Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

August 1915

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The following events occurred in August 1915:

Contents

August 1, 1915 (Sunday)

  • German fighter pilot Max Immelmann shot down his first aircraft while flying in a Fokker E.I monoplane, beginning his career as an ace.
  • Irish national hero Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa was buried at Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin, while Irish Republican leader Patrick Pearse delivered a graveside oration containing the phrase "Ireland unfree shall never be at peace".
  • 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."
  • Born: Mario Pantaleo, Italian-Argentine priest, founder of the Obra del Padre Mario foundation that funds health and education projects in González Catán, Argentina (d. 1992); Pierre de Beaumont, American engineer and businessperson, founder of Brookstone chain stores, in New York City (d. 2010)

    • August 2, 1915 (Monday)

  • 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".
  • A Sopwith Baby airplane equipped with wheeled floats took off from sea carrier HMS Campania, the first British aircraft to do so on a British aviation ship.
  • No. 5 Squadron of the Royal Air Force was established at Dover, England but was shortly absorbed into the air naval service.
  • The French air squadron Escadrille 65 was established at Lyon–Bron Airport in eastern France.
  • The III Cavalry Corps of the Imperial German Army was established.
  • The Batavia association football club beat the Semarang club 2-0 in the final of the 1915 DEI Championship.
  • Metro Pictures released its first feature film Sealed Valley.
  • The Estación Retiro subway line opened in Buenos Aires.
  • Born: Gary Merrill, American actor, best known for his lead role in All About Eve and becoming husband to co-star Bette Davis, in Hartford, Connecticut (d. 1990); J. Curtis Counts, American labor mediator, director of the U.S. Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service from 1969 to 1973 (b. 1999); William Gear, Scottish painter, member of the The London Group, in Methil, Scotland (d. 1997)
  • Died: John Downer, Australian politician, 16th Premier of South Australia (b. 1843); William Abraham, Irish politician, Member of Parliament for Dublin from 1893 to 1915 (b. 1840)

    • August 3, 1915 (Tuesday)

  • 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.
  • Battle of Jastków — The Polish Legions won their first major victory against the Imperial Russian Army at the village of Jastków in what is now eastern Poland.
  • Born: Frank Arthur Calder, Canadian politician, member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1949 to 1979, first Aboriginal to be elected to any legislature in Canada, in Nisga'a territory in British Columbia (d. 2006); Arthur Birch, Australian chemist, developed the Birch reduction method often used in synthetic organic chemistry, in Sydney (d. 1995)
  • Born: Pete Newell, Canadian-American college basketball coach, credited for leading University of California to win the 1959 NCAA men's basketball championship, and the 1960 United States men's Olympic basketball team to winning the gold medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics, in Vancouver (d. 2008)

    • August 4, 1915 (Wednesday)

  • British submarine HMS C33 struck a mine in the North Sea off Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England and sank with the loss of all 16 crew.
  • The association football club Teresópolis Futebol Clube was established in Teresópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
  • Born: Patrick Anderson, English-Canadian poet, member of the Montreal Group, known for poetry collections including Return to Canada, in Ashtead, England (d. 1979); Donald Dean Summerville, Canadian politician, 53rd Mayor of Toronto, in Toronto (d. 1963)

    • August 5, 1915 (Thursday)

  • Great Retreat — The Imperial Russian Army abandoned Warsaw, allowing the German 12th Army to occupy it with little resistance.
  • The second hurricane of the 1915 Atlantic hurricane season began to form in the Atlantic Ocean east of the Caribbean.
  • Italian submarine Nereide was torpedoed and sunk in the Adriatic Sea by Austro-Hungarian sub SM U-5 with the loss of all 19 crew.
  • The German freighter Aenne Rickmers, captured by the British, was outfitted as a seaplane carrier and commissioned as HMS Anne for operations in the Mediterranean.
  • The musical The Blue Paradise by Edmund Eysler, Sigmund Romberg and Leo Edwards premiered on Broadway at the Casino Theatre in New York City, resulting in a successful run of 356 performances.
  • Born: Arthur Valpey, American football player and coach, played end for the Michigan Wolverines football from 1935 to 1937, and coach for the Harvard Crimson and Connecticut Huskies from 1948 to 1951, in Dayton, Ohio (d. 2007)
  • Died: Sakuma Samata, Japanese army officer, 5th Governor-General of Taiwan (b. 1844)

    • August 6, 1915 (Friday)

