Leo Frank, convicted of murdering Mary Phagan, was lynched by a mob in Marietta, Georgia. Australians troops charge the Ottoman line during the Battle of Lone Pine, painting by Fred Leist, 1921.French war ace Adolphe Pégoud was killed in combat.The charge of the 3rd Light Horse Brigade at the Nek, 7 August 1915, painting by George Washington Lambert, 1924.
The following events occurred in August 1915:
August 1, 1915 (Sunday)
German fighter pilot Max Immelmann shot down his first aircraft while flying in a Fokker monoplane, beginning his career as an ace.[1]
Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition — The polar exploration ship Endurance had spent the entire Antarctic winter encased in ice far off the coast when a south-westerly gale broke up the ice floe and caused the ship to list. Expedition leader Ernest Shackleton wrote in his log, "The effects of the pressure around us was awe-inspiring ... if the ship was once gripped firmly her fate would be sealed."[3]
Armenian genocide — American ambassador Henry Morgenthau Sr. reported to the U.S. government that during a meeting with Interior Minister Talaat Pasha, it was confirmed that the Ottoman government was pursuing a policy of deliberate and planned deportations of ethnic Armenians. Morgenthau has been collecting mounting evidence of genocide over months and admonished Pasha with the statement, "Our people will never forget these massacres."[6]
A Sopwith Baby airplane equipped with wheeled floats took off from sea carrier HMSCampania, the first British aircraft to do so on a British aviation ship.[7]
Polish infantry charge Russian lines during the Battle of Jastków in Eastern Europe.
Second Battle of the Isonzo — Despite having superior numbers, hard terrain, low ammunition and brutal fighting forced Italy to halt its attack on Austro-Hungarian positions in the Alps. Total casualties during three weeks of fighting were about 91,000 men, of which 41,800 were Italians and 48,600 were Austro-Hungarians.[15][pageneeded]
A unit of 30 Texas Rangers, supported by federal troops and deputy sheriffs engaged in a shootout with Mexican-American ranch owner Aniceto Pizana who had been accused by a neighboring rancher of supporting border raiders that had been attacking border towns as the American-Mexican border. Despite no evidence, Pizana managed to shoot his way out, leaving one soldier killed and three others wounded.[17]
Battle of Lone Pine — An Australian brigade of 1,800 men assaulted Ottoman trenches on a slope nicknamed for the solitary Turkish pine tree that stood atop of it as part of the second diversionary tactic to distract the Ottomans from the landing at Suvla. The Ottomans covered the trenches with pine boards that made it difficult for the Australian infantry to capture on the first day of fighting.[32]
Battle of Sari Bair — The ANZAC forces mounted a diversionary attack timed to coincide with a major Allied landing of reinforcements at Suvla and to capture the Sari Bair range overlooking the bay.[33]
Attack of the Dead Men — A German force of over 7,000 men, under Paul von Hindenburg, launched a chlorine gas bombardment on the Russian garrison of Osowiec Fortress. Expecting little resistance, the advancing German forces panicked and routed when a small group of Russian defenders launched a counterattack. Their zombie-like appearance, due to the gas damage, earned the battle its name.[citation needed]
Border raiders attacked the border town of Sebastian, Texas, killing local former lawman A. L. Austin and his son Charles. Authorities believed the raiders targeted him specifically for his record of targeting Mexican-Americans during his days as a law enforcer.[35]
Weather and communications problems frustrated reconnaissance efforts by German Navy airships in support of mine-laying mission by auxiliary cruiserSMS Meteor. The lack of information proved to have dire consequences, when the German ship was intercepted by the Royal Navy and forced the crew to scuttle her.[36]
Ross Sea party — British polar ship Aurora, still drifting in the ice of the Southern Ocean, was now 360 nautical miles (670km) north of Cape Evans where much of the expedition was marooned.[37]
Turkish POWs being escorted in Chunuk Bair, Gallipoli.
