20 March

Mar

1 March

March

Apr

1 April

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

1

2

3

4

Other dates

Great War events that took place on 20 March.

1915 (Saturday)

Western Front	Germans regain some trench elements near Notre Dame de Lorette.
Eastern Front	Russians attack, taking 2,400 prisoners, near Smolnik.
Southern Front	Dardanelles: Violent storm.
Naval and Overseas Operations	German South West Africa: General Botha defeats German force at Riet, on the Swakop (Swakopmund).
Political	British Government guarantee Greece eventual cession of Lemnos by Turkey (see 9 March and 25 July).

Sources: Various material contemporary with the war have been used to compile The Great War On This Day and its associated Index.

Text has been transcribed from two out-of-copyright sources: Chronology of the War (1918-1920), and History of the Great War – Principle Events 1914-1918 (1922). Spelling of place names are original to British use at the time. Some typos have been altered or corrected for consistency. Duplicate or identical events between these sources have been amalgamated; as a result the date and wording may differ to the original texts.
Images come from scans or photographs of original sources, Wikimedia Commons, and the Imperial War Museum's online collections under the IWM Non-Commercial Licence. Attribution is given separately to the latter and do not come under the general licence of this site.
Advisory note: The information in these sources may not accurately represent up-to-date histories, present-day spelling of place names, or geographical boundaries. In some instances the language used may appear sexist or derogatory to the modern reader, and in rare cases, images may depict distressing scenes.
For further details and a full list of sources, click here.

Browse index by letter: Top – A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z