The Great War (1914-1918) in real time

Day 652 of the Great War, May 12th 1916

YouTube (The British Death March in Mesopotamia)



Western Front

Battle of Verdun: French extend position south-east of Haucourt and repulse attacks on centre.

3rd Bavarian Division attack “The Kink” salient near Loos, held by the 15th Scottish Division, and successfully captures it.

Photo: British 8 inch howitzer and crew in action in a camouflaged emplacement at Wagnonlieu, France

Day 654 of the Great War, May 14th 1916

Western Front

Fighting on Loos salient round Hohenzollern Redoubt and Hulluch.

Italian Front

Austrian offensive on Trentino front begins: "Battle of the Treintino".

Mexican Border War: Patton Kills Pancho Villa’s Second-in-Command

One participant in the Punitive Expedition against Pancho Villa was a young 2nd Lt. George S. Patton, who served as Pershing’s aide during the expedition. In April, he was given his first combat command, in the 13th Cavalry. The Villistas were at this point in the campaign generally elusive however, and he did not have his first run in with them until May 14. He was leading a detachment of three Dodge touring cars, scouting nearby ranches for horse fodder and any hiding Villistas.

Patton had luck at the San Miguelito ranch, where he found Pancho Villa’s chief bodyguard and second-in-command, Julio Cárdenas along with two other Villistas. They tried to flee on horseback, but were cut off by the cars and killed in the resulting firefight. This was the first motorized attack in the history of the United States. Patton kept Cárdenas’ spurs and lashed his corpse to the hood of his Dodge. Despite this rather grisly act, the incident enhanced Patton’s reputation as a “bandit killer,” especially as Cárdenas was to be the highest-ranking Villista found during the expedition. Patton was promoted the next week.

Sinai and Palestine campaign: Allied Blockade of Hejaz Coast Exacerbates Famine and Unrest in the Middle East

A tight Allied blockade of the Ottoman Empire, like the one on Germany, led to widespread famine in the power. In May, the Royal Navy placed extra ships in the Red Sea to prevent supplies from reaching the Ottomans in the Hejaz. It was a successful attempt to deteriorate Turco-Arab relations. Jemal Pasha, the Turkish Governor of Syria, was becoming certain that a major Arab anti-Ottoman revolt loomed, and responded by cracking down hard on Syrian independence leaders. The new blockade made it harder to control the population, forcing the Ottoman Army to requisition food and transport from the locals.

Day 656 of the Great War, May 16th 1916

Western Front

The Lancashire Fusiliers storm 250 yards of German trenches at Vimy Ridge. Limited attacks are ongoing in Verdun.

Last week, Canadian sappers reached a British aeroplane that fell in No Man’s Land by digging a 45 feet tunnel.

Italian Front

Austrian advance checked at Zugna Torta.

French/British relations: Sykes-Picot Agreement

The Western Allies had had their eyes on Turkish possessions in the Middle East for quite some time now. Over the last few months, the British and French governments had been negotiating the postwar division of the spoils. The French, represented by François Georges-Picot, formerly the French consul-general in Beirut, wanted control of Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Cicilia in southeastern Anatolia, and the oil fields around Mosul in northern Mesopotamia. The British wanted the rest of Mesopotamia and had their own interests in Palestine.

After several months, and negotiations with the Russians, who had their own aims for the region, an agreement was reached and signed on May 16. France would receive “direct or indirect administration or control” over the Syrian and Lebanese coasts and the whole of Cicilia (the solid blue area in the above map). Britain would similarly receive Acre and Haifa in Palestine, and Mesopotamia up to and including Baghdad (the solid red areas). Russia’s fresh conquests in Armenia and northeast Anatolia were to be recognized as Russian territory.

The bulk of Palestine would be under an “international administration,” the exact form of which would be decided, in conjunction with Russia, the rest of the Allies, and “the Shereef of Mecca” after the war. The remaining area would nominally be returned to the Arabs, but was similarly divided into French (’A’) and British (’B’) zones, where each country would have exclusive economic privileges and rights to appoint advisors.

The agreement remained strictly secret for the time being; in particular, it was not disclosed to the Arabs with whom the Allies were trying to work against the Ottomans.

Map: Map of Sykes–Picot Agreement showing Eastern Turkey in Asia, Syria and Western Persia, and areas of control and influence agreed between the British and the French. Royal Geographical Society, 1910-15. Signed by Mark Sykes and François Georges-Picot, 8 May 1916



Aerial operations: Burbidge Committee Reports

The Report of the Committee on Royal Aircraft Factory, and Report to the War Committee by the Air Board on the Subject of the Royal Aircraft Factory was sent to the War Committee today.