Landing at Suvla Bay — The landing of British reinforcement divisions at Suvla Bay became disorganized due to a breakdown in the chain of command, poor briefings among officers and soldiers, and Ottoman snipers shooting commanding officers to further increase confusion.[40]
Battle of Krithia Vineyard — The British 42nd Division launched the second attack wave on Ottoman defenses to the right of the 88th Brigade of the British 29th Division. One of the brigades managed to break through the Ottoman line but failed to hold the ground to counterattack. Losses in the first 24 hours of attacks from the 88th Brigade and two brigades from the 42nd Division totaled 3,469.[41]
Battle of Lone Pine — Three Ottoman reinforcements began a three-day counter-offensive to take back trenches captured by Australian forces.[42]
Battle of Chunuk Bair — An ANZAC force between 9,000 and 15,000 men under command of Alexander Godley attacked the northern flank of Ottoman Empire defenses that held the Sari Bair Range in Gallipoli. Although the force was successful in clearing defending outposts, the attack fell behind in schedule and contributed to tragic losses at the Battle of the Nek. By evening, ANZAC forces had hunkered down to hold their ground instead of advancing on the Ottoman line.[43]
Battle of the Nek — Two regiments with the Australian 3rd Light Horse Brigade totaling 600 men mounted a bayonet charge on Ottoman defenses situated on a ridge nicknamed the 'Nek', an Afrikaans word for mountain pass, as part of the Battle of Chunuk Bair. Because the terrain created a bottleneck, delays at Chunuk Bair prevented early reinforcements. As the rifles were also unloaded, the attacking Australians lost 372 casualties, or 40 per cent of the force while the Ottomans recorded only eight casualties.[44]
An Armenian woman kneeling beside a dead child in a field "within sight of help and safety at Aleppo."
Armenian genocide — Reports began to come out of Ottoman Syria that Armenians were dying by the thousands from starvation and sickness during forced marches to a network of 25 camps surrounding the town of Deir ez-Zor. The New York Times published an unattributed report that "the roads and the Euphrates are strewn with corpses of exiles, and those who survive are doomed to certain death. It is a plan to exterminate the whole Armenian people."[49]
Battle of Chunuk Bair — A New Zealand battalion of 760 men under command of William George Malone attempted but failed to hold a captured hill from Ottoman counterattacks, resulting in 711 casualties including Malone.[50]
Austro-Hungarian submarine SMU-12 struck a mine and sank in the Venetian Lagoon with the loss of all 17 crew, the first Austro-Hungarian submarine lost during World War I.[55]
Armenian genocide — Swedish diplomat Cossva Anckarsvärd, stationed in Constantinople, released a report stating his suspicions of genocide in July were confirmed: "It is obvious that the Turks are taking the opportunity to, now during the war, annihilate the Armenian nation so that when the peace comes no Armenian question longer exists."[61]
Landing at Suvla Bay — Forced to march two miles in rough terrain in darkness, the British infantry of the 32nd Brigade were too exhausted to fight off a surprise bayonet charge by the Ottomans. The brigade was destroyed within minutes and the battalions coming up the rear were forced to retreat.[40]
Battle of Lone Pine — Fighting between Australian and Ottoman forces subsided after three days of intense hand-to-hand combat, as both sides consolidated their lines along the slope.[62]
Battle of Chunuk Bair — British forces were ordered to capture a strategic hill codenamed "Hill Q" during the night, but most of the forces were disoriented in the dark and failed to reach the objective. One Indian brigade that did reach it was hit by friendly fire and forced to retreat.[63]
British destroyer HMSLynx struck a mine and sank in the North Sea. Out of the 100 crewmen on board, there were only 26 survivors.[64]
Battle of Lone Pine — Fighting ended in a stalemate between the Australian and Ottoman infantry, with Australian casualties at 2,277 men killed or wounded, while Ottoman estimates were estimated between 5,000 and 6,000. While the battle was considered a defeat, it gave Australian forces higher recognition among international military organizations, with the awarding of seven Victoria Crosses to individual Australian soldiers.[70]
Battle of Chunuk Bair — A brutal Ottoman counter-assault overwhelmed 5,000 British and ANZAC defenders on a plateau code named "The Farm," forcing them to give up the area. The exhausted Ottoman force withdraw and the plateau became part of no man's land.[71]
Five German Navy Zeppelin airships raided England, destroying houses and warehouses and killing 16 people. Four of the airships attempted to bomb London, but failed to reach the city. Instead, they dropped their payload at the Eastchurch Naval Air Station in Dover, injuring three men. One of the airships was damaged by an antiaircraft gun and brought down in the North Sea on its way home. It was towed into Ostend, Belgium by a German torpedo boat.[73]
Ross Sea party — British polar ship Aurora was now 45 nautical miles (83km) north-east of Cape Adare, Antarctic and that its daily drift was averaging just over 20 nautical miles (37km).[77]
