April 1 British forces on the River Tigris renewed their attempts to break Turkish lines and relieve the besieged garrison at Kut-al-Amara. April 2 More than 100 men and boys were killed by an explosion at the Explosives Loading Company munitions factory at Faversham in Kent when a store of TNT and ammonium nitrate blew up. April 3 The Greek Government refused to allow an overland route for Serbian troops from Corfu to Salonika. April 4 Russian General Aleksei Brusilov replaced General Nikolay Iudovich Ivanov in command of the Southern Front. April 5 In the final Allied attempt to relieve Kut, British forces attacked Falahiya. After an initial success, the Turks held the garrison. German forces captured Haucourt at Verdun. April 6 German troops pushed forward towards Bethincourt and Hill 265 at the Battle of Verdun. April 7 Russian forces renewed their offensive at Lake Naroch, with limited success. April 8 French forces evacuated Bethincourt at Verdun. April 9 German forces launched a coordinated attack on both sides of the Meuse and captured part of Le Mort Homme, consisting of Hill 256 and Hill 295, northwest of Verdun. April 10 In Paris, the International Olympic Committee confirmed that the Games would not be held until the War was over. April 11 Portuguese troops occupied Kionga in German East Africa. April 14 Aircraft of Royal Naval Air Service flew from Mudros and attacked Constantinople and Adrianople. April 15 The Serbian Army landed at Salonika from Corfu. April 16 German forces bombarded Hill 304 at the Battle of Verdun. April 17 British forces in German East Africa launched an attack on Kondoa Irangi. April 18 Russian forces captured Trebizond on the Black Sea from Turkey without opposition. US President Wilson threatened to break off diplomatic relations with Germany if submarine attacks on passenger ships are not stopped. April 19 British forces captured Kondoa Irangi in German East Africa. Field Marshal von der Goltz was assassinated by an Albanian officer in Asia Minor. April 20 Russian troops from the Far East arrived at Marseilles to fight in France. April 21 Irish revolutionary Roger Casement landed at Tralee Bay in County Kerry in Ireland from a German submarine and was arrested by British authorities. April 22 The final attack by British troops on Sanna-i-Yat was repulsed during the Siege of Kut. April 24 The Easter Rising began when Irish Republicans staged an armed insurrection against British rule with the aim of establishing an independent Ireland. The river steamer HMS Julnar was sunk during a final attempt to provide supplies to the besieged troops at Kut-al-Amara. April 25 A German naval squadron bombarded Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth on the east coast of Britain. April 26 An agreement was signed in Berlin for the repatriation of sick and wounded British and German POWs to Switzerland. The British gunboat Helga bombarded the city of Dublin from the River Liffey and destroyed Liberty Hall. April 27 Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, Lord Wimborne proclaimed martial law in Ireland. April 29 After nearly five months General Charles Townshend surrendered the garrison at Kut-al-Amara to the Turks. April 30 The Lake Naroch Offensive ended with a German victory when the Russian attack petered out.
(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."