Western Front
Verdun: French 2,400-gun bombardment begins (including 1,100 heavy gun) begins on 12 1/2-mile front until August 20. German artillery fire response 1 million rounds (2,500t) mustard gas shells at French near Verdun (until September 24); 13,158 gassed (143 deaths).
The threatening sight of a night-firing French railroad gun:
https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...achts.jpg?ssl=1
Royal Flying Corps bombing east of Lens (night August 13-14), 2 German airfields bombed (August 14), 4 Sopwith Two-seaters attack and help disperse 1,600 German infantry on August 15.
A child injured in the German bombing raid at Southend yesterday: © IWM (Q 54001):
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...672754686185473
Eastern Front
Russo-Romanian offensive continues favourable to Allies (Ocna region).
Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Mesopotamia: No 63 Squadron (RE8s) from Western Front arrives at Basra, but 154 out of 230 all ranks soon stricken with fevers and heatstroke, deployment delayed.
Political, etc
Germany: Military region commanders given free hand to suppress strikes.
Eduard Buchner, German chemist who was awarded the 1907 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his work on fermentation, passed away:
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...687856906887168
United Kingdom: British Government refuse passports for Stockholm Conference (see 10th).
Mr. George Barnes appointed to War Cabinet.
Italy: 40,000 people march against war at Turin (includs a Petrograd Soviet delegation).
United States: First Aero Squadron sails for France (arrives on September 3).
Japanese mission arrives in the U.S. to coordinate issues relating to the war against Germany:
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...748232612753408
Spain: Martial law in Spain as a railway strike grows throughout the country and clashes erupt between police and strikers.