lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Apr 10, 2021 6:54:44 GMT
Day 621 of the Great War, April 10th 1916Western Front: Massive German Attack on Mort HommeGerman progress at Verdun had slowed over the last month. Impatient, Falkenhayn ordered an a direct attack to be made on the Mort Homme, one of the two important hills on the west bank at Verdun. The attack was to be conducted by the XXII Reserve Corps, under the command of Falkenhayn’s older brother, Eugen von Falkenhayn. The artillery barrage began at 7AM; it was the largest since the opening day of the battle at Verdun, and hit the whole center of the French line on the west bank. Captain Augustin Cochin, on Hill 304, recalled: Like the poor beggars in the gospel, I pleaded not to die so senselessly, I and my poor biffins [infantrymen], who were driven half mad: round-eyed, no longer answering when I spoke to them.The artillery barrage ended around 1PM; the Germans had advanced very slowly behind it. They did take the French front lines at the crest of the hill, at high cost. As always, the barrage could not take all of the French defenders and machine-gunners. Lt. Robert Desaubliaux, manning a machine gun on a section of the line that was bombarded: After several minutes I rose to my full height and looked, hoping to see them coming; it gave me such profound, savage joy to think of mowing them down in a line in front of me like a harvest, of showing them that, despite all their firing, the French were still here, alive, hanging on to their trench. Nothing mattered any more, not tiredness, nor hunger, nor thirst, nor lack of sleep, nor the bullets ringing in my eyes by the hundred, nor the explosions of shells that whistled and fell like drops of rain.
Everything I had gone through, everything I had suffered, was forgotten; my whole being was possessed by the attack which was about to start. I was waiting for it impatiently, full of the need to kill…to kill without pity.Desaubliaux’s section of line was ultimately not attacked by German infantry (which may have colored his writing), but others were. Where the Germans did take the French lines, the French immediately counterattacked, often over open ground, taking horrendous casualties themselves. In many places, the Germans withdrew quietly rather than subject themselves to hand-to-hand combat in the trenches. Both sides suffered greatly, and the Germans made only selected gains. The French were running out of reserves, and yet Joffre ordered an immediate attack on the German lines. Pétain, commemorating the heroic resistance, echoed Joan of Arc in his order of the day: “Courage! On les aura!” [Take courage; we’ll get them!], though he apparently hesitated to sign the order due to the phrase’s less than perfect grammar. Photo: A German attack on the Mort Homme in March Eastern Front: Easter Truce between Austrians and RussiansOrthodox Easter fell on April 10, 1916, Though Russian troops were embroiled in heavy fighting in Belarus, those facing the Austro-Hungarian Army made a truce with their enemies for Easter. Men from four Russian regiments crossed the lines to the other side, trading tobacco, food, and gifts with Austro-Hungarian soldiers, and celebrate Easter together. Problems with Russian morale became evident when over a hundred Russians chose to be taken prisoner rather than return to their own side. Mesopotamia campaign: Starvation Rations at KutThe third British Indian attempt to break through the Turkish lines to Kut had stalled. After an inauspicious start featuring friendly fire, subsequent attacks straight into Turkish fire over open, marshy ground resulted in thousands of British casualties without reaching the Turkish lines. Townshend’s most recent estimate for the exhaustion of Kut’s food supply had been April 15; realizing that relief was highly unlikely in that time, he at last decided to all but force his Indian troops to eat horsemeat. Most of his Indian troops had refused to eat horsemeat, despite dispensations from leading Indian religious figures allowing them to do so. Fearing mutiny, Townshend had not seriously attempted to change this behavior, despite growing cases of scurvy and other nutritional deficiencies among his Indian troops. The Indian grain ration had remained much higher than the British to compensate for this. Townshend finally abandoned this policy on April 10, announcing: I am compelled therefore to appeal to you all to make a determined effort to eke out our scanty means so that I can hold out for certain until our comrades arrive, and I know I shall not appeal to you in vain. I have then to reduce our rations to five ounces of meal for all ranks, British and Indian. In this way I can hold out until 21 April…I am very sorry that I can no longer favour the Indian soldiers in the matter of meal, but there is no possibility of doing so now. It must be remembered that there is plenty of horse-flesh which they have been authorised by their religious leaders to eat, and I have to recall with sorry that by not taking advantage of this wise and just dispensation, they have weakened my power of resistance by one month.In addition to the five ounces of bread, British soldiers received one pound of horsemeat and some weeds (some of which lead to accidental deaths by poisoning, including one General). The Indians received 9 ounces of of horsemeat and half an ounce of ghee (clarified butter). By the next day, around half of the Indian troops were eating horsemeat; it would take another three days to convince most of the rest, including threats of demotion and future punishment. The diet still debilitated even the men who had been getting a steady diet of horsemeat. One recalled that “the soles of your feet hurt if you walked or stood, the shoulders and back if you lay down, and the seat if you sat.” Muscle cramps and night sweats were common, and the increase in the sandfly population only made matters worse. Naval operations: Celtic SeaThorwald von Bothmer, commanding U-66, sinks British freighter SS MARGAM ABBEY, 4,471 tons, travelling in ballast from Bordeaux to Barry, and Italian freighter SS UNIONE, 2,367 tons, carrying a load of coal from Clyde to Genoa. Von Bothmer ends his first war patrol with 9 ships and 22,848 tons. Naval operations: North SeaWilhelm Kiel, in UB-12, sinks British freighter SS SLIKSWORTH HALL, 4,777 tons, travelling in Ballast from Hull to Philadelphia. This brings his score to 4 ships and 4,894 tons. Paul Hundius starts his career in UB-16 with the sinking of British freighter SS Robert ADAMSON, 2,978 tons, carrying a load of mine props from Dundee to Le Havre. Danish freighter SS DOTHEA, 842 tons, carrying a load of coal from Methil to Esbjerg, hits a mine laid by an unknown ship. Naval operations: German East AfricaOld 2nd-class cruiser HMS HYACINTH conducts a reconnaissance off the Lindi River in company with whaler/gunboats HMS CHILDERS and ECHO. At noon they stop off Mgau Mwania. At 1658 HYACINTH communicates with CHILDERS and at 1811 with ECHO, regarding plans to explore up the river then next day.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Apr 11, 2021 6:09:16 GMT
