Western Front
Second Lieutenant Ball returns (to 56 Squadron) after teaching pilots in England. Richthofen’s 5 Albatros DIIIs shoots down 2 of 6 Nieuport fighters (No 60 Squadron), latter lose again 4 of 6 on April 16. Albert Ball rose to fame in his Nieuport XVII fighter – until his mysterious death in May 1917: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...-Ball.jpg?ssl=1
British advance north-west of St. Quentin to Fresny-le-Petit.
Severe fighting round Berry-au-Bac (north-west of Reims).
British soldiers with Rolls-Royce armoured cars on the Western Front © IWM (Q 3878): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...0329344/photo/1

Naval and Overseas Operations
4 British CMBs (Coastal Motor Boats) raid on Zeebrugge (night April 7-8); CMB8 torpedoes and sinks German destroyer G88 on April 8.
9 Germans are killed when they scuttle their ship SMS Cormoran in Guam. This is the only clash between Americans and Germans in the Pacific.

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Austro-Hungary announces it has raised 6.23 billion kronen (about $1.246 billion) for its fifth war loan.
The Austro-Hungarian Empire breaks off diplomatic relations with the United States of America.
United States: U.S. government seizes 60 German ships that had been interned in U.S. ports during the past three years. U.S. Attorney General Gregory orders the arrests of 60 alleged German conspirators in the country. [ed note: the vast majority of these “conspirators” were mere trade unionists and/or antiwar resistors, whom the Wilson administration deemed undesirable.]
State of Maine orders all German citizens to register with the government within the next 24 hours.
Police of Cleveland, Ohio raid the homes of naturalized Germans-Americans [IOW, US Citizens] and confiscate their rifles and other weapons.
Newsboy selling newspapers in Washington D.C., with the headline reading “U.S. at War with Germany.”: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...6424320/photo/1
Minor Allies: Cuba and Panama declare war on Germany (4 German ships seized in Havana.)

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

Western Front
Lieutenant-General Ernst von Hoeppner and Chief of Staff Lieutenant-Colonel Hermann von der Lieth-Thomsen both awardedPour le Merite for reorganizing German Army Air Service since November 12, 1916.
A French cavalryman riding through the ruins of Chauny © IWM (Q 63689): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...6545024/photo/1
British soldiers fixing scaling ladders in the frontline trenches before the Arras offensive © IWM (Q 6229): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...1785216/photo/1
Wilhelm Frankl, German fighter ace with 20 aerial victories, is killed in action over France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...8283649/photo/1
French government orders Rheims to be evacuated of nonessential civilians due to the German bombardment of the city.
Minor British progress north of Louveral (half-way between Bapaume and Cambrai).

Southern Front
Macedonia: KG 1 bombs Yanesh railhead; 2 Sopwiths force down an already AA-riddled Friedrichshafen G-type bomber, 3 crew taken PoW.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Eastern Atlantic – The Torrington Massacre: U-55 (Wilhelm Werner) sinks British steamer Torrington off Scilly Islands, destroys one lifeboat (14 killed) and drowns 20 passengers by deliberately submerging while they are on outer casing.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
British capture Belad station on Baghdad-Samarra railway.

Political, etc
Germany: Lenin with 19 to 20 Bolsheviks begin so-called ‘sealed train’ journey from Switzerland to Petrograd (until April 16) via Berlin (on April 11 told to Kaiser).
Kaiser Wilhelm promises that Germany will expand voting rights after the end of the war. [ed note: Germany already had, before the war, a higher percentage of it citizens with the franchise than did Great Britain.]
Russia: Estonians demonstrating in Petrograd, Russia: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...7395072/photo/1
United States: (Listed for yesterday): Herbert C. Hoover is asked to head a national committee on food supply and prices.
Major [well, some] U.S. unions and labor organizations promise there will be no strikes or unrest that would hamper the war effort.
Minor Allies: Panama joins U.S.A. to defend Panama Canal.

