November 1915

[November 1], 1915 (Monday)

• Second Battle of Agua Prieta — Mexican revolutionary leader Pancho Villa and his soldiers clashed with troops under command of future Mexican president Plutarco Elías Calles at Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico. Despite having a force less than half the size of Villa's force of 15,000, Calles was able to defeat Villa and help Mexican leader Venustiano Carranza gain control of northern Mexico.
• The Royal Naval Air Service adopted the same roundel as used by the Royal Flying Corps and discontinued the use of the Union Jack on fuselage sides.
• Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition — Expedition leader Ernest Shackleton called off a march to Paulet Island as deteriorating ice condition made the surface too rough to effectively maneuver boats and supplies. The expedition returned to the wrecked Endurance which had been slowly sinking for seven days.
• The cornerstone was laid for Webster Hall at Loretto College in Webster Groves, Missouri, the first Catholic women's college west of the Mississippi River. The college was renamed to Webster College in 1924 and began accepting male students in 1962. The college became Webster University in 1983, and used the opening of Webster Hall to mark its centennial.
• Several rails lines were extended in Japan, including the Ōito Line in the Nagano Prefecture with station Shimauchi serving the line, the Shin'etsu Main Line in the Niigata Prefecture with station Jōoka serving the line, and the Rikuu East Line in the Yamagata Prefecture with station Nagasawa serving the line.
• The Asquith railway station opened to serve the Main North Line in Asquith, New South Wales, Australia.
• Born: Marion Eugene Carl, American marine air officer, test pilot for the first jet engine planes at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, two-time recipient of the Navy Cross, four Legion of Merits, five Distinguished Flying Crosses, and 14 Air Medals; in Hubbard, Oregon, United States
• Died: Lewis Waller, 54, English actor, best known for his collaborations with Theatre Royal Haymarket, including the premier lead role in the Oscar Wilde play An Ideal Husband; died of pneumonia

  [November 2], 1915 (Tuesday)

• Battle of Krivolak — French forces in Serbian-controlled Vardar Macedonia were able to throw two flying bridges over Vardar River to supply new defenses against Bulgarian attack.
• Shinano Railway further extended the Ōito Line in the Nagano Prefecture, Japan with stations Tokiwa-Kutsukake and Tokiwa serving the line.
• The association football club Makassar was established in Makassar, Dutch East Indies, and remains one of the oldest operating football clubs in Southeast Asia.
• Died:
• * Vojislav Tankosić, 35, Serbian army officer, member of the Black Hand and conspiracy to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria; died of his wounds during World War I
• * Isaac Rice, 65, German-born American inventor and entrepreneur, founder of the modern submarine manufacturer General Dynamics Electric Boat

  [November 3], 1915 (Wednesday)

• Third Battle of the Isonzo — Austria-Hungary defeated Italy at the Isonzo River, Casualties were heavy for Austria-Hungary with 40,900, including 9,000 dead. However, Italy's were worse at 67,100, including 11,000 dead.
• Battle of Krivolak — A French detachment defending the flying bridges over Vardar River in Vardar Macedonia mowed down soldiers from three Bulgarian brigades as they stormed the bridges, resulting in 3,000 casualties. On the same day, another French force captured the villages of Dorlobos and Kajali.
• Royal Naval Air Service Flight Sub-Lieutenant Fowler made the first British take-off of an aircraft with a conventional, wheeled undercarriage from a ship when he flew a Bristol Scout from.
• The Keisei Main Line was extended in the Chiba Prefecture, Japan, with stations Keisei Nakayama and Shin-Yawata serving the line.
• The rural municipality of St. Paul in the Canadian province of Manitoba was divided into East St. Paul and West St. Paul.
• Died:
• * Bernardino Verro, 49, Italian socialist politician, former leader of the Fasci Siciliani ; killed by the Sicilian Mafia
• * George Miller Sternberg, 77, American army medical officer, known for his research into bacteria that cause malaria, tuberculosis, and typhoid fever, author of ''Manual of Bacteriology''

  [November 4], 1915 (Thursday)

• Third Battle of Artois — The Allied offensive to recapture French territory from the Germans on the Western Front ended in failure. France lost 48,320 casualties while Great Britain lost 61,713. German casualties were around 51,100.
• German submarine SM U-38 sunk French troopship SS Le Calvados off the coast of Algeria, killing 740 of the 800 on board.
• Battle of Krivolak — The French abandoned Karahojali, Macedonia due to rough terrain making artillery defenses useless and instead advanced towards Veles to attack the Bulgarian rear.
• Battle of Banjo — British colonial forces laid siege to a German mountain stronghold near Banjo, Kamerun.
• German submarine ran aground on Terschelling, Friesland, Netherlands where she was subsequently interned and taken into Royal Netherlands Navy service as HNLMS M-1.
• Residents in the Dominion of Newfoundland voted in favor of prohibiting the sales and distribution of alcohol with 24,956 voting in favor through plebiscite. Prohibition was introduced on January 1, 1917, and remained in force until 1924.
• Born:
• * Wee Kim Wee, Singaporean state leader, 4th President of Singapore; in Singapore, Straits Settlements
• * Ismail Abdul Rahman, Malaysian politician, cabinet minister for the Abdul Razak Hussein administration; in Johor Bahru, British Malaysia

  [November 5], 1915 (Friday)