Day 621 of the Great War, April 11th 1916Western Front: Battle Rages for Hill at Mort-Homme“Awful battle raging at Verdun,” read the New York times in April 1916. “Germans using liquid fire in savage battle for hill of Le Mort-Homme.” The fiercest stage yet of the battle for the crucial Left Bank position began on April 9, when the Germans staged a massive assault on Mort Homme, the biggest attack of the battle since February 21. Commanded by Falkenhayn’s younger brother, the German attackers spent seventeen trainload of artillery ammunition in the preliminary bombardment alone. The attack, however, failed to carry the crest of the hill, which remained firmly in French hands. “[The Germans] ran forward a few metres, then under the tac-tac of our machine gun, collapsed. Not a single German got to his trench,” reported a French sergeant, who added that many of the Germans tried to play dead, but sooner or later lost their nerve and tried to bound back to their own lines. The French troops picked them off one-by-one and enjoyed it immensely. The Battle for Mort Homme continued over the next week, as the Germans and French traded positions and pounded each others lines day in and out. Companies of reinforcements went into the lines, and came out days later, missing most of their complement, dazed, covered in mud and the blood of the wounded.” General Petain issued a famed order of the day encouraging his troops to hold on, that ended with a quote from Joan of Arc: ‘Courage, on les aura! (We’ll get ‘em!”) Map: Western Front troop deployments, April 1916 Macedonian front: Serbian Army Begins Voyage to SalonikaThe remnants of the Serbian Army had been successfully evacuated from Albania to Corfu without a single casualty to enemy fire. Months of privation and sickness still took their toll, however, with roughly 450 dying a week to typhus and other illnesses. The Serbians were anxious to get off of Corfu and return to the fight, in hopes of eventually retaking their homeland. The most obvious place to do so was the Allied camp around Salonika in northern Greece, from where they could strike north at the Austrians and Bulgarians in southern Serbia. The Allies were more than eager to use Serbian forces at Salonika; the French, fighting at Verdun, were unable to spare much for the area, while the British had never been very enthusiastic about the project in the first place. Getting them there, however, would be a problem. Neutral Greece, rightfully annoyed that Corfu and Salonika were being used as Allied bases, refused to allow the Serbian Army use of their railways. As a result, they had to be moved entirely by sea, through waters stalked by German submarines. The first Serbian soldiers embarked on April 11, and would successfully arrive in Salonika four days later; it would take nearly two months for the entirety for the 112,000-man army to be moved there. Photo: Serbian troops boarding a ship bound for Salonika Naval operations: ScotlandSwedish freighter SS MURJEK, 4,146 tons, is sunk by a mine off Cape Wrath, the northernmost point of Scotland. Naval operations: Celtic SeaGustav Seiß begins his career as captain of U-73 with the sinking of British barque SV INVERLYON, 1,827 tons, travelling from Portland, Oregon to Limerick, Ireland. Naval operations: Balearic SeaClaus Rücker, commanding U-34, sinks British freighter SS ANGUS, 3,619 tons, bound from Calcutta to Bilbao with a load of Jute and Cotton. Rücker's score is now 26 ships and 93,542 tons. Rücker also attacks Russian barquentine SV IMPERATOR, 394 tons, carrying a load of timber from Gulfport to Marseille, but the damaged vessel survives. Naval operations: German East AfricaCruiser HMS HYACINTH, Whaler-gunboats HMS CHILDERS, ECHO, and a steam cutter armed with demolition charges anchor off Mgaw Mwania River. 0700 CHILDERS, ECHO and the cutter head up-river. 0720 The two gunboats exchange fire with a shore battery. 0727 HYACINTH opens fire on the village of Sudi. 0745 HYACINTH opens indirect fire on a stores ship moored at Samgogore village, with the whalers calling the fall of shot. 0920 HYACINTH recommences fire on Sudi village. 0920 Custom house is destroyed. 0950 The whalers run back down-river under heavy fire by shore batteries. 1020 ECHO comes alongside HYACINTH. Dead and wounded are transferred to the cruiser and repairs are made to the whaler. 1150 HYACINTH heads out to sea at 8 knots. 1300 HYACINTH is joined by CHILDERS and ECHO. 1700 Funeral service for the dead. 1830 The two whalers leave HYACINTH. Five members of ECHO'S crew were killed during the operation.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Apr 12, 2021 2:44:22 GMT
Day 622 of the Great War, April 12th 1916
Western Front
Infantry attacks at Verdun once again ceases, as both sides reorganize their forces. Both sides continue heavy bombardment.
Eastern Front
Germans repulsed near Dvinsk.
Mesopotamia Campaign
Turkish right at Sanna-i-Yat forced back 1.5 miles; floods on Tigris increasing.
Mesopotamia campaign: Last Attempt to Relieve Kut Fails
The Indian Army had created Tigris Corps to try and relieve Kut by marching up the river and defeating the besieging Turkish army, but it had failed multiple times, and a final effort at April 22-23 failed too. General Gorringe’s troops attacked the Turkish soldiers dug in at Hanna, on the banks of the Tigris, in multiple frontal attacks, but the Turks, now lead by German officers, beat them back each time, with horrendous casulties. Gorringe retreated on April 23. The soldiers trapped in Kut had briefly hoped that rescue had finally arrived. Now they gave in to despair as they heard the guns of the rescue-force recede as it retreated. For Kut, the end was near.
Aerial operations: Operations in Egypt
Today a detachment from 14 Squadron assisted a raid by mounted troops on Jifjafa on the Suez front in Egypt.
in the central defence section was made to destroy a small Turkish force which had, for some time, been boring for wells. A Royal Flying Corps detachment with wireless-receiving equipment accompanied the column, and special air reconnaissances kept the officer in command informed of the situation ahead of him. The co-operation was successful, Jifjafa was surprised, the wells and boring plant were destroyed, and many prisoners, including an Austrian engineer, were captured.
The two forces in Egypt under his command and that Sir John Maxwell would return to England. New aerodromes, additional to Ismailia, were established on the canal front at Suez and Qantara. In February 1916 Lieutenant-Colonel W. G. H. Salmond moved the Fifth Wing head-quarters to Ismailia, where Sir Archibald Murray also had his head-quarters. In the same month the Suez aerodrome was occupied by a Flight (four aeroplanes) of No. 17 Squadron, and the Qantara aerodrome by a Flight of No. 14 Squadron. The Qantara Flight was made partly mobile with an establishment of eighty camels for petrol and oil transport, and with sand carts for dragging tents and spare engines. It is of interest that soon after his arrival at Ismailia, Lieutenant-Colonel Salmond began a course of lectures, on two days each week, for military officers, to whom he explained the organization of the Royal Flying Corps and its methods of co-operation with other arms. The talks helped to create a spirit of understanding and sympathy from the beginning, and it may be said that the liaison between the Royal Flying Corps and other arms in Egypt and Palestine was always close, cordial, and informed.
The evacuation of Gallipoli and the new importance of Egypt led also to a reorganization of commands in the Mediterranean. Lieutenant-General Sir Archibald J. Murray, who had been Chief of the Imperial General Staff from September to December 1915, was appointed to the command of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force with instructions to move his head-quarters from Mudros to Egypt to take control of the large forces assembling for the defence of the Suez Canal, leaving Sir John Maxwell in general command in Egypt with specific responsibility for the defence of the Western Frontier. This double control had disadvantages and, on the loth of March 1916, Sir Archibald Murray was informed that the Government had decided to amalgamate.
Naval operations: North Sea
Arthur Metz, commanding UB-13, sinks Danish schooner SV PROVEN, 276 tons, bound from Setubal for Göteborg, bringing his score to 3 ships and 15,276 tons.
Dutch freighter SS COLOMBIA, 5,644 tons, carrying a load of maize from Baltimore to Amsterdam, hits a mine laid by Egon von Werner in UC-1. The damaged ship survives.
Naval operations: Balearic Sea
Claus Rücker, in U-34, sinks British freighter SS ORLOCK HEAD, 1,945 tons, travelling from Genoa & Valencia to Glasgow with a general cargo; and French freighter SS VEGA, 2,957 tons, carrying a load of coffee, cocoa and tobacco from Santos to Marseille. His score is now 28 ships and 98,454 tons.
Naval operations: German East Africa
At Durban British monitor HMS MERSEY moves into a floating drydock and the crew begin cleaning her bottom.
