The Great War (1914-1918) in real time

Day 816 of the Great War, October 23rd 1916

Western Front: the Somme: Fierce Fighting at Le Transloy

The last Allied offensive on the Somme was wrapping up in mid-October as the British Fourth Army and the French Sixth Army attacked German-held villages near Le Transloy. Assaulting a T-shaped complex of strongpoints in a valley between the French lines and Le Transloy, these final battles of the Somme were some of the worst actions of the conflict. Battlefield conditions were atrocious, rain poured down non-stop and soldiers were described as looking like “living slabs of mud.”

The Sixth Army’s commander, Émile Fayolle, was frustrated at his men’s lack of success. Two entire French corps had been held up for weeks fighting at Le Transloy. Fayolle, however, did not understand that the miserable mud had made progress like that shown in earlier battles impossible. Even from the air, objectives could not be seen, so covered was the battlefield in fog, rain, and mud. Men’s rifles filled with mud and became unable to fire, and more than once French troops restored to hurling rocks at the enemy. Yet they still fought fantastically, in defense as well as offense, cutting down German counter-attacks time and time again. French units displayed “good junior leadership, careful management of local reserves to sustain the firing line, maintenance of weapons, tactical use of the ground and high morale. The British also fought for Le Transloy, with one battalion of the Lancashire Fusiliers losing 3 officer and 205 other ranks all on October 23.

Weather breaks.

Eastern Front

Battle in Halicz dies down.

Germans claim total repulse of Russians from west bank of Narajowka.

Sinai and Palestine campaign

Sir C. Dobell takes over command of Eastern (Sinai) force.

Romanian Campaign: Romanians Surrender Constanța

After the fall of Turtucaia to a feint by Mackensen’s forces in early September, the Romanians had rushed reinforcements south to defend the Dobruja and strike back at Bulgaria. They had briefly done so in early October, but flooding on the Danube and second-guessing in Romanian high command swiftly ended these efforts.

By mid-October, Mackensen had received further reinforcements, and was ready to begin a real offensive in Dobruja, aimed at the main Romanian Black Sea port of Constanța. German heavy artilllery opened up on the hastily-prepared Romanian lines along the Danube on October 19; the Romanians panicked and fled north. Zayonchkovski’s Russians were not informed of this, and were caught in the flank by Bulgarian and Ottoman Arab forces and forced to fall back themselves. This certainly did not improve Russian estimation of the Romanians; Zayonchkovski had repeatedly appealed for reinforcements, citing Romanians’ “utter misunderstanding of modern war, their appalling inclination to panic.” On at least one occasion shortly after the fall of Turtucaia, retreating Romanian forces had even attempted to surrender to their Russian Allies.

With the rest of the line collapsing, the Romanians along the coast fled as well, and were soon pursued by Bulgarian cavalry. Constanța had no defenses, and the way was now open to the port. The Russians wanted to destroy it to prevent it from falling into Bulgarian hands, but the Romanians were unwilling to do so, and surrendered the city to Mackensen on October 22. The Central Powers captured the port intact, along with its large stores of grain and oil. The Russian naval forces stationed there quietly slipped back off to Odessa.

Photo: The first line of skirmishers on a hill



Photo: Skirmishers in a front line trench



Aerial operations: Lord Curzon snaps

Lord Curzon, the chair of the Air Board appears to have had enough of the Admiralty’s disregard of the board’s role. He recently learned of their commitment to £3m worth of spending on material without reference to the Board.

Today he wrote to the Prime Minister and the War Committee with his concerns. The Report, written in plain and forceful language, was, in effect, an indictment of the Admiralty’s attitude towards the Board. He stated:

“We are not prepared at this moment, while the war is still proceeding, and in the face of the dislocation that might be caused, to advocate the amalgamation of the two Services into a single Imperial Service, or the creation of an Air Ministry which shall assume supreme responsibility for the administration of such a service. Should the Board be in existence at the end of the war, it will be prepared to formulate a plan for the creation of an Air Ministry, which appears to be the only solution of the problem of the Air Service of the future, having regard both to its Imperial aspects and to the great expansion that may be expected, not on the Naval and Military side alone, but in respect of commercial and other developments.”

