The Great War Diary for Wednesday, 27th June 1917: Pictured: 'Lange Max’ WESTERN FRONT: Flanders: Batterie Pommern, also known as 'Lange Max’ a 15-inch gun at Luegenboom became the world's biggest gun in 1917. On June 27, 1917 the gun fired for the first time. Its target was Dunkirk where the first shot was a direct hit. Dunkirk and Ypres were the main targets of the gun. During the III. Flandernschlacht it played a huge role for the Germans. ITALIAN FRONT: Trentino - Battle if Mount Ortigaro: Austrian attack on Agnello pass repulsed by Alpini SINAI AND PALESTINIAN CAMPAIGN: Egypt: General Allenby becomes C-in-C EEF replacing Murray at Cairo. WAR IN THE AIR: Death of German Ace Leutnant Karl Allmenröder. Flying on patrol in the skies above Zillebeke his aircraft came under fire from Allied aircraft: he was killed when his 'plane crash-landed. A number of honours were conferred upon him posthumously. He was aged 21 at his death. WAR AT SEA: French cruiser "Kleber" The Dupleix-class cruiser struck a mine and sank in the Bay of Biscay off Brest, Finistère with the loss of 42 of her crew. French Destroyer 'Doxa' The Niki-class destroyer was torpedoed and sunk in the Aegean Sea off Milos by SM UB-47 with the loss of 29 of her crew the rest being saved by escorting destroyers. British transport "Armadale" Torpedoed and sunk by U-60, 160 miles NW of Tory Island on route from Manchester for Salonica with troops and stores. Eleven people lost. German submarines sink, 7 British and 1 Swedish vessels with the loss of 6 lives and 1 British captain taken prisoner. POLITICS: M. Venizelos assumes power at Athens. Diplomatic relations severed with Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey. Declaration of War by Provisional Government against Germany and Bulgaria of November 23rd, 1916, becomes effective for the whole of Greece. "State of War" also begins between Greece and Austria-Hungary and between Greece and Turkey (see 26th). Dragutin Dimitrijević (a.k.a Apis) executed by firing squad. He was a leading member of a military group that organised the overthrow of the Serbian government in 1903. He personally organised and participated in the coup against King Alexander and his wife Queen Draga that resulted in their murders, though he was not present when they were killed. He was also the leader of the Black Hand group responsible for the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria on June 28th 1914. The latter triggering the July Crisis which led to the outbreak of World War I. In March 1917, Apis was arrested in a government crackdown on the Black Hand. Several theories exist for why. One, is that Prime Minister Pasic and the Prince Regent were preparing to negotiate a separate peace with Austria and that they feared Black Hand reprisals. Another theory was that Pasic wanted to eliminate Apis and the others because they could expose government involvement in the Sarajevo murders. Yet another theory is that Apis was actively subverting the government. Apparently it required some 20 shots before Dimitrijevic was confirmed dead. Or where his executioners just making sure. In 1953, Dimitrijević and his co-defendants were all posthumously retried by the Supreme Court of Serbia and found not guilty, because there was no proof for their alleged participation in the assassination plot. Sources: http://www.firstworldwar.com/onthisday/1917_06_27.htm Randal Gray; Przemyslaw Budzbon (1 May 1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906-1921. Naval Institute Press. p. 386. http://uboat.net/wwi/ships_hit/7100.html http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?131775

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