  • Landing at Suvla Bay — Reinforcement divisions from the British IX Corps under command of General Frederick Stopford landed at Sulva as part of a new offensive on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
  • Battle of Krithia Vineyard — The 88th Brigade of the British 29th Division launched the first attack wave on defense positions held by four Ottoman divisions on the Gallipoli peninsula as part of a diversionary tactic while reinforcements landed at Sulva.
  • 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 Sulva. The Ottomans covered the trenches with pine boards that made it difficult for the Australian infantry to capture on the first day of fighting.
  • Battle of Sari Bair — The ANZAC forces mounted a diversionary attack timed to coincide with a major Allied landing of reinforcements at Suvla Bay and to capture the Sari Bair range overlooking the bay.
  • General elections were held in Manitoba after the Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba called for them following the resignation of Premier Rodmond Roblin in May. Manitoba Liberal Party defeated the incumbent Progressive Conservative Party of Manitoba in a massive landslide, gaining 40 of the 47 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba while the Conservatives were reduced to five seats.
  • Siege of Mora – French forces in the besieged German African colony of Kamerun attempted take capture a village sympathetic to the German defenders on Mora to reduce opportunities for the troops to raid a capture weapons and supplies for the fort. German forces counterattacked and drove off the French while leaving a dozen soldiers to protect the village.
  • Weather and communications problems frustrated reconnaissance efforts by German Navy airships in support of mine-laying mission by auxiliary cruiser SMS 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.
  • Ross Sea party — British polar ship Aurora, still drifting in the ice of the Southern Ocean, was now 360 nautical miles (670 km) north of Cape Evans where much of the expedition was marooned.
  • The Naval General Service Medal was created to recognize efforts by the Royal Navy and Royal Marines for campaigns that otherwise would not be recognized by other British military decorations. It was replaced by the General Service Medal in 1962.
  • Born: Jacques Abram, American pianist, best known for his performances of compositions by composers Benjamin Britten and Arthur Benjamin, in Lufkin, Texas (d. 1998); Tom O'Reilly, Irish Gaelic football player and politician, played half-back of the Cavan GAA from 1933 to 1947, in Killeshandra, Cavan County, Ireland (d. 1995); Philip Guthrie Hoffman, American academic, fifth president of the University of Houston, in Kobe, Japan (d. 2008)
  • Died: Guido Goldschmiedt, Austrian chemist, best known for determining the structure of papaverine to be used for pharmaceutical treatment (b. 1850)

    • August 7, 1915 (Saturday)

  • Landing at Suvla Bay — The landing of British reinforcement divisions at Sulva 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.
  • 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.
  • Battle of Lone Pine — Three Ottoman reinforcements began a three-day counter-offensive to take back trenches captured by Australian forces.
  • 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 on the Gallipoli Peninsula. 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.
  • 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.
  • The German 12th Army was established for the Eastern Front but would be dissolved about a year later.
  • Russian astronomer Grigory Neujmin discovered minor planet 916 America at the Simeiz Observatory in Simeis, Russian Empire.
  • Born: Herman P. Schwan, German-American biomedical engineer, considered the "founding father of biomedical engineering", in Aachen, Germany (d. 2005); John Garrett Underhill, Jr., American army officer, recipient of the Army Commendation Medal, was called on by Louisiana District Attorney Jim Garrison in his investigation on the assassination of John F. Kennedy but committed suicide before appearing in court (d. 1964)
  • Died: Edward Kozłowski, Polish-American clergy, first Polish Bishop of Milwaukee (b. 1860)

    • August 8, 1915 (Sunday)

  • 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".
  • Landing at Suvla Bay — General Ian Hamilton, commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force during the Gallipoli Campaign, met with General Frederick Stopford and noted the landing was going too slowly, allowing Ottoman forces to reorganize their defenses. He pushed Stopford to order a march on Ottoman defenses 12 hours sooner than planned.
  • 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.
  • Battle of the Gulf of Riga — The German High Seas Fleet attempted to clear Russian minefields around Gulf of Riga in the Baltic Sea in an attempt to destroy Russian Baltic Fleet and facilitate the German capture of the Russian port of Riga (now Latvia).
  • Ottoman battleship Barbaros Hayreddin, formerly the SMS Kurfürst Friedrich Wilhelm, was torpedoed and sunk in the Sea of Marmara off Bolayır, Turkey by British submarine HMS E11 with the loss of 253 of her 568 crew.
  • British armed merchant cruiser HMS India was torpedoed and sunk in the Norwegian Sea off Bodø, Nordland, Norway by German submarine SM U-22 with the loss of 160 of the 311 people on board.
  • Norias Ranch Raid — A motley group of 17 men composed of Texas Rangers and local peace officers held off a raid of 60 Carrancista rebels on a ranch near Kingsville, Texas, resulting in seven killed and 14 wounded. The raid was part of the Plan of San Diego, a rebel campaign to create unrest on the Texas-Mexican border.
  • Austro-Hungarian submarine SM U-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 One.
  • British armed boarding steamer HMS The Ramsey was torpedoed and sunk in the North Sea by German auxiliary cruiser SMS Meteor.
  • Born: Alex Schoenbaum, American business owner, founder of the Shoney's restaurant chain, in Charleston, West Virginia (d. 1996); Eric Pulford, British commercial artist, designer of over 1,000 movie posters, in Leeds (d. 2005)
  • Died: Albert Downing, New Zealand rugby player, played for the New Zealand national rugby union team and the Marist Brothers Old Boys RFC in 1913-14, killed at the Battle of Chunuk Bair (b. 1886)

