Senussi campaign – Aerial reconnaissance spotted a Senussi camp of 80 tents 35 mi (56 km) southeast of British garrison at Matruh in North Africa. A desert column mobilized to capture the camp but 10 days of torrential rain delayed the assault.[2]
British troop ship Geelong sank while returning soldiers from the Gallipoli campaign in the Mediterranean Sea after colliding with another ship. All soldiers and crew on board were rescued.[3]
Ross Sea party – Marooned onshore in the Antarctic after the British polar exploration ship Aurora lost anchor and drifted in May 1915, the 10-man party of the second arm of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition split up. Four scientists manned a post at Cape Evans while the other six sledged to lay down a depot at Mount Hope near the Beardmore Glacier where the first arm of the expedition was expected to reach (unknown to them, the first arm of the expedition was also marooned).[5]
HMS E2, the last British submarine to operate in the Sea of Marmara within Turkey, was recalled by the Royal Navy, bringing an end to the 1915 Marmara campaign. During 1915, British subs torpedoed and sank two battleships, one destroyer, five gunboats, seven ammunition ships, and nine transport ships in the Ottoman Navy, along with 30 steamers and 188 sailing vessels, and "so harassed enemy shipping as to practically paralyze it by the autumn."[8]
The Sykes–Picot Agreement, a secret treaty between the United Kingdom and France to define their claims for the division of Arab territories in the Ottoman Empire in the event of a Central Powers defeat, was signed by Sir Mark Sykes, Assistant Secretary for Middle Eastern Affairs to the British War Cabinet, and French diplomat François Georges-Picot.[9] In the agreement, what are now Syria and Lebanon were to be under French control, Iraq under British control, and Palestine (incorporating modern-day Israel and Lebanon) was to be under joint control.[10]
Britain's Secret Service Bureau (now the Secret Intelligence Service) was reorganized to create several Special Branch law enforcement departments within the SSB, including Section 5 of the Directorate of Military Intelligence, or MI5, the United Kingdom's domestic counter-intelligence and security agency.[11]
Battle of Mojkovac – An Austro-Hungarian force of 20,000 men attacked dug-in Montenegrin positions near Mojkovac, Montenegro. Despite out being vastly outnumbered, the Montenegrin Army of 6,000 repulsed the attack and inflicted 2,000 casualties.[18][19]
Battle of Mojkovac – The Austro-Hungarians retreated after a second failed attack on Mojkovac, with heavy casualties on both sides. The Montenegrin force held the line for another 11 days before retreating.[24][25]
St. Louis gangster William "Skippy" Rohan of the Egan's Rats was gunned down just after midnight in a saloon by gang member Harry "Cherries" Dunn following a heated exchange in which one accused the other of "snitching" to the St. Louis police department. Dunn's shooting of Rohan severed all ties with the Egan's Rats and marked him for death, leading to Dunn's murder nine months later.[31][32]
Battle of Wadi – A British force of 19,000 men under command of Lieutenant-GeneralFenton Aylmer attacked an Ottoman defensive force of 22,500 along the Wadi River in what is now modern-day Iraq, but a cost of 1,600 men compared to the 527 lost on the Ottoman side. The battle only further weakened British attempts to relieve beleaguered forces under command of General Charles Townshend in Kut.[50]
Senussi campaign – An Allied desert column arrived at Senussi camp spotted by air southeast of Matruh in North Africa, only to find the camp deserted. Despite the lack of findings, a needed telegraph line was repaired before the column returned to base.[54]
In response to high losses German Fokker Eindecker fighters were inflicting on Alliedreconnaissance aircraft flying over the Western Front, Royal Flying Corps Headquarters ordered that reconnaissance planes have an escort of at least three fighters flying in close formation with them, and that a reconnaissance aircraft must abort its flight if even one of the three fighters becomes detached from the formation for any reason.[61]
