August 2 The Italian Dreadnought Leonardo da Vinci sank in Taranto harbour in Southern Italy after an internal explosion caused her to capsize. August 3 The Irish Nationalist Roger Casement was hanged at Pentonville Prison for his involvement in the Easter Rising in Dublin earlier in the year. The Battle of Romani began. The unsuccessful attempt by the German led Ottoman force to seize control of the Suez Canal was the last ground attack on the critical waterway during the war. August 5 The advance of the main body of British forces began through the Nguru Hills during the East Africa Campaign. August 6 The Sixth Battle of the Isonzo was launched against a combined German-Austro-Hungarian force. Also known as the Battle of Gorizia it was the most successful Italian offensive along the Isonzo River in North Eastern Italy during the war. August 8 The Portuguese Government accepted the participation of Portugal in the war and extended military co-operation to the Europe. August 9 Italian Chief-of-Staff Luigi Cadorna led his forces to take Gorizia and establish a bridgehead across the Isonzo River during the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo. August 10 After its initial success the Brusilov Offensive came to an end with the loss of about 500,000 Russian and 375,000 Austrian lives. August 11 The German colonial district of Mpwapwa in German East Africa was occupied by British forces. August 12 Italian troops landed at Salonika in Greece to join Allied forces. August 15 A British air attack and naval bombardment was launched on Bagamoyo on the German East African coast. The Germans were overrun and the German garrison taken. During the Caucasus Campaign the Armenian towns of Mush and Bitlis were re-occupied by Turkish forces. August 17 Luigi Cadorna had succeeded in moving forward 5km along a 20km-front and ended the offensive in the Sixth Battle of the Isonzo. The Treaty of Bucharest of 1916 was signed between Romania and the Entente Powers. The treaty stipulated the conditions under which Romania agreed to join the war on the side of the Entente. August 18 A combined British-French offensive was launched on the German held village of Guillemont with three British corps attacking the village while the French attacked the nearby village of Maurepas. August 19 Two town-class light cruisers, HMS Falmouth and HMS Nottingham were sunk by U-boats. August 22 The Morogoro Region of Kilosa in Tanganyika (now Tanzania) was captured by British forces. August 23 The German blockade-breaking cargo submarine Deutschland returned to Bremerhaven in Germany. August 24 In another engagement between the Russian Caucasus army and their Ottoman counterparts, Mush and Bitlis were again taken by Russian forces. August 25 Russian forces cross the Danube into the Dobrudja to assist Romanian forces. August 26 Under General Smuts, the city of Morogoro in Tanganyika was taken by British forces. August 27 Following the Treaty of Bucharest, the Romanian Government ordered mobilisation of their armies and crossed the border of the Austro-Hungarian Empire into the much-contested province of Transylvania. August 28 Germany declared war on Romania and Italy declared war on Germany. August 29 Brasov in Transylvania was occupied by Romanian forces. Field-Marshal von Hindenburg succeeded General von Falkenhayn as Chief of the General Staff of the German Field Armies with General von Ludendorff as Chief Quartermaster-General. August 30 The National Schism, caused by the disagreement on foreign policy between King Constantine I of Greece and revolutionary Eleftherios Venizelos, led to the Venizelist revolt in Salonika.
(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."