Western Front
Third Battle of Ypres: French success east of Bixschoote; French hold all gains and secure possession of ground east of Bixschoote. Battle of Langemarck 1917: Germans counter-attack near Lens repulsed.
British soldiers at Ypres in the ruins of a church, watching the bombardment of German lines: © IWM (Q 2710): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...865723988643840
Big French air operations (i. e., the bombing of German towns) on the Meuse.
French soldiers in a trench near La Harazee, France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...122458041114624

Southern Front
Macedonia: Anglo-French aircraft bomb various targets (until August 20) despite high winds.

Political, etc
Germany: Kaiser decides Navy will be limited to 25 Zeppelins and only build replacements every 2 months instead of 2 per month.
Zepplein L-58 belongs to the newest generation of German airships, which are completed from August 1917 onwards: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...n-L58.jpg?ssl=1
France: M. Denys Cochin succeeded by M. Albert Métin as French Under-Secretary for Blockade (see March 20th, 1916 and November 16th, 1917).
United Kingdom: The Cabinet Committee Report on Air Organisation (the Smuts Report) is presented to the War Cabinet. It recommends the creation of an Air Ministry "to control and administer all matters in connection with air warfare of every kind and that the new ministry should proceed to work out the arrangements for the amalgamation of the two [Air] services and for the legal constitution and discipline of the new Service".
The Report states "the day may not be far off when aerial operations with their devastation of enemy lands and destruction of industrial and populous centres on a vast scale may become the principal operations of war, to which the older forms of military and naval operations may become secondary and subordinate". The Smuts Report lays foundations for the creation of the Royal Air Force.
Balfour speech on Balkans. Ramsay Macdonald letter to president Wilson and Colonel House says US neutrality would have been better for peace.
Brigadier-General Auckland Geddes succeeds Mr. Neville Chamberlain as Director-General National Service.
Official British estimate of German casualties now exceed 4.5 million soldiers killed, wounded, and missing.

__________________
On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

Western Front
Third Battle of Ypres: Battle of Langemarck, 1917 ends (see 16th).
Allied forces at Ypres hold on to gains made the day before yesterday despite German counterattacks.
British soldiers duck for cover as a German shell lands near Boezinge, near Ypres: © IWM (Q 5889): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...152535466364929
A 17-year-old German soldier captured by the Canadians: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...182763819479040
A British officer looks out from the trenches at Ypres as shells burst in the distance: © IWM (Q 2738): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...485896739041285
Belgium – The Hollandflug: abortive Gotha bomber mission against London. 28 aircraft sent (8 or 9 lost) but recalled due to gale-force winds; 2 shot down in neutral Holland, 6 or 7 crash in Belgium, others ditch in sea.
Japanese-Canadian soldier posing for the camera: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...243369981411329
Verdun sector: French counter-attack on right bank of Meuse and recapture trenches lost on 16 August.

Eastern Front
Romanian front fighting less intense, situation unchanged.
Romanians retire towards Marasesti (20 miles north of Focsani).

Southern Front
Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo: (the Bainsizza, until September 12): After barrage from 0600 hours Italian Second and Third Armies (44 divisions; 3,566 guns, 1,760 mortars) on 30-mile front night attack Austrian Fifth Army (18 divisions with 248 battalions including 3 divisions from Eastern Front, 6 transferring) capture first line with 7,500 PoWs but only across 6 of 14 Isonzo bridges (more built night August 19/20) planned due to Austrian resistance.
Austro-Hungarian soldier on sentry duty in the fringe of a wood on the Isonzo front in August 1917: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...sonzo.jpg?ssl=1
Italian Front: 85 Caproni bombers hit Austrian supply relief columns, ammo dumps and headquarters.
Salonika: Great fire begins in wooden old quarter with oil spilling from stove, brought under control on August 21 but 80,000 made homeless and nearly half city destroyed; British base HQ gutted on waterfront, but port not affected.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Western Mediterranean: Scout cruiser USS Birmingham (Rear Admiral Wilson) arrives at Gibraltar as flagship US Patrol Force, 2 others and 7 gunboats to work on Atlantic side of straits.