    • August 9, 1915 (Monday)

  • 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."
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • British destroyer HMS Lynx struck a mine and sank in the North Sea. Out of the 100 crewmen on board, there were only 26 survivors.
  • German auxiliary cruiser SMS Meteor was scuttled in the North Sea. All on board were rescued by Royal Navy cruisers.
  • Died: Alexander Burton, Australian soldier, posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross, killed at the Battle of Lone Pine (b. 1893); Henry Dewar, New Zealand rugby player, rugby union forward, played for the New Zealand national rugby union team, and the Taranaki and Wellington rugby football unions, killed at the Battle of Chunuk Bair (b. 1883); Norman Frederick Hastings, New Zealand army officer, recipient of the Distinguished Service Order and the Legion of Honour, died from wounds sustained at the Battle of Sari Bair (b. 1879)
  • Died: George Helgesen Fitch, American humorist, best known for the comedic story series "Good Old Siwash College" published in The Saturday Evening Post (b. 1877); Frank Bramley, English painter, member of the Newlyn School (b. 1857)

    • August 10, 1915 (Tuesday)

  • 1915 Galveston hurricane - A tropical storm that had formed in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean five days earlier strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane when it was first observed north of Barbados.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Ross Sea party — British polar ship Aurora was now 45 nautical miles (83 km) north-east of Cape Adare, Antarctic and that its daily drift was averaging just over 20 nautical miles (37 km).
  • An annular solar eclipse occurred in the south Pacific Ocean.
  • Born: Keith B. McCutcheon, American fighter pilot, recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross and 10 other Air Medals for actions during World War Two, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, in East Liverpool, Ohio (d. 1971); Carmelo Borg Pisani, Maltese-Italian spy, posthumous recipient of the Gold Medal of Military Valour, in Senglea, Malta (d. 1942, executed); Boris Meissner, German lawyer, established the German Institute for International and Security Affairs, in Pärnu, German Empire (now Estonia) (d. 2003)
  • Died: Henry Moseley, British physicist, developed Moseley's law that provided experimental evidence to support the Bohr model for atomic structures, killed in action during the Gallipoli Campaign (b. 1887); Charles Heber Clark, American humorist, author of Fortunate Island which Clark claimed was plagiarized by Mark Twain as A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (b. 1841)

    • August 11, 1915 (Wednesday)

  • Armenian Genocide — The Ottoman government began to massacre 2,345 intellectuals being held at Çankırı and Ayaş around Ankara. Among those who perished during the massacre included:
  • Dikran Chökürian, writer and editor
  • Armen Dorian, poet
  • Parunak Ferukhan, musician
  • Melkon Giurdjian, writer and academic
  • Ardashes Harutiunian, poet and literary critic
  • Diran Kelekian, academic
  • Karekin Khajag, journalist
  • Garabed Pashayan Khan, physician
  • Shavarsh Krissian, athlete and sports journalist
  • Levon Larents, novelist
  • Kegham Parseghian, journalist
  • Smpad Piurad, writer and activist
  • Jacques Sayabalian, writer
  • Vartkes Serengülian, politician
  • Ruben Sevak, poet
  • Parsegh Shahbaz, lawyer and politician
  • Harutiun Shahrigian, politician
  • Siamanto, Armenian poet
  • Hagop Terzian, chemist and historian
  • Haig Tiriakian, politician
  • Krikor Torosian, writer
  • Daniel Varoujan, poet
  • 1915 Galveston hurricane - A weather station in San Juan, Puerto Rico recorded a 29.60 inch (987 mbar) pressure reading and winds speeds up to 60 mph (110 km/h) as the eye of the hurricane passed south of the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. It continued westward between 18 and 20 mph (25–30 km/h) where it brushed Haiti and made landfall in Jamaica, where a barometric pressure reading of 29.68 inch (983 mbar) was reported. There were no reports of casualties but local crop damage by the storm was very serious.
  • Born: Morris Weiss, American comic strip artist, known for the comic strip Joe Palooka, in Philadelphia (d. 2014); Paul F. Iams, American business owner, founder of Iams Pet Foods, in Dayton, Ohio (d. 2004)
  • Died: Alfred Shout, New Zealand-Australian soldier, posthumous recipient of the Victoria Cross. died from wounds received at the Battle of Lone Pine (b. 1882)