A massive fire destroyed much of downtown Bergen, Norway over a 10-hour period. Altogether, 380 buildings were burned down and 2,700 people were left homeless.[63]
German auxiliary cruiser SMS Möwe, disguised as a merchant ship, attacked and captured a British steamer south of the island of Madeira in the Atlantic Ocean, killing 18 sailors, wounded five more, and took the ship's command and survivors prisoner before scuttling the ship.[70]
The world's first practical all-metal aircraft, the Junkers J 1, flew for the first time.[75]
Scottish polar vessel Scotia (originally the Norwegian whaler ship Hekla), best known for being used for exploration by the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, caught fire and sank off the coast of Wales, with all crew rescued.[76]
Battle of Koprukoy – Ottoman forces regrouped at the Erzurum fortress Turkey, losing 20,000 out of the 65,000 men they started with while the Russian force lost 12,000 out of 75,000 men.[77]
Battle of Hanna – A British force of around 10,000 men under command of Lieutenant GeneralFenton Aylmer attacked the Ottoman line defended by an estimated 30,000 soldiers along the Tigris, and lost 2,741 men compared to the 503 casualties on the Ottoman side. The defeat left British forces defending Kut completely vulnerable.[81]
The German air squadron Jagdstaffel 5 was established as the first dedicated fighting squadron for the Imperial German Flying Corps although it would not be mobilized until August 21.[82]
Senussi campaign – Troops with the Western Frontier Force attacked the Senussi but were soon outflanked, forcing defensive maneuvers that allowed the main body of Senussi to escape. British casualties were 21 killed and 291 wounded while captured Senussi estimated 200 killed and 500 wounded on their side.[85]
Senussi campaign – Air reconnaissance located the new Senussi camp but Allied forces stood down for rest and waited for the wet weather to improve before moving.[85]
In Browning, Montana, the temperature dropped from +6.7 °C to -48.8 °C (44 °F to -56 °F) in one day, the greatest change ever on record for a 24-hour period.[87]
Ross Sea party – The sledging party of the second arm of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition reached Mount Hope near the Beardmore Glacier to lay down a depot for the first arm of the expedition that was expected to reach the location in the coming weeks, even though the actual party was marooned on drifting ice in the Weddell Sea. One of the sledging party, Arnold Spencer-Smith, had taken ill during the trek and was left in a tent along the route while the party completed their mission.[91]
Born:Eli Waldron, American writer, best known for short fiction and non-fiction including "The Beekeeper" and "The Death of Hank Williams", in Oconto Falls, Wisconsin (d. 1980, killed in a car accident)
Arthur Warren Waite, a dentist from Grand Rapids, Michigan, poisoned his mother-in-law Hannah M. Carpenter using arsenic while she stayed at his home in New York City. It was the first of two murders, the second being Waite's father-in-law Jon E. Peck who arrived two months later following his wife's death.[99][100]
Died:Joseph Jacobs, Australian folklorist, collected and popularized many popular English fairy tales in English Fairy Tales and More English Fairy Tales (b. 1854); Clements Markham, English geographer, chief organizer of the Discovery Expedition to the Antarctic (b. 1830)
January 31, 1916 (Monday)edit
German airships resumed bombing raids against Great Britain, as nine Imperial German Navy zeppelins led by the chief of the German Naval Airship Division Peter Strasser attempted to attack Liverpool. Most of their bombing targets were scattered widely around the English Midlands and did not reach the city.[101]
^O'Neill, Herbert C. (1918). The War in Africa and the Far East. London: London Longmans Green. p. 62.
^Macmunn, G; Falls, C. (1996) [1928 HMSO]. Military Operations: Egypt and Palestine, From the Outbreak of War with Germany to June 1917. Vol. I. Nashville, TN: Battery Press. pp. 118–120. ISBN 0-89839-241-1.
