Monday 28 February 1916

Up at 7:30 am woke Harry. Went down to Queens dock with him to see his boat S.S. Elwy, said good bye at 11 am. To town purchasing, back home. Said good byes to all at 1:30 PM. Harry, Gert I & II (baby) see me off at Lime street. 2:40 train arr. Crewe 3:45 leave 4:15 for Stafford. P&O liner Maloja strikes a mine in English Channel and 44 lives lost. Germans driven in Verdun. Big battle. Heaps of dead.
*The battle of Verdun – The battle of Verdun was fought from Feb 21st to December 18th 1916 and was the longest single battle of WWI. Verdun was a fortress city and a salient on the western front. The German attack on Verdun brought about a shift in the German strategy as they were now poised to invest more troops on the western front with the assumption that Russia, on the brink of revolution, would soon drop out of the war effort. The idea was to attack Verdun and bring as many French troops into the battle as possible, eventually bleeding France into submission. The Germans however suffered losses equal to that of the French during the battle and were never able to take Verdun. The losses on both sides were huge with over a million casualties combined and no advantage was gained by either side.