100 Years Ago Today

[Jimbuna]

27th June 1916

Western Front

French repulse German attacks on the heights of the Meuse and at Metzeral.

Despite Allied bombardment at the Somme, German “dugouts are still good. The [Germans] appear to remain…completely sheltered.”

Eastern Front

Germans occupy Halicz, and advance to the Bug.

Russians retreat from the line of the Dniester to Gnila-Lipa line.

Russian attacks break down north of Przasnysz.

German troops under von Linsingen capture Russian positions in Volhynia, while German aeroplanes bomb Dvinsk (Daugavpils).

Southern Front

Dardanelles: British carry four Turkish lines near Krithia.

Serbians capture island of Michaiska (Danube).

Naval and Overseas Operations

Coast of Asia Minor opposite Chios bombarded by H.M.S. "Hussar".

Political, etc.

Report shows that the U.S. trade in May reached record highs due to the war. The favorable trade balance was $243 million.

Mexico deploys 40,000 troops along railways near the U.S. border in order to face a possible U.S. invasion.

Ship Losses:

Mongibello (Italy) The cargo ship was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 50 nautical miles (93 km) off Port Mahon, Minorca, Spain (39°45′N 5°20′E) by SM U-35 ( Kaiserliche Marine).
Northland United States The cargo ship sank at Kake, Alaska.[73]
Pino (Italy) The cargo ship was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 60 nautical miles (110 km) off Port Mahon (39°55′N 5°30′E) by SM U-35 ( Kaiserliche Marine).
Roma (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 50 nautical miles (93 km) east of Minorca (39°50′N 5°10′E) by SM U-35 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.
Waalstroom (Netherlands) The cargo ship struck a mine laid by UC 6 (Otto Ehrentraut) and sank in the North Sea 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) north east of the Shipwash Lightship ( United Kingdom) (52°06′30″N 1°51′20″E).
Windermere (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was scuttled in the Mediterranean Sea 58 nautical miles (107 km) south south east of Port Mahon (39°50′N 5°40′E) by SM U-35 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of twelve crew.

[Sailor Steve]

June 27, 1916

Fokker Aircraft's chief designer Martin Kreuzer is performing an acceptance flight in a D.I when the plane crashes. Kreuzer is dragged from the wreckage and manages to report a jammed rudder before he dies.



Air War:
German ace Oswald Boelcke has been told he will be posted to a non-flying position to protect him after the death of Immelmann. He determines to fly as much as possible before that happens, and on June 27th he takes his Fokker E.IV up in bad weather and attacks a group of five French aircraft. He chases one plane until he loses sight of it in the dark. The next day it is reported that a Nieuport crashed on the German side of the lines. Since he was the only pilot flying that late he is awarded victory number 19.

On the Southern Front, Italian pilots Alessandro Buzio and Guido Nardini share a 4-way kill with two other pilots, all in Nieuport 11s. Their victim is unidentified.



North Sea:
Paul Hundius, commanding UB-16, takes Belgian sailing vessel Z-20 as a prize. Tonnage, route and cargo unknown.

Dutch freighter SS Waalstroom, 1,441 tons, bound from Swansea for Amsterdam with a general cargo, hits a mine laid by Otto Ehrentraut in UC-6, raising his score to 7 ships and 4,797 tons.

Danish coaster SS Knuthenborg, 527 tons, travelling in ballast from Grimsby to Tyne, is lost after a collision with SS Rhone.



Mediterranean Sea:
Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière, in U-35, sinks four more ships:
Italian freighter SS Mongibello, 4,059 tons, travelling from Baltimore to Genoa.
Italian freighter SS Pino, 1,677 tons, en route from Swansea to Savona.
Italian freighter SS Roma, 2,491 tons, bound from Clyde for Porto Vecchio.
British freighter SS Wendermere, 2,292 tons, carrying a load of coal from Tyne to Savona.
Von Arnauld's score is now 45 ships and 97,934 tons.



German East Africa:
British army major Brook and ten native askaris join HMS Mersey.

Light cruiser HMS Talbot moves from her Ulenge Island anchorage to Tanga bay, where she fires on German trenches at Aboni from 0810 to 0855.

