The ruined village of Puisieux, March 1917, Lieutenant Ernest Brooks. Image courtesy Imperial War Museum © IWM (Q 1800).
- Orange grazier, Lisle Mervyn Lane, is killed in action in France
- The Leader reports that Harry Murphy from Molong was killed in action in France on 17 February. Molong Soldier Killed
- Fred Fletcher of Anson Street, Orange, receives a letter from his brother Velda in France. Velda says how much he enjoyed his Christmas dinner and his package from the Comforts Fund of NSW, which contained a pipe, cigarettes, lollies, matches, chewing gum, a handkerchief, and some writing paper. Velda also describes the horror of trench foot: “each foot is all chilblains, and swells until they burst at the toes.” Personal
- British lines on the Western Front advance north-west of Puisieux and north of Warlencourt
- Russian forces capture Hamadan in Western Persia
- The US Congress authorises the arming of merchant ships. The bill is passes by a vote of 403 to 13
- Russian Foreign Minister, Nikolai Nikolayevich Pokrovsky, resigns
