July 1916

July

• 01

  • Key eventFirst day on the SommeOn 1 July 1916 the British and French attacked on the Somme. The French and the British right succeeded, but the British Army lost 57,000 men.
  • Key eventThe Lochnagar mine is blownAt 7.28 a.m. on 1 July 1916 the Lochnagar mine, the largest yet on the Western Front, went up at La Boisselle. The 34th Division's attack still failed.
  • First RFC contact patrolsOn 1 July 1916 over the Somme, RFC airmen closely followed the infantry's advance, watching for flares and flashing mirrors. Such trials dated from 1915.
  • Ottoman troops retake KermanshahOn 1 July 1916 the Ottoman XIII Corps entered Kermanshah, abandoned overnight by Baratov's Russians. Persian nationalists returned to the city.
• 02

  • Battle of Baranovichi beginsOn 2 July 1916 the Russian 4th Army began shelling Woyrsch's positions at Baranovichi. The Western Front's main blow, postponed for weeks, was under way.
• 03

  • Russo-Japanese agreement on the Far EastOn 3 July 1916 in Petrograd Sazonov and Motono signed a public convention on cooperation in the Far East, together with a secret alliance concerning China.
• 04

  • Key eventBattle of Kostiuchnówka beginsOn 4 July 1916 the Russian XLVI Corps attacked the First and Third Brigades of the Legions on the Styr. After a day of shelling it took Polish Hill.
• 06

  • End of the Battle of KostiuchnówkaOn 6 July 1916, after three days on the Styr, the Legions were ordered back behind the Stokhid. They lost about 2,000 men, Major Wyrwa-Furgalski among them.
• 07

  • End of the Italian counter-offensive in the TrentinoOn 7 July 1916 the Austrians on the Asiago plateau repulsed the second day of a major Italian attack. Cadorna did not regain the positions lost in May.
  • British occupy TangaOn 7 July 1916 an Indian force entered Tanga unopposed, where the British had been defeated in 1914. The Germans withdrew, wrecking the port and railway.
  • Lloyd George becomes Secretary of State for WarIn early July 1916 David Lloyd George succeeded Kitchener at the War Office. Yet he had little influence on strategy, which was decided by General Robertson.
  • Declaration of London revokedOn 7 July 1916 Britain and France ceased to apply the 1909 Declaration of London. Control of maritime trade was henceforth to be governed by the law of nations.
• 08

  • Sinking of the hospital ship VperedOn 8 July 1916 the German U-38 torpedoed the Russian hospital ship Vpered in the Black Sea off Lazistan. Seven or eight people were killed.
• 09

  • End of the Battle of BaranovichiOn 9 July 1916 Evert halted the attack at Baranovichi. After a week of assaults the Fourth Army had won scraps of trench, losing 80,000 men by Austrian figures.
• 10

  • Submarine Deutschland in AmericaOn 9 July 1916 the unarmed German merchant submarine Deutschland crossed the Atlantic and entered Chesapeake Bay. It brought dyes to Baltimore.
  • Russians retake MamahatunIn July 1916 the Russian 39th Division routed the Turks on the Dumanlı Dağ massif and retook Mamahatun, lost to Vehip Pasha at the end of May.
• 11

  • Shelling of SeahamOn the evening of 11 July 1916 the German UB-39 shelled the mining port of Seaham in County Durham with its deck gun. The shells fatally wounded one woman.
• 14

  • Key eventBattle of Bazentin Ridge beginsAt dawn on 14 July 1916, after a night approach and five minutes of shelling, the British took the German second position from Longueval to Bazentin-le-Petit.
  • British take MwanzaOn 14 July 1916 Charles Crewe's troops, carried by steamer across Lake Victoria, took Mwanza. The German garrison managed to withdraw to the south.
  • Inter-Allied financial conference in LondonOn 14–15 July 1916 Entente representatives met in London on financing the war. Russia sought new British credits for purchases abroad.
  • Warsaw city council electionsOn 14 July 1916 voting ended in the Warsaw city council elections called by the German occupiers. Councillors were elected in six curiae.
• 15

  • Key eventBattle of Delville Wood beginsOn 15 July 1916 Lukin's South Africans broke into Delville Wood near Longueval. By afternoon they held almost all of it, and the Germans counter-attacked.
• 17

  • Battle of Bazentin Ridge endsOn 17 July 1916 the Battle of Bazentin Ridge ended. The British held the German second position but lost High Wood and failed to take all of Longueval.
• 18

  • Treaty with Ibn Saud ratifiedOn 18 July 1916 the Viceroy of India, Lord Chelmsford, ratified the Treaty of Darin at Simla. Ibn Saud's Najd formally came under British protection.
• 19

  • Key eventAttack at FromellesOn the evening of 19 July 1916 British and Australian troops attacked at Fromelles. By morning the 5th Australian Division had lost 5,533 men and held nothing.
  • Ottoman offensive across the SinaiOn 19 July 1916 a British airman spotted Kress von Kressenstein's columns in Sinai. Turks and Germans were marching on Romani to shell the Suez Canal.
• 20

  • Reports of a new Entente loan to GreeceA British chronology says the Zaimis government concluded an £800,000 loan with the Entente on 20 July 1916. Other sources do not confirm the agreement.
  • Dismissal of SazonovOn 20 July 1916 the Tsar dismissed the foreign minister Sazonov, advocate of Polish autonomy. His post went to Stürmer, favourite of the Tsarina and Rasputin.
• 23

  • Key eventBattle of Pozières Ridge beginsOn the night of 23 July 1916 the 1st Australian Division took most of Pozières on the Somme, the only success of the great British attack that night.
• 25

  • The rebuilt Serbian army returns to the frontOn 25 July 1916 the rebuilt Serbian army went into action on the Salonika front. The Šumadija Division attacked the Bulgarians in the hills above Meglena.
  • Russians take ErzincanOn 25 July 1916 the Russian 39th Division entered Erzincan, abandoned by the shattered Ottoman Third Army. It was the peak of Russian gains in Anatolia.
• 27

  • Arabs take YanbuOn 27 July 1916 the Turkish garrison of Yanbu, the old Red Sea port of Medina, surrendered to the Sharif's insurgents. Medina lost its nearest port.
  • Execution of Captain FryattOn 27 July 1916 a German court martial in Bruges sentenced Captain Charles Fryatt, who in 1915 had tried to ram a U-boat. He was shot that evening.
• 28

  • Formal US protest against the blacklistAt the end of July 1916 the US handed London a formal protest against the blacklisting of 85 American firms, calling it arbitrary interference.
• 29

  • Germany rejects food aid for PolandOn 29 July 1916 Berlin declared further talks on American food aid for occupied Poland pointless and laid the blame on Great Britain.
• 30

  • First joint Allied air operationsOn 30 July 1916 No. 3 Wing RNAS aircraft from Luxeuil first flew with the French against Germany. The targets were petrol stores at Müllheim in Baden.
  • Russian troops in SalonikaOn 30 July 1916 General Diterikhs's 2nd Special Infantry Brigade began landing at Salonika. Crowds welcomed the Russians on the quays and in the streets.
• 31

  • British take KilimatindeOn 31 July 1916 a South African column from van Deventer's division occupied Kilimatinde, a station near the Central Railway abandoned by the Germans.