    • August 12, 1915 (Thursday)

  • Philippe Sudré Dartiguenave became President of Haiti, easing two weeks of political turmoil in the country following the lynching of the previous president Vilbrun Guillaume Sam and the start of the United States occupation of Haiti. His alliance with the United States led to a period of stability in Haiti.
  • Royal Naval Air Service pilot Charles Edmonds became the first pilot to attack a ship with an air-launched torpedo, dropping a 5,000-gross-register-ton on a Turkish supply ship during the Dardanelles Campaign.
  • 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 being captured by Ottoman forces.
  • 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.
  • Born: Michael Kidd, American choreographer, best known for his choreography in film musicals Seven Brides For Seven Brothers and The Band Wagon, in New York City (d. 2007); Sickan Carlsson, Swedish actress, known for lead films roles in Thunder and Lightning and The Pleasure Garden, in Stockholm (d. 2011)

    • August 13, 1915 (Friday)

  • 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.
  • British troopship HMT Royal Edward was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea off Greece by German submarine SM UB-14 with the loss of 935 of the 1,596 people on board.
  • British ocean liner Campania was driven ashore at Galveston, Texas during the a massive hurricane. She was refloated on August 21.
  • French destroyer Bisson attacked and sunk Austro-Hungarian submarine SM U-3 with the loss of seven of the sub's 21-man crew.
  • Major Hüseyin Avni Bey, commander of 57th Infantry Regiment during the Gallipoli Campaign, was killed when a shell hit his command post.
  • Died: Tom Anderson, Jr., Scottish-American pro golfer, two-time winner of the Pennsylvania Open Championship and top-10 finisher of the 1909 U.S. Open, killed in an auto accident (b. 1885)

    • August 14, 1915 (Saturday)

  • Landing at Suvla Bay — Frustrated by General Frederick Stopford's indecisiveness to act quickly as casualties mounted by aggressive Ottoman defense maneuvers, Gallipoli Campaign commander General Ian Hamilton cabled Field Marshal Herbert Kitchener and requested a change of command.
  • 1915 Galveston hurricane - The hurricane intensified to a Category 4 when it brushed past Cuba, with wind speeds of 145 mph (230 km/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.
  • A rail crash in Weedon, England killed ten people.
  • Born: Irene Hickson, American baseball player, catcher for the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League from 1943 to 1951, in Chattanooga, Tennessee (d. 1995); Kermit Sheets, American actor and playwright, artistic partner to poet James Broughton including the short film The Pleasure Garden (d. 2006)
  • Born: Mary Fedden, British painter, known for her modernist painting and murals, including the mural at Charing Cross Hospital in London she commissioned with husband and painter Julian Trevelyan, in Bristol (d. 2012)
  • Died: James Harbottle Boyd, British-Hawaiian military officer, last military official for the Kingdom of Hawaii before it was overthrown in 1893 (b. 1858)

    • August 15, 1915 (Sunday)

