthias von Schmettow in UC-6 just south of Folkestone. Von Schmettow's score is now 22 ships and 18,265 tons.

Day 565 of the Great War, February 14th 1916

Western Front

Germans take 600 yards of British front trench between Ypres-Comines railway and the Canal.

Caucasus Campaign: Russian Erzurum Offensive Begins

Russia held the advantage on the Caucasian front, but its commitments against Germany and Austria-Hungary prevented it from being always able to exploit successes. With operations in a momentary lull on the Eastern Front, Nikolai Yudenich’s Caucasus Army, given reinforcements and resupply, began an attack aimed at the city of Erzerum in eastern Anatolia.

The Turkish Third Army’s defensive lines were several miles north of the city, but its 134,000 troops were outnumbered two to one by Yudenich’s army, which had 130,000 frontline infantry and 35,000 cavalry, plus another 150,000 men in reserve, supplied by a force of 150 trucks and aided by twenty planes of the Siberian Air Squadron. However, eight Turkish divisions were heading to reinforce the Third Army after being freed up by the end of the Gallipoli Campaign. But they had not yet arrived, and, even worse for the Turks, many of the guns guarding Erzerum had been moved to Gallipoli and not replaced. Yudenich struck now to attack Erzurum before these reinforcements arrived.

Exploiting his earlier success at Kuprukoy, Yudenich targeted a weak part of the Ottoman line. His troops attacked the Deve-Boyun Ridge on February 11 and 12, while another column passed through a nearby hilly area, which the Turks believed was impassable. Doing so, Yudenich flanked the Turkish line, closing in on the forts and batteries which guarded the city proper.

Photo: The Russians soldiers in front of captured Turkish guns



United Kingdom and France: Allies Declare No Peace Without Full Belgian Independence

After their successes in 1914, the Germans occupied over 90% of Belgium. In fact, the Belgian government was now located off of Belgian soil, at the French port of Le Havre. It was hoped by some in Germany that, short of a complete victory in the war, any negotiated settlement would recognize the fact on the ground that Belgium was now fully within Germany’s sphere of influence. The Allies put a damper on such hopes today when they declared that they would make no peace that did not guarantee Belgian independence and make restitution for wartime damages:

The Allied Powers signatory of the treaties guaranteeing the independence and neutrality of Belgium have decided to renew to-day, by a solemn act, the engagement they entered into with regard to your country. Consequently we, the Ministers of France, Great Britain, and Russia, duly authorised by our Governments, have the honour to make the following declarations:

The Allied and Guaranteeing Powers declare that, when the moment comes, the Belgian Government will be called upon to take part in the peace negotiations, and that they will not end hostilities until Belgium has been restored to her political and economic independence, and liberally indemnified for the damage she has sustained. They will lend their aid to Belgium to ensure her commercial and financial recovery.

Italy, which had not existed in 1839, was not a signatory, but told Belgium they did not object to the declaration; of course, Italy was not even at war with Germany. Japan also raised no objections, despite her general disinterest in the European war.

On the same day, to the south at Chantilly, Haig and Joffre agreed on the overall plan for their summer offensive at the Somme, including the starting date of July 1. Joffre officially dropped his requests to have the British make spoiling attacks of attrition throughout the spring, instead concentrating all resources for the push that summer.

Aerial operations: Air Raid On Milan

Far away from the Western Front, Austria and Italy are also at war. In a change from attacking military targets or carrying out reconnaissance, the Austrians today targeted the Porta Volta Power Station in Milan. The mission was carried out by 12 Lohner BVII two seaters who flew the 118 miles from their base at Gardalo in South Tyrol.

The Austrians were met by a barrage of Anti-Aircraft fire and attacks by Italian planes. Despite the supposed target, six civilians were killed as bombs fell on the city.

The Austrians also claim to have shot down an Italian Cauldron aircraft but this is denied by the Italians.