The Report therefore recommended that the existing Supply Departments for both services should be unified and placed under the Air Board, which would be charged with the whole responsibility for supply, design, inspection, and finance, and further recommended that the administration of the Royal Naval Air Service at the Admiralty should no longer be divided among the various Sea Lords, but made self-contained as was the administration of the Royal Flying Corps at the War Office. The officer who presides over the Naval Air Service should, said the Report, be made a member of the Board of Admiralty with authority and powers similar to those enjoyed by Sir David Henderson at the War Office.

Naval operations: Celtic Sea

Walther Schwieger, commanding U-20, sinks three Allied ships:
French freighter SS ARROMANCHES, 1,640 tons, bound from Montreal for France with an unspecified cargo.
Italian freighter SS CHIERI, 4,400 tons, route and cargo unknown.
French schooner FELIX LOUIS, 275 tons.
Schwieger's score is now 37 ships and 145,830 tons.

Carl-Siegfried von Georg, in U-57, torpedoes British sloop HMS GENISTA, 1,250 tons, bringing his score to 21 vessels and 4,848 tons.

Naval operations: North Sea

Theodor Schultz, in UB-34, sinks Norwegian Barque REGINA, 823 tons, carrying a load of pit props from Porsgrund to Tyne. His score 3 ships and 2,121 tons.

Naval operations: Barents Sea

Hermann Lorenz, in U-56, sinks Norwegian freighter SS RENSFJELL, 781 tons, carrying a load of salt herring from Fraserburgh to Arkhangelsk, off Vardö, Norway. His score is now 2 ships and 1,108 tons.

Naval operations: Baltic Sea

Cassius von Montigny, in UB-30, sinks Swedish coastal boat ELLY, 88 tons, carrying iron works from Stockholm to Mäntyluoto. His score is now 2 vessels and 434 tons.

German minesweepr T-64, 125 tons, hits a mine and sinks, with the loss of 10 crew.

Naval operations: Bay of Biscay

Ernst Voigt, in UB-23, sinks four Allied ships:
Danish schooner ALF, 196 tons, out of Liverpool for Rochefort with a load of pitch.
French fishing boat ANTOINE ALLOSIA, 29 tons.
French schooner SAINT PIERRE, 151 tons.
Norwegian freighter SS VENUS II, 784 tons, carrying a load of coal and steel from Newport, Wales to Hennebont.
Voigt's score is now 38 vessels and 12,734 tons.

Day 818 of the Great War, October 25th 1916

Western Front

German counter-attacks at Verdun repulsed.

Allied (British naval and French) air raid on steel works (Hagendingen) north of Metz.

Romanian Campaign

Map: Central Powers counterattack, September–October 1916



Enemy storm Vulkan Pass (western Transylvania).

Romanians make stand in northern Passes.

In Dobruja, Romanians blow up bridge and abandon Cerna Voda, falling back towards north Dobruja.

Photo: Heavy 210mm howitzers pound Romanian positions



Aerial operations: Naval Eight

Such is the desperation for pilots and aircraft on the Western Front that the RFC had made an urgent request to the Admiralty for assistance.

The call was answered today with the formation of 8 Squadron RNAS at St Pol. It is made up of flights from 1,4, and 5 Wings RNAS at Dunkirk. Squadron Commander Geoffrey Bromet arrived today by sea from Dover to take command of the new Squadron.

The squadron is equipped with a flight (6) of Nieuport 17s, a flight of Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutters, and one of the new Sopwith Pup which has not yet been supplied to the RFC.

The squadron will move to Vert Galland tomorrow to take up a position As part of 22 Wing, 5th Brigade.

Russian victory at Dorna Vatra (Moldovia).

