March 1 Germany began an extended submarine campaign using a strategy of trying to lure the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet into U-boat traps. March 2 Russian forces captured Bitlis from the Turks in Armenia. March 4 The German raider SMS Moewe returned to a heroes welcome in Bremen, Germany following a series of successful attacks on British ships in the Atlantic. March 5 A combined British-South African Colonial force began an offensive towards Mount Kilimanjaro in East Africa. March 7 Newton Diehl Baker was appointed US Secretary of State. March 8 Another British attempt to relieve the besieged force at Kut-al-Amara was defeated on the Dujaila Redoubt. March 9 The Fifth Battle of the Isonzo began when the Italians launched another offensive on the Isonzo River. The German Government declared war on Portugal over the seizure of German ships in Lisbon. March 10 British forces captured Taveta in East Africa. March 11 The Battle for Latema Nek began in the Latema-Reata between Germany and British-South African forces in British East Africa. March 12 The action at Latema Nek ended with an Allied victory. An Allied conference at Chantilly discussed the forthcoming summer offensive on the Somme. March 13 New Moshi in East Africa was occupied by British forces. March 14 British forces reoccupied Sollum on the Egyptian coast. March 15 Austria-Hungary followed Germany and declared war on Portugal. March 16 General Pierre Auguste Roques succeeded Joseph Gallieni as French Minister of War. At the Battle of Verdun the Germans successive attacks on Vaux were repulsed. March 18 The Lake Naroch Offensive began when Russian forces attacked the Germans at Lake Naroch on the Eastern Front. March 20 French politician Baron Denys Cochin was appointed Under-Secretary of State for foreign policy matters responsible for dealing with the blockade of Germany. March 21 German forces retreated from the Kilimanjaro area after they were defeated at Nahe. March 22 Yuan Shikal formally abandoned monarchism and relinquished the throne of China. March 24 The passenger ship SS Sussex was torpedoed by a German U-boat in the English Channel. March 26 Russian forces continued the attack at Lake Naroch without success. March 27 Russian commanders suspended their offensive at Lake Naroch. March 28 An Inter-Allied conference in Paris resulted in a declaration of unity on military, economic and diplomatic affairs between Belgium, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Portugal, Russia and Serbia . March 29 General Alexei Andreyevich Polivanov resigned as Russian War Minister and was succeeded by General Dmitry Savelich Shuvaev. March 30 The Russian hospital ship Portugal was sunk by a torpedo from the German submarine U-33 in the Black Sea. March 31 A German airship raid targeted the East coast of England; the Zeppelin was subsequently shot down by gunfire in the Thames Estuary.
(From The Great War - Unseen Archives by Robert Hamilton)
"Take the cylinder out of my kidneys, The connecting rod out of my brain, my brain, From out of my arse take the camshaft, And assemble the engine again."
