Vladimir Lenin arrives at Petrograd’s Finland train station, 16 April 1917. Image in public domain.
- Vladimir Lenin returns to Russia following 12 years of exile in Switzerland. The German government provides special train transportation for the political agitator’s return in the hope that Lenin and his radical Bolshevik Party will disrupt the new Provisional Government. Lenin and his entourage are greeted by a large contingent of jubilant workers, soldiers, and party members. How Vladimir Lenin’s train journey from Switzerland to Russia changed history
- Volunteers from the Orange Red Cross society hold a fundraising stall at the Orange Show, selling baskets woven by soldiers who have been invalided home from the war. Buy A Basket Please
- The Leader reports that Director General of Recruiting in Australia, Donald Mackinnon, will be holding a public address in Orange. Win The War League
- French Commander-in-Chief, General Robert Georges Nivelle, launches a new offensive along the Chemin des Dames on the Western Front – the Second Battle of the Aisne, also known as the Nivelle Offensive. The French 5th and 6th armies attack along a 40 kilometre front south of the Hindenburg Line, employing the “creeping barrage” tactic. The strategy is poorly coordinated, the offensive stalls and eventually grinds to a halt. French President Raymond Poincare later intervenes, relieving Nivelle of his command and appointing General Henri-Philippe Petain as Commander-in-Chief. The Nivelle Offensive continues until 9 May, by which time the French Army sustains 187,000 casualties
