The Year 1915
On 8 October, in the Baltic Sea, a British submarine torpedoed and sank a German transport ship. British submarines E.18 and E.19 arrived at Revel.
On 9 October, on the Northern front, the Germans forced the Russians back northwest of Dvinsk and southwest of Pinsk. There was very heavy fighting further south in Volhynia.
At the urging of the Empress, the Tsar dismissed Prince Shcherbatov as Interior Minister. The Tsar appointed A.N. Khvostov as his successor. The people saw it as another victory for Rasputin. Khvostov appointed Stefan Beletskiy as his deputy and director of the Police department. Beletskiy paid a 18,000 ruble retainer to Prince Andronnikov, a well known swindler, to secure Rasputin's assistance in obtaining the service of Anya Vyrubova as a link to the Empress, in order to solidify her impression of Khvostov.
On 10 October, in the Baltic Sea, British submarine E.19 sank the German ship Lulea just outside Danish waters, 80 km from Lubeck.
On the Northern Front, a German attack on Dvinsk failed as Russian forces continued to hold the city.
French Ambassador Paleologue visited the Tsar at Tsarskoe Selo, again requesting that Russian troops be sent to Salonika, along with a naval bombardment of Varna and Cape Ernine on the Bulgarian coast. The Tsar agreed to take action on both matters as soon as Bulgaria took hostile action against Serbia. The Tsar left for Stavka that evening, taking the Tsarevich with him.
On 11 October, in the Baltic, during a daring raid by British submarine E.19 off the southern coast of Aland, she boarded and scuttled the German steamers Walter Leonhardt, Gutrune, Direktor Rappenhagen, captured the Nicomedia, and forced the Germania to run aground.
On the Northern Front, there was continued heavy fighting near Dvinsk.
On the Southwest Front in Galicia, Ivanov's Russians captured 2,000 Austro-Hungarians in the Strypa River sector.
Without declaring war, Bulgarian forces invaded Serbia from the east.
On the Caucasian Front, the Russians repulsed Turkish attacks at Ichkau.
On 12 October, on the Northern Front, heavy fighting continued in the Dvinsk region. German airship LZ 85 carried out a bombing raid on Dvinsk and Minsk.
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