12th August 1917 On this day:  Orders Gotha Daylight Raids   About 5 p.m. on the 12th of August 1917 ten Gothas, in formation, were seen approaching Felixstowe. However they turned south and, at 5.50 p.m., were over Rochford, where they dropped three bombs, two of which fell near the hangars on the aerodrome of No. 61 Squadron and wounded two mechanics. A formation of sixteen Sopwith 'Pups' of the squadron had been scrambled to intercept the bombers which turned for home, dropping bombs on Southend and Shoeburyness as they went and killing 32 civilians and injuring 43. The Pups were unable to catch the Gothas before they ran out of petrol and were forced to turn back, but F/Lt H.S. Kerby, who had gone up from RNAS Walmer in another Sopwith Pup', attacked a Gotha which, apparently in difficulties, was flying about 4,000 feet below the main formation. He forced the Gotha down on the water, where it overturned. One member of the crew was seen to be clinging to the tail, and Flight Lieutenant Kerby dropped a lifebelt in the hope that the German would be enabled to keep afloat until help arrived. It was afterwards announced by the Germans that the Gotha had been lost with its crew. Four other Gothas crashed on landing. John Doran. The War In The Air Vol. V; H. A. Jones; Clarendon Press, Oxford  Relocation  Routine  Artillery In Action  Viewing Model  Redesignation    In Reserve  Church Parade  Reinforcements  Diffilcult Conditions  Reliefs  Forced to stop work  In the Trenches  Artillery Active  Trench Work  Musketry  Church Parade   A Bavarian Deserter    Intelligence  Intelligence  Difficult Conditions  Shelling  Rounds Fired  Inspection Preparation  Church Parade   Church Parade  Church parade  Back Areas Shelled  Divine Service.  Shooting on the range.  On the Move  Difficult Relief  Working parties provided  Cleaning Up  Church Parades  ZERO day again postponed  The Brigade carried out operations ( as per O.O.14. )  No Enemy encountered.  Fatigue Apex Locality  In Support Line;  Conversations Can you add to this factual information? Do you know the whereabouts of a unit on a particular day? Do you have a copy of an official war diary entry? Details of an an incident? The loss of a ship? A letter, postcard, photo or any other interesting snipts? If your information relates only to an individual, eg. enlistment, award of a medal or death, please use this form: Add a story.

Killed, Wounded, Missing, Prisoner and Patient Reports published this day. This section is under construction.

Want to know more about 12th of August 1917? There are:43 items tagged 12th of August 1917 available in our Library   These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War.

Remembering those who died this day, 12th of August 1917. Pte Frederick James Alexander. 1st Btn. Royal Berkshire Regiment Pte. William James Anderson. 10th Btn., D Coy. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers Seaman John Joseph Askew. H.M. Drifter Dewey Read their Story. Sgt. Michael Bolger. 6th Btn. Royal Irish Regiment Read their Story. Pte. John Gaffney. Royal Army Medical Corps Read their Story. Gnr. George William Charles Groves. 32nd Siege Battery Royal Garrison Artillery Read their Story. Rfn. Thomas Frederick Harvey. 10th Battalion Kings Royal Rifle Corps Read their Story. Pte Arthur Higginson. 2nd Btn. Royal Fusiliers Read their Story. Rfmn. George Laurens. 7th Btn. Royal Irish Rifles Read their Story. L/Cpl. George Ledingham. 526th Field Company Royal Engineers Read their Story. Pte. Henry Arthur Lowe. Royal Warwickshire Regiment Pte. P. Mulligan. 5th Btn. Leinster Regiment Read their Story. Pte. George Frederick Plumridge. 16th Btn. Middlesex Regiment Pte. George Smith. 10th (Service) Btn. York & Lancs Regt. Read their Story. Pte. George Smith. 10th Btn. Yorks and Lancaster Regiment Read their Story. Pte. George Smith. 10th Btn. York and Lancs Regiment A/Cpl. John Sweeney. 8th Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers Read their Story. Gnr. Henry Mostyn Tyler. 173rd Brigade Royal Field Artillery Read their Story. Sjt. J. Webb. MSM. 1st Canadian Tunnelling Coy. Add a name to this list.

Previous Day     Next Day Select another Date Day: 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31   Month: January February March April May June July August September October November December   Year: 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919

The free section of The Wartime Memories Project is run by volunteers. This website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV - All Rights Reserved - We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.