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Mike Palmer: Posted on 30 November 2014 12:54
 30 NOVEMBER 1914
The Great War cemented the Cossacks reputation not only as
Russias best troops but also their most savage.In 1914 there were 939 squadrons,
mobilized normally around 100 men strong. Most came from the Don (360
squadrons) and Kuban (202 squadrons) regions although Siberia sent 54
squadrons. They were organised into Steppe and Caucasian groups further divided
into territorial divisions
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Mike Palmer: Posted on 28 November 2014 05:35
 28th NOVEMBER 1914
Today’s paper attempts to soften the devastating loss of HMS
Bulwark by hyping the news from the Russian front. After initial success in
repulsing German attacks at Warsaw in September-November 1914. The Grand Duke was encouraged to divert German
forces away from the Western Front, along with his natural preference for
offensive manoeuvres this meant the Russian army expended resources holding
positions captured in western Poland months after the inconclusive Battle of
Lodz, on-going munitions shortages, and defeats at the Masurian Lakes and Gorlice-Tarnow
made this untenable. In August 1915, with Russian troops retreating, the Tsar
removed Nikolai Nikolaevich to Viceroy of the Caucasus and assumed Supreme
Command himself.Grand Duke Nicholas died on January 5, 1929 in France.
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Mike Palmer: Posted on 27 November 2014 08:06
 27th NOVEMBER 1914On 14 November 1914 as part of the 5th Battle Squadron
Bulwark was transferred to Sheerness to guard against a possible German
invasion of England. Under the command of Captain Guy Sclater HMS Bulwark was
destroyed by a large internal explosion for the loss of 736 men. Two of the 14
survivors died later in hospital. The explosion was likely to have been caused
by the overheating of cordite charges that had been placed adjacent to a boiler
room bulkhead.
In terms of loss of life, the incident remains the second
most catastrophic accidental explosion in the history of the Royal Navy,
exceeded only by the explosion of the dreadnought battleship Vanguard, caused
by a stokehold fire detonating a magazine, at Scapa Flow in 1917.
In 1908, Captain Robert Falcon
Scott of Antarctic fame became Bulwark’s commander, becoming the youngest at
that time. Bulwark joined the Channel Fleet on 3 October 1908. Under the fleet
reorganisation of 24 March 1909, the Channel Fleet became the 2nd Division of
the Home Fleet, and Bulwark thus became a Home Fleet unit. She underwent a
refit later in 1909. On 1 March 1910, Bulwark commissioned into the reserve at
Devonport with a nucleus crew as Flagship, Vice-Admiral, 3rd and 4th Divisions,
Home Fleet, at the Nore. She began a refit at Chatham in September 1911, and
grounded twice on Barrow Deep off the Nore during refit trials in May 1912,
suffering bottom damage From 5 to 9 November 1914, while anchored at Portland,
Bulwark hosted the court martial of Rear-Admiral Sir Ernest Charles Thomas
Troubridge for his actions during the pursuit of the German battlecruiser SMS
Goeben and light cruiser SMS Breslau in the Mediterranean Sea in August 1914
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Colin: Posted on 26 November 2014 05:54
 26th November 1914 |
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Posted on 25 November 2014 10:36
  25th November 1914
As Imperial Germany's first practical military aircraft, the
Taube ("dove") was used for virtually all military aircraft
applications, as a fighter, bomber, surveillance aircraft and trainer from 1910
until the start of World War I in August 1914. The Taube was very popular prior to the First World War, and
it was also used by the air forces of Italy and Austria-Hungary. Even the Royal
Flying Corps operated at least one Taube in 1912. On November 1, 1911, Giulio
Gavotti, an Italian aviator, dropped the world's first aerial bomb from his
Taube monoplane over the Ain Zara oasis in Libya. Once the war began, it
quickly proved inferior as a serious warplane and as a result was soon replaced
by newer and more effective designs
TAUBE
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Mike Palmer: Posted on 24 November 2014 08:41
 24th November 1914
On 21st November, 1914, Squadron Commander E.F. Briggs,
Flight Commander J.T. Babington, and Flight Lieutenant S.V. Sippe, Royal Navy,
carried out an aerial attack on the Zeppelin airship sheds and factory at