HMS CHALLENGER moves from Durban to Lindi.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Apr 13, 2021 2:45:07 GMT
Day 623 of the Great War, April 13th 1916
Sinai and Palestine campaign
Australian troops break up Turkish camp at Jifjaffa (Sinai Peninsula).
Caucasus campaign
Russians repulse Turks after six days fighting west of Erzerum.
Naval operations: English Channel
Bruno Hoppe, commanding U-22, sinks British freighter SS CHIC, 3,037 tons, bound from Halifax to Manchester with a load of wood pulp. Hoppe's score is now 9 ships and 21,009 tons.
Mexican Border War: Mexico Demands US Withdrawal After Their Armies Clash
Tensions had been rising between the US and Mexican governments since Pershing’s Punitive Expedition entered Mexico a month before. Although they once got close to capturing Pancho Villa at the end of March, by mid-April Villa’s men had completely dispersed into the mountains, leaving little left to chance. Still, the Americans pushed further into Mexico, reaching the town of Parral (over 500 miles from the border) by April 12.
The American presence was distinctly unwelcome in the town, and was met by violent protests. Facing this resistance, they began to withdraw, but were soon fired on by troops from the regular Mexican Army who were trying to restore the authority of Carranza’s government in the area. The Americans, under strict orders not to engage the forces of the recognized Mexican government, fought a rearguard action while withdrawing further, with three US soldiers dying in the firefight.
The next day, Carranza’s ambassador in Washington formally demanded a withdrawal of the Punitive Expedition, saying the Americans had misinterpreted the informal agreement that their troops could enter each other’s countries in these circumstances. Furthermore, Villa’s band had been completely dispersed and further American presence could not help; Mexican troops were now enough to mop up the remainder.
US Army brass was inclined to agree with Carranza, with the Chief of Staff having said only a few days prior that it was not “not dignified for the United States to be hunting one man in a foreign country.” However, Wilson could not afford to back down so quickly in an election year, and soon ordered reinforcements to Mexico. Pershing similarly wanted to take action against Carranza’s government (up to fully occupying Chihuahua), but was instead ordered to quietly withdraw from Parral.
Naval operations: Mediterranean Sea
Walter Forstmann, in U-39, uses his deck gun to sink Italian freighter SS LIPARI, 1,539 tons, route and cargo unknown. Forstmann's score is now
Naval operations: German East Africa
HMS CHALLENGER continues her voyage to German East Africa, joining flagship HMS VENGEANCE off Tirene, Mafia Island, at 1230 hours.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Apr 14, 2021 2:47:47 GMT
Day 624 of the Great War, April 14th 1916
YouTube (The Meat Grinder at Verdun - Brusilov's New Plan)
Western Front
Captain Augustin Cochin at Verdun: “I arrived here with 175 men, I return with 34, half of them half crazy.”
Eastern Front: Battle of Lake Naroch Ends in German Victory
A valiant but doomed Russian offensive against the German Army in the area of Lake Naroch, in modern day Belarus, ended on April 14, after around 80,000 Russian losses and 30,000 on the German side. The Russian offensive had flounded because of insufficient artillery preparation and miserably soggy terrain, which left thousands of Russian soldiers as easy targets for German machine guns as they tried to flounder forward through the mud. Russian infantry tactics were disastrously unsophisticated: the World War I stereotype of human-wave attacks was actually practiced at Lake Naroch, with predicable results. The Russians captured ten kilometers in several sectors of the attack, but the Germans recaptured virtually all of their losses over the next several months.
Mesopotamian campaign
General Gorringe drives back Turks on right bank Tigris.
Germany/Austria-Hungary relations: Austria and Germany Disagree on Future of Poland
The Central Powers had occupied Poland for over eight months now, and the question of its future was beginning to be a pressing one. This was true not only for the state of post-war Eastern Europe, but also for the current administration of the country. Germany wanted to free its troops from having to occupy and garrison Poland–and, if possible, wanted to recruit Polish troops to fight in the war.
Austria-Hungary had a long-standing interest in Poland, due to its large Polish population in Galicia. However, there were multiple schools of thought as to how to handle the country. Some favored a “trialist” solution, making the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary a Triple Monarchy of Austria-Hungary-Poland. However, the Hungarians disfavored this notion, as it would weaken their status within the empire; Emperor Franz-Joseph, ever cautious, did as well. The “dualist” solution would involve Poland being added to the Austrian half of the Dual Monarch, with Hungarian politicians pushing for the addition of Bosnia and perhaps parts of of Serbia to compensate.
The Germans had no such annexationist aims, as they had no desire to govern a large Polish and Jewish population directly. Initially, they had been fine with leaving Poland to the Austrians, but in early 1916 Chancellor Bethmann and others changed their minds, worried that Austrian annexation of Poland would leave Austria too dependent on its Slavic population, making them a less reliable ally in the future. Bethmann instead favored a model closer to that which had already been envisioned for postwar Belgium: essentially, a German puppet state with no independent foreign policy and strong economic ties to Germany.
Bethmann informed Austro-Hungarian foreign minister Burián of his opposition to Austrian annexation of Poland at a meeting in Berlin on April 14. The Austrians found Bethmann’s proposed solution distinctly unappealing; any sort of independent Poland would leave Austrian rule in Galicia untenable. Burián wrote that Austria-Hungary must “either lose Galicia or bring Congress [Russian] Poland into some close relationship with the [Dual] Monarchy.” The talks ended the next day, with no resolution in sight.
Naval operations: English Channel
British freighter SS SHENANDOAH, 3,886 tons, bound from Halifax to London with a general cargo, hits a mine laid by Matthias von Schmettow in UC-6. His score is now 34 ships and 47,066 tons.
Naval operations: North Sea
His Majesty's Trawlers ALBERTA, 209 tons and ORCADES, 270 tons, both hit mines laid by Georg Haag in UC-7, bringing his score to 19 ships and 28,969 tons.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Apr 15, 2021 2:47:30 GMT
Day 625 of the Great War, April 15th 1916
Western Front
Battle of Verdun: Successful French attack south of Douaumont.
French troops launch a counterattack against German troops on Le Mort Homme (Dead Man’s Hill), but are driven back after bayonet fighting.
Eastern Front
Russians take two lines of trenches near Lake Naroch.
Mesopotamian campaign: Kut Airlift Begins
Food supplies in Kut were critical, and torrential rains and resulting flooding beginning on the 12th made relief look ever more distant. As a result, the British Indian forced looked to different ways of resupplying the beleaguered forces at Kut. The most promising was, surprisingly, an airlift. The airplanes that Townshend had had in his initial push on Baghdad had been lost in the offensive or rendered unserviceable afterwards, and the Turks had established control of the skies over Kut by February. However, the Relief Force had slowly been acquiring airplanes that could be spared from the Western Front, and had fourteen by mid-April. Some had already made minor drops of supplies, even including a millstone dropped by makeshift parachute; however, no serious attempt to deliver large quantities of food had been made.
By removing the observer and all guns (except for a single revolver), the eight BE2c’s could carry 50 pounds each, and the remaining six larger planes could carry 250 pounds. Denuded of weapons, the planes would be vulnerable to the three Fokkers the Turks had, and the added bulk slowed them down and made them more vulnerable to ground fire. This latter problem meant that the planes had to drop supplies from an altitude of 6000 feet; this caused problems since the pilots “for some reason” were not given a downward view; ultimately, much of the supplies splashed into the Tigris or even onto the Turkish lines.