• Battle of Krivolak — The French captured the towns of Kamen Dol, Debrista in Vardar Macedonia and occupied the Gradsko rail station.
• Battle of Banjo — After two days of delay due to bad weather and ammo shortages, British forces launched a final assault on the German mountain fort near Banjo, Kamerun.
• British armed boarding steamer Tara was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea off Sollum by German submarine with the loss of 12 lives.
• British cargo ship was shelled and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea northwest of Algeria by German submarine, with her crew surviving.
• The No. 27 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps was established at the Hounslow Heath Aerodrome in London.
• The March of the Dungarees, the second Australian armed forces recruitment campaign known as the snowball marches, was organized across Australia to stem waning interest of the war effort due to the disastrous Gallipoli campaign.
• The Casablanca Fair officially closed in Casablanca.
• The association football club União de Marechal Hermes was established in Rio de Janeiro as a sports club before becoming exclusive to association football in 2000.
• The student newspaper The Daily Eastern News was published for the student body of Eastern Illinois University.
• Born:
• * Booker T. Whatley, American agricultural scientist, developed regenerative agriculture through Tuskegee University; in Calhoun County, Alabama, United States
• * George H. Cannon, American marine, first U.S. Marine during World War II to receive the Medal of Honor; in Webster Groves, Missouri, United States
• * Julian Ewell, American army officer, commander of the 9th Infantry Division and Second Field Force during the Vietnam War, recipient of the Legion of Merit, Air Medal, Silver Star, Distinguished Service Cross and Distinguished Service Medal; in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States

  [November 6], 1915 (Saturday)

• Second Battle of Champagne — The battle at Champagne, France officially ended as French groups halted action during the five-week battle of attrition ordered by General Joseph Joffre for the coming winter. French casualties were 145,000 men, while the Germans had 72,500.
• Battle of Krivolak — Bulgarian forces repelled attacking French forces south of Kosturino.
• Battle of Banjo — The British captured the German mountain fort near Banjo, Kamerun with a loss of 50 casualties. Much of the German garrison had deserted, with remaining troops sustaining 27 casualties, including the fort commander.
• Hubert Loutsch became the 10th Prime Minister of Luxembourg, succeeding Mathias Mongenast who had only served 25 days.
• British submarine was torpedoed and sunk in the Sea of Marmara by German sub SM UB-14 with the loss of 21 of her 30 crew.
• German submarine SM U-35 attacked two Egyptian coastguard boats off the coast of Libya, sinking one and damaging another, and capturing over 70 survivors.
• The United States Navy armored cruiser USS North Carolina became the first warship to launch an aircraft using a catapult, launching a Curtiss AB-2 flying boat piloted by Lieutenant Commander Henry Mustin over her stern.
• Russian cruiser Chervona Ukraina was launched at the Russud Dockyard in Nikolaev, Russian Empire as part of the Black Sea Fleet but the October Revolution in 1917 delayed its complete construction. The new Soviet regime completed the ship and it would gain its most distinguished service during World War II.
• British minesweeper HMS Arabis was launched at D. and W. Henderson and Company in Glasgow and saw brief service before it was sunk next year at the Battle of Dogger Bank.
• The Nicholson Cutoff rail segment and the Tunkhannock Viaduct bridge were completed and opened for the Sunbury rail line in Nicholson, Pennsylvania.

  [November 7], 1915 (Sunday)

• Battle of Krivolak — The French failed to capture an important Bulgarian stronghold located at a monastery in the Vardar Macedonia region.
• French passenger ship was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea southwest of Sardinia, Italy by German submarine, with her crew surviving.
• German cruiser was torpedoed and sunk in the Baltic Sea south of Scania, Sweden by Royal Navy submarine.
• British battleship was caught in a heavy storm off Pentland Firth while on the way to the Mediterranean Sea. The ship was hit on the bow by two large waves, resulting in three crew dead and 24 injured. The wave impacts also flooded the main gun turret and forward decks, and damaged the forebridge. The ship rendezvoused with the following day and was escorted to Scapa Flow where repairs were made and the injured crew were transferred to a hospital ship.
• American businessman Walter M. Geddes, who was working in Aleppo during the Armenian genocide, committed suicide by shooting himself in his hotel room. Geddes had been recording incidents of Ottoman atrocities carried out against Armenians from his arrival on September 16 and passing them on to American consul, but informed American diplomat George Horton a few days before he had been traumatized by the events he witnessed.
• The Imperial German Army established the 108th and 109th Infantry Divisions.
• The No. 28 and No. 29 Squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps were established.
• Gaelic football club Wexford beat Kerry 2-4 and 2–1 at the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship Final in Croke Park, Dublin with 27,000 spectators attending. It was the first of four championship titles Wexford would win in the 1910s.
• Italian rider Gaetano Belloni won the 11th Giro di Lombardia bicycle race, in what would be the first of three wins in that racing competition.
• Mary Pickford starred in the leading role in the first film adaptation of the opera Madama Butterfly, directed by Sidney Olcott. According to The New York Times, Pickford and Olcott clashed on set, with Olcott claiming Pickford was "too Americanized to play a Japanese".
• Cardinal John Murphy Farley dedicated the St. Lucy Church in New York City. The church closed when the parish merged with St. Ann Church in 2015.
• Bishop Philip Joseph Garrigan dedicated the St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Churdan, Iowa. The parish dissolved in the 1990s but the building itself was restored and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992.
• Born:
• * Philip Morrison, American physicist and professor, member of the Manhattan Project; in Somerville, New Jersey, United States
• * M. Athalie Range, American public servant, first African American to serve on the Miami City Commission and first woman to head a Florida state agency, the Department of Community Affairs; as Mary Athalie Wilkinson, in Key West, Florida, United States