17 July 1917
 

Western Front
Third Ypres: bombardment (until July 30) begins: British fire 4,283,550 shells (cost £22,211,389 14s 4d) including 100,000 rounds (250t) of chlorpicrin gas shells at Germans (until July 31); 1,250 gassed (75 deaths). British trench raids.
Verdun: French claim to regain positions northwest of Mort Homme lost during previous 18 days. Unsuccessful German trench raids northwest of Verdun on July 18.

Eastern Front
Galicia: “Kerensky” Or “Second Brusilov (Summer)” Offensive: Russians momentarily hold their positions in Galicia against German counter-thrust.

Political, etc
Russia: Russian ‘July Days’ Rising (until July 19): Justice Ministry documents allege Lenin a German agent (until July 18) as do other sources. 6,000 Kronstadt sailors join Red rising but Cossacks begin charges as troops arrive from Front.
500,000 pro-Bolshevik demonstrators march peacefully in Petrograd, but government troops attack the crowd to disperse it.
Demonstrators flee on Nevsky Prospekt, Petrograd after Russian Provisional Government forces open fire with machine guns: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...ograd.jpg?ssl=1
United Kingdom: Proclamation issued changing name of British Royal House to Windsor from House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, due to Anti-German sentiment.
Government reshuffle makes Winston Churchill Munitions Minister; Christopher Addison becomes Minister without Portfolio (essentially, in charge of examining and planning ahead, as far as was possible for post-war economic reconstruction); Carson joins War Cabinet, also as Minister without Portfolio, representing the Unionists in Ireland.
Canada: Resolution in favor of extension of Canadian Parliament passed.
United States: Presidential order drafts 678,000 of June 5 registrees. War Secretary draws first number for draft on July 20.
A Canadian Highlander soldier and an U.S. soldier in New York City for “British Recruiting Week.”: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...605136407261185
China: Chinese revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen arrives in Canton (Guangzhou) to establish a new government in opposition to Premier Duan Qirui.

18 July 1917
 

Western Front
At Verdun, veteran French troops attack German lines on the Meuse and take 1.5 miles of trenches.
A British dressing station built under a ruined house at Ecoust-Saint-Mein, France: © IWM (Q 5689): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...983885623578626
German raids south of St. Quentin and north-west of Verdun.

Eastern Front
Galicia: “Kerensky” Or “Second Brusilov (Summer)” Offensive: Battle of Dvinsk (Also known as the Battle of East Galicia): (until July 25): German Armeeabteilung D (Kirchbach) repels Denikin’s West Front.
Russian PoWs move with their machine guns towards collecting points: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...ngene.jpg?ssl=1

Naval and Overseas Operations
Atlantic: British submarine C34 is sunk by the German submarine U-52 off Fair Isle in Shetland. https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...937325640568832
Mediterranean: French tell Greek Minister of Marine, Fleet to be returned in batches, first cruiser Helle, 4 destroyers and torpedo boat by August 13.
Italy: Vice-Admiral Del Bono Minister of Marine for duration of war.
Baltic: 2 destroyers sail from Helsinki with 100-strong delegations supporting ‘July Days Rising’; both arrested. Kerensky condemns Fleet’s disloyalty (July 20) and appoints Destroyer Division Commander, Captain Alexander V Razvozov, Rear-Admiral and C-in-C, aged 38 (July 20) after cashiering the hapless Verderevski. Centrobalt command dissolved on July 23 temporarily.

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Arz memo says only Rumanian food imports sustaining Monarchy till new harvest.
Russia: Russian ‘July Days’ Rising (until July 19): Officer Cadets smash Pravda offices, Lenin goes into hiding and fears assassination. Russian troops loyal to the Provisional Government arrive in Petrograd to put down pro-Bolshevik demonstrators. Martial law is proclaimed.
United Kingdom: Sir Eric Cambell-Geddes becomes the new First Lord of the Admiralty: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...967545634357248
Canada: Petition to extend the Canadian Parliament will not be put forward.
Australia: Australian repatriation scheme introduced.

19 July 1917
 

Western Front
The Smuts Committee releases an interim report examining the air defence of the United Kingdom. Among the Committee's recommendations are the establishment of a London Air Defence Area to encompass all of the United Kingdom within Gotha bomber range and the acceleration of plans to form additional day-fighter squadrons for home defence.
A white goat mascot of the 2nd Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers at Cavillon: © IWM (Q 5691): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...270753493712898
British soldiers having a bath in the sea at Etaples, France: © IWM (Q 3883): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...285858407260160
A French Schneider CA1 tank training at Champlieu: © IWM (Q 69504): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...300973097615360
A damaged mine in Liévin, France: © IWM (Q 78488): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...653267433500672
Heavy German attacks south of Lombartzyde (Nieuport sector), south of St. Quentin, and north of the Aisne repulsed.

Eastern Front
Galicia: “Kerensky” Or “Second Brusilov (Summer)” Offensive: Battle of Dvinsk (Also known as the Battle of East Galicia): German breakthrough in Galicia forces the end of the Russian offensive. Hoffmann’s counter-offensive with Eben’s 9 divisions (8 from Western Front) makes 12-mile wide breach east of Zloczow helped by Bruchmüller hurricane barrage. Russian Eleventh Army flees en masse, losing 6,000 PoWs and 70 guns by July 21
Western Russia: Battle of Smorgon-Krevo (until July 27): German Tenth Army repulses assault after 2-mile Russian penetration on July 22.
Russian soldiers breaking and running in panic in East Galicia due to a Central Powers counterattack: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...623083154173952

Naval and Overseas Operations
East Africa: Battle of Narungombe: 1,700 British soldiers (363 casualties) with 20 MGs attack Captain Liebermann’s c.800 men, 2 guns and 48 MGs in waterhole hill positions. Narungombe occupied on July 20 as Germans retreat south to Mihambia, lost 1 MG.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Turkish cavalry force encountered west of Beersheba (Palestine) and driven back.

Political, etc
Germany: The Reichstag passes Resolution as to German War Aims by 212-126 vote ‘strives for a peace by agreement and a permanent reconciliation’. The resolution also calls for no annexations or indemnities & for freedom of the seas. New Chancellor Michaelis says Germany will not again offer peace.
Crown Prince Rupprecht letter to Interior Minister bemoans Bavaria’s plight against Berlin heavy industry.
Russia: Russian ‘July Days’ Rising (until July 19): The last 500 rebels surrender to General Polovtsev.
M. Alexander Kerenski succeeds Prince Georgi Lvov as Premier of Russia temporarily.
Kerensky (center) at the funeral of cossacks killed in the Petrograd July riots: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...neral.jpg?ssl=1
Finnish Scim proclaims Finland’s autonomy.
United Kingdom: Report on operations in East Africa published.
British statement issued on Russian and German Socialists meeting at Stockholm.
Italy: Italy refuses to allow the US to conscript Italian nationals living in the US, while UK & France will allow their citizens to be conscripted.
An Italian geography lesson taking place in Grado, a town taken by Italian troops from Austria-Hungary: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...638186670927873

20 July 1917
 

Western Front
Britain: Cabinet sanctions Haig’s Ypres offensive, provided it is called off if progress is unsatisfactory.

Eastern Front
Galicia: Battle of Dvinsk (Also known as the Battle of East Galicia): German breach of Russian front in Galicia growing; retreat stayed in Brzezany and Halicz regions.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Turkey: Army Group Kommando F formed to control German troops.
Turkish troops in Palestine, inspected by Enver Pasha: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...stine.jpg?ssl=1
Palestine: British 54th Division (over 100 casualties) trench raids southwest of Umbrella Hill causing over 118 casualties and MG and mortar taken
Record heat at Baghdad 123 deg.

Political, etc
Serbia: Corfu Declaration, signed by Prime Minister Pasic, Dr Trumbic and Montenegro Committee for National Union, seeks union of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes.
Germany: German official casualties now number 1,032,800 men killed and 2,325,581 wounded, not including naval and colonial forces.
Russia: The Russian Provisional Government orders the arrest of Vladimir Lenin, who has gone into hiding.
United States: President Wilson pardons 16 women suffragists arrested outside of the White House. The women refuse the pardon, but are forced out of jail.

21 July 1917
 

Western Front
Heavy artillery battle in Flanders.
Four German attacks against French lines on the Aisne fail due to effective French artillery fire.
Battery of U.S. 155 mm artillery guns near Froissy, France: © IWM (Q 69953): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...986731659743233
German Crown Prince Wilhelm inspecting German soldiers at Charleville-Mézières, France: © IWM (Q 23775): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...001837751783425
A British soldier using salvaged sewing machines as a writing desk in Fampoux, France: © IWM (Q 5700): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...364221628657664

Eastern Front
Galicia: Germans near Tarnopol despite “heroic” Royal Navy Air Service armored car action (5 cars lost).
German and Austro-Hungarian gains against Russian lines in Galicia grow, with several thousand Russian prisoners captured.
Battle of Smorgon-Krevo: Russians retreating on the Sereth.
Baltic Provinces: Russian North Front ‘offensive’ (until July 23): only 2 of 6 divisions allocated participate (182nd Division at gunpoint).