Day 567 of the Great War, February 16th 1916

Macedonian Front

Remnants of Montenegrin Army land at Corfu.

Caucasus campaign: Russians Capture Erzurum Fortress

For a brief period on February 13, it seemed as though Yudenich’s gamble of a winter attack on Erzurum had not paid off. The Russian advance was starting to bog down in heavy snow in many areas, and Turkish forces were holding strong. However, the fall of the Tafet fort on the 14th after an attack from three sides opened the way to the city of Erzurum itself. That evening, the Turkish commander ordered a withdrawal, beginning the next morning.

At 9:40 AM on February 16, Yudenich ordered his commanders to “march on the city and take it from the north.” He hoped to be able to cut off the bulk of the defending Turks before they were able to escape. The Turkish forces were able to fight a brief holding action along a set of trenches and barbed wire constructed last year at the Germans’ suggestion. This did not hold the Russians long, but was enough to ensure the escape of most of the Turkish troops. That afternoon, a Cossack cavalry regiment galloped into the city; a marked departure from the other, static fronts of the war.

Although the Turkish only lost around 5000 prisoners, essentially all the supplies and guns of the fortress were captured by the Russians. This was a huge coup for them, especially given the difficulties in transporting supplies through the Caucasus. Another 5000 prisoners were captured from the fleeing Turks over the next few days, and another 10000 simply deserted. The Turkish Third Army, down to 25,000 men in arms, was essentially destroyed as a fighting force.

Map: the Erzurum Campaign, February 1916



Italian Front: Italians and Austrians Plan New Battles for Spring

For nineteen months, Austria had sat on the defensive in the Alps and the Dolomites, content to let the Italians wear themselves out in attacks. Four Battles of the Isonzo had already taken place by 1916, and for the most part they had been inconsequential, resulting in massive losses on both sides and not much else.

Yet both sides still had hopes for a decisive victory. Joffre heavily pressured his Italian counterpart, General Luigi Cadorna, to attack again in spring 1915, to coincide with planned Anglo-French and Russian offensives. Over the winter, the Italian Army had re-organized and regrouped, with another eight divisions added to their total on the Isonzo Front.

On the other sides of the lines, another offensive was being planned. Austrian Chief-of-Staff Conrad von Hotzendorf intended to finally go on the attack, aiming at the Asiago Plateau on the north-eastern border. Unlike Cadorna, however, Conrad’s allies tried to dissuade him from attacking. Falkenhayn, who had little respect for Conrad’s abilities as a strategist, rudely refused to give the Austrian commander any support, and bluntly told him not to dare go on the offensive by himself. Irately, Conrad planned just that, devising a spring offensive against the Italians. Both battles were to be waged that spring, and it soon became clear for both sides that a quick, decisive victory would not be realized.

Aerial operations: Joint Air War Committee appointed

By this point in the war the duplication of and competition for resources between the RFC and RNAS was obvious. Public opinion is in favour of some coordination between the two air services is strong. It was advanced, and was the subject of discussion in Parliament, that there should be an Air Minister with entire control of the air services and with status equal to that of the First Lord of the Admiralty and of the Secretary of State for War.

At this point, public opinion was in advance of the feeling in Whitehall, and today the Prime Minister unveiled a different approach. He has appointed a new committee, known as the Joint War Air Committee, under the chairmanship of Lord Derby. It role is to ‘to collaborate in and to co-ordinate the question of supplies and design for material for the Naval and Military Air Services’.

The committee is a strong one, its members being, Lord Montagu of Beaulieu as an independent advisor, three Admiralty representatives (Rear-Admiral C. L. Vaughan- Lee, Commodore Murray F. Sueter, and Squadron Commander W. Briggs), and two from the War Office (Major- General Sir David Henderson l and Lieutenant-Colonel E. L. Ellington), with Sir Maurice Hankey and Major C. L. Storr of the Committee of Imperial Defence as Secretaries.