The Reilef Force anticipated that enough drops could be made that 5000 pounds of flour could be dropped per day, enough to continue the force on their current rations indefinitely. The first attempt was made on April 15. Major Sandes, one of Townshend’s engineers, recalled:
The loads were slung below the fusillage [sic] and, when released at 6,000 feet, fell turning over and over slowly and leaving an aerial trail of flour till they plunged with dull thuds onto the plain near the Brick Kilns. The loads stood the shock of impact well and not much flour was lost.
On the first day, 3350 pounds of supplies were delivered to Kut; short of the 5000-pound target, but definitely not bad for the first day’s effort. However, this figure only went down in coming days, whether due to increased Turkish fire or poor weather is unknown, with only 1333 pounds successfully delivered on April 16. One man, after seeing multiple drops go into the river (or on the wrong side of it) requested that “H.M. Navy to drop us something instead of the Turks.”
Caucasus campaign
Russian success near Bitlis.
Sinai and Palestine campaign
British occupy Kharga Oasis (120 miles south-south-west of Assiut).
Italian front: Italians Capture Punta Serauta, 9,715-foot High Peak in the Dolomites
Captain Menotti Garibaldi, grandson of the famous Italian independence hero, followed in his grandfather’s footsteps in April by capturing Punta Serauta, a 9,715-foot high peak in the Dolomites. The mountain had been taken earlier that month in the general Isonzo offensive, then lost again, before being retaken by Captain Garibaldi.
The peak remains a popular tourist destination today because of the defensive positions carved into it by Austrian and Italian troops. Garibaldi’s feat was especially impressive because the Austrian troops had created a fortress underneath a glacier on the mountain, tunneling rooms and corridors under the ice and rock. Italian soldiers burrowed into these ready-made positions, living in caves and walkways.
Naval operations: Celtic Sea
Ernst Wilhelms begins his career in U-69 with the sinking of British freighter SS FAIRPORT, 3,838 tons, bound from Rosario for Manchester with a load of wheat; and Russian barque SV SCHWANDEN, 844 tons, travelling in ballast from Bowling to Pensacola. Wilhelms' opening score is 2 ships and 4,682 tons.
Naval operations: English Channel
Norwegian freighter SS TUSNASTABB, 859 tons, carrying a load of coal from Newcastle to Boulogne, hits a mine laid by Georg Haag in UC-7, bringing his score to 20 ships and 29,828 tons.
Naval operations: Baltic Sea
German freighter SS HISPANIA, 2,644 tons, travelling from Hamburg to Stockholm, hits a mine near Sandhamn, about 50 km from Stockholm.
Naval operations: German East Africa
British cruiser HMS CHALLENGER rejoins the squadron after several months away, linking up with flagship HMS VENGEANCE, an old Canopus-class battleship and fellow cruiser HMS HYACINTH.
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Post by lordroel on Apr 16, 2021 1:51:27 GMT
Day 626 of the Great War, April 16th 1916Western Front: Russian Legion Arrives in FranceThe Russian High Command, although often unsuccessful, went through great efforts during the Great War to try and help its allies on other fronts. It lacked the military sophistication of Britain and France, but one thing that it did not lack was manpower, and so in 1915 the French government requested 30,000 Russian troops for the Western Front. The number was unrealistic, but the Tsar agreed to dispatch a brigade of men as an expeditionary force in France. The First Special Brigade thus formed in January 1916, under the leadership of General Nikolai Aleksandrovich Lokhvitsky, mostly made up of factory workers from Moscow and Samara on the Volga, just under 9,000 men in total. The French Navy agreed to provide transport, and the Russian Expeditionary Corps, soon dubbed “the Russian Legion” arrived at Marseilles in the south of France on April 16. Photo: Men of the King's Liverpool Regiment carrying barbed wire picket posts along a communication trench near Blairville Wood, 16th April 1916. The King's Liverpool Regiment, 55th Division, moving along a communication trench leading to the front line near to Blairville Wood, Wailly, 16th April 1916 The Russian Legion fought under Russian officers, but was equipped by the French Army, and thus had a unique mix of Russian and French uniform and equipment. The soldiers retained their Russian tunics and kept their Mosin rifles, but wore French Adrian helmets and leather webbing. They deployed to Champagne for training, where they would afterwards man a quieter sector of the front to free up French troops to go to Verdun. The First Special Brigade was complemented by three more over the course of the year, eventually outstripping France’s original request by providing 40,000 Russian soldiers, though one of these brigades went to Salonika instead of France. They fought well in 1917, but took massive casualties, and the Bolshevik Revolution would lead many of the Russians in France to rebel, after which they were imprisoned or sent home, ending most of the Russian contribution to the war on the Western Front. Photo: Russian soldiers of the special brigades stand to attention as their boats dock in Marseilles, April 16, 1916 Eastern Front: Internal Security Dramatically Increased in Russian 12th ArmyMorale was low in many of the Russian armies, after the defeats of the previous year and the failure of the Lake Naroch offensive a few weeks prior. Low pay and deteriorating conditions among soldiers’ families back home made the situation worse. In the XIII Corps near Riga, anti-war leaflets of unknown origin were continually turning up. The commander of the Twelfth Army, Radko Dmitriev, had recently obtained that command after political intrigues; his previous major command, the Third Army, had been essentially destroyed in the first weeks of the Gorlice-Tarnów offensive. Seeking to prove himself again, he greatly stepped up internal security in an effort to squash this threat. He used secret police, set up a large network of informers, set up surprise patrols, and established a dedicated set of officers to stop the anti-war agitation before it spread any further. Caucasus campaignRussians, after nine days' fighting take a position of left bank of Kara Dere. Naval operations: Celtic SeaHans Nieland opens his first patrol in his third command - U-67, with the sinking of British sailing ship SV CARDONIA, 2,169 tons, bound from Seattle to Queenstown with a load of grain. His score is now. 10 ships and 2,606 tons. Ernst Wilhelms, in U-69, stops and sinks British sailing ship SV GLENDOON, 1,918 tons, carrying a load of nitrate from Iquique to Calais; freighter SS HARROVIAN, 4,309 tons, travelling from New York to Le Havre with a general cargo; and torpedoes Norwegian freighter SS PAPELERA, 1,591 tons, en route from Göteborg to Nantes with a cargo of cellulose, sulphur and machinery. His score is now 5 ships and 12,500 tons.