Naval and Overseas Operations
H.M.S. Otway torpedoed, 10 lost.

Political, etc
Serbia: The text of the Corfu Declaration, proposing the creation of Yugoslavia: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...016949405528065
Russia: Kerensky orders arrest of only 6 Bolsheviks (excluding Trotsky) and allows only voluntary disarming.
In Petrograd, around 160 people were killed and 700 wounded in the past few days due to government clamp down on the Bolsheviks.
The ‘hesitation’ of Kerensky won him the mistrust of both the officers’ corps and the revolutionaries: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...ensky.jpg?ssl=1
United Kingdom: Lloyd George says 1917-18 food supplies already secured. Churchill speech at Dundee ‘We are the heart, the centre of the League of Nations. If we fail, all fail.’ Lloyd George says new German Chancellor’s speech means military have won, speech of July 23 says peace only achievable with German people.
British government orders the reduction of bread prices by 25% and meat prices by 30%.
United States: In Washington D.C., drawings begin for the draft lottery to provide 687,000 men for the U.S. military: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...036044867866626
Poland: Arrest and deportation to Germany of General Józef Pilsudski.

22 July 1917
 

Western Front
German bombers conduct a daytime raid on England’s east coast, killing 13 and injuring 26.
Men of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry marching near the front: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...731630764007424
Canadian flying ace John Edward Sharman, who has 8 victories, is killed in action between Ypres and Messines.
Aisne: German attacks in Northern Aisne sector; fierce fighting, French recover lost ground on July 24.
Intense artillery activity in Flanders.
Verdun: German trench raids.

Eastern Front
Galicia: Russian Premier Kerensky goes to the front as the Russian offensive against the Central Powers in Galicia collapses.
Emperor Charles of Austria-Hungary visits HQ at Zloczow.
Battle of Smorgon-Krevo: Russians penetrate German defences east of Vilna to a depth of two miles, taking 1,000 prisoners; further success jeopardised by indiscipline.
Battle of Marasesti (Rumania) begins (see August 1st). This is the last major battle between the German Empire and the Kingdom of Romania on the Romanian front during World War I. On July 22, 1917, the Romanians launched a joint offensive with Russia against the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army, around Mărăști and the lower part of the Siret river.
The wounded – victims of the decision to continue the war: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...unded.jpg?ssl=1

Southern Front
Salonika: British 27th Division trench raid in Struma sector (against the Bulgarians) on Homondas village takes 35 PoWs and destroys 2 mountain guns.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Successful British raid at Gaza.

Political, etc
Germany: German Vienna Ambassador reports that plebiscite in Austria alone would find majority for joining Allies and fighting Germany.
Russia: Russian Premier Kerensky blames German spies for the recent pro-Bolshevik demonstrations in Petrograd.
France: French news-film showing the Allied-backed coup d’état in Greece: http://film.iwmcollections.org.uk/record/index/47289
French government decides to allow game hunting for the first time since 1913, as wildlife overpopulation threatens crops.
United Kingdom: British government announces that it will retaliate against German cities in response to German air raids. [note: this statement conveniently ignores the fact that the french had been bombing German cities almost since day 1 of the war].
Premier Lloyd George calls Germany’s peace offer a “sham” and asserts that the militarists are in power there.
China: Chinese Naval Minister Cheng Biguang, along with 9 warships, defects from Peking to the revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen.
Minor Allies: Siam (Thailand) declares war on Germany and Austria-Hungary.

23 July 1917
 

Western Front
Flanders and Artois: British-Canadian trench raids (and on July 28); Canadian 116th battalion (74 casualties) captures 53 PoWs from German 36th Reserve Division west of Lens.
Aisne: Heavy German attacks against French lines at the Aisne continues, and the first line trenches on the Californie Plateau are captured.
Canadian soldier visiting a war grave at Vimy Ridge: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...094017941745665

Eastern Front
Galicia: Russian retreat on 150-mile front, Stanislau and Halicz given up as Austrian Third Army (Kritek) recrossed river Lomnica.
Battle of Smorgon-Krevo: Russian diversion at Dvinsk and Smorgon followed by “voluntary” withdrawal of troops. The only further information I can find is that this Russian attack petered out this day; but no further details are available.
Battle of Marasesti: Averescu’s Rumanian Second Army advances 12 1/2 miles on 20-mile front, takes 30 villages; 2,977 PoWs; 57 guns from German Ninth Army (Kosch), but Russian Fourth Army refuses help.
Rumanian gunners of a M1896 Vickers 127mm howitzer: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...nners.jpg?ssl=1

Political, etc
United Kingdom: Amendment to Corn Production Bill defeated.
United States: U.S. provides Russia with a new $75 million loan, signaling faith in the Russian Government despite recent defeats & instability.
President Wilson bans “disorderly” saloons and resorts within a 5-mile radius of any military camp.

24 July 1917
 

Western Front
A destroyed street in Neuville-au-Pont, France: © IWM (Q 78207): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...457679609057280
French counter-attack and regain ground lost north of the Aisne.

Eastern Front
Galicia: Stanislau (see August 10th, 1916) and Tarnopol in Galicia retaken by Austro-German forces (see 18th).
Battle of Marasesti: Ongoing, but no further details this day.
Kaiser Wilhelm II and Prince Oskar visiting the headquarters near Tarnopol on the Eastern Front: © IWM (Q 23961): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...427458726014977

Naval and Overseas Operations
France: Naval part of Allied Paris conference (until July 26) agrees that Otranto Barrage come under new British Mediterranean C-in-C.

Political, etc
Russia: Russian Government restore death penalty at front.
France: Mata Hari’s trial opens in public, death sentence (July 25), two appeals rejected. Execution of the Dutchwoman Mata Hari as German spy on 15 October 1917: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...-hari.jpg?ssl=1
United Kingdom: Chancellor Bonar Law reveals Britain spends £6.795 million a day on the war. Commons votes record £650 million war credit. Recruiting transferred from War Office to local Government Board.
Canada: Canadian Military Service Bill passed.
Turkey: Richard von Kühlmann retires as German Constantinople Ambassador.
United States: Congress votes $640 million for military aviation.

25 July 1917
 

Western Front
Britain: Cabinet assures Haig of its approval and wholehearted support for his offensive.
Germany: Ludendorff confidential instruction warns against spread of ‘political propaganda’ in German Army, ordering minute examination of all letters for the front.
Aisne: German “attacks” repulsed north of river (until July 27). Another source more accurately states: Heavy artillery fire and multiple raids take place between British and German lines at Ypres.
Champagne: German attacks at Mt Haut (and on July 27) repulsed.
Women drivers for the British Army’s Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) in Dieppe, France: © IWM (Q 5744): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...487882733461505

Eastern Front
Galicia: German 1 st Guard Division takes Tarnopol and crosses river Sereth on July 26 watched by Kaiser. Austrian Third Army retakes Kolomea on July 26.
The 1st Russian Women’s Battalion of Death goes into action for the first time in Galicia and capture a German trench: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...472784556072963
Russian retreat in East Galicia continues; towns evacuated, positions in Carpathians abandoned.
Battle of Marasesti: Minor Russo-Romanian advance in southern Moldavia.
In this picture the post of Austro-Hungarian soldiers is sorted behind the Eastern Front: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...front.jpg?ssl=1

Naval and Overseas Operations
North Sea: 5-7 Royal Navy Air Service Sopwith Pups or Camels cover Belgian coast net barrage laying (until July 27) and destroy 3 German aircraft.

Political, etc
France: Full Inter-Allied Conference assembles in Paris to discuss the Balkan situation, with military, naval and political committees to discuss plans in view of a probable collapse of Russia (Conference continued on 26th).
Canada: Canadian House of Commons pass the conscription bill by a majority of 54. Most of the opposition came from Québécois MPs.
An explosion occurs at a coal mine in New Waterford, Nova Scotia, resulting in 65 dead and over 100 injured: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...792365749305344
Ireland: Irish Convention, opening meeting, Sir H. Plunket in the Chair.
Japan: The Nippon Kōgaku Kōgyō Corporation (now known as Nikon) is established in Tokyo, Japan.
United States: Airplane factory in College Point, Queens, New York City: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...518089238458368

26 July 1917
 

Western Front
Flanders: Major air battle over Polygon Wood involving 94 British and German aircraft, repeated on July 27. The British claim that more than c.20 Albatros fighters lose 9 aircraft to 2 British after Allied trap (59 Royal Flying Corps single-fighters plus French) sprung over the wood. Haig congratulates Trenchard on July 28.
A shot down German fighter has fallen into a house: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...aeger.jpg?ssl=1
Aisne: German forces attack French lines north of the Aisne on a 3-kilometer front and make limited gains. Their attacks in Champagne are repulsed.