Naval operations: English Channel

Walther Becker, commanding UB-19, sinks Belgian freighter SS COMTESSE DE FLANDRE, 1,810 tons, travelling in ballast from Calais to Barry.

Naval operations: North Sea

British freighter SS POLRUAN, 3,692 tons, carrying a load of coal from Tyne to Dunkirk, runs aground at Whitby Rock. Orignally thought to have hit a mine.

Naval operations: Barents Sea

Hermann Lorenz, in U-56, sinks Norwegian freighter SS DAG, 963 tons, carrying a load of lumber from Arkhangelsk to King's Lynn. His score is now 3 ships and 2,071 tons.

Naval operations: Adriatic Sea

Frans Rzemenowsky von Trautnegg, in Austrian submarine U-15, sinks Italian freighter SS POLCERVERRA, 2,207 tons. Though he will command two more u-boats and live until 1935, this is his only sinking.

Naval operations: Bombay, India

British battleship HMS VENGEANCE departs Bombay. Her orders are not to return to Zanzibar, but to proceed through the Red Sea to Aden, and then to a new station at Malta.

Day 820 of the Great War, October 27th 1916

YouTube (France Turns The Tide At Verdun)



Romanian Campaign

Romanian 1st Army in Jiu Valley (Wallachia) assume offensive, Romanians holding positions in Passes.

Russian centre (west bank of Shchara, Minsk) compelled to retire to east bank of river.

Macedonian front

Serbs make progress in Cherna region.

Australia: Australian Ministers Resign Over Conscription

Australian forces had sacrificed greatly during the war: first at Gallipoli, and now on the Western Front at Pozières and on the Somme. These had all been professional or volunteer forces, however, and with the war in its third year, voluntary enlistment was drying up as it had in Britain. In late August, the Colonial Office notified Australia that it would need 69,500 more men to keep Australian forces in the field on the Western Front–this figure was likely an exaggeration, encouraged by Bonar Law, Keith Murdoch, and Australian military figures keen on conscription.

The Australian PM, Billy Hughes, was also in favor of conscription–but his Labor Party was divided on the matter. It was not clear that a measure could pass the Senate, and Hughes did not want to call a new election. He settled on a national plebiscite, to show his fellow lawmakers that conscription was widely supported. The vote would be held on October 28, with the text:

Are you in favour of the Government having, in this grave emergency, the same compulsory powers over citizens in regard to requiring their military service, for the term of this war, outside the Commonwealth, as it now has in regard to military service within the Commonwealth?

Hughes was convinced that the plebiscite would pass overwhelmingly, and began calling up young men for military service within Australia (as he was already empowered to do)–screening and training them so that they would be ready for service in Europe as soon as possible after the plebiscite. This proved unpopular, especially when part of the process included fingerprinting draftees. This was followed up, days before the plebiscite, by a proposal that young male voters would be questioned at polling sites whether they had responded to the call up, and if they had not their votes would have to be cast provisionally.

This proved to be too much for three members of Hughes’ cabinet, who resigned in protest on October 27, one day before the plebiscite. Before they did so, they wrote a scathing note against conscription for the newspapers; it got past the censors as one of them was temporarily Defence Minister.

The next day, conscription was rejected by the voters by a 3-point margin.

Aerial operations: Schools of military aeronautics

Since December 1915 the RFC has been operating a School of Instruction (No. 1), at Reading on land belonging to the University of Reading. A similar school (No 2) was opened at Oxford in April 1916.

Today both were renamed Schools of Mlitary Aeronautics (No 1 at Reading and No 2 at Oxford) and their role expanded to include cadet pilot and observer training.

The schools are the second step in aircrew training. Recruits spent six weeks in basic training and then move to the schools to begin instruction in the principles of flight, airframes and engines. Once they had passed here, pilots are sent to one of the flying schools.

