The Great War (1914-1918) in real time

Day 1040 of the Great War, June 5th 1917

Western Front

Artillery still active near Wytschaete.

British make small advance south of Souchez river, and begin an attack north of river Scarpe.

German attack near Hurtebise (Chemin des Dames) fails.

Italian Front

Italians withdraw further south of Jamiano.

Germany

Germany offers to pardon any deserter who returns to their units by July 15.

Russia

Petrograd Soviet issues a statement urging all nations to unite in favor of peace without annexations or indemnities.

United States: Draft Registration Day in the United States

The Selective Service Act, signed into law by President Wilson in late May, called for the registration of all men aged twenty-one through thirty, for later conscription into the US Army. All such men were supposed to register at any one of over 4000 draft boards on June 5, hoped to be a single day of national solidarity behind the war across the country. Of those to be registered, only unmarried men, or married men with working spouses and no young children, would be eligible for callup in the first rounds of the draft

Largely, the day went off without a hitch. More than 9.6 million men registered for the draft on June 5. For comparison, 18.5 million men and women (from a much wider age range) voted in the 1916 Presidential election. Unlike for voting, however, the draft was also extended to African-Americans (over the objections of firebrand segregationists like Ben Tillman).

Outspoken opposition to the draft on June 5 itself was mainly confined to the International Workers of the World (the “Wobblies”), who handed out leaflets against the draft in California, and led a march of draft resisters in Rockford, Illinois; those resisters were proudly arrested. Many others, however, simply failed to register. While more pronounced in later Registration Days, ultimately over 15% of those who were supposed to register never did; and when the callups came over 300,000 never reported for duty.

Photo: Young men at the first national registration day held in association with the Selective Service Act of 1917



Aerial operations: England

German aeroplanes bomb towns and villages in Essex & Kent, resulting in 13 deaths & 34 injuries. 6 German planes are shot down.

Naval operations: North Sea

Naval action between light craft in North Sea; German destroyer sunk.

British naval squadron bombards German bases at Zeebrugge and Ostend, Belgium in a night/early-morning raid.

Naval operations: North Atlantic Ocean, far west of Ireland

Thorwald von Bothmer, commanding U-66, sinks two ships roughly 200 miles west of Fastnet:
Italian freighter SS AMOR, 3,472 tons, bound from Galveston for Liverpool with an unspecifid cargo.
British freighter SS MANCHESTER MILLER, 4,234 tons, headed from Philadelphia for Manchester with a general cargo.
Bon Bothmer's socre is now 26 ships and 76,236 tons.

Naval operations: English Channel

Hans Niemer, in UB-23, sinks British schooner LAURA ANN, 116 tons, off Beachy Head. His score is now 7 vessels and 8,755 tons.

Naval operations: North Sea

Walter Gude, in U-71, scuttles two Swedish barquentines between Norway and the Shetland Islands:
C. THOREN, 269 tons, carrying a load of timber from Ronneby to Reykjavik.
GOTHA, 343 tons, also en route from Ronneby to Reykjavik with a load of timber.
Gude's score is now 3 vessels amd 2,371 tons.

Naval operations: Barents Sea

Georg Schmidt, in U-28, scuttles three Norwegian fishing vessels off Vardö:
Ketch ALASKA, 90 tons.
Seal-catcher DUEN, 30 tons.
SYDKAP, 40 tons.
Schmidt's score is now 8 vessels and 7,869 tons.

Naval operations: Black Sea

Ernst Ulrich, in UB-14, sinks Russian sailing vessel KARASUNDA, 155 tons, north of Poti, Georgia. This is Ulrich's only sinking. He will survive the war in other naval positions, live through the Second World War and die on April 6, 1945.

Naval operations: Golfe du Lion

Robert Moraht, in U-64, sinks British freighter SS KALLUNDBORG, 1,590 tons, travelling in ballast from Genoa to Bougie; south-southwest of Toulon. His score is now 16 ships and 50,410 tons.

Day 1042 of the Great War, June 7th 1917

YouTube (The Battle of Messines - Explosion Beneath Hill 60)



Western Front: Ypres: Battles of Messines Begins as British Detonate 19 Massive Underground Mines, Ten Thousand Germans Vaporized in Seconds

The Battle of Messines began with the most succinct speech in military history. For months, the British Second Army, led by General Herbert Plumer, had been tunneling underneath German lines, placing more than one millions tons of TNT in 21 underground shafts. The German positions at Messines were considered a natural fortress as strong as Gibraltar, so these massive mines would need to do the work. As zero-hour approached, Plumer’s chief-of-staff turned to the other generals and said: “Gentleman, I don’t know whether we are going to make history tomorrow, but at any rate we shall change geography.” General Plumer himself made no speeches, but went to his quarters and prayed for the safety of his troops.

At 3:10 in the morning, 19 of the underground mines detonated in rapid succession. It was the largest explosion up to then in human history, and the deadliest non-nuclear explosion of all time. The Germans had known about the impending attack, and had crammed six divisions into the positions at Messines. But they had no idea what lay beneath them.

Ten thousand German troops were obliterated in an instant as one million tons of explosives went up under their feet. The craters it left in the German defensives were enormous. (They are still there, although they are lakes. Two of the mines failed to go off, but one of was detonated by a lighting strike in June 1955, killing one very unfortunate cow.)

The explosions could be heard in London. The British soldiers themselves were terrified as their trenches shook with the power of an earthquake. For the Germans it was a nightmare. “I saw a man flung out from behind a huge block of debris silhouetted against the sheet of flame,” Lieutenant AG May of the Machine Gun Corps wrote. “Presumably some poor devil of a Boche. It was awful; a sort of inferno.”

The German troops who survived stumbled about in a daze as charging British soldiers fell upon them. Those with the faculty surrendered, weeping and waving white handkerchiefs. Others milled about “like beaten animals,” grasping at the ankles of British troops, who roughly shunted back behind the lines, while others chucked Mills Bombs at the Germans too disorientated to even give up. “I have never seen men so demoralized,” wrote an Australian lieutenant. One Bavarian officer recorded that of his 200 men, only 30 were still there after the mine blasts. The others did not even leave behind bodies; they had been literally vaporized.

Plumer had wisely avoided placing too much confidence in the mines, however. By noon the Second Army was running into stiff resistance from enemy reinforcements. Several of the mine craters turned into grisly abattoirs as attacks and counter-attacked grappled over them. Elsewhere, small groups of Germans who had recovered their senses fought desperately to avoid being overwhelmed by the British assault. The tanks went forward in the afternoon, sweeping away the German second line. There was to be no great breakthrough, however, but Plumer did not plan on one. The capture of Messines Ridge could stand on its own merits, for it captured a strong German position and allowed the planning of the next great British offensive: Passchendaele.

