Western Front
Major General Sir Hugh Trenchard is appointed as the first Chief of the Air Staff. He is succeeded as General Officer Commanding of the Royal Flying Corps in France, by Major General John Salmond.
German raids near Neuve Chapelle and Lens “repulsed”.
Eastern Front
Brest-Litovsk: Germany refuses undertaking to withdraw troops from Russia. Trotsky breaks off talks, envoys leave to confer at home on January 20.
A professional revolutionary heads for peace talks with a Prussian general. The Germans knew that Russia could not stop their armies, but Trotzky hoped for a revolution in Germany:
https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...towsk.jpg?ssl=1
Southern Front
Italian patrols active on Asiago plateau.
Naval and Overseas Operations
HMS
Cavendish (later HMS
Vindictive), Royal Navy cruiser converted into an aircraft carrier, is launched. The ship later in the year after completion:
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...714843428810752
Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Mesopotamia: Major-General Lionel Dunsterville arrives at Baghdad (left Karachi on January 6) to head British Mission to Caucasus.
Palestine: British advance at Dura, 12 miles north of Jerusalem.
British bomb Samaria.
Arabia: Arabs capture important Turkish convoy east of Medina.
Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Hungary: Serious strikes in Budapest.
Russia: Bolsheviks send further two hours' ultimatum to Romania demanding passage of troops.
Constituent Assembly meets in Petrograd and denounces Bolsheviks.
United Kingdom: Mr. Lloyd George again addresses Man-power Conference.
Australia: Mr. Hughes' Government defeats "No confidence" vote.
United States: U.S. Senate votes to oppose a planned shutdown of factories tomorrow, which would temporarily put millions of Americans out of work. The shutdown is planned to conserve coal supplies.
Finland: Mannerheim, Army C-in-C since President Svinhufvud’s promise of no Swedish intervention on January 16, takes night train from Helsinki to West coast port of Vaasa.