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Lederhosen, Arthur still hasn't seen a Roland. I keep looking for them but I guess they are still pretty sparse. Anyway, it looks like you are really enjoying your Roland.

well, as Rittmeister I may well have the only one on the front. I havn't seen any others either, plus I can't change loadout yet. So maybe it has to do with the rank.

Thanks Gentlemen. War continues. Introducing Sergent Bernard Sorelle.



Back to flying the N10's.

having survived longer than it takes to write about, meet




yes, that's 'G,' as in "Goddammit, here goes another one"

At least we'll keep Banjoman busy with the updates.

Lofty, my branch of the Griffins actually come from Georgia, maybe we're related.

August Ege spent the Christmas of 1915 on leave at his home in Stuttgart and is now back in action:



I'll try to write a proper diary entry soon. Real life always manages to interfere when I attempt it!

Hasse, your stories are so good they are worth the wait.

Thanks Banjoman! I greatly enjoy reading about the adventures of your pilots too.

Latest chapter in the life and times of August Ege:

The Diary of August Ege.

Samstag, 1.I.1916. Metz-Frescaty.

Happy New Year! Hopefully, this will be the decisive year of this seemingly never-ending war. I returned from Stuttgart on the evening of the 28th and was welcomed by our small and merry group of bandits here. Nothing much had happened while I was away; the weather had been lousy and the eight unlucky pilots and observers forced to stay here had spent most of their time playing cards and consuming whatever extra food and drink they had been provided with for the holidays. I hear the cafés of Metz still haven't recovered from their excursions! Oh, this terrible war!

This was my first war-time Christmas spent at home. Back in 1914 I didn't get any leave. Father and mother were doing well (considering the circumstances) and as usual, my twin sisters were extremely curious about any affairs I might be having with the ladies they believe must be after me everywhere I go, since I'm now wearing the coveted military pilot's badge. I told them that we're actually trying to fight a war here and that any such affairs will have to wait for better days to come, but it's quite impossible to convince those two young ladies.

The city itself was full of military men, as befits these times of strife. It was very different from the summer days of 1914, when everybody was saying welcome to the war. People are still enthusiastic, and everybody believes in the final victory, but it can't be denied that things are somewhat more serious now. Nobody expects the war to be over anytime soon, which tends to dampen the mood of the people a lot. In any case, I thoroughly enjoyed the few days I was allowed to spend with my family.

On the way back to Metz in a train full of troops I encountered an old friend from my Kraftfahrtruppen days - Feldwebel Max Maier, or actually Offizier-Stellvertreter Maier, as he's now known! The powers that be have been promoting a lot of us old regular army NCOs to that rank recently. With luck, some of us may even become officers - and if I may say, would do a far better job at it than some of the stiff-necked morons produced by the war academies!

Max told me in a quiet voice that he'd noticed the very same thing as we at Frescaty - something's definitely afoot in the Verdun sector. He's still serving at Kraftwagen-Park 5 and said they've been really busy at hauling all kinds of equipment to the 5. Armee sector and that the number of Russian POWs working behind the lines seems only to have increased in the last couple of weeks.

It can only mean one thing - a new offensive. Once again, I can't help but wonder - if it's so obvious to many of us here, then how can the Frenchmen also not know about it?

Here's the latest status report.

December news of the World for Intrepid Fliers:

December 1
Italy announced her adherence to the Pact of London.
December 2
Bulgarian forces captured Monastir in Serbia.
December 3
Following the retreat from their defeat at Ctesiphon in November, British forces reached Kut al Amara.
December 4
The American anti-war peace expedition of Henry Ford set sail for Europe on the Oscar II.
December 5
The French submarine Fresnel was sunk by Austrian destroyers off the coast of northern Albania.
December 6
The Allied War Council held a military conference in Paris.
December 7
The Siege of Kut began when the Ottoman Army besieged the British-Indian garrison in the town of Kut al Amara in Mesopotamia.
President Woodrow Wilson delivered a war message to Congress denouncing anti-American plotters.
December 8
British forces at Anzac Cove and Suvla in Gallipoli were ordered to evacuate.
In Flanders Fields was published in Punch magazine. It was written by Canadian medical officer John McRae after presiding over the funeral of a friend and fellow soldier earlier in the year.
December 10
German attaches Captain Boy-Ed and Captain Papen were recalled from the USA by their Government.
December 11
General and politician Yuan Shikai accepted the title of Emperor of China.
December 12
Greece conceded Allied demands regarding Salonika.
December 13
The Affair of the Wadi Senab concluded two days of action fought in Egypt's western desert between the Senussi and British and Indian forces.
December 14
Hamadan in western Persia was occupied by Russian troops.
December 15
Field Marshal Sir John French resigned as Commander-in-Chief of British forces on the Western Front and was replaced by Sir Douglas Haig.
December 17
German light cruiser SMS Bremen sunk in the Baltic after striking a Russian naval mine.
December 18
US President Woodrow Wilson married Edith Galt at her home in Washington.
December 19
The Allies started the preliminary evacuation of Gallipoli.
December 20
The evacuation of 83,000 troops from Suvla Bay and Anzac Cove in Gallipoli was completed.
December 21
The Japanese passenger steamer Yasaka Maru was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-boat near Port
Said in the Mediterranean Sea.
December 23
British naval operations began on Lake Tanganyika.
December 24
The French passenger steamer Ville De La Ciotat was torpedoed in the Mediterranean Sea by German submarine U-34.
December 26
The British government entered into a treaty with Ibn Sa'ud, the Emir of Nejd, accepting protectorate status and agreeing to make war against Ibn Rashid, who was being supported by the Turks.
December 28
British and Indian forces at Cape Helles were ordered to evacuate Gallipoli.
December 29
Draft rules were approved for the Inter-Allied War Council.
December 30
P&O passenger liner SS Persia was torpedoed and sunk without warning by German U-Boat commander Max Valentiner.

