Diary May 16, 1916

05-1916, Diary WWI, Year 1916 / 1 minute of reading

The Italian Commander Cadorna inspected Italian positions.

Diary for Tuesday, May 16, 1916:

Southern Fronts

Italian Front: Cadorna arrives at Thiene from Udine to conduct Trentino defence.

Middle East

Armenia: 15,000 Russians (new 127th Division) sail from Mariupol (Azov Sea) for Trebizond in 28 ships and land on May 21, 123rd Division follows on May 30.
Sinai: Anzacs storm Turk camp at Bayud; NZ troops raid Bir Salmana (20 miles East of Katia on May 31). British railway reaches Romani on May 19.

African Fronts

British Somaliland: Las Khorai, surrounded by Dervishs, relieved.
Chad: 737 French soldiers defeat Sultan Bakhit (submits 23 June) but flees into Darfur; captured on July 16.

Sea War

North Sea: Dover Patrol engages German destroyers off Belgian coast.
Mediterranean: German U-boat U39 (Forstmann) cruise (until June 6) sinks 21 ships (2 neutral) worth 52,812t for only 5 torpedoes and 5 HE charges but 365 88mm shells (including 18-minute shelling of Porto Ferraio, Elba).
Black Sea: Russian Navy begins major amphibious operations (until May 30).

Air War

Western Front: 27 Anglo-German air combats, Royal Flying Corps lose 2, Germans lose 2 aircraft (13 indecisive ones following day). 2nd Lt Ball in 11 Squadron Bristol Scout sees first action against Albatros planes over Givenchy.

Politics

Iceland agrees with Britain to divert all exports from Germany.

About The Author

Kretaner

My name is Norman 'Kretaner' and since my childhood I am interested in history and strategy games. Later, I have learned programming and the development of computer games, and finally with the Internet, also web design. I'm in the fortunate position to combine all my interests with my work and to live on a place of my choice, on Crete. All information, figures, specifications and statistics used here had been compiled from a variety of sources and the large, over decades collected, library of the author about military history, WW2 and weapons.