Eastern Front
Galicia: Despite Russia reinstating the death penalty on the frontlines, the retreat of its armies in Galicia continues & spreads to the Carpathians. Austro-Germans cross the Sereth and take Kolomea.
Battle of Marasesti: Ongoing; above-referenced general retreat has slight effect on Russo-Romanian forces.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Channel: Minelayer-cruiser HMS Ariadne (38 lost) sunk by UC-65 off Beachy Head. https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...172391460130816
UC-61 beached on Cap Gris Nez and surrounded by Belgian cavalry; Royal Navy recover documents showing British minesweeping report code broken.
Black Sea: Russian motorboat approaches Bosphorus, comes under German and Turkish coastal gunfire, drops bottles with revolutionary anti-German proclamation to Turks (night July 26-27).

Political, etc
Announcement by French and German Governments of agreement as to treatment of prisoners.
France: Members of the British WAAC (Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps) on the beach at Le Touquet-Paris-Plage: © IWM (Q 5759): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...885590786895874
Exotic dancer and courtesan Mata Hari is condemned to death by a French military court on fabricated charges of spying for the Germans: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...915766862209024
Balkan Conference in Paris closes.
United Kingdom: Labour Party pledges one million new houses after the war.
Food policy outlined by Lord Rhondda.
Canada: Canada receives a $100 million loan from the U.S. in order to offset the heavy trade imbalance between the two countries.
Greece: Allied governments agree to end most of their occupation of Greece. An army and naval base will be maintained on Corfu.
Spain: Spain lifts martial law in Valencia as calm returns following several days of demonstrations. Striking workers will return to work tomorrow.
Switzerland: Due to Swiss neutrality, Berne has become a city of diplomats, with over 5000 embassy & legation staff of various countries operating there.

27 July 1917
 

Western Front
Britain: British Heavy Branch MG Corps becomes Tank Corps.
Flanders: British Guards Division occupies 3,000 yards of German evacuated front-line trenches and beats off counter-attack.
Aerial view of the Western Front. For the control of mud puddles, blastters and miserable dugouts the soldiers fought for weeks: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...front.jpg?ssl=1

Eastern Front
Battle of Marasesti: Ongoing, but no further details this day.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Over 3,000 merchant ships armed (official statement by Britain.)
East Africa: Kilwa No 2 Column occupies Nanganachi 12 miles southwest of Narungombe, then Mssindye (July 29-30).

Political, etc
France: British Premier Lloyd George and Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour in Paris after the Allied Conference: © IWM (Q 57038): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...232899685036033
Secret Agreement concluded between French and Italian Governments defining respective zones of influence in Asia Minor (see August 18th).
United Kingdom: Ramsay Macdonald’s Commons motion to approve Reichstag Peace Resolution defeated 148-19.
Serbia: Serbian Government's Yugo-Slav manifesto.

28 July 1917
 

The Great War enters its fourth year since the opening of hostilities.
Western Front
The Duchess of Sutherland with a doctor at a Red Cross Hospital at Calais: © IWM (Q 3212): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...551121504292866
Aerial and artillery activity picks up in Flanders, as the British and French troops prepare for another offensive.

Eastern Front
SMS Bodrog, a river monitor built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy, and two other monitors fired the first shots of World War I on the night of 28 July 1914, when they shelled Serbian defences near Belgrade. The river monitor was later given to the post-war nation of Yugoslavia as a war prize, and was renamed Sava. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SS_Bodrog_1914.jpg
Galicia: Battle of East Galicia (or, Battle of Dvinsk) ends (see 18th). Austro-German troops reach Russian frontier at Gusiatyn (Wild Cossack Division confronts 40,000 deserters there from July 25-27) on river Zbruch. Kaiser Wilhelm II leaves for Vilna.
Battle of Marasesti: Romanian advance in Moldavia continues.
Interrogation of Russian officers who have fallen into Austro-Hungarian captivity: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...ziere.jpg?ssl=1

Naval and Overseas Operations
German submarine SM UB-20, which sank 13 ships during its career, hits a mine and sinks with 13 crew deaths.

Political, etc
British & German governments ratify an agreement to regulate the treatment of prisoners. Repatriation of wounded prisoners will resume.
Germany: Imperial and Prussian Cabinets reconstructed.
Russia: Somerset Maugham sails for Vladivostok.
United Kingdom: Royal Warrant authorizes Tank Corps in British Army (see yesterday).
British War Office announces the creation of a special Jewish regiment to fight against the Ottoman Empire.
In Kingsland, London, an attempt to hold a peace meeting in a church is broken up by an angry mob, which included wounded veterans.
United States: The Wilson Administration predicts that the war will cost the U.S. $29 million ($554 million today) every day.
Switzerland: Emil Theodor Kocher, Swiss physician who received the 1909 Nobel Prize for his work on the thyroid, passed away: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...581321986322432

29 July 1917
 

Western Front
Furious artillery battle in progress in Flanders and in region of Lens, stretching 33 miles from the coast to the French border.
The ruins of a sugar refinery at Hervilly, in Somme: © IWM (Q 61228): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...285984796712960

Eastern Front
Russians offer resistance in the region south of the Dniester, but retirement in Bukovina continues.
German & Austro-Hungarian forces have advanced more than 100 miles in Galicia since the collapse of the Russian offensive earlier this month.
Russian troops armed with Mosin-Nagant 1891 rifles, all with the long spike bayonets, in trenches: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...nches.jpg?ssl=1
Battle of Marasesti: Romanian advance continues in Moldavia; all objectives and “many” prisoners taken. Another source specifies: 1,245 prisoners and several artillery guns.

Naval and Overseas Operations
British minesweeper HMS Halcyon rams and depth charges German submarine SM UB-27 and sinks it.

Political, etc
Germany: Stores, hotels, restaurants, and cafes in Berlin are ordered to cut down lights by four-fifths due to coal shortages.
Ludendorff issues detailed program for patriotic propaganda in German Army.
United States: Native Americans, led by Chief Bald Eagle, in New York for a recruiting event: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...922345258512385
War Industries Board is established by the U.S. government to facilitate the purchase of war-related goods.

30 July 1917
 

Western Front
Aisne: Artillery in action.
British 18-pdr gun in action: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...8-pdr.jpg?ssl=1
Fleet of ambulances donated by Calcutta, India to the British military as a “war gift”: © IWM (Q 2644): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...610594650066944
A British soldier sitting inside a shell-hole made in a gas holder at Nieuport: © IWM (Q 2642): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...631989194883073
Elsie Knocker and Mairi Chisholm, driving a motor ambulance through Pervyse, near the Belgian frontlines: © IWM (Q 2660): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...662181934260225

Eastern Front
Austrian Third Army retakes Zaleszczycki and Sniatyn. German Suedarmee, Austrians and Turkish divisions force river Zbruch and beat off Siberian regiment and Royal Navy Air Service armored cars on July 31.
RNAS armored car shoots down strafing German plane on river Zbruch, Galicia.
Battle of Marasesti: Ongoing, but no further details this day.

Southern Front
Salonika: British hospital cases c.12,500 (mainly malaria).

Naval and Overseas Operations
East Africa: Sharp fighting reported; Germans driven from River Lugungu (half-way between Lake Nyassa and sea).
Announcement of H.M.S. Ariadne torpedoed and sunk, 38 lost.

Political, etc
Russia: Russian Provisional Government tells the Persian government it will no longer meddle in its internal affairs.
United Kingdom: British Premier Lloyd George says the French people “were as resolute as ever” after 3 years of war.
United States: U.S. government issues stricter press censorship rules to prevent further “misunderstanding.”

