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June 28 1914 Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip. This later was assumed to be the work of a Serbian terrorist organization. This outraged Austria-Hungary, so they declare war on Serbia. Later Germany, Austria-Hungary's ally declares war on Russia the ally of Serbia. Germany then proceeds to invade France. Then Britain declares war on Germany. and that how the ball got rolling.
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Although it was not a nationally recognized cease-fire about 30 miles of the western front lines put down their rifles and picked up their Christmas spirit. For a while, the two sides exchanged Christmas carols from across the battlefield. Eventually, the two sides joined each other on no man's land and celebrated Christmas together. Some even went as far as to exchange gifts and play football together.
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An important date for WWI, it was the first successful attempt to use chlorine gas. This onslaught of gas was actually used as a distraction to move more German troops from the Western Line. At least five anti-gas measures were created from this event. The first wave of gas was estimated to cover a 4 mile stretch of land. At least 55,000 lives were lost. The allies remained in control of Ypres after the battle.
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On May 7, 1915, A german u-boat sunk the Lusitania, killing 1,198, 128 of that number were Americans. This caused worldwide outrage. Germany immediately said they would stop their unrelenting underwater warfare on cruise and luxury ships. This was a spark that later contributes to America's entry into the war.
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Germany's U-boats sink another passenger cruiser in their campaign of unrestricted underwater warfare. This kills significantly fewer people than the sinking of the Lusitania but caused another problem with the United States. Woodrow Wilson threatened Germany with severe diplomatic consequences. Germany being in a war and all, couldn't afford another enemy. So German commander's come up with an agreement to give a warning before they torpedo ships and provide safety to crew and passengers.
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After the recent events of Germany's proposition to Mexico to attack the USA and the recent sinking of yet another US ship, America goes to war. America went from 133,000 men to millions of men and no artillery to millions of men and a full arsenal of weapons. America staying neutral meant a huge advantage of resources and men.
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Luke Jr. Frank, soon to be known as the balloon buster, enters into his first ariel battle. He lands his spad full of bullet holes after the rest of his squad that day, claiming to have shot down an enemy plane. This was counted as an unconfirmed victory for Luke. Link Text
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Luke Jr. Frank entered into the offensive with the 27th air squadron. That day he stated that the balloons were his target. His friend Joseph Wehner flew cover. This particular maneuver took place over Marville. He got one confirmed Balloon but took severe damage from anti-aircraft guns
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Luke Shot down a balloon on the morning patrol, but not without taking a substantial amount of damage to his Spad. Later that evening he used a plan he had devised to strafe the balloons at dusk when the anti-aircraft guns were less accurate and the german planes weren't guarding the balloons. He took out another ballon before having to retreat. His guns had jammed in a dogfight with enemy spads.
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Luke and Wehner were instructed to shoot down two balloons east of Verdun. Everything seemed to be well until six enemy spads appeared. Luke had already taken one balloon out of the sky before the enemy gave chase, when they did, he shot down the other. His friend Wehner died protecting Luke, after this event he went on an aerial rampage and shot down 3 enemy planes. The rest retreated. That day came to a total of two balloons and 3 spads.
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After previously disobeying his commanding officer's orders he was grounded. He disobeyed that too. He took off by himself and dropped a message into America's balloon headquarters. He stated he was going to shoot down three balloons. He shot down the first with ease, but he later disappeared. It wasn't until after the war that authorities hound his unmarked grave near Murvaux. They concluded that he had shot down over enemy lines and was asked to surrender, instead, he shot seven men.
