Warbirds Rising - February 1917:

February 1
Germany began a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare.
February 3
President Wilson severed diplomatic relations between the United States and Germany.
In the Bay of Biscay, the German submarine U-53 torpedoed and sunk the US liner Housatonic which was carrying a cargo of wheat. The crew was later picked up by a British steamer.
February 4
Mehmed Talat Pasha replaced Said Halim Pasha as Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire.
February 5
A British armoured force won an engagement against the Senussi at the Siwa Oasis.
February 6
The Turks evacuated the south bank of the Tigris east of the Hal-Tigris junction near Kut.
February 7
The British passenger steamer SS California was torpedoed by the German submarine U-85 as she returned from New York to Glasgow.
February 8
The British destroyer HMS Ghurka was on patrol off Dungeness when she struck a mine laid by UC47 and sank.
February 10
A meeting took place in London between the British Government and members of the International Zionist Movement about a Jewish homeland in Palestine.
February 12
The American schooner Lyman M. Law was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Cagliari, Sardinia by the German submarine U-35. The ship was on a journey from Maine to Palermo in Italy when the Germans ordered the crew off the schooner before a bomb was detonated, setting fire to the 1,300-ton wooden vessel prior to its sinking.
February 13
Scandinavian Governments published a joint protest against German submarine warfare.
February 14
The British Government gave a pledge to the House of Commons that restoration of Alsace and Lorraine to France was an aim of the war.
February 16
Japan and Great Britain agreed that Japan should receive all German concessions in China and German Pacific islands north of the equator. Britain would receive German Pacific islands south of the equator.
February 17
An Australian War Government was formed.
February 18
The British steamer Asturian was damaged by gunfire from a German U-boat whilst en route from Liverpool to Alexandria.
February 20
Japan and Russia agreed that Japan should receive all German concessions in China.
February 23
The Second Battle of Kut was fought between Indian and British troops and Ottoman forces at Kut. The battle was part of the British advance to Baghdad which began in December 1916.
February 24
British and Indian troops recaptured Kut al Amara.
The Zimmermann Telegram was passed to the US by Britain, detailing the alleged German proposal of an alliance with Mexico against the US.
February 25
The Cunard ocean liner RMS Laconia was torpedoed and sunk by the German U-boat U-50 while returning from the United States to England.
The Germans began to retreat from front line positions on the Ancre as part of the withdrawal to the Hindenburg line.
February 26
President Wilson addressed Congress requesting powers to arm US merchant ships following the unprovoked sinking of the American liner Housatonic and the schooner Lyman M. Law.
February 27
The German Chancellor justified the country's policy of unrestricted submarine warfare and proclaimed it to be a great success.
February 28
The American press published the German proposals for an alliance with Mexico against the United States.

(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."