  • 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.
  • Landing at Suvla Bay — Lieutenant-general Frederick Stopford, commander of the landing at Sulva, was sacked and replaced with Lieutenant-general Julian Byng (with Major-General Beauvoir De Lisle as interim commander while Byng was traveling from his previous post in France.
  • German submarine SM UB-4 was shelled and sunk in the North Sea off Lowestoft, Suffolk, England by HM Armed Smack Inverlyon with the loss of all 14 crew.
  • Russian minelayer Ladoga struck a mine and sank in the Baltic Sea off Sweden with the loss of five of her crew.
  • 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.
  • The association football club Alecrim Futebol Clube was formed in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil by a group of youths that included future Brazilian president Café Filho.
  • Born: Signe Hasso, Swedish actress, known for roles in films Heaven Can Wait and A Scandal in Paris, in Stockholm (d. 2002); Einar Johansen, Norwegian resistance fighter, member of the Skylark B underground radio group during German occupation of Norway, in Tromsø, Norway (d. 1996)
  • Born: Ramon A. Alcaraz, Filipino naval officer, recipient of the Silver Star, commodore of the Philippine Navy in 1965, in Quingua, Central Luzon, Philippines (d. 2009); Herbert Hupka, German-Jewish politician, member of the Bundestag from 1969 to 1987, vice-president of the Federation of Expellees which represent German nationalities expelled from their homes following World War Two, in Diyatalawa, Ceylon (d. 2006)
  • Born: Ismat Chughtai, Indian writer, known for her fiction in the Urdu language including the short story "Lihaaf" (The Quilt), in Budaun, India (d. 1991); Meary James Thurairajah Tambimuttu, Tamil poet, one of the founders of Poetry London (d. 1983)

    • August 16, 1915 (Monday)

  • The Allies promised the Kingdom of Serbia, should victory be achieved over Austria-Hungary and its allied Central Powers, the territories of Baranja, Srem and Slavonia from the Cisleithanian part of the Dual Monarchy, along with Bosnia and Herzegovina, and eastern Dalmatia from the Krka River to Bar.
  • Battle of the Gulf of Riga — German battleships SMS Nassau and Posen led over 30 torpedo boats to breach Russian naval defenses in the Baltic Sea gulf but lost a destroyer and a minesweeper during the attack.
  • 1915 Galveston hurricane — The centre of the hurricane approached the east coast of Texas.
  • The first edition of the Chilean daily newspaper El Rancagüino was published in Rancagua, Chile.
  • Franz Joseph I of Austria established the military decoration War Cross for Civil Merits for military officers who serve with distinction outside of combat roles during World War One.
  • The comic strip Freckles and His Friends by cartoonist Merrill Blosser debuted through the daily newspapers circulated by the Newspaper Enterprise Association.
  • The Powell Bridge in Powell, Missouri opened to traffic. It became part of the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.
  • Born: Donald Schmuck, American Marine Corps officer, recipient of the Navy Cross and two Silver Stars for actions in World War Two and the Korean War, in Denver (d. 2004); Ferenc Sas, Hungarian-Argentine association football player, played for the Hungary national football team in the 1938 FIFA World Cup final, and won national championships with the Hungária MTK FC in Hungary and CA Boca Juniors in Argentina, in Budapest (d. 1988)
  • Died: Henry A. Smith, American pioneer, one of the first major settlers of Seattle (b. 1830)

    • August 17, 1915 (Tuesday)

  • 1915 Galveston hurricane — The hurricane made landfall southwest of Galveston, Texas where atmospheric pressure was recorded at 27.76 inches (940 mbar) with wind speeds of 135 mph (215 km/h). Extreme high winds and heavy rain led to massive damage estimated at $921 million (2005 USD). However, the timely construction of 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.
  • Battle of the Gulf of Riga — German battleships SMS Nassau and Posen dueled with Russian battleship Slava.
  • Jewish American Leo Frank was abducted from his prison cell in Milledgeville, Georgia and lynched for the alleged murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan in Atlanta. The lynch mob was organized by several prominent political figures in Georgia, including former state governor Joseph Mackey Brown and Eugene Herbert Clay, former mayor of Marietta, Georgia.
  • 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.
  • Born: Antonio J. Waring, Jr., American archaeologist, best known for his discoveries of the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex with Preston Holder, in Savannah, Georgia (d. 1964); Leonard W. Thornhill, American naval pilot, posthumous recipient of the Navy Cross, in Lamison, Alabama (d. 1942, killed during the Battle of the Coral Sea)
  • Died: John C. Black, American army officer, recipient of the Medal of Honor for the Battle of Prairie Grove during the American Civil War (b. 1839)

    • August 18, 1915 (Wednesday)

  • British submarine HMS E13 ran aground on Saltholm, Denmark. She was subsequently attacked by German submarine 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.
  • 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. 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.
  • Born: Max Lanier, American baseball player, pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals, in Denton, North Carolina (d. 2007); Pearly Brown, American blues musician, first African-American musician to perform at the Grand Ole Opry, in Abbeville, Georgia (d. 1986)

    • August 19, 1915 (Thursday)