Naval operations: North Sea

Kurt Wippern begins his career in U-58 with the sinking of Swedish sailing vessel ELLEN, 140 tons, carrying a load of pit props from Halmstad to West hartlepool.

Bernhard Putzier, in UB-22, sinks Danish coaster SS SIF, 377 tons, en route from Göteborg to Hull with a load of pig iron. His score is now 2 ships and 3,439 tons.

Otto von Schrader, in UB-35, sinks Norwegian freighter SS STEMSCHES, 811 tons, travelling from Göteborg to Hull with a load of steel and timber. His score is now 8 ships and 5,826 ships.

French Naval Trawler BLANC NEZ, 247 tons, hits a mine laid by Matthias von Schmettow and UC-26 in the Strait of Dover, with the loss of seventeen crew members. His score is now 47 ships and 60,898 tons.

Norwegian freighter SS BYGDO, 2,345 tons, carrying a load of coal from Hull to Genoa, hits a mine laid by Hans Howaldt in UC-4. This is his first sinking.

Day 822 of the Great War, October 29th 1916

Romanian Campaign

In Jiu Valley, enemy in retreat.

In Dobruja, Romanians still retiring.

Arab Revolt: Sherif Hussein Proclaims Himself “King of the Arab Nation”

The Arab Revolt, lead by the Hashemite family, had achieved some moderate successes so far. They had taken Mecca, Jeddah, and Ta'if from the Ottomans, with naval and materiel help from the Allies, but Medina (which could easily be reinforced by rail) remained elusive. T.E. Lawrence landed and met Feisal on October 24, and they began coordinating their plans for how to best move on Medina.

In the meantime, Feisal’s father, Hussein, the Sherif of Mecca, gathered his loyalists and had them proclaim him “King of the Arab Nation” on October 30. For a revolt that remained relatively contained around Mecca and had not seen any noteworthy defections from the large Arab-populated territory controlled by the Ottomans, this was an overly-ambitious gesture. His Allied backers, who had their own designs on the Middle East after the war, did not take to the idea and lodged formal protests. They would soon recognize him as “King of Hejaz” (western Arabia) but would go no further than that.

United Kingdom

Field Marshal Viscount French warns volunteers at Derby that a German invasion of Britain is a possibility, not a mere supposition.

Aerial operations: Rawlinson Realizes

The lessons of the offensive on the Somme have finally proved to Sir Henry Rawlinson, the Fourth Army Commander, along with other high ranking military e value of aircraft in artillery work.

So much so that today, in a letter to General Headquarters he submitted that all artillery squadrons should be placed, except for purely technical matters, under the direct orders of the Corps Artillery Commanders. He went on to describe how matters could be further improved:

“To ensure perfection we require:

(1) Experience on the part of the artillery in matters of organization and executive. This is very important and is being dealt with.

(2) The observers must be highly skilled. Aeroplane observation for artillery purposes is skilled work of a very high order. With an unskilled observer the best trained and best equipped battery is useless. The large percentage of effective shoots carried out with aeroplane observation have been the work of a few men.

(3) The number of observers and machines must be adequate for the tasks to be undertaken. Aeroplane artillery observation is trying work, the amount which one observer can do in a day is strictly limited, casualties are not uncommon, and the observers require rest from time to time.

(4) Intimate relations must exist between the artillery units and the Flying Corps units working in combination.”

There was also some overdue recognition for the work of observers and he urged that steps should be taken to increase the number and quality observers and that, if necessary, officers should be taken from the Corps artillery and trained for air work.

Naval operations: North Sea

Bernhard Putzier, commanding UB-22, sinks Norwegian freighter SS FALKEFJELL, 1,131 tons, bound from Christiania for Hull with a load of iron, lumber and paper. He now has 3 ships and 4,570 tons.

Naval operations: Balearic Sea

Claus Rücker, in U-34, stops and scuttles French auxiliary motor schooner MARIE THERESE, 219 tons, travelling from Oran to Port Vendres. His score is now 66 ships and 151,586 tons.