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

Western Front
Battles of Arras as part of the Allied Artois and Champagne Offensive begin with Battle of Vimy Ridge (see 14th) and First Battle of the Scarpe 1917 (see 23rd and May 4th).
Mining operations in support of the Battles of Arras & Vimy Ridge:
To assess the consequences of infantry having to advance across cratered ground after a mining attack, officers from the Canadian Corps visited La Boisselle and Fricourt where the mines had been blown on the First day of the Somme. Their reports and the experience of the Canadians at The Actions of St Eloi Craters in April 1916, where mines had so altered and damaged the landscape as to render occupation of the mine craters by the infantry all but impossible, led to the decision to remove offensive mining from the central sector allocated to the Canadian Corps at Vimy Ridge. Further British mines in the area were vetoed following the blowing by the Germans on 23 March 1917 of nine craters along no man's land as it was probable that the Germans were aiming to restrict an Allied attack to predictable points. The three mines already laid by 172nd Tunnelling Company were also dropped from the British plans. They were left in place after the assault and were only removed in the 1990s. Another mine, prepared by 176th Tunnelling Company against the German strongpoint known as the Pimple, was not completed in time for the attack. The gallery had been pushed silently through the clay, avoiding the sandy and chalky layers of the Vimy Ridge but by 9 April 1917 was still 21 meters (70 ft) short of its target. In the end, two mines were blown before the attack, while three mines and two Wombat charges were fired to support the attack, including those forming a northern flank.
The ground battle (continues until May 16) begins at 0530 hours in bitter cold and sleet on 12-mile front. Allenby breaches third line of Hindenburg Line, taking 5,600 PoWs and 36 guns in 2,000-6,000 yard advance, but 4-mile gap open for 7 hours not fully exploited as cavalry too slow (until April 10). German PoWs are marched to the rear as British troops moved forward during the fighting at Arras: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...Arras.jpg?ssl=1
British troops preparing to advance from their assembly trenches at Arras: © IWM (Q 5118): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...9544449/photo/1
Edward Thomas, British poet, essayist, and novelist, is killed in action at Arras: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...0952576/photo/1
BATTLE OF VIMY RIDGE (until April 14): After 3-minutes shelling by 1,203 guns (383 heavies) and with 150 Vickers MGs’ barrage, 30,000 men of Canadian Corps (Byng) storm the Ridge on 2-mile front and taking villages and 4,000 PoWs with 54 guns. North end of Ridge remains in German hands. The battle was the first occasion when all four divisions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force participated in a battle together and it was made a symbol of Canadian national achievement and sacrifice.
Canadian troops and captured German troops at Vimy Ridge: © IWM (CO 1155): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...4630656/photo/1
Commandant de Peuty note to Trenchard ‘Victory in the air must precede victory on land.’ Royal Flying Corps 754 (385 single-seater fighters) vs German 264 (114 single-seater fighters) planes. RFC (including Lieutenant ‘Billy’ Bishop) give strafing close support to ground advance. This is the most disastrous period in the history of the entire war for the Royal Flying Corps, as they flew in support of the ground battle, and suffered highest proportional losses of any month of the war.
France: Renault FT-17 light tank trials begin.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Irish Sea: US liner New York mined (by UC-65) off Liverpool.
Spanish steamer San Fulgencio, carrying British coal for Barcelona, torpedoed.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Russians occupy Kizil Robat. British occupy Harbe (four miles north of Belad).

Political, etc
Russia: Russian Provisional Government (see March 14th) issue Proclamation to Allied Governments declaring in favor of self-determination of peoples (except of course, for those parts of the Central Powers’ territories promised to Italy, Romania, Japan, and to be occupied by Great Britain & France in the Middle East; oh, and Africa) and a durable peace.
United Kingdom: Admiral William Sims, United States Navy, arrives in England (see June 18th). Jellicoe apparently tells him on April 10 no solution now to U-boats.
Due to lack of supply, British beer prices have risen, causing disaffection among factory workers.
Canada: Total Canadian oversea enlistments to date:- 407,302 of which Ontario 170,205, Montreal 36,282, Quebec 8,145.
Brazil: The Republic of Brazil breaks off diplomatic relations with the German Empire.

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

Western Front
Artois: Canadian troops (7,707 casualties on April 9-10) clear Vimy Ridge with fall of tough Hill 145. German reserves begin to seal off Arras gap. Canadian troops consolidate their recently-won gains on Vimy Ridge: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...Ridge.jpg?ssl=1
British occupy Farbus (north-east of Arras) and Fampaux (four miles east of Arras).
British cavalry advancing over newly captured ground during the Battle of Arras: © IWM (Q 1989): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...7157761/photo/1
British tank “Lusitania” moving through the ruins of Arras towards the front: © IWM (Q 3184): https://t.co/NSrd3RQynG
Champagne: French shell Moronvilliers massif east of Reims (until April 17).
French troops tie messages to balloons, in hopes that they reach those in German-occupied areas: © IWM (Q 112248): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...4166017/photo/1
Royal Flying Corps No 60 Squadron single-seater Nieuport fighters first sent on photo-reconnaissance mission.