31 July 1917
 

Western Front
Third Battle of Ypres (aka the Battle of PASSCHENDAELE) 1917 begins with Battle of Pilckem Ridge (see August 2nd and November 10th, 1917 and May 25th, 1915). Nine British and six French divisions attack at 0350 hours (sunrise) on 15-mile front from river Lys to river Yser after 3,091-gun barrage (British record). Objective to drive Germans from Pilckem Ridge commanding Ypres from south to northeast. Battle of Pilckem Ridge (until August 2): German Fourth Army, with counter-attack divisions, restricts Allied advance (15,000 BEF casualties, 12 VCs won, 19 tanks knocked out) as rain begins but it penetrates 1 1/4 -2 1/2 miles capturing 12 villages and parts of German second trench line. German losses are heavy, including 5,000 PoWs. French gain most.
British troops examine a captured German heavy machine gun at Ypres. They are wearing body armor: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...-1917.jpg?ssl=1
German prisoners helping bring in a British wounded at Ypres: © IWM (Q 6496): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...965451227586560
Aisne: French make small gains west of Chevregny ridge. 2 German battalions attack Cerney Plateau after 5-minute bombardment. Mangin put on reserve list following Nivelle Offensive inquiry.
Germany: Army Airship Service dissolved, 3 Zeppelins transferred to Naval Airship Division. Army has lost 26 airships and flown 232 bombing missions.
Wounded Canadian soldiers en route to Britain: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...707490643083264
Canadian soldiers advancing with tanks over no man's land: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...935235323154432

Eastern Front
Austro-German forces extend their hold on Galician front and stand on west bank of Zbrucz on front of over 30 miles.
Battle of Marasesti: Russians retiring in Czernovitz region.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Britain: 2,750 British ships now have hydrophone sets (for U-boat detection); 21 Atlantic convoys have escorted 354 ships for loss of only 2. Only 27 ships lost since May 1 in grand total of 8,894 ships convoyed, 18:1 advantage over independent sailings, 354 lost from c.3000.
Channel: British Dover Strait mine barrage now relaid.
Atlantic: U-boat sinks British SS Belgian Prince, 3 crew survive to tell of other 36 men’s murder (another source says 4 of 42). A different report of the incident: Belgian Prince was attacked by torpedo by U-55, Oberleutnant zur See Wilhelm Werner in command, 175 miles NW by W. of Tory Island, NW Ireland. The Captain (Harry Hassan) was taken prisoner by U-55 & held below deck. The other 41 crew members were lined up on the submarine's casing, but perhaps believing incorrectly that a British warship was in the vicinity, the submarine moved off & submerged, washing the survivors into the sea. [ed note: given the other actions by Werner, this is highly improbable.]
Their life-jackets & outer clothing had been taken from them & tossed overboard & their lifeboats had been smashed with axes. U-55 later fired two shots from her deck gun & Belgian Prince sank stern first at about 7:00 a.m. on Aug. 1, 1917. 39 lives in total were lost. Captain Hassan survived the war as a prisoner of war. Of the crew of 42, there were just 4 survi vors. Captain Hassan & i) Chief Engineer Thomas A. Bowman, ii) George Silessi, an able seaman, & iii) 2nd Cook William Snell, of Jacksonville, Florida, all 3 of whom were rescued by a British patrol vessel 11 hours later that day & told the story of what had happened.
Allied and neutral July shipping losses 224 ships worth 545,021t; German figure 555,514t (including 90,334 in Mediterranean plus 16,969 to Austrians); 6 U-boats sunk (1 by depth charges after ramming) but 11 commissioned and 95 ordered for completion by January 1, 1919.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Mesopotamia: Kut-Baghdad, Baghdad-Baquba and Sumaiha-Sadiya railways completed.
Persia: Since July Baratov’s Russian forces begin withdrawing until March 1918.

Political, etc
United Kingdom: In the Dundee by-election, Minister of Munitions Winston Churchill defeats Edwin Scrymgeour 78.2% to 21.8%.
China: Chinese Cabinet considers entering the war on the side of the Allies after Siam (Thailand) declared war on Germany.

1 August 1917
 

Western Front
BEF at peak establishment strength of 2,044,627 (1,721,056 British) soldiers.
Third Battle of Ypres (aka the Battle of Passchendaele): Germans recapture St Julien (British recapture on August 3) and make gains near Ypres-Roulers rail line (British recapture on August 2). French gains on West bank of Yser Canal, taking 12 villages and 5000 German prisoners.
Francis Ledwidge, Irish war poet, is killed in action at Passchendaele: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...072397469343744
Guynemer, with Esc SPA 3, makes 3 kills during August.
France: In August first flight of Spad S13 fighter (220hp Hispano-Suiza engine).
Lorraine: In August US racing driver Rickenbacker transfers to AEF Aviation Section from being General Pershing’s chauffeur.
A downed German DFW C.V reconnaissance biplane at Pilckem, Belgium: © IWM (Q 11853 ): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...995668503547904
A damaged British tank after it was hit by enemy fire: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...012009419677696
A British soldier giving a wounded German soldier a cigarette at Pilckem, Belgium: © IWM (Q 2629): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...027119139684355

Eastern Front
Battle of Marasesti: End of first phase of Battle of Marasesti (see July 22nd). Austro-German advance on Czernowitz; occupy positions near Bessarabian frontier.
Galicia: Russian renews a “partial offensive” against the Central Powers in Galicia, but are forced to retreat along the Dniester. Specifically, the Russians drive German Südarmee back across river Zbruch at Gusiatyn. Combined Austro-German armies now hold 50 miles on west bank Zbrucz.

Southern Front
Mediterranean: In August the spy Compton Mackenzie is recalled from Aegean.

Naval and Overseas Operations
British hostpital ship HMHS Letitia runs aground in Halifax Harbour, causing one death: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...310209615585281

Political, etc
Russia: General Lavr Kornilov succeeds General Aleksei Brusilov as Russian Commander-in-Chief (see June 4th and September 8th). His order of the day condemns treachery of ‘certain units’.
Russian Provisional Government again states it has no aims of annexation and conquest.
Italy: The Pope sends Note to belligerent Governments appealing for peace (see July 30th, 1915; sent August 9, published August 14): Kaiser supports on August 17, but Allies very critical. Britain replies on August 23 and Wilson rejects on August 27, new German Government required. Benedict XV ascend the Holy throne in 1914 after the death of Pius X. He tried to mediate until the end in the First World War: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...kt-xv.jpg?ssl=1

2 August 1917
 

Western Front
Third Battle of Ypres (aka the Battle of Passchendaele): Battle of Pilckem Ridge ends after max advance of 3,000 yards by 9 British divisions costs 31,850 casualties. Waterlogged shell holes began to appear.
German forces counterattack Allied lines and retake St. Julien and half of Westhoeck.
Then near Ypres, British forces retake positions between St. Julien and the Ypres-Roulers railway that were taken by the Germans.
Two pack mules carrying artillery shells through the Ypres mud: © IWM (Q 5941): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...358044461539328
British stretcher bearers carrying a wounded soldier through the mud during the 3rd Battle of Ypres: © IWM (Q 5935): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...373161752350721
British artillery gunners struggling through the mud pulling a field gun: © IWM (Q 5938): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...692727313440768
Artois: Germans storm some trenches on ‘Infantry Hill’ (Monchy-Arras).
British news-film “Topical Budget,” showing German prisoners at reconstruction work and other news: http://film.iwmcollections.org.uk/record/index/5418

Eastern Front
Battle of Marasesti: Battle of Mărăști ends in a marginal Romanian victory after retaking 500 square kilometers from Austria-Hungary and Germany.

Southern Front
Austria: 20 of 36 Capronis (10 damaged by anti-aircraft fire) reach Pola, drop 8t bombs on naval base (night August 2-3); 28 planes repeat it on night August 8-9.

Naval and Overseas Operations
A Sopwith Pup piloted by Squadron Leader E.H. Dunning, becomes the first aircraft to land on a ship at sea (that is, actually underway, as opposed to anchored). The aircraft successfully lands on the aircraft carrier HMS Furious, but Dunning is killed two days later while attempting a similar landing.
In this picture a Sopwith Strutter with side-slips launches from an aircraft carrier: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...ng-cv.jpg?ssl=1
North Sea: At Wilhelmshaven 600 men of German battleship Prinzregent Luitpold (after over 9 months idle in harbor) led by anarchist stokers Johann Beckers and Albin Kobis strike and stage mass walkout against draconian discipline and meagre rations, march back to ship. Kobis shouts ‘Down with the war! We no longer want to fight this war !’
Mutiny in German Fleet is crushed (temporarily), 18 arrested, 100s of men with ‘bad political attitudes’ transferred to shore statins or Flanders naval infantry brigade; 5 court-martialled for mutiny. Kobis and Seaman Reichpietsch of flagship Friedrich der Grosse sentenced to death (August 25) by firing-squad, carried out on September 5.
Pacific: German sailing ship raider Seeadler wrecked on Lord Howe Island (now Mopelia Island), having sunk 16 (6 British) ships or 30,099t in South Atlantic (45 PoWs). Captain Luckner and 5 crew captured in motor boat, Chilean schooner rescues rest.
The Seeadler: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...753135470604288

Political, etc
Germany: German war council, headed by Kaiser Wilhelm and attended by high military officials, meets in occupied Brussels.
France: Admiral Marie-Jean-Lucien Lacaze (Minister of Marine) and M. Denys Cochin (Under Secretary Foreign Affairs) resign from French Cabinet.
Italy: Pope Benedict XV issues a seven-point peace plan to the belligerent powers: http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/papalpeacenote.htm
United States: Frank Little, an American labor leader, is lynched in Butte, Montana for his pro-labor and anti-war activities: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...403362184003584
Resolution for a Constitutional amendment concerning the prohibition of alcohol is passed by the U.S. Senate 65 to 20.
Members of President Wilson’s Cabinet doing exercises. Assistant Secretary of the Navy Franklin D. Roosevelt is in the foreground: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...466235224584193
13 and 14-year-old boys working in a tobacco farm at Buckland, Connecticut: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...738031253409792

3 August 1917
 

Western Front
Third Battle of Ypres (aka the Battle of Passchendaele): German 2nd Guard Reserve Division reduced to 2,208 men including 600 sick. British 39th Division captures St Julien after 3,861 casualties.
Artois: British success on ‘Infantry Hill’. Unsuccessful Allied attack astride the Scarpe on August 9.
A British staff officer demonstrates a German helmet and trench armor to King George V during a visit on the Western Front: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...iform.jpg?ssl=1

Eastern Front
Bukovina: Kovess’ (made Field Marshal by August 9 and Baron) Austro-German Third Army’s XIII Corps (42nd Honved Infantry Division and 5th Infantry Division) reoccupies capital Czernowitz, then 10 miles east regains Vama on August 5. Gheremissov’s Eighth Army having evacuated Kimpolung on August 2.
Rumania: 600 Russo-Rumanian guns begin 3-day bombardment (170,000 shells) for offensive on August 7 (cancelled).

