September 4th, 1915

- Just three days after the German ambassador in Washington delivered the Arabic Pledge to not attack passenger ships without warning, the German submarine U24, which had sunk Lusitania in May, torpedoes and sinks the British liner Hesperian off the coast of Ireland without warning.  Though Americans were aboard, none were among the thirty-two passengers who drown.  Nevertheless, the American government sees the sinking as flagrantly defying the Arabic Pledge, and demand further assurances that similar attacks will no longer occur.

The British liner Hesperian, torpedoed and sunk today by the German submarine U24 off Ireland.

- After two revisions, General d'Urbal of 10th Army submits today a plan to Foch that is acceptable to the commander of the Army Group of the North.  Along the thirty-two kilometre stretch of the line held by 10th Army will be deployed six corps, four of which are to make the primary attack north of Arras, and two a supporting attack south of the city.

- On the Eastern Front the German 8th Army captures the fortress of Grodno, between Vilna and Bialystok.  Further south, Austro-Hungarian forces have been battering against the Russian defensives along the Sereth River to no avail; in just four days of marching and combat, the Austro-Hungarian IV, XIX, and V Corps have suffered eight thousand casualties.  Moreover, supply problems bedevil the Austro-Hungarian formations, who report being short of ammunition and food.  Finally, dysentery and stomach flu claim numerous victims in the terrible conditions.

September 3rd, 1915

- Overnight the German army airship SL11 undertook a bombing raid of London, and though it did not reach the centre of the city, it dropped a series of bombs on Edmonton, Ponders End, and Enfield after midnight.  As it turned for home it was illuminated by a searchlight over the village of Cuffley in Hertfordshire shortly after 2am, which drew the attention of 2nd Lieutenant Leefe Robinson of 39 (Home Defence Squadron), flying a night patrol in a BE2c.  His aircraft was equipped with new incendiary bullets, and he emptied two drums making passes at the airship.  This having no effect, he closes to within fifty feet and matches speed with SL11, and concentrates the fire of a third drum underneath aft.  As he finishes the drum the rear of the airship bursts into flame, and dives out of the way to avoid the stricken dirigible, which crashes near Cuffley, killing all aboard.

It is the first time that a German airship has been brought down over Britain, and demonstrates the ability of incendiary bullets to ignite an airship's hydrogen gas.  Robinson's victory is a sensation, and tens of thousands of Londoners descent on Cuffley after daylight to see the ruins of SL11, including the charred bodies of its crew.  When Robinson himself motors over from his airfield to inspect his kill, he is mobbed by well-wishers, and given several 'prizes' from the airship, including an Iron Cross found among the debris and a gold watch believed to have belonged to SL11's captain.  For his accomplishment he is also awarded the Victoria Cross.

The wreck of the German airship SL11, shot down near Cuffley, Hertfordshire early this morning by 2nd Lieutenant Leefe Robinson.

- Under pressure from Germany and Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman government agrees today to cede to Bulgaria northern Thrace and the Maritsa valley should the Bulgarians enter the war.  The Bulgarian desire to acquire part of Ottoman Thrace was their only territorial claim against the Central Powers, and with the concession the Bulgarians will now achieve all of their expansionist aims by joining the Central Powers and attacking Serbia.

September 2nd, 1915

- Falkenhayn informs the commanders on the Eastern Front that operations will need to be wound down as forces will be needed for operations in other theatres.  Not surprisingly, Conrad pays no heed to his German counterpart, pushing his armies ever onwards in the vain search for a decisive, and Austro-Hungarian, victory.  Neither is Ludendorff inclined to accede to the wishes of the German chief of staff.  Throughout the campaign, he has chaffed on the limits Falkenhayn has placed on the armies of OberOst, denying him the opportunity to execute the massive envelopment of the Russian armies he desires.  Now Ludendorff decides to 'misinterpret' Falkenhayn's instructions, and plans for an offensive anyway.  His objective is the city of Vilna, defended by the Russian 10th Army.  Confusingly enough, it is the German 10th Army that will undertake the attack, and divisions are being redeployed from 8th and 12th Armies to the south, as well as the forces that had captured the fortress of Novogeorgievsk.  The poor state of the railway running through Kovno, coupled with poor weather making roads almost impassable, however, slows the concentration of German forces opposite Vilna.

- The Austro-Hungarian 4th and 1st Armies, pursuing what is believed to be a defeated foe abandoning the field, instead run up against the new defensive line of the Russian 8th Army, and find themselves unable to further advance.  To the south, elements of the Austro-Hungarian 2nd and 7th Armies and Südarmee reach the Sereth River, where the Russian 11th and 9th Armies have entrenched.