Naval and Overseas Operations
British hospital ship Salta mined off Havre.
Damaged German submarine U-22 in drydock after it hit a mine near Hornsriff: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...3800832/photo/1

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Emperor Charles and Czernin letter to Kaiser Wilhelm II, ‘Five monarchs have been dethroned in this war…’ warns of Russian Revolution impact.
Germany: One of the worst outright lies perpetrated by British propaganda first makes its way into print. Berlin Lokal Anzeiger‘s corpse conversion factory story (first appears in Belgian newspaper) becomes war’s most notorious atrocity story (not exposed till 1925). Balfour writes on April 26 that it might be true. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_Corpse_Factory
Russia: Russian Provisional Government issues a proclamation urging unity, as the country is still in grave danger.
Bulgaria: Bulgaria severs diplomatic relations with the United States of America.
United States: Severe explosion of ammunition factory at Eddystone, near Philadelphia. Initially, German sabotage is blamed, and used as an excuse to cover-up the unsafe working conditions at the plant.
Poland: Austria-Hungary transfers Polish Legions to German control.
Argentina: Government approves US action, decides on benevolent neutrality towards her (April 11).

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

Western Front
Artois: British 3rd Cavalry Division with 2 divisions of Third Army, with 11 tanks, capture Monchy-Ie-Preux and Wancourt, but German line stiffening. Allenby has inflicted 21,000 casualties (incl. 7,000 PoWs), taken 112 guns for 8,238 casualties. British 62nd Division and 4th Australian Division with 11 tanks (2 knocked out by German Mauser Rifles 98 with armour piercing bullets and captured) make first attack on Bullecourt, a fiasco costing 3,052 casualties (1,170 PoWs).
British troops investigate a German observation post disguised as a shell-blasted tree stump: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...stump.jpg?ssl=1
German troops with a captured German Mark II tank at Bullecourt: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...4221056/photo/1
Richthofen equals Boelcke‘s score of 40 with a BE2c of No 13 Squadron (wing lost but crew only bruised) on day Royal Flying Corps loses 13 aircraft to 5 German.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
British troops defeat Ottoman forces at Ghaliya, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad, inflicting around 900 casualties.

Political, etc
Germany: Berlin rejects Czernin’s joint peace approach to Russia.
France: Alexis Carrel, the Nobel-prize winner in Physiology or Medicine, predicts the war will last another 50 years.
United Kingdom: Lloyd George and Ribot discuss Austrian Emperor Charles’ peace letter at Folkestone, agree Italy must be consulted.
United States: U.S. Cabinet decides to prioritize sending food and money to the Allies before sending soldiers.
Brazil: Brazil severs diplomatic relations with Germany (see October 26th). (Another source already reported this as occurring on 9 April, 1917. Onehundred years after the event, it can be difficult to sort out exactly which day things happened). Yet another source states: Government breaks relations with Germany but neutral in US-German war. German Ambassador only leaves on April 27.

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

Western Front
Artois: Battle of Vimy Ridge ends, as Canadian troops capture their objectives. Allied forces suffered 3,589 dead and 7,004 wounded.
4000 German troops are also captured during the Battle of Vimy Ridge: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...4530946/photo/1
Canadian troops storm Pimple hill north of Vimy Ridge, but 2 German ‘counter-attack’ divisions now holding Mericourt-Arleux line against breakout.
British artillery gunners setting up an 18-pounder gun in a cemetery at Arras: © IWM (Q 6205): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...4787968/photo/1

Naval and Overseas Operations
Greek ship India being sunk by the German U-Boat U-35: © IWM (Q 88293): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...4378501/photo/1

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Turks retreat towards Deli Abbas (between Tigris and Diala).