Naval operations: Adriatic Sea

French freighter SS MEMPHIS, 2,382 tons, bound from Corfu to Durrës, Albania, hits a mine laid by Eberhard Fröhner in UC-12. The damaged ship is towed into Durrës but sinks there on the 19th.

Day 569 of the Great War, February 18th 1916

YouTube (The Ghost Of The Lusitania - Russia Takes Erzurum)



Western Front

Artillery duel at Ypres.

Caucasus campaign

Following the victory at Erzurum, Russian troops now occupy the city of Bayburt and are advancing towards Trebizond.

Russians take Mush and Aklat (Armenia).

Mesopotamia campaign: Kut, death from above

In Mesopotamia the siege of Kut-al-Amara continues. The British forces (mostly recruited in India) holed up in the town are on reduced rations while they wait for the relief force to break through the Turkish lines. Rising water levels have forced the Turks to abandon their frontline siege lines, which makes an attempt to storm the town less likely. However, the Turks continue to subject Kut to heavy military bombardment. And now a new menace joins their efforts. The Turks have been supplied with some German Fokker Eindecker aircraft. These have begun bombing missions over the town, causing much irritation to the defenders and the townsfolk, but relatively few casualties. The British & Indian soldiers do their best to improvise anti-aircraft defences.

Today, though the guns of the Turks go silent. The British fear that this is a prelude to another attempt to storm the town, but no assault is forthcoming. Rather it is that news of the fall of Erzurum has reached the Turkish besiegers. After a run of victories in Gallipoli and Mesopotamia, this great reverse proves a terrible shock to the morale of the Ottoman troops.

Kamerun Campaign: German Kamerun Surrenders

Effectively out of ammunition for months and unable to stop advancing British, French, and Belgian columns, the main body of German forces in Kamerun [Cameroon] made its escape towards the neutral Spanish colony of Río Muni after the fall of the capital Yaounde in early January. The Allies were largely unable to pursue due to overstretched supply lines, and on February 17 the last of the German forces slipped out: 1000 German soldiers and civilians, along with 6000 Beti askaris and their families.

One final German presence in Kamerun now held out, the fortress of Mora at the northern end of the colony. On top of a steep 1700-foot tall mountain, the 155 German soldiers (11 Europeans and 145 Africans) at Mora had been able to resist British and French attacks repeatedly since the beginning of the war. Unlike their comrades to the south, they still had 37,000 rounds of ammunition. However, food was running dangerously low, and when they heard of the departure of the remaining German forces in Kamerun, they decided to surrender.

The British, not wishing to waste more lives and effort attacking a position that had successfully resisted them for nearly 18 months, offered extremely generous terms. The Germans would be taken to England as prisoners of war, the officers allowed to keep their swords, and the Africans allowed to return freely to their homes. The British even provided the German commander a loan of £2000 for back pay to his troops!

The surrender of Mora ended German resistance in Kamerun. Now, all that was left of Germany’s overseas empire was German East Africa [Tanzania].

Aerial operations: Revenge is sour

Today, Italy attempted to get revenge for the bombing of Milan by sening a group of Caproni 300hp twin-engined biplanes to attack Ljubljana. Things did not go quite to plan as new Fokker Monoplanes had recently arrived.

The bombers crossed the lines individually, and near the Ternova Wood. Caproni 478 was attacked by the Fokkers of Bernath and Hptrn Heinrich Korstba, who emptied their machine gun belts into the target. Two of the three ltalian airmen, Maggiore Alfredo Barbieri and Capitano Luigi Bailo were killed, but the survivor, Capitano Oreste Salomone, was able to bring the aeroplane limping back to an Italian airfield.

On the way back from thetarget Caproni 703 ran into the same Austro-Hungarian fighters, which had had time to land in Ajsevica, refuel and rearm, and take off again.