The Committee was set up following the charges made by Noel Pemberton-Billing on 22 March About the alleged failings of the Royal Aircraft Factory.

The conclusions of the report are as follows:

“We are of opinion that such an experimental establishment as the Royal Aircraft Factory should be in existence. That on its present wages cost the Factory efficiency could be enhanced as an experimental place and a substantially increased volume of finished work produced provided a sharp line of demarcation be drawn between experimentation and commercial productivity, and the factory be reorganized and managed as nearly as possible upon a commercial and engineering basis.

From information afforded both at Farnborough and London we conclude that the standard of efficiency required by the War Office for Royal Aircraft Factory finished products is regarded as met, both as to construction and design.

The existing undesirable trade feeling referred to we consider should be met and, if possible, overcome, as its existence can hardly fail to have a detrimental effect on all concerned. We do not consider that the competition of the Royal Aircraft Factory with the Trade should, if reasonably administered, be the cause of any detrimental friction or trade feeling.
From articles and letters in the Press it seems to be considered that British aviators, as compared with enemy aviators, suffer from want of speed in aeroplanes. If this complaint is well founded, there would appear to have been some lack of foresight (whether on the part of the Royal Aircraft Factory or the War Office is not clear) as to the size of engines required to meet war conditions. We are informed that higher powered engines are now being bought from the trade, that some have already been delivered, and are being fitted into concurrently produced machines.

We consider that during the period of war activity the financial resources placed at the disposal of the Royal Aircraft Factory for experimental purposes have been ample to allow experimental work to be expeditiously performed in an efficient manner, and in a degree which should have placed useful and essential data at the disposal of the War Office, Admiralty and private trade. We have no information as to the extent which the Admiralty have availed themselves of the data put at their disposal.

It appears to us that the emoluments offered to heads of departments and others of high technical ability have been too low and are hardly likely to attract many highly qualified gentlemen, or, if attracted, to retain their services. We are of opinion that the work done by the Staff merits more consideration than has hitherto been accorded.

The weakness inherent to a system of under payment has been most materially counteracted since the outbreak of the war, because many gentlemen of the highest ability and standing whose emoluments in private work command salaries of possibly many hundreds or even thousands per annum, are working at salaries so small as to be negligible in their cases. This addition to the technical strength of the establishment has undoubtedly been of the utmost value to the country and the Royal Aircraft Factory.

It has appeared to us that the numbers now engaged in the Central Office, Stores, and other departments of a non-productive nature, reveal an organization more liberal than is generally found in Government establishments, and on a scale unknown to us in private works. For instance, the Central Office and Stores are manned by * out of a total of *.
It has been brought to notice that experiments and other manufacture have employees not infrequently been delayed owing to lack of material. A carefully selected larger stock of those materials constantly used should more than earn the intere&t upon the capital involved.

An experimental establishment of this magnitude should be provided with a full equipment of labour-saving devices which are undoubtedly necessary for economic and most rapid production. From such resources, properly utilized, a reduction in number of employees now necessarily working round a particular operation could be effected.

We understood from General Sir David Henderson that he has contemplated strengthening the Department of Aircraft Equipment in London by transferring the designs portion of the Royal Aircraft Factory to London. We are strongly of opinion that any attempt to separate the designs branch from the shops would be disastrous.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that while fully alive to the ungrudging work done under the trying conditions of war pressure by the Superintendent and Staff of the Royal Aircraft Factory, we think there are parts of the organization and management where improvements are possible.”

The Committee also made the following suggestions:

“We suggest that a Board of Management be formed consisting of a Chairman or Director of the Royal Aircraft Factory, a Superintendent of Designs and a Super intendent of Manufacture, all of whom should be preferably civilians and should give their whole time to the affairs of the Factory, and a Military Adviser without distinctive executive duties. The three last-named gentlemen should rank equally with one another on the Board.

The Director should be well equipped with previous commercial and scientific engineering qualifications and experience. It is not considered essential that he should possess any intimate or previous knowledge of aviation. He should be selected for his recognized ability in administration and management.

We believe the organization we are suggesting would be much assisted by the appointment of a civilian of high standing and suitable qualifications as Controller of Aircraft Supplies, who would have his headquarters in London and have among his duties the direct communications with contractors and the Royal Aircraft Factory.