Friedrickshafen on Lake Constance. Leaving from Belfort, France shortly before 10 a.m. The
three pilots flew 125 miles (201 km) over mountainous terrain and in difficult
weather - a risky flight near the limit of the aircraft's range. The distance
was increased by the need to avoid flying over neutral Switzerland. they
arrived over their objective at about noon, and, although under a very heavy
rifle, machine-gun and shrapnel fire from the moment they were sighted, they
all three dived steeply to within a few hundred feet of the sheds, when they
released their bombs — in all eleven.Squadron Commander Briggs was wounded, brought down, and
made a prisoner, but the other two officers regained their starting-point,
after a flight of more than four hours across hostile country under very bad
weather conditions.It is believed that the damage caused by this attack
includes the destruction of one airship and serious damage to the larger shed,
and also demolition of the hydrogen-producing plant, which had only lately been
completed. Later reports stated that flames of considerable magnitude were seen
issuing from the factory immediately after the raid. (Although substantial
damage was claimed at the time and in some later histories, in fact the actual
damage inflicted was slight. The pilots deserve all praise for their admirable
navigation... this flight of 250 miles, into gunfire, across enemy country, in
the frail little Avro with its humble horse-power, can compare as an
achievement with the best of them".)Each received the Distinguished Service Order: The raid was
announced by Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, who called it
"a fine feat of arms". Flight Commander J.T. Babington later achieved
the rank of Air Marshal he passed on 20 March 1979. Flight
Lieutenant S.V. Sippe survived the war and passed on 17 November 1968. Briggs
survived the war .Gp.Capt. Edward Featherstone Briggs passed in 1963.
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Colin: Posted on 23 November 2014 11:22
 23rd November 1914
Prince Maurice of Battenberg, KCVO, (Maurice Victor Donald;
3 October 1891 – 27 October 1914) was a member of the Hessian princely
Battenberg family and the extended British Royal Family, the youngest grandchild
of Queen Victoria. He was known as Prince Maurice of Battenberg throughout his
life, since he died before the British Royal Family relinquished their German
titles during World War I and the Battenbergs changed their name to
Mountbatten. The young Prince served in World War I as a lieutenant in the
King's Royal Rifle Corps, and was killed in service in the Ypres Salient in
1914. He is buried in Ypres Town Commonwealth War Graves Commission Cemetery. A
memorial tablet to him and his brother Leopold is in Winchester Cathedral.
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Mike Palmer: Posted on 21 November 2014 07:02
 21st November1914 |
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Mike Palmer: Posted on 20 November 2014 05:33
 20th November 1914
Field Marshal Frederick Sleigh Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts served
in the Indian rebellion, the Expedition to Abyssinia and the Second
Anglo-Afghan War before leading British Forces to success in the Second Boer
War. He also became the last Commander-in-Chief of the Forces before the post
was abolished in 1904.
Roberts died of pneumonia at St Omer, France, on 14 November
1914 while visiting Indian troops fighting in the First World War. After lying in state in Westminster Hall (one of
two non-Royals to do so during the 20th century, the other being Sir Winston
Churchill), he was given a state funeral and was then buried in St. Paul's
Cathedral.
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Mike Palmer: Posted on 19 November 2014 11:59
 19th November 1914
A Royal Visit to injured colonial troops
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Posted on 19 November 2014 11:49
 29th July 1914
The British press break the news that Austria Hungary declares war on the Serbs
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MIKE PALMER: Posted on 19 November 2014 11:44
 30th June 1914.
The British press empathies with the loss suffered by the
Austrians
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MIKE PALMER: Posted on 19 November 2014 11:35
 29th JUNE 1914
The news of the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand and
his wife breaks
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