Actual History: 100 Years Ago Today

[gekkogecko]

So, today's post, let's see if it works:
Western Front
After sharp fighting British gain high ground between Havrincourt and Gouzeaucourt, overlooking the Siegfriedstellung (Hindenburg Line).
French push well across Crozat Canal towards St. Quentin and La Fere; main progress made east of St. Simon; they capture Grand Seraucourt, Montescourt, Remigny and Liez Fort.
Two strong counter-attacks at Laffaux (between Soissons and Laon) repulsed.
German infantry attack in the West: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/angriff-de-inf.jpg?ssl=1
No man’s land between American and German lines at Bois des Éparges: © IWM (Q 49848): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1038743942978838528
American soldiers in France cheer as their mail arrives: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1038774231239196672

Southern Front
Greek new advanced line heavily bombed in Struma Valley.

Naval and Overseas Operations
North Sea: U-92 sunk on Northern Barrage.
Black Sea: Anti-Bolshevik troops on a transport ship off the coast of Ukraine: © IWM (Q 55039): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1038683489749671936

Political, etc
Germany: Lieutenant-Colonel Wilhelm Wetzell, strategic adviser at OHL, superseded owing to rows with Ludendorff.
Russia: British report complete anarchy reported in Petrograd; Bolsheviks massacre the "bourgeoisie". Threat to execute British officials.
Register formed for British subjects’ claims in Russia (some not compensated till 1987).
Churchill writes to Prime Minister on 1919 manpower problems, urges 100,000 men for Tank Corps (55,000 agreed).
Ukraine: General Pavlo Skoropadskyi, the leader of German-backed Ukraine, with German Field Marshal von Hindenburg and General Ludendorff at the German General Headquarters: © IWM (Q 45363): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1038713710938914817
Turkey: Constantinople papers state 98 firms worth 16.6 million Turkish Pounds (what is actually meant here is the Ottoman Lira) formed during war.
United States: French Foreign Legion soldiers march in New York City to help raise money for the Fourth Liberty Loan: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1038804432589336577

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
Local fighting in Epehy and Gouzeaucourt sectors.
British patrols make progress north-east of Neuve Chapelle.
East of Crozat Canal between St. Quentin and La Fere, French make further progress; they occupy Hinancourt and Travecy.
Special Order of the Day issued: makes a claim that 75,000 prisoners and 750 guns taken by British in four weeks.
Members of Queen Mary’s Army Auxiliary Corps growing vegetables in their camp at Rouen, France: © IWM (Q 9303): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1039058408165580800
German prisoners being escorted by French cavalry near Roye: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1039088609482235904
A wooden dummy tank (modeled after a British tank) built by the Germans at Pontfaverger: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1039118810475847680

Eastern Front
Fight for Kazan on the Volga; Soviet success. Czechs and Komuch People’s Army retreat to avoid trap.

Naval and Overseas Operations
North Sea: Coastal submarine UB-83 sunk in Pentland Firth by destroyer*HMS Ophelia‘s depth charges.

Political, etc
Germany: Kaiser addresses 1500 Krupp workers on only visit to Essen Gusstahlfabrik and gets no response.
The Kaiser visits the Krupp works to keep the workers on their toes. Fearing unrest, several divisions are stationed around Berlin: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Kaiser-Arbeiter-Krupp.jpg?ssl=1

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Western Front
Cambrai: German counter-attacks at Gouzeaucourt and Moeuvres. British retake 3 villages (Vermand, Attilly and Vendelles ) to south.
British rush and hold the "Railway Triangle" position, south-west of La Bassee.
Ypres: Belgians gain ground north of Ypres.
Meuse: Lieutenant-Colonel Patton instructs 34th Brigade (US) Tank Corps in St Mihiel Sector: ‘American tanks do not surrender … as long as one tank is able to go forward. Its presence will save the lives of hundreds of infantry and kill many Germans …’
France: Belgian King Albert meets Foch at Bombon and agrees to lead Allied Flanders offensive.
A German soldier throws a stick grenade: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/storm-trooper-throws-stielhandgrante.jpg?ssl=1
Scottish Red Cross ambulances and drivers at Rouen, France: © IWM (Q 9300): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1039149009460514818
Wounded American soldiers receive training in occupation work such as weaving and modeling: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1039179229278232576
A camouflaged American machine gun post: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1039420805002739712

Eastern Front
Ukhtinskaya, Murman front captured by Allied forces. 200 Royal Scots and 2 guns from Archangel repel a 500-strong Red night attack and occupy Priluki on river Dvina (until September 12), occupy five more villages astride river up to 25 miles southeast (September 14-17).
Arrival of American troops at Archangel announced.
Trans-Caspia: 136 British with 2 guns (arrived September 4) aid repulse of Reds from Kaakha (and on September 18).

Naval and Overseas Operations
Mozambique: 324 KAR defeat 2000 Masai (revolt vs recruiting) 20 miles west of Narok; talks restore quiet till February 1919.

Political, etc
Germany: Paul von Hintze instructs appeal to Holland for mediation.
United Kingdom: Lieut.-General Sir G.M.W. Macdonogh appointed Adjutant-General, Home Forces, Great Britain (see August 30th).
Lloyd George cable thanks Czech legions for service to Allies.
United States: Government declines Cuban troop offer due to shipping shortage.
Finland: Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse (brother-in-law of the Kaiser), announced as candidate for Kingdom of Finland.

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Western Front
Battle of St. Mihiel begins. First large-scale Allied offensive carried out separately by American Expeditionary Force (AEF) on the Western Front (see 16th September). After 4-hour barrage from 0100 hours by 3,010 guns, 216,000 men of (10 divisions) US First Army (John Pershing), supported by 48,000 French (4 divisions) advance in heavy rain 5 miles on 12-mile front vs Georg Fuchs’ 75,000-strong Detachment C (already withdrawing its 13 divisions); they advance five miles on a twelve-mile front and claim 8,000 PoWs. AEF fires 100,000 round (200t) phosgene; 9000 gassed (50 deaths). Patton and MacArthur meet under fire, former outwalks his tanks (70 of 174 reach startline).
The terms “D-day” and “H-hour” are used for the first time. View of the town: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1039769346652954624
Allied soldiers and tanks advance towards St. Mihiel, while wounded soldiers and German prisoners make their way back: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1039799542898671617
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line (see October 9th) begin as the series of Allied offensives starting with the Battle of Havrincourt. British success in Cambrai sector, won on 5-mile front by 6 divisions of Julian Byng’s Third Army; Moeuvres, Havrincourt and Trescault taken; over 1,000 prisoners.
Western Front, Air: Heavy rain and high wind impedes air work.
Greatest Allied air concentration of war support St Mihiel operation with US units; 25 French escadrilles; le Division Aerienne (600 aircraft) and 9 squadrons of Independent Force (c.100 bombers); single Italian, Brazilian, Portuguese, Belgian squadrons. Total 1,483 planes under US Brigade-General Mitchell, bombers and recon planes spearhead Pershing’s advance while fighters maintain local air supremacy (‘barrier’ technique, as pioneered at Verdun). US 3rd Pursuit Group specializes in truck-busting. Rickenbacker shoots down JG2 Fokker (6th kill), but JG2 claims 81 victories for 2 losses (September 12-18).
French residents greet Canadian soldiers in the village of Saudemont: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1039451004482269184
Civilians leaving Cambrai, France as the fighting again nears the town: © IWM (Q 55406):
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1039482464471801856
Streets of Thiaucourt, France burn after the Germans were driven out of the town: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1039829747071627264
Wounded German soldiers receiving treatment by American soldiers: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1039859968336453632

Eastern Front
Mikhail Tukachevksi’s Red First Army retakes Simbirsk, Vladimir Lenin cables Leon Trotsky with thanks.

Southern Front
Artillery activity on whole Struma front.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Atlantic: The Union-Castle liner Galway Castle is torpedoed by U-82; 154 lives lost when the ship sinks three days later.
Mediterranean: Armed boarding steamer Samia sunk by U-boat.

Political, etc
United Kingdom: Blue Book (Cd. 9146) and (Cd. 8371) , a propagandistic tract issued, describing German rule in south-west Africa and ill-treatment of the natives.
United States: The Boston Red Sox wins the 1918 World Series, defeating the Chicago Cubs 4 games to 2 (the Red Sox does not win the World Series for another 86 years): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1039603257692352514
13 million additional Americans are required to register for the draft today, as the U.S. government expands military registration to all men age 18 to 45.

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
Battle of St. Mihiel: Complete success of Americans in St. Mihiel salient, they make over 13,000 prisoners and 200 guns. Americans close salient at Vigneulles by 0600 hours as US 26th and 1 st Divisions meet (200,000 Americans in reserve). Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) first used in action by US 79th Division.
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Battle of Havrincourt: British and French nearing St. Quentin: they take Holnon Wood and Savy respectively.
Western Front, Air: Handley Page bombers of No 207 Squadron attack Le Cateau station with 79 bombs (night September 13-14). RAF night raids on 3 German Paris bombing bases (night September 15-16).
France: Marshal Ferdinand Foch memo to Premier Georges Clemenceau on ‘The bombardment of the Interior of Germany’ by an ‘inter-allied bombing force’.
US gunners aim captured German guns against their former owners at St.Mihiel: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/StMiehiel-erbeutete-art.jpg?ssl=1
American and French soldiers on patrol shaking hands during the operation to capture St. Mihiel: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1039920361675128832

Southern Front
Wounded Italian soldier exercising on a stationary bike: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1040141795362066432

Political, etc
United Kingdom: British Railway strike begins in South Wales.

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
Battle of St. Mihiel: Continued German retreat between the Meuse and Moselle, closely followed by French and Americans. French and American troops successfully capture most of St. Mihiel. Captured German prisoners provide entertainment on the piano for American soldiers at St. Mihiel: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1040292802322747393
French children with French flags on a car at Saint Mihiel after the town’s recapture by the Allies: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1040594796962873344
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Battle of Havrincourt: German counter-attacks at Havrincourt fails.
Aisne: French Tenth Army storms Allemant (Legion’s last major action) and Laffaux Mill (Marine batallion) in 5-miles of Hindenburg Line and captures 2,500 PoWs and guns; recaptures Vailly on river (September 16); advances northeast of Soissons (September 17), and repulses five counter-attacks near Allemant (September 20).
Western Front, Air: Germany: Largest Handley Page effort (night September 14-15), 40 vs various targets (1 lost).
French refugees return to their destroyed town of Villers-Bretonneux: © IWM (Q 11339): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1040202198788046848
American troops take cover as tanks advance near Beauquesne: © IWM (Q 57694): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1040232398447935491
American troops change the street name “Hindenburg Strasse” in St. Mihiel to “Wilson, U.S.A.”: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1040262600469176321
A British soldier walks by the ruined town hall of Combles: © IWM (Q 78747): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1040534387773923328
A German bike with wheels made out of springs due to their rubber shortage: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1040564591179300866

Southern Front
Macedonia: First of 3 RAF pre-final offensive bombing raids (until September 16) on Hudova airfield.
Allied final offensive: Battle of the Vardar (until September 25; French: Battle of the Dobropolje until September 17 and Serb Battle of the Moglenitsa) begins with record Balkans 650-gun bombardment from 0800 hours along 80-mile Vardar-Monastir line especially on 6-mile Mountains Sokol-Vetrenik sector. Friedrich von Scholtz wrongly moves Bulgar regiment and 12th Saxon Jäger battalion to north of Monastir, only at 2230 hours discovers the point of attack.

Eastern Front/West Asia Border Theater
Azerbaijan: British evacuation of Baku begins: British forces in the Southern Caucasus 'Dunsterforce' are forced to abandon the port of Baku to advancing Turkish troops. Eight to ten battalions capture Wolfs Gate. Dunsterforce evacuation ordered at 2000 hours after 180 casualties and 5 RAF sorties. 3 Royal Navy-manned ships take 1,300 British soldiers and 8,000 Armenians to Enzeli (until September 15). Tartars massacre 8,988 Armenians (until September 16). Turks install Khan Khoiski’s Tartar Government on September 16.
Oil rigs in Baku in 1918, in which the Germans, British and Turks are interested: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Baku-1918.jpg?ssl=1
Ottoman artillery targeting the city: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1040624998526922752

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Government sends note to US, all belligerents and neutrals suggesting ‘non-committal discussion’ on neutral soil. Allies spurn and Germans irritated.
Germany: Germany makes peace offer to Belgium on the basis of no indemnity or reparation, etc.
Netherlands: (Listed for yesterday): The largest train disaster in the Netherlands (until the Harmelen train disaster in 1962) occurs when a train derails over a bridge near Weesp, resulting in 41 deaths: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1040171996015996928

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
Battle of St. Mihiel: Americans continue advance on 33-mile front; they come within reach of fortress guns of Metz.
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Battle of Havrincourt: British capture Maissemy, five miles north-west of St. Quentin.
Germans make ineffective counter-attacks south of the Oise.
Western Front, Air: German pilots destroy 6 and damage 4 balloons on BEF First and Third Army fronts (RAF manage 3 plus 3). Germans claim 58 Allied aircraft for loss of 12 in air fighting above all but one of the 14 German armies.
Germany: Karlsruhe and Mainz heavily bombed by R.A.F. Stuttgart (Bosch and Daimler works) attacked by 9 DH4s of No 55 Squadron; claim 2 defensive fighters shot down.
France: last bombing of Paris: 50 Gotha bombers (2 lost) drop 85 bombs (37 casualties).
Bulgarian machinge-gunners in action with Maxim Model 1908 machone-guns purchased before the war in UK.: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/bulgar-MG-schuetzen.jpg?ssl=1
Construction of Hermann Line behind Army Groups Rupprecht and Boehn begun. German gas response to BEF autumn offensive: 2 million rounds (4,000t) mustard gas expended; 24,363 gassed (540 deaths) until November 11.
Flanders: Belgian composer and soldier for duration of war Georges Antoine dies from influenza.
A British soldier in the ruins of Bethune: © IWM (Q 11337): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1040903223404646401
American soldiers repair shell holes after capturing the area from the Germans, near Montsec: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1040934531719733249
A Portuguese soldier holding an improvised gas alarm at Festubert: © IWM (Q 11338): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1040964733380255745

Eastern Front
Volga: Red Eastern Front (5 armies) total 70,000 men; 225 guns; 1,059 Mgs..