  • Battle of Chunuk Bair — Sporadic fighting wound down the battle as British and ANZAC forces gave up ground to the Ottomans on Gallipoli Peninsula. British and ANZAC casualties were estimated between 12,000 and 13,000 casualties while Ottoman forces lost 9,200.
  • Battle of the Gulf of Riga — The German High Seas Fleet was able to clear the Russian minefields and enter the gulf, but withdrew after German cruiser SMS Moltke was hit by a torpedo fired by British submarine HMS E1.
  • British ocean liner Arabic was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean off the Old Head of Kinsale, County Donegal, Ireland by German submarine SM U-24 with the loss of 47 lives.
  • Baralong incidents — German submarine SM U-27 was shelled and sunk in the Western Approaches by Royal Navy ship HMS Baralong with the loss of all 37 crew.
  • German fighter pilot Oswald Boelcke shot down his first aircraft using the same Fokker E.I airplane model equipped with a machine gun fitted with Synchronization gear as fellow airman Kurt Wintgens.
  • 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.
  • Born: Ring Lardner Jr., American film screenwriter, known for Oscar-winning scripts including Woman of the Year and M*A*S*H, in Chicago (d. 2000); Herman Stein, American film composer, best known for his science fiction and horror film scores including It Came from Outer Space and This Island Earth, in Philadelphia (d. 2007); Richard C. Sanders, American air force officer, youngest officer of the U.S. Air Force to earn the rank of general, in Salt Lake City (d. 1976)

    • August 20, 1915 (Friday)

  • 1915 Galveston hurricane — The hurricane was now a storm that passed over Missouri and the Ohio Valley before finally becoming extratropical three days later. In all, the hurricane's destructive path left an estimated 275-400 people dead and $50 million (1915 USD, $921 million 2005 USD) in damages in Texas, Louisiana, and other U.S. Gulf states as well as Cuba and the Caribbean.
  • 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.
  • Gallipoli Campaign — The newly formed Australian 2nd Division landed at ANZAC.
  • The first sustained aerial bombing offensive was made by Italy against Austria-Hungary.
  • The British 1st Guards Brigade was established as part of the reformed Guards Brigade.
  • 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.
  • Born: George Roussos, American comic book artist, best known for being the primary inker for Jack Kirby, including the first issues of Fantastic Four, in Washington, D.C. (d. 2000); Walter Orr Roberts, American atmospheric physicist and astronomer, founder of the High Altitude Observatory in Boulder, Colorado, in West Bridgwater, Massachusetts (d. 1990); Arthur Porges, American writer, author of many speculative short stories including The Ruum, in Chicago (d. 2006)
  • Died: Carlos Finlay, Cuban pathologist, lead researcher into yellow fever, discovered it was transmitted through mosquitoes (b. 1833); Paul Ehrlich, German scientist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his pioneering techniques in identifying bacteria and chemotherapy (b. 1854); Yitzchak Yaacov Reines, Lithuanian Orthodox Jewish rabbi, founder of the Mizrachi, one of the earliest movements of Religious Zionism (b. 1839)

    • August 21, 1915 (Saturday)

  • Battle of Sari Bair — The Ottoman Empire regained control of the Sari Bair ridge from British and ANZAC forces on the Gallipoli Peninsula.
  • Nicholas II of Russia removed Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolayevich as Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Army and personally took over the position.
  • Battle of Hill 60 — An ANZAC force of 4,000 men launched the final major offensive of the Gallipoli Campaign in order secure key defensive positions for the Sulva landing.
  • Battle of Scimitar Hill — The British launched the last major offensive against the Ottoman Empire on the Gallipoli Peninsula with a force of 14,300 men from the British 11th and 29th Divisions. The men were to take a curved summit near Sulva 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 Boer War veteran Lord Longford were both killed by enemy fire (their bodies were never recovered). British forces withdrew under heavy fire with 5,300 casualties.
  • Born: Arnold Goodman, British lawyer and political adviser, senior partner of Goodman, Derrick & Co (now Goodman Derrick LLP) in London, solicitor and adviser to British politician Harold Wilson (d. 1995); Joshua Hassan, British statesman, first Mayor of Gibraltar, in Gibraltar (d. 1997)
  • Born: Robert Furman, American engineer, chief of foreign intelligence for the Manhattan Project, in Trenton, New Jersey (d. 2008); Fernando Claudín, Spanish historian, author of The Communist Movement: From Comintern to Cominform, in Zaragoza, Spain (d. 1990)
  • Died: Arthur James Dingle, English rugby player, played centre and wing for the England rugby union team, Hartlepool Rovers and Oxford University RFC, killed at the Battle of Scimitar Hill (b. 1891)