[Jimbuna]

28th June 1916

Western Front

Battle of Verdun: Heavy fighting at Fleury and Hill 321; Germans repulsed north-west of Thiaumont.

Eastern Front

Heavy fighting on Lutsk salient; Austrians defeated on 25-mile front east of Kolomea; 10,000 prisoners reported; Germans repulsed in Riga district. Despite German use of gas, Russian troops repel German attacks south of Riga and on the Dvina River.

Southern Front

Italians regain half the trenches lost during the Austrian offensive.

Italian cavalry reach Pedescala (north-east of Arsiero).

Political, etc.

British abandon Declaration of London.

Mexican government orders the release of 23 U.S. Army troops in an attempt to defuse U.S.-Mexican tensions.

A bill to permanently ban vodka is being discussed in the Russian Duma.

Ship Losses:

Knuthenborg (Denmark) The cargo ship collided with Rhone ( Denmark in the North Sea off Hornsea, Yorkshire, United Kingdom and sank. Her crew were rescued by Rhone.
Mercurius (United Kingdom) The dredger struck a mine laid by UC 1 (Kurt Ramien) and sank in the North Sea 3 nautical miles (5.6 km) south east of Lowestoft, Suffolk with the loss of six of her seven crew.
Serpente (Regia Marina) The Sirio-class torpedo boat collided with Citta di Bari ( Italy) and sank in the Adriatic Sea.

[Sailor Steve]

June 28, 1916

North Sea:
British dredger Mercurius, 129 tons, hits a mine laid by Kurt Ramien in UC-1, bringing his score to 6 ships and 15,934 tons.



German East Africa:
Battleship HMS Vengeance leads an attack on Kilwa Kivinje.
0740 Monitor HMS Mersey and whaler Pickle stop off Jewe Reef to wait for Vengeance.
0800 Vengeance and HMS Manica join Mersey and Pickle.
0940 Vengeance and Manica anchor at Kilwa Kivinje.
1035 Mersey opens fire on Gingwera camp.
1040 Mersey ceases fire and joins Vengeance.
1115 Manica launches seaplane for spotting. Vengeance opens fire with 12" and 6" guns.
1120 Mersey opens fire again.
1220 Ships cease firing.
0330 HMS Manica puts up seaplane to assess damage.
1530 Mersey departs.
1630 Vengeance and Manica depart.

[Jimbuna]

29th June 1916

Western Front

Champagne: German first and second line trenches taken at Tahure; German attack on Hill 304 (Verdun), repulsed.

Eastern Front

Germans repulsed north-east of Vilna.

Naval and Overseas Operations

Turkish steamers sunk by Russians in the Black Sea.

Political, etc.

Roger Casement found guilty of high treason and sentenced to death.

U.S. demands apology from Austria for the sinking of the "Petrolite".

It is announced that meats will be rationed across the entire German Empire starting on September 1st.

Ship Losses:

Carlo Alberto (Italy) The sailing vessel was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea west of Sicily (37°45′N 12°10′E) by SM U-35 ( Kaiserliche Marine).
Giuseppina (Italy) The barquentine was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea west of Sicily 38°18′N 9°50′W) by SM U-35 ( Kaiserliche Marine).
HMT Hirose (Royal Navy) The naval trawler struck a mine laid by UC 6 (Otto Ehrentraut) and sank in the North Sea off Aldeburgh, Suffolk (52°08′10″N 1°42′20″E) with the loss of ten of her crew.
Teano (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was scuttled in the Mediterranean Sea 24 nautical miles (44 km) north west of Marettimo, Italy (38°15′N 11°45′E) by SM U-35 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew were rescued by Molina( Norway).

[Sailor Steve]

June 29, 1916

Air War:
Between the hours of 0700 and 0820 Czech-born Austro-Hungarian pilot Heinrich Kostrba and Austrian Observer Johann Frint, in Hansa-Brandenburg C.I 26.09, shoot down three Italian-flown Farman two-seaters. Victories number 5, 6 and 7 for Kostrba, numbers 3, 4 and 5 for Frint.

