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WarChron - Russians Capture Trabizond |
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The Year 1916
In the Black Sea, two Russian destroyers sank 58 Turkish sailing ships west of Trabizond.
On 14 April, in Sofia, Bulgaria officially adopted the Gregorian (Western) Calendar, and changed 31 March to 14 April.
On 15 April, there was a Russian Southwest Front Council of War at Podvolochisk, which was chaired by General Brusilov. Attending were 8th Army's Kaledin, 11th Army's Sakharov, 7th Army's Shcherbachev, and temporary head of the 9th Army, General Krymov, and General Alekseev, who presented a plan for the Western Front to deliver the main offensive blow directed towards Vilna by General Evert, supported by Kuropatkin's Northern Front. The Southwest Front was to remain passive, coming into play only if the main attack is successful.
Both Evert and Kuropatkin expressed the belief that the intended attack was hopeless, but would agree even though they were not able to guarantee success. Alekseev then decided to allow Brusilov to make the main attack on the Southwest Front towards Lutsk, but made it clear that Stavka would not be able to provide reinforcements of troops or artillery. On the Caucasian Front, Russian forces reached the outskirts of Trabizond on the Turkish coast, and continued making progress west of Erzerum. In North Persia, the Russians pushed forward near Bitlis.
On 16 April, on the Caucasian Front, after nine days of heavy fighting the Russians crossed to the left bank of the Kara Dere River.
On the Turkish Front, there was an increasing shortage of coal in Constantinople due to Russian naval efforts in the Zonguldak area.
On 17 April, on the Caucasian Front, the Russians occupied Surmaneh, reaching Assene Kalassi in Armenia.
On 18 April, on the Caucasian Front, Russian troops, supported by warship bombardment by battleships Rostislav and Pantelezhmon (formerly Potemkin), captured Trabizond.
At Petrograd, the State Duma was recessed until 29 May.
During April, in France, the Russian 1st Brigade, led by General Lokhvitskiy, and Russian 2nd Brigade, led by General Zankevich, with 18,000 men, landed at Marseilles for service on the Allied Western Front. They came by way of the Trans-Siberian railway to Darien, then Singapore, the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Suez to the Mediterranean Sea. The Russian 3rd Brigade arrived in France at Brest from Arkhangelsk during August. They served with valor on the Western Front, suffering heavy casualties, until they mutinied in April 1917.
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On 19 April, at Stavka, Chief of the British Military Mission to Russia, Major General Sir John Hanbury Williams met with the Tsar, telling him of the heavy task of the British Admiralty, and that seventy British ships had been ice bound all winter at the ports at Arkhangelsk and Aleksandrovsk due to a severe shortage of Russian ice-breakers.
On 20 April, Russian Southwest Front commander General Brusilov ordered preparations for an offensive to begin by 11 May, with four armies with 38 infantry divisions and twelve and a half cavalry divisions.
On 23 April, in the Baltic Sea, the Russians began mine laying operations in the Irben Straits. In fifty operations during 1916 they laid 5,940 mines mostly off the Kurland coast in the southern part of the Straits.
On 24 April, King Vittorio Emmanuel of Italy appealed to the Russian Tsar to open offensive on the Austro-Hungarians and relieve Conrad's pressure in the Trentino.
In Switzerland, opening of the Second Socialist International Conference at Kienthal.The members denounced war as a capitalist conspiracy fought for profit and territorial gain.
On 25 April, the Tsar left Stavka for Tsarskoe Selo.
In the Black Sea, German submarine UC.15 laid 12 mines at the entrance to Sevastopol, one of which sank the Russian torpedo boat Zhivuchiy as she left the harbor.
On 26 April, in the Baltic Sea, British submarine E.8 torpedoed and heavily damaged the German steamer V 100 some 48 km west of Libau.
On 27 April, in the Baltic Sea, three German floatplanes from the seaplane carrier Santa Elena dropped thirty one bombs, scoring three hits which damaged the Russian battleship Slava. All aircraft returned safely. The Slava was forced to return through the Irben Straits to the Gulf of Finland for repairs.
On 28 April, on the Western Front, the Germans opened attacks in the Lake Naroch area.
At Petrograd, arrival of U.S. Ambassador to Russia, David R. Francis. His major tasks were to arrange a commercial treaty with Russia and to act as a neutral representative of German and Austro-Hungarian interests in Russia. This entailed acting as an official intermediary for 1.25 million Austro-Hungarian and 250,000 German prisoners of war, as well as 200,000 German and 50,000 Austro-Hungarian interned civilians.
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On 29 April, a delegation from the State Duma left Petrograd, traveled by way of Sweden and Norway, arriving in Britain on 5 May for talks. They stayed there fifteen days, then went on to France and Italy for talks with Allied representatives, returning to Petrograd on 30 June.
On 30 April, on the Southwest Front, opening of a short lived Austro-Hungarian offensive north of Mouravitski in Volhynia.
At Kiev, arrival of a group of French pilots and observers, who were soon assigned to various Russian aviation units at the front.
On 1 May, in the Baltic Sea, German naval airship SL.3 crashed off Windau, between Gotland and Backofen, and was burned by her crew.
On 3 May, in North Persia, Russian troops reached the Mesopotamian border, capturing Khanikin.
At Petrograd, former War Minister Sukhomlinov was arrested and taken to the Fortress of Peter and Paul. He was charged with deliberate inaction in matters regarding the munitions crisis which had caused heavy early disasters at the front.
On 4 May, on the Western Front, the Russian 10th Army concentrated its forces on a front south of Krevo, with fifteen infantry and three cavalry divisions. They were backed by a newly formed Guard Army, headed by General V.M. Bezobrazov, with four infantry and three cavalry divisions.
In the Black Sea, a German cruiser laid 59 mines off the Danube mouth to close the route to the port of Reni.
On 5 May, the new U.S. Ambassador to Russia, D.R. Francis was received by the Tsar. Francis nformed him that his primary mission was to conclude a commercial treaty with Russia.
At Petrograd, arrival of French Justice Minister Viviani, and French Under Secretary for Artillery and Munitions, Albert Thomas (a socialist), on a mission to ascertain and develop the military resources of Russia and arrange new loans for railway construction. They were to meet with the Tsar and General Alekseev at Stavka on the 11th, when the Russians reluctantly agreed to send five brigades of 10,000 men each to France between 14 August and 15 December.
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