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Post by lordroel on Apr 17, 2021 8:05:18 GMT
Day 627 of the Great War, April 17th 1916Western FrontBattle of Verdun: Germans repulsed at Douaumont, but gain footing in Bois de Chaudfour salient. Italian FrontItalians blow up Col di Lana and take west part of Monte Ancona (Dol.). Caucasus campaignRussians occupy Surmeneh and reach Assene Kalessi (Armenia). Mesopotamia campaign: Final Attack to Relieve Kut BeginsKut was down to less than two weeks’ worth of supplies, and the attempt to resupply them by air was proving less successful than hoped. Other desperate schemes were being hatched, but the most straightforward way to relieve Kut was yet another attack on the Turkish positions; “with any ordinary lucky we ought to do it this time,” the British hoped. This attack was scheduled for the south bank of the Tigris, the defenses on the north bank being considered too strong. The weather continued to turn against the British; fierce rains and winds added to the usual seasonal flooding on the Tigris, pouring water into the British trenches. The Turks added to this by breaking embankments along the Tigris in several places. The attack was delayed for several days while the British shored up flood defenses and waited for the ground to dry; however, this did not let additional reinforcements come up due to the lack of riverine transport. The attack was launched on April 17, still in many places through knee-deep water. Attacking ahead of schedule, they managed to reach the Turkish lines while the Turks were still sheltering from an anticipated artillery barrage; they took the positions quickly, but proceeded no further. That night, the Turks, rather than accepting the losses and withdrawing to a line in the rear, counterattacked ferociously with 10,000 men in five separate attacks. They lost nearly 40% of their force in casualties, but in many cases simply broke the British. T.A. Chalmers wrote: The Brigade that broke, the 7th, seems to have lost most of their machine guns and one officer is reported to have shot 4 or 5 men running away. Incidentally he arrived at the D[ivisional] HQ and reported that he was the sole survivor of the brigade staff, which was found to be incorrect as they were holding the Turks in some trenches, even the brigadier being reduced to throwing bombs.Although the Turks were eventually repulsed and withdrew by dawn, they had checked the British advance. Some urged a continued push towards Kut, but this was shot down; General Maude “knew his men were unable to do it.” After this failure, J.W. Barnett wrote: “I think – so do most – that Kut is doomed and this was our last chance.” East Africa Campaign: Battle of Kondoa IrangiImperial and German units clashed in East Africa at Kondoa Irangi on April 17, as Jan Smuts, the South African commander of the Entente army in Africa, continued to pursue the fleeing German Schutztruppe. In a minor skirmish, the South African soldiers inflicted 34 casualties on the German askaris, losing only six men in return. However, the sudden onset of the rainy season stalled the advance, literally washing away roads and bridges and forcing both sides to dig in for the time being. Photo: Porters move the barrels of one of the guns taken from the SMS KONINGSBERG. Logistics was a incredibly difficult task in Africa and required thousands of indigenous porters Aerial operations: HMS MANXMANThe Royal Naval Air Service added to its fleet of aircraft carriers today, with the commissioning of HMS MANXMAN. The Admiralty purchased the MANXMAN in December 1915 from the the Midland Railway Company where she was operating as a passenger ferry on the on the Heysham to Douglas run. MANXMAN was built at the yards of Vickers Sons and Maxim at Barrow-in-Furness Following purchase the ship was converted into an aircraft carrier at Chatham Dockyards and is a ‘mixed carrier’, which can operate four seaplanes from a hangar aft, and four landplanes from a flying off ramp and hangar forward. She has a crew of 150 plus another 73 aviation personnel. She is a steel triple-screw turbine vessel, with a length of 330 feet, beam of 43 feet and a depth of 18 feet. Her engines generate 10,000 horsepower, which before conversion gave the ship a speed of 21 knots. The conversion has unfortunately reduced this to 18 knots. The ship has initally been equipped with the Sopwith Baby and the Curtiss 184 Seaplanes. Photo: HMS MANXMAN Naval operations: Celtic SeaErnst Wilhelms, commanding U-69, comes across French sailing ship SV ERNEST REYER, 2,708 tons, bound from Cape Town for Falmouth with 3,500 tons of rice. U-69 shells ERNEST REYER to stop and gives the crew one hour to abandon ship. Wilhelms then fires one torpedo which sinks the ship in heavy seas. The 29 crew are all lost. On May 13th an empty ship's boat is sighted off Ushant. Wilhelms' score is now 6 ships and 15,208 tons. Naval operations: PortugalNorwegian freighter SS TERJE VIKEN, 3,579 tons, carrying a load of grain from Galveston to Lisboa, hits a mine laid by Gustav Seiß in U-73 off Cabo Guia, Portugal. Seiß's score is now 2 ships and 5,406 tons.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Apr 18, 2021 6:27:51 GMT
Day 628 of the Great War, April 18th 1916
Western Front
Battle of Verdun: German bombardment of Avocourt Wood and Hill 304.
Caucasus campaign: Russians Capture Trebizond
The Russians had been steadily advancing on the major Black Sea port of Trebizond [Trabzon] since the fall of Erzurum. The Russian Black Sea Fleet had been a major part of the operation, moving over 53,000 men to the area, conducting several landing operations, and shelling Turkish lines. The GOEBEN, despite her initial superiority to the Black Sea Fleet, could not beat off the whole fleet as only one ship–and was urgently needed to protect the flow of supplies and reinforcements to the theater.
On April 15, the Turks abandoned the city, and the Russians entered on April 18, and had pushed on to 15 miles south of the city by the next day. Trebizond had had a large Armenian community before the war, with the city and its immediate environs having over 20,000 Armenians. Most of these had been deported or massacred the previous year; a few hundred who had made it over Russian lines now returned to the city after its capture. The Turkish government no longer had the Armenians to blame for their defeats to the Russians in the area. After the fall of Trebizond, the Pontic Greeks who formed a substantial community in the area were targeted, with many deported and their property confiscated and sold at cut-rate prices.
Aerial operations: Training in Egypt
Following the standardisation of training in the RFC announced on 23 March and the new RNAS training school at Cranwell opened at the beginning of March, the War Office has decided to establish another overseas training depot to complement the one in Canada – this time in Egypt. It is hoped that once the school is up and running it will be able to accommodate 100 pupils at a time, enough for three reserve squadrons
In order that training can get under way at the beginning of the cool weather, personnel will be sent from England in July and August 1916, so there are a few months to get everything up and running. It is expected that most pupils will be sent back to France on graduating.
Naval operations: Celtic Sea
Ernst Wilhelms, commanding U-69, stops and sinks British sailing ship SV RAVENHILL, 1,826 tons, bound from Port Natal to Falmouth with a load of maize. His score is now 7 ships and 17,034 tons.
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Post by lordroel on Apr 19, 2021 2:47:50 GMT
Day 629 of the Great War, April 19th 1916
Western Front
Battle of Verdun: German bombardment of Avocourt Wood and Hill 304.
Caucasus campaign
Russians, after nine days' fighting take a position of left bank of Kara Dere.
United States: Wilson Addresses Congress on Submarines, Threatens to Sever Relations with Germany
After the torpedoing of the passenger ferry SUSSEX and the death of four Americans on board, Wilson, as usual, took his time before responding in full to the Germans. American experts examined the hulk of the SUSSEX and had conclusively determined that she was indeed wrecked by a German torpedo, despite continued German denials. On April 18, he sent a strongly-worded ultimatum to Germany, calling the attack “manifestly indefensible…one of the most terrible examples of the inhumanity of submarine warfare as the commanders of German vessels are conducting it.” And it was clear, Wilson wrote, that this was not a lone tragic incident, but part of the “deliberate method and spirit of indiscriminate destruction of merchant vessels of all sorts…utterly incompatible with the principles of humanity, the long-established and incontrovertible rights of neutrals, and the sacred immunities of non-combatants.”
The next day, he addressed a special session of Congress, publicly announcing America’s position to the world:
I have deemed it my duty, therefore, to say to the Imperial German Government that if it is still its purpose to prosecute relentless and indiscriminate warfare against vessels of commerce by the use of submarines, notwithstanding the now demonstrated impossibility of conducting that warfare in accordance with what the Government of the United States must consider the sacred and indisputable rules of international law and the universally recognized dictates of humanity, the Government of the United States is at last forced to the conclusion that there is but one course it can pursue and that unless the Imperial German Government should now immediately declare and effect an abandonment of its present methods of warfare against passenger and freight-carrying vessels, this Government can have no choice but to sever diplomatic relations with the Government of the German Empire altogether.
