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Sinking of the Lusitania - The First World War - 1915

Sinking of the Lusitania. On May 1st, 1915 the boat, Lusitania departed from New York for Liverpool, carrying 1959 passengers. It is said that warnings were given to them about the German U-boats but Captain Turner decided to ignore these warnings and set off.

Lusitania was travelling slowly through the fog towards the south of Ireland where the German subs were waiting, not aware of this the Captain continued to sail slowly and in a straight line instead of a zigzagged line, which was meant to be a way of avoiding U-boats.

The German's had already sunk 3 British ships and as the Lusitania neared the Germans, Kapitänleutnant Walther Schwieger spotted it and with one single torpedo they managed to sink the boat. In 18 minutes the boat sank and of the 1,959 passengers 1,195 passengers died. Captain Turner managed to stay alive after staying in the water for 3 hours.

It was the lost of Lusitania which angered the Americans and a decision was made to join the War, Germans being scared that America would join the War, decided to suspend the U-boats operations temporarily. In 1917, the Germans decided to gamble and made a law that any ship seen on sight would be sunk immediately, this rule was not only for allied ships but also for Neutral ships. In April the Americans decided to declare war, Britain having over a 1000 ships sunk already were on their knees but the introduction of escorted convey helped the Brits out. The supply route from Britain to America began once again.

The War at Sea. Click here to read about other events at sea.

The sinking of the Lusitania was written by Sana Bhatti, a Year 9 student at Laisterdyke High School.

The Gorlitz - Tarnow Offensive. On the eastern front the Germans once again sought to defeat the Russian forces in order to concentrate on fighting on just one front. The Gorlitz - Tarnow Offensive was intended to remove Russian troops from the Carpathian's: thus allowing Austrian forces to be deployed elsewhere.

The Germans planned an attack along a huge 26 mile front. 8 divisions of the German army were transferred from the Western Front to join with the Austrian 4th army. In there way stood just over 50,000 Russian troops. The assault began with a heavy artillery bombardment of the Russian fortifications, over half a million shells being fired at the Russian lines. The Russians were not prepared for this and their defences were shattered as a result. The German army advanced rapidly, almost a hundred miles of gained territory was gained in a fortnight. Russian resistance was muted, limited to minimal counterattacks aimed at delaying the German advance. By the end of June the German army had crossed the Dniester River and were able to launch further offensives against the Russians.

This offensive continued and altered it's course during August 1915.

A World War One veteran talks about being off duty in the early days of the war. A BBC recording.