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: General Rudolf Stager-Steiner succeeds General Alexander Krobatin as War Minister.
Russia: Law enlarges Estonia and permits it a Diet.
Russian Provisional Government announces it will issue a “liberty” loan in order to raise money.
United Kingdom: London meetings celebrate US entry into war, US Ambassador says aim ‘to save the earth as a place worth living in’. British postcard: for Great Britain, America’s declaration of war promised men – and hope: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...S-war.jpg?ssl=1
United States: Herbert Hoover officially takes job of U.S. food controller. He urges the nation to eliminate waste and promotes corn bread over flour.
Major General Leonard Wood declares there are too few volunteers for the U.S. army and so conscription is necessary.
New York Yankees conducting a military drill before the opening game of the season against the Red Sox: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...4583552/photo/1
Minor Allies: Costa Rica: Government places nations waters and ports at US disposal.
Switzerland: Bulgarian and Austrian envoys make peace feelers to Allies.
Spain: Government protests to Berlin for San Fulgencio torpedoing (April 9)
Mexico: Mexico reassures it will continue the exportation of oil to Britain after diplomatic pressure from Britain and the U.S.

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

Western Front
Artois: Canadians capture Vimy village and Petit Vimy, Givenchy-en-Gohelle, Angres and two other villages. British 50th Divison attacks Wancourt Ridge, captures it by April 15.
Canadian troops advance in the area of Vimy: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...-vimy.jpg?ssl=1
South of Bapume-Cambrai road, British capture village and wood of Gouzeaucourt.
British Rolls-Royce armoured car stuck in a shell hole on the Arras-Tilloy road: © IWM (Q 3876): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...8962560/photo/1
Somme, Oise: French Third Army attack (until April 14) soon called off despite aid of 390 heavy guns.
Richthofen scores twice more including 1 of 6 RE8s destroyed as not met by escort. 21 Royal Flying Corps bombers (4 lost to Richthofen’s unit, which 1 fighter lost) plus 17 escorts strike Henin-Lietard rail station.

Naval and Overseas Operations
In an effort to counter German submarines in transit to and from their hunting ground in the shipping channels surrounding the United Kingdom, the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) institutes the 'Spider Web' patrol system centered upon the North Hinder Light Vessel.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
British drive Turks from Seraijik (on Deli-Abbas-Mosul road).

Political, etc
Germany: German government announces it will not intern American citizens currently residing in Germany.
Russia: Many Russian battleships and cruisers renamed by Provisional Government to sound more democratic (and on April 29), often return to pre-1905 Mutiny names.
Russian Provisional Government receives representatives of British Labour and French Socialists.
All-Russian Conference of workmen and soldiers' delegates at Petrograd.
Minor Allies: Bolivia severs diplomatic relations with Germany.

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

Western Front
Battle of Vimy Ridge and First Battle of the Scarpe end (see 9th). 10 men of Royal Newfoundland Regiment (485 casualties) hold Monchy against 3rd Bavarian Division for 5 hours until reinforced. Canadian losses 10,602 for a 4,500 yards advance capturing 4,000+ PoWs, 54 guns, 104 mortars and 124 Mgs.
British capture Vimy Station, Lievin, and Cite St. Pierre (Lens).
German attack on British at Monchy-le-Preux repulsed.
British forces claim the capture of 13,000 German soldiers and 166 artillery guns since the start of the Arras offensive.
Canadian soldiers have overpowered a German trench detachment and are collecting military passports: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...raben.jpg?ssl=1
British Royal Engineers building a temporary bridge and pontoon-ferry over the Scarpe River: © IWM (Q 5821): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...9779713/photo/1
Wounded British soldiers awaiting transport in the devastated town of Blangy: © IWM (Q 6195): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...9758976/photo/1
21 French and British aircraft indiscriminately bomb Freiburg in reprisal for Allied hospital ship losses. Royal Navy Air Service 3rd Wing withdrawn mid-May from Luxeuil.
German authorities order the evacuation of civilians from Lens, France as the British offensive approaches the city.

Eastern Front
7,688 men desert from Russian North and West Fronts (until April 21); numbers considerably underestimated.

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Emperor Charles draft letter to Czernin ‘A smashing German victory would be ruin’. Russia spurns Austrian peace-feeler.
Russia: Note of Allies (France, England, Italy) to Russia re: Poland.
United Kingdom: Appeals to farmers against hoarding by Mr. Lloyd George and Board of Trade.
United States: President Wilson signs an executive order creating the Committee on Public Information to influence American opinion on the war.
U.S. House of Representatives approve to raise a $7 billion (about $133 billion today) war loan without a single dissenting vote.
Poland: L. L. Zamenhof, a Polish doctor who invented the constructed language Esperanto, passed away.
Brazil: Brazil states it will start arming its merchant ships in order to protect them from German submarines.