There was a definite shift in both tone and content from Wilson’s previous notes to Germany on the matter. Wilson was now declaring it impossible for Germany to conduct effective submarine attacks on commerce without violating the rights of the United States. And the threat to sever relations, if carried out, was viewed in Berlin as a swift prelude to war. When the note arrived in Berlin, it sent the Chancellor and the Foreign Minister into a panic, and even began to seriously worry many in the Navy, as well.
Mesopotamia campaign: German Commander in the Middle East Dies of Typhus
Baron Colmar von der Goltz was a Prussian junker who had seen service in the Austro-Prussian and Franco-Prussian Wars, a lifelong military man and one of the esteemed military writers of his age. Retired in 1913 as a field marshal, he asked to be reactivated after the beginning of the Great War, and received a post as governor-general of occupied Belgium, before being transferred to the Middle East to command the Turkish troops besieging Kut. He won a string of victories against the British forces trying to rescue the surrounded town, but did not live to see Kut’s final surrender: on April 19 he died after an illness had left him bedridden for a week. Typhus or spotted fever were identified as the chief culprits, but many others believed that he had been poisoned by Young Turk officers angry that a German officer had been given command of an Ottoman army.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Apr 20, 2021 2:47:01 GMT
Day 630 of the Great War, April 20th 1916Western FrontBattle of Verdun: French regain ground near Mort Homme and south of Douaumont. Russian Expeditionary Force Arrives in France - In late 1915, a French politician had proposed that Russia send some of its vast reserve of manpower to serve on the Western Front, in exchange for the munitions and other supplies being sent by the Western Allies to Russia. Alekseyev was opposed, but the Czar really liked the idea. Eventually, Alekseyev relented, so long as only a few brigades were sent, that they remained under the command of Russian officers, and that they were sent by French ships. YouTube (Russian Troops Arrive At Marseilles To Fight For France)The 1st Special Infantry Brigade left Moscow on February 3rd, taking the Transsiberian railroad to Port Arthur in Manchuria, where they embarked on French vessels. Travelling through the Suez Canal, they arrived in Marseilles on March 20. Although not a numerically large force (numbering just shy of 9000), they were a very visible symbol of Russia’s contribution to the Allied cause in France. Photo: Arrival of Russian Expeditionary Force in France Caucasus campaignRussians take Turkish positions in Bitlis region. Aerial operations: Escadrille Americaine is formedThe decision by the French Government to form a squadron of American volunteer pilots became a reality today with the formation of the Escadrille Americaine. Captain George Thenaux and Lieutenant Alfred Delaage de Meux will take charge of the squadron. The first four American pilots are Victor Chapman, James McConnell, Norman Prince and Kiffin Rockwell. Photo: Kiffin Rockwell, Capt. Georges Thenault, Norman Prince, Lt. Alfred de Laage de Meux, Elliot Cowdin, Bert Hall, James McConnell and Victor Chapman (left to right) Naval operations: Celtic SeaHans Nieland, commanding U-67, sinks British freighter SS WHITGIFT, 4,397 tons, bound from Almeria for Tyne with a load of ore. His score is now 11 ships and 7,003 tons. Ernst Wilhelms, in U-69, sinks British freighter SS CAIRNGOWAN, 4,017 tons, travelling from Liverpool to Newport News. His score is now 8 ships and 21,051. Naval operations: North SeaBritish freighter SS SABBIA, 2,802 tons, headed from Burntisland to London with a load of coal, hits a mine laid by Erwin Weisbach in U-74. Weisbach's total is now 6 ships and 6,972 tons. Dutch freighter SS LODEWIJK VAN NASSAU, 3,350 tons, carrying a load of nitrate from Valparaiso to Rotterdam, hits a mine laid by Kurt Ramien, new commander of UC-1.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Apr 21, 2021 2:45:22 GMT
Day 631 of the Great War, April 21st 1916
YouTube (The Muddy Graves of Russia and Kut)
Western Front
Battle of Verdun: French make progress near Mort Homme, Vaux fort and Bois de Caillette.
British retake ground lost at Langemarck-Ypres.
Italian Front
Italian progress in the Carso.
Naval operations: Celtic Sea
Raimund Weisbach, commanding U-19, begins his career with the sinking of British freighter SS FELICIANA, 4,282 tons, travelling in ballast from Cardiff to New York.
Naval operations: North Sea
French naval trawler ESTAFETTE, 276 tons, hits a mine laid by Matthias von Schmettow in UC-6, bringing his score to 35 ships and 47,333 tons.
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Post by lordroel on Apr 22, 2021 2:49:12 GMT
Day 632 of the Great War, April 22nd 1916
Mesopotamia campaign: Final “Overland” Attempt to Relieve Kut Fails
The last major British attempt to relieve Kut had failed at Beit Isa a few days prior due to a ferocious Turkish counterattack. Growing more desperate, British commanders hoped that that counterattack meant the Turks had denuded their lines north of the Tigris at Sannaiyat, previously thought by both sides to be impregnable (after several failed British attempts to break through). The Turkish position there had only gotten stronger as due to recent high winds from the north, driving the Suwaikiya marshes even closer to the flooded Tigris.
The British attacked at 7AM on April 22 after a fierce bombardment. The force slated to attack only numbered around 6000 men, and about half of that were unable to progress due to the flooding. Those who could often found themselves falling into flooded shell craters where the water went up to their shoulders. Many rifles became mud-clogged and useless. Despite this, several units got as far as the Turkish second line. Turkish counterattacks with working rifles were eventually able to push the British back, and British reserves sent to reinforce were unable to make their way through the deep water to the front lines.
Despite these disadvantages, some thought the British had missed a golden opportunity for a breakthrough. At 11:20 AM, a truce had been arranged to collect the wounded and dead from between the Turkish second and third lines; in later recriminations, many thought this meant Turkish morale was failing and that a bayonet charge by a fresh brigade could have opened the way to Kut.
While the Relief Force hatched a harebrained scheme to get supplies up the Tigris by water, Townshend asked his superiors for permission to begin negotiations for surrender.
East Africa campaign
British progress in German East Africa.
Aerial operations: Salmond’s Warning
In Egypt, the RFC no longer has its own way as German aeroplanes have started to appear in the area. The 300th Squadron has recently arrived from Homburg with 14 Rumpler C1s with 150hp Mercedes engines and a couple of Fokker Monoplanes. Both these aircraft easily outclass the RFCs BE2cs It is an indication that German policy is to allocate new machines even to secondary theatres, in contract to the RFC who tend to reserve the best aircraft for the Western Front. This put the German Air Service here at a distinct technical advantage, though this is somewhat lessened by the harsh conditions and long distances.
Since early March the British forces have been constructing a rail line eastwards from their base at Qantara towards Qatiya where they hope to establish a forward base to help protect the Northern route across the Sinai Peninsula. In the meantime protective posts have been set up at the Qatiya oasis.
During the first three weeks in April 14 Squadron RFC has been carrying out air reconnaissance to detect Turkish movement towards the Suez Canal. Further south this, led to the successful raid on Jifjafa between 11-14 April.
Reconnaissance has also detected westerly movements of Turkish forces towards Qatiya with a build-up of men and camels some 20 miles east of Qatiya at Bir el Mazar and Bir el Abd. One aircraft was heavily fired on by ground troops
This morning, new reconnaissance suggests a further build-up of troops at Bir el Mageibra, south-east of Qatiya. As well as this, German aircraft have been carrying out their own reconnaissance of Qatiya.