Korstba, writes in his report:

I reached a height of 2700m and dived on a Caproni, which was flying at 2600m. I fired about 150 rounds from a distance of less than 80m. He turned into me and fired at me with a machine gun from in front of and below me [the ribs and covering fabric were shot throughs. l fired the rest of my ammunition at the rear of the enemy from about 40m. At this moment Oblt Hautzmaver dived on him skilfully and shot him again. I flew on the Capronils right flank and prevented his escape by changing my course. Over Prvazina the other Albatros and Fokker aircraft ovenook the Caproni. I do not wish to belittle the contribution of our other aircraft, and I emphasize that, were I alone, the Caproni would have slipped across the frontline, because I fired all of my ammunition and was now out of Fuel.”

Aboard the Italian bomber, Capitano Tullio Visconti had been killed, and his colleague Gaetarno Turilli was only able to crash land the plane in a field near Merna and was captured.

Day 571 of the Great War, February 20th 1916

Western Front: Verdun: The Day Before

Despite Falkenhayn’s attempts to conceal his plans for an attack at Verdun, the massive, industrial-scale preparation of an entire army had not gone unnoticed. The Germans had deliberately not crept their lines forward, and dense forests, poor weather, and their control of the air prevented most direct French reconnaissance. However, what the French had gleaned–from Danish intelligence sources regarding the movements of troop trains, from the rare successful reconnaissance flight, from tapping of German telephones, from German deserters reporting cleared-out hospitals in Metz expecting heavy casualties, from the demolishing of church spires behind German lines, and from the sheer increase in noise from the other side of the trenches–indicated that a strike was coming at Verdun.

The civilians left in the city certainly noticed, and many fled the city. Henry Bordeaux saw:

…women carrying babies or dragging along little children whose legs were giving away, wagons piled with mattresses and furniture. People had taken what they could, at random. Two old folk, husband and wife, side by side, were panting horribly and in the cold air their breath hung round them like a halo in the cold. Dogs followed the procession, tails down….In the streets you see the houses locked up, with their windows broken. Everything is silent…

French intelligence certainly knew the attack was coming, and had ordered reinforcements to the area. The poor weather that had helped conceal the German preparations also, in the end, delayed the attack by nine days, giving the French some more time to prepare. French intelligence believed they were ready. Lt. Col. Renouard said on February 20th: “It’s coming, it’s coming…but if the Germans attack Verdun, they’ll fall flat on their face.”

On the front lines, the Germans kept up their typical routine of deadly bombardments. André Prezard wrote in his diary that February 20th was

…a terrible day…My poor 11th Company falls from the stalk, it falls from the stalk! Eleven more wounded, three of them already dying….My most experienced gunners, the good comrades who survived last winter, the best Boche-killers, are getting wiped out along with the bleusailles.

The bleusailles Prezard refers to are green troops: those so freshly arrived their uniforms are still clearly blue, not a dingy gray. Many of them were hopeful that the day’s bombardment was it, and the rumors of a German assault were just that; but the veterans knew better.

Eastern Front

Russian success on the Dniester in Bukovina.

Macedonian Front

Deportation of Greeks from Xanthi by Bulgarians.

Senussi campaign

British airmen destroy power station at El-Hassana (Sinai).

Aerial operations: German Seaplane Raid on English Coast

A Norfolk wireless station picked up German radio transmissions at 10:30 AM, but before two German raiders could be triangulated they had hit Lowestoft on the Suffolk coast, surprising beach-goers on a Sunday stroll. Luckily, most of the bombs failed to detonate, or fell into the sea, though one smashed through the roof of a workman’s cottage and into a bedroom, fortunately without exploding. Another exploded near a Methodist chapel, with a newspaper reporting that “The congregation was greatly alarmed, but left without disorder or panic, the service being abandoned.”

Meanwhile, another German seaplane bombarded shipping and the Royal Marine barracks in the Kentish town of Walmer. Most of the bombs did little damage, but sadly, “wwo friends, George Castle and Cyril Pedler, were walking along a road by the sea known as The Beach when the first bombs landed in the sea. Moments later another ‘fell with a blinding flash at their feet’, killing Castle, 16, and seriously injuring Pedler, aged 17.” Royal Naval Air Service machines went up to late to effectively give chase, and the German raiders escaped a brief anti-aircraft barrage to slip away across the Channel back home.