Political, etc
Allies: British, French, and Italian Governments conclude provisional arrangement with regard to future policy in Asia Minor (Turkey) (see May 16th, 1916 and July 27th, 1917).
Germany: During Wilhelmshaven visit by Kaiser and Capelle, Scheer calls recent mutiny a ‘socialist plot‘ that necessitates a ‘few death sentences’; demands implicated USPD deputies be tried for treason. Capelle demurs, saying deputies enjoy parliamentary immunity. Kaiser has first sea voyage of war in new flagship Baden from Wilhelmshaven to Heligoland.
United Kingdom: Government proclamation forbids threatened rail engineers strike. Churchill replaces 50 Munitions Ministry Departments with 11-man Council (meeting weekly) and secretariat, his Munitions Bill passed on August 21.
United States: Forces total 943,141 men. Food Administrator Hoover asks each family to save 1 lb of flour per week.

__________________
On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

Western Front
Third Battle of Ypres: Slight advance by British troops on Ypres-Poelcapelle road in which 12 tanks (1 ditched) capture pillboxes at St Julien for 26 casualties; Germans retake briefly on August 25.
A British tank was stuck in the mud during the Ypres battle: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...hlamm.jpg?ssl=1
A French and British soldier toast each other with French ration wine at Boezinge, near Ypres: © IWM (Q 2742): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...607962951897089
A British soldier trying on captured German body-armor at Ypres: © IWM (Q 2733): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...852062259294208
German General Erich von Ludendorff inspecting officers of Jagdstaffel 11. Von Richthofen’s (Red Baron) plane is in the background: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...913714430234629

Eastern Front
Galicia and Bukovina: Germans claim 22,000 PoWs in recent fighting.
Rumania: Mackensen attacks at Marasesti (until August 20) with 4 divisions and 3-hour shelling but Averescu regains lost ground when General Popescu’s 47th and 51st Regiments (13th Division) bayonet charge through Razoave Forest, lull till August 28.

Southern Front
Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo: Italian attack on 30-mile front in Carso (between Mrzli Vrh and sea). Carry Austrian first line east of Isonzo from Plava to sea (25 miles); 7,500 prisoners. 12 Italian battalions across river; Hill 300 taken by Badoglio’s II Corps and many advances uphill. Italian Third Army attacks on Carso (until August 23) but operations suspended after minimal gains (except to Diaz’s XXIII Corps) for heavy losses.

Political, etc
United States: (Listed for yesterday): 6 women suffragists arrested for demonstrating at the White House with banners and pickets are sentenced to 30 days in a workhouse.
American Boy Scouts demonstrating different types of gas masks: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...561409457332224
Greece: Two looks at yesterday’s fire in Thessaloniki: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...576516342136832
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...883511821774848

__________________
On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

Western Front
Third Battle of Ypres: North of Ypres slight British advance.
Since July 31, 17 German divisions ‘used up’ according to General Kuhl, CoS to Rupprecht. British attack profitably with 7 tanks.
British cavalry escorting captured German machine gunners through Brielen, Belgium: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...974123526955011
Jimmy Speirs, Scottish footballer who scored the winning goal in the 1911 FA Cup Final, is killed in action at Ypres: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...276097086517249
"Second Offensive Battle" of Verdun begins [French name and dates.] (until September 9): Guillaumat’s French Second Army, with 18 divisions vs 12, takes German defences north of Verdun on 11-mile front to depth of 1 1/4 miles including claims to have taken Avocourt Wood, Mort Homme, Hill 240 and 5,000 PoWs (until August 23). German Fifth Army (forewarned) previously evacuated Talou ridge and other positions.
U.S. Expeditionary Force soldiers in France receive gas masks and begin training with them before they head to the front.

Eastern Front
Baltic Provinces: Russians evacuate some positions southwest of Riga (until August 22) 3-8 miles to shorten line, plus stores and sick from city itself. German Eighth Army begins approach march for Riga operation (August 22).
Russia: Kornilov orders Cossack concentration within rail distance of Petrograd or Moscow (or on August 19).
Russian prisoners in Sassnitz, Germany waiting to be exchanged with German and Austro-Hungarian prisoners: © IWM (Q 29924): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...261000876249088
Romanians gain ground north of Focsani lost on 19 August.

Southern Front
Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo: Battle continues in favor of Italians; Austro-Hungarian defenses between Korite and Sella (right wing) carried.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Atlantic: Penultimate British Q-ship success: Acton sinks UC-72 (which had damaged the Q-ship Penshurst on August 19).
British submarine HMS E47 sinks in the North Sea with loss of all 30 crew.