Italian Front

Austrian attack on Vodice ridge repulsed.

United States

American ships and transports carrying grain arrive in France to prepare for the American Expeditionary Force's arrival.

Aerial operations: Messines

Today the British Lunched a limited offensive to capture Messines Ridge, a feature of strategic importance because it overlooked a large section of the British lines.

The RFC and RNAS had already played a large part in the preparation carrying out photography, reconnaissance, artillery suppression,bombing and for the most part succeeded in minimising German reconnaissance of the preparations.

On the day of the battle the British were able to muster a sizeable force to support the attack.So much so that the order of battle runs to four pages of the official history.. A total of 853 aircraft were on charge for the battle.

Naval operations: North Atlantic Ocean, far west of Ireland

Kurt Heeseler, commanding U-54, sinks British freighter SS JONATHAN HOLT, 1,523 tons, bound from Sierra Leone for Liverpools with a load of palm oil and kernels. This is his first successful sinking.

Thorwald von Bothmer, in U-66, sinks British freighter SS IKALIS, 4,328 tons, en route from New York to Liverpool with a load of wheat. His score is now 27 ships and 80,565 tons.
Von Bother also torpedoes British freighter SS CRANMORE, 3,157 tons, headed from Baltimore to Manchester with a general cargo. The damaged ship is beached, refloated and repaired.

Ernst Rosenow, in UC-29, attacks a British freighter with his deck gun. This turns out to be Q-ship HMS PARGUST. PARGURST is damaged but UC-29 is sunk with the loss of 23 hands, including Rosenow. There are 2 survivors.

Naval operations: Faroe Bank

Gerhard Berger, in U-50, uses his deck gun to sink Norwegian barque YUBA, 1,458 tons, carrying a load of oilcake from Savannah to Aarhus. His score is now 23 ships and 84,828 tons.

Naval operations: English Channel

Hans Howaldt, in UB-40, torpedoes two British freighters:
SS MAHOPAC, 3,216 tons, out of London for Philadelphia with a general cargo.
SS OLDFIELD GRANGE, 4,653 tons, travelling in ballast from London to Philadelphia.
Both ships are only damaged, and are repaired and returned to service.

Johannes Lohs, in UC-75, uses his deck gun to sink British schooner WILHELM, 187 tons, carrying a load of coal from Glasgow to Lannion. His score is now 18 vessels and 7,606 tons.

Naval operations: North Sea

Walther Schwieger, in U-88, sinks Norwegian freighter SS JOHN BAKKE, 1,611 tons, headed from New York to Rotterdam with a load of wheat; east of the Shetland Islands. His score is now 41 ships and 45,673 tons.

Frans Walther, in UB-21, sinks British freighter SS SIR FRANCIS, travelling in ballast from London to Tyne; off Scarborough. His score is now 11 ships and 12,769 tons.

Hubert Aust, in UC-45, scuttles British drifter GOLDEN HOPE, 67 tons, off Kinnaird Head, Scotland. His score is now 12 vessels and 16,812 tons.

His Majesty's Paddle Minesweepr MERCURY hits a mine laid by Werner Löwe in UC-6. The ship is only damaged. MERCURY was previously damaged on April 26 by a mine from Benno von ditfurth in UC-11.

Naval operations: Bay of Biscay

Reinhold Saltzwedel, in UC-21, sinks Danish freighter SS HAFNIA, 1,619 tons, heading from Birkenhead to Gibraltar with a load of coal. His score is now 81 ships and 122,712 tons.

Naval operations: Golfe du Lion

Robert Moraht, in U-64, uses his deck gun to sink Italian brigantine MAMA FILOMENA, 148 tons, bringing his total to 18 vessels and 51,573 tons.

British freighter SS ERRINNGTON COURT, 4,461 tons, en route from Blyth to Genoa, hits a mine laid off Port la Nouvelle, France by Ernst Krafft in U-72. The damaged ship is beached and refloated.

Naval operations: Strait of Sicily

Gustav Seiß, in U-33, sinks two Italian sailing vessels:
IL DIONISIO, 97 tons.
SAN ANTONIC, 13 tons.
Seiß' score is now 32 vessels and 141,973 tons.

Naval operations: Mediterranean Sea

Hermann von Fischel, in U-65, sinks Italian sailing vessel ROSA M, 64 tons, just off the "toe" of Italy. His tally is now 30 vessels and 135,000 tons.

Robert Sprenger, in UC-34, scuttles Italian sailing vessel LILIANA, 70 tons, off Alexandria. His score is now 9 vessels and 16,025 tons.

Day 1044 of the Great War, June 9th 1917

United Kingdom

US General Pershing meets with King George, who states his dream of a closer union between English-speaking countries is being realized.

Central Powers

Allied prisoners held by the Central Powers now number 2,874,271 men, with 2,080,699 of them being Russian prisoners.

United States

U.S. Treasury makes a new loan worth $75 million to Britain and $3 million to Serbia. Total U.S. loans to Allies is now $923 million.

Russia: Russia Rejects German Armistice Offer

Since the Revolution, many of Russia’s soldiers had questioned why Russia should remain in the war. The Provisional Government had (despite some objections) sworn off any goal of annexing territory or receiving reparations from the war, and urged other countries to do the same. Despite this, they were unwilling to conduct a separate peace with Germany, a position they reiterated on June 9 by rejecting an armistice offer the Germans had broadcast by radio. There were several reasons for this. The new political leaders took Russia’s commitments to her Allies seriously, and did not want autocratic Germany to win the war in the west; if Russia pulled out now, there could very well be annexations elsewhere. Furthermore, Russia, having suffered grave defeats in 1915, and now dealing with the aftermath of the Revolution, would be negotiating from a position of weakness, and would likely have to make many concessions to the Central Powers. While much of the land occupied was in Poland (which the Provisional Government had promised independence anyway), a peace would likely still be humiliating for Russia and her government.

Lastly, the revolutionaries hoped (despite copious evidence to the contrary) that the war would unify Russia around the revolution, by defending it from a foreign threat. Their favorite analogy was to France in the 1790’s, but this was flawed; Germany was not attempting to restore the Czar or undo the revolution.

Often, the soldiers took matters into their own hands. Around the same time, the soldiers’ committees of XXXIII Corps received a German officer, Lt. Bauermeister, who gave lectures well behind the Russian lines, saying that Germany wanted peace and that the Provisional Government was a tool of Allied bankers. The speeches were well-received, and the men of XXXIII Corps declared that they wanted an armistice, raising white flags along their front, despite vehement protests from the officers. The Germans were more than glad to go along with this, until the Russians launched a general offensive a few weeks later. Elsewhere, soldiers increasingly found themselves drawn to the Bolsheviks, the only party advocating for an immediate peace.