In light of all this, RFC Commander Lieutenant-Colonel Salmond made a special report at Army General Headquarters that ‘Qatiya would be attacked on the night of the 22nd/23rd of April, or on the morning of the 23rd, by a force estimated at 1,000 men and three guns’. Unfortunately, as is often the case, Headquarters has not bothered to pass on this intelligence to the forward commanders.
Naval operations: Celtic Sea
Raimund Weisbach, commanding U-19, sinks Italian freighter SS JOZSEF AGOST FOHERZEG, 2,680 tons. bound from Barry for Livorno with a load of coal. He then captures British freighter SS ROSS, 2,666 tons, carrying a load of ore from Sevilla to Glasgow, and after the crew has abandoned ship sinks her with a torpedo. Weisbach's score is now 3 ships and 9,629 tons.
Hans Nieland, in U-67, stops French freighter SS CHANARAL, travelling from Mejillones to Falmouth with 4,000 tons of nitrates, orders the crew to abandon ship, collects the ship's papers and sinks her with a torpedo. Nieland then gives the crew directions Scilly Isles where they land safely the next day.
Naval operations: North Sea
Paul Hundius, in UB-16, torpedoes British freighter SS TREGANTLE, 3,091 tons, carrying a load of wheat from Galveston to Hull. His score is now 2 ships and 6,069 tons.
Naval operations: Mediterranean Sea
Italian freighter SS NILO, 2,768 tons, en route from Naples to Tripoli with a general cargo, is wrecked as she approaches Tripoli.
Naval operations: Roger Casement Captured, and Disguised German Ship LIBAU, Carrying Rifles for Irish Rebels, Seized by Royal Navy
A German submarine put Irish nationalist leader Sir Roger Casement ashore at Tralee Bay on the Atlantic coast of Ireland. Casement had been in Germany, negotiating the supply of rifles for a planned Irish uprising that week against British rule. A German ship, the LIBAU, disguised as the Norwegian freighter AUD, had been dispatched carrying thousands of Russian rifles for the Irish rebels.
Casement had been put ashore at Tralee the day before by U-Boat. However, he had become disillusioned with the chances of the rebellion, and planned to warn the leaders of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, the coordinators of the planned rising, to call it off. Stricken with malaria recurrent from his time as a British consul in Africa, however, he holed up in Banna Strand to recover, hiding in an ancient ring fort. Soldiers found him there, and arrested him for treason.
Meanwhile, the disguised German ship bringing rifles to the Irish rebels was spotted by a Royal Navy sloop, HMS BLUEBELL. The plan had been poorly organized from the start, and the German ship, with its 20,000 rifles, never had much chance of getting them to the rebels. The German captain scuttled his ship. The Easter Rising had failed before it had even begun.
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lordroel
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Post by lordroel on Apr 23, 2021 7:28:32 GMT
Day 633 of the Great War, April 23rd 1916Western FrontAerodrome at Mariakerke bombed by naval aeroplanes. British bombard Belgian coast. Battle of Verdun: German attacks at Mort Homme repulsed. Mesopotamia campaign: Tigris Supply Ship to Kut Fails After the previous day’s failure at Sannaiyat, Townshend was ready to surrender his forces at Kut. However, the relief force had one last plan to get supplies to Kut: running them in by boat up the Tigris at night. The JULNAR was loaded with 240 tons of supplies; she was a relatively slow ship, only capable of making 5 miles an hour against the Tigris current, but she was reinforced against bullet fire and had watertight compartments, making her more resistant to expected Turkish fire than other, faster ships. However, her voyage would take at least five hours; departing after dusk at 8PM on the 23rd, she would not arrive at Kut until at least 1AM. The expedition was not viewed as having much chance of success; the JULNAR’S captain knew that the Turks were well aware of such a possibility and had likely taken precautions. He dismissed all married men from the JULNAR and told the remainder that they were free to leave if they liked. Once she passed the Turkish positions at Sannaiyat, she ran into heavy Turkish fire. She made it another couple of miles before Turkish shells killed the captain and the chief engineer. Shortly thereafter, the JULNAR hit a submerged steel cable, laid by the Turks specifically to stop such an effort. Her propellers became entangled in the cable, and no further progress could be made. The Turks lit up the area with flares and continued to pound her with shells until she surrendered. The ship’s pilot, a Briton who had worked along the Tigris for decades before the war, was shot by the Turks as a traitor. The hulk of the JULNAR was visible through binoculars from Kut; Townshend ordered his guns to fire on her after dawn in an attempt to deny the Turks the supplies onboard, but they fell short. Kut was down to at most five days’ worth of supplies. No relief would come. Photo: JULNAR loading supplies Naval operations: Celtic SeaRaimund Weisbach, Commanding U-19, sinks British freighters SS PARISIANA, 4,763 tons, bound from London to Newport News with a load of manure; and RIBSTON, 3,048 tons, carrying a load of coal from Cardiff to an unnamed destination. His score is now 5 ships and 17,440 tons. British schooner SV PETER JAMES, 90 tons, departs Newport, Wales for Waterford, Ireland, and is not heard from again. Naval operations: North SeaHis Majesty's Trawler LENA MELLING, 274 tons, hits a mine laid by Georg Haag in UC-7, bringing his score to 21 ships and 30,102 tons.
