August 1915

August

• 01

  • Reports of an attack on Constantinople harbourBritish war chronologies record a submarine raid into Constantinople harbour on 1 August 1915. Later sources do not confirm it.
• 03

  • Russians abandon VanOn 3 August 1915, after the defeat at Malazgirt, the Russians withdrew from Van. Tens of thousands of local Armenians fled with them to the Caucasus.
• 05

  • Key eventGermans occupy WarsawOn 5 August 1915 troops of the German Ninth Army entered Warsaw, abandoned by the Russians overnight. Russian rule, in place since 1815, came to an end.
  • Central Powers take IvangorodOn 5 August 1915 Vienna announced the capture of Ivangorod. A day earlier the Austro-Hungarians had entered forts the Russians left on the Vistula's left bank.
  • Turks occupy VanIn early August 1915 Ottoman troops returned to Van, abandoned by the Russians, and at Bergri Kurds attacked columns of Armenian refugees.
  • Prize court upholds the seizure of the DaciaOn 5 August 1915 the French Prize Council declared the seizure of the steamer Dacia valid. The change of flag from German to American had not saved the ship.
• 06

  • Landing at Suvla BayOn the evening of 6 August 1915 British IX Corps began landing at Suvla Bay on Gallipoli. The Turks had only three battalions there and were caught unawares.
  • Battle of Sari Bair beginsOn 6 August 1915 Australians took the Turkish trenches at Lone Pine, and after dark columns from Anzac set off up the gullies towards the Sari Bair heights.
  • Bernardino Machado elected president of PortugalOn 6 August 1915 Portugal's Congress elected former prime minister Bernardino Machado president. He won only on the third ballot and took office on 5 October.
  • Bulgaria takes out a loan from German banksOn 6 August 1915 the Bulgarian finance minister announced that a German-Austrian consortium was taking up the first part of the 1914 loan and making an advance.
  • Japanese-Chinese agreement on customs at TsingtaoOn 6 August 1915 the reopening of the Chinese customs house at Tsingtao was agreed in Peking. The Japanese took over the privileges the Germans had held there.
• 08

  • British occupy BushehrOn 8 August 1915 the British occupied the Persian port of Bushehr and took over its administration, in reply to the July Tangestani attack on the Residency.
  • Sinking of the battleship Barbaros HayreddinOn 8 August 1915 the British submarine E11 torpedoed the Turkish battleship Barbaros Hayreddin in the Sea of Marmara, off Bulair. About 250 men died.
  • Start of the German attack on the Gulf of RigaOn 8 August 1915 German minesweepers began sweeping mines in the Irbe Strait. They lost two ships, and in the afternoon Admiral Schmidt broke off the attack.
• 09

  • Decisive day of the Battle of Sari BairOn 9 August 1915 Major Allanson's Gurkhas broke onto the Sari Bair ridge, but under fire from unknown guns they had to come down. The Anzac offensive failed.
  • Takaaki Katō resignsIn August 1915 Foreign Minister Takaaki Katō, author of the Twenty-One Demands on China, left Japan's government over Kanetake Ōura's bribery scandal.
• 10

  • End of the Battle of Sari BairAt dawn on 10 August 1915 the Turks under Mustafa Kemal retook Chunuk Bair and drove the British off the Sari Bair ridge. The Anzac offensive was over.
  • End of the Second Battle of the IsonzoThe Austro-Hungarian official history ends the Second Battle of the Isonzo on 10 August 1915. After Italy's 3 August order, the Karst fighting went on a week.
  • Loss of airship L 12On the night of 9–10 August 1915 guns at Dover hit airship L 12. It came down in the sea, was towed to Ostend and was bombed there by RNAS airmen.
  • Ōkuma becomes acting foreign ministerOn 10 August 1915 Japanese Prime Minister Shigenobu Ōkuma reshuffled his cabinet and took the foreign ministry himself. He held it until mid-October.
• 12

  • First ship sunk by a torpedo from a seaplaneOn 12 August 1915 a British Short 184 seaplane torpedoed a Turkish ship near Bolayır. It was the first combat aerial torpedo attack in history.
• 13