    • August 22, 1915 (Sunday)

  • Battle of Hill 60 — Reinforcements from the Australian 2nd Division launched a dawn attack on Ottoman strategic defense hold, but suffered 383 casualties out of 750 men.
  • Born: Hugh Paddick, British actor, best known for this comedic voice work in the BBC Radio show Round the Horne in the 1960s, in Hoddesdon, England (d. 2000); David Dellinger, American activist, member of the Chicago Seven, in Wakefield, Massachusetts (d. 2004); Margaret McNamara, American education advocate, founder of Reading Is Fundamental, wife to United States Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara, in Spokane, Washington (d. 1981)
  • Born: James Hillier, Canadian scientist and inventor, jointly designed and built the first electron microscope, in Brantford, Ontario (d. 2007); Jacques Flynn, Canadian politician, Senator for Rougemont, Quebec from 1962 to 1990, in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec (d. 2000)
  • Died: William Middleton Wallace, Scottish rugby player, played fullback for the Cambridge University R.U.F.C. and the Scotland national rugby union team from 1912 to 1914, killed in northern France (b. 1892)

    • August 23, 1915 (Monday)

  • The Vernon Parish School Board in Leesville, Louisiana approved Pitkin School as a high school.
  • Born: Carl Pohlad, American financier, owner of the Minnesota Twins baseball franchise from 1984 to 2009, in Des Moines, Iowa (d. 2009); Graciela, Cuban jazz singer, often referred to as the The First Lady of Latin Jazz, in Havana (d. 2010); Werner Grothmann, German SS officer, aide to Heinrich Himmler, in Frankfurt (d. 2002)

    • August 24, 1915 (Tuesday)

  • The town of Holbrook, New South Wales was renamed from Germanton due to Australia being at war with Germany.
  • The borough Kulpmont, Pennsylvania was incorporated.
  • Born: Wynonie Harris, American blues singer, known for blues hits that later influenced rock music including "Good Rocking Tonight" and "All She Wants to Do Is Rock", in Omaha, Nebraska (d. 1969); Alice Bradley Sheldon, American writer, better known by her pseudonym James Tiptree, Jr., best known for her story story collections Ten Thousand Light-Years from Home and Crown of Stars, in Chicago (d. 1987)
  • Born: Dave McCoy, American ski resort developer, founder of the Mammoth Mountain Ski Area in Eastern California, in El Segundo, California (still alive in 2016); Trevor Gardner, Welsh-American engineer, co-partner with Bernard Adolph Schriever in developing the U.S. ICBM program, in Cardiff, Wales (d. 1963)

    • August 25, 1915 (Wednesday)

  • Great Retreat — The Germans captured Brest-Litovsk in the Russian Empire (now Brest, Belarus).
  • The international Ezras Torah Fund was established during a meeting the Agudath Harabonim in New York City, initially as relief fund for Orthodox Jews in Europe during World War One.
  • Born: John Bassett, Canadian publisher and media baron, founder of CFTO-TV broadcast channel in Ontario and owner of the Toronto Argonauts football team, recipient of the Order of Canada, in Ottawa (d. 1998); Seymour S. Kety, American neurologist, leading researcher in the genetic causes of schizophrenia, in Philadelphia (d. 2000); Craig Noel, American theater producer, founding director of the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, in Deming, New Mexico (d. 2010)
  • Died: Henry Overholser, American businessman, key business real estate developer for Oklahoma City (b. 1846)

    • August 26, 1915 (Thursday)

  • 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.
  • Born: Humphrey Searle, English composer, best known for his contributions to the series Variations on an Elizabethan Theme, in Oxford (d. 1982); Hal B. Jennings, American surgeon, Surgeon General of the United States Army from 1969 to 1973, in Seneca Township, Michigan (d. 2008); Gré Brouwenstijn, Dutch opera singer, renowned singer for the Dutch National Opera (d. 1999)
  • Died: John Medley Wood, English-South African botanist, lead researcher of ferns in the Natal Province of South Africa (b. 1827)

    • August 27, 1915 (Friday)

