of Vimy Ridge. April 10 – Eddystone explosion: an explosion at an ammunition plant near Chester, Pennsylvania, kills 139, mostly female workers. April 11 – WWI: Brazil severs diplomatic relations with Germany. April 12 (N.S.) (March 30 O.S.) – The Autonomous Governorate of Estonia is formed within Russia, from the Governorate of Estonia and the northern part of the Governorate of Livonia. April 16 (N.S.) (April 3, O.S.) – Vladimir Lenin arrives at the Finland Station in Petrograd. WWI: The Nivelle Offensive commences. April 17 (N.S.) (April 4, O.S.) – Vladimir Lenin's April Theses are published. They become very influential in the following July Days and Bolshevik Revolution. WWI: The Egyptian Expeditionary Force begins the Second Battle of Gaza. This unsuccessful frontal attack on strong Ottoman defences along with the first battle, results in 10,000 casualties, the dismissal of force commander General Archibald Murray, and the beginning of the Stalemate in Southern Palestine. The Times and the Daily Mail (London newspapers both owned by Lord Northcliffe) print atrocity propaganda of the supposed existence of a German Corpse Factory processing dead soldiers' bodies. April 19 – WWI: Army transport fires the United States' first shots in anger in the war when her gun crew drives off a German U-boat in the English Channel seven miles southeast of Beachy Head. April 26 – WWI: The Agreement of Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne, between France, Italy and the United Kingdom, to settle interests in the Middle East, is signed. May May 3 – WWI: 1917 French Army mutinies begin. May 9 – WWI: The Nivelle Offensive is abandoned. May 13 – Nuncio Eugenio Pacelli, the future Pope Pius XII, is consecrated Archbishop by Pope Benedict XV. May 13–October 13 (at monthly intervals) – 10-year-old Lúcia Santos and her cousins Francisco and Jacinta Marto report experiencing a series of Marian apparitions near Fátima, Portugal, which become known as Our Lady of Fátima. May 15 – Robert Nivelle is replaced as Commander-in-Chief of the French Army, by Philippe Pétain. May 18 – WWI: The Selective Service Act passes the United States Congress, giving the President the power of conscription. May 21 – Over 300 acres (73 blocks) are destroyed in the Great Atlanta fire of 1917 in the United States. May 22 The Commissioned Officer Corps of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey is established. Ell Persons is lynched in Memphis, in connection with the rape and murder of