Armenian genocide — The Ottoman government began to massacre 2,345 intellectuals being held at Çankırı and Ayaş around Ankara.[79] Among those who perished during the massacre included:
1915 Galveston hurricane – A weather station in San Juan, Puerto Rico recorded a 29.60inHg (1,002mb) pressure reading and winds speeds up to 60mph (97km/h) as the eye of the hurricane passed south of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. It continued westward between 18 and 20mph (29 and 32km/h) where it brushed Haiti and made landfall in Jamaica, where a barometric pressure reading of 29.68 inches of mercury (1,005mb) was reported. There were no reports of casualties but local crop damage by the storm was very serious.[80]
The 5th Battalion of the British Royal Norfolk Regiment, composed of 250 men, "disappeared" during a failed attack on Ottoman defenses by the 54th Infantry Division during the Gallipoli campaign. Some accounts had the force march into a mist on a ridge and not be seen again. Speculations varied on their fate ranging from being captured and executed by Ottoman soldiers to supernatural events, but military investigators accounted for many of the survivors, with some making it back to the British lines while others were captured by Ottoman forces.[83][84]
Four German Navy airships attempted to bomb England, but two fell short of the coast, while the third bombed Harwich and destroyed two houses, The fourth got caught in violent thunderstorms over the North Sea and nearly came down.[85]
Battle of Krithia Vineyard — Fighting subsided between British and Ottoman forces with the British unable to gain any new ground. The British lost in excess of 4,000 casualties while Ottoman casualties were estimated to be around 7,000.[87]
Died:George Joseph Smith, 43, English serial killer, convicted for the slaying of three women in the "Brides in the Bath Murders"; executed (b. 1872)[citation needed]
1915 Galveston hurricane – The hurricane intensified to a Category 4 when it brushed past Cuba, with wind speeds of 145mph (233km/h). Damage was reported as severe, particularly for the town of Cape San Antonio, Cuba. The hurricane also destroyed a lighthouse and all of the weather equipment belonging the National Weather Service, and damaged or sank two schooners offshore. Because of lack of advanced reporting, the death toll in Cuba was unknown.[94]
1915 Galveston hurricane – The hurricane had reached the center of the Gulf of Mexico when it turned northwards towards the U.S. coast. Most of the casualties from the hurricane occurred around this time as ships were caught on the outer edges of the massive storm. Most notably, the hurricane sank the U.S. steamer Marowjine in the Yucatán Channel, drowning all 96 passengers and crew. Another three fatalities were reported when a schooner sank several miles south of Mobile, Alabama, and two fishermen were killed when their fishing boat ran aground off the coast of Pensacola, Florida. In all, the hurricane left 101 people dead in the Gulf of Mexico and Yucatán Channel.[97]
A party of armed Senussi fired on a British submarine investigating reported military maneuvers near the coastal village of Sollum, Egypt. General John Maxwell, commander of British forces in Egypt, accepted an explanation from Senussi leaders that the party mistook the sub as an Italian boat, assuming it was a provocation to force Senussi to attack targets on the Egyptian coast and interior.[102]
1915 Galveston hurricane — The hurricane made landfall southwest of Galveston, Texas where atmospheric pressure was recorded at 27.76inHg (940mb) with wind speeds of 135mph (217km/h). Extreme high winds and heavy rain led to massive damage estimated at $921million (2005 USD). However, the timely construction of the Galveston Seawall in the aftermath of the 1900 Galveston hurricane saved much of town, with only 11 people reported killed. The storm began to weaken after Galveston, turning northeast and passing Houston as a Category 1 hurricane before dropping to tropical storm status later that day.[114]
Four German Navy airships attempted to bomb London, but two turned back with engine trouble, and a third mistakenly bombed open fields near Ashford and Faversham. The fourth airship, however, became the first to ever to reach London. But thinking they were over the central part of the city, the crew mistakenly bombed Leyton, hitting the railroad station and a number of houses, killing 10 people and injuring 48.[117]
British submarine HMSE13 ran aground on Saltholm, Denmark. She was subsequently attacked by German torpedo boat SMS G 132 and another German torpedo boat, killing half of the 30-man crew. The survivors were rescued by Royal Danish Navy torpedo boats. The submarine was later refloated but was declared beyond repair, and subsequently scrapped in 1922.[121]
Braves Field officially opened in Boston as home ballpark for the professional baseball team Boston Braves, with 46,000 in attendance to see the Braves defeat the St. Louis Cardinals 3–1.[123] It would host the World Series that same year. The ballpark was purchased by Boston University in 1953 and much of the original stadium was demolished in 1955. However, most of the field and some portions of the original stadium survive as part of Nickerson Field.[124]
Diagram of Stangensteuerung synchronization mechanism used to allow a machine gun to fire between the whirling propellers of a German Fokker fighter plane during World War I.