German pilot Otto Parschau, in a Fokker E.III, claims a French Voisin for victory number 5. The French record no losses for the day, but the British do report losing a DH.2 flown by 2nd Lt Kenneth Parnell McNamara, KIA. The confusion may come from the German habit of listing all pushers as 'gitterumpf', or 'lattice frame'.



North Sea:
His Majesty's Trawler Hirose, 275 tons, runs on a mine laid by Otto Ehrentraut in UC-6, bringing his score to 8 ships and 5,072 tons.



Mediterranean Sea:
Lothar von Arnauld de la Perière, commanding U-35, sinks three more ships:
Italian sailing ship Carlo Alberto, 312 tons.
Italian barquentine Giuseppina, 214 tons.
British freighter SS Teano, 1,907 tons, bound from Hull for Naples with a load of coal and general cargo.
Von Arnauld's score is now 48 ships and 107,657 tons. This finishes a record patrol of 40 ships sunk for 57,131 tons in 18 days.



German East Africa:
Light cruiser HMS Challenger continues the previous day's attack at Kilwa Kivinje, sinking several dhows in Ginwera Creek with gunfire directed by seaplanes from HMS Manica and Himalaya.



Gulf of Mexico:
Italian sailing ship Mount Carmel, 1,686 tons, travelling in ballast from Genoa to Pensacola, is last seen off the Pensacola Bar on this day, and not heard from again.

[Oberon]

Time for me to return to the story of my predecessors, at this time my great-great-grandfather Robert Currie was serving as a driver in the Army Service Corps 52nd Train in Egypt, and my great-grandfather Edward Clack had been transferred to the 6th Battalion Wiltshire Regiment (part of 58th Brigade - 19th Western Division) in December after recovering from wounds in Alder Hey Hospital in England that he had received during the Turkish offensive of 10th August 1915 at Gallipoli. He'd managed to avoid the Battle of Loos...but soon he would be embroiled in the Battle of the Somme. Batallion diaries show the build up to the offensive, with extensive training in May, and heavy artillery bombardment from the 23rd to the 26th, on the 28th operations were postponed for 48 hours due to heavy rain, on the 29th final inspections were carried out in preparation...


The area of La Boiselle, where the 6th Wiltshire was about to attack

30th June 1916

All packs, kits etc sent back to Divisional Train - Battalion moved at 10p.m to preliminary position South of JUNO Bridge on the railway line Nr ALBERT. Walter Long Lt.Col. Commdg 6th Bn Wiltshire Regiment Remarks LENS. SHEET 11

[Jimbuna]

30th June 1916

Western Front

Continued Allied bombardment on Western Front.

Verdun: French counterattack against the Germans reach Fort Thiaumont, but heavy back-and-forth fighting continues.

Naval and Overseas Operations

Baltic: Indecisive small British naval action.

German submarine SM U-10 strikes a mine in the Gulf of Finland and sinks with all 29 hands.


Aviation

The first flight of an aircraft with all-metal stressed skin construction, the Zeppelin-Lindau Rs.II, takes place.


Political, etc.

Trades Union Congress, representing 3 million workers, meets in London to ask the British government to set food prices.

Ship Losses:

Moeris (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 46 nautical miles (85 km) south east of Cape Sidero, Crete, Greece by SM UB-44 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of three of her crew.
SM U-10 (Kaiserliche Marine) The Type U 9 submarine struck a mine in the Gulf of Finland and sank with the loss of all 29 crew.
HMT Whooper (Royal Navy) The naval trawler struck a mine laid by UC 1 (Kurt Ramien) and sank in the North Sea 4.5 nautical miles (8.3 km) north of Southwold, Suffolk with the loss of nine of her crew.

Merchant Shipping

British, Allied and Neutral ships lost to enemy submarines, mines and cruisers etc in the month - 68 ships of 109,000 tons gross. (Lloyd's War Losses).

[Sailor Steve]

June 30, 1916

Idflieg Bi-Monthly Report on German Fighters at the Front

Fokker:
E.I 3
E.II 4
E.III 101
E.IV 29

Pfalz:
E.I 13
E.II 30
E.III 8

Halberstadt:
D.II 6
D.III 2



Air War:
0715 Scottish RFC pilot Phillip Bernard Prothero, flying Bristol Scout C 5308, shoots down an "Emeny Aircraft" for victory number 1.