  • Sinking of the troopship Royal EdwardOn 13 August 1915 the German submarine UB-14 sank the troopship Royal Edward, carrying reinforcements for Gallipoli, in the Aegean. Over 850 men died.
• 15

  • End of the landing at Suvla BayOn 15 August 1915 Hamilton removed Gen. Stopford from command of IX Corps at Suvla. That day the Irish took the summit of the Kiretch Tepe ridge.
  • Entente offers Serbia territorial gainsOn 15 August 1915 the envoys of Russia, Britain and France promised Serbia Bosnia, Syrmia, Bačka and part of Dalmatia in return for concessions in Macedonia.
  • National Registration DayOn Sunday 15 August 1915 Britons aged 15–65 filled in national register forms. About 29 million of them were distributed.
• 16

  • U-24 shells Lowca and HarringtonOn 16 August 1915 U-24 shelled the coking and benzol works at Lowca in Cumberland with its deck gun. Damage was slight; the plant restarted after four days.
• 17

  • Germans capture KovnoOn 17 August 1915 the Germans crossed the Niemen and took Kovno. The garrison fled in disorder, and the commandant left the fortress before the fighting ended.
• 18

  • Mostowfi ol-Mamalek prime minister againOn 18 August 1915 Mostowfi ol-Mamalek became Persian prime minister for the third time. Persia, with no army, tried to steer between the Entente and Germany.
• 19

  • E1 torpedoes the battlecruiser MoltkeOn 19 August 1915 the British submarine E1 torpedoed the German battlecruiser Moltke in the Baltic. The ship did not sink, but was out of service for a month.
  • Attack on the submarine E13On 19 August 1915 German torpedo boats shelled the British submarine E13, aground in Danish waters in the Sound. Fifteen British sailors were killed.
  • Sinking of the ArabicOn 19 August 1915 U-24 torpedoed the liner Arabic off Ireland without warning. 44 people died, Americans among them, setting off a new crisis with the USA.
  • Baralong sinks U-27On 19 August 1915 the British Q-ship Baralong sank U-27. Her crew shot the submarine's survivors, which became a notorious affair.
• 20

  • Germans capture NovogeorgievskOn 20 August 1915 the fortress of Novogeorgievsk, today Modlin, capitulated. Over 80,000 Russians went into captivity, many generals among them.
• 21

  • Attack on Scimitar HillOn 21 August 1915 the British attacked the hills above Suvla Bay. Twice they took the top of Scimitar Hill, but lost 5,300 men and returned to their positions.
  • Key eventItaly declares war on TurkeyOn 20 August 1915 the Italian ambassador handed the grand vizier a declaration of war. From 21 August Italy was at war with the Ottoman Empire.
  • Lifeboats of the Ruel fired onOn 21 August 1915 a German U-boat sank the British steamer Ruel and fired on the lifeboats with the crew. One seaman was killed and the master wounded.
  • End of the German attack on the Gulf of RigaOn 21 August 1915 German ships left the Irbe Strait. They had broken into the Gulf of Riga but neither destroyed the battleship Slava nor mined Moon Sound.
• 22

  • Russians abandon OsowiecOn 22 August 1915 the Osowiec garrison, which had held off the Germans for half a year, left on orders and sappers blew up the forts. It was never stormed.
  • Venizelos becomes Prime Minister of Greece againOn 22 August 1915, over two months after winning the election, Eleftherios Venizelos was sworn in before King Constantine I and again headed the government.
  • The POW after the Germans enter WarsawOn 22 August 1915 the POW's Warsaw Battalion, 330 volunteers, left to join the 1st Brigade. Piłsudski stopped further enlistment and kept the POW underground.
• 25

  • Germans take Brest-LitovskOn 25 August 1915 Austro-Hungarian and German troops broke through the ring of forts at Brest-Litovsk. That night the Russians gave up the burning fortress.
• 26

  • Germans take BiałystokOn 26 August 1915 German troops reached Białystok, wrecked by the retreating Russians. More than a hundred years of Russian rule came to an end.
• 30

  • Grey gives assurances to SupiloOn 30 August 1915 Grey assured the Croat Frano Supilo that, if Serbia agreed, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Dalmatia, Slavonia and Croatia could decide their fate.