Southern Front
Salonika: Milne ordered to send 18 pieces of 6-inch and 60-pounder guns to Egypt, then an infantry division on August 9; 10th Division relieved from August 19.

Naval and Overseas Operations
East Africa: Linforce action at Tandamuti: 3 British columns repulsed by Lettow’s concealed positions but Germans retreat West until August 4 to Narunyu. KAR Signal Coy formed.
Ethiopia: Lij Yasu escapes from fall of Dessie (Wollo Province’s capital), but no more resistance.

Political, etc
Germany: Ferdinand George Frobenius, German mathematician known for his work on group theory, passed away: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...055111051837441
Russia: Petrograd Soviet indicts Lenin for treason. Provisional Government decree decree dissolves Finnish Diet.
United Kingdom: Ship Repairing directorate formed.
United States: Emergency Fleet Cooperation requisitions all steel ships of over 2,500t building.

Boy, that first picture of King George was beautifully clear wasn't it! Not many from WWI come out that good! :thumbs:

4 August 1917
 

Western Front
Third Battle of Ypres (aka the Battle of Passchendaele): Dead soldiers from a Highlanders regiment at Ypres awaiting burial: © IWM (Q 7814): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...393595411116032
French newsreel showing their I Corps in action at the 3rd Battle of Ypres: http://film.iwmcollections.org.uk/record/index/45416
French peasant women working in the Somme fields, retaken from the Germans. The Germans took all livestock (to be honest, that should read, “All the livestock not already confiscated by the French Army”): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...085316487290880

Eastern Front
Commander of the Austro-Hungarian 2nd Army von Bohm-Ermolli at the recapture of Czernowitz (Chernivtsi, Ukraine): © IWM (Q 23983): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...071541063364608
Russians rally and attack Austro-German forces on Zbrucz River; elsewhere Russian retreat continues.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Irish Sea: UC-44 sunk on UC-42 mines off Waterford after Room 40 sends bogus signal in code Germans discovered to be breaking. New FFB signal book recovered from wreck by diver-shipwright E C Miller.
Britain: Last 2 of 51 wartime-built R-class destroyers launched (since 14 May 1916), 11 modified R-class also built in 1917. First of 25 V-class destroyers (ordered June-August 1916) come into service (August 1917-June 1918). The ‘Admiralty Modified R’-class destroyer HMS Tower: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...royer.jpg?ssl=1

Political, etc
Russia: General Vasily Gourko arrested at his Petrograd home, kept in Fortress of Peter and Paul (until September 19) until allowed to sail for England.
Russian Premier Kerensky and other members of the cabinet submit resignations, but the Provisional Government does not accept them.
Statues and antiques worth 1.5 million rubles are stolen from the Senate and Synod building in Petrograd.
France: French accept formation of Czech Army on Western Front (talks since June 20); 2,000 volunteers by November.
France introduces bread rations, with each person receiving 500 grams per day.
United Kingdom: 3,000 Russian troops for Western Front land at Invergordon. King and Queen attend Westminster Abbey 3rd War Anniversary Service. National War Aims committee launched (3,192 constituency meetings by October).
Scandanavia: Norway, Holland: Governments offer shipping to Allies in return for food.
Belgium: Baron de Broqueville resigns as Belgian Minister for War (appointed February 28th, 1914) and succeeds Baron Beyens as Minister for Foreign Affairs (see January 18th, 1916, and January 1st, 1918). Lieut.-General A. de Ceuninck appointed Minister for War (see November 21st, 1918).
United States: Green Corn Rebellion occurs as Oklahomans in Seminole County rise up against the draft. The Green Corn Rebellion is quickly crushed, with three killed and 450 participants arrested.
Minor Allies: Liberia declares war on Germany (see May 5th, 1917 and April 10th, 1918).

5 August 1917
 

Western Front
The London Air Defence Area (LADA) is created with Major General E.B. Ashmore in command. Three Royal Flying Corps (RFC) squadrons equipped with Sopwith Camels and Sopwith Pups are formed specifically for operations against daylight raids by Gotha bombers.
Despite three years of war, France has 3 million soldiers at the front, a million more than in 1914.
Third Battle of Ypres (aka the Battle of Passchendaele): Germans regain footing in Hollebeke, but are driven out in course of day.
Captain Noel Godfrey Chavasse, British doctor, Olympic athlete (& awarded the Victoria Cross twice), is killed in action at Ypres: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...515650941022210
At Boezinge, Belgium, a German shell explodes in the distance with a British working party in the foreground: © IWM (Q 3103): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...802533826723840
A smashed and captured German trench near Boezinge, Belgium: © IWM (Q 3090): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...832748271624192
British airmen bathing in the Dunkirk-Furnes Canal: © IWM (Q 2827): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...500554546040832
British service commemorating the start of the 4th year of war at the 1st Army HQ at Ranchicourt: © IWM (Q 5774): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...787442163195904

Eastern Front
Austrro-German forces now 10 miles east of Czernowitz.
Vama (Bukovina front) occupied by German-Bulgarian forces.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Mediterranean: French sloop Antares rams and damages U-39, sister sloop Aldebaran damages U-23 on August 8.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Armenia: Russian troops being withdrawn to Europe acroos the Caucasus. In August British estimate 123,500 effective Russian infantry vs 64,000 Turks. Nihad Pasha takes over Turkish Second Army for duration of war.
Turkish light artillery on the Caucasian Front: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...casus.jpg?ssl=1
Palestine: German airman lands and damages pipeline near Salmana.
Arabia: Lawrence returns to Aqaba in RIMS Hardinge, restores Howeitat tribes’ loyalty with £1,000.

Political, etc
Germany: Herr Richard von Kuhlmann appointed German Foreign Minister (see July 15th, 1917 and July 9th, 1918): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...849327034126336
Russia: Russian Premier Kerensky receives votes of confidence from five political parties and most of the Workmen’s & Soldiers’ & Peasants’ councils.
Italy: (Listed for yesterday): Cesare Ricotti-Magnani, former Italian general and Minister of War, passed away: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...470354022289408
Argentina: Government demands German indemnity for ship losses (agreed on August 28).

Where's the gecko? Missed a couple of days ... is the war over? Nah. No doubt he'll be back. :wish:

6 August 1917
 

OK, here we go:
Western Front
Men of the Glasgow Highlanders doing a physical training game at Ghyvelde: © IWM (Q 2685): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...167434420256769

Eastern Front
Second phase of Battle of Marasesti begins (untilSeptember 3): Mackensen (12 divisions with 865 guns) storms positions north of Focsani, as Russian Fourth Army (Ragoza) flees, advances 8 miles and takes 3,000 PoWs (until August 7).
General Field Marshal August von Mackensen (1849-1945): https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...ensen.jpg?ssl=1
Romanian troops at Mărășești: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...152339900293120
Slight Russian rally in Czernowitz region.
Russian prisoners captured by the Germans near Focsani, Romania, receiving their bread rations: © IWM (Q 60341): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...182543183970304

Political, etc
Russia: M. Kerenski definitely appointed Prime Minister of Russia (see July 19th, September 10th and November 8th), forms Save the Revolution National Ministry. Tereshchenko new Foreign Minister, tells Colonel Knox on August 12 that Russia will fight through winter. Knox leaves for London on August 18, having seen Kerensky before on August 16.
Russian Ministry of Justice orders the arrest of Leon Trotsky for his part in the recent clashes between the government and Bolsheviks.
United Kingdom: French Prime Minister Painleve and Lloyd George in London until August 8 to discuss separate peace with Austria-Hungary.
United States: Workers in an airplane factory assembling wings in New York City: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...212736854495232

7 August 1917
 

Western Front
In Champagne and near Verdun, French forces defeat two attacks by German forces without losing ground.