Southern Front
Macedonia: Battle of the Vardar/Battle of the Dobropolje/Battle of the Moglenitsa: Bulgarian position carried on front of seven miles, and 800 prisoners taken.

Eastern Front/West Asia Border Theater
Azerbaijan: British forces complete evacuation of Baku.

Political, etc
France: French losses since 1 July 279,000 soldiers.
United States: New York “Congress of Austrian subject peoples” demands Empire’s dismemberment.

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Western Front
Battle of St. Mihiel: Americans advance along west bank of Moselle. St Mihiel salient fully straightened out for 7,511 US and 597 French casualties (15,000 beds available), 15,000 PoWs and 450 (or 443) guns taken. Germans commit 4 reserve divisions. Metz fortress guns fire (September 15), but c.400,000 Americans now switched 60 miles northwest. Battle of St. Mihiel ends (see 12th).
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Battle of Havrincourt: French capture Vailly (north-east of Soissons) and Mt. des Singes.
Slight advance by British in neighbourhood of Ploegsteert and east of Ypres.
Western Front, Air: France: the overnight last raid on Paris resulted in 6 killed, 15 injured, 2 raiders brought down. RAF claim to destroy 8 German aircraft for loss of 4 over BEF Third Army but, overall, Germans claim 59 Allied planes for loss of 10.
Germany: 7 RAF Handley Pages lost on raids on Cologne, Saarbrücken and Trier etc, 6 of them lost to anti-aircraft guns (16,063 rounds fired and 173 searchlights in action, night September 16-17).
Soldiers from Britain and its Dominions compete in a log chopping contest near Pont-Remy. The Australian soldier won: © IWM (Q 7076): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1040994932952117249
A column of Germans prisoners being escorted by New Zealand soldiers through Havrincourt Wood: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1041251629176168448
American soldiers hurl grenades at Austro-Hungarian troops on the Piave Front in Italy: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1041280624961703936

Eastern Front
Archangel front; successful operation by naval units and Allied troops on the River Dvina; two enemy ships sunk, three guns captured.

Southern Front
Macedonia: Battle of the Vardar/Battle of the Dobropolje/Battle of the Moglenitsa: Franco-Serbian advance continued; the troops advance to a depth of five miles on 16-mile front in region of Dobropolje. Serb Yugoslav Division attacks Mt Kozyak all day (inside Bulgarian 3rd line) and finally takes it, but German 13th Saxon Jäger battalion covers breach. Friedrich von Scholtz cables Paul von Hindenburg, asking for German divisions from Western Front; request forwarded to Austrians, who hedge. Bulgarian 2nd Division withdraws to 3rd line without warning.
Italy: Italians makes successful trench raid north and north-west of Mt. Grappa; capture over 300 prisoners and some machine guns.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Trans-Jordan: 6 RAF D.H.9s raid Deraa for first time; 8 German planes from there cause Arab Army only 2 casualties thanks to B.E.12 (destroyed).

Naval and Overseas Operations
Great Britain: The world's first flush-decked aircraft carrier, HMS Argus, is commissioned into the Royal Navy. She was the first example of what is now the standard pattern of aircraft carrier, with a full-length flight deck that allowed wheeled aircraft to take off and land. Argus in harbor in 1918, painted in dazzle camouflage, with a Revenge-class battleship in the background: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Argus_(I49)#/media/File:HMS_Argus_(1917).jpg
Monitor H.M.S. Glatton sunk by explosion in Dover harbor.
Channel: Coastal submarine UB-103, sighted by British blimp SS 21 (Pilot US Ensign NJ Learned), sunk by several Royal Navy drifters’ depth charges off Cap Gris Nez.
An SS class airship with twin ventral fins and a BE2c-type car for the pilot: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/SS-class-airship.jpg?ssl=1

Political, etc
Germany: Count Georg von Hertling tells Conservative leader that Austrian peace move has prejudiced Dutch mediation.
Russia: Vladimir Lenin recovers from gunshots, attends meetings (until September 17), but moves to Gorki (September 24 or 25) to convalesced until mid-October.
United Kingdom: Balfour calls Austro-German offers unacceptable. King George V cables President Wilson with congratulations on St Mihiel salient removal.
Bulgaria: Tsar Ferdinand replies to General Lukov peacefeeler suggestion ‘Go out and get killed in your present lines’.
Japan: Recognition by Japan of Czechoslovakia as belligerent Allies.
United States: President Woodrow Wilson replies to the Austrian Note by rejecting suggestion for a peace conference (see 15th, and October 4th).
A map in front of the New York Public Library displays the “Czechoslovak Nation” in the territory of Austria-Hungary: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1041312012213645313

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Battle of Havrincourt: Battle peters out in general fighting.
British make local progress north-west of St. Quentin and in the north near Ploegsteert. Localized fighting including British 55th Division capture of Canteleux Trench.
Germans counter-attack at Moeuvres.
French gain ground north-east of Soissons, capture several strong points.
Americans consolidate their line between the Meuse heights and the Moselle.
Western Front, Air: “Good” results in bombing attacks by R.A.F. on German objectives.
Australian soldiers carrying a dummy tank used to fool aerial reconnaissance: © E AUS 4938: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1041598901638365184
A sign in Amiens warns British soldiers not to loot French property: © IWM (Q 23590): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1041629109380702209
British cavalrymen stop in the Authie River to water their horses: © IWM (Q 9311): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1041659305462784000
A French refugee family returns to the destroyed streets of Amiens: © IWM (Q 11341): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1041689531995639810

Southern Front
Macedonia: Battle of the Vardar/Battle of the Dobropolje/Battle of the Moglenitsa: The Franco-Serbian advance continues; breakthrough is now 6 miles deep and 20 miles wide. General Ruser orders his Bulgarian 2nd Division to retreat from 3rd line behind river Cherna leaving 5-mile gap for Serbs to reach river. Two Bulgarian 3rd Division regiments mutiny. Frriedrich von Scholtz orders general retreat behind river Belasnica.
Italy: Italians repulse strong counter-attacks north of Mt. Grappa.
After visit to Paris Diaz tells Prime Minister Orlando no premature autumn offensive until clear Allied success on Western Front.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Trans-Jordan: Arab Army captures Tell Arar bridge north of Deraa. Lawrence gets slight bomb splinter arm wound; 350 Arab regulars then capture station 5 miles west of Deraa, drawing in reserve German troops from Afuleh.
Palestine: Desert Mounted Corps secretly concentrated in Plain of Sharon, betrayed by Indian Muslim sergeant deserter, but Otto Liman von Sanders believes him to be a plant.
Persia: Lionel Dunsterville recalled, GOC 14th Division William Thomson replaces in command ‘Norper Force’, Enzeli to be held. Commodore David Norris says Caspian Flotilla possible, plans 12 ships (September 27), first ready October 6.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Great Britain: HMS Glatton destroyed in yesterday’s fire & scuttling. 60 sailors are killed in the incident: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1041378720953638912

Political, etc
United States: Women deliver heavy ice blocks. Work previously done by men are now being done by women as more soldiers go to the front: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1041342208673292288

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Battle of Epéhy: Following the success at Havrincourt, three corps of the British Fourth Army, one corps of the British Third Army and units of the French First Army attacked. The left and right wings of the advance progressed with difficulty, but the two Australian divisions in the centre of the advance were successful in achieving an advance of three miles. Great Australian (5th/6th Australian Infantry Brigades) advance on 16-mile front (north-west of St. Quentin, extending from Holnon Wood to Gouzeaucourt; over 6,000 prisoners and a number of guns captured. The success of this attack showed to the Allies that the German defense, even on the fortified Hindenburg Line positions, was not impossible to break through.
An Australian battery of 4,5-inch field howitzers. The high elevation of the short barrels enabled their shells to fall almost vertically into enemy earthworks: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/austral-batterie-feldhaubitzen.jpg?ssl=1
French, in liaison with British, capture Savy Wood and Fontaine-les-Cleres.
Germans continue strong counter-attacks north and south of Moeuvres, with some success.
Western Front, Air: Rain and clouds restrict flying over Somme (until September 19), both sides’ aircraft losses much lower (September 17-20).
Members of the Maori Pioneer Battalion help French peasants with the harvest: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1041719724579741696
The Amiens Gun, a large German 28-cm railway gun, on display in Paris after the gun was captured by Australian troops: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1041961297494138880

Eastern Front
Murmansk front: Karelians defeat German-led forces from Finland at Ukhtinskaya and drive them back over the border.

Southern Front
Macedonia: Battle of the Vardar/Battle of the Dobropolje/Battle of the Moglenitsa: Bulgarians in full retreat before French, Serbians and Yugoslavs; Serbian cavalry reaches Polosko; communication with Prilep (Bulgarian advanced base) cut.
Battle of Monastir-Doiran (see 24th), (including Battle of Doiran, 1918), begins (see 19th): Anglo-Greeks attack in neighborhood of Lake Doiran and take the town. Bulgarian 9th Division with 122 guns, British enter Doiran town and take Petit Couronne with 777 PoWs but British 65th brigade (22nd Division) has only 200 survivors (30 poisoned by British gas) from attempt to storm Grand Couronne, (thrice-wounded commander 7th South Wales Borderers Lieutenant-Colonel Burges awarded Victoria Cross). Greek losses 1,232 men, British failure east of lake (900 Anglo-Greek casualties) due to grass wildfire started by Bulgarian artillery.
Salonika: RAF sends 372 calls for artillery fire until September 19, only 1 aircraft lost and shoots down 2 aircraft.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Trans-Jordan: Arab force surrounds Dera'a and blows up railway junction.
Palestine: On Allenby’s east flank 53rd Division storms across Wadi-es-Samieh and advances 7 miles (night September 18-19).
Siberia: Blagovyeschensk occupied by Japanese forces (see 5th).

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Complete failure of the Austro-Hungarian peace offer, which is rejected by Great Britain, France, U.S.A. and Belgium in turn.
Germany: General Erich Ludendorff warns Admiral Maximilian Scheer of plans for abandoning Flanders coast.

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Further British and French gains in direction of St. Quentin; heavy fighting round Gouzeaucourt and Moeuvres, all Germans attacks finally repulsed.
British capture Lempire and the French advance beyond Contescourt; they capture Essigny le Grand at end of the day.
French troops resting in a trench near the village of Margival: © IWM (Q 78258): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1041992758804840449
A wounded soldier (from a Bantam unit) returns from the front near Épehy: © IWM (Q 11329): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1042022956107530240
A British officer instructs American soldiers on operating a machine gun in France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1042053175749095425
Allied troops win the Battle of Épehy, with 11,750 German prisoners captured. A wounded British soldier and German prisoner share a cigarette near Épehy: © IWM (Q 11538): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1042083372321918978
Australian soldiers advancing towards the “Hindenburg Line” near Le Verguier: © IWM (E(AUS) 3260): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1042098469639520256
American Brigadier General Douglas MacArthur sitting in a chair at a French chateau after the Allies recaptured it from the Germans: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1042360194699874304
American soldiers testing a captured German telephone set in St. Mihiel: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1042391630958022656
An American warehouse in Paris destroyed by a German air raid: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1042421828357115904

Southern Front
Macedonia: Battle of the Vardar/Battle of the Dobropolje/Battle of the Moglenitsa: One source claims: Bulgarian rout continues; Serbians cross the Cherna and march on Prilep; over 5,000 prisoners claimed.
Another source states: Renewed Anglo-Greek attack fails in 6 bloody hours as some British caught in own shellfire. Milne tells d’Esperey British can do no more. Bulgarian First Army Commander General Nerezov proposes counter-offensive to take Salonika but German-Bulgar (Steuben and Todorov) Prilep conference decides on gradual withdrawal prior to cutting off Allied salient. Franco-Greek attack storms Mt Dzena (7,000ft).
Battle of Monastir-Doiran: Battle of Doiran: Battle of Doiran, 1918, ends (see 18th and 22nd).

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Trans-Jordan: Major Thomas Lawrence destroys Turk plane on ground and engages train in his armored car.
Palestine: Battles of Megiddo (Sharon and Nablus) begin (see 23rd and 25th). General Allenby, in the form of Bulfin’s XXI Corps (35,000 men), advances on 16-mile front between Rafat and the sea behind 385-gun barrage; pierces Turkish lines. Desert Mounted Corps follows by 0700 hours, claims 7,000 PoWs and 100 guns in 22-mile ride.Infantry reach railway junction of Tull Keram, cavalry push forward east and north-east to cut off enemy retreat. 3,000 prisoners claimed by British. Turkish Eighth Army headquarter at Tulkarm falls to 60th Division after 18-mile march.
Battle of Megiddo begins as Allied troops attack Ottoman positions to drive them out of Palestine. Supplies moving up to the frontlines, while wounded soldiers are carried away on camels: © Q 12973: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1042327451387547648
British cavalry is advancing through Palestine: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/brit-Kav-Palaestina.jpg?ssl=1
Egyptian Labour Corps 100,000 strong in 99 coys and 30 camps in Palestine.
RAF strike Tulkarm-Nablus road, 2 army headquarters, telephone exchanges and 3 airfields. No 113 Squadron twice smokescreens XXI Corps’ advance. Jenin airfield captured on September 28 with 11 burnt German aircraft.

Political, etc
Belgium: Government formally rejects German peace offer.
United States: Mr. John W Davis appointed U.S. ambassador to Great Britain. (although another source says his appointment wasn’t until 21 November).

