Great War Diary for Sunday, October 8, 1916:

Sea War

Atlantic – FIRST U-BOAT SINKING OFF US COAST: 5 merchant ships (3 British, 1 Dutch, 1 Norwe­gian) worth 20,388t captured and sunk off Newport (Rhode Island) by U53 (Rose) after refuelling there (left base September 17, returns October 20).

Western Front

Battle of the Somme: British advance north and east of Courcelette; German counter-attack achieves slight success. Canadians capture, then lose, Regina Trench and the ‘Quadrilateral’.

Air War

Germany – AIR FORCE (LUFTSTREITKRAEFTE) ESTABLISHED: Imperial Order in Council to amalgamate ‘all means of air combat and air defence with the Army, in the field and in the home areas, into one unit’.

Home Fronts

Britain: Prohibition on Sunday munitions work in force.