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Dr. Sándor Wekerle appointed Hungarian Prime Minister.
Germany: Adolf von Baeyer, German chemist who synthesized indigo and received the 1905 Nobel Prize, passed away: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...215702061707264
Russia: Lavr Kornilov, the new Russian commander-in-chief, tried in vain to restore the army’s fighting strength, while at the same time protecting the Provisional Government from its internal enemies: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...nilov.jpg?ssl=1

__________________
On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

Western Front
Third Battle of Ypres: Canadians (1,154 casualties) advance on 200-yard front west and northwest of Lens.
"Second Offensive Battle" of Verdun: French recapture Cote de l’Oie (Moroccan Division including the Legion), Regneville and Samogneux either side of river Meuse, watched by Petain and Pershing.
Britain: 8 Navy Zeppelins fly against the Midlands; unsuccessful, only 10% of 24,000lb bombs dropped recorded (1 wounded, night August 21-22). German airship L.-23 destroyed in North Sea with loss of all crew by a British airplane off Jutland, Denmark. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_...66_Zeppelin.jpg

Eastern Front
Kovess attacks Sereth town and takes hill defences nearby; renews attacks east of Czernowitz on August 26 and captures Dolzok height on August 27.
German forces launch an attack on Russian lines defending Riga. Due to poor morale, Russian troops retreat.
Russians evacuate positions between Tirul Marsh and River Aa.

Southern Front
Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo: Bersaglieri storm Ossoinica and Osedrih (lost). Tortona Brigade takes Mt Kuk (2,004 ft); Mt Jelinek taken from 3 sides on August 22, breakthrough near Auzza on 2,000-yard front shakes Austrians.
A member of the Bersaglieri, crack troops of the Italian army, with a portable bicycle folded on his shoulder:
https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...cycle.jpg?ssl=1

Political, etc
United Kingdom: Ministry of Reconstruction formed in Great Britain.
Labour Party reaffirm their decision to send delegates to Stockholm.
Parliament adjourns.

__________________
On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

Western Front
Third Battle of Ypres: 4 British divisions with 16 tanks engaged before St Julien, 2 more with 18 tanks south of Fortuin while 3 more with tanks battle along Menin Road (until August 23). 500-880-yd gains for heavy losses (3,000 casualties). 2 British battalions capture and hold Glencorse Wood (until August 24).
The battlefield of Ypres with abandoned British tanks: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...tanks.jpg?ssl=1
Men of the Scots Guards moving up to the trenches near Boezinge, Belgium: © IWM (Q 2755): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...941792568807426
"Second Offensive Battle" of Verdun: French continue efforts towards Hill 304 & Samogneux.
Last German airplane raid on England by daylight (see July 7th and September 2nd).
One source says: The last daylight raid on Britain of the First World War is focused on the coastal port of Ramsgate. Several Gotha bombers are lost, with three shot down, one by Flight Sub-Lieutenant J.Drake of the Royal Naval Air Service, and two others by anti-aircraft gunfire.
While another says: Gotha bombers (total 3 lost) attack Margate, Ramsgate and Dover. 138 defence sorties, 2 bombers shot down by RNAS fighters, 1 by anti-aircraft fire (total casualties 39 including 16 servicemen).
Eduard Ritter von Dostler, German fighter ace with 26 victories, is shot down and killed over Belgium: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...653600737087488

Eastern Front
At Raggazen (Gulf of Riga) Russians retire from 3 to 8 miles, to shorten line.
Situation unchanged on Romanian front, where fighting continues.

Southern Front
Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo: Fierce fighting in Carso region. Italian progress on both right and left wings.

Naval and Overseas Operations
German submarine SM UC-41, credited with sinking 18 ships, is sunk by British naval trawlers with loss of all crew.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
War Office reports Turkish defeat in Hejaz.

Political, etc
Britain-Germany: Now 102,218 German PoWs to 43,000 British.
Russia: Constituent Assembly elections put back to November 12 from September 17.
United Kingdom: Artillery shells being examined at the National Shell Filling Factory in Nottinghamshire: © IWM (Q 30009): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...623405506441217
Italy: Turin strikes and riots (until August 28): Bread shortage leads to factory close down and shop sacking, 2 churches burnt down. Army uses tanks and MGs to clear barricades on August 23 and repulse worker columns. Order restored on August 24 after 50 killed (3 soldiers) and 800 arrests. Turin not imitated by rest of Italy.
United States: Japanese delegation arrives in Washing D.C. to coordinate the war against Germany: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...685158328176640
Greece: Earl Grenville appointed Minister at Athens.