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: British line pushed forward in the Lempire-Epehy sector; recapture of Moeuvres completed.
North-west of La Bassee British front advanced.
French repulse five attacks against their new positions near Allemant (north of the Aisne). They advance east of Essigny le Grand.
A British convoy passes by a destroyed British tank near Brie: © IWM (Q 23602): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1042693623446491137

Eastern Front
Volga: Reported set-back of Czechoslovaks on the Volga; they are driven from Volsk, Simbirsk and Kazan by Bolshevist and German forces.
Don: Krasnov’s 20 Cossack regiments attack again, breaking Red South Front.

Southern Front
Macedonia: Battle of the Vardar/Battle of the Dobropolje/Battle of the Moglenitsa: Bulgarian First Army receives order to retreat in ‘a stunned silence’.
Bombs and leaflets dropped on Constantinople by R.A.F. in co-operation with Greek Navy.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Palestine: Battles of Megiddo (Sharon and Nablus) (see 23rd and 25th): Nazareth and Beisan occupied by British cavalry (see 19th). 2nd Indian Lancers seize Musmus Pass and their charge wipes out 516 Turks. Liman (in pyjamas) just escapes 13th Cavalry Brigade’s swoop on Nazareth (1,250 PoWs). 4th Cavalry Division seizes Jordan crossings after 70-mile ride in 34 hours. 3rd ALH Brigade captures Jenin with 1,869 PoWs. Allenby sees Lawrence at GHQ after latter’s RAF Bristol Fighter flight from Azrak.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Adriatic: Austrian coastal submarine U-47 (ex-German UB-47) sinks French submarine Circe (1 survivor) off Albania.
Ex-UB-47 is put into service as U-47 on 4 July 1916 in Pola: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/U47.jpg?ssl=1

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Vienna Neue Freie Presse mentions rumors of coming Italian offensive.
Russia: SOVNARKOM repudiates Russo-Turkish Treaty from March 3, 1918.
United States: French Foreign Legion in New York City to promote the Fourth Liberty Loan drive: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1042452027450773504

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Cambrai: British 12th and 18th Divisions (with 9 tanks) capture Le Petit Priel farm, east of Epehy. 119 Australians of 1st Battalion refuse to attack and go to rear. British encounter stubborn resistance but gain ground east of Epehy.
British line improved at Moeuvres.
Further French gains south of St. Quentin, they take Benay.
British Whippet tanks captured by the Germans and then later recaptured by the British near Méaulte: © IWM (Q 23596): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1042723813052624896
French Chasseurs on the wharf of Dundee: © IWM (Q 102989): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1042754018022486016
American soldiers with gas masks at Essey, France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1042784234694434817
Australian troops playing a game of rugby during a rest from fighting at Barleux: © IWM (E(AUS) 3355): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1042814416859877376
A German war cemetery in St. Mihiel after its capture by the Allies: © IWM (Q 78176): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1043147870545817603
An Australian field bakery in Rouen, France filled with bread to be delivered to troops: © IWM (E(AUS) 3462): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1043178076304277506

Southern Front
Macedonia: Battle of the Vardar/Battle of the Dobropolje/Battle of the Moglenitsa: Franco-Serbian troops pursue Bulgarians past Kavadar and threaten Babuna pass. They reach the Vardar near Demirkapu and Negotin.
Bulgarians begin destroying their stores and war material preparatory to a retreat, confirmed by 2 RAF D.H.9 observers report 500 Bulgarian wagons and lorries in retreat at 1040 hours.
Only 5,000 Bulgarian PoWs so far.
RAF (45 serviceable planes) bomb Bulgarians fleeing through Kosturino defile to Lyumnitas, at least 700 killed, 300 wagons destroyed; then attack Kryesna Pass and block Kresni defile (September 28-29). Total of 782 bombs dropped until September 29.
The Prince of Wales visiting an Italian airfield with an Italian S.I.A.9 reconnaissance/light bomber: © Q 68809: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1042769115176493057

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Trans-Jordan: East of Jordan the Hejaz Arabs cut the Damascus railway in numerous places.
Palestine: Battles of Megiddo (Sharon and Nablus) (see 23rd and 25th): Advance of British Infantry in Palestine; they reach Shechem and Samaria, and drive Turks into arms of cavalry operating southward from Jenin and Beisan, claim 18,000 prisoners taken.
Royal Air Force airplanes operating in support of Generally Allenby's campaign in Palestine attack and destroy the retreating Turkish 7th Army at Wadi el Far'a. T.E. Lawrence wrote of this attack: "It was the RAF which had converted the Turkish retreat into a rout, which had abolished their telephone and telegraph connections, had blocked their lorry columns, scattered their infantry units". 9 1/4t bombs and 56,000 MG rounds delivered in over 84 sorties (2 aircraft lost).
British planes strafing the Turkish column in Palestine: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/planes-starfing-column-palestine.jpg?ssl=1
Mopping up (until September 24) yields 87 guns, 55 lorries and 842 wagons.
Australian cavalry enters Nablus, Palestine while locals look on after the town was captured from the Ottomans: © IWM (Q 12331): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1043086200272289792
Dozens of Ottoman and German guns taken by the British after capturing Nablus, Palestine: © IWM (Q 12343): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1043056005632929792
Nazareth is also captured by the British. British cavalry in the town at Mary’s Well: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1043116412359901184

Political, etc
United Kingdom: Sir M. de Bunsen returns from successful mission to South America.
War Minister warns Haig against heavy casualties due to poor recruiting at home, but the Field Marshal resolves to continue planned offensive.

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: South of St. Quentin French reach outskirts of Vendeul and gain ground east of Sancy.
Australian NCO tests a batch of bread before they are sent to the troops: © IWM (E(AUS) 3489): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1043501443305623552
War correspondents inside a trench at Langewaede, Belgium: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1043531646530715649

Southern Front
Macedonia: Battle of the Vardar/Battle of the Dobropolje/Battle of the Moglenitsa: “Great” Allied victory in Balkans; “Brilliant” Serbian attack; Bulgarians retreat on 100-mile front, from Monastir to Lake Doiran.
Allies cut Vardar railway and line from Prilep to Gradsko. They advance on Babuna Pass. After Prilep-Gradsko rail line cut, d’Esperey orders cavalry pursuit.
Doiran occupied by British forces (see 19th and December 11th, 1915).
On the Balkan front, French cavalry brings German prisoners of war to the rear: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/frz-Kav-de-KG.jpg?ssl=1

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Trans-Jordan: Two Bristol Fighters and 1 D.H.9 reinforce Arab Army east of Deraa, destroy 2 German two-seaters and a Pfalz scout. Handley Page joins on September 23 with fuel and spares and bombs Deraa rail station. West of Jordan. RAF drop 411 bombs and fire 30,000 MG rounds at Turkish fugitives.
A German AEG C.IV reconnaissance aircraft in Palestine: © IWM (Q 60316): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1043410834721067008
Palestine: Battles of Megiddo (Sharon and Nablus) (see 23rd and 25th): NZ Mounted Brigade seizes Jisr-ed-Damieh Jordan bridge with 786 PoWs. British seize passages of Jordan north of Dead Sea and close enemy's last means of escape. Total of approximately 25,000 prisoners and 260 guns taken in the entire battle. The 7th and 8th Turkish armies are virtually wiped out.
Djemal Kuchuk belatedly orders Fourth Army retreat east of Jordan while Colonel Oppen’s 2,000 Asia Corps (700 Germans) survivors ford Jordan (night September 22-23).
French cavalrymen of the Chasseurs d’Afrique in northern Palestine at the Battle of Sharon: © IWM (Q 12325): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1043441044979953669
British troops lead Ottoman prisoners captured at the Battle of Sharon in northern Palestine: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1043471245780701187

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Series of local battles along front; Germans make stubborn resistance round Epehy.
French advance their line east of St. Quentin Canal; they reach the Oise, three miles north of La Fere.
Actions round Haumont on American sector (Meuse-Argonne).
Western Front, Air: Thirteen German bombers raid RAF Marquise depot, destroy or damage 99 aircraft (172 casualties; night September 23-24).
A funeral ceremony for an American soldier at La Rochelle, France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1043834885843095554

Southern Front
Macedonia: Battle of the Vardar/Battle of the Dobropolje/Battle of the Moglenitsa: French Cavalry Brigade Jouinot-Gambetta begins 57-mile 6-day advance from Novak, C-in-C gives Uskub (Skopje) as their objective. Prilep taken by French forces (see November 16th, 1915). Bulgarians stream northward toward Veles pursued by Allied troops. Serbians in neighborhood of Demir Kapu are well north of the Vardar.
British advance north of Lake Doiran and their cavalry pursue Bulgarians along road to Strumitsa.
Serbian soldiers in the town of Prilep: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1043774481175601152

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Trans-Jordan: East of the Jordan, Colonial and Jewish troops pursue Turkish 4th Army in retreat towards Amman on the coast.
Palestine: Battles of Megiddo (Sharon and Nablus) (see 23rd and 25th): Haifa, Acre, and Es Salt occupied by British forces (see 19th). Haul includes 889 PoWs and 18 guns. Liman von Sanders arrives in Damascus (stay until September 29), sends staff to Aleppo on September 25.
Ma'an (on Hejaz Railway) evacuated by the Turkish garrison (see 29th).
TE Lawrence war not the only officer in the Middle East to ‘go native’. Here a British Lieutenant is in full Arab regalia in 1918: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/brit-leutnanant-arab-kleidung.jpg?ssl=1
Indian cavalry of the Jodhpore and Mysore Lancers march through Haifa after the city’s capture from the Ottomans: © IWM (Q 12335): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1043804686749437953

Naval and Overseas Operations
America submarine R-27 being launched: © IWM (Q 68441): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1043865085079429120

Political, etc
United States: Women of Boston collecting peach stones, which are used in the manufacture of gas masks: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1043895281941696512

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Sharp local fighting renewed in neighborhood of Selency. Anglo-French attack on 4-mile front east of Vermand to within 2 miles of St Quentin. British 1st and 6th Divisions with 20 tanks attack Quadrilateral and Fresnoy (northwest of St Quentin); French capture 2 villages to west.
Surprise attack by Germans near Moeuvres and Epehy are repulsed.
Artillery actions in French sector.
BEF’s best week of war for taking PoWs, with 30,441 claimed (until September 30).
British soldiers bring in exhausted, wounded and demoralized German PoWs: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/erschoepfte-de-kg.jpg?ssl=1
Western Front, Air: U.S. Navy pilot David Sinton Ingalls becomes the first US Navy ace (he is also the only US Navy ace in WWI): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1044228756800516097

Southern Front
Macedonia: Battle of the Vardar/Battle of the Dobropolje/Battle of the Moglenitsa: Serbians in posession of Babuna Pass, they capture Veles and Ishtip, press on to Uskub.
British cross Bulgarian frontier at Kosturino. Over 10,000 prisoners and 200 guns claimed.
End of battle of the Vardar.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Palestine: Battles of Megiddo (Sharon and Nablus) (see 23rd and 25th): British cavalry reach Sea of Galilee in pursuit of Turks, who are fleeing towards Damascus.
East of Jordan British cavalry occupy Amman on Hejaz railway. Total of prisoners 45,000 and 265 guns.
Australian troops guard a captured German airplane at Jenin aerodrome: © IWM (Q 12345): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1044138136815718401
A British armoured car at the Battle of Megiddo in northern Palestine: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1044168338031738881

Political, etc
Germany: OHL informs Berlin Govt that armistice talks inevitable.
Kaiser visits Kiel U-boat School, speaks to 400 U-boat officers and minelayer crews.
France: 4th War Loan authorized.
United Kingdom: Army educational scheme issued. Churchill first meets S Sassoon.
Women workers painting smoke shells at a factory in Lancashire: © IWM (Q 28241): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1044198547531452416
Italy: Yugoslav State recognized by Italy as independent.
Bulgaria: Bulgaria proposes an Armistice, but General Franchet d'Esperey, (Commander-in-Chief of Allied forces) declines any suspension of hostilities.
United States: Girl Scouts and Camp Fire Girls in Cincinnati, Ohio scatter flowers in advance of soldiers leaving for the front: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1043910391921881088

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
Western Front, Air: Rickenbacker awarded Medal of Honor; posthumous award to Texas ‘balloon-buster’ Lieutenant Frank Luke, 29 (killed on September 19 after 14 victories in 8 days, including 3 aircraft and 2 balloons just on September 18). Germans claim 41 Allied aircraft for loss of 13 (including on September 24).
Germany: 4 D.H.9s of No 110 Squadron lost in raid on Frankfurt (bombed from 17,000ft) to 50 fighters.
US ace Edward ‘Eddie’ Rickenbacker joined and later led the elite 94th ‘Hat in the Ring’ Squadron in 1918: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Eddie-Rickenbacker.jpg?ssl=1
Italian Caproni bomber operated by the Americans taking off at Souilly: © IWM (Q 65568): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1044500526887514112

Southern Front
Serbia: French and Serbs capture vital Bulgarian supply centre of Gradsko on the Vardar with 19 guns and 40 locomotives; General Pruneau of 17th Colonial Division ‘My poilus have their clothes in rags and most … are barefooted’ (September 26). Cavalry Brigade Jouinot-Gambetta reaches Babuna Pass and strikes north through mountains for Uskub covering 11 miles on September 26. British XVI Corps cross Bulgar frontier and enter Kosturino. Bulgarian deserters try to seize GHQ at Kurstendil and commandeer trains to go home, GHQ moves to Sofia on September 27.

Eastern Front/West Asia Border Theater
Trans-Jordan: 2,750 Anzac soldiers capture Amman with 2,563 PoWs and 10 guns. 400 Australian Light Horse (78 casualties) storm Semakh rail station south of Lake Galilee with 364 PoWs (including c.150 Germans) and 1 gun. Tiberias surrenders. EEF total haul since September 19 are 45,000 PoWs and 260 guns.
Palestine: Battles of Megiddo (Sharon and Nablus) (see 23rd and 25th): Battles of Megiddo end (see 19th).