^"S.S. GEELONG LOST". The Albury Banner and Wodonga Express. New South Wales, Australia. 7 January 1916. p. 23. Retrieved 22 July 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
^Kim Pelis (2001). "Taking Credit: The Canadian Army Medical Corps and the British Conversion to Blood Transfusion in WWI". Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences. 56 (3): 238–277. doi:10.1093/jhmas/56.3.238. PMID 11552401. S2CID 34956231.
^Tyler-Lewis, Kelly (2007). The Lost Men. London: Bloomsbury Publications. pp. 163–64, 171. ISBN 978-0-7475-7972-4.
^Washington State Cougars in the 1916 Rose Bowl Archived 2006-11-07 at the Wayback Machine - Washington State athletic department
^Rodolfo Rodrigues (2009). Escudos dos Times do Mundo Inteiro. Panda Books. p. 47.
^Arthur J. Marder, From the Dreadnought to Scapa Flow, Volume II, The War Years: To the Eve of Jutland 1914—1916 (Naval Institute Press, 2013) p. 313
^A. L. Macfie, The Eastern Question 1774-1923 (Taylor & Francis, 1989) p. 61
^James Barr, A Line in the Sand: The Anglo-French Struggle for the Middle East, 1914-1948 (W. W. Norton, 2011) p. 26
^Andrew Staniforth and Fraser Sampson, The Routledge Companion to UK Counter-Terrorism (Taylor & Francis, 2013) p. 28
^Vucinich, Louis Andrew (1974) God and the Villagers: A story of Montenegro Buffalo State College Foundation, Buffalo, New York, pages 313-314, OCLC 1194937
^Roberts, Elizabeth (2005) Realm of the Black Mountain: A History of Montenegro Cornell University Press, Ithaca, New York, page 311, ISBN 978-0-8014-4601-6
^Colledge, J.J.; Warlow, Ben (1969). Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (2006 ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. p. 647. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
^Ron Goulart.The Funnies:100 years of American comic strips. Holbrook, Mass. : Adams Pub., 1995. ISBN 1558505393 p. 110
^Djilas, Milovan (1958) Land Without Justice Harcourt, Brace, New York, page 161, OCLC 2004937
^Jefford, C.G. (2001). RAF Squadrons, a Comprehensive Record of the Movement and Equipment of all RAF Squadrons and their Antecedents since 1912. Shrewsbury, Shropshire, UK: Airlife Publishing. p. 39. ISBN 1-84037-141-2.
^"'Mighty Oregon' sings of the past". Daily Emerald. November 12, 2006. Retrieved January 18, 2013.
^Sir John Nixon, Dispatch to War Office 16 January 1916, Gazette, Issue number: 29576, p.4660
^Tucker, Spencer C. (28 October 2014). World War I: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection [5 volumes]: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection. Vol. I (illustrated, revised ed.). ABC-CLIO. pp. 264–265. ISBN 9781851099658.
^Walton, Robert (1984). The Fall of Erzerum. Marshall Cavendish Illustrated Encyclopedia of World War I, vol iv. New York: Marshall Cavendish Corporation. p. 1984. ISBN 0-86307-181-3.
^Thewes, Guy (July 2003). Les gouvernements du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg depuis 1848(PDF) (in French) (Édition limitée ed.). Luxembourg City: Service Information et Presse. p. 66. ISBN 2-87999-118-8. Retrieved 2006-07-14.
^Pavlovic, Srdja (2008) Balkan Anschluss: the annexation of Montenegro and the creation of the common South Slavic state Purdue University Press, West Lafayette, Indiana, page 77, ISBN 978-1-55753-465-1
^Franks, Norman; Bailey, Frank W.; Guest, Russell (1993). Above the Lines: The Aces and Fighter Units of the German Air Service, Naval Air Service and Flanders Marine Corps, 1914–1918. Grub Street. pp. 134–35. ISBN 978-0-948817-73-1.
^van Wyngarden, G. (2006). Early German Aces of World War I. Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing Ltd. p. 30. ISBN 1-84176-997-5.
^Rawlings, J.D.R. (September 1970). "History of No. 32 Squadron". Air Pictorial. 33 (11): 424.