Eastern Front
Battle of Marasesti: Von Mackensen’s army group crosses the Susitza river, and takes 3,000 prisoners.

Southern Front
Salonika: British War Cabinet agree not to withdraw more Salonika troops after Allies allow 10th Division to go ‘unless unexpected events occurred’
Italian Front: In London conference Baron Sonnino asks for 400 heavy guns (until August 8).
Wounded and sick British soldiers in a church in Oreovica, Serbia: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...526059957424129

Naval and Overseas Operations
Squadron Commander E.H. Dunning fails at his 2nd attempt to land on a moving ship and is killed: © IWM (Q 80597): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...571361099804672

Political, etc
Russia: Russian Provisional Government release lists of spies, informers and agent provocateurs who were in the former Tsar Nicholas’s pay.
Elihu Root, U.S. diplomat to Russia, declares recent news about riots and revolution in Russia are exaggerated.
United Kingdom: Churchill sees Clyde deportee Kirkwood, makes him Miie-End London shell factory manager on August 10 and by late September it has the highest production in country.
In a factory for artillery shells supplies are provided for the material battles.
Vice-Admiral Sir R Weymss succeeds Admiral Sir C Burney as Second Sea Lord.
United States: Representatives of Allied nations meet in New York to discuss standardizing airplane parts.
Minor Allies: Liberian declaration of war on Germany, dated 4 August, published.

8 August 1917
 

Western Front
Germany: First Allied night bomber shot down by fighters near Frankfurt-am-Main.
Wet weather continues in Flanders. Heavy artillery fire is exchanged between Allied and German lines in Belgium, but no major attacks take place.
French make progress north-west of Bixschoote.
London double-decker buses on the Cassel-Dunkerque road in France to transport troops: © IWM (Q 2690): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...889695687004160
French soldiers loading a Brandt pneumatic air gun for training in Oise, France: © IWM (Q 93188): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...919899046440960

Eastern Front
Battle of Marasesti: Russian counterattack near the confluence of the Dniester & Zbruch Rivers makes small gains, capturing 2 border towns & 300 prisoners.
Galicia: Turkish 20th Division hands over its sector to German 24th Reserve Division (night August 8-9) before leaving for Constantinople on September 11.
Turkish officers on the Eastern Front: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...front.jpg?ssl=1
Rumania: Third Battle of Oituz (until August 22): 2 Austro-German divisions attack and force Allied retreat in Trotus valley southwest of Okna. Rumanians counter-attack on August 12-13.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Britain: Convoys extended to outward-bound shipping, 18 convoys run from Milford, Falmouth, Queenstown, Buncrana (Scotland) and Devonport, only 2 of 219 ships sunk.
Biscay: Q-ship Dunraven (Campbell) fights UC-71 for 4 hours, but sinks on August 9 in tow back to Plymouth. U-boat sinks Q-ship Bergamot (August 13).
Baltic: first 1917 Russian submarine success: Vepr sinks German iron ore steamer in Gulf of Bothnia. Royal Navy submarines move base from Reval to Hangoe, Finland (end of August).

Political, etc
Ireland: Irish Home Rule Convention reopens in Dublin after it was adjourned in July to discuss the future of Ireland.

9 August 1917
 

Western Front
Artois: 7 Royal Flying Corps aircraft strafe before and during British 12th Division local attack, tactics repeated on August 19 and 26.
Successful British raids in Lens district.
British soldiers hauling a 18 pounder field gun out of the mud near Zillebeke, Belgium: © IWM (Q 5850): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...253477525512193
Barbers of the British 2nd Battalion, Leinster Regiment working at Dickebusch, Belgium: © IWM (Q 5850): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...283879011127296

Eastern Front
Battle of Marasesti: Mackensen beyond river Susitza threatens Allied rear. Lieutenant Rommel wounded in left arm but carries on for two weeks.
‘The situation in Russia is totally unclear’ means this chaotic-colorful poster from Italy: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...sland.jpg?ssl=1
More than 3,300 prisoners have been taken in the Central Powers’ offensive in Romania.

Southern Front
Salonika: 3 Bulgarian howitzers at 5-mile range destroy or damage 3 Royal Flying Corps aircraft on Struma sector airfield, 6 surviving planes fly to safer field. British patrol (21 men) west of Lake Doiran on ‘P’ ridge bayonets 14 Bulgarian soldiers and takes 1 PoW for 1 man missing.

Naval and Overseas Operations
In the past six months, more than 642 British ships have been sunk, with total tonnage equaling 3 million tons.

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Count Esterhazy, Hungarian Premier, resigns (see 21st and June 15th).
Canada: Third reading of Compulsory Military Service Bill for Canada passed.
Canada limits the use of beef, bacon, and white bread in public eating places and prohibits use of wheat in distillation of alcohol.
United States: U.S. Army cooks being trained at Pratt Institute in New York: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...299930675433472

10 August 1917
 

Western Front
Ypres – Second Allied attack of ‘Third Ypres’ Battle: British advance on 2-mile front east of Ypres, capturing Westhoek and Glencorse Wood; 18th Division captures Inverness Copse, but Gheluvelt Plateau as a whole not taken. French advance east and north of Bixschoote.
Nancy bombed; French bomb Frankfurt.
French soldiers loading a 220 mm mortar near Boesinghe, Belgium: © IWM (Q 78974): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...608257527631872
A German trench on the Yser Canal after its capture by the French Army: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...638437050667008

Eastern Front
Battle of Marasesti: Mackensen beyond Susitsa river, strikes north at Romanians, always threatening rear of Russo-Romanian armies.
Central Powers also advancing in northern Moldavia.
Central Powers claim to have taken 1600 more prisoners this day.
A Ukrainian regiment mutinies in Kiev and exchanges fire with Russian forces.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Since the start of the war, the neutral Scandinavian nations have lost 933 ships and around 500 men due to torpedoes or mines.
East Africa: Linforce recces Lettow’s Narunyu position. First Belgians reinforce Iringa Force which crosses river Idete on August 26 after indecisive action there on August 12.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Palestine: Allenby told he will get a division from Salonika, must ‘strike the Turks as hard as possible’; he moves GHO from Cairo 200 miles to Kelab near Front (August 11), forms DMC, XX and XXI Corps on August 12. British General Sir Edmund Allenby is ordered to seize Jerusalem from the Turks by Christmas 1917: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...lenby.jpg?ssl=1

Political, etc
United Kingdom: British Labour Party decide to send delegates to a "consultative" Conference at Stockholm (see 13th).
United States: Wilson signs the Food and Fuel Control Act, giving the federal government more power to control food and fuel production and supplies.
Sweden: Hilda Nilsson, Swedish serial killer convicted of killing 8 children, commits suicide in prison: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...715155413274624

11 August 1917
 

Western Front
Canadian fighter ace William Avery Bishop is awarded the Victoria Cross for his conduct during a raid on a German airfield.
Third Battle of Ypres: German counter-attacks east of Ypres, part of Glencorse Wood recaptured.
A horse and a water cart stuck in the mud at Ypres: © IWM (Q 5943): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...049872691904512
A British soldier checking out a “dud” artillery shell in Wytschaete, Belgium: © IWM (Q 5868): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...973099048493057
A Canadian military funeral at a cemetery in Poperinghe, Belgium: © IWM (Q 5875): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...989488517693440

Eastern Front
Battle of Marasesti: Mackensen forces river Sereth at one point, claims 7,000 PoWs, but Romanian resistance stiffens. Rumanian Royal Family leaves Jassy.
An advanced German patrol. Soldiers and horses wear gas masks: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...asken.jpg?ssl=1

Naval and Overseas Operations
Atlantic: Sierra Leone convoys start.
South Atlantic: British liner City of Athens (21 lost) sunk by raider Wolf mine near Cape Town.

Political, etc
United Kingdom: Mr. Arthur Henderson resigns position as member of War Cabinet after it rejects his proposal for a peace conference.
Australia: Australian government increases taxes on imported liquor by 3 shillings a gallon for customs and 1 penny a gallon in excise duty.
United States: U.S. Government refuses to issue passports for Stockholm Conference.

12 August 1917
 

Western Front
Britain: 13 Gotha bombers sent to raid England; 2 turn back (mechanical problems). One shot down by RNAS, 3 crash upon return. Eleven attack Southend with 21t bombs. 139 defence sorties (Gotha shot down by RNAS Pup Flight pilot Sub-Lieutenant H S Kerby), 44 civilian casualties, 3 service casualties. Another source states: 32 killed, 46 injured.
Third Battle of Ypres: Stormy weather in Ypres prevents large scale operations, but heavy artillery fire continues to be exchanged.
A Chinese Labor Corps man unloading sacks of oat at Boulogne: © IWM (Q 2694): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...368201378000897

Eastern Front
In the Carpathians front of Moldavia, Russo-Romanians re-take offensive.