Aerial operations: A busy day for 1 Squadron RFC

1 Squadron RFC were heavily involved in support of the British offensive at Messines today.

This morning around 0825 a patrol led by Lieutenant William Charles Campbell in Nieuport 23 (B1700) encountered six aircraft from Jasta 8 between Oosthoek and Gheluwe. Campbell claimed to have shot down two out of control, but his wingman 2nd Lieutenant William John Mussared was set upon by three enemy aircraft, shot down and taken prisoner. He later reported:

“That damned Nieuport-machine is to blame. I got into a fight at about 3000 meter altitude and tried to get away, because I had 3 machines against me. But the Germans circled around me and were firing all the time. I got cut off, got an engine failure and had to go down till several hundred meters, where I received extensive machinegun fire. As I lost control of the machine, I crashed on landing. I was uninjured and only a bit shaken up.”

Vitzfeldwebel Rudolf Frank was credited with the victory. In five weeks with 1 Squadron, Mussared had claimed 4 victories.

2nd Lieutenant Campbell led an afternoon patrol with a second led by Lieutenant F Sharpe in Nieuport 23 (B3481). They dived onto a formation of 6 enemy scouts over Houthem. Seven more enemy scouts joined in followed by another four scouts. Both Campbell and Sharpe claimed to have sent down an enemy scout from the first formation.

2nd Lieutenant Richard William Laurence Anderson saw a Nieuport being driven down by three enemy scouts. He tried to intervene but lost sight of all of them when he had to change a drum. It turned out that this was Sharpe who was wounded and forced down and taken prisoner. Credit for this victory was given to Obleutnant Kurt-Bertram von Doering, commander of Jasta 4. Sharpe had 5 victories to his credit.

After this fight broke up Lieutenant Louis Fleeming Jenkin flew on alone for some time finally attacking three Albatros scouts over Dadizeele at 1510, claiming one shot down in flames. This was his fifth victory.

Later in the evening around 2000, There was one more victory that day. Lieutenant Tom Falcon Hazell in Nieuport 23 B1649 shot down an Albatros scout out of control Zandevoorde.

Later records show that the Germans lost no pilots that day, but 1 Squadron had lost two of its up and coming new pilots.

Naval operations: British warn General Pershing they Cannot Transport or Supply American Expeditionary Force, Due to U-Boat Attacks

America seemed a threatening force to the British before 1914. America’s massive population and industry, plus is growing imperial ambitions, clearly seemed to make it Britain’s natural opponent. Once Britain was embroiled in the First World War, America suddenly appeared as a great potential friend. Now that the Americans had joined the Allied side, British newspapers glowed with accounts of milions of American troops and planes mustering across the Atlantic.

Unfortunately for the commander of the American Expeditionary Force, General John Pershing, recently arrived in England, America had no such army. He spent a frustrating week telling excited Britons that America was still recruiting a larger military, and that it would be some time before they could cross to France.

And now, while meeting King George V at Buckingham Palace on June 9, he learned a piece of dispiriting news himself. The British confided to him that Germany’s U-Boat campaign was taking a grievous toll. The subs had sunk 1,500,000 tons of Allied shipping in April and May, and the British Merchant Marine now felt it could not transport or supply the Americans when they crossed the Atlantic. Pershing had already been given a clue of how bad things were when he crossed the week before; to guard the general against torpedoes, his transport had not responded to the frequent SOS calls it received from sinking Allied ships.

Naval operations: Ireland

Wilhelm Werner, commanding U-55, sinks British freighter SS ACHILLES, 641 tons, bound from Cadiz for Liverpool and Glasgow with a general cargo. His score is now 34 ships and 57,084 tons.

Naval operations: Faroe Bank

Alfred Saalwächter, in U-94, torpedoes Norwegiean barque DEVERON, 1,261 tons, en route from Buenos Aires to Copenhagen with a load of wheat. His score is now 10 ships and 16,763 tons.

Naval operations: Celtic Sea

Otto Wünsche, in U-70, sinks three British freighters far west of Brittany:
SS APPLEDORE, 3,843 tons, travelling from Sagunto to Middlesbrough with a load of iron ore.
SS EGYPTIANA, 3,818 tons, out of London for Halifax with an unspecified cargo. Egyptiana had previously been attacked in November 1916 by Hans Walther in U-52, but had survived the encounter.
SS HARBURY, 4,572 tons, heading from Buenos Aires to Brest with a load of oats and maize; torpedoed 170 miles west of Ushant.
Wünsche's score is now 69 ships and 158,911 tons.

Heinrich Jeß, in U-96, sinks British freighter SS Baron Cawdor, 4,316 tons, carrying a load of rice from Rangoon to London. His score is now 15 ships and 29,790 tons.

Naval operations: English Channel

Claus Lafrenz, in UB-18, scuttles British motor ketch MARJORIE, 119 tons, at the western end of the Channel. His score is now 53 vessels and 52,268 tons.

Hans Howaldt, in UB-40, sinks two French fishing vessels between Cap Barfleur and Le Havre:
EUGENE MATHILDE, 15 tons.
FRANCOIS GEORGETTE, 7 tons.
Howaldt's score is now 26 vessels and 42,037 tons.

Naval operations: North Sea

Victor Dieckmann, in U-61, sinks two ships off Aberdeen:
Swedish freighter SS ADA, 2,370 tons, underway from Göteborg to Hull with a general cargo; torpedoed.
Danish freighter SS DANA, 1,590 tons, travelling in ballast from Copenhagen and Lerwick to Blyth; torpedoed.
Dieckmann's score is now 25 ships and 43,308 tons.

Naval operations: Skagerrak

Karl Ruprecht, in UB-33, takes Swedish coaster GOTHA, 720 tons, carrying passengers and general cargo from Gothenborg to Rotterdam, as a prize. It is later released by the Prize Court.

Naval operations: Gulf of Bothnia

Friedrich Wißmann, in UC-57, sinks Swedish sailing vessel LUDWIG, 88 tons, 25 miles north of Oerker. This is his first sinking. (I couldn't find a town of Oerker anywhere. This may meen Eckerö, on Aaland.)

Naval operations: Bay of Biscay

Kurt Ramien, in UC-48, scuttles Portuguese sailing vessel AMPHIRITE, 179 tons, en route from Madeira to Bordeaux with a load of wine; off Cabo de Prior, Spain. His score is now 32 vessels and 52,251 tons.