German ace Kurt Wintgens, flying a Fokker E.III, shoots down a French Farman two-seater for victory number 8, for which he will become the fourth pilot to be awarded the Pour Le Merite.

German pilot Heinrich Lorenz, in a Fokker E.III claims a Caudron on this day, for victory number 1.

There is no specific date given, but sometime in June German observer
Adolf Gutknecht scored his first victory. Pilot, aircraft and victim all unnamed.

Before his transfer to Turkey, Oswald Boelcke sits down with members of Fliegertruppe high command and discusses the reorganization of squadrons and the way they operate. It is at this time that he composes the first version of his Dicta Boelcke, the first codified rules for fighter pilots.

1. Always try to secure an advantageous position before attacking. Climb before and during the approach in order to surprise the enemy from above, and dive on him swiftly from the rear when the moment to attack is at hand.


2. Try to place yourself between the sun and the enemy. This puts the glare of the sun in the enemy's eyes and makes it difficult to see you and impossible for him to shoot with any accuracy.

3. Do not fire the machine guns until the enemy is within range an you have him squarely within your sights.

4. Atttack when the enemy least expects it or when he is pre-occupied with aother duties such as observation, photography or bombing.

5. Never turn your back and try to run away from an enemy fighter. If you are surprised by an attack on your tail, turn and face the enemy with your guns.

6. Keep your eye on the enemy and do not let him deceive you with tricks. If your opponent appears damaged follow him down until he crashes to be sure he is not faking.

7. Foolish acts of bravery only bring death. The Jasta must fight as a unit with close teamwork between all pilots. The signal of its leaders must be obeyed.

North Sea:
His Majesty's Trawler Whooper, 302 tons, hits a mine laid by Kurt Ramien in UC-1, bringing his score to 7 ships and 16,209 tons.



Gulf of Finland:
U-10, commanded by Fritz Stuhr, is lost, probably to a mine.



Mediterranean Sea:
Franz Wäger, commanding UB-44, sinks British freighter SS Moeris, 3,409 tons, carrying a general cargo from Glasgow to Alexandria. His score is now 11 ships and 19,587 tons.



German East Africa:
Cruiser HMS Challenger continues the attack on Kilwa Kivinje, firing on enemy dhowws in Gingwera Creek while a seaplane from HMS Himalaya calls the fall of shot for them.

Light cruiser HMS Talbot lands a party of sailors and marines on Ulenge Island, then fires on German positions at Bagamoyo and Chagoliani.

[Oberon]

1st July 1916



At 7.30a.m Brigade moved up to position into TARA USNA Trenches - Orders were received to attack LA BOISSELLE from the South during that night which however did not take place.



My great-grandfather was fortunate not to be in the first waves, when the members of the 34th Division emerged from the Usna-Tara jumping off trenches at 7:30am that morning and marched towards La Boiselle, some 80% of the forward element were swiftly cut down by machine gun fire. On the first day of the Somme, the 34th Division suffered the greatest casualty rate of the British forces.

[Jimbuna]

1st July 1916

Western Front

Great Franco-British offensive begins on 25-mile front north and south of Somme. British capture Montauban and Mametz; break through towards Bapaume. French attack towards Peronne; reach outskirts of Hardecourt and Curlu; take Dompierre, Becquincourt, Bussus, and Fay. 5,000 prisoners taken.

Eastern Front

River Pruth Russians advance north-west of Kolomea.

Austro-Germans progress north-west of Tarnopol

Southern Front

Vigorous Italian attacks continued north of upper Isonzo.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

In Persia the Turks defeat Russians; pursue them to Kermanshah.

Political, etc.

French Ministry of Interior reports that 46,263 houses, 331 churches, and 900 public buildings have been wrecked due to war.

[Sailor Steve]

July 1, 1916

Sometime in July Idflieg places the first production order for 60 Fokker D.II and 30 D.III fighters. As with previous orders there was originally a letter of intent, and the planes are already under construction.

Air War:
0555 Canadian RFC pilot Harold Evans Hartney and observer AM2 A. Stanley, in FE.2d A3, are credited with two eindeckers on this day, but who the German pilots were is not recorded anywhere.