Naval operations: North Sea

Karl Neumann, in his first war patrol in UB-13, takes Belgian fishing vessel DAVID MARIE, 27 tons, as a prize, off the coast of Flanders, Belgium.

British freighter SS DINGLE, 593 tons, bound from Sunderaland to Caen with a load of coal, hits a mine laid by Ulrich Mohrbutter in UC-5. Mohrbuttere's score is now 2 ships and 3,478 tons.

Naval operations: Adriatic Sea

His Majesty's Drifter GAVENWOOD, 88 tons, hits a mine laid by Cäsar Bauer in UC-14 off Brindisi, Italy. Bauer's score is now 6 ships and 7,319 tons.

Day 573 of the Great War, February 22nd 1916

Western Front: Main German Blow Lands at Verdun, Colonel Driant is Killed

For a brief period on the morning of February 22, the French held the initiative at Verdun. In a magnificent display of ingrained élan, the remnants of French front line battalions attacked to try and recapture ground that had been lost yesterday, the first day of the Battle of Verdun. Officers led the charge with drawn sabers. Almost all these attacks failed, wrecked by German batteries, which for their part were directed by aerial reconnaissance 168 airplanes overhead. The French artillery did take some vengeance for its losses the day before, however, by hitting German positions with a phosgene gas shell of their own.

Behind the lines, the French opened a supply line to Verdun from Bar-le-Duc. Soon, trucks carrying munitions and troops were zooming down the road, feeding the flames of the battle. Soon the road became known as La Voie Sacrée, the Sacred Way, the defense of which was vital to the battle.

The Germans hardly took this laying down. On the 22nd the main blow of their operation began. Again, a withering artillery barrage smashed what was left of the French positions from yesterday. Unlike on the 21st, the infantry attack this time was a mass assault, penetrating the French lines. The Germans deployed 96 flamethrowers to help the attack, which were brought up to burn out the most stubborn French positions.

The French fought back tooth-and-claw, cutting deep holes into the advancing German ranks. Steadily, however, their machine guns were knocked out one-by-one, while German planes directed close-range mortar batteries to smash their trenches with aerial torpedoes, and gaps in the French line became harder and harder to plug, while hundreds of heavy shells rained down on the tiny villages that were interspersed along the French line. On the 22nd, the German VII Reserve Corps captured the village of Haumont, driving a dangerous wedge into the French positions. Haumont, and many of these other villages, were never re-inhabited after the war, due to thousands of tons of unexplored munitions still trapped underneath. Today their sparse ruins are a monument to one of the First World War’s worst and longest battles.

In the Bois des Caures, a couple hundred chasseurs from Émile Driant’s two regiments still hung on. After enduring another artillery barrage, the whole weight of the German XVIII Corps went forward in waves 500 meters apart to clear them out. Again and again, Driant’s skillfully selected defenses blasted apart German attacks, the landsers picked off without any idea where they were being fired at from But the odds were too great. The French were wiped out peace-meal as they ran out of ammo and resorted to rocks and rifle butts.

Driant watched the fall of his front from a secondary position several hundred meters back. Perhaps eighty or so of his men were left, the survivors of eight platoons. Many of them called out to their captain, imploring him to take cover as he stood in the open, watching the battle. “You know very well they’ve never hit me yet!” he replied. But soon it became clear the positions was no longer tenable; German infantrymen were spotted swinging in from the flanks, trying to get behind and cut off a retreat.

Driant burnt his papers, gathered his men, and hopped off to try and escape. In three groups, they dashed from shell hole to shell hole. Driant stopped to aid a man who who hit. Suddenly, he threw his arms into the air and cried out as a rifle bullet hit him. “Oh! Là, mon Dieu! A Sergeant came to help him, but he was already dead.