Naval operations: Gulf of Cadiz

Otto Schultze, in U-63, sinks three Allied ships west of Gibraltar:
Greek freighter SS MASSALIA, 2,186 tons, carrying a load of coal from Newport to Naples.
British freighter SS MEROE, 3,552 tons, Bound from Alexandria for Liverpool with a general cargo.
British freighter SS TORINO, 1,850 tons, en route from Palermo to Leverpool with a general cargo.
Schultze's score is now 10 ships and 27,716 tons.

Naval operations: U-Boat Sinks Greek Volunteer Troop Transport

Since Venizelos had set up a provisional pro-Allied government in Salonika earlier in the month, volunteers had been arriving to help fight against the Bulgarian occupation of parts of northern Greece. Mostly, these volunteers came from Venizelos’ strongholds in Crete and the Aegean islands, but others came from Athens as well. One ship, the ANGELIKI, left Piraeus with 350 such volunteers.

On October 29, the ANGELIKI was torpedoed by a German U-boat without warning, seemingly in Greek territorial waters; over 200 on board died; survivors were rescued by other Greek and French ships in the area. This brought swift protests from the Greek government, though in deeply divided Athens the tragedy was quickly seized on by both sides. The pro-German press blamed the sinking on a French mine–not implausible considering the large French naval presence in the vicinity of Piraeus.

Day 824 of the Great War, October 31st 1916

Western Front: Allies Announce Gains and Losses on the Somme

Statistics right from the battlefield are always a little suspect, but the announcement by the British and French governments of the number of German soldiers and weapons they had seized since July placed a positive cap on that battle, as it, and the year 1916, were drawing to a close.

In total, since the beginning of the offensive on July 1, Britain had France had taken 72,901 German prisoners and captured 303 artillery pieces, 215 mortars, and nearly one thousands machine guns. It is harder to calculate the losses. The British government put its own number of casualties at 419,654. The French toll was 202,567 men killed, wounded, and taken prisoner on the Somme. German casualties are more disputed, but historian William Philpott suggests over 500,000, meaning that the German army had been decimated in the battle. Most German units in the battle had taken casualty rates well over 100%. Franz von Papen’s 4 Guards Infantry Division did three tours on the Somme and took 8842 casualties, with 4272 of them killed on September 15. Whatever the number, three armies on the Somme had taken terrible losses. But whereas the Allies could still make them up, Germany was now facing the prospect that it could not.

Eastern Front: Mood Sours Among Russian Soldiers

After over two years of war, the strain on Russian society was beginning to show. The Brusilov Offensive, though it essentially hobbled the Austrians, caused an extreme number of Russian casualties as well. By October, Alexeyev believed he only had enough reserves to last until the end of February. In early October, troops in the VII Siberian Corps in the Carpathians mutinied, refusing to carry out further attacks; three ringleaders were executed, but the mutinies continued for several months.

Even among soldiers in the relatively quiet Northern Front, facing the Germans along the Baltic, there were high levels of dissatisfaction, mainly due to depressing news from behind the front lines. Official censors did the best they could to shield the worst in letters, but replacements and soldiers returning from leave could not have their speech censored so easily. Inflation was high in Russia, and speculation was rife, leaving many necessities unaffordable. Some peasants were forced to sell their land as a result. The mood showed in the letters back home; at the end of October, a censor reported that the tone of many recent letters was “after the war we’ll have to settle accounts with the internal enemy” and, in one case, “the nobles started a war to wipe out the peasants and to keep them from taking over nobles’ land.”

Italian Front: Ninth Battle of the Isonzo Begins

Just weeks since his last offensive, Cadorna was ready to try again, with only poor weather and mud delaying it into November. The Austrians were well aware the attack was coming, but could do little to stop it–they were heavily outnumbered and the disparity was even worse in artillery, leaving the Italian “annihilation fire” essentially uncontested. The Austrians lost thousands to the preliminary bombardment alone.