Political, etc
United Kingdom: Railway strike, which began in South Wales, spreads to other lines; Great Western, Midland and London and South Western affected.
‘Italy’s Day’in London.
Bulgaria: Tsar Ferdinand orders Stamboliski freed to calm mutineers in Sofia; 1,500 casualties as loyal cadets and German 217th Division from Odessa and Varna disperse them.
United States: Soldiers at Camp Dix, New Jersey gargling with salt water to protect them from the Spanish Flu, which is spreading across army camps: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1044258978061062144

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
Allied Meuse-Argonne Offensive begins. Battle of Champagne and Argonne begins (see October 15th): Great Franco-American attack on 40-mile front, from middle of Champagne to the Meuse. French under General Henri Gouraud, Americans under General John Pershing. After 3 hour barrage 37 Franco-American divisions attack at 0530 hours on 40-mile front from Champagne to Meuse with 705 tanks available, average advance 3 miles. AEF gas effort: 800 million rounds (1600t) mustard gas and phosgene; 10,600 gassed (278 deaths; until November 11). Both armies advance several miles, capture Montfaucon, Varennes and many villages.
Western Front, Air: William Mitchell’s 842 US aircraft vs 302 German for Meuse-Argonne Offensive (until November 11), but weather restricts close support. Germans claim 63 Allied aircraft for loss of 3.
Germany: Four Handley Pages of No 216 Squadron damage railways and bridge at Metz-Sablon causing delays and dislocation for 24 hours.
US soldiers with French FT-17 tanks march into their deployment areas in the Meuse-Argonne sector: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/US-Inf-FT17.jpg?ssl=1
Captured German prisoners being led down a French trench in the Marne region: © IWM (Q 70062): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1044530734919286784
American soldiers with a “camouflaged” railway gun: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1044621371282731009
Columns of German prisoners captured by the Americans during the Battle of St. Mihiel: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1044636448249565189
American troops launch the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, which is the largest offensive in US history, involving 1.2 million soldiers. A gun crew of the 23rd Infantry: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1044850320470396928
A wounded American soldier receiving treatment near Varennes-en-Argonne: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1044880528544018432
American artillerymen loading a 14-inch gun on the Argonne front: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1044940922864226306
Renault FT-17 tanks, operated by the Americans, advancing in the Argonne Forest: © IWM (Q 58691): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1044971122754801665

Southern Front
General fighting in Serbia/Bulgaria: British enter Strumitsa. Serbian cavalry, striking east from Ishtip, capture Kochana. Bulgarians make hard fight to retain Uskub.
Bulgarian capital Sofia still 130 miles and five mountains ranges to north.
Red Cross distributing cigarettes to Italian soldiers. Austro-Hungarian troops have control of the mountain in the background: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1044910726215880705

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Trans-Jordan: 10th Cavalry Brigade at Irbid fails vs Turkish Fourth Army flank guard. Arab Army (3,000 men) crosses Hejaz Railway north of Deraa (Colonel Oppen’s 700 Germans reach, railed to Riyak on September 27), takes 2 stations and over 600 PoWs.
View of the town of Amman, future capital of Jordan: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1044560936684670976
Palestine: Edmund Allenby meets corps commanders at Jenin, orders advance on Damascus.

Naval and Overseas Operations
USCGC Tampa sunk on convoy duty (117 lost).
German submarine U-156, which sank 44 ships during its career and participated in the Attack on New Orleans (the only attack on the American mainland in the war), hits a mine and sinks, resulting in the deaths of all 77 crew.

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Count Istvan Tisza's Mission to Bosnia a complete failure.
United Kingdom: Railway strike in England ended.
Bulgaria: North of Kosturino at 0800 hours (95°F in shade) Derbyshire Yeomanry meets Bulgarian car with white flag and Todorov letter to Milne. BULGARIA REQUESTS ARMISTICE.

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Battle of Canal du Nord (27 September - 1 October 1918) The British First Army was to cross the canal continuing the advance following on from the Battle of the Drocourt-Quéant Line and advance towards Cambrai. This sector extended from Sauchy l'Estrees to Gouzeaucourt. So-called Hindenburg Line pierced. Beaucamp, Graincourt, etc., taken; Canadians capture Bourlon Wood. 10,000 PoWs and 200 guns claimed. Rupprecht writes that peace must be made in winter. US 106th Regiment (27th Division) loses 1,540 of 2,000 men attacking three outposts of Siegfried Line (actual name of “Hindenburg Line”).
Canadian soldiers with captured Germans watch the fighting on the Canal du Nord: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Kanada-gefDE-Canal-du-Nord.jpg?ssl=1
Meuse-Argonne Offensive: Battle of Champagne and Argonne (see October 15th): Further Franco-American advance between Reims and Verdun, converging move on the Argonne. Franco-American advance slows: Montfaucon behind Michel Stellung and Varennes (Crown Prince’s 1916 Verdun observation point) captured, 3,000 prisoners claimed.
Reported from Christiana that British flag hoisted over (destroyed) German property at Spitsbergen.
Western Front, Air: 57 RAF squadrons with 1.058 aircraft support BEF assault; 6 fighter squdrons make low-lying attacks using 70t bombs and 26,000 MG rounds; 3 German airfields attacked. Germans claim 44 Allied aircraft for loss of 10. Handley Pages drop 6t bombs on Busigny rail junction (night September 27-28).
American artillery moves up to the front at dawn near Mœuvre for the Arras and Cambrai campaign: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1045183805047410689
British, Canadian, and New Zealand troops attack German positions on the Canal du Nord. British infantry moving up during the battle: © IWM (Q 9326): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1045229105350942720

Eastern Front
North Russia: Allied Archangel advance blocked by far larger Red force at Nizhne-Toimski after 60-mile push, retreat to Borok and dig in until September 28.
Southern Russia: Josef Stalin signals Leon Trotsky for 30,000 rifles, 150 MGs and 50 guns or else retirement east of Volga.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Trans-Jordan: Arab Army cuts in at Sheikh Saad, claims 2,000 PoWs and wipes out 2,000 Turks in revenge for Tafas village massacre.
Palestine: Australian Mounted Division begins ride for Damascus by crossing Jordan.

Political, etc
United States: Broadway actresses from the “Fiddlers Three” perform for American sailors while sitting on a gun of the USS Charleston: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1045001337874894848

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Battle of Canal du Nord (27 September-1 October 1918): Messines retaken by British forces (see April 10th). Italians force crossing of the Aisne east of Conde.
Meuse-Argonne Offensive: Battle of Champagne and Argonne (see October 15th): Further Franco-American progress; General Mangin advances in Champagne and on the Aisne. Germans retire to the Ailette. American line advanced to Exermont and Brieulles, many villages taken.
The Allied Flanders Advance begins with the Battle of the Flanders Peaks (see October 10th) and the Fifth Battle of Ypres 1918 (see November 10th, 1917, and October 2nd, 1918) (Other sources count this as the Fourth Battle of Ypres (until October 2): Allied Flanders Army Group (King Albert, CoS General Degoutte) of 28 divisions with 2,550 guns (12 Belgian with 170,000 men, 10 BEF, 6 French divisions). Successful Anglo-Belgian attack after 3-hour barrage advances on 23-mile front from Dixmude to Ploegsteert under King Albert; Houthhulst Forest captured and claim over 4,000 prisoners, Houthulst Forest shows 4-mile advance; Wytschaete captured. Belgian 4th Carabineers storm Passchendaele.
Long range bombardment of Dunkirk.
Western Front, Air: Ernst Udet destroys 2 US-crewed DH and receives bullet graze. Lieutenant F Rumey (45 victories) of Jasta 4 killed in action. Bogohl 3 and other German units drop 167,154lb bombs. Most crews carry out 3 sorties (night September 28/29). RAF loss of 424 men since September 15 severest of war, average 15.5 per 100 planes flown (1,404 serviceable). 24 RAF squadrons support final Allied advance, helped by radio telephone. 6 main rail targets attacked, 27 aircraft lost in low-flying attacks.
German prisoners carrying a wounded soldier follow a British tank during the Battle of Canal du Nord: © IWM (Q 9345): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1045289559263719424
Damaged town of Varennes, France on the River Aire: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1045319761993887744
Panorama of Montfaucon, France after its capture by the American Army from the Germans: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1045349996860776450
A British soldier guarding German prisoners at Bapaume: © IWM (Q 9339): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1045591498971058177
American artillerymen exchanging fire with German artillery at Bois du Fays. A German shell explode in the background: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1045621702095458304
British troops underneath a damaged bridge near Mœuvres: © IWM (Q 9640): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1045651943358713856

Southern Front
Austro-Hungarian attack in Val Giudicaria (Dolomites) repulsed.
Salonika: Armistice talks begin at 1600 hours including General Lukov and Bulgarian Finance Minister who hope for neutral status but d’Esperey unyielding.
Serbia: French 57th Division occupies Ochrid.
Bulgarian soldiers in Allied captivity. Bulgaria’s withdrawal from the war causes the entire Balkan front of the Central Powers to collapse: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/bulgar-kriegsgefangene.jpg?ssl=1

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Trans-Jordan: British troops under General Allenby cross the Upper Jordan at Jisr Benat Yakub and effect a junction with Arab forces near Deraa.
British cavalry at El Kuneitra, 40 miles from Damascus.
RAF bomb Damascus airfield from new Kuneitra landing ground, supplied with fuel by air. Aircraft land at Damascus on October 1.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Belgian Coast: British ships and aeroplanes co-operate in attack on Zeebrugge. Eleven German destroyers evacuate port on September 30 and reach Germany thanks to moonless nights, shoals and rough weather which thwart Harwich Force.
Britain: Swan Hunter yard launches first fabricated ‘straight line’ ship SS War Climax, 31 weeks from laying keel.
Mozambique: Paul von Lettow recrosses river Rovuma into German East Africa, opposite Nagwamira (8 hippos shot for meat to celebrate return). Kartucol reaches river Lugenda.

Political, etc
Between Warring Powers: Germany refuses British proposal re: Prisoners agreement.
Japan: Baron Goto Shinpei, Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs, resigns (see 29th, and April 22nd).

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Battle of Canal du Nord (27 September-1 October 1918): Dixmude retaken by Belgian forces (see November 10th, 1914).
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Battle of the St. Quentin Canal: British right wing (Fourth Army, 17 divisions) and French left (First Army, 14 divisions) Messines, Gheluvelt and other places occupied. Allies reach Roulers-Menin road. British reach outskirts of Cambrai and break Hindenburg Line on a 6-mile front. 22,000 prisoners claimed in three days.
Meuse-Argonne Offensive: Battle of Champagne and Argonne (see October 15th): General Charles Mangin reaches the Ailette.
The Allied Flanders Advance: Battle of the Flanders Peaks (see October 10th) and the Fifth Battle of Ypres 1918 (see November 10th, 1917, and October 2nd, 1918): Passchendaele retaken by Allied forces.
Western Front, Air: 337 RAF aircraft (17 squadrons) support BEF Fourth Army’s rupture of the Hindenburg Line although smoke and mist hampers them; 5 German balloons shot down, 6 fighters for loss of 3 including fight between 20 German and 29 RAF fighters, although Germans concede only 2 losses for 8 Allied.
Allied soldiers prepare to go forward with the tanks near Bellicourt to assault the Hindenburg Line: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1045976598174994432
British soldiers near Bellicourt as a German shell explodes in front of them: © IWM (Q 9349): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1046021951918084096
German prisoners carrying wounded soldiers pass by Allied tanks near Bellicourt: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1046097466716803072

Southern Front
With Bulgaria out of the war, Allied nations on the Macedonian Front begin the “liberation” of Serbia, Albania, and Montenegro.
Serbia: Serbs close to Bulgarian frontier south of Kustendil and storm Bulgarian position, 11 miles north-east of Veles.
French cavalry enter Uskub (Skopje).
Albania: Severe fighting with Austro-Hungarian rearguards in Albania.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Trans-Jordan: Cavalry and car movement towards Damascus continues.
10,000 Turks, part of 2nd corps, 4th army, between Ma’an and Amman, surrender at Ziza (17 miles south of Amman).
Palestine: The small remaining Turkish garrison of Ma'an surrenders near Amman (Palestine) (see 23rd).

Naval and Overseas Operations
North Sea: Coastal submarine UB-115 (oil patch sighted by rigid airship R.29) sunk off Sunderland by depth charges from several Royal Navy destroyers (including HMS Ouse) and trawlers.

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Czechoslovak resolution for liberty proclaimed at Prague.
United Kingdom: The Planets, Op. 32, the orchestral suite by English composer Gustav Holst, premiers in London. Gustav Holst: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1046082407017984001
Bulgaria: ARMISTICE BETWEEN BULGARIA AND ENTENTE SIGNED. https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1045945042819600385
Japan: Takashi Hara succeeds Count Terauchi as Japanese Prime Minister (see October 9th, 1916). Count Yasuya Uchida appointed Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs (see 28th). Lieut.-General Kenichi Oshima, Japanese Minister for War, resigns (see 30th, and March 30th, 1916).