Naval operations: Portugal

Kurt Albrecht, in UC-53, sinks two ships off the Montedor lighthouse:
Danish freighter SS LILLY, 1,150 tons, travelling from the Gambia River to Aarhus with a load of groundnuts.
Norwegian freighter SS TORDENVORE, 1,565 tons, underway from Swansea to Naples with a load of coal.
Albrecht's score is now 7 ships and 9,543 tons.

Naval operations: Balearic Sea

Robert Moraht, in U-64, sinks two ships off Cape Tortosa, Spain:
Italian freighter SS FERT, 5,567 tons. hauling a load of steel and benzine from New Orleans to Genoa.
Norwegian freighter SS GRANTANGEN, 2,484 tons, en route from Newcastle to La Spezia with a load of coal.
Moraht's score is now 20 ships and 59,624 tons.

Naval operations: Golfe du Lion

Ernst Krafft, in U-72, sinks three ships:
Norwegian freighter SS BRAVORE, 1,650 tons, carrying a load of coal from Hull to Porto Empedocles.
British schooner GENERAL LAURIE, 238 tons, sailing from Bahia to Marseilles with a load of cocoa beans.
Italian freighter SS MONTEBELLO, 2,603 tons, en route from Blyth to Civitavecchia with an unspecified cargo.
Krafft's score is now 17 ships and 29,235 tons.

Naval operations: Mediterranean Sea

Robert von Fernland, in Austrian U-27, scuttles French barque ROLAND 30 miles west-southwest of Cythera. His score is now 3 ships and 7,435 tons.

Day 1046 of the Great War, June 11th 1917

Western Front

British progress on mile front south-east of Messines; La Potterie system captured.

Macedonian Front

French troops land at Corinth, and Franco-British force enters Thessaly.

Italian Front: Vain Italian Attack in the Trentino

The Tenth Battle of the Isonzo had resulted in frightful casualties for only meager gains. In an effort to win some substantial victory, especially one on Italian soil, Cadorna planned an offensive in the Trentino, attempting to retake some of the ground lost last summer. When the Austrians counterattacked on the Karst in early June, the date of the offensive was brought forward by nearly 2 weeks, in order to keep the Austrians preoccupied.

When the Italians attacked on June 10, the fighting on the Karst had long since died out. The attack was conducted in the mist, preventing the Italian artillery from knowing whether they were hitting anything or not. The mist later turned to heavy rain, making the ground extremely difficult to navigate, especially as the advance was up a mountain. At 3PM, the Italian infantry, all well-trained mountain troops, attacked on a front scarcely a mile wide. They suffered tremendously; the Austrians were unscathed from the bombardment and could attack them from above. Some units suffered upwards of 70% casualties, with the survivors left clinging to the mountainside. Despite this, further attempts occurred once the weather cleared. While Mt. Ortigara changed hands several times, ultimately, two weeks later, the Italians withdrew to their original lines, after suffering over 25,000 casualties in some of their most elite units.

Canada

Canadian Premier Sir Robert Borden states Canada has suffered 99,000 casualties and thus conscription is necessary.

Sailors and Firemen's Union refuse to let Mr. R. Macdonald, etc., sail for Russia.

Russia

Petrograd Soviet issues statement opposing “an imperialistic war in the name of liberation of nations.”

United Kingdom/United States relations

Lord Northcliffe, owner of the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror, arrives in the U.S. to help coordinate British-U.S. cooperation.

Naval operations: North Atlantic Ocean, far west of Ireland

Waldemar Bender, commanding U-43, sinks British freighter SS TEVIOTDALE, 3,847 tons, bound from Havana for Queenstown with a load of sugar. His score is now 5 ships and 9,837 tons.

Gerhard Berger, in U-50, sinks Norwegian freighter SS SIGRUN, 2,538 tons, en route from Philadelphia to Fleetwood with a load of wheat. His score is now 24 ships and 87,366 tons.

Welhelm Werner, in U-55, torpedoes British passenger ship SS AUSONIA, 8,153 tons, hauling a general cargo from Montreal to Avonmouth. The damaged ship makes it safely to port.

Naval operations: Northwest of Ireland

Alfred Saalwächter, in U-94, uses his deck gun to attack British freighter SS THESSALY, headed from Liverpool to Rosario with a general cargo. The damaged ship makes it safely to port.

Naval operations: Ireland

Hans Adam, in U-82, torpedoes British Q-ship HMS ZYLPHA, 2,917 tons, off the southwest coast of Ireland. His score is now 14 ships and 28,987 tons.

Naval operations: Celtic Sea

Otto Wünsche, in U-70, sinks British freighter SS CITY OF PERTH, 3,427 tons, underway from Alexandria to London with a general cargo; 195 miles west of Ushant. His score is now 71 ships and 163,738 tons.

Herman Glimpf, in UB-20, torpedoes British freighter SS KNIGHT COMPANION, 7241 tons, bound from Dunkerque for Barry Roads; ten miles from the Lizard, just outside the western entrance to the Channel. the damaged ship makes port safely.

Max Viebeg, in UB-32, sinks Italia freighter MAR COR, 3.257 tons, travelling from Cardiff to Dakar, off Bishop Rock. His score is now 22 ships and 32,882 tons.

Johannes Lohs, in UC-75, sinks British freighter SS ANGLIAN, 5,532 tons, carrying a general cargo from boston to London; west-southwest of Bishop Rock. His score is now 19 ships and 13,138 tons.

Naval operations: English Channel

Hans Howaldt, in UB-40, attacks three British freighters near the Owers lightship. Only one of them is sunk:
SS EUSTACE, 3,995 tons, travelling in ballast from London to Barry; damaged.
SS HUNTSHOLM, 2,073 tons, travelling in ballast from Dieppe to Southampton; sunk.
SS MARGARITA, 2,788 tons, carrying a load of coal from Hull to Madras; damaged.
Howald's score is now 29 ships and 44,126 tons.

Naval operations: North Sea

Kurt Bernis, in UC-41, sinks Norwegian freighter SS BREID, 1,062 tons, carrying a load of pit props from Fredrikshald to West Hartlepool; off Noss Head, Scotland. His score is now 15 ships and 7,952 tons.

Naval operations: Sea of Åland

Karl Vesper, in UC-58, sinks Swedish ketch AUGUST, 120 tons, en route from Ornö to Finland with a load of feldspar; off the Unterstens lighthouse. His score is now 19 vessels and 16,776 tons.

Naval operations: Portugal

Kurt Albrecht, in UC-53, scuttles Russian sailing vessel SIBENS, 323 tons, bound from Cadiz to Chatham, New Brunswick with a load of salt; off the Santa Maria lighthouse, Cascais. His score is now 9 vessels and 10,070 tons.