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

Continued thanks for this great series of posts.

Western Front
Artois: ANZAC Corps and British 62nd Division (Fifth Army) repulse major German 4-division attack on Lagnicourt on 7-mile front.
British capture Villeret (north-west of St. Quentin).
In a British trench: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...raben.jpg?ssl=1

Naval and Overseas Operations
Eastern Mediterranean: British transports Cameronian (22 lives lost) (another report says ‘around 200’; I suspect the lower figure is a typo) sunk despite 2-destroyer escort, by U-33 (Gustav Siess) 150 miles east of Malta and Egypt-bound Arcadian (279 lives lost) sunk off Milo, Aegean by UC-74 (Wilhelm Marschall).
Cameronian: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...1022345/photo/1
Arcadian: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...8850944/photo/1

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Turks driven back to Jebel Hamrin (tableland from Tigris to Persian hills).

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Austrian feelers for separate peace with Russian apparent.
Russia: Russian government accuses Germany of using Russian socialists and other radicals to cause disturbances inside the country.
United States: Appeal of President Wilson to American citizens re: war; more specifically, justifying the creation by executive order (two days before) creating the Committee on Public Information ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commi...lic_Information ), an agency created to disseminate the Wilson’s administration on the war. Said committee was, despite the protests of the chair, heavily involved in censorship & suppression of alternative views of the war.
Greece: Venizelist regime in Greek islands in force.
Brazil: 1,000 rioters burn c.300 German buildings in Porto Alegre (until April 17); 7,400 troops sent there and elsewhere.
Argentina: Riots occur in Buenos Aires, Argentina as a mob attack the German Legation and Consulate, as well as German newspapers.
Mexico: Mexican government announces it will maintain strict neutrality in the ongoing world war.

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

Western Front
Aisne – NIVELLE OFFENSIVE (SECOND BATTLE OF THE AISNE) on 25-mile front (until April 20): Despite long preparatory bombardment and first French tank attack, from 0630 hours to nightfall 20 French divisions (6,731 infantry casualties in 3 divisions alone) have advanced c.600 yards, taking the 2nd line of German trenches south of Juvincourt and advance to the Aisne Canal against 15 German divisions instead of 6 miles anticipated.
Decimated by MG fire, Senegalese troops break and flee. Fifth Army’s 128 Schneider tanks bog down (32 knocked out), only few reach German third line. French troops suffer 40,000 casualties during the first day of the Second Battle of Aisne, a few days later up to c.100,000 instead of 15,000 planned for.
Nivelle belatedly confines effort to either flank of Chemin des Dames. Forewarned, Germans have inserted new First Army (F Below) from Somme between Third and Seventh Armies on the front of attack.
131 French aircraft (200 on paper) support Nivelle Offensive, 153 by April 21, but German fighters drive off French artillery and contact patrols. Bad weather also hampers.
At the beginning of the Nivelle offensive, French soldiers advanced against the Chemin des Dames heights, which was fortified by the Germans: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...dames.jpg?ssl=1
Artois: Haig and his army commanders meet to plan next assault.

Naval and Overseas Operations
British submarine C16 collides with the destroyer Melampus and sinks, resulting in the deaths of all crew members: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...8618496/photo/1
French liner Sontay is sunk by the German submarine SM U-33. The crew survives after boarding lifeboats: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...6174592/photo/1

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
British advance towards Istabulat (12 miles south-east of Samarra).

Political, etc
Germany: Strikes (until April 23; but another source claims only a 1-day strike) in Berlin (217,000 workers) and Leipzig against bread ration cut (April 15).
Russia: Vladimir Lenin arrives at Petrograd; makes ‘April Theses‘ on April 17 speech to Petrograd Soviet.
United Kingdom: British food orders (that is, placed in the US) re: wheat, barley, and oats.
United States: Shipping Board’s Emergency Fleet chartered, 280,000 shipyard workers enrolled by April 20.
President Wilson issues a proclamation urging Americans to put their whole strength into the war: http://www.firstworldwar.com/source/doyourbit.htm
President Wilson warns both citizens and alien residents against acts of treason and states that prosecution will be vigorous. [ed note: by this time, the definition of ‘treason’ was pretty broad, likely to encompass anything anyone said against the war, no matter how mild.

