January 1 Under the command of Canadian General Charles Macpherson Dobell, British forces captured Yaunde in the Cameroons. January 2 The P&O British cargo ship SS Geelong sank in the Mediterranean Sea following a collision with a British steamer. She was on a voyage from Sydney via Port Said to Gibraltar and London with a general cargo which included tea and lead. January 4 A relief force started out from Ali Al-Gharbi to save the besieged defenders of Ku-alAmara. January 6 The Battle of Sheikh Sa'ad began along the banks of the Tigris River between the AngloIndian Tigris Corps and the Ottoman Sixth Army. January 5 An Inter-Allied Conference was held in Rome. January 7 British forces captured the forward Turkish positions at Sheikh Sa'ad. January 8 Under the command of Lieutenant General Sir Fenton John Aylmer the Battle of Sheikh Sa'ad ended - the first in a series of assaults by the Tigris Corps to attempt to break through the Ottoman lines to relieve the besieged garrison at Kut-al-Amara. January 9 The Allied evacuation of Helles marked the end of the Gallipoli Campaign which resulted in an Allied defeat and an overwhelming victory for the Ottoman Empire. January 10 General Sir Archibald Murray succeeded Sir Charles Munro as Commander of the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force. January 11 Corfu was occupied by Allied troops. Russian forces began an offensive into Armenia. January 12 An Armistice was drawn up between Montenegro and Austria. January 13 The Battle of Wadi took place. The conflict was an unsuccessful attempt by Lieutenant General Sir Fenton John Aylmer to relieve beleaguered forces under siege by the Ottoman Army at Kut-alAmara. January 14 Lieutenant General Sir Percy lake was appointed as Commander-in-Chief in Mesopotamia, replacing Sir John Nixon. January 16 French General Maurice-PaulEmmanuel Sarrail assumed command of all Allied forces in Salonika. January 17 Montenegro surrendered to the Central Powers. January 20 The Armistice between Montenegro and Austria ceased as negotiations broke down. January 21 As part of the attempt to relieve Kut al Amara, a British assault against Turkish positions was launched at the Battle of Hanna and was once again repulsed. January 23 Austro-Hungarian forces captured Scutari on the Southern Front. British forces attacked Senussi tribesmen at Halazin near the Mediterranean seaport of Mersa Matruh. January 24 German officer Reinhard Scheer was promoted to Admiral and given control of the High Seas Fleet. January 25 The personal envoy of US President Wilson, Edward House, met with German officials in Berlin on a mission for peace. January 26 A communique was sent from Sir Charles Townshend to the Kut Garrison in order to boost the flagging morale of his garrison troops. January 27 The Military Service Act 1916 was passed by the British Parliament to introduce conscription. The law required that all unmarried men and widowers 18-41 years of age without dependents should make themselves available for national service. January 28 Louis Dembitz Brandeis was controversially nominated by PreSident Wilson to become a member of the US Supreme Court. January 29 Paris was bombed by German Zeppelins. January 31 East Anglia and the Midlands were bombed in a raid by several German airships.
(From The Great War - Unseen Archives by Robert Hamilton)
"Take the cylinder out of my kidneys, The connecting rod out of my brain, my brain, From out of my arse take the camshaft, And assemble the engine again."