__________________
On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

Western Front
Third Battle of Ypres: South-west of Lens and north-east of Langemarck British line slightly advanced.
A British soldier standing by a grave of a fallen comrade near Pilckem during the Ypres Battle: © IWM (Q 2756): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...048708598935552
"Second Offensive Battle" of Verdun: French troops at Verdun defeat German counterattacks. Total German prisoners taken number 6,116 men.

Southern Front
Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo: Battle continues. Italians take 5 mountain peaks on 12 1/2 mile front as Austrian fires and demolitions signal their retreat (night August 23/24) to new defence line.
Italian commander Cadorna and his staff at the front: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...front.jpg?ssl=1
Macedonia: Allied lengths of front British 90 miles; French and Greeks 50 miles; Serbs 34 miles; Russians 22 miles; Italians 9.3 miles.

Naval and Overseas Operations
East Africa: W T Shorthose’s NRFF column (700 soldiers) occupies Tunduru.

Political, etc
Russia: Ex-Tsarist War Minister Vladimir Sukhomlinov’s treason trial in Petrograd (until August 26), sentenced to hard labour for life.
United Kingdom: Churchill meets Cumberland miners over their anti-recruiting strike (August 6-11).
Australia: Suffragist Adela Pankhurst is arrested in Australia and sentenced to a month in prison for demonstrating against conscription.
United States: Harry Garfield made Fuel Administrator.

__________________
On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

More great stuff. Thanks, GG! I appreciate all the work you put into this!

Western Front
Third Battle of Ypres: British advanced line forced back from positions gained on 22 August.
German post capture near Lombartzyde (coast section).
British 12-inch railway gun at Woesten, Belgium. “Not on Strike” is printed on the barrel: © IWM (Q 2765): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...380907810562050
"Second Offensive Battle" of Verdun: French advance 1 1/2 miles on 2,000-yards front taking Hill 304 and Camard Wood and reach south bank of Forges Brook, gains north of Mort Homme.
Upscale mood and flowers on the lunch table as French officers try to spread optimism: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...tisch.jpg?ssl=1

Southern Front
Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo: Italians have advanced 6 miles on a 10-mile front, taken 20,000 PoWs (another source says 16,000 Austro-Hungarian soldiers and 350 officers), and 125 guns but no water or roads for pursuit over Bainsizza plateau and over 2 million of 3.5 million medium heavy shells used. Austrian counter-attack loses 1,000 PoWs on August 28.
Battle further south dies down. Italians consolidating positions.

Naval and Overseas Operations
East Africa: Belgian troops drive Germans from river Sansa and press them against Lake Nyasa on August 27.

Political, etc
United Kingdom: British press criticizes the air service for not preventing German air raids. Manchester Guardian proposes an independent air ministry.
United States: 156 African-American soldiers in Houston, Texas mutiny & riot after encountering segregation. 4 soldiers and 12 civilians are killed.
Greece: Aftermath of the fire in Thessalonica, Greece, where 9,500 homes were lost: © IWM (HU 58897): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...652676798656512

__________________
On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

From the Wikipedia entry at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houston_riot_of_1917

The Houston riot of 1917, or Camp Logan riot, was a mutiny by 156 African American soldiers of the Third Battalion of the all-black Twenty-fourth United States Infantry Regiment. It occupied most of one night, and resulted in the deaths of four soldiers and sixteen civilians. The rioting soldiers were tried at three courts-martial. A total of nineteen would be executed, and forty-one were given life sentences.

Shortly after the United States declared war on the German Empire in the spring of 1917, the War Department rushed to construct two new military installations in Harris County, Texas — Camp Logan and Ellington Field. On July 27, 1917, the Army ordered the Third Battalion of the Twenty-fourth United States Infantry Regiment to Houston to guard the Camp Logan construction site. The regiment traveled to Houston by train from their camp at Columbus, New Mexico, accompanied by seven commissioned officers.