Naval and Overseas Operations
North Sea: Destroyer HMS Oracle rams and sinks U-44 with all hands off South Norway coast.
Biscay: 2 French destroyers escort in first Brest-bound US troop convoy.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Egyptian Labor Corps men handling stores at Boulogne: © IWM (Q 2703): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...353104618237952

Political, etc
Russia: Ex-Tsar with family moved to Abalak Monastery, Tobolsk, Siberia.
Ex-Tsar Nicholas on the way to Siberia, where the Provisional Government sent him and his family: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...beria.jpg?ssl=1
United States: The NAACP urges oppression against African Americans should be abolished in the fight for democracy.
“Down to Earth,” a romantic comedy starring Douglas Fairbanks, is released: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipe...%281917%29.webm

13 August 1917
 

Western Front
Verdun: French 2,400-gun bombardment begins (including 1,100 heavy gun) begins on 12 1/2-mile front until August 20. German artillery fire response 1 million rounds (2,500t) mustard gas shells at French near Verdun (until September 24); 13,158 gassed (143 deaths).
The threatening sight of a night-firing French railroad gun: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...achts.jpg?ssl=1
Royal Flying Corps bombing east of Lens (night August 13-14), 2 German airfields bombed (August 14), 4 Sopwith Two-seaters attack and help disperse 1,600 German infantry on August 15.
A child injured in the German bombing raid at Southend yesterday: © IWM (Q 54001): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...672754686185473

Eastern Front
Russo-Romanian offensive continues favourable to Allies (Ocna region).

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Mesopotamia: No 63 Squadron (RE8s) from Western Front arrives at Basra, but 154 out of 230 all ranks soon stricken with fevers and heatstroke, deployment delayed.

Political, etc
Germany: Military region commanders given free hand to suppress strikes.
Eduard Buchner, German chemist who was awarded the 1907 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on fermentation, passed away: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...687856906887168
United Kingdom: British Government refuse passports for Stockholm Conference (see 10th).
Mr. George Barnes appointed to War Cabinet.
Italy: 40,000 people march against war at Turin (includs a Petrograd Soviet delegation).
United States: First Aero Squadron sails for France (arrives on September 3).
Japanese mission arrives in the U.S. to coordinate issues relating to the war against Germany: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...748232612753408
Spain: Martial law in Spain as a railway strike grows throughout the country and clashes erupt between police and strikers.

14 August 1917
 

Eastern Front
Rumania: German Alpenkorps storms Height 334 as Russian VIII Corps flees.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Germany: Scheer writes to Navy Minister Capelle urging a ‘political prosecution’ of the USPD (Independent Social Democratic Party) to expose ‘the roots of the evil’ in the Navy.
North Sea: HM Special Service smack Nelson (Crisp posthumous Victoria Cross) and trawlers Ethel and Millie sunk in gun duel with U-boat on Jim Hove Bank.
Mediterranean: Allied naval conference at Malta extends Calthorpe’s command to Red Sea and Cape St Vincent. Commander Heneage replaces Kerr in command of Adriatic Force. Rear-Admiral Fremantle replaces Thursby in command of Aegean Sea.

Political, etc
Germany: At Berlin Conference Germans reject Czernin’s peace offer of Poland and Galicia for concessions in West.
Italy: Papal Note with proposals for peace sent to belligerent Governments published: http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/papalpeacenote.htm
China: China declares war on Germany and Austria-Hungary (see March 14th).

15 August 1917
 

Western Front
Third Battle of Ypres: Battle of Hill 70 (Lens) begins (see 25th). British attack on wide front north-west of Lens to Bois Hugo, north-east of Loos, carry German first lines and penetrate enemy positions to depth of one mile. Canadian Corps (9,198 casualties), supported by c.326 guns and 160 MGs, captures important height of Hill 70 north of Lens plus the 5 nearby villages of Cite Ste. Elizabeth, Ste. Emile and St. Laurent, Bois Rase, and Bois Hugo. Five major German counter-attacks c.24 total German counterattacks repulsed, mauling 5 German divisions (including over 1,170 PoWs).
Official British casualties during the first two weeks of August total 21,722 men killed, wounded, or missing.
Manfred von Richthofen (Red Baron) at a hospital with a bandage on his head. The prop is from a downed British plane. © IWM (Q 52781): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...111862411747329

Eastern Front
Rumania: Austro-Germans retake Soveja as Allies (Romanian 2nd Army and Russian 4th Army) retreat south toward the Sereth; Central Powers also renew offensive in Focsani region.

Naval and Overseas Operations
East Africa: Belgian column under Major Batille advances from Kilosa towards river Ruaha, beats Germans at Kidodi 50 miles south on August 18, drives them from Tepe on August 19 and crosses river Ruaha on August 21.

Political, etc
France: Roman Dmowski’s Polish National Committee set up in Paris.
United Kingdom: US troops pass through London: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...ondon.jpg?ssl=1 Stars and Stripes and Union Jack flown side by side from House of Lords.
War Cabinet decides to send 8 guns to Russia (none sent since March and 150 promised).
Ireland: British police and soldiers raid premises of the Irish National Volunteers in Dublin, taking 100 rifles and 1300 rounds.
Japan: Viscount Ishii, Japanese Ambassador, declares that U.S. and Japan will “march together, work together and fight together as comrades.”
Spain: Spanish government uses artillery in Barcelona and Sabadell to suppress revolutionaries connected to the railway strike.

Good to see "THE THREAD IS BACK!" :D

Nice picture of Richthofen! I always think of the movie "The Blue Max" whenever I see a picture of a Fokker DR1. :)

16 August 1917
 

Western Front
Third Battle of Ypres: Battle of Langemarck 1917 begins. (until August 18): British advance on 9-mile front north of Ypres-Menin road, capture Langemarck and cross river Steenbeek, and temporarily capturing all objectives. Furious German counter-attacks only push back British line a short distance, though depleted 16th Irish and 36th Ulster Divisions driven back to start. French marine battalion captures Drie Grachten bridgehead on Yser canal.
Aisne: French advance on Craonne Plateau.
Meuse: Germans capture some trenches on east bank, but French recapture on August 18.
Group of German soldiers captured at Ypres: © IWM (Q 2720): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...759912117272576

Eastern Front
Russo-Romanian army still retreating before Mackensen's offensive up Sereth valley. Baltareta bridgehead lost.
In Ocna region Germano-Bulgarians take offensive, also in Susitsa valley.
Further South, Romanians hold their ground.

Naval and Overseas Operations
British and German destroyers in inconclusive action in Bight of Heligoland.

Political, etc
Germany: OHL remove General Groener from War Office (to 33rd Division at Verdun), General Scheuch succeeds, but put under War Minister on August 22.
Lieutenant-General Wilhelm Groener (1867-1939) was highly gifted and also politically open-minded, but could not prevail against the rigid attitude in Germany. He will play an important role in the Weimar Republic: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...oener.jpg?ssl=1
France: City of Dijon, France considers resolutions to compel children over the age of 12 to work and to send prisoners to the front.
United Kingdom: Prime Minister speech on shipping losses, appeals for canal use instead of railways.
Netherlands: Shipment of several million eggs to Germany is stopped by the Dutch govt when Germany offers to pay for them with paper money, not gold.

Glad to know you're still enjoying it, DB.

17 August 1917
 

Western Front
Third Battle of Ypres: French success east of Bixschoote; French hold all gains and secure possession of ground east of Bixschoote. Battle of Langemarck 1917: Germans counter-attack near Lens repulsed.
British soldiers at Ypres in the ruins of a church, watching the bombardment of German lines: © IWM (Q 2710): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...865723988643840
Big French air operations (i. e., the bombing of German towns) on the Meuse.
French soldiers in a trench near La Harazee, France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...122458041114624

Southern Front
Macedonia: Anglo-French aircraft bomb various targets (until August 20) despite high winds.

Political, etc
Germany: Kaiser decides Navy will be limited to 25 Zeppelins and only build replacements every 2 months instead of 2 per month.
Zepplein L-58 belongs to the newest generation of German airships, which are completed from August 1917 onwards: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...n-L58.jpg?ssl=1
France: M. Denys Cochin succeeded by M. Albert Métin as French Under-Secretary for Blockade (see March 20th, 1916 and November 16th, 1917).
United Kingdom: The Cabinet Committee Report on Air Organisation (the Smuts Report) is presented to the War Cabinet. It recommends the creation of an Air Ministry "to control and administer all matters in connection with air warfare of every kind and that the new ministry should proceed to work out the arrangements for the amalgamation of the two [Air] services and for the legal constitution and discipline of the new Service".
The Report states "the day may not be far off when aerial operations with their devastation of enemy lands and destruction of industrial and populous centres on a vast scale may become the principal operations of war, to which the older forms of military and naval operations may become secondary and subordinate". The Smuts Report lays foundations for the creation of the Royal Air Force.
Balfour speech on Balkans. Ramsay Macdonald letter to president Wilson and Colonel House says US neutrality would have been better for peace.
Brigadier-General Auckland Geddes succeeds Mr. Neville Chamberlain as Director-General National Service.
Official British estimate of German casualties now exceed 4.5 million soldiers killed, wounded, and missing.