  • Battle of Hill 60 — Further reinforcements from the Australian 2nd Division, including the 9th Light Horse Regiment of the Australian 3rd Light Horse Brigade arrived to take the summit from Ottomans. The assault proved a failure, with one wave of 75 men led by the new commander, Lieutenant Colonel Carew Reynell, being destroyed when it was caught in the open by Ottoman machine guns.
  • Germany resumed submarine warfare against British commercial ships after weeks of postponement. German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg initially persuaded Kaiser Wilhelm II to forbid action against ships flying neutral flags but it was realised that British ships could easily fly neutral flags.
  • Born: Norman Foster Ramsey, Jr., American physicist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics for the developing the separated oscillatory field method, now used in constructing atomic clocks, in Washington, D.C. (d. 2011); Walter Heller, American economist, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from 1961 to 1964, in Buffalo, New York (d. 1987)
  • Born: Emil Verban, American baseball player, second baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago Cubs, and Boston Braves from 1944 to 1950, in Lincoln, Illinois (d. 1989); Talduwe Somarama, Ceylon assassin, shot and killed S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike, the fourth Prime Minister of Ceylon, in 1959 (d. 1962, executed)

    • August 28, 1915 (Saturday)

  • Battle of Hill 60 — Bolstered by reinforcements for the Australian 10th Light Horse Regiment, ANZAC forces captured part of the summit but the Ottomans clung to the vital northern face which overlooked Suvla Bay.
  • The first train operated over the re-gauged Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway using 15 in (381 mm) gauge equipment.
  • 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.
  • Born: Tol Avery, American actor, best known for his role in the ensemble 1950s TV sitcom The Pride of the Family, in Fort Worth, Texas (d. 1973); Simon Oakland, American actor, best known for tough authoritative roles in I Want to Live! and Psycho, in New York City (d. 1983); Max Robertson, British sports commentator, best known for his sports coverage for BBC and first regular host of the TV news magazine program Panorama, in Dacca, Bengal (d. 2009)
  • Born: Tasha Tudor, American illustrator and children's author, illustrator for over 100 books including the Corgiville series, starting with Corgiville Fair, in Boston (d. 2008); Patrick Hennessy, Irish painter, best known reviving the realist style in works such as Portrait of Elizabeth Bowen at Bowen's Court, in Cork, Ireland (d. 1980)

    • August 29, 1915 (Sunday)

  • 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.
  • British submarine HMS C29 struck a mine and sank in the estuary off Humber, England with the loss of all 16 crew.
  • Born: Ingrid Bergman, Swedish actress, best known for her roles as Ilsa Lund in Casablanca and as Alicia Huberman in Notorious, winner of three Academy Awards for Best Actress, in Stockholm (d. 1982)
  • Born: Albert T. Harris, American naval officer, posthumous recipient of the Navy Cross, in Madison, Georgia (d. 1942); Jack Agazarian, English World War Two spy, Special Operations Executive in France, in London (d. 1945, executed in Flossenbürg concentration camp)
  • Died: Julius von Payer, Austrian explorer, led the Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition 1872-1874 (b. 1841); Flavianus Michael Malke, Eastern Catholic priest, Syrian Catholic eparch of Gazarta (now Cizre), murdered during the Assyrian Genocide, beatified in 2015 (b. 1858)

    • August 30, 1915 (Monday)

  • Born: Princess Lilian, Duchess of Halland, Welsh-Swedish model and noble, married to Prince Bertil, Duke of Halland of Sweden, in Swansea, Wales (d. 2013); Robert Strassburg, American composer, known for composition including the choral symphony based on poetry collection Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman, in Birmingham, Alabama (d. 2003); Jack Simmons, English historian, leading historian on rail history in Great Britain, one of the founders of the National Railway Museum in York, in Isleworth, England (d. 2000)
  • Died: Antonio Flores Jijón, President of Ecuador from 1888 to 1892 (b. 1833); Paul Aloysius Kenna, British army officer, recipient of the Victoria Cross for action the Battle of Omdurman in 1898, killed in action during the Gallipoli Campaign (b. 1862)

    • August 31, 1915 (Tuesday)

  • The first French ace, Adolphe Pegoud, was killed in combat. He had scored six victories.
  • Jimmy Lavender of the Chicago Cubs pitched a no-hitter against the New York Giants.
  • The Aceh Museum is established in Banda Aceh, Indonesia.
  • The Central Technical School was established in Toronto to offer high school students courses in visual arts and technical studies.
  • Born: Harry Stone Mosher, American chemist, best known for discovering Mosher's acid, in Salem, Oregon (d. 2001); Gretl Braun, German matriarch, sister to Eva Braun, in Munich (d. 1987)
  • Died: William W. Henry, American army officer, recipient of the Medal of Honor for action at the Battle of Cedar Creek during the American Civil War (b. 1831); W. H. Denny, English singer and actor, best known for his lead roles in Savoy operas at the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company (b. 1853)

    • References

    August 1915 Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA


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