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

Western Front
"Battle of the Hills" ("La Bataille des Monts") also called the Third Battle of Champagne (Champagne) begins (see May 20th) in worsening weather: French Fourth Army (7 divisions) fails to break through on east flank taking first line only in up to 1 1/2-mile push.
French forces made use of tanks in its offensive, but with limited effect. 150 tanks are lost the first day. The St. Chamond tank: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...1089537/photo/1
French Schneider CA1 tank is also used for the first time in the offensive: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...1079936/photo/1
Aisne: Germans evacuate and burn 4 villages south of Chemin des Dames.
Foch visited by General H Wilson at Senlis. Foch clear, notes Wilson ‘that Nivelle was done, owing chiefly to the failure of the Sixth Army … Foch said he knew … positions which this army were … to attack were impossible … He thinks … Nivelle will be degomme (dismissed) and Petain, put in his place, who will play a waiting game until the USA come … say a year hence. I asked about a central organization of the Allies to really take hold and he was all in favour … would love to be the French representative.’
Heavy rain and snowstorms fall on the Aisne battlefields, grounding aircraft and limiting visibility.
Australian soldiers saluting as they march past King George V during a Royal Review: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...3098496/photo/1
FRENCH ARMY MUTINIES BEGIN with 17 men of 108th Infantry Regiment abandoning posts before an attack. By end of August 1917 46 divisions seriously affected with c.35,000 mutineers who call themselves strikers. 2,873 court-martial and sentenced, many suspended. 629 receive death sentences (of which 43 certainly suffer ultimate penalty).

Naval and Overseas Operations
Japanese flotillas join Allied forces in the Mediterranean (see February 8th, 1916 and November 15th, 1917).
British ambulance transports Lanfranc and Donegal torpedoed and sunk in English Channel, with a total of 40 casualties.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Second Battle of Gaza begins (see 19th and March 27th) (until April 19): 40,000 British soldiers, 170 guns, 8 tanks against 19,500 Turks, 101 guns and 86 MGs. British storm Samson’s Ridge but tanks and gas shells too few to retain gains. Dobell loses 6,444 casualties (272 PoWs) and 3 tanks to 2,013 Turks (200 PoWs).

Political, etc
Germany: Sixth German War Loan closed: 656,100,000 Marks.
United Kingdom: Thorneycroft depth charge thrower designed in 10 days (by Sir J Thorneycroft, marine engineer); 2,760 made and 28 U-boats sunk by it (6 in 1917) by end of war.
Jellicoe urges Salonika withdrawal to save shipping for 1918.
The Times & Daily Mail publish (false) stories that a “German Corpse Factory” processes fat from German war dead for industrial use.
United States: New York City revokes all night licenses for hotels and restaurants for the duration of the war. Dancing and Drinking must stop at 1 AM.
Measures of Senate (U.S.A.) to suppress export of food-stuffs, etc., to Germany.

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

Western Front
Somme: British Fifth Army captures Villers Guislain (12 miles south of Cambrai) and Gonnelieu (on April 20, 8 miles southwest).
Aisne: German counter-attack repulsed near Juvincourt.
French troops capture Aubérive and claim the capture of at least 2,500 Germans, putting the 2-day total to 13,500 German prisoners.
French advance continued east and north-east of Soissons. French capture five villages; on Aisne capture Conde bridgehead and Vailly, and consolidate positions in Moronvillers massif.
A German 6-in howitzer is prepared to fire on the French at the Aise during the Nivelle Offensive: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...Aisne.jpg?ssl=1

Naval and Overseas Operations
Eastern Mediterranean: French battleship Requin, 2 Royal Navy monitors and 3 French destroyers bombard Gaza.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Mesopotamia: Marshall’s 4,000 men and 40 guns force and bridge Shatt-el-Adhaim (east of Tigris), take 1,250 PoWs and 6 MGs in 14-mile pursuit for 73 casualties.
Clashes continue between British attackers and Ottoman defenders at Gaza. Ottoman machine gunners: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...8025473/photo/1

Political, etc
Germany: German government grants concessions to strikers.
Russia: Lenin delivers the April Theses, calling on the soviets to take power and denounces the Provisional Government: https://www.marxists.org/archive/le...1917/apr/04.htm
United Kingdom: War Minister Lord Derby writes to Haig ‘… we have lost command of the sea’.
British Food Order restricting pastry and cake making.
Belgium: Death of General Moritz von Bissing, Govenor-General of occupied Belgium.
United States: U.S.A. War Bill ("Old Glory" loan of $1,400,000,000 passes Senate.