Naval operations: West of Gibraltar

Walter Forstmann, in U-39, scuttles Russian sailing vessel WERA, 476 tons, en route from Fowey to Saville; 100 miles off Cadiz. His score is now 158 vessels and 332,804 tons.

Naval operations: Japanese Destroyer Torpedoed in Mediterranean

Although Japan had declared war on Germany in the first weeks of the war, she had not played much of an active role since the last German presence was cleared out of the Pacific. The sinking of Japanese ships by German submarines led to Japan considering sending a detachment to the Mediterranean, but ultimately no ships were sent beyond the Indian Ocean, fearing that any more far-flung deployment would weaken their navy in the Pacific in the event of war with the United States.

This changed in February 1917, when the resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare meant that destroyers were needed more than ever, and increased the likelihood of US entry into the war against Germany. On April 16, 8 Japanese destroyers and 1 cruiser arrived at Malta, and began to escort Allied troopships in the Mediterranean.

On June 11, the Japanese squadron in the Mediterranean suffered its worst day, when the destroyer SAKAKI was torpedoed by UC-27 off of Crete. 59 men were killed, including the ship’s captain. Despite the large number of deaths and the extreme damage to the ship, she was able to limp into Piraeus, and she was eventually repaired and returned to duty.

Naval operations: Mediterranean Sea

Wilhelm Marschall, in UC-74, sinks British freighter SS BENHA, 1,878 tons, travelling from Limassol to Leith with a load of carob; northeast of Marsa Susa. His score is now 10 ships and 30,780 tons.

Day 1048 of the Great War, June 13th 1917

Western Front

Britain claims 7,432 German prisoners and 47 artillery guns were captured in the past 6 days in Flanders.

Italian Front

Austrian attack on Mt. Ortigara repulsed.

Macedonian Front

Trikala and Volo (Thessaly) occupied by Allies.

United Kingdom

Serious explosion in munitions factory at Ashton-under-Lyne.

Aerial operations: London’s Burning

After two abortive attempts, the Germans finally carried out a successful air raid on London with their Gothas. 20 aircraft set off, but two quickly turned back with engine problems.

As they approached England one Gotha left the formation and headed towards Margate. At 1043am it was spotted by the AA gun at St.Peter’s which opened fire at the lone Gotha. It then dropped five bombs, two of which failed to explode, but the others injured four civilians, and caused minor damage including broken windows.

The main formation continued across the Thames Estuary, and at 10.50 approached Foulness Island. At this point, place three more aeroplanes left the main formation, and headed for Shoeburyness, where two of them dropped six bombs which slightly injured two civihans but caused no damage. The third flew up the Thames to Greenwich but did not drop any bombs.

The remaining 14 Gothas, headed for London in a tight formation (remarkable enough to be pictured in the Official History). The attack began at 1135. Bombs fell on East Ham, Royal Albert Dock, and Islington.

The raiders then turned to the City, bombing in two separate formations which converged for the main attack on the City, where, in two minutes, seventy-two bombs fell within a radius of a mile from Liverpool Street station. The total casualties were 162 killed and 432 injured, the greatest inflicted in any one bombing attack on England during the war.

The casualties may have been higher but for the actions of PC Albert Smith. When workers in a factory in Central Street tried to run out when they heard approaching bombs he forced them back inside and closed the door. Moments later the bombs exploded in the street claiming PC Smith amongst its victims

The most tragic happening of the morning took place in Upper North Street Schools at Poplar. A 50kg bomb passed through the roof and three floors of the school to the ground floor. In its passage through the building, during which two children were killed, half of the bomb was torn away, but the remainder exploded among 64 children. Sixteen of them were killed and thirty more, together with two men and two women, were injured. Another bomb, of similar weight, which passed through the five floors of the Cowper Street Foundation School, City Road, failed to explode.

The response from the air services was predictably ineffectual. 94 aircraft of the RFC and RNAS flew defence sorties but there was no coordination and aircraft flew alone. Only 11 of these aircraft managed to get within firing range but none were able to damage any of the raiding Gothas. Captain Con William Eric Cole-Hamilton and Cecil Horace Case Keevil, from 35 Training Squadron attacked three Gothas ‘straggling over Ilford’, in their Bristol F2b Fighter (A7135). They were shot up by defensive machine gun fire and Keevil was killed. Keevil had recently transferred to the RFC after being badly wounded on the Somme in 1916.

Naval operations: Ireland

Alfred Saalwächter, Commanding U-94, sinks Norwegian freighter SS CEDERIC, 2,344 tons, bound from New York for Liverpool with a general cargo; off Tory Island. His score is now 12 ships and 21,423 tons.

Naval operations: Celtic Sea

Kurt Heeseler, in U-54, sinks British freighter SS DARIUS, 3,426 tons. en route from Villaricos to Tyne with a load of iron ore. His score is now 2 ships and 4,949 tons.

Hans Adam, in U-82, uses his deck gun to sink Norwegian freighter SS Storegut, 2,557 tons, headed from Philadelphia to Le Havre with a load of oil and paraffin wax. His score is now 15 ships and 31,544 tons.

Naval operations: Faroe Bank

Ernst Wilhelms, in U-69, sinks British freighter SS KELVINBANK, 4,072 tons, carrying a general cargo from Liverpool and Glasgow to Archangelsk; 100 miles north of Cape Wrath, Scotland. His score is now 28 ships and 87,004 tons.

Naval operations: North Sea

Ernst Hashagen, in U-62, sinks two Norwegian sailing vessels off Utsira Island:
CANDACE, 395 tons, carrying coal from West Hartlepool to Uddevalla.
SYLVIA, 148 tons, hauling coal from Blyth to Stavanger.
Hashagen's score is now 29 vessels and 39,363 tons.

Günther Krause, in UB-41, uses his deck gun to sink British coaster SS SILVERBURN, 284 tons, hauling a load of coal from Sunderland to Peterhead. His score is now 6 ships and 5,098 tons.

Naval operations: Skagerrak

Karl Ruprecht, in UB-33, takes Swedish coaster SS GERTIE, 257 tons, underway from Gothenburg to Hull with a load of iron and steel, as a prize. His score is now 2 ships and 807 tons.
Naval operations: Bay of Biscay

Kurt Ramien, in UC-48, scuttles French schooner ERNESTINE, 160 tons, carrying a load of wood from France to England; off Cap Ferret. His score is now 34 vessels and 53,628 tons.

Naval operations: Ligurian Sea

Ernst Krafft, in U-72, sinks two Italian sailing vessels off Cape Camarat (south of Cannes):
SANTO, 622 tons; gun.
BIAGIO, 276 tons, scuttled.
Krafft's score is now 19 vessels and 30,133 tons.

