The following events occurred in November 1911:
November 1, 1911 (Wednesday) The first aerial bombardment in history took place when Second Lieutenant Giulio Gavotti of the Italian Army threw three Cipelli hand grenades on Turkish troops at Tagiura in Libya, then flew his Etrich Taube monoplane to Ain and dropped an additional grenade. Nobody was injured in these first bombings. Robert Falcon Scott and his party of 12 departed Cape Evans, at 77°38′ south on their quest to become the first persons to reach the South Pole. Roald Amundsen of Norway had begun his trek to the Pole on October 19 and was already at the Ross Ice Shelf at 81° south. In the largest American fleet of warships ever assembled, more than 100 U.S. Navy ships sailed on the Hudson River off of New York City for review by Secretary of the Navy George von L. Meyer, led by the USS Connecticut. "This mobilization has demonstrated the preparedness of the American Navy for any emergency." On the same day, most of the U.S. Navy's Pacific Ocean fleet sailed past Los Angeles, with 22 ships and 2 submarines, led by the USS Oregon. Pope Pius X issued the papal bull Divino afflatu, requiring that the new breviary be used in all Roman Catholic churches no later than October 23, 1917. Chinese Imperial troops were successful in recapturing Hankou for the benefit of the Manchu dynasty Emperor, but a contingent of troops from the Shanxi Province, brought along for assistance, mutinied at Shikiatan. The group massacred 1,000 Manchu civilians, including their own commander and the Governor, his family, and their own general. Born: Sidney Wood, American tennis player, Wimbledon champion 1931; in Black Rock, Connecticut (d. 2009) Henri Troyat, Russian-born French novelist, as Lev Aslanovich Tarasov; in Moscow (d. 2007) Slade Cutter, U.S. Navy officer and World War II hero; in Oswego, Illinois (d. 2005)
November 2, 1911 (Thursday) U.S. President Taft received a 3,690 gun salute on "the greatest naval day this country has known in time of peace", as he reviewed most of the fleet of the U.S. Navy. The occasion was marred by the death of Seaman Gustav Frey, who fell overboard and drowned. Born: Odysseas Elytis, Greek poet who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1979; as Odysseas Alepoudellis in Heraklion (d. 1996) Carlos Bulosan, Philippine-born American novelist; in Binalonan Died: Kyrle Bellew, 61, celebrated English actor who was popular in the late 19th and early 20th century.
November 3, 1911 (Friday) The Chevrolet Motor Company was incorporated by former General Motors Chairman William C. Durant, to begin manufacture of an inexpensive automobile that had been designed by race car driver Louis Chevrolet. The Chevrolet would prove so successful that Durant would be able to acquire sufficient GM stock to regain control of that company. Shanghai was taken over by rebels, led by Chen Qimei, without resistance. Prince Chun, the regent for his young son, the Emperor of China, issued an edict accepting the National Assembly's 19 basic points for a new Constitution. The reform, which would have permitted the Emperor to remain on the throne in a constitutional monarchy in a parliamentary government, came too late to prevent the foundation of a republic. Born: Vladimir Ussachevsky, Russian-American composer of electronic music; to Russian parents in the Hailar District of China (d. 1990) Died: Norman J. Colman, 84, the first person to ever serve as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture after the U.S. Agricultural Commission was elevated to cabinet status in 1889 Daniel Drawbaugh, 84, who claimed to have invented the telephone, pneumatic tools, hydraulic rams, folding lunchboxes, barrel faucets, self-measuring wrapping machines, coin separators, and a wireless burglar alarm.