As we believe that the capacity of the Factory could be greatly augmented without increase to the present number of employees, we suggest that this should be arrived at in the shape of additional current manufacture of aeroplanes and engines, without impairment, and indeed with increased efficiency of the experimental functions of the Royal Aircraft Factory as now existing.

With regard to the shortage of higher-powered engines, of which the need appears to be great, we suggest that special and strenuous efforts should be made immediately both bv the Royal Aircraft Factory and by means of financial assistance, if necessary, to the Trade, so that the most rapid production of all the engines may be secured.

We think it would be better that direct contact with contractors, including the issue to them of drawings, should be made through a third party, e.g., the Controller of Aircraft Supplies and not by the Royal Aircraft Factory. It is, of course, undesirable to cut off all communication between the Royal Aircraft Factory and the Trade, but we think it would be preferable that enquiries should first of all be made to the officer issuing drawings, presumably the Controller of Aircraft Supplies, and that he should put any particular contractor into touch with the Royal Aircraft Factory in order that any desired information, data, or explanations, may, when required, be afforded direct. This course would also keep track of alterations, if any, from the original approved designs. Of course, the Controller of Aircraft Supplies and the Director of the Factory would, in fact, be in reasonably close touch.
No useful purpose would be served at this juncture by the submission of recommendations as to the Central Office and Stores. If actually too elaborate, as they seem to us to be at present, the re-arrangement of duties suggested herein would naturally lead to some change in this direction, but it should preferably be left for the action of the new board of management.”

Naval operations: North Sea

Dutch passenger ship SS BATAVIER V, 1,569 tons, hits a mine laid by Matthias von Schmettow in UC-6, bringing his score to 37 ships and 49,118 tons. BATAVIER V was previously taken as a prize by Georg-Günther von Forstner in U-28, but was released by the prize court.

Naval operations: Mediterranean Sea

Claus Rücker, in U-34, sinks Italian sailing ship SANT' ANDREA, 224 tons, travelling from Marseilles to Sicily with an unlisted cargo. His score is now 30 ships and 102,012 tons.

Leading U-boat ace Max Valentiner, in U-38, uses his deck gun to sink British Fleet Messenger Clifford, 487 tons, en route from Alexandria to Malta. His score is now 80 ships and 173,902 tons.

Day 658 of the Great War, May 18th 1916

Western Front

Battle of Verdun: German attacks repulsed at Hill 304 and in Avocourt Wood.

Photo: Troops of the Australian 2nd Division gather on a road behind the lines at Croix du Bac, near Armentieres, 18 May 1916



Italian Front

Italians evacuate Zugna Torta and retire from Monte Maggio-Seglio d'Aspio (Trentino).

United States: Wiretap Reveals Munitions Price Fixing Conspiracy

J.P. Morgan & Co. handled the vast majority of Allied munitions purchasing in the United States. After repeated bids for munitions came in suspiciously high to Morgan’s own maximum price, they suspected something was afoot and began an investigation. This revealed evidence against the law firm Seymour & Seymour, which they turned over to the police. They conducted their own investigation, which included tapping the telephone wires of Seymour & Seymour, as well as more direct surveillance and eventually a direct search.

On May 18, in a press conference, New York City Mayor Mitchel announced the preliminary results at a press conference. A clerk at Morgan had been sending on documents to Seymour & Seymour, detailing French munitions orders and the price Morgan would be willing to pay for such munitions. This list was then forwarded to munitions manufacturers, who would all put in high bids; the winning bid would make a payment to the organizer of the scheme.

Mayor Mitchel wanted to make a grand show of this to provide an example to the public of how telephone wiretaps worked in practice to uncover crime. The technology was relatively new and on untested constitutional ground at the time, and he wanted to reassure the people of New York that the “inviolable right of individual citizens to individual privacy in their telephone communications” would be respected, “except on substantial ground for belief by the Police Commissioner that a crime has either been committed or is in contemplation and that evidence thereof can be secured through the supervision of the telephone.” He also needed to dispel an apparent rumor that private citizens could spy on each others’ telephone conversations by appealing to the Police Commissioner for permission.

Naval operations: North Sea

Walther Becker, in UB-19, stops and scuttles British fishing vessel OSPREY, 18 tons, bringing his score to 2 vessels and 2,214 tons.

