<– Part 34 – March 21, 1915  | Part 35 – March 28, 1915 |  Part 36 – April 4, 1915 –>

Leon Chester Thrasher, who lent his name posthumously to the “Thrasher Incident.”

The Austro-Hungarian garrison at Przemysl surrendered March 22, bringing the 133-day siege to an end. All relief and escape efforts had failed, and Russian artillery and infantry assaults had begun taking the outer defenses. The surrender of 117,000 soldiers, including 9 generals, 93 senior staff, and 2,500 other officers, combined with over 100,000 DEAD, is a crushing blow to the Austro-Hungarian efforts. The Russians, by comparison, lost 115,000, mostly in the first few days of the siege.

SM U-28

In the French-Zaian war, a French offensive earlier this month faced stiff opposition, but inflicted serious losses on the tribesman, losing only 1 killed and 8 wounded.

The British steamship RMS Falaba was torpedoed by German sub SM U-28 March 28, killing 104, including American Leon Chester Thrasher. Due to British orders to all vessels to attack any German vessels on sight, or lacking weapons, to attempt to ram, the German navy issued orders last month declaring all British waters a warzone. Intense pressure in the United States, following the death of an American, has been tempered with a detailed report showing the Falaba, rather than unloading passengers as warned (and given time to) by the Germans, instead radioed its position to nearby British warships. Then, when torpedoed, 13 tons of illegal high explosives – contraband for a passenger ship – detonated in the ship’s hold. US pressure to enter the war has waned.

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