September 1st, 1915

- Kitchener issues orders today for the Indian Corps in France to remain part of the British Expeditionary Force through the next winter.  Though concerns have been expressed in some quarters regarding the ability of the Indian soldier to cope with the cold and miserable conditions of a Flemish winter, Kitchener understands that the Indian Corps have shown themselves capable of operating under such conditions just as well as the British divisions they fight alongside. There were also worries about the losses suffered by the Indian Corps since its arrival in France in October 1914 could be adequately replaced, but since the summer a steady stream of recruits had replenished the Meerut and Lahore Divisions.  Of the three thousand replacements who arrived in July, General James Willcocks, the commander of the Indian Corps, wrote that they were 'very good . . . some of them quite exceptionally so, and I feel years younger now as I see these fine fellows joining the ranks.'

- Upon the instructions of Chancellor Bethmann-Hollweg, the German ambassador to the United States delivers a note containing what becomes known as the Arabic Pledge to Secretary of State Robert Lansing.  Based on the decision of the conference at Pless on August 26th in response to the sinking of Arabic, the Germans pledge that no passenger ship of any nationality will be attacked without warning, and that adequate provisions will be made for the survival of passengers and crew.

- Joffre remains under pressure from government ministers to dispatch several divisions from the Western Front to the Near East, and seizes on a staff study suggesting that the operations proposed by General Sarrail would require eight divisions.  He writes today that such a substantial reduction in French strength on the Western Front would have 'disastrous consequences.'  Moreover, he questions the entire premise of undertaking operations to relieve the British position on Gallipoli:

It is the British who have led us to the Dardanelles.  In reality halting the offensive will be a British defeat.  Tomorrow, if we send reinforcements and assume command, we will find ourselves, in case of failure, facing a French disaster.

- For several days the Austro-Hungarian 2nd and 7th Armies, as well as Südarmee, have launched assault after assault on the Russian lines along the Strypa River.  Though in places they have managed to win some ground, it has come at great cost - the Austro-Hungarian Corps, for instance, has lost over five thousand men in just two days of fighting.  Today the Russian 11th and 9th Armies pull back from their lines along the Strypa River, though this is not due to any defeat they have suffered but rather due to the threat of envelopment from the north due to the advance of the north wing of the Austro-Hungarian 4th Army through Lutsk.  Brussilov's 8th Army, meanwhile, takes up its new defensive line today along the Putilowka, covering Rovno, and south to the hills west of Dubno.

August 31st, 2015

- Having held up the Austro-Hungarian advance southwest of Lutsk, General Brusilov, given that the enemy is clearly attempting to envelop his positions from the north, orders his 8th Army to pull back behind the Styr River running south of the city.  The withdrawal is accomplished without significant interruption, though Lutsk itself is captured by the Austro-Hungarian IX Corps by this evening.  While the Austro-Hungarian armies are advancing, it is not the crushing envelopment Conrad had envisioned.  Hoping to yet win a decisive victory, Conrad today reestablishes 4th Army at the northern end of the line, taking over IX, X, and XIV Corps from 1st Army, and assigns it the primary mission of advancing beyond Lutsk to Rovno.

August 30th, 1915

- With the growing activity of German submarines in the eastern Mediterranean, the Entente navies have sought to shut down their access to the Austro-Hungarian naval bases they are using in the Adriatic.  Today the British Admiralty issues orders for a first batch of trawlers to depart home waters for the Mediterrean, where they are to be used to establish an anti-submarine barrage across the narrow exit of the Adriatic at the Straits of Otranto.  To do so, the trawlers will drag large anti-submarine nets in their wake across the straits, hoping to entangle German submarines as they transit to and from the Adriatic, and thereby forcing them from the eastern Mediterranean for a lack of suitable naval bases.

August 29th, 1915

- The German Army of the Bug, driving east from Brest-Litovsk, captures the town of Kobrin today.  To the south, the centre of the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army, advancing southeast between Lutsk and the Bug River, runs into new Russian defensive positions near Swiniuchy and along the Sierna River covering Lutsk, and the army commander informs Conrad that he intends to assault the lines tomorrow once his artillery, delayed by poor roads, can be brought up.  Conrad, however, believes attacking here can have only negligible results, and instead once again emphasizes that the main axis of advance should be towards and north of Lutsk, to execute the envelopment of the Russian 8th Army he so greatly desires.  As a result the Austro-Hungarian X Corps is pulled out of the line today and ordered to march east to swing around Lutsk from the north.

The Austro-Hungarian advance towards Lutsk, Aug. 29th, 1915.