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Battle of Canal du Nord (27 September-1 October 1918): Belgians threaten Roulers.
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Battle of the St. Quentin Canal: The German Army's primary defensive line, the Hindenburg Line, is breached by Franco-British troops, with the help of substantial air support. Important progress on St. Quentin-Cambrai sector, Thorigny-Guistain-Rumilly taken. Cambrai fired by Germans. British in Cambrai outskirts; six villages captured. German incendiarists at work. BEF first uses mustard gas, vs so-called Hindenburg Line. Ferdinand Foch, back from Flanders sees Douglas Haig at Arras.
Meuse-Argonne Offensive: Battle of Champagne and Argonne (see October 15th): General Gouraud, on 20-mile front in Champagne takes Ste. Marie-a-Py, etc.
General Mangin progresses on Aisne and Vesle.
AEF heavily engaged as its ill-organized motor and horse transport becomes increasingly traffic-jammed. Allied maximum advance now 8 miles with 18,000 PoWs and 200 guns.
German September losses 236,200 men. Total 160 Allied divisions (+57 in reserve) vs 113 German front-line divisions (+84 in reserve), but only 59 German divisions classed as ‘fit’. British Army adopts 24-hour clock (French Army throughout) from midnight September 30-October 1. During September 10 more German divisions disbanded (3 more early October) to strengthen depleted remainder. Lack of horses reducing medium batteries from 4 guns to 3.
The Allied Flanders Advance: Battle of the Flanders Peaks (see October 10th) and the Fifth Battle of Ypres 1918 (see November 10th, 1917, and October 2nd, 1918): British progress north of Neuve Chapelle., troops 2 miles away from Menin.
Western Front, Air: During September German airmen make 130 parachute descents as new Heinecke equipment comes into general use. RAF September loss (excluding IAF) a record 235 aircraft (French 59). German loss 115 aircraft (excluding September 21-23 and 30). Jasta Boelcke scores its monthly record of 46 kills for loss of 2 pilots.
Wounded Canadian soldiers on the Western Front: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1046369242185117696
American nurse gives a wounded African American soldier chocolate: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1046399508006023168
German Field Marshal von Hindenburg and General Ludendorff at a train station in Brussels: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1046414588294631425

Eastern Front
Canadian contingent lands at Archangel to join Allied Expeditionary Force (see August 2nd).

Southern Front
Hostilities between Bulgaria and Entente Powers cease at 12 noon, conceding Allied occupation of key points and use of railways vs remaining Central Powers; Bulgarian Army to be reduced to 3 divisions and 2 cavalry regiments. British September sick admissions 9,855 (mainly flu and malaria); 3,137 wounded.
Opening of Sobranje and King's Speech.
German Alpenkorps (from Western Front) reaches Nis with 219th (Saxon) Division (from Eastern Front) behind.
Albania: Italian cavalry patrols reach river Skumbi.
RAF photo-recon flight to Sofia.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Syria: Arab flags flown in Damascus as Turks retreat north on two roads and Germans blow ammo dumps. Australian Mounted Division blocks Barada Gorge (Beirut road) and takes 4,000 PoWs; 5th Cavalry Division makes 1,294 for 10 casualties; Arabs take 600 from Turk Deraa column after Lawrence fetches 4th Cavalry Division artillery.
Ottoman prisoners captured as Allied troops approach the city of Damascus: © IWM (Q 12353): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1046308775412551680
Mesopotamia: Turkish Sixth Army estimated at 13,725 soldiers (more than 4 divisions), 154 guns and 237 MGs.

Naval and Overseas Operations
North Sea: British seaplane squadron over Heligoland Bight.
Atlantic: U.S.S. Ticonderoga torpedoed by U-152 (121 soldiers lost) (another source says 213). USS Ticonderoga: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1046338977224183808
Adriatic: Otranto Barrage completed.
Allied and neutral shipping lost to U-boats in September: 79 ships (48 British with 521 lives) worth 186,600t (British 136,859t). U-boat figure 91 ships worth 171,972t including 38 ships of 42,693t in Mediterranean (including last Austrian score, 16 ships worth 5,004t); 9 U-boats sunk.

Political, etc
Germany: Count Georg von Hertling, German Imperial Chancellor, and all German Secretaries of State resign. (see October 30th, 1917, and October 4th, 1918).
United Kingdom: The Chancellor of the Exchequer Bonar Law opens a "Feed-the-Guns" campaign to raise a second War Loan of £1,000,000,000.
Mr. Balfour on the League of Nations.
Japan: Lieut.-General Giichi Tanaka appointed Japanese Minister for War.
United States: Woodrow Wilson tells Senate woman suffrage ‘a vitally necessary war measure’.
Despite President Wilson’s support of women’s suffrage, the amendment to give women the right to vote is defeated in the Senate by two votes. Wilson’s speech: http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=126468
Governor Whitman of New York makes an appeal for citizens to buy Liberty Bonds: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1046429698333581314

[gekkogecko]

42 Days until Armistice
Western Front
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Battle of Canal du Nord (27 September-1 October 1918): Battle of the Canal du Nord ends. British and Canadian troops capture the Canal du Nord in France, claiming 36,500 German prisoners.
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Battle of the St. Quentin Canal: St. Quentin retaken by French forces (see September 27th). British progress and take ground south of Le Catelet; stiff fighting near Bony and south of Cambrai.
Meuse-Argonne Offensive: Battle of Champagne and Argonne (see October 15th): Quiet in this sector, relative lull.
The Allied Flanders Advance: Battle of the Flanders Peaks (see October 10th) and the Fifth Battle of Ypres 1918 (see November 10th, 1917, and October 2nd, 1918): Flanders ridge occupied and Ledeghem seized by British.
RAF drop c.24t bombs and destroy 16 German aircraft.
Somme: BEF about to break through Hindenburg Line last defences after 7-mile advance since September 27. This Wotan position runs west of Lille, Douai and St Quentin to Reims. Behind, Germans have begun 2 other positions Hermann (Ghent-Valenciennes-Le Cateau-Aisne) and Antwerp-Meuse Line (west of Antwerp and Brussels to Mezieres and Sedan). Ludendorff sends staff officer Major Bussche to Berlin to explain to new Chancellor military situation makes peace moves essential. German casualties since March 21 claimed to be 1,222,299 soldiers, and German Ninth Army disbanded due to shortened front.
Artois: Germans evacuate Lens and Armentieres (night October 1-2). British 2nd Division captures Mont sur l’Oeuvre. Canadians (over 1,000 casualties) fight another mile forward north of Cambrai, have captured over 7,000 PoWs and 205 guns since September 27, from up to 12 German divisions.
Champagne: French Fourth Army (Gouraud) advances on 14-mile front.
Western Front, Air: Fine weather all day. Only 11 of 49 D.H.9s reach and bomb Aulnoye rail junction after midnight, mainly due to engine trouble, but 18 of 21 bomb it in the morning, exploding ammo train. In October Major-General Salmond, GOC RAF in France complains D.H.9 day bomber so inadequate it has ‘to accept battle when, and where, the defending forces choose …’.
Allied supplies move through the destroyed landscape near Hooge, Belgium: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1046663541825114113
A British soldier with a captured German soldier at Menin Road near Gheluvelt: © IWM (Q 11764): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1046739078975229952
American soldiers moving through a crowded road on motor transports and on horseback on the Western Front: © IWM (Q 70182): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1046754212846227458

Southern Front
Albania: Berat retaken by Italian forces (see August 26th).
Austro-Hungarians take defensive measures on their southern frontier in consequence of Bulgarian Armistice.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Syria: Damascus taken by British and Arab forces.
Damascus falls to British and Arab forces, and more than 7000 Ottoman prisoners are claimed. Mounted Sharifan irregulars ride through the city of Damascus: © IWM (Q 11764): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1046693743288619008

Naval and Overseas Operations
Germany: During October 179 operational U-boats. Largely propaganda ‘Scheer Programme’ (October 1) envisages increasing monthly U-boat production from 13 to 37 boats (December 1919) building 376-450 U-boats using 69,000 workers and 11 yards.
Britain: Only 257 (5.1%) of 5,018 Royal Navy warships on convoy escort duty.
USA: Shipping Board has 3,115 ships of 17,276,318t building.
Arctic: British flag raised at Ebeltoff Harbour, Spitzbergen.
Black Sea: c.200 Germans take over Russian battleship Volya; 4 destroyers; 2 torpedo boats; and 1 auxiliary cruiser, Volya enters service on October 15. By October 26 Berlin urging return to Russians.
North Sea, Channel: Flanders U-boat Flotilla recalls all 8 boats at sea for return to Germany, 4 others scuttled until October 5.

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Baron Husarek (Austrian Prime Minister) on situation: open to Peace offers; great row in Reichsrath.
Germany: German majority program issued.
Erich Ludendorff cables government to transmit peace offer without further delay, tells staff ‘Our own Army is .. heavily infected with the poison of Spartacist Socialist ideas’.
United Kingdom: Wages (men and women) Committee begins.
Milk to be controlled in Great Britain.
RFP 129% (up 13% due to meat, butter, milk and egg rises). Maximum horse ration 7-13lb per day. In October Film Mrs John Bull Prepared.
United States: Senate rejects women’s suffrage third time.
During October Flu pandemic at height (October 2-3) suspends draft in several cities, shuts war plants; 14,636 army cases (300 deaths) in last 24 hours, total 88,461 (1,877 deaths). Student Army Training Corps opens in over 500 colleges.
Sweden: Landslide in Getå, Sweden occurs, which causes a train to derail, killing 42 and injuring 41. It is the worse rail disaster in Swedish history: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1046784444886122496

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Battle of the St. Quentin Canal: Battle of the St. Quentin Canal ends (see September 29th). French eject Germans from the remainder of St. Quentin. Advance north of the Vesle to near Cormicy. Lille being evacuated.
Meuse-Argonne Offensive: Battle of Champagne and Argonne (see October 15th): French capture Challerange.
Surrounded US ‘Lost Battalion’ (308th Infantry Regiment, 77th Division) holds till relief (until October 7), 194 survivors from over 600.
The Allied Flanders Advance: Battle of the Flanders Peaks (see October 10th) and the Fifth Battle of Ypres 1918 (see November 10th, 1917, and October 2nd, 1918): Battle of Ypres 1918 ends (see September 28th). Germans withdraw on wide front north and south of La Bassee Canal; British recapture Armentieres. Allies stopped short of key objectives (Roulers junction and Menin), but claim 11,000 PoWs, 300 guns and 600 MGs for 4,500 Belgian and 4,695 British casualties.
Britain: 3,017 BEF officer weekly casualties since September 25, second highest of war.
Western Front, Air: Aircraft of No.82 and No.218 Squadrons of the Royal Air Force (Armstrong Whitworth FK8s & de Havilland DH9s) are detailed to carry food to French and Belgian troops whose reserves are exhausted. 15,000 rations are dropped in bags of earth to prevent damage.
German communications bombed (October 3-4).
A British Mark IV tank captured by the Germans and then destroyed by French artillery, north of Perthes: © IWM (Q 49089): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1047056150544429056
French troops and a Renault FT-17 tank on a road near St. Julien: © IWM (Q 49087): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1047086371188432897
British band plays in the ruins of Bellenglise, France: © IWM (Q 9522): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1047116590616068097
Mass of recently captured German soldiers held at Abbeville: © IWM (Q 9355): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1047146797410521094

Southern Front
Albania: RAF from Andrano in heel of Italy make 4 raids on Durazzo (total 29 aircraft), drop 6,280lb bombs.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Syria: Last Australian action: 9th ALH takes 1,481 PoWs, 3 guns and 26 MGs; only 17,000 of 100,000 Turks have escaped north. Lawrence’s Arabs disperse Algerian-Druze riot in Damascus.
Hodson’s Horse regiment of the Indian Army marching through the recently captured city of Damascus: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1047025939295686656
Mesopotamia: Marshall told to begin Tigris advance without delay. Trading with enemy limits raised in Baghdad and Basra districts.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Adriatic: Durazzo bombarded by Italian and British warships, which destroy Austrian base; 3 Austrian destroyers and torpedo boats slightly damaged in harbor (Austrian evacuation ordered September 28). Hospital ship allowed out. Austrian U-31 torpedoes cruiser Weymouth‘s stern off.
Atlantic: German submarine shells and sinks Spanish S.S. Francoli off Cartagena.

Political, etc
Germany: Grand conference in Berlin under Kaiser's presidency. Bussche briefs Reichstag party leaders: sustained Allied attacks on whole Western Front make formation of reserves impossible; OHL can no longer make good losses suffered; Germany can continue for some time inflicting heavy losses and implementing a ‘scorched earth’ policy, but she cannot win the war. Every day reduces likelihood of acceptable peace terms.
United Kingdom: Allies recognise belligerent status of Arab allies in Palestine and Syria.
United States: Italian Bersaglieri veterans in New York City to help raise money for the Liberty Loan: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1046814601415970816
Norway: M. Maxim Litvinov arrives at Bergen.

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Battle of the Beaurevoir Line (3-5 October 1918): British successfully attack on eight-mile front and take Le Catelet and 350 guns.
Elsewhere:
Germans withdraw from Lens-Armentieres line and past La Bassee..
British capture Gheluwe; French and Belgians reach Hooglede.
Champagne: French take Challerange. US 2nd Division storms key Blanc Mont Ridge (15 miles northeast of Reims) until October 4 to aid Henri Gouraud’s hitherto stalled advance for 5 miles (until October 10) taking c.2,000 PoWs for 6,300 casualties
Meuse-Argonne Offensive: Battle of Champagne and Argonne (see October 15th): Max von Gallwitz stalls US advance, after 7-mile gain, on Apremont-Brieulles line.
Western Front, Air: Allies claim successful air fighting, 55 German planes down.
The ruins of Villers-Bretonneux’s church: © IWM (Q 58389): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1047388325416452097
A crater created by a mine exploded under German positions at La Bassée, France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1047419757719441408
American cavalryman and a tank arrive in Bellicourt, France: © IWM (Q 103006): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1047480160319094784

Eastern Front
Northern Russia: Action near Pyavozero Lake (Murman front).
Southern Russia: The Ufa (southern Urals) loyal Government declare all Soviet treaties void and propose All-Russian Constituient Assembly.
Fighting in the Urals.

Southern Front
Serbia: 19,000 Bulgarians surrender to Italian 35th Division and French 11th Colonial Division at Sop; Allied forces in touch with Austro-Germans in southern Serbia; Serbs, in fighting against Austro-Hungarian forces, drive back Austrian 9th Division and also capture 7,000 Bulgarians, despite armistice.
Italy: Big British trench raid on Asiago front. Heavy fighting and 500 Austrian PoWs by October 11.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Syria: Edmund Allenby visits Damascus and meets Prince Feisal for first time, tells him France will be protecting power in Syria, but he can set up military administration Aqaba-Damascus east of Jordan. An exhausted and disillusioned Thomas Lawrence asks for leave and departs for Cairo on October 4.
T.E. Lawrence in Damascus after the entrance of King Faisal in to the city: © IWM (Q 46093): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1047449960667631616
Siberia: Japanese reported to have joined Semenov at Ruchlevo; 1,500 Magyar prisoners.

