Western Front
Battle of the Somme: French attack, taking Vermandovillers and Berny, Deniecourt surrounded, German reserves much cut up, ‘many’ prisoners.
Jasta 2 (Full name: Jagdstaffel 2) has its combat debut.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jagdstaffel_2 and
http://jasta2.org/history.php
After Max Immelmann's death, Kaiser Wilhelm II had ordered Oswald Boelcke grounded for a month to avoid losing him in combat soon after Zimmerman. He had become such an important hero to the German public, as well as such an authority on aerial warfare, that he could not be risked. Given a choice between a desk job and a tour of the Middle East, Boelcke downed a Nieuport over Douaumont on 27 June and reported to headquarters. Boelcke was detailed to share his expertise with the head of German military aviation. What had been known previously as the
Deutsches Heer's Fliegertruppen des deutschen Kaiserreiches was being reorganized into the
Luftstreitkräfte in mid-1916; this reorganization was inspired by Boelcke. At this time, Boelcke codified his Dicta. He also shared his views on creation of a fighter arm, and the organization of fighter squadrons.
Boelcke was sent on a tour of the Balkans. He transited Austria to visit Turkey. Upon his return swing, he visited Bulgaria and the Russian Front. Boelcke would be visiting Wilhelm in Kovel when he received a telegram from the head of German aviation, Feldflugchef (Aviation Chief of Staff) Oberstleutnant Hermann von der Lieth-Thomsen, appointing him to raise, organize and command Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 2. Boelcke, by then a Hauptman, was given permission to choose his own pilots to form a fighter squadron. Among his first selections upon his return were Manfred von Richthofen, Erwin Böhme and Hans Reimann. The first aircraft arrived on 1 September; two Fokker DIIIs and an Albatros D.I. On 16 September, Boelcke's new squadron received five new Albatros D.Is for the pilots, and an improved Albatros D.II for the Staffelfuhrer. Boelcke promptly put the new planes in the air on the first-ever fighter unit effort to gain local air superiority. At 1300 hours 16 September, Boelcke and five of his pilots took off; they intercepted a British bombing raid on Marcoing Railway Station. While Boelcke held aside, his five wingmen bounced a British formation of 14 planes, broke it up, and shot down two; one of them an F.E. 2, by von Richthofen. The master himself added another. (Another source says 5 total British aircraft fell). That night, a German army tradition was ditched and a new German air force custom established when the enlisted men were invited into the Jasta's social center.
Captain Tom Rees becomes the first official confirmed kill of Manfred von Richthofen (the future Red Baron):
http://imgur.com/q2N07Bn
Edit to add:
A friend on another forum managed to track down details on yesterdays: Royal Flying Corps aircraft and balloon collide with fatal results. The details:
Lieutenant Clarence Edwards Nooth Cooper RFC 6 Kite Balloon Section - Died of accidental injuries 16 September 1916 aged 25, following balloon cable being struck by FE2b 6971 of 18 Squadron, kite balloon was cut adrift and his parachute failed to open, he fell to the ground near Montauban. LIEUTENANT C. E. N COOPER, Lincolnshire Regiment, attached R. F. C., who fell on September 16, in his 26th year, was the eldest son of Mr. and Mrs. Geo. C. Nooth Cooper, of South Norwood. He was educated at Whitgift Grammar School, Croydon, and after six years service in the Mercantile Marine, he obtained an appointment with Messrs. Geo. Cradock and Co., wire rope makers, of Wakefield, Yorks. He enlisted in the Queen Victoria Rifles in October, 1914, and obtained his commission in the Lincolnshire Regiment Special Reserve, in February, 1915. In April, 1915, he was sent to the front and served there with his regiment until about three months ago, when he was lent to the Royal Flying Corps as a balloon observation officer. His death was caused by his parachute failing to act when compelled by an accident to descend from his balloon.’
Eastern Front
Transylvania: Romanians between Petrozseny and Hatszeg.
Southern Front
Seventh Battle of Isonzo: Italian offensive suspended due to bad weather after 17,000 casualties and 4,500 captured Austrian PoWs. Breaches in wire not wide enough for rapid infantry assault. Another source realistically reports: 7th Battle of the Isonzo comes to an end with the Italian offensive achieving little gains for heavy casualties.
Italian success (as defined how ?) on the Carso. (What is this Carso of which they speak? There’s a “Monte Carso” in what is now Trieste Province, Italy; but Trieste at the time, belonged to Austria-Hungary, and the Italians got nowhere near the mountain. I don’t know what this means, but it was reported by:
http://www.firstworldwar.com/onthisday/1916_09_17.htm
Macedonia: Russian Brigade and French 57th Division recapture Florina; Bulgars retreat slightly north to river Brod by September 20.
Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Sinai: German Fokker thwarts Royal Navy bombardment of El Arish by shooting down 2 Sopwith Baby seaplanes (another lost to MG ground fire) and bombing the 4 warships. But German squadron later withdrawn to Beersheba.
Anzac Mounted Division attacks Mazar 45 miles east of Romani; 2,200 Turks evacuate 18 miles to El Arish (September 19).
Naval and Overseas Operations
East Africa: Lindi, on East African wash, occupied by British naval forces.
Political, etc.
United Kingdom: News describe tanks for the 1st time, comparing them “to armadillos & measuring worms & to many other weird creeping or crawling objects.”
Prince Albert, 2nd son of King George V, has been invalided home due to an abdominal abscess.
Japan: Japanese aviators graduating at the Tokorozawa Aerodrome near Tokyo:
http://imgur.com/DqYhCGp