18 August 1917
 

Western Front
Third Battle of Ypres: Battle of Langemarck, 1917 ends (see 16th).
Allied forces at Ypres hold on to gains made the day before yesterday despite German counterattacks.
British soldiers duck for cover as a German shell lands near Boezinge, near Ypres: © IWM (Q 5889): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...152535466364929
A 17-year-old German soldier captured by the Canadians: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...182763819479040
A British officer looks out from the trenches at Ypres as shells burst in the distance: © IWM (Q 2738): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...485896739041285
Belgium – The Hollandflug: abortive Gotha bomber mission against London. 28 aircraft sent (8 or 9 lost) but recalled due to gale-force winds; 2 shot down in neutral Holland, 6 or 7 crash in Belgium, others ditch in sea.
Japanese-Canadian soldier posing for the camera: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...243369981411329
Verdun sector: French counter-attack on right bank of Meuse and recapture trenches lost on 16 August.

Eastern Front
Romanian front fighting less intense, situation unchanged.
Romanians retire towards Marasesti (20 miles north of Focsani).

Southern Front
Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo: (the Bainsizza, until September 12): After barrage from 0600 hours Italian Second and Third Armies (44 divisions; 3,566 guns, 1,760 mortars) on 30-mile front night attack Austrian Fifth Army (18 divisions with 248 battalions including 3 divisions from Eastern Front, 6 transferring) capture first line with 7,500 PoWs but only across 6 of 14 Isonzo bridges (more built night August 19/20) planned due to Austrian resistance.
Austro-Hungarian soldier on sentry duty in the fringe of a wood on the Isonzo front in August 1917: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...sonzo.jpg?ssl=1
Italian Front: 85 Caproni bombers hit Austrian supply relief columns, ammo dumps and headquarters.
Salonika: Great fire begins in wooden old quarter with oil spilling from stove, brought under control on August 21 but 80,000 made homeless and nearly half city destroyed; British base HQ gutted on waterfront, but port not affected.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Western Mediterranean: Scout cruiser USS Birmingham (Rear Admiral Wilson) arrives at Gibraltar as flagship US Patrol Force, 2 others and 7 gunboats to work on Atlantic side of straits.

Political, etc
Allies: British, French, and Italian Governments conclude provisional arrangement with regard to future policy in Asia Minor (Turkey) (see May 16th, 1916 and July 27th, 1917).
Germany: During Wilhelmshaven visit by Kaiser and Capelle, Scheer calls recent mutiny a ‘socialist plot‘ that necessitates a ‘few death sentences’; demands implicated USPD deputies be tried for treason. Capelle demurs, saying deputies enjoy parliamentary immunity. Kaiser has first sea voyage of war in new flagship Baden from Wilhelmshaven to Heligoland.
United Kingdom: Government proclamation forbids threatened rail engineers strike. Churchill replaces 50 Munitions Ministry Departments with 11-man Council (meeting weekly) and secretariat, his Munitions Bill passed on August 21.
United States: Forces total 943,141 men. Food Administrator Hoover asks each family to save 1 lb of flour per week.

19 August 1917
 

Western Front
Third Battle of Ypres: Slight advance by British troops on Ypres-Poelcapelle road in which 12 tanks (1 ditched) capture pillboxes at St Julien for 26 casualties; Germans retake briefly on August 25.
A British tank was stuck in the mud during the Ypres battle: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...hlamm.jpg?ssl=1
A French and British soldier toast each other with French ration wine at Boezinge, near Ypres: © IWM (Q 2742): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...607962951897089
A British soldier trying on captured German body-armor at Ypres: © IWM (Q 2733): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...852062259294208
German General Erich von Ludendorff inspecting officers of Jagdstaffel 11. Von Richthofen’s (Red Baron) plane is in the background: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...913714430234629

Eastern Front
Galicia and Bukovina: Germans claim 22,000 PoWs in recent fighting.
Rumania: Mackensen attacks at Marasesti (until August 20) with 4 divisions and 3-hour shelling but Averescu regains lost ground when General Popescu’s 47th and 51st Regiments (13th Division) bayonet charge through Razoave Forest, lull till August 28.

Southern Front
Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo: Italian attack on 30-mile front in Carso (between Mrzli Vrh and sea). Carry Austrian first line east of Isonzo from Plava to sea (25 miles); 7,500 prisoners. 12 Italian battalions across river; Hill 300 taken by Badoglio’s II Corps and many advances uphill. Italian Third Army attacks on Carso (until August 23) but operations suspended after minimal gains (except to Diaz’s XXIII Corps) for heavy losses.

Political, etc
United States: (Listed for yesterday): 6 women suffragists arrested for demonstrating at the White House with banners and pickets are sentenced to 30 days in a workhouse.
American Boy Scouts demonstrating different types of gas masks: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...561409457332224
Greece: Two looks at yesterday’s fire in Thessaloniki: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...576516342136832
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...883511821774848

20 August 1917
 

Western Front
Third Battle of Ypres: North of Ypres slight British advance.
Since July 31, 17 German divisions ‘used up’ according to General Kuhl, CoS to Rupprecht. British attack profitably with 7 tanks.
British cavalry escorting captured German machine gunners through Brielen, Belgium: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...974123526955011
Jimmy Speirs, Scottish footballer who scored the winning goal in the 1911 FA Cup Final, is killed in action at Ypres: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...276097086517249
"Second Offensive Battle" of Verdun begins [French name and dates.] (until September 9): Guillaumat’s French Second Army, with 18 divisions vs 12, takes German defences north of Verdun on 11-mile front to depth of 1 1/4 miles including claims to have taken Avocourt Wood, Mort Homme, Hill 240 and 5,000 PoWs (until August 23). German Fifth Army (forewarned) previously evacuated Talou ridge and other positions.
U.S. Expeditionary Force soldiers in France receive gas masks and begin training with them before they head to the front.

Eastern Front
Baltic Provinces: Russians evacuate some positions southwest of Riga (until August 22) 3-8 miles to shorten line, plus stores and sick from city itself. German Eighth Army begins approach march for Riga operation (August 22).
Russia: Kornilov orders Cossack concentration within rail distance of Petrograd or Moscow (or on August 19).
Russian prisoners in Sassnitz, Germany waiting to be exchanged with German and Austro-Hungarian prisoners: © IWM (Q 29924): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...261000876249088
Romanians gain ground north of Focsani lost on 19 August.

Southern Front
Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo: Battle continues in favor of Italians; Austro-Hungarian defenses between Korite and Sella (right wing) carried.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Atlantic: Penultimate British Q-ship success: Acton sinks UC-72 (which had damaged the Q-ship Penshurst on August 19).
British submarine HMS E47 sinks in the North Sea with loss of all 30 crew.

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Dr. Sándor Wekerle appointed Hungarian Prime Minister.
Germany: Adolf von Baeyer, German chemist who synthesized indigo and received the 1905 Nobel Prize, passed away: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...215702061707264
Russia: Lavr Kornilov, the new Russian commander-in-chief, tried in vain to restore the army’s fighting strength, while at the same time protecting the Provisional Government from its internal enemies: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...nilov.jpg?ssl=1

21 August 1917
 

Western Front
Third Battle of Ypres: Canadians (1,154 casualties) advance on 200-yard front west and northwest of Lens.
"Second Offensive Battle" of Verdun: French recapture Cote de l’Oie (Moroccan Division including the Legion), Regneville and Samogneux either side of river Meuse, watched by Petain and Pershing.
Britain: 8 Navy Zeppelins fly against the Midlands; unsuccessful, only 10% of 24,000lb bombs dropped recorded (1 wounded, night August 21-22). German airship L.-23 destroyed in North Sea with loss of all crew by a British airplane off Jutland, Denmark. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_...66_Zeppelin.jpg

Eastern Front
Kovess attacks Sereth town and takes hill defences nearby; renews attacks east of Czernowitz on August 26 and captures Dolzok height on August 27.
German forces launch an attack on Russian lines defending Riga. Due to poor morale, Russian troops retreat.
Russians evacuate positions between Tirul Marsh and River Aa.

Southern Front
Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo: Bersaglieri storm Ossoinica and Osedrih (lost). Tortona Brigade takes Mt Kuk (2,004 ft); Mt Jelinek taken from 3 sides on August 22, breakthrough near Auzza on 2,000-yard front shakes Austrians.
A member of the Bersaglieri, crack troops of the Italian army, with a portable bicycle folded on his shoulder:
https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...cycle.jpg?ssl=1

Political, etc
United Kingdom: Ministry of Reconstruction formed in Great Britain.
Labour Party reaffirm their decision to send delegates to Stockholm.
Parliament adjourns.