Naval and Overseas Operations
North Sea: Royal Navy submarine L.11 torpedoes and sinks German torpedo boat S-33.

Political, etc
Germany: “Brutal” order by Ludendorff re: prisoners. Germans witholding ratification of Prisoners of War Agreement because of Germans interned in China.
Prince Maximillian of Baden (Kaiser’s second cousin) becomes last Imperial Chancellor, also replaces Paul von Hintze as Foreign Minister. Hindenburg writes to Chancellor ‘As a result of the collapse of the Macedonian Front … there is no longer a prospect of forcing peace on the enemy’.
Prince Maximilian of Baden: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1047495263789752322
France: General Charles Moiner appointed Governor of Paris.
United Kingdom: Sir G. Cave appointed Chairman of Inder-departmenal Prisoners of War Committee.
Bulgaria: Boris Klemens Robert Maria Pius Ludwig Stanislaus Xaver, ascends the Bulgarian throne as Boris III. Boris III signs decree demobilizing Army and issues peaceful manifesto on October 6. Former Tsar Ferdinand’s train told to leave Austrian territory on October 5, leaves for Coburg on October 6.
Romania: Provisional National Council forms National Council of Unity (France recognizes on October 12).
United States: Czechoslovak soldiers marching in New York City. The Allies have promised them their independence after the war: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1047555661612163072

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Battle of the Beaurevoir Line (3-5 October 1918): British and French heavy fighting St. Quentin to Cambrai.
French and Americans increase gains in Champagne as far as the River Arnes.
Announcement re: prisoners, etc..
German guns being removed from Flanders coast.
Meuse-Argonne Offensive: Battle of Champagne and Argonne (see October 15th): US advance resumed west of river, takes Hill 240 and 4 villages in mile or so advance. ‘… Bullard’s Corps forces the enemy back to the Kriemhilde positions south of the Bois de Forest’ (US communique). 3rd Division takes 1,366 casualties vs Curel Heights. Lull follows on October 5 after 8-mile advance.
American “Lost Battalion,” trapped behind German lines, is accidentally targeted by Allied artillery. They send a message by carrier pigeon: “OUR ARTILLERY IS DROPPING A BARRAGE DIRECTLY ON US. FOR HEAVENS SAKE STOP IT.” The pigeon is severely injured, but delivers the message.
France: Allies announce capture of 254,012 PoWs; 3,669 guns; 23,000 MGs between July 15 and September 30.
US artillery in action, equipped with the famous French 75mm M1897 field gun: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/US-ari-French-75mm-gun.jpg?ssl=1
British troops occupy the town of Lens after the Germans abandon it. British soldiers in the ruins: © IWM (Q 11794):
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1047799763377303553
Mule-drawn carts and Allied tanks pass by each other on a road near Bellicourt, France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1047860167050743808
The ruins of the town of Lens, France. The mound in the background used to be the church: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1047891626717274113

Eastern Front
General Edmund Ironside takes over command of Allied forces at Archangel.

Southern Front
Salonika: Greek troops occupy Seres and Demir Hissar.
Serbia: French and Serbs drive back Austro-Hungarians in Vranya region.
Albania: French and Italians drive back Austro-Hungarians.
Italy: Sharp fighting in Monte Grappa (Upper Brenta) region.
48 Sopwith Camel fighters (no casualties) bomb Austrian flying schools at Campoformido, southwest of Udine and Egna, south of Bolzano (October 5), destroying over 13 aircraft.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Persia: Inspector-General of Communications Dickson reaches Juzzah border railhead, cables need for 14,600 camels or 1,450 vans.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Atlantic: Japanese steamer Hirano Maru torpedoed off Ireland, 292 lost. https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1047845075194195968
Mediterranean: British convoy escorts and SS Greenland‘s gunfire sink coastal submarine UB-68 southeast of Malta, her commander Karl Doenitz (U-boat leader in WW2) a PoW, having sunk 7 ships or 16,993t including one from this convoy.
North Sea: Harwich Force hoping to find returning U-boats only finds 2 armed trawlers to sink.

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: German and Austro-Hungarian Governments send Notes to President Wilson via Switzerland proposing an armistice on the basis of his 14 points. [The German note was received by President Wilson on October 6th and the Austrian on October 7th.] (see 8th and 18th).
Germany: The German government under Chancellor Prince Maximillian of Baden seeks an armistice, but the Allies remain cautious of German intentions and do not accept it. The German Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor in Berlin: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1047769561188188161
United Kingdom: British Government learns Turkey has cabled Berlin that she is about to seek peace.

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Battle of the Beaurevoir Line (3-5 October 1918): Battle of the Beaurevoir Line ends. Kaiser Order of the Day mentions peace offer, but urges continued stern resistance. The Times, London ‘Our Armies in the West hold the front from the east of Ypres to the north of St Quentin. Since August 8 we have advanced practically at every point.’ BEF claims to have captured 35,000 PoWs and 380 guns since September 27 and broken through Hindenburg Line in 9 days on 30-mile front. Victorious Australian Corps withdrawn to rest after capturing Montbrehain, claiming to have captured 29,144 PoWs and 388 guns since March 27 (21,243 casualties including only 79 missing), liberated 116 towns and villages since August 8, engaged 39 German divisions (30 twice or more, 6 disbanded).
Germany falls back between La Catelet and Crevecoeur and burns Douai.
British carry Beaurevoir, etc. (East of Le Catelet)
Germans fall back towards the Suippe river; fighting on the Arnes (Champagne).
French occupy Moronvilliers Massif (east of Reims).
Meuse-Argonne Offensive: Battle of Champagne and Argonne (see October 15th): Stiff American fighting west of Meuse.
Western Front, Air: “Much” successful bombing by Allies. A German Hannover CL-III plane brought down in the Argonne by U.S. machine gunners: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1047906718599008257
French aviator and fighter pilot Roland Garros is killed in combat. Garros made flight altitude records and flew the first non-stop flight over the Mediterranean, as well as being famous for being the first pilot to shoot down another aircraft with a fixed, forward-firing machinegun from a single-seat airplane: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1048223810980388865
2nd Lieutenant Val Browning fires a Browning machine gun, invented by his father, at Thillombois: © IWM (Q 70559): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1048118104964976641
Australian photographer standing on top of a tank near Ronssoy: © IWM (E(AUS) 3915): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1048148311021158400
A church mined and destroyed by German troops retreating from Armentières: © IWM (Q 58388): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1048178511448604672

Southern Front
Yugoslav delegates meet at Agram (another source say at Laibach: same town, different name (?)) and decide on the formation of a United National Council (see 29th, and September 25th).
German troops reported withdrawn from Bulgarian front.
Serbia: Vranje (aka Vranya) retaken by Serbian forces (see October 15th, 1915). Serbian Second Army begins transfer from Bulgarian frontier west to Montenegro and Albania (until October 20).
Albania: Dibra occupied.
Italy: Italians active on their own mountain fronts.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Northern Channel: AMC Otranto (Orient Co) carrying US troops (431 lost) sinks in collision, destroyer HMS Mounsey rescues 596 men.
Eastern Mediterranean: French Syrian Squadron occupies Beirut, then Tripoli and Alexandretta (both on October 14).
Belgium: German Navy at Ostend and Zeebrugge, Belgium scuttles 4 submarines as the Allied forces approach the port cities.
Germany: Prince Max speaks in the Reichstag. Messrs. Grober, Erzberger and Scheidemann Secretaries of State, and Dr. Solf Foreign Minister, in attendance.

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
British take Fresnoy (north of Arras).
French press enemy back along Suippe front.
Italian advance north of Ostel (nine miles south of Laon); Laon on fire.
Meuse-Argonne Offensive: Battle of Champagne and Argonne (see October 15th): Stiff American fighting on Meuse-Argonne sector continues.
Western Front, Air: US airmen Erwin R Bleckley and Harold Goettler posthumously awarded CMH (US Medal of Honor, awarded in the name of Congress) for suicidal supply-dropping mission to ‘Lost Battalion’ at Binarville on October 2.
A British soldier picks up a fallen headstone at a destroyed cemetery in Gavrelle: © IWM (Q 9568): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1048254014964547585

Eastern Front
British officials from Petrograd reach Swedish frontier.
Bolsheviks repulsed by Allied troops at Seletskaya (170 miles south of Archangel).
Southern Russia: Trotsky recalls Stalin from Tsaritsyn to Moscow (until October 11), returns till October 19.

Southern Front
Serbia: 65,000 Bulgars have surrendered altogether.
Alexander Karađorđević, Prince Regent of Serbia, and later Alexander I of Yugoslavia, accepts promotion to General.
Albania: Italians pushing on in Albania, north of Berat, towards Elbasan.
Bulgarian soldiers captured in Macedonia. Bulgaria signed an armistice with the Allies late last month: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1048555996455624706

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Reported 79,000 prisoners taken since 18 September 1918.
Syria: Sidon occupied by British forces. Zahleh and Rayak (north-west of Damascus) occupied by British cavalry.
Palestine: French and British warships find Beirut evacuated.
Two of the last wounded Allied soldiers are evacuated on horse-carts in Syria or Palestine: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/brit-verwundeter-palaestina.jpg?ssl=1
British troops in Sidon (Lebanon) after its capture from the Ottomans: © IWM (Q 12479): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1048525792337186817

Political, etc
France: France warns Germany re: crimes on French territory.
United Kingdom: Prince Max's letter of 12 January 1918 revealed.
India: Record of 768 flu deaths in Bombay today.
Bulgaria: Peaceful manifesto by King Boris.
China: Canton Government declares war on President Hsuh Shih Chang.

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
British advance north of Scarpe river.
Heavy French fighting all along their line; they take Berry-au-Bac (Aisne river).
Americans drive enemy back south-east of Grand Pre.
France: Supreme War Council learns new German Chancellor has approached President Wilson with request for armistice.
French railway guns in firing position: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/frz-eisenbahngeschuetze.jpg?ssl=1
The ruins of Merville, France: © IWM (Q 78783): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1048844135657091072
King Albert of Belgium and French Marshal Foch reviewing the troops at Houthem Aerodrome, Belgium: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1048904541801009152
American artillery firing in a ditch behind a road: © IWM (Q 101504): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1048934737451073537

Eastern Front
South Russia: General Berthelot proposes Salonika army use in South Russia to Clemenceau to protect Denikin’s White build up; Franchet d’Esperey opposes on October 27.
Volga: Red Fourth Army retakes Samara. (Red Eastern Front now 103,000 soldiers; 298 guns and 1,627 MGs strong.)
North Russia: US 339th Infantry coy wins skirmish at Borok, but Reds force Allied outposts back (October 9-10). Allies retreat 20 miles to Kurgomin-Tulgas (October 13-17) and repel Red attack (October 23).

Southern Front
Balkans: Supreme Allied War Council decides Salonika Army will march east through Thrace to Constantinople, Milne to command (October 10), ready with 4 divisions on October 29.
Albania: Elbasan taken by Italian forces (see February 2nd, 1916).

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Syria: British occupy Sidon (aka Saida). British and French troops enter and complete the capture the city of Beirut (Lebanon) without any Ottoman resistance. A view of the city: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1048874344632516608

Political, etc
Germany: Vice-Admiral Ritter von Mann appointed German Naval Secretary.
Russia: M. Alexander Guchkov (Minister of War for the Provisional Government) executed by Bolsheviks.
Poland: Poles in Warsaw proclaim independence, as do deputies in German Reichstag.
United States: U.S. solid views on answer to be given to Central Powers.
Sir Edward Geddes and Naval Mission arrive New York.
The streets of Cincinnati are empty as the city observes “auto-less day” to conserve fuel: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1048586208916525058
“Salomé,” American film starring Theda Bara, is released. Church groups protest the film for combining biblical stories with sexual themes (the film is considered lost today): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1048617654100119552

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Second Battle of Cambrai begins (see 9th): Great Allied (3rd and 4th British Armies, 30th U.S. Division and French) three-mile advance on St. Quentin-Cambrai; takes Fresnoy-Rouvroy line northeast of Arras. Armies attack with 82 tanks (22 lost) on 20-mile front between St Quentin and Cambrai, advance 3 miles, take 10,000 PoWs and 150 guns (including 1,500 PoWs and 30 guns by US 30th Division). Third Army captures Villers-Outreaux, Forenville and Niergnies southeast of Cambrai despite 15 German tanks (6 lost) heading 3 local counter-attacks and hitting 4 British tanks (4 A7Vs deliver another, October 11). Army Groups Rupprecht and Boehn ordered back to Hermann position. Boehn’s group then to be broken up; its Second Army to Rupprecht, Eighteenth to Crown Prince, Boehn sent on leave. over 10,000 prisoners and 150 guns.
North of Scarpe British take Fresnes-Rouvroy line.
French drive Germans back on the Arnes, Aisne and Suippe.
Meuse-Argonne Offensive: Battle of Champagne and Argonne (see October 15th): Americans and French take Cornay and Consenvoye, and drive Germans back north of Verdun. After his platoon suffered heavy casualties during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in France's Forest of Argonne, American Corporal Alvin York led the 7 remaining men on an attack against a German machine gun nest, killing 28 German soldiers and capturing 132 others.
Western Front, Air: RAF support Second Battle of Cambrai including laying smokescreens with 40lb phosphorous bombs, few air combats. Night bombers strike rail junctions (night October 8-9).
German prisoners of war giving their addresses to a Red Cross chaplain so that their families can be told they are alive: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1048964937987571713
Allied troops launch an offensive against Cambrai, France. Canadian soldiers advancing towards Cambrai: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1049206527851188225
British troops resting besides a disabled tank during the Battle of Cambrai: © IWM (Q 7113): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1049236731294351360
American troop advancing towards the village of Prémont, France: © IWM (Q 7084): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1049266931042328576
French 320mm guns on the Western Front: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1049297139048828931
A wounded German prisoner captured at the Battle of Cambrai: © IWM (Q 11375): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1049312233438806016

Eastern Front
Southern Russia: Death of General Mikhail Alexeiev at Ekaterinodar (age 60), Anton Denikin becomes White supreme commander and civil dictator.