Driant and his men payed for the French General Staff’s mistake of stripping Verdun’s defenses. But in a way, Driant’s martyr’s death may have been lucky. Driant was almost guaranteed a court martial for his constant (though correct) nagging of superiors, and his death made him an instant hero of France’s great new struggle for survival. Moreover, the colonel and his men had died hard, inflicting 500 casualties on the initial German waves, the heaviest enemy loss of the first week.

By the end of the day, the Germans had pushed further towards Verdun. However, many of them, used to fighting Serbs who often broke more easily, were frustrated at the tough opposition they came up against. The French artillery fought as hard as the infantry, but its could not see its targets through the smoke, and had to content itself by firing at old, known, targets, which was not much help to French infantry desperately sending off rockets calling for support.

German artillery fire steadily whittled down French guns one-by-one. Gunners took harsh losses, and horses, unable to take cover, suffered even worse. One French 160-mm naval gun, crewed by sailors, spent all day in a David and Goliath fight versus a massive 380mm German siege gun. The Germans’ massive shells eventually completely dislodged the French gun from its rock emplacement, but the steadfast sailors managed to get it up and running again for a while before another shell took it out of action. They retreated to a nearby trench and waited for the infantry attack. However, their ancient 1874 black-powder rifles gave away their positions with puffs of smoke, and they had to retreat again. Incredibly, they managed to counterattack twice and recover their gun, destroying its breach block so it could not be re-used before finally retreating.

Eastern Front

General Aliksey Kuropatkin is appointed Commander-In-Chief of the Russian North Front.

Caucasus Campaign

Russians approach Trebizond.

United States/United Kingdom relations: House-Grey Memorandum

For the last two months, Wilson’s advisor Col. House had been in Europe attempting to set up peace negotiations to end the war. He had the most success with British Foreign Minister Grey, with whom he reached an understanding after an exchange of letters. On February 22, Grey drew up a memorandum based on House’s proposal and submitted it to the Cabinet.

Wilson would, at some moment suggested by the British and French, propose a peace conference under American guidance. The United States would, at the conference, favor a resolution that would guarantee Belgian independence, restore Alsace-Lorraine to France, and give Russia “an outlet to the sea.” Such ambitious goals were far too friendly to the Allies, especially given Germany’s military successes; House conceded that Germany would have to be given compensation “outside Europe” to make up for her losses in it.

Should Germany refuse to attend the peace conference, or was “unreasonable” at it, the United States would enter the war on the Allied side.

It is unclear whether Wilson approved of these proposals being made in his name. It is certain, however, he would most likely have been able to ensure an American commitment to the war on these terms in 1916, and he never brought the proposal before his cabinet or Congress.

On the British side, Asquith and his cabinet did give the proposal serious consideration; the peace goals outlined were largely acceptable to them, and American support in the war would also have been a great help. Ultimately, however, they decided to commit to the Somme Offensive rather than pursue a negotiated peace.

Aerial operations: First Belgian fighter Squadron is formed

The Première Escadrille de Chasse was founded in February 1916 as the first dedicated squadron of the Aviation Militaire Belge. It drew upon the men and equipment of the previously existing provisional Escadrille I. It was equipped with Nieuport 10 Bébé fighters.

Naval operations: Scotland

British freighter SS DUCKBRIDGE, 1,491 tons, bound from Cardiff to the Orkney Islands with a load of Welsh coal, hits a mine set by SMS MOWE.

Naval operations: Atlantic Ocean

German raider SMS MOWE captures and sinks French freighter SS MARONI, 3,109 tons, carrying a general cargo from Bordeaux to New York, off the Azores Islands. The crew of MOWE offload some of the foodstuffs carried by MARONI, including eggs and cheese, but 1,000 cases of champagne are stored under other cargo and have to be left behind. MOWE now has claim to 17 ships and 67,110 tons.