On the morning of November 1, two Italian armies attacked around Gorizia and on the Karst Plateau. The Austrians were able to hold them off near Gorizia, but on the Karst the artillery barrage had demolished Austrian positions. A lack of steel helmets meant that Austrian troops there were especially vulnerable, as shells and bullets hitting the rocky terrain sent rock shards flying, often causing fatal head wounds. The Italians advanced on a front of several miles, and the Austrians prepared a withdrawal to their fallback lines.

The Austrians were determined to try to hold onto their original positions, however, and gathered whatever reserves were available locally for a counterattack overnight. Despite being hit by an Italian gas attack, they were able to retake several positions overnight. However, the Austrians were essentially out of reserves, and more Italian attacks were on the way.

Photo: Italian Army: Ninth Battle of the Isonzo - Italian infantry after leaving the trenches



Romanian Campaign

Struma front, British take Barakli Juma (in front of Rupel Pass), also Kumli.

East Africa Campaign

British reorganised into two divisions (Hoskins and van Deventer), former about Kilwa, latter on Ruaha and Central Railway, Northey about Iringa.

Aerial operations: Idflieg Bi-Monthly Report on German Fighters at the Front

Albatros:
D.I 50
D.II 28

Fokker:
E.II 2
E.III 28
E.IV 16
D.I 74
D.II 49
D.III 6

Halberstadt:
D.I 6
D.III 32
D.V 17

Pfalz:
E.I 3
E.II 3

Siemens-Schuckert:
E.I 5

Aerial operations: Just another normal day

70 Squadron RFC has been in France since May 1916 flying the Sopwith 1½ Strutter. It arrived in batched such was the demand for aircraft with C”C” flight only arriving in August. Since then it has carried out a variety of activities but mainly focused on fighter patrols. The Strutter is a two-seater, and despite not really being maneuverable enough to use as a fighter, it is one of the few British aircraft fitted with a synchronisation gear.

Today the Squadron suffered a variety of mishaps demonstrating the typical issues affecting all the Squadrons at the front.

First of all 2nd Lieutenant Eric Barnes Mason took off on a practice flight in A1920 and almost immediately crashed. The aircraft was written off but Barnes suffered only minor injuries.

Lieutenant George Lushington Colomb and 2nd Lieutenant Alexander Norman MacQueen also suffered a mishap on returning from a patrol. They hit a barbed wire fence while attempting to land and damaged the landing gear of A1904. Both were unharmed.

2nd Lieutenant John Stephen Cooper and Sergeant Reuel Dunn in A887 were hit by shellfire on patrol but able to return safely. Both crew members were unhurt.

2nd Lieutenants Charles Edward Ward and Harry Athelstan Chuter were also hit by shellfire whilst on patrol in A1919. Ward was wounded in the arm and side but was able to get the aircraft back. Chuter was unhurt.

Finally, Lieutenants George Henry Nicholson and Thomas Morgan Johns failed to return from a patrol. They were later reported as having landed behind enemy lines and taken prisoner.

Naval operations: Norwegian Sea

Carl-Siegried von Georg, commanding U-57, sinks Norwegian freighter SS SATURN, 1,108 tons, bound from Liverpool for Narvik with a load of cotton. His score is now 24 ships and 16,439 tons.

Naval operations: Alboran Sea

Otto Schultze, in U-63, sinks two Allied ships:
Norwegian freighter SS DELTO, 3,193 tons, travelling in ballast from Naples to Barry.
Italian freighter SS FEDELTA, 1,906 tons, out of Savona, destination and cargo unlisted.
Schultze's score is now 12 ships and 32,815 tons.

Naval operations: Tyrrhenian Sea

Otto Hersing, in U-21, sinks British freighter SS GLENLOGAN, 5,838 tons, carrying a general cargo from Yokohama to London and Hull. His score is now 16 ships and 60,941 tons.