Naval operations: Sicily

Alfred Klatt, in UC-38, torpedoes British freighter SS ST. ANDREWS, 3,613 tons, carrying a load of grain from Karachi to Marseille; off Cape Sparviento, the southernmost tip of Sicily. His score is now 23 ships and 24,688 tons.

Naval operations: Aegean Sea

Johannes Kirchner, in UC-23, sinks Greek sailing vessel AGHIOS NICOLAOS, 120 tons, off the island of Icaria. his score is now 8 vessels and 16,797 tons.

Day 1050 of the Great War, June 15th 1917

YouTube (Italian Mountain Warfare - The Espionage Act)



Western Front

German counter-attack south-east of Ypres repulsed.

Small British advance near Bullecourt.

Italian Front

Italians carry position on Corno Cavento (west Trentino) and repulse attack on Mt. Ortigara.

British withdraw on wide front from advanced positions in Struma Valley.

United Kingdom

British public demands the government to provide better warning for airplane raids after the recent devastating attacks by the Germans.

Lord Rhondda's appointment as Food Controller announced.

Andrew Bonar Law announces all Irish prisoners taken during the Easter Rising will be released.

Haiti

Haiti breaks off relations with Germany.

United States: Espionage Act Passed; Emma Goldman Arrested

After extensive debate in Congress, the Espionage Act was passed and signed into law by President Wilson on June 15–albeit without the press censorship provisions Wilson desired. Nevertheless, the prohibited acts were still quite broad, and the sentences harsh. Anything that could be conveyed as interfering with military operations, promoting the success of America’s enemies, causing insubordination among soldiers, or obstructing enlistment, could be punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Any mail that was deemed to be in violation of the Act could be barred from the postal system, by order of the Postmaster General.

Late that afternoon, with the act in force for a matter of hours, Secret Service agents arrested the noted anarchists Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman. The pair had been agitating against conscription, and had been advocating that young men refuse to register for the draft. Although the most straightforward charges under the Espionage Act would be difficult to prove due to the speedy nature of their arrest (due to constitutional protections against ex post facto laws), they would eventually be charged with conspiracy to commit crimes under the Espionage Act, a lesser charge. At her trial, Goldman would say in her defense:

We say that if America has entered the war to make the world safe for democracy, she must first make democracy safe in America. How else is the world to take America seriously, when democracy at home is daily being outraged, free speech suppressed, peaceable assemblies broken up by overbearing and brutal gangsters in uniform; when free press is curtailed and every independent opinion gagged? Verily, poor as we are in democracy, how can we give of it to the world?

The jury was not receptive to these sorts of arguments during wartime, and in July the pair were given the maximum sentence of two years in prison; they were deported to the Soviet Union after the war.

Arab Revolt: T.E. Lawrence and Arabs Cut Damascus-Medina Railroad

The amount of money that the British government spent for Lawrence of Arabia’s campaign would have financed only seven hours of fighting on the Western Front. Yet the Arab Revolt, despite its minuscule size relative to the other fronts of the war, continues to grip the imagination in ways that few other historical adventures do. Out in the desert, the British archaeologist T.E. Lawrence continued to work with a band of Arab rebels against the Ottoman government. On June 15, 1917, they blew up a stretch of the Damascus-Medina railroad between Amman and Dera’a. In return for Arab help, the British government listened to Lawrence’s arguments for an independent Arab state after the war.

Yet Britain’s countless imperial entanglements promised certain dispute in the future. On the same day that Lawrence and his men blew the railroad tracks, a Royal Navy yacht secretly delivered two Palestinian Jewish agents to Athlit, where they would use explosives to destroy other portions of the railroad. By the end of the war, Britain was to have promised portions of the middle east to the Jews, the Arabs, and to the French - promises impossible to fulfill.

Aerial operations: Methods suggested for the prevention of air raids in the United Kingdom

Douglas Haig has been called home to discuss the war effort. He has been told that following the raid on London on 13 June, the public outcry has been such that the Government will be discussing home defence. Hugh Trenchard, Commander of the RFC was asked to set down his thoughts on defending the coast.

He set them down today to an HQ memorandum to Haig:

“METHODS SUGGESTED FOR THE PREVENTING OF AIR RAIDS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM [Memorandum of Major-General H. M. Trenchard, prepared for the Commander-in-Chief, June 1917]

Before attempting to lay down methods, the following points must be understood

(a) To keep one machine in the air all day requires five machines and five pilots at least.

(b) It is no good suggesting methods which the present limitation of aircraft would prevent being carried out regularly and systematically, such as choosing an objective outside the normal range of the machine.

(c) The least effective and most expensive way of protecting a place like London is to have constant patrols. (d) The limitation of the output of pilots, machines, and engines owing first to the shortage of labour and secondly to the shortage of raw material.

The following methods are suggested:
1. To capture the Belgian Coast up to Holland
2. Landing people with explosives to set fire to sheds at night
3. Reprisals
4. Patrols

1. Capture of the Coast

With regard to this, the advantages are:

(a) If the coast was captured the German machines would then have to cross our lines or pass over neutral country. If they crossed our lines they would be engaged by our anti-aircraft guns; they would have to pass over our aerodromes, and our fast machines would be able to see them and go up and engage them over the latter long before they got to England. The Germans would also have to come back the same way, again being engaged both by aeroplanes and anti-aircraft guns.

(b) They would also be more easily seen and warnings could be sent to England.

(c) Their landing-grounds would be further away from England.

2. Landing People at Night

The advantages of this system are:

(a) Very few machines are required to do this. Two or three machines could land in the vicinity of a big aerodrome on a really good moonlight night and set fire to the sheds.

(b) If these big bombing machines which the Germans are using could be burnt, it would take some considerable time to provide new ones.

The disadvantages are:

(a) It could not be done except on a good night.

(b) It is impossible to say on which aerodrome the machines might be. Even if a squadron is located at one aerodrome, there is nothing to prevent it from moving to another unknown to us.

(c) If the sheds were set alight and destroyed it would only be possible to do this once or twice before the sheds were heavily protected and if unsuccessful the first time it would probably fail again at subsequent attempts.

(d) The man landed would have to trust to get through to Holland to get away and probably this would be impossible, but no doubt we could get volunteers for it.

3. Reprisals (by a few machines or by large organized squadrons).

The advantages of this method are

(a) The German population is more easily moved by having their own country touched than the English population

(b) The first method is to use a few machines which could be made available in England and sent out to us here to go long distances such as to Aix-la-Chapelle, Cologne, Coblenz and to send one or two of these machines with selected pilots to drop bombs and papers warning them that more machines would be sent as was done in the case of the French bombing raid on Freiburg. This might have some effect without entail- ing the use of large forces as single machines would have a greater chance of getting through and back again without being seen, and this could be done at once.