Battle of Chunuk Bair — Sporadic fighting wound down the battle as British and ANZAC forces gave up ground to the Ottomans in Gallipoli. British and ANZAC casualties were estimated between 12,000 and 13,000 casualties while Ottoman forces lost 9,200.[126]
The Presbyterian Church in Western Australia held a ministers and church elders meetings to establish a Presbyterian college for girls to complement the existing Scotch College for boys in Perth. This led to the establishment of the Presbyterian Ladies' College the following year.[131]
Gallipoli campaign — The Dardanelles Committee met and determined that all British forces in France were to support a new French offensive, leaving only 25,000 reinforcement soldiers to support Gallipoli forces. It was concluded there would be not enough men and resources to take the peninsula from the Ottoman Empire.[133]
German forces captured the Russian fortress of Novogeorgievsk, Russian Empire with a loss of 90,000 casualties, 1,600 cannon and over a million artillery shells.[134]
A British engineer was recruited to develop the largest munitions factory in Great Britain to end the shortage of artillery shells needed for the war effort. He selected a site near Chilwell, England where the National Shell Filling Factory was built. Between 1915 until 1918, the factory produced some 19 million artillery shells. An accidental explosion on July 1, 1918, destroyed the factory and killed 134 people.[138]
German manufacturer ZF Friedrichshafen was established in Friedrichshafen, Germany to produce engine parts for airships but moved into its present role as a car parts manufacturer in 1919.[139]
Battle of Scimitar Hill — The British launched the last major offensive against the Ottoman Empire in Gallipoli with a force of 14,300 men from the British 11th and 29th Divisions. The men were to take a curved summit near Suvla Bay that was originally planned to be assaulted on August 7. During the charge to take the hill, Irish soldier Gerald Robert O'Sullivan, who received the Victoria Cross for gallant action in July, and Irish officer and Second Boer War veteran Lord Longford were both killed by enemy fire (their bodies were never recovered).[143] British forces withdrew under heavy fire with 5,300 casualties.[144]
Ross Sea party — The chief engineer for the British polar ship Aurora, adrift in the Ross Sea ice, created a makeshift rudder that could be used to help maneuver the ship once it was free of the ice. The original rudder was damaged by crushing ice in July.[154]
Germany resumed submarine warfare against British commercial ships after weeks of postponement. German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg initially persuaded Kaiser Wilhelm to forbid action against ships flying neutral flags but it was realized that British ships could easily fly neutral flags.[158]
The first print edition of the weekly community newspaper Gnowangerup Star and Tambellup Ongerup Gazette (later shortened to Gnowangerup Star in 1942) was distributed in Gnowangerup, Western Australia.[161]
Battle of Hill 60 — Further assaults failed to dislodge the Ottomans from the northern face of the hill, with ANZAC forces suffering 1,100 casualties.[163]
British submarine HMSC29 struck a mine and sank in the estuary off Humber, England with the loss of all 16 crew.[164]
Mexican revolutionary leader Pascual Orozco, who plotted in the overthrow of Mexican presidents Porfirio Díaz and Francisco I. Madero in previous years, was killed along with four others in a gun battle against Texas Rangers and soldiers with the 13th Cavalry Regiment near the U.S-Mexican border. Orozco had been on the run from American authorities for two months after escaping house arrest in Newman, Texas.[165]
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