Naval operations: Saronic Gulf

Greek freighter SS IKI ISASAIAS, 2,993 tons, hits a mine laid off Piraeus (port city for Athens) by Gustav Seiß in U-73. Seiß's score is now 10 ships and 26,692 tons.

Day 826 of the Great War, November 2nd 1916

Western Front

British capture trench east of Gueudecourt.

Romanian Campaign

Austro-Hungarians attack in Predeal Pass; Romanians pursue Austrians in Vulkan Pass (northern Wallachia front).

Italian Front

Italians occupy Faiti Hrib (dominating Kostanjevitsa-Isonzo front).

Aerial operations: Flight magazine lambasts the Air Board

Following the lastest disagreements between the War office, Admiralty and Air Board over aviation supply and policy, the editors of Flight, a publication well read by most of the officers of both flying services, have waded into the debate.

In an editorial of the latest edition of the magazine published today, they savaged the failure of the Air Board. and called for the creation of an Air Ministry.

“The Air Board stands confessedly a failure. It was bound to be in the very nature of its constitution. Devoid of any vestige of power to enforce its views on either the Admiralty or the Army Council, and with no clear idea of its own raison d’etre, it would have required a miracle to make it a success—and the age of miracles is past.

We have heard a great deal recently about the impossibility of the Admiralty attitude towards the Board, and it is on the shoulders of the Admiralty that the major portion of the blame for the Board’s failure is placed by the critics who stand outside and comment from a standpoint which necessarily is one of insufficient premises. Vaguely we hear rumours that the Admiralty blocks the way to progress, but we are not told exactly what shape the opposition takes. Opposition there may be, but the crux of the matter is that the whole constitution of the Air Board as ultimately framed, without any executive power whatever, was wrong from the start. It has been tried and found wanting. It was conceived as a stopgap, and, like all stop-gaps, it was foredoomed to failure. Not but what it has done a certain amount of good work in a few directions, but it most certainly is not the body with its mere advisory powers that was required to infuse something like cohesion into our Air Services.

Criticism of this kind is easy enough, we know. What is required at this juncture is something constructive. What is it, then, that is required to replace the Air Board? It has been strongly urged that what we require is an Air Service, separate and distinct altogether from the Navy and Army, having is own board of control and responsible only to Parliament. That is to say, there should be created out of the R.N.A.S. and the R.F.C. a new Service, using the word as we now understand the Navy and Army. As a result of the Air Board experiment, let us confess that we regard this as impossible now. Whatever may be the case in the years to come, with the war in full blast, it would require considerable optimism just now to justify such a course. Within a decade, or perhaps two, supremacy in the air will mean all that is implied in the command of the sea now. But that day is hardly yet, and we have to regard the situation as it exists to-day, and as it will continue to exist for at least the period of this war.

Let us examine for a moment the true relation of aircraft to naval and military operations. The aeroplane and the airship have two main functions— those of long-range artillery, and long-range reconnaissance. These functions are so integrally a part of the larger tactics of war, that they cannot be separated from the main issues any more than can, let us say, the functions of the artillery arm. It would be possible to elaborate this point to a much greater extent were it necessary, but the argument will serve as it stands.

Now, if we concede this simple proposition, the case for a separate Air Service falls to the ground for the time being. But admittedly the present position is impossible. Jealousy and competition between the two Services are doing much to hamper efficiency and to bring the administration of the flying services into disrepute, while there really appears to be serious danger of the main issues of the war being lost to sight while the War Office and the Admiralty are fighting among themselves.

