4 January

Great War events that took place on 4 January.

1915 (Monday)

Western Front	French advance near St. Georges (Flanders), and complete capture of Steinbach (Alsace) after several days' fighting.
Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres	Russian victories at Sarikamish and Ardahan; Turkish army corps destroyed at the former.
Political	London Stock Exchange reopens (see 31 July, 1914).

1916 (Tuesday)

Southern Front	Artillery duel in southern Tyrol.
Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres	General Aylmer moves from Ali Gherbi to relieve Kut-el-Amara.
Naval and Overseas Operations	White Paper on the case of HMS Baralong.^[a]
Political	Lord Derby's report on recruiting is published.^[b]

1917 (Thursday)

Eastern Front	▶ Germans fail to cross the right bank of the Dvina near Glandau.	▶ Enemy advance in the Focsani sector, and also take Gurgueti and Romanul, thus piercing the Braila bridgehead.	▶ Russians evacuate Braila	▶ Russians are defeated at Vacareni (Dobruja).
Southern Front	British airmen bomb Maritza bridge at Kuleli Burgas, south of Adrianople.
Naval and Overseas Operations	Russian battleship Peresvyet is sunk by a mine off Port Said.

1918 (Friday)

Western Front	Further British air raid on the Metz district.
Eastern Front	Bolshevik Government recognises the independence of Finland.
Southern Front	Austrians bomb Mestre, Bassano and Castelfranco.
Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres	British again advance for a mile north of Jerusalem.
Naval and Overseas Operations	▶ British naval aircraft bomb Ghistelles aerodrome.	▶ Hospital ship Rewa is torpedoed in the Bristol Channel; all wounded are saved.

Notes

↑ The German Government in autumn of 1915 accused the crew of the British auxiliary cruiser HMS Baralong of shooting the crew of a U-boat, sunk on 19 August, 1915. Sir Edward Grey offered to submit the case to an impartial tribunal, if the Germans would submit three specific cases of outrages by German sailors to the same tribunal. The Germans rejected this offer on 14 January, 1916, on the grounds that the cases had already been investigated in Germany.
↑ Lord Derby reported that out of some five million men of military age not already in the forces, over one half had offered themselves for enlistment or attestation. The remainder, including 650,000 single men, unattested and unstarred, justified the application of compulsion.

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

On This Day pages are styled as timelines and have 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). The spelling of place-names is a particularly convoluted subject. Some names were spelt differently depending on source, others have changed over time for various political or geographical reasons. In general, spelling of place names are original to British use at the time of, and shortly after, the war. Some typos have been altered or corrected for consistency. Similar events between these sources have been amalgamated; as a result the date and wording may differ to their original texts.

Compendium entries form the central hub of (a) An index-like collection of places, people, ships, battles, political events, etc., and (b) Words and phrases of the Armed Forces of Great Britain during the Great War. The majority of these have been transcribed from Chronology of the War (1918-1920) and Soldier and Sailor Words and Phrases (1925) respectively, the later which is reflected in the language used and some may seem derogatory by today's standards.

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 does not come under the general licence of this site. Please be aware that some images, although very few, may depict distressing scenes.

Advisory note: The information in these sources may not accurately represent updated histories, present-day spellings, or geographical borders. It is also written from a British perspective, and words such as "enemy" are used extensively. For further details and a full list of sources, click here.

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[1] The German Government in autumn of 1915 accused the crew of the British auxiliary cruiser HMS Baralong of shooting the crew of a U-boat, sunk on 19 August, 1915. Sir Edward Grey offered to submit the case to an impartial tribunal, if the Germans would submit three specific cases of outrages by German sailors to the same tribunal. The Germans rejected this offer on 14 January, 1916, on the grounds that the cases had already been investigated in Germany.

[2] Lord Derby reported that out of some five million men of military age not already in the forces, over one half had offered themselves for enlistment or attestation. The remainder, including 650,000 single men, unattested and unstarred, justified the application of compulsion.

[a]

[b]