A thrilling and unprecedented feat was performed by Lieut. R. A. J. Warneford, a Canadian aviator, when alone in an aeroplane, he destroyed a Zeppelin airship with its crew of twenty-eight men in Belgium. He received the Victoria Cross for his exploit, but a few days later was killed while testing a new aeroplane near Paris. He was buried with naval honors in London, June 23.
On July 3, 1915, when the twelfth month of the Great War began, it was conservatively estimated that the total losses on all sides, including killed, wounded and missing, had exceeded six millions of men. Over vessels had been destroyed, including 120 ships of war.
DEADLOCK IN THE WEST
During July and August there were no general engagements of importance in the Western theatre of war. The deadlock continued. The troops along the Western battle lines were, however, subjected almost daily to violent artillery bombardment.
By August 22 the British line in northern France and Flanders had been lengthened from 40 miles to over 100 miles, with over 800,000 troops on the firing line. German submarines were very active in the war zone during the month of August, over 170 merchant steamships of more than 500 tons displacement and nearly 2,000 noncombatant lives being the awful toll to date of this new method of warfare.
The British transport Royal Edward was torpedoed and sunk August 14 by a German submarine in the Aegean Sea. Nearly 1,000 lives were lost. The transport had on board a force of 32 officers and 1,350 men, in addition to the ship's crew of 220 officers and men. The troops consisted mainly of reinforcements for the 29th Division and details of the Royal Army Medical Corps.
FALL OF WARSAW
Warsaw, the capital of Poland, was taken by the Germans August 5. Bavarian troops under the command of Prince Leopold carried the forts of the outer and inner lines of the city's defenses, where the rear guards of the Russian troops made a tenacious resistance.
The German armies under Gen. von Scholz and Gen. von Gallwitz advanced in the direction of the road between Lomza, Ostrov and Vyszkoy and fought a number of violent engagements. The brave and desperate resistance of the Russians on both sides of the road between Ostrov and Rozan was without success.
Twenty-two Russian officers and 4,840 soldiers were taken prisoners. The Germans also captured seventeen machine guns.