Almost from the arrival of the Twenty-fourth Infantry in Houston, the presence of black soldiers in the segregated Texas city caused conflict. The Jim Crow laws had not been enforced when the Twenty-fourth was deployed in Columbus, New Mexico, but in Houston the soldiers encountered segregated street cars and white workers at Camp Logan who demanded separate tanks of drinking water. Soldiers from the Twenty-fourth were involved in a number of "clashes" with city police, several of which resulted in the soldiers receiving minor injuries. Around noon August 23, 1917, Lee Sparks and Rufus Daniels, two Houston police officers, broke up a craps game on a street corner in Houston's predominantly-black San Felipe district by firing warning shots. Sparks, searching for the fleeing suspects, entered the house of local resident Sara Travers. He did not find the suspect but, after exchanging words with Travers, struck her and dragged her outside in her nightgown. As Sparks and Daniels called in the arrest from an area patrol box, they were approached by Private Alonzo Edwards. Edwards offered to take custody of Travers, but was pistol-whipped repeatedly by Sparks and then arrested. Later that afternoon, Corporal Charles Baltimore approached Sparks and Daniels in the same neighborhood to inquire about the status of Edwards. Sparks struck Baltimore with his pistol and fired three shots at him as he fled into a nearby home. Sparks and Daniels pursued Baltimore, eventually finding him under a bed. They pulled him out, beat him, and placed him under arrest. A rumor reached the camp of the Twenty-fourth that Baltimore had been shot and killed. The soldiers immediately began meeting in small groups to discuss plans to march on Houston and attack the police. An officer from the Twenty-fourth retrieved an injured, but wounded, Baltimore from the police station, which seemed to calm the soldiers for the moment.

The officers of the Twenty-fourth continued to receive reports of impending trouble from the angry soldiers. Major K. S. Snow revoked all passes for the evening and ordered the guard to be increased, but later that evening he stumbled upon a group of men stealing ammunition from one of the supply tents. He ordered the men to assemble without arms and warned them that it was "utterly foolish, foolhardy, for them to think of taking the law into their own hands. " One of the men, who had smuggled his rifle into the formation, fired it and cried out that a mob was approaching the camp. At this point, order broke down completely and the soldiers mobbed the supply tents, grabbing rifles and ammunition.

The soldiers began firing indiscriminately into the surrounding buildings. After several minutes of shooting, Sergeant Vida Henry ordered the men in the area – about 150 – to fill their canteens, grab extra ammunition, and fall in to march on Houston. The group marched through neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city, firing at houses with outdoor lights. They fired on a car with two white occupants, but let a second car with black occupants leave unharmed. They marched nearly two and a half miles, all the way to the San Felipe district, before they encountered any police officers. Due to the disorganization of the police department, officers had only been sent out in small numbers so the first police casualties occurred when a group of six officers stumbled upon the entire column of soldiers. Two policemen (including Rufus Daniels) were killed immediately, and one later died of wounds he had sustained. The soldiers stopped a car carrying two policemen, who were disarmed and shot. A few blocks later, an open-topped car carrying a man in an olive-drab uniform approached the column. Believing this to be the uniform of a Houston mounted policeman, the soldiers opened fire only to discover later that they had killed Captain Joseph W. Mattes of the Illinois National Guard. The killing of a military officer drove home the seriousness of their actions and the pending consequences. Many soldiers began to desert the group, and Sergeant Henry led the remainder on a march to return to camp. Just outside the San Felipe district, Henry shook hands with the remaining soldiers and informed them that he planned to kill himself after they left. Henry's body was found in the area the next day. By the time the shooting had stopped, 17 people were dead (four police officers, nine civilians, and two soldiers). One soldier and a police officer later died from wounds sustained during the riot, and one soldier died from wounds sustained during his capture the next day. All of the wounds received by soldiers the night of the riot were the result of accidental shootings by fellow soldiers.

