November 1916

November

• 03

  • The French recapture Fort VauxEarly on 3 November 1916 the French entered the empty Fort Vaux at Verdun. The day before, the Germans had abandoned it, blowing up part of the works.
• 04

  • End of the Ninth Battle of the IsonzoOn 4 November 1916 three Italian divisions stormed the Austrian positions from Hudi Log to hill 208 in vain. Cadorna halted the offensive on the Karst.
• 05

  • Key eventAct of 5 NovemberOn 5 November 1916 a manifesto of the German and Austrian emperors was proclaimed in Warsaw and Lublin, promising a Kingdom of Poland without a king or borders.
• 06

  • Death of Sultan Ali DinarAt dawn on 6 November 1916 Major Huddleston's column fell on Ali Dinar's camp near Jebel Juba. The last Sultan of Darfur was killed by a bullet to the head.
• 07

  • Wilson re-elected presidentOn 7 November 1916 Woodrow Wilson won the election against Charles Hughes. California decided it, where the result was known only after two days of counting.
• 11

  • End of the Battle of the Ancre HeightsOn the night of 10–11 November 1916 the 4th Canadian Division took the rest of Regina Trench. After six weeks the whole Thiepval ridge was in British hands.
  • British enter ShirazOn 11 November 1916 Percy Sykes's column, after marching from Isfahan, entered Shiraz, a year after pro-German gendarmes had driven the British out.
• 13

  • Key eventCapture of Beaumont-HamelOn 13 November 1916, in fog, Scots of the 51st Division took Beaumont-Hamel, where the Newfoundlanders had bled on 1 July. At Serre the attack failed again.
  • Central Powers retake OrsovaOn 13 November 1916, after three days of street fighting, the Romanians left Orsova on the Danube for the far bank of the Cerna. It returned to Austria-Hungary.
• 15

  • Paris and Chantilly conferencesOn 15–16 November 1916 Allied commanders at Chantilly drew up the war plan for 1917, and politicians meeting at the same time in Paris in effect adopted it.
  • Start of the British advance on El ArishThe chronology dates to 15 November 1916 the nominal start of the march across Sinai to El Arish. There was no single event: railway and pipeline set the pace.
  • Fourth skirmish at Hafiz KorOn 15 November 1916 guns and aircraft broke up a Mohmand gathering at Hafiz Kor. The tribes had tried to hinder the building of a blockade line.
• 16

  • Germans break through at Târgu JiuOn 16–17 November 1916 in the hills south of Târgu Jiu Kühne's troops routed the Romanian 1st and 17th Divisions. The road to the Oltenian plain lay open.
• 18

  • Key eventEnd of the Battle of the SommeOn 18 November 1916, in the first snowstorm of winter, the British attacked on the Ancre for the last time. After four and a half months the Somme was over.
  • End of the Battle of the AncreOn 18 November 1916, in the first snowstorm, Canadians and British attacked Desire Trench and Grandcourt on the Ancre. At Serre the attack failed again.
• 19

  • Allies take BitolaOn 19 November 1916 French and Serbian cavalry, followed by French and Russian infantry, entered Bitola. It was the first Serbian town recovered from the enemy.
  • Entente demands expulsion of Central Powers envoys from AthensOn 19 November 1916 Admiral Dartige du Fournet ordered the German, Austrian, Bulgarian and Turkish ministers out of Greece, three days after demanding arms.
• 21

  • Key eventDeath of Franz JosephOn 21 November 1916 the 86-year-old Emperor Franz Joseph I died at Schönbrunn after almost 68 years on the throne. His great-nephew Charles I succeeded him.
  • Germans take CraiovaOn 21 November 1916 German cavalry and infantry entered Craiova, the capital of Oltenia, unopposed. The Romanians gave up the city with large stocks of flour.
  • Sinking of the hospital ship BritannicOn 21 November 1916 the hospital ship Britannic, sister ship of the Titanic, struck a mine off Kea and sank in 55 minutes. Thirty people died.
  • Motono becomes Foreign Minister of JapanOn 21 November 1916 Prime Minister Terauchi handed the foreign ministry to Viscount Ichirō Motono, Japan's representative in Russia for ten years.
• 22

  • Resignation of JagowOn 22 November 1916 Gottlieb von Jagow left the head of German diplomacy, officially for his health, in reality over the dispute about submarine warfare.
  • Zimmermann becomes foreign secretaryOn 22 November 1916 Arthur Zimmermann of Marggrabowa took charge of German diplomacy, the first commoner ever to head the Reich's Foreign Office.
• 23

  • Key eventProvisional government declares war on Germany and BulgariaOn 23 November 1916 Venizelos's National Defence government in Salonika declared war on Germany and Bulgaria. Greece now had two governments, one at war.
  • Mackensen crosses the DanubeOn 23 November 1916, in fog, German, Bulgarian and Austro-Hungarian troops crossed the Danube from Svishtov to Zimnicea and set off for Bucharest.
  • Hospital ship Braemar Castle damagedOn 23 November 1916 the British hospital ship Braemar Castle, carrying wounded from Salonika, struck a mine off Mykonos. Four died and the ship was beached.
  • Möwe sails on her second cruiseOn 23 November 1916 the raider Möwe set out on her second cruise, to break through the British blockade into the Atlantic again. It was her most successful.
• 24

  • Resignation of StürmerOn 24 November 1916 the fall of Russian premier Boris Stürmer, accused of treason in the Duma, was announced. Transport Minister Alexander Trepov succeeded him.
• 25

  • Creation of the German air forceIn autumn 1916 Germany combined its aviation, army airships, anti-aircraft artillery and home air defence into the Luftstreitkräfte under a single commander.
• 26

  • German destroyer raid off the Suffolk coastOn the night of 26 November 1916 German destroyers from Flanders approached the Suffolk coast, sank the armed trawler Narval and took her crew prisoner.
  • Sinking of the battleship SuffrenOn 26 November 1916 the German U-52 torpedoed the French battleship Suffren off Portugal. The ship blew up and sank within seconds with all hands.
• 27

  • Zeppelin raid and the shooting down of L 34 and L 21On the night of 27–28 November 1916 naval airships attacked northern England. L 34 fell in flames off Hartlepool, and at dawn L 21 was lost off Lowestoft.
• 28

  • First daylight aeroplane raid on LondonShortly before noon on 28 November 1916 a lone German aeroplane dropped six bombs on west London. It was the first bombing of the capital from an aeroplane.
• 29

  • Beatty takes command of the Grand FleetOn 29 November 1916 Balfour told the Commons that Jellicoe would be First Sea Lord and that David Beatty, hero of Jutland, had taken command of the Grand Fleet.
• 30

  • Allies land at PiraeusOn the night of 30 November to 1 December 1916 about 3,000 Entente soldiers and sailors landed at Piraeus to force the Greeks to hand over their weapons.
  • Wolf sets out on her cruiseOn 30 November 1916 Karl August Nerger's raider Wolf, a disguised freighter meant to lay mines and sink ships in the Indian Ocean, sailed from Kiel.