Naval operations: Mediterranean Sea

Claus Rücker, commanding U-34, captures and scuttles Greek freighter SS ADAMNTIOS KORAIS, 2,947 tons, bound from Barry for Savona with an unspecified cargo. His score is now 31 ships and 104,959 tons.

Day 660 of the Great War, May 20th 1916

Western Front

Battle of Verdun: Great German attack on Mort Homme; they capture summit of Hill 295.

British regain mine crater on Vimy Ridge.

Italian Front

Austro-Hungarian expels Italian troops from the mountain Col Santo, a peak of over 2000 metres.

Aerial operations: Seaplane Raid

Overnight, seaplanes carried out a raid on the Dover area. The force consisisted of three Friedrichshafen FF33s, three Hansa-Brandenburg NWs and a Gotha Ursinus.

There appears to be some flag remedy between British and German authorities over exactly what happened with The British claiming only five aircraft.

One raider attacked the St. Peter’s area of Broadstairs with 12 bombs, many around the Victoria Avenue area. A few minutes later another aircraft dropped nine bombs in the sea off the Small Downs Coastguard Station, and then three more near St. Peter’s Causing minor damage.

Another aircraft dropped 19 bombs around the Deal area without causing any damage.

Two more aircraft attacked Dover. 11 bombs fell across the town causing minor damage. One bomb landed in Military Hill injuring Mrs Bridges Bloxham in her bedroom. Another struck some stables in Shaft Barracks, killing Private Henry Frederick Sole, of the 3rd Battalion, East Surrey Regiment. A bomb struck the Ordnance Inn in Dover Harbour ‘smashing down the top of the front of the building and unroofing it’, knocking masonry into the street but without causing any injuries.

Two further bombs fell on the harbour one of which severely wounding deckhand James Harvey onboard the HM Drifter E.E.S. moored close by.

Naval operations: Balearic Sea

Claus Rücker, commanding U-34, sinks Italian barque ERMINIA, 1,544 tons, bound from Savona for Philadelphia; brigantne FABICAOTTI., 150 tons; and French freighter SS LANGUEDOC, 1,612 tons. His score is now 34 ships and 108,265 tons.

Naval operations: Mediterranean Sea

Walter Forstmann, in U-39, sinks Italian barquentine REDENTORE, 288 tons; and sailing ship VALSESIA, 248 tons, both carrying sulphur from Licata to Marseilles. His score is now 56 ships and 130,013 tons.

Day 662 of the Great War, May 22nd 1916

Western Front: French Reach Roof of Fort Douaumont

The loss of Fort Douaumont in the first days of Verdun had been a distinct embarrassment for the French. General Mangin, “le mangeur des hommes,” commanding the French troops now across from the fort, was determined to retake it. On May 22, after shooting down German observation balloons and conducting their own precise artillery barrage, Mangin launched his attack just before noon. The barrage failed to make a dent on what was still the strongest fortress in the world, and the attackers took horrific casualties from multiple sides as they approached the fort.

Nevertheless, a substantial number of French soldiers survived the first eleven minutes of the attack and made it successfully on top of the fort. However, once up there, they were no closer to capturing the fort itself, now beneath them. The entrances via moats and windows that the Germans had used in February had long since been sealed off or destroyed, leaving the French separated from their goal by multiple feet of concrete or a few extremely well-defended access points. Exposed to artillery fire from both sides and repeated sallies from Germans inside the fort, the few remaining French troops were forced to surrender in 36 hours.

The attacks made on either flank of the fort were even less successful, taking fire both from the fort and from the intact trenches ahead of them. Major Lefebvre-Dillon was one of the few to make it to the German lines successfully, but soon found his men completely isolated: “How on earth is my poor battalion, crushed, decimated, going to manage to hold?” He told his officers that he would “fight, fight, right to the end, wait for reinforcements or a counterattack from our lines. There can be no question of surrendering.” However, that night, after suffering 70% casualties, the major surrendered his battalion. Over 48 hours, Mangin’s division would lose 5500 men, just under half its strength.

Painting: French infantry recapturing Douaumont



Anglo-Egyptian Darfur Expedition

British defeat Ali Dinar, Sultan of Darfur, at Beringia.

Mesopotamian campaign

British and Russian cavalry link up in Kut-el-Amara in Iraq, although their main forces remain separated by the Ottomans.

Naval operations: North Sea

British coaster SS RHENASS, 285 tons, carrying a load of pig iron from Jarrow to Calais, hits a mine laid by Alfred Nitzsche in UC-10, bringing his score to 14 ships and 25,398 tons.