Southern Front
Greece: Greeks occupy Drama.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
26 Turkish Divisions reported wiped out in Syrian and Mesopotamian campaigns.
7th Indian Division occupies Beirut after 2 French destroyers’ arrival, 600 Turks handed over. Colonel Piepape, French military Gouverneur, whose troops arrive on October 20.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Germany: Rear-Admiral Adolf von Trotha CoS German High Seas Fleet recommends a ‘final sortie’ vs Grand Fleet if U-boat campaign abandoned completely or Fleet threatened by a ‘humiliating end’. Franz von Hipper sanctions (October 10) detailed planning for this Flottenvorstoss (‘Fleet Attack’); Reinhard Scheer’s CoS Commodore Magnus von Levetzow supports (October 16). Scheer does not inform Army, Kaiser or politicians.
Mediterranean: Admiral Somerset Calthorpe leaves Malta in cruiser Foresight, arrives at Mudros on October 11.

Political, etc
Russia: Vladimir Lenin appoints Iosef Stalin to Revolutionary Military Council.
France: Ferdinand Foch note gives his armistice terms to Allied Prime Ministers.
United States: President Woodrow Wilson replies to Note of German Government, and demands evacuation of occupied territories as first condition of armistice (see 4th and 12th).
A New York policeman wearing a mask to protect him from the Spanish flu: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1048995142701649920
Spain: Spanish Cabinet (Sr. Antonio Maura) resigns.

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
The so-called Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Second Battle of Cambrai: Canadians enter Cambrai, link with Third Army, begin BEF pursuit to the Selle (until October 12) (see August 26th, 1914). British take Le Cateau and Rouvroy (south-east of Lens) and Sallaumines. King's congratulations. 3rd Cavalry Division (329 casualties) takes 500 PoWs, 10 guns and 60 MGs in 8-mile advance, finishes only 2 miles from Le Cateau (2 armored cars briefly enter).
A Canadian patrol enters Cambrai this day: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/canadian-patrol-cambrai.jpg?ssl=1
Germans forced back by French beyond Oise Canal and in Champagne (losing Grand Pre) and from part of the Chemin des Dames.
End of Second Battle of Cambrai (see 8th) brings Battles of the Hindenburg Line to a close (see September 12th).
Meuse-Argonne Offensive: Battle of Champagne and Argonne (see October 15th): Argonne forest cleared. 20,000 AEF (American Expeditionary Forces) deaths to date from flu and pneumonia.
The American “Lost Battalion” of the 77th Division is rescued after holding out for more than 5 days surrounded by the Germans: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1049342433534910465
Western Front, Air: Mainly low-flying RAF operations, wet weather hampers flying (until October 13).
Germany: 8 Handley Page bombers of Nos 215 and 216 Squadrons attack Metz, bomb detonates magazine on island in river Moselle, fire burns for 4 days (1 million Reichsmark damage done, night October 9-10).
A Sopwith Camel biplane after a forced landing near Noyelles-sur-Escaut: © IWM (Q 12121): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1049357536548327426
A wounded German prisoner captured at the Battle of Cambrai: © IWM (Q 11375): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1049312233438806016
A Red Cross nurse plays checkers with a wounded African American soldier at Auteuil, France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1049374154292678658
A British patrol during the Battle of Cambrai: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1049555228826177536
French gunners of a 155 mm gun on the lookout for German airplanes: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1049585434047725568

Southern Front
Serbia: Allies approach Nish, held by Mackensen.
Albania: French occupy Prishtina.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Syria: RAF bombs Homs station (October 10 and 12) from new Haifa base, refuelling at Damascus.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Irish Channel: The Irish mail-boat Leinster torpedoed in Irish Channel; 527 lost.
Mozambique: Von Lettow-Vorbeck reported moving to northern end of Lake Nyassa.

Political, etc
Germany: Major-General heinrich Scheuch succeeds Major-General Herman von Stein as German Minister for War (see October 30th, 1916, and December 17th, 1918).
France: French Socialist Congress passes a "Bolshevist" resolution.
United Kingdom: Lord Grey on the League on Nations.
South Africa: Severe flu epidemic in South Africa.
China: Tuann Chi Jui, Chines Prime Minister, retired.
Minor Allies: Cuban troops offered to U.S.A.

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
Meuse-Argonne Offensive: Battle of Champagne and Argonne (see October 15th): Over 1 million Americans (record 29 divisions) in action, US Second Army (Bullard) formed (HQ Toul) for Meuse-Moselle sector. AEF holds record of 101 miles front line.
Somme and Cambrai: British advance continues to last line of Hindenburg line (Hermann position) along river Selle; Home’s First Army fights its way along Sensee Canal to north until October 16. British 66th Division retakes Le Cateau.
France: FOCH’S ORDERS FOR FINAL ALLIED ADVANCES: Belgians advance on Bruges, BEF upon Maubeuge and Mons, and Franco-Americans upon Mezieres and Sedan, to cut German forces’ main lateral line of communication – Brussels-Maubeuge-Mezieres-Sedan railway and to drive Germans into forested hilly Ardennes.
A US communications detachment with a field telephone in action; line repairs is a constant task: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/US-communications-det.jpg?ssl=1
A wounded American soldier enjoying chocolate and cakes given to him at Varenne-en-Argonne: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1049646032190140416
British troops pose with captured German pickelhaube helmets: © IWM (Q 11367): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1049721534925942784

Southern Front
Serbia: After 170-mile advance in 25 days Serbs recapture Nis from Germans who begin retreat to Krusevac and Knjazevac (night October 9-10). Field Marshal Kovess made Austro-German C-in-C Balkans (HQ Belgrade), decides on retreat behind Danube and Sava.
Bulgaria: British 26th Division reaches Livunovo (Struma valley) in advance on Radomir.
Italian Front: 21 divisions; 1,600 guns; 500 mortars and 2.4 million shells moved up for offensive since September 25.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Men of the Black Watch, led by pipers, enter the city of Beirut (Lebanon): © IWM (Q 12407): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1049941371858165762

Naval and Overseas Operations
Aegean: Coastal submarine UB-48 (Steinbauer) torpedoes French battleship Voltaire (night October 10-11) near Cerigotto.

Political, etc
Germany: Kaiser and new liberal German Government demand that Navy halt U-boat attacks on passenger ships ‘since any incident that might disrupt the peace negotiations is to be avoided at all costs’. Scheer replies that Navy will demonstrate its ‘fullest loyalty’ by recalling all commerce-raiding U-boats.
United Kingdom: Minister of Munitions Winston Churchill with women workers at a shell filling factory near Glasgow: © IWM (Q 84079): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1049676213705412609
United States: An airplane crash caused by a cadet’s overalls getting caught in the controls. Kelly Field, Texas: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1049706437381898241
Finland: Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse, the brother-in-law to Kaiser Wilhelm II, is elected King of Finland: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1049615691341594624

[gekkogecko]

31 Days until the Armistice
Western Front
Germans forced by pressure on flanks into general withdrawal
Flanders: German Army and Marine units hasten evacuation of coastal bases and defences (ships and aircraft leave, guns moving since October 7). Strong German resistance north of River Selle (Le Cateau); Germans retreat from strong positions north of River Sensee; British close to Douai.
Artois: 2nd Canadian Division (British First Army) capture Iwuy, northeast of Cambrai, before handing over to British XXII Corps; since August 26 Canadian Corps has gained 23 miles vs 31 German divisions in 47 days. For 30,806 casualties since August 22, Canadians have captured 18,585 PoWs, 371 guns and almost 2,000 MGs, liberating 116 square miles with 54 towns and villages.
Champagne: French advance up to 6 miles on 37-mile front, have taken 21,500 PoWs and 600 guns since September 26, including Italian reoccupation of Chemin des Dames.
British troops with civilians at Bohain, France. A boy holds a German Mauser 1918 T-Gewehr anti-tank rifle: © IWM (Q 7103): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1049971568456228864
Statues at Versailles are covered up to protect them from German bombings: © IWM (Q 78183): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1050003029284540418
Canadian troops capture Cambrai, finding it deserted of German forces. Canadian soldiers walk by a burning building: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1050033235839905794
Ruins of Cambrai cathedral after it was captured by the Allies: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1050063438989418496
Wounded American soldiers in Argonne forest: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1050289917400629248
The smoldering ruins of Cambrai: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1050320143610449921
British soldiers amuse themselves by wearing a German pickelhaube helmet and sitting in a gutted car in Cambrai: © IWM (Q 11803): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1050350328170860544

Southern Front
Serbia: Prizren retaken by French forces (see December 1st, 1915); they also complete the reoccupation of Nish (Nis) (see November 5th, 1915).
Bulgaria: General Jekor, Bulgarian Commander-in-Chief, dismissed.
Italy: Heavy fighting on Asiago plateau; 500 prisoners.
Allied raid north of Monte Grappa.
Albania: Austro-Hungarians evacuate Durazzo.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Persia: 3 RAF R.E.8s attack Turk columns (2 lost, but 3 aircrew walk 120 miles to safety).

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Emperor Karl receives nationality deputations at Reichsrat.
Dr. Sandor Wekerle, Hungarian Prime Minister, resigns.
Germany: Herr Erzberger announces German militarism is dead.
Poland: Martial law in parts of Poland.
United States: Huge military appropriations demanded in U.S.
A 7.1 magnitude earthquake hits Puerto Rico, resulting in a tsunami. Around a hundred people are killed: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1050374249398132736
China: Feng-Kuo-Chang, President of China, retires (see July 6th, 1917 and September 4th, 1918).

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
Craonne again captured by French forces; they advance within three miles of Laon.
Fighting on River Selle.
French take Vouziers.
End of Champagne Battles (since 26 September); 21,500 prisoners and 600 guns taken.
British First Army reaches Douai suburbs but is checked by German flooding.
Meuse-Argonne Offensive: Battle of Champagne and Argonne (see October 15th): Pershing transfers First Army to Liggett.
Germany: Hindenburg warns troops that favourable armistice terms depend on.successful resitance. OHL sanctions Sixth Army retirement (begins early October 15). Mudra replaces O Below (recalled to Germany to organize home defense) in command of Seventeenth Army. Eberhardt takes over Mudra’s First Army.
German A7V tank caught in a trench and captured by New Zealand troops: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1050440928400424961
A German war cemetery at Sailly-sur-la-Lys: © IWM (Q 9540): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1050652308759928834
A soldier wearing a face protector used by Allied tank gunners: © IWM (Q 93249): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1050682510902943745
A New Zealand soldier removing a mine after capturing Esnes from the Germans: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1050712708105072642
A British patrol on a daylight raid. A soldier fires into a German dugout: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1050773113162616832

Southern Front
Bulgaria: French occupy Mitrovitsa and Prisrend. 90,000 Bulgars and 2,000 guns captured in 27 days.
Albania: Italians take Kavaya.

Eastern Front/West Asia Border Theater
Azerbaijan: Action of Dushak.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Palestine: Australian light horse regiment leaving Jerusalem: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1050742907790077952

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: In Transylvania Romanian National Party demands recognition as administration.
Germany: German Government reply to President Wilson's Note and accept conditions (see 8th and 14th).
Ex-Interior Minister Clemens von Delbruck replaces Friedrich von Berg as Kaiser’s civil cabinet chief.
Poland: Martial law in parts of Poland.
United Kingdom: British Government recognize the Polish National Army as autonomous, allied and co-belligerent.
Lloyd George given list of rebels and revolutionaries, includes Sylvia Pankhurst, GDH Cole and unions.
United States: U.S. troops overseas number over 1,900,000.
11,724 Army flu cases in past 24 hours, total since September 13 are 234,868 (338,257 cases and c.17,000 deaths by December 1).
Wilson attends Metropolitan Opera for Queen Margherita’s Fund for the Blinded Soldiers of Italy.
[Listed for yesterday]: American painter Archibald Willard passed away. His most famous work is the “Spirit of ’76,” also known as “Yankee Doodle”: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1050410729780711436
Minor Allies: Luxembourg begs President Wilson to protect her rights.

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
Aisne: French Tenth Army enters Laon (population 10,000) after 11-mile advance in 36 hours, presses north to river Serre, has taken 26,000 PoWs and 400 guns since August 17.
Oise: French First Army liberates La Fare.
More fighting on River Selle line; progress north-west of Douai.
Battle of Courtrai begins as Belgian, British, and French troops attack German positions in Flanders and advance 5 miles.
Meuse-Argonne Offensive: Battle of the Argonne (see October 15th): Stiff fighting on Meuse, north of Verdun.
A French armored car surprises a German infantry column: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/frz-Panzerwagen-dt-Infkolonne.jpg?ssl=1
A pioneer battalion tasked with clearing debris in Cambrai take a rest by playing a piano: © IWM (Q 9546): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1050803307822895104
British lancers returning from the front at Prémont, France: © IWM (Q 72605): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1051058738285764611
A Red Cross nurse gives a wounded American soldier a cookie: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1051073830930866178

Southern Front
Serbia: Serbs storm Austro-Hungarian positions north of Nish.
French cavalry enter Pirot.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Syria: Tripoli occupied by Allied forces. (19th Infantry Brigade arrives October 18, whole 7th Indian Division by October 28 having covered 270 miles since September 19).
Siberia: French, British and Japanese troops enter Siberia. Admiral Kolchak reaches Omsk.