^Rawlings, J.D.R. (November 1971). "History of No. 33 Squadron". Air Pictorial. 32 (9): 327.
^Terada, Hirokazu (July 2002). データブック日本の私鉄 [Databook: Japan's Private Railways]. Japan: Neko Publishing. ISBN 4-87366-874-3.
^"Battles: The Battle of the Wadi, 1916". 27 February 2002. Retrieved 15 September 2008.
^Becke, Major A.F. (1936). Order of Battle of Divisions Part 2A. The Territorial Force Mounted Divisions and the 1st-Line Territorial Force Divisions (42–56). London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. p. 113. ISBN 1-871167-12-4.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 108
^"High Tide Menaces All North Holland" (PDF). New York Times. No. January 15, 1916. January 14, 1916. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
^"Waters Higher In Holland" (PDF). New York Times. No. January 17, 1916. January 16, 1916. Retrieved 14 January 2017.
^Mackay, James (1998). Michael Collins, A Life (1998 Reprint of 1997 ed.). Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 1-85158-949-X. p. 44.
^Franks, Norman, Aircraft vs. Aircraft: The Illustrated Story of Fighter Pilot Combat From 1914 to the Present Day, London: Grub Street, 1998, ISBN 1-902304-04-7, p. 20.
^Dahl, Willy. 2000. Fortellingen om Bergen. Bergen: Eide, p. 253.
^"E-2". Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 15 January 2016.
^"Subway Running To Eighty-Sixth Street Starts Building Boom In Bay Ridge". Brooklyn Daily Eagle. January 15, 1916. Retrieved 29 June 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
^Alexander Berkman (ed.), The Blast: Complete Collection of the Incendiary San Francisco Bi-Monthly Anarchist Newspaper. Edinburgh, Scotland and Oakland, CA: AK Press, 2005; pp. 9-16.
^Clive, Peter. Schubert and His World: A Biographical Dictionary, p. 14
^"Lov for TILLER IDRETTSLAG" (in Norwegian). Tiller IL. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
^Douglas Smith, Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016) p. 518
^Tucker, Spencer and Roberts, Priscilla Mary. World War I: encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2005. ISBN 978-1-85109-420-2. p. 1048
^"Jasta 5". The Aerodrome. 2015. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
^James, Brigadier E.A. (1978). British Regiments 1914–18. London: Samson Books Limited. p. 449. ISBN 0-906304-03-2.
^Becke, Major A.F. (1936). Order of Battle of Divisions Part 2A. The Territorial Force Mounted Divisions and the 1st-Line Territorial Force Divisions (42–56). London: His Majesty's Stationery Office. p. 16. ISBN 1-871167-12-4.
^Sweetman, Jack (1997). The Great Admirals: Command at Sea, 1587-1945. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. p. 394. ISBN 978-0-87021-229-1.
^"Top Ten Montana Weather Events of the 20th Century". National Weather Service Unveils Montana's Top Ten Weather/Water/Climate Events of the 20th Century. National Weather Service. Retrieved 2015-06-01.
^Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad Co., 240 U.S. 1, at 24 (1916)
^cf. Epkenhans, Tim (2000): Die iranische Moderne im Exil. Bibliographie der Zeitschrift Kāve, Klaus Schwarz Verlag:Berlin
^"Arsenic In Body Of John E. Peck, Autopsy Shows. Grand Rapids Millionaire Died in the Riverside Drive Home of His Son-in-Law" (PDF). New York Times. March 23, 1916. Retrieved 2015-04-23.
^Tobin T. Buhk (2014). Poisoning The Pecks of Grand Rapids: The Scandalous 1916 Murder Plot. ISBN 978-1626196971.
^Whitehouse, Arch, The Zeppelin Fighters, New York: Ace Books, 1966, pp. 131–133
^Gröner, Erich (1990). German Warships: 1815–1945. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. p. 113. ISBN 0-87021-790-9.