(c) The G.O.C. the German Flying Corps has stated that the distant towns are out of reach of British machines, and he has assured the whole country of this. (d) This might have a great effect on the enemy as it might make him withdraw a certain number of machines, and certainly withdraw pilots for the local defence of towns.

The disadvantages are

(a) There are no army machines in France with sufficient range to be able to carry out raids on Prussian towns, but this difficulty would be got over by improvised machines. There are a certain number of machines in this country that would be able to carry out raids on the Southern German towns such as Freiburg, but there are machines which could be provided from home, if the information I have been supplied with is correct (such as the De Hav. 4 with B.H.P. engine and 5 J hours petrol), but these machines could not bomb the far distant towns except on favourable occasions.

(b) To organize bombing squadrons with a large range on a large scale would take a considerable time.

(c) Another disadvantage of reprisals is they would only lead to further reprisals from the enemy. We must be prepared, if reprisal methods are to be adopted, to carry it through and outlast the enemy. They would always defeat us at reprisals unless we put forth our whole energy and this would seriously interfere with the supply of the machines necessary for artillery work.

4. Patrols.

I will discuss these rather generally from the point of view of three possible systems

(a) Constant patrols protecting London, the English Coast, or the Coast out here. The patrolling of these areas would mean a large number of machines, and even then, as the air is so vast, it would still be comparatively easy for the German machines to get to London without having been seen or caught by any of our patrols on the way. This method might, of course, with luck, intercept the machines and either bring them down or drive them back. This has been proved without a doubt during the last two years of fighting on the Western front. The system would, however, lock up a very large number of machines and pilots on a purely defensive plan which would never stop an aggressive enemy.

(b) Another system of patrols would be to patrol over the enemy’s aerodromes to watch for machines leaving. This would also entail a large number of machines and in addition they would either have to patrol under the fire of the enemy’s anti-aircraft guns, or if they kept at such a height that the guns could not do much harm then the aerodrome would very often be out of sight. It would be very hard to know whether our machines were patrolling over the right aerodromes, as during the summer the enemy has many temporary aerodromes, and all our information goes to prove that they move their machines constantly from one aerodrome to another. Temporary aerodromes are made fairly easily during the dry weather.

(c) A third system of patrolling would be to have one or two machines with long-range wireless to patrol the Coast from Dunkirk to Holland watching for the German machine s to come out to sea. This, of course, has the same drawback as the first system of patrolling, i.e. the machine would probably not see the enemy, but, of course, if he did see them and sent his wireless message England would be warned earlier and also Dunkirk, at both of which places a special group of fast machines could be located ready to go up and attempt to follow and attack the raiders. This might be successful at times, but it is not a sure method.

Other methods which have been suggested are:

The constant bombing of German aerodromes. But I would point out that during the whole time we have been on the Western Front only once has a bomb hit one of our hangars, on this occasion it destroyed five machines. We have bombed the enemy’s aerodromes a great number of times, but I do not suppose we have destroyed more than one hundred of his machines in this way, as even if we do hit a shed it is probably a small one containing one machine only, as many German aerodromes have this type of shed.

Daylight bombing from a height is still very inaccurate and though large towns and big stations are easy to hit, it is very hard to hit a small individual shed.
The chief point to remember is that practically none of our machines have got the necessary range or tank capacity for long-distance bombing. It should be remembered that over a year ago we asked that, as soon as the Army had been supplied with the necessary number of machines to enable the Army’s operations to be carried out efficiently, ten bombing squadrons should be provided with a view to carrying out this sort of work. I regret to say we are apparently nowhere near receiving these latter squadrons as we have not yet got the necessary number of machines to meet the needs of the Army.”

Naval operations: ship losses

ADDAH (United Kingdom) The Elder Dempster 4,397 grt cargo/passenger ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Bay of Biscay 35 nautical miles (65 km) south west of Penmarc'h, Finistère, France (47°24′N 5°00′W) by SM UC-69 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of nine of her crew, whilst en route from Montreal to Cherbourg. The sinking is notable because when the submarine surfaced Oberleutnant zur See, Erwin Waßner ordered firing on the Captain's boat, hereby killing 8 men. The master's boat's stern was blown off, but the U-boat continued firing at the swimming men as their lifeboat was sinking. The Chief Officer's lifeboat was also targeted and again some men were wounded badly. When the U-boat finally disappeared, the Captain and others made it for the second lifeboat.

ALBERTINE BEATRICE Beatrice (Netherlands) The barque was shelled and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 200 nautical miles (370 km) south west of the Fastnet Rock (48°02′N 10°57′W) by SM U-82 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

ASSUNIONE (Italy) The cargo ship struck a mine and sank in the Mediterranean Sea east of Bône, Algeria (37°00′N 8°00′E). Her crew survived.

CLIO (Sweden) The sailing vessel struck a mine and sank in the Baltic Sea off Vaasa, Finland.

ESPINHO (Portugal) The coaster was torpedoed, shelled and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean (37°34′N 9°06′W by SM U-39 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

PASHA (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Strait of Messina (37°52′N 15°27′E) by SM UC-38 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of three of her crew.

TEESDALE (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was damaged in the English Channel 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) off Bolt Head, Devon by SM UB-31 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of three of her crew. She was later refloated.

WAPELLO (United Kingdom) The tanker was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel 14 nautical miles (26 km) west south west of the Owers Lightship ( United Kingdom) (50°30′N 0°57′W) by SM UC-71 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of two of her crew.

WESTONBY (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 195 nautical miles (361 km) south west by south of the Fastnet Rock by SM U-82 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

Day 1052 of the Great War, June 17th 1917

Western Front: Portuguese Troops See First Major Action in Flanders

Portugal had engaged in an unofficial colonial war with the Germans in Africa since 1915, and officially went to war after violations by German U-boats in 1916. With help from Britain and France, the Iberian nation prepared an expeditionary force to go to France, the CEP: Corpo Expedicionário Português. Trained by British sergeants, armed with Lewis guns and Lee-Enfields, and wearing tommy-style tin hats, the two divisions of Portuguese troops looked much like their oldest allies, although they retained light-blue uniforms.

The sense of adventure quickly soured for the 50,000 men of the CEP, however. The muddy and cold conditions of Flanders depressed them, while German artillery took its toll. Rations were bad, and British officers behaved imperiously towards their new allies. The British generals under whom the CEP was placed preferred to use the Portuguese for grueling labor, sparing their Commonwealth troops from such work. The Portuguese were “lesser allies” for the British. In the Portuguese ranks, a good deal of men began wondering why exactly they were fighting in Belgium in the first place.