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

Western Front
Aisne: French capture Fort Conde and secure Chemin des Dames road on Craonne plateau.
Champagne: Legion RMLE (2/3 casualties) storms Auberive, German Legionnaire Sergant-Major Mader captures 6 Saxon heavy guns with grenades (April 21).

Naval and Overseas Operations
Atlantic – First US shot of the war: SS Mongolia repels U-boat.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Second Battle of Gaza ends (see 17th and October 27th). Heavy fighting and much ground gained, but, owing to severe British losses, attack not pushed through.

Political, etc
Germany: Troops and police militarize 2 Berlin factories. Hindenburg appeal published. All still striking by April 21 to be drafted into Army.
The German police arrests strikers at a ammunition factory: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...abrik.jpg?ssl=1
Russia: Admital Aleksandr Kolchak (Commander of Black Sea fleet) appointed Commander in Chief of Baltic Fleet. (ed note: I can find no other cooberation of this. Other sources indicate that he was commander of the Black Sea fleet up until June, 1917).
France: Pastry restrictions in France.
United Kingdom: More frequent or new publications banned (to save paper). Final British refusal to offer Tsar asylum.
Sir Archibald Murray, commander of the British forces in Palestine, voices support for a Jewish state.
King George V and Queen Mary visit the Canbery Park Road aeroplane factory: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...3335424/photo/1
Speech of Mr. Fisher (Minister of Education), re: educational reform.
United States: Cotton price highest since Civil War. (ed note: many US Farmers were outraged to see that cotton prices were not controlled like grain & oil prices were. It cannot be coincidence that many of the administration’s supporters in congress represented cotton interests).
US orders that all alien residents of enemy nations must move at least half a mile away from military facilities by June 1st or face arrest.
The U.S. states it will prioritize trade of food supplies with the Allies before neutral nations. (making the relief commission of Belgium, and several Scandinavian states very unhappy).
A poster of “Wake Up America Day” to mobilize Americans for war: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...5306882/photo/1
Spain: Señor Manuel Garcia Prieto (Marquis of Alhucemas) succeeds Álvaro de Figueroa (Count Romanones) as Spanish Premier.

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

Western Front
French Offensive stopped (see 16th): Second Battle of the Aisne and "Battle of the The Hills” end (see 16th and 17th). After 5 days Nivelle‘s main achievement is Sixth Army’s (Mangin) capture of 4-mile deep salient on Western flank. This Pyrrhic victory gives Germans a straighter line to defend. Captures include 16,300 PoWs, 140 guns and 300 MGs. The ludicrously sanguine Nivelle now forced to cease breakthrough attempts, having sacrificed 134,000 men (by April 25) now proposes to revert to local attacks.
Minor gains as the French occupy Sancy (north-east of Soissons), and the British capture Gonnelieu (eight miles south-west of Cambrai).
Lloyd George at Paris conference.
A French tomb at Vendelles ransacked by Germans for metal: © IWM (Q 2094): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...7898880/photo/1

Naval and Overseas Operations
Second German destroyer raid on Straits of Dover (night 20th /21st). Action by the Swift and Broke (see October 26th, 1916 and February 15th, 1918).
British Antarctic explorer Captain Evans (later Lord Mountevans) with Dover Patrol destroyers Broke (57 casualties) and Swift (5 casualties) defeat 6 German 2nd Flotilla torpedo boats (night April 20-21) in complete darkness off Belgian coast. Evans sinks G42 by ramming and there is hand-to-hand fighting on Broke‘s decks. G85 also sunk, 140 of 180 Germans rescued.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
A disabled British tank at Gaza. Ottoman defenders incorporate the hull into a fortification: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...4204032/photo/1

Political, etc
United Kingdom: Flour Mills' Order extending powers of Food Controller.
Turkey: Turkey severs diplomatic relations with the United States of America. (Young Turks badly split over this).
Japan: General elections are held in Japan. The Rikken Seiyūkai under Hara Takashi wins the most seats with 165 out of 381.
United States: 60,000 people march in New York City to support war recruitment: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...7655298/photo/1
New York Yacht Club drops Kaiser Wilhelm and Prince Henry of Prussia as honorary members.
Portugal: Senhor D'Almeida resigns Premiership in Portugal.

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