0745 Irish RFC pilot Sidney Cowan, flying DH.2 5964, shoots down an unidentified German two-seater for victory number 2.

Sometime between 0830 and 1030 Australian RFC pilot Sydney Dalrymple, in a Martinsyde G.100, brings down a Roland C.II for victory number 1.

French pilot Marcel Bloch, in a Nieuport, destroys a German balloon for victory number 2.

French pilot André Chainat, flying a Nieuport, shoots down an "Enemy Aircraft" for victory number 5.

Australian RNAS pilot Roderic Dallas, flying the prototype Sopwith Triplane N500, shoots down a German two-seater for kill number 4.

French pilots Pierre de Gavardie and Jacques Senart, both in Nieuport 11s, share a victory over an eindecker. Number 3 for de Gavardie, number 2 for Senart.

[Betonov]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

1st July 1916


Southern Front

Vigorous Italian attacks continued north of upper Soča.

[Oberon]

2nd July 1916


Soldiers of A Company, 11th Cheshire Regiment in a captured German trench at Ovilliers-la-Boisselle


At 1.30p.m orders were received to take up position in front line at 4p.m. At 4p.m Battalion advanced in open order and attacked German front line system of trenches just South of LA BOISSELLE. Two lines of trenches were taken and consolidated. Cheshires were on our right flank and Welch Fusiliers on our left. Our losses were Lt. Hunter, Lt's Allen, King and Biggs killed - Capt Tanner, Lt's Springette, Reid, Tynan and Capt Henry (R.A.M.C) wounded. Other ranks were 35 killed, 237 wounded and 35 missing. The night was spent in consolidating - no counter attacks was made by the enemy.



My great-grandfather was likely wounded in this attack, but I am not certain how much so, in the coming two days his card notes further wounds, but I am not sure whether he was wounded on this day and the records are staggered, or whether he was wounded on this day, patched up and then wounded further later.



A personal account from Private Roy Bealing of the 6th Wiltshire Regiment:

"Captain Reid came along the top of the trench – right out in the open! – I suppose it was the only way he could pass the word along the company and he must have had a couple of machine-gun bullets through his water bottle because the water was spouting out of it.
He yelled down ‘ Fix your bayonets and get ready to go over when you hear the whistle.’ I was beside a chap called Lucas and he was a bundle of nerves. He was shaking, yes. He was simply shivering and shaking like a leaf. He could hardly hold his rifle, never mind fix his bayonet, the state he was in! So I fixed mine and then I said ‘Here you are Lucas,’ and I fixed his for him. It would have taken him a week to fix his bayonet
the state he was in! He wasn’t one of a new draft. He was one of the older ones, and I was right sorry for him.
When the whistle went, I threw my rifle on top of the trench and clambered out of it, grabbed the rifle and started going forward. There were shell-holes everywhere. I hadn’t gone far before I fell in one of them. There were so many shell-holes you couldn’t get round them. But you had to go on so, every time I stumbled and fell in a shell-hole, I just waited a quarter of a minute, had another breath, then out of it and on again. I must of fallen half a dozen times before I got to the first line, and there were lads falling all over the place. You didn’t know whether they were tripping up like me or whether they were going down with bullets in them, because it wasn’t just the shells exploding
round about, it was the machine guns hammering out like hell from the third German line because it was on slightly higher ground. Lucas went down. He was killed before he even got to the first trench – the one that was partly in our hands."

[Jimbuna]

2nd July 1916

Western Front

British capture Fricourt; relinquish captured trenches at Gommecourt. French take Curlu, Frise, Bois de Mereaucourt and Herbecourt.

Eastern Front

Russians take offensive at Smorgon and Baranovichi, and penetrate German lines.

Germans continue advance on Lutsk salient. South of Dniester they regain Tlumacz.

Southern Front

Skirmishes near Salonika; artillery duels on lower bank of Vardar.

Heavy artillery fire and sharp infantry attacks in Trentino and Carso.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

Turks take Kermanshah; Russians driven east on road to Hamadan.

Ship Losses:

Rockcliffe (Imperial Russian Navy) The transport ship was shelled and sunk in the Black Sea off Vardane by SM U-38 ( Kaiserliche Marine).