The next morning, Houston was placed under martial law. The remaining soldiers in the Twenty-fourth's camp were disarmed, and a house-to-house search discovered a number of soldiers hiding in the San Felipe district. Soldiers in local jails were turned over to the Army, and the Third Battalion was sent by rail back to New Mexico. In the ensuing Court Martial, almost two hundred witnesses testified over twenty-two days and the transcripts of the testimony covered more than two thousand pages. Author Robert V. Haynes suggests that General John Wilson Ruckman was “especially anxious for the courts-martial to begin”. Ruckman had preferred the proceedings take place in El Paso, but eventually agreed to allow them to remain in San Antonio. Haynes posits the decision was made to accommodate the witnesses who lived in Houston, plus “the countless spectators” who wanted to follow the proceedings Ruckman “urged” the War Department to select a “prestigious court”. Three brigadier generals were chosen, along with seven full colonels and three lieutenant colonels. Eight members of the court were West Point graduates. The court contained a geographic balance between northerners, southerners and westerners. The Departmental Judge Advocate General, Colonel George Dunn, reviewed the record of the first court martial (known as “the Nesbit Case. ”) and approved the sentences. He forwarded the documents materials to Gen. Ruckman on December 3. Six days later, thirteen of the prisoners (including Corporal Baltimore) were told that they would be hanged for murder, but they were not informed of the time or place. The court recommended clemency for a Private Hudson, but General Ruckman declined to grant it. Many soldiers were wrongly accused as witnesses were unable to identify or even distinguish which men had mutinied.

The condemned soldiers (one sergeant, four corporals, and eight privates) were transferred to a barracks on December 10. That evening, motor trucks carried new lumber for scaffolds to some bathhouses built for the soldiers at Camp Travis near a swimming pool in the Salado Creek. The designated place of execution was several hundred yards away. Army engineers completed their work by the light of bonfires. The thirteen condemned men were awakened at five in the morning and brought to the gallows. They were hanged simultaneously, at 7:17am, one minute before sunrise. The scaffolds were disassembled and every piece returned to Fort Sam Houston. The New York Times, commenting on the clean-up operations, observed the place of execution and place of burial were “indistinguishable. ” Only army officers and County Sheriff John Tobin had been allowed to witness the execution. Gen. Ruckman told reporters he had personally approved the death sentences and said that forty-one soldiers had been given life sentences and four received sentences of two and a half years or less. He said he was the one who chose the time and place for the executions. Military jurist Frederick Bernays Wiener has observed that Ruckman's approval and execution of the death sentences were “entirely legal” and “in complete conformity” with the 1916 Articles of War.

A second court-martial, the "Washington" case, began six days later. Fifteen men of the Lower A Division were tried and five were sentenced to death. On January 2, 1918, Ruckman approved the sentences in a public statement. But a new rule, General Orders 167 (December 29, 1917), prohibited the execution of any death sentence until the Judge Advocate General (JAG) could review the sentence(s). (The JAG Boards of Review tasked with reviewing death sentences were created by a subsequent rule, General Orders 7 (January 7, 1918). Those boards, though they had advisory power only, were the Army's first appellate courts.

While waiting for the JAG review to occur, Ruckman approved a third court-martial, the "Tillman" case, of forty more soldiers. On March 26, 1918, twenty-three of those forty soldiers were found guilty. Eleven of the twenty-three were sentenced to death and the remaining twelve to life in prison. On May 2, Ruckman approved the sentences.

On August 31, 1918, President Wilson granted clemency to ten soldiers by commuting their death sentences to life in prison. Wilson issued a rare public statement in order that the basis of his action might be “a matter of record. ” The President’s statement began by recounting the events that led to the deaths of “innocent bystanders” who were “peaceable disposed civilians of the City of Houston. ”He noted the investigations that followed were “very searching and thorough. ” In each of the three proceedings, the court was “properly constituted” and composed of “officers of experience and sobriety of judgment. ” Wilson also noted “extraordinary precautions” were taken to “insure the fairness of the trials” and, in each instance, the rights of the defendants were “surrounded at every point” by the “safeguards” of “a humane administration of the law. ” As a result, there were “no legal errors” which had “prejudiced the rights of the accused. ”

Wilson stated that he affirmed the death sentences of six soldiers because there was “plain evidence” that they “deliberately” engaged in “shocking brutality. ” On the other hand, he commuted the remaining sentences because he believed the “lesson” of the lawless riot had already been “adequately pointed. ” He desired the “splendid loyalty” of African American soldiers be recognized and expressed the hope that clemency would inspire them “to further zeal and service to the country. ”

Most importantly, from General Ruckman's standpoint, Wilson (a former law professor) wrote the actions taken by the former Commander of the Southern Department were “legal and justified by the record. ” Indeed, the President agreed that “a stern redress” of the rioters' “wrongs” was the “surest protection of society against their further recurrence”. As historian Calvin C. Smith noted in 1991, there was no proof of a "conspiracy", and many of the sentenced were not conclusively identified in the dark and rainy night as having even participated in the riot. Whites who defended Houston from the illegal actions of the rioting blacks were not charged for their actions. On September 29, 1918, five more soldiers met their deaths at daybreak. One week later, the sixth was marched to the gallows.

