Germans threaten to intensify action vs Allies

Reports from the Western Front told of “marked success” with troops penetrating as far as the enemy’s third line with attempts by the other side to reach the British line proving fruitless

Elsewhere, battleship HMS Cornwallis was sunk by an enemy submarine in the Mediterranean. Thirteen of the crew were missing, feared killed by the explosion.

Germany was claiming the capture of Braila, an important commercial town and grain distributing centre on the Danube.

The Russians had undertaken successful offensives near Riga, capturing 800 prisoners and 16 cannons. In Kut, active fighting had resumed. “An Indian division advanced with great dash and captured the enemy’s trenches on a front of 2000 yards in the bend of the Tigris.

And reports of further success in Mesopotamia were coming in.

On the frontier of Egypt and Palestine, British troops had “won a conspicuous success against the Turks.”

In an Order to the Army and Navy, the German Emperor said that their enemies had refused offers of peace.

“Our enemies did not want the understanding offered by me. With God’s help our arms will enforce it.”

The Germans were threatening to take intensified action against British merchant ships as a consequence of the rejected peace overture.