October 1916

October

• 01

  • Key eventStart of the Battle of the Transloy RidgesOn 1 October 1916 the British Fourth Army attacked on the Somme at Eaucourt l’Abbaye and the Flers Line, aided by tanks and New Zealanders. Next day it rained.
  • Key eventStart of the Battle of the Ancre HeightsOn 1 October 1916 the Canadians attacked Regina Trench beyond the Thiepval ridge on the Somme. Uncut wire and German marines repelled almost the whole assault.
  • Shooting down of airship L 31On the night of 1–2 October 1916 Wulstan Tempest shot down L 31 near Potters Bar, killing Heinrich Mathy, the most famous German airship commander.
• 03

  • Resignation of the Kalogeropoulos governmentOn 3 October 1916 Kalogeropoulos's ministers resigned; next day the king accepted the resignation of the whole cabinet, which the Entente refused to recognise.
• 05

  • Battle of the Crna beginsOn 5 October 1916 the Serbs first tried to cross the Crna to take Bitola. The Bulgarians threw them back, but a two-month battle had begun.
• 08

  • U-53 off the coast of the United StatesOn 8 October 1916, a day after visiting Newport, the German U-53 sank five ships near the Nantucket lightship. American destroyers rescued the survivors.
• 09

  • Start of the Eighth Battle of the IsonzoFrom dawn on 9 October 1916 Italian guns pounded Austrian positions on the Karst. Austria saw it as the start of the battle; the assault came a day later.
  • Central Powers retake BrașovOn 9 October 1916, after two days of street fighting, German and Hungarian troops took Brașov. The Romanian Second Army fell back at night to the passes.
  • Venizelos arrives in SalonikaOn 9 October 1916 Eleftherios Venizelos arrived in Salonika and, with Admiral Kountouriotis and General Danglis, headed the government of National Defence.
  • Terauchi becomes prime minister of JapanOn 9 October 1916 Marshal Masatake Terauchi, Governor-General of Korea, replaced Ōkuma as head of Japan's government. His cabinet did not rest on the parties.
• 10

  • Entente ultimatum on the Greek fleetOn 10 October 1916 Admiral Dartige du Fournet demanded Greece's light warships, the disarming of its large ones and control of Piraeus, police and railway.
  • Lambros becomes prime minister of GreeceOn 10 October 1916 the historian Spyridon Lambros took office in Athens. His cabinet of officials and professors at once faced a French admiral's ultimatum.
• 11

  • Greece accepts the demands over its fleetOn 11 October 1916 the Greek government yielded to force. The French took a cruiser, torpedo boats and submarines, and disarmed the battleships.
• 12

  • End of the Eighth Battle of the IsonzoOn 12 October 1916 the last Italian attacks on the Karst broke down under artillery fire. The Italians took Nova Vas but advanced no more than 1.5 km.
• 13

  • Norway bans submarines from its watersOn 13 October 1916 Norway closed its territorial waters to the submarines of the belligerents, in response to the sinking of Norwegian ships.
• 14

  • Germans cross the Romanian borderIn mid-October 1916 Falkenhayn's 9th Army drove the Romanians out of Transylvania and crossed the border, but met fierce resistance in the Carpathian passes.
• 17

  • Start of the fighting in the Dakhla OasisOn 17 October 1916 a small British motor column from Kharga entered the Dakhla Oasis. Most of the Senussi forces had already withdrawn.
• 18

  • End of the Battle of the Transloy RidgesOn 18 October 1916 the British Fourth Army attacked on the Somme before dawn, in rain and mud. It took a few trenches but did not reach Le Transloy.
• 20

  • Explosion of the battleship Imperatritsa MariyaOn 20 October 1916 the dreadnought Imperatritsa Mariya, flagship of the Black Sea Fleet, blew up and sank at Sevastopol. More than 200 sailors were killed.
  • Boulogne conference on GreeceOn 20 October 1916 the leaders of Britain and France met at Boulogne to discuss Greece. They did not recognise Venizelos's government but agreed to fund it.
• 21

  • Key eventAssassination of Prime Minister StürgkhOn 21 October 1916 in a Vienna restaurant the socialist Friedrich Adler shot Austrian Prime Minister Karl Stürgkh, who had ruled without parliament since 1914.
• 22

  • Bulgarians and Germans take ConstanțaOn 22 October 1916, after three days of Mackensen's offensive in Dobruja, Bulgarian and German troops entered Constanța, Romania's main port.
  • End of the fighting in the Dakhla OasisOn 22 October 1916 the British finished combing the Dakhla Oasis. More than 130 men of the Senussi order were taken prisoner; the rest fled west.
• 24

  • Key eventThe French recapture Fort DouaumontOn 24 October 1916 three French divisions attacked in fog at Verdun. The colonial regiment from Morocco retook Fort Douaumont, lost eight months earlier.
• 25

  • Bulgarians take CernavodăOn 25 October 1916 the Bulgarians entered Cernavodă, left by the Romanians overnight. With it they lost the great railway bridge over the Danube.
• 26

  • First German destroyer raid in the Strait of DoverOn the night of 26–27 October 1916 German destroyers from Zeebrugge struck the Dover Strait barrage, sinking Flirt, several drifters and the transport Queen.
• 28

  • Körber becomes Austrian prime ministerOn 28 October 1916, a week after Stürgkh was killed, Franz Joseph I made Ernest von Körber, head of government in 1900–1904, prime minister of Austria.
  • Loss of the hospital ship GalekaOn 28 October 1916 the British hospital ship Galeka struck a mine laid by UC-26 off Le Havre. 19 orderlies were killed and the wreck went ashore.
  • Death of Oswald BoelckeOn 28 October 1916 over the Somme Oswald Boelcke, creator of fighter tactics and a 40-victory ace, was killed in a collision with a squadron comrade.
• 29

  • Sharif of Mecca becomes king of the ArabsOn 29 October 1916 the ulema and notables of Mecca proclaimed Sharif Hussein king of the Arab countries. The Allies recognised him only as King of the Hejaz.
• 30

  • Stein becomes Prussian minister of warAt the end of October 1916 General Hermann von Stein became Prussian minister of war. He replaced Wild von Hohenborn, who had fallen foul of Hindenburg.
• 31

  • Start of the Ninth Battle of the IsonzoOn 31 October 1916, after a week of rain, the Italian artillery opened fire on the Karst and at Gorizia. Cadorna's third autumn offensive had begun.