The Portuguese received their first chances to fight in the late spring and early summer. When the Germans opposite in the line discovered that they faced Portuguese, they made strong raids to try and dispirit them. The Portuguese, however, generally fought back well when they finally got the chance to fight.

Italian Front

Austrian attacks on Asiago Plateau (Trentino) and Vodice repulsed.

Italian advance near Jamiano (Carso).

Russia

Russian Duma announces a resolution for an immediate offensive by Russian troops against the Germans.

Germany

Germany announces it will allow neutral ships stuck in British ports to safely leave on July 1st.

Germany moves prisoners of war at least 30 kilometers from the frontlines to keep them away from artillery range.

Aerial operations: Another one bites the dust

Following the successful aircraft raid. On 13 June, another Zeppelin raid was made overnight with the same result as the raid on

Four Zeppelins set off to bomb England, but with only four hours of darkness, it was obvious that the airships would be unable to penetrate very far inland. In the event they encountered head winds and only two reached the coast.

The L42 appeared over the North Foreland at 0205 and bombed Ramsgate, Manston, and Garlinge. One bomb exploded in a naval ammunition store near the Clock Tower in Ramsgate Harbour and great military damage was caused. The buildings of the naval base were destroyed and many thousands of windows throughout the town were shattered. Two men and a woman were killed and seven men, seven women, and two children were injured.

During the attack the Zeppelin was caught by search light but lost again, apparently due to the fact that the underside of the L42 was painted black. A number of Naval pilots went up to intercept. Flight Sub- Lieutenant George Henry Bittles, in a seaplane, engaged the L42 at 11,000 feet when she was thirty miles east of Lowestoft, but her nose went up rapidly and the seaplane was soon outdistanced. Flight Lieutenant Egbert Cadbury, in a Sopwith Pup also caught up with the L42 at 15,000 feet and at once attacked. However, a petrol-pipe fracture hampered the plane’s climbing ability and the Zeppelin was able to get away. Another flying boat chased and the at 16,000 feet, found herself alone and out of harm’s way and, although a flying-boat took up the L42 but was unable to catch up.

The L48 was first seen about forty miles north-east of Harwich at 1134, but did not actually come inland until 0200, having struggled with engine problems and a frozen compass. L48 then attacked Harwich but was driven off by anti-aircraft fire.

Two aircraft took off from the RFC’s Orfordness Experimental Station shortly before 0200. Lieutenant Ernest William Clarke in a BE2c fired four drums at long range as he was unable to get above 11,000 feet. Lieutenant Frank Douglas Holder flying a FE2b with Sergeant Sydney Ashby as his observer made a number of attacks, but Holder’s front gun jammed and so did Ashby’s while firing his fifth drum.

At 0328 near Theberton, Captain Robert Henry Magnus Spencer Saundby, RFC also from the Orfordness Station in a DH2 and Lieutenant Loudon Pierce Watkins, 37 Home Defence Squadron RFC in a BE12 made further attacks. Saundby fired off three drums and Watkins fired off three as well. At that point the L48 burst into flames and crashed into a field at Holly Tree Farm. Remarkably, three of the crew survived, albeit badly injured – Heinrich Ellerkamm, Wilhelm Uecker and Otto Miethe.

Captain Franz Georg Eichler, and the commander of the Naval Airship Division, Korvettenkapitän Viktor Schütze, who was also on board were both killed. Other crew members killed were Heinrich Ahrens, Wilhelm Betz, Walter Dippmann, Wilhelm Gluckel, Paul Hannemann, Heinrich Herbst, Franz Konig, Wilhelm Meyer, Karl Milich, Michael Neunzig, Karl Floger, Paul Suchlich, Herman Van Stockum and Paul Westphal.

Naval operations: ship losses

AGHIOS GEORGIOS (Greece) The sailing vessel was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 30 nautical miles (56 km) west of Malta (35°37′N 13°49′E) by SM UC-22 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

ANJOU (French Navy) The auxiliary minesweeper struck a mine laid by UC 48 (Kurt Ramien) and sank in the Adour at Bayonne, Pyrénées-Atlantiques (43°35′N 1°32′W). Her crew survived.

ANTONIOS M. MAVROGORDATOS (Greece) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 7 nautical miles (13 km) south of the Wolf Rock, Cornwall, United Kingdom (49°55′N 5°59′W) by SM UC-48 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

ARGENTINA (Italy) The sailing vessel was sunk in the Gulf of Gabès off Djerba, Tunisia by SM UC-27 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

BELL ANGELINA (Italy )The fishing vessel was sunk in the Gulf of Gabès by SM UC-27 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

FORNEBO (United Kingdom) The tanker was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) north of Cape Wrath, Sutherland by SM U-78 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

HMT FRASER(Royal Navy) The naval trawler struck a mine laid by UC 65 (Otto Steinbrinck) and sank in the English Channel off Boulogne, Pas-de-Calais, France with the loss of twelve of her crew.

GUISEPPE S. (Italy) The fishing vessel was sunk in the Gulf of Gabès by SM UC-27 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

GUNHILD(Denmark) The coaster was torpedoed and sunk in the Barents Sea 22 nautical miles (41 km) off Holmengrå, Finnmark, Norway (60°45′N 4°19′E) by SM U-100 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of six of her crew.

LIZZIE WESTOLL (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 120 nautical miles (220 km) north west by west of the Fastnet Rock (51°39′N 12°44′W) by SM UC-42 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

LUIGINA (Italy) The fishing vessel was sunk in the Gulf of Gabès by SM UC-27 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

NOSTRA MADRE (Italy) The barque was shelled and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 70 nautical miles (130 km) east of the Fastnet Rock by SM U-60 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

RALOO (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in St. George's Channel 6 nautical miles (11 km) south east by east of the Coningbeg Lightship ( United Kingdom) by SM U-61 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of three crew.

SAN ANTONIO V (Italy) The fishing vessel was sunk in the Gulf of Gabès by SM UC-27 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

STANHOPE (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel 7 nautical miles (13 km) south west by west of Start Point, Devon (50°08′N 3°45′W) by SM UB-31 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of 22 of her crew.

HMS TARTAR (Royal Navy) The Tribal-class destroyer struck a mine laid by UC 65 (Otto Steinbrinck) and was damaged in the English Channel off Boulogne with the loss of 45 of her crew.

TOSTO (Norway) The cargo ship struck a mine laid by UC 49 (Karl Petri) and sank off Noup Head, Westray, Orkney Islands, United Kingdom. Her crew survived.