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Post by lordroel on Apr 24, 2021 6:22:09 GMT
Day 634 of the Great War, April 24th 1916Easter Rising - Day OneIn the days preceding the outbreak of the rebellion, there had been much confusion among the Irish Volunteers. The military action had previously been scheduled to get underway on Easter Sunday until Irish Volunteer leader Eoin MacNeill issued a countermanding order to all volunteers that armed insurrection would not take place. MacNeill had never believed in the rebellion and had initially been kept in the dark, but on learning what was afoot several months previously, he was convinced to act by the promise of German support and a shipment of German arms that was to be delivered in Kerry by Roger Casement aboard the Aud. However, when the AUD was intercepted on Good Friday, Casement captured and the shipment of arms lost as the British scuttled the boat, MacNeill ordered Volunteers to stay at home. Proclamation of the Republic, Easter 1916 Easter Monday 11am: Around 1,250 members of the Irish Volunteers and Irish Citizen Army, including 200 women from Cumann na mBan, assembled across Dublin. 11:30 am - 12:30 am: Within the first hour of the rebellion, rebels stormed and occupied several of the capital city’s most important political and economic buildings: Jacob’s factory, the Four Courts, Stephen’s Green, the South Dublin Union (now St. James’s Hospital), Jameson Distillery, the Mendicity Institute, Boland’s Mills and Bakery, plus 25 Northumberland Road and Clanwilliam House. The Volunteers' Dublin division had been divided into four battalions led Proclamation signatories Commandant Thomas MacDonagh and Commandant Éamonn Ceannt; future Irish Taoiseach and President, the New-York born Commandant Éamon de Valera; and Commandant Ned Daly. The first battalion under Daly made up about 250 men. They occupied the Four Courts, apart from D Company, lead by Seán Heuston, whose 12 men would occupy the Mendicity Institution, across the river from the Four Courts. The second battalion of 200 men was lead by MacDonagh and assembled in Stephen’s Green with orders to occupy Jacob’s biscuit factory. De Valera was in charge of the 3rd battalion of 130 men and they would take Boland's Mills. The fourth battalion, led by Éamonn Ceannt and numbering about 100 men, was to guard against British troops coming from their base in the Curragh Co. Kildare, by taking the South Dublin Union, which was near to the main rail line from the west and southwest. At Liberty Hall, 400 volunteers under the command of Commandant James Connolly gathered in preparation for the day's action. From there, 100 men and women from the ICA, under Commandant Michael Mallin, were sent to Stephen’s Green just south of Grafton St. Map: Positions of rebel and British forces in central Dublin At 12 pm, rebels attempted to seize weapons from the Magazine Fort in the Phoenix Park but, despite disarming the guards, they failed to obtain any arms. Rebels also failed to take Trinity College Dublin, which was defended by a handful of Unionist students. Most importantly, however, the General Post Office (GPO) on Sackville Street, Dublin’s main thoroughfare (now known as O’Connell St), was stormed, seized and established as rebel headquarters. Customers and staff were expelled from the building and a number of British soldiers who were present were taken prisoner. All remaining men not within the first four battalions were stationed here, including five members of the military council: Pádraig Pearse, President and Commander-in-Chief, Tom Clarke, James Connolly, Seán Mac Diarmada and Joseph Plunkett At 12.20 pm, the Tricolour was raised above the GPO, along with a green flag bearing the words “Irish Republic” as the rebels settled in for battle. The forced entry into the buildings was not without incident, however, and it is believed that in Jacob’s and Stephen’s Green rebels shot civilians who attempted to break down their barriers or to attack them. In other stations, instead of shooting civilians, anyone who showed defiance to the rebels was hit with a rifle butt. The first official fatality of the rebellion was a non-combatant, a nurse attempting to tend to the injured. Margaret Keough, the grand-niece of US Cavalry Captain Myles Keogh, was shot by a British soldier as she responded to shots and attempted to save those injured. 12:45 pm: To a confused gathering of Dublin citizens, bemused by what they were witnessing, Pádraig Pearse emerged from the GPO to decree the independent Irish Republic for the first time, reading aloud the proclamation he himself had written on behalf of the “Provisional Government” of the new Irish Republic. Still applauded as a work of inspiration, the Proclamation of the Irish Republic set all citizens of Ireland on equal terms – men, women, and children – praising the work of Irish emigrants on behalf of the Irish cause, in particular, “her exiled children in America” without whom, some claim, the Rising may never have happened. To the average Dublin citizen, the storming of the GPO and other buildings by the rebels was not a cause for celebration as they attempted to carry on with their normal lives, unhappy with the unrest and violence brought to their streets. 1:22 pm: On Easter Monday, many British soldiers in Ireland, in particular, those stationed in Dublin Castle, the center of British rule in Ireland, had gone to Fairyhouse racecourse to enjoy the Irish Grand National, leaving the city short of the troops when the Rising began. The Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in Ireland, General Lovick Friend, was on leave in England, Officer Commanding the Dublin Garrison, Colonel Kennard, could not be located and it was left to his adjutant, Col. H. V. Cowan to call for Marlborough Barracks to investigate the disturbance at the GPO. He also called Portobello Barracks, Richmond Barracks, the Royal Barracks, and the barracks in the Curragh to send reinforcements. Despite the absence of troops at Dublin Castle, the rebels hesitated to take the building, a move that would have been a significant blow to the British and of vital importance to the rebels. The unit disarmed those in the guardroom and shot a police sentry but failed to press any further as those inside – alerted by the shots – began to close the castle gates. Instead, the small detachment of men allocated to the area under Captain Seán Connolly opted to take City Hall. Michael Mallin, joined by Countess Markievicz, dug trenches in Stephen’s Green, commandeered passing vehicles in order to make a barrier, took buildings around the park including the Royal College of Surgeons. 1:38 pm: At the Four Courts along the Liffey a troop from the 5th and 12th Lancers was ambushed by Daly’s men, who were the first engage with British troops. The troop had been escorting an ammunition convoy along the North Quays when they were forced to take refuge in nearby buildings because of rebel fire. Attempts were made by the British Army to gain access to the GPO by charging down Sackville St. They were repulsed, however, as they passed Nelson’s Pillar and the rebels opened fire, killing three cavalrymen and two horses and fatally wounding a fourth man. 4:45 pm: On Northumberland Road on the southside of the city, the elderly and unarmed Veteran Defence Force walked into a rebel ambush. By the end of day one: Just a few hours into the Rising, and despite the poor coordination of the British Army response, the rebels were already losing ground, with those in the eastern end of the South Dublin Union surrendering. The Union complex as a whole remained in rebel hands, however. Encountering an outpost of Ceannt’s force at the Union, men from the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment (RIR), faced off with rebel’s under Section-Commander John Joyce. Although they lost three men in the first volley and further men as they were repelled a number of times, eventually the superior numbers of the British Army succeeded and the small rebel force surrendered. Additionally, on the first day of the Rising three unarmed members of the Dublin Metropolitan Police were shot dead causing their Commissioner to pull the police off the streets. The lack of police presence is blamed for the level of looting that took place throughout the city as buildings were torn apart during the week. In total, 425 people were arrested for looting after the Rising. Naval operations: North SeaDutch freighter SS MAASHAVEN, 2,609 tons, hits a mine laid by an unknown ship, 3 miles north of the Galloper Bouy. The damaged ship will be refloated on May 5. This is the second mine struck by Maashaven, the first being on January 13. Then the ship had drifted ashore near Calais, refloated and towed to Rotterdam. UB-13 is lost in a mine net off the coast of Belgium with all 17 crew. German torpedo boat FL 3 is wrecked, apparently due to a control problem. Aerial operations: RNAS assist MinelayingThe Royal Navy has decided to impede the escape of German mine-laying submarines based in Zeebrugge out into the North Sea by closing the passage between the Thornton Ridge shoal and the Belgian coast by a double line of deep mines across the exit from Zeebrugge and by a mine-net barrage on the same line and at North Hinder. A force of drifters and supporting ships will lay the mines. Yesterday, RNAS Dunkirk co-operated with the force by protective fighting patrols over the ships, by seaplane anti-submarine patrols, and a raid on the German’s new coast aerodrome at Mariakerke, west of Ostend, by eight bombers of No. 5 Wing. The only casualties of the day occurred when Flight Sub-Lieutenant Garnet Nelson Hughes and Air Mechanic P Tomkins completely wrecked their Breguet (3210) on landing. Both escaped with minor injuries. At dawn this morning, twelve bombers from 4 and 5 Wings attacked Mariakerke again with thirty-two 65-lb. and twenty-four i6-lb. bombs. By 7.30 a.m. the double line of mines was laid, and the net-barrage was in position over a stretch of thirteen miles. Shortly after this, German seaplanes from Zeebrugge attempted to bomb the ships which remained behind to watch the nets. They were driven off. Flight Sub-Lieutenant Herbert Rutter Simms and his observer Sub-Lieutenant Hector Albert Furniss fought one of the seaplanes near its base in their Nieuport. After a fifteen-minute duel the German pilot fell forward on his controls, and the seaplane dived into the water where it was blown up by its own bombs. Naval operations: Baltic SeaNorwegian trawler STROMSNES, 230 tons, carrying a load of fish from Bergen to Lübeck, hits a German protective mine south of Gedser.
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