(From The Great War - Unseen Archives by Robert Hamilton)

April news of the World for Warbirds Rising:

April 1
British forces on the River Tigris renewed their attempts to break Turkish lines and relieve the besieged garrison at Kut-al-Amara.
April 2
More than 100 men and boys were killed by an explosion at the Explosives Loading Company munitions factory at Faversham in Kent when a store of TNT and ammonium nitrate blew up.
April 3
The Greek Government refused to allow an overland route for Serbian troops from Corfu to Salonika.
April 4
Russian General Aleksei Brusilov replaced General Nikolay Iudovich Ivanov in command of the Southern Front.
April 5
In the final Allied attempt to relieve Kut, British forces attacked Falahiya. After an initial success, the Turks held the garrison.
German forces captured Haucourt at Verdun.
April 6
German troops pushed forward towards Bethincourt and Hill 265 at the Battle of Verdun.
April 7
Russian forces renewed their offensive at Lake Naroch, with limited success.
April 8
French forces evacuated Bethincourt at Verdun.
April 9
German forces launched a coordinated attack on both sides of the Meuse and captured part of Le Mort Homme, consisting of Hill 256 and Hill 295, northwest of Verdun.
April 10
In Paris, the International Olympic Committee confirmed that the Games would not be held until the War was over.
April 11
Portuguese troops occupied Kionga in German East Africa.
April 14
Aircraft of Royal Naval Air Service flew from Mudros and attacked Constantinople and Adrianople.
April 15
The Serbian Army landed at Salonika from Corfu.
April 16
German forces bombarded Hill 304 at the Battle of Verdun.
April 17
British forces in German East Africa launched an attack on Kondoa Irangi.
April 18
Russian forces captured Trebizond on the Black Sea from Turkey without opposition.
US President Wilson threatened to break off diplomatic relations with Germany if submarine attacks on passenger ships are not stopped.
April 19
British forces captured Kondoa Irangi in German East Africa.
Field Marshal von der Goltz was assassinated by an Albanian officer in Asia Minor.
April 20
Russian troops from the Far East arrived at Marseilles to fight in France.
April 21
Irish revolutionary Roger Casement landed at Tralee Bay in County Kerry in Ireland from a German submarine and was arrested by British authorities.
April 22
The final attack by British troops on Sanna-i-Yat was repulsed during the Siege of Kut.
April 24
The Easter Rising began when Irish Republicans staged an armed insurrection against British rule with the aim of establishing an independent Ireland.
The river steamer HMS Julnar was sunk during a final attempt to provide supplies to the besieged troops at Kut-al-Amara.
April 25
A German naval squadron bombarded Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth on the east coast of Britain.
April 26
An agreement was signed in Berlin for the repatriation of sick and wounded British and German POWs to Switzerland.
The British gunboat Helga bombarded the city of Dublin from the River Liffey and destroyed Liberty Hall.
April 27
Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Wimborne proclaimed martial law in Ireland.
April 29
After nearly five months General Charles Townshend surrendered the garrison at Kut-al-Amara to the Turks.
April 30
The Lake Naroch Offensive ended with a German victory when the Russian attack petered out.

(From The Great War - Unseen Archives by Robert Hamilton)

Journal Entry: January 8, 1916
Bertincourt

I don't think it is ever going to stop snowing. It has been snowing since December 21 with just a few pauses here and there. We have managed to fly just three times since it started and it seems there is no end in sight. Of course, the bright side to this bad weather is we are all safe and sound and we were able to celebrate both Christmas and New Years without being disturbed by wartime activities. There are, of course, only so many books and card games that one can play and nerves are beginning to fray. Hopefully, the weather breaks soon and we can resume our normal duties or I will be forced to design more physical activities for the men such as snowball fights.

Here is the latest status report.



And here is the latest Honor Roll of our lost comrades.

Thanks Banjoman. I have a new pilot in Warbirds Rising. You can scrub Bastien from your next chart and I'll upload the new guy's stats this week sometime. No flying in either campaign because of weather, until at least the 10th for me!

H

Will do, thanks for the heads up.

Here's the latest status report.

Journal Entry: May 17, 1916
St. Pol-sur-Mer

I can't believe it finally stopped raining. It has rained nonstop since May 5th and I was beginning to wonder if it would ever stop. The problem with Northern Flanders is when it rains for an extended period of time the whole countryside turns into a huge morass. I can't even begin to imagine what life in the trenches is like right now. I was very skeptical that we could even take off from our sodden field, but nothing was stopping the lads from getting into the air today. We flew a line patrol down near Ypres and flew an escort this afternoon. We didn't see a blasted thing and that was certainly alright by me, I was just so glad to be in the air and feel the sun on my face. Hopefully, the weather has broken and we can get back to our jobs of war flying.

No kidding! It rained For. Ev. Er.

Gustav sat around a week twiddling his thumbs in the rain and got shot down on his second flight out. Being in an EIII in May 1916 is just an unhealthy profession. Other than completely avoiding combat, if I get bounced, there is no place to run. If I can get or keep a little altitude, I can stay above the Nieuports. But otherwise, not so much.

Fokker Scourge my eye!

Finally getting back into the Centenary Challenge! I've scrubbed both my previous pilots. Only doing the Warbirds rising for the time being....

Flt Sub Lt. Cecil Pargate, RNAS-4