On Tuesday afternoon Mr. Balfour met the Air Board to discuss the situation, and in particular to talk over the future of the R.N.A.S. Apparently the meeting got us no farther in the direction of -a clearing of the present unsatisfactory position of things. We did not think it would. What is required is not the discussion of academic attempts to reconcile conflicting interests, but the immediate application of a drastic remedy which will relegate existing competition and overlapping to the place they belong. That remedy we believe to be the formation of a central air authority—whether it be the Air Board reconstituted or otherwise—not to interfere initially with the tactical dispositions of either of the two Air Services, but with absolute power in all matters save this and internal administration. It should have—as most people thought the Air Board would have—complete control over all contracts for machines and supplies, thus putting an end to the present ruinous competition between the two services. In or after consultation with the Admiralty and the Army Council it should deal with strategical dispositions in so far as the definition of what may best be described as the respective spheres of activity of the two services are concerned. We should like to be more precise on this point, knowing what we do of the impossible situations which have arisen as a consequence of the overlapping of duties, but for obvious reasons we must refrain. Such powers vested in the present Air Board, which is admirable in its composition, would end the present most unsatisfactory state of things, which is the fault of the system more than of individuals. Whatever is to be done must be done at once. It is worse than deplorable that after 27 months of war we should have to discuss ways and means of stifling interdepartmental jealousies, and it cannot be too strongly insisted that now the way out has been indicated the remedy must be applied without an instant’s delay.”

Naval operations: North Sea

Ernst Wilhelms, in U-69, sinks British freighter SS SPERO, 1,132 tons, bound from Trondheim for Hull with a general cargo. His score is now 13 ships and 37,660 tons.

Naval operations: Gulf of Bothnia

Karl Scherb begins his career in U-22 with the sinking of two ships:
Russian barquentine VANADIS, 384 tons, travelling from Gefle to Raumo.
Swedish freighter SS RUNHILD, 1,170 tons, carrying a general cargo from Stockholm to Raumo. The ship is taken as a prize and sent to Libau.

Naval operations: Barents Sea

German submarine U-56 under command of Herman Lorenz, is attacked by Russian destroyer GROZOVOI off Khorne Island, Norway. U-56 survives the attack, with the survivors from SS IVANHOE, sunk yesterday, still aboard.

Naval operations: Balearic Sea

Claus Rücker, in U-34 sinks Italian schooner GIOVANNI ANTERI BERETTA, 332 tons, route and cargo unlisted. His score is now 67 ships and 151,918 tons.

Naval operations: Tyrrhenian Sea

Otto Hersing, in U-21, sinks Italian sailing vessel SAN ANTONIO O, 113 tons, raising his total to 19 ships and 63,167 tons.

Day 828 of the Great War, November 4th 1916

Western Front: Verdun: Fort Vaux retaken by French Troops

The scene of so much horror and heroism months earlier, Fort Vaux was reconquered anticlimactically by French troops in November, when a patrol found it abandoned. The Germans had left on November 2, blowing up as much as they could of the fort’s remaining superstructure. If it was now worthless strategically, the fall of Vaux was an immense boost to French morale regardless. The fort was refitted over the next years in preparation for another attack.

Naval operations: United kingdom

Photo: HMS COURAGEOUS shortly after completion, in her original configuration as a large cruiser



Naval operations: Irish Sea

British freighter SS SKERRIES, 4,278 tons, travelling in ballast from Barrow to Barry, hits a mine laid by Alfred von Glasenapp in U-80 off the Skerries Islands, east coast of Ireland. This is von Glasenapp's first sinking.

Naval operations: North Sea

German submarine U-20 runs aground at Jutland. Unable to free the boat, her crew blow her up the following day. Her commander, Walther Schwieger, will go on to another boat the following year.

Naval operations: Balearic Sea

Claus Rücker, in U-34, stops and scuttles French freighter SS MOGADOR, 1,364 tons, travelling from Sète to Algiers with a general cargo. His score is now 68 ships and 153,282 tons.

Naval operations: Mediterranean Sea

Hans von Mellinthin, in UB-43, sinks two British freighters.
SS CLAN LESLIE, 3,937 tons, bound from Bombay for London with a general cargo.
SS HUNTSVALE, 5,398 tons, travelling in ballast from Salonika to Algiers.
Von Mellenthin's score is now 8 ships and 34,723 tons.