__________________
On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

Very interesting write-up. I had not read or even heard of this incident.

All Fronts
Since April, Allied forces have taken 167,780 Central Powers prisoners, excluding native African troops.
Western Front
Third Battle of Ypres: Battle of Bill 70 (Lens) ends (see 15th). Haig decides to transfer battle from Gough to Plumer who submits plans on August 29. BEF losses 68,010 soldiers since July 31.
Germans recapture some of positions lost on 19 August, but are driven out later in the day.
"Second Offensive Battle" of Verdun: French advancing north of Hill 304, only 14,470 casualties since August 20, but have taken 9,100 PoWs; 30 guns; 22 mortars and over 13 Mgs.
French news-film showing their counter-offensive at Verdun: http://film.iwmcollections.org.uk/record/index/45418

Eastern Front
Lull on Riga and Romanian fronts, some activity on Volhynia front.

Southern Front
Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo: Intense fighting Bainsizza Plateau.

Political, etc
Germany: German Vice Chancellor Helfferich claims UK entered the war because it felt threatened by Germany’s increasing economic & military power.
Russia: Aleksandr Kerensky opens Moscow National Conference (until August 29); Kerensky also warns extremists of the danger of their methods. Bolsheviks boycott. Delegates from the Russian army. Some, the radicals, have torn the bands off their shoulders to show their scorn for authority: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...-army.jpg?ssl=1
Russia receives another $100 million loan from the U.S. despite Russian internal instability and recent defeats.
United Kingdom: British police raid the office & home of pacifist E.D. Morel. He will be sentenced to 6 months in prison.
United States: The U.S. is currently spending $24 million (about $452 million today) daily on the war.
Poland: State Council resigns because of German policy.

__________________
On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

Few people have. That's the primary reason I did this whole thread.

__________________
On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

Western Front
Third Battle of Ypres: 4 British divisions and 12 tanks fight north of St Julien; sea of mud restricts progress to 2,000 yards.
British troops attempt to free a field gun from the mud at Ypres: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...hlamm.jpg?ssl=1
A British soldier emerging from his dug-out at Oosttaverne, Belgium: © IWM (Q 5915): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...137138934325249
British capture Gerrman positions east of Hargicourt (north-west of St. Quentin) on front of over one mile to depth of 0.5 mile. Germans recapture post lost on 24 August.
"Second Offensive Battle" of Verdun: French XXXII Corps on east bank of Meuse reaches Beaumont outskirts, repulses counter-attack on August 27.
Somme: British III Corps captures 1/2 mile of position east of Hargicourt, northwest of St Quentin.

Eastern Front
Renewed Central Powers attacks east of Czernowitz; Germans claim 1,000 prisoners.

Southern Front
Eleventh Battle of the Isonzo: Practically whole of Bainsizza Plateau in Italian hands; claim 23,000 prisoners to date; Italians fail at Jenelik.
Austro-Hungarian soldiers at Iwanigrad in a hillside dug-out: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...378719364902912

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Emperor Charles’ letter to Kaiser Wilhelm: ‘The experience of our eleventh (Isonzo) battle convinces me that the twelfth will be very hard … it is best to overcome the difficulties with an offensive’ asks for Austrian East Front divisions and German guns, ‘My entire army considers the war against Italy as “our war”.’
Bulgaria: Bulgarian Premier demands annexations of Macedonia, Dobruja, and the Aegean coast for jointing the Central Powers.
Belgium: Belgian officials protest German attempts to divide the occupied country into two between Flanders and Wallonia.

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On the kinkometer, my kink measures as a sine wave.

What I think is so fascinating is to read of the little things that simply aren't reported in most histories because they're of relatively minor importance. Things like Emperor Charles' letter to Kaiser Wilhelm; or the Belgian protest of German's intent to divide the occupied country. Fascinating. Thanks, gecko, for sharing al this with us. It's been great!