Political, etc
United Kingdom: M. Eleftherios Venizelos arrives in London.
Turkey: Young Turks resign; Izzet Pasha succeeds Talaat Pasha as Turkish Grand Vizier (see February 4th, 1917).
Finland: Government ask German troops to leave.
Portugal: Government crushes Democrat military rising in Lisbon, Oporto and Coimbra (until October 14) with over 1000 arrests, but violent crime already rampant.

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
Battle of Courtrai: Roulers recaptured by Allied forces (see October 18th, 1914).
Meuse-Argonne Offensive: Battle of the Argonne (see October 15th): US First Army attacks*Kriemhilde Line, 32nd Division storms Cote Dame Marie ridge.
Aisne: French advance on River Aisne west of Rethel.
Western Front, Air: US Northern Bombing Group flies first raid (8 by October 27), 100t bombs dropped (until November 11). RAF drops over 2,000 bombs (40t) in Flanders offensive.
An US 155 mm howitzer firing at German positions during the Maas-Argonne offensive: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/US-155mmHow-Maas-Argonnen.jpg?ssl=1
New Zealand and British troops resting next to a field at Esnes, France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1051104029516984320
French Prime Minister Clemenceau and British Field Marshal Haig reviewing French troops at Cambrai: © IWM (Q 9553): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1051134232154857477
A German prisoner, British wounded, and Belgian stretcher-bearers at a dressing station near Dadizele, Belgium: © IWM (Q 7115): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1051406027973906432
New Zealand troops with captured German guns at Esnes, France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1051436215038304256

Southern Front
Italy: Durazzo (see 2nd), Novi Bazar (see November 20th, 1915), and Ipek (see December 6th, 1915) retaken by Italian forces.

Eastern Front/West Asia Border Theater
British, Indian and Turkoman troops attack Bolsheviks, and after severe Indian losses drive Russians from Dushak (90 miles west of Merv).

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Siberia: British troops from Vladivostok reach Irkutsk (Siberia) (see 18th and July 13th and August 3rd).

Naval and Overseas Operations
North Sea: S.S. Brussels at Zeebrugge torpedoed by British destroyers.
5 Royal Navy monitors (including 2 with all-time heaviest 18-inch naval guns) shell Snaeskerke German batteries for last time.
Eastern Atlantic: Portuguese auxiliary gunboat Augusto de Castilho, hopelessly outgunned and escorting passenger ship (saved), sunk in gallant duel with U-139 (Lothar von Arnauld) between Madeira and Azores.

Political, etc
France: Czech Provisional Government formed.
United Kingdom: Government threatens reprisals if Germany does not redress PoW grievances within 4 weeks. Germany threatens reprisals on October 23. Mr Justice Youngers’ 1918 PoW Report published, reveals ill-treatment close to front line under British fire. (But ignores similar, and prior Allied abuses of this nature).
The King presents £10,000 to Red Cross.
United States: President Wilson replies to German Government, attaching further military conditions to the terms of armistice, and warning against further breaches of laws of war, and insists on dealing only with a democratic Government (see 12th and 20th).
Turkish Government Note to President Wilson proposing an armistice delivered at Washington.
A massive fire that broke out yesterday devastates northeastern Minnesota, killing over 450 people. German sabotage is suspected, but it likely started as an accident: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1051164434922659845
Spain: Spaniards take over seven German ships as agreed compensation.

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
Battle of Courtrai: Further advance in Flanders; Belgians close to Thourout. Menin captured by Allied forces (see October 9th, 1914), who then close on Courtrai.
British advance north-east of Lens.
Meuse-Argonne Offensive: Battle of the Argonne (see October 15th): Battle of Champagne and Argonne ends (see September 26th). French advance along River Serre and in the Argonne.
Edward, Prince of Wales, reviewing New Zealand troops at Beauvois, France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1051496617944260614
Red Cross nurse feeds a wounded soldier through a tube at Souilly, France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1051526816018702336
Advancing British soldiers pass by Belgian refugees near Heule: © IWM (Q 7120): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1051769670691381248
British stretcher bearers return from the front during the Battle of Courtai, while Belgian civilians watch: © IWM (Q 7119): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1051799878819569664
Belgian civilians inspect an abandoned German machine gun post near Heule: © IWM (Q 7122): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1051830078303293440
New Zealand troops at Beauvois, France gather around a map to see the Allies’ progress: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1051860276218384384

Eastern Front
Volga: Pyotr Krasnov’s Don Cossack offensive threatens Tsaritsyn; Ioakim Vatsetis orders it not to be given up.

Southern Front
Serbia: Serb First Army again in action with enemy including Austrian 30th Division (from Ukraine), pursues (until October 18). First Allied train reaches Veles.
Salonika: Milne and Royal Navy C-in-C Mediterranean Admiral Calthorpe discuss combined operations vs Turkey.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Syria: Homs occupied by British cavalry.
Australian cavalry on the Damascus-Homs road as Allied troops continue to pursue Ottoman soldiers north through Syria: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1051738211641421825

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Austrian Lublin Government agrees to give Poles eastern districts.
Hungarian Prime Minister Sandor Wekerle arrives in Vienna and gets manifesto exemption for Hungarian crown lands.
Germany: Since September 26, 43 German reserve divisions committed in the West.
Imperial Order subjects military to civil authority. 1,500 Berliners die of flu.
United Kingdom: Two Committees on Indian reform announced.
American soldiers arriving in England before heading to the front in France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1051466415511875584
Emerging States: Yugoslav demand for peace based on popular rights issued.

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
Battle of Courtrai: Flanders army advances, taking part of Courtrai, etc. Corporal Adolf Hitler (16th Bavarian Reserve Regiment) wounded by BEF gas shell (evacuated half-blinded to Pasewalk hospital, Pomerania).
Last shelling of Dunkirk by long-range gun.
Artois: OHL orders Sixth and Seventeenth Armies to retreat into Hermann line.Germans retreats from Douai-Lille front, pursued by British.
Meuse: AEF breaks through kriemhilde lines in fierce attacks (October 16, 17 and 18). German coy commander writes home ‘… a quick end is to be hoped for, there is nothing more to be saved’. Americans enter Grand Pre after hard fight.
Strong German counter-attack on River Selle.
Aisne: French troops (Gouraud) cross river storming Vouziers heights and capturing Grandpre.
American Mk V Tanks attacking German trenches: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/US-MkV-attacking.jpg?ssl=1

Southern Front
Salonika: Greece cleared of Bulgarians; Proclamation issued.

Eastern Front/West Asia Border Theater
Armenia: Armenian General Andranik harassing Turkish communications about Erivan.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Syria: British cavalry completes the capture of the city of Homs from the Ottomans as the advance towards Aleppo progresses. The city of Homs: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1052105631602286592
Siberia: Bolsheviks try to stop Middlesex battalion at Zema.

Naval and Overseas Operations
North Sea: Royal Navy submarine L.12 sinks U-90 in Skagerrak, G.2 likewise dispatches U-78 on October 28.
Germany: Fast light cruiser Frauenlob II launched at Kiel.

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Austro-Hungarian Emperor Karl issues manifesto proclaiming a Federal State six self-governing nationalities, but Transylvania to remain Hungary’s, on the principle of Nationality (see 5th and 29th).
Row in Hungarian Parliament.
Germany: Peace demonstrations in Berlin; public opinion much disturbed.
Russia: M. Vladimir Lenin again wounded. Lenin posing with his books in his Kremlin office in Moscow: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1052122099630919680

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
Battle of Courtrai (to 19/20 October): Belgians enter Ostend by land, their King and Queen and Sir R. Keyes by sea; Cavalry at gates of Bruges.
Battle of the Selle begins (see 25th/26th): British-American attack on nine-mile front carries line of Selle south of Le Cateau. BEF Fourth, Third and First Armies (8th Division occupies Douai and Canadians cross Sensee Canal) and US II Corps assault Hermann position at 0530 hours on 10-mile front south from Le Cateau (captured) and line 3 miles to east on October 18 with 5,000 PoWs and 60 guns.
British reach outskirts of Tourcoing.
Meuse: Americans fight west of Grand pre.
Western Front, Air: Rain and mist restricts flying (until October 27) and aids retreating Germans. RAF pilots land at Ghistelles, Ghent and in Ostend market square, just as Germans leave.
Allied troops take the towns of Thourout, Ostend, Lille, and Douai. Civilians in Lille waving French and British flags to welcome the soldiers: © IWM (Q 11811): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1052514812553515008
American soldiers demonstrating a captured German flamethrower: © IWM (Q 60982): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1052152377510383616
A wounded French soldier without and with a face mask: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1052182692052242432
Men of the Meteorological Section of the Royal Engineers fill up balloons used to assess wind and weather conditions: © IWM (Q 12115): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1052212828747255809
American tanks advancing at St. Souplet: © IWM (Q 49398): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1052454318908030977
4th Army headquarters inside a camouflaged railway train near Péronne, France: © IWM (E (AUS) 3929): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1052484555372924928
Troops of the Northamptonshire Regiment resting in a trench at Molain: © IWM (Q 70745): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1052545168841281536

Southern Front
Serbia: Franco-Serbs occupy Knyazhevats and Krushevats.
Montenegrins rise against Austrians.
French capture Ipek.
Over half of Serbia cleared of Austro-Hungarians.

Eastern Front/West Asia Border Theater
Armenia: British troops in Transcaspia capture Dushak, driving back Bolsheviks (announced).

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Persia: Tigris railway extended by British beyond Tekrit.

Naval and Overseas Operations
North Sea: German Navy evacuates Ostend, Zeebrugge and Bruges, abandoning 9 coastal torpedo boats.
Mediterranean: Austrian U-boats ordered home.

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Hungarian Parliament declares independence except for Crown as figurehead.
Hungarian soldiers of the Austro-Hungarian army in leisurely occupation of a road junction in Prague in October 1918. The Habsburg empire meekly conceded nationalist demands: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Parg-ungar-soldaten.jpg?ssl=1
Germany: Kaiser Wilhelm II & Erich Ludendorff and Prince Max confer on reply to US note. Full Cabinet: Ludendorff demands a fight to the finish, denounces Wilson’s second Note and declares ‘… on my conscience a breakthrough [by Allies] is unlikely’; in 4 weeks campaigning season will be over; that, provided with promised reinforcements he can retire to Antwerp-Meuse Line, to resume in spring 1919. If necessary, Belgium must again become a battleground ‘so that 1914 will be child’s play compared to it’. Ludendorff, interrogated by Imperial Chancellor, calls situation grave but not hopeless (‘perhaps Germany’s luck may return’). War Minister Scheuch says c.600,000 reinforcements raisable but warns that if Rumanian oil … is cut off Army (and Air Force) can only continue operations for another 6 weeks.
United Kingdom: British Government recognises Polish Army as autonomous.
London subscribes 31 million pounds National War Bonds in nine days.
King George V becomes Col-in-Chief, Tank Corps.
United States: Bolshevik-German correspondence published in Washington.
A New York City postman wearing a gauze mask to protect himself from the Spanish flu: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1052243117204824070
Emerging States: Proclamation in Prague of Czech Republic (Council in Paris declares formal independence on October 18), and at Agram of Yugoslav independence.

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Western Front
Battle of Courtrai (to 19/20 October): British have advanced six miles east of Douai-Lille, and three miles east of Le Cateau. Belgians approach Bruges after strong resistance.
Battle of the Selle (see 25th/26th): Charles Mangin’s French Tenth Army wins final victory breaking Hunding line astride river Serre (Czechs in action on October 22), north of Laon. Mangin and HQ withdrawn for planned Lorraine offensive (October 27). Rupprecht letter to Chancellor describes exhausted troops short of artillery, horses, ammo, fuel and officers, ends ‘… we must obtain peace before the enemy breaks into Germany’. Foch moves his headquarter north to Senlis.
Meuse: Stiff fighting on Grand Pre-Vouziers line. Germans pushed back.
Western Front, Air: RAF Handley Page bombers drop 4t bombs on Namur rail station and Charleroi.
A French Peugeot armored car provides fire support: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Peugeot-Pzwagen.jpg?ssl=1
The ruins of Douai, France after its recapture by the Allies. The north and east side were destroyed by delayed German mines: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1052846934208188416

Eastern Front
North Russia: Allies push on to Soroka (south-west White Sea) from Murmansk.

Southern Front
Italy: Italians active on their mountain fronts, but overall, heavy rain postpones Allied offensive to October 24.
Bulgaria: Bulgaria cleared of Germans.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Mesopotamia: British hold Turks at Fatha (30 miles north of Tekrit, Tigris).
Siberia: British troops from Vladivostok reach Omsk (see 14th).
British troops repel far superior number of Bolsheviks at Seletsko (160 miles up Dvina river from Archangel).
Czechoslovaks pressed back by Bolsheviks in East Russia.

Naval and Overseas Operations
North Sea: Scheer deceives the Kaiser ‘The Fleet shall again become available for other tasks’ (ie the final sortie) if ending U-boat warfare not followed by an immediate ceasefire'. Coastal submarine UB-123 presumed sunk on Northern Barrage.
Adriatic: 16 Royal Navy destroyers leave Otranto Barrage (mine net barrage completed to Fano Island) for Aegean, 24 trawlers follow.
Mediterranean: Spanish zone in Morocco in complete anarchy: Raisuli and Abdul Malek and German influence supreme.
Mozambique: Lettow learns of Bulgaria’s surrender from captured newspapers.

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Count Istvan Tisza admits defeat.
Count Stephan Burian resigns.
France: The Czechoslovak Provisional Government in Paris publishes its Declaration of Independence: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Declaration_of_Independence_of_the_Czechoslovak_Nation
United Kingdom: Higher allowances to dependents of fighters granted.
Prince of Wales gives £3,000 to Red Cross.
United States: President Wilson replies to Austro-Hungarian Note of October 4th (see 27th); declines suggestions.
New York policemen carrying an effigy of Kaiser Wilhelm during a parade. The effigy is later hanged from the top of the Woolworth building: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1052575321218781184

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Western Front
Battle of Courtrai (to 19/20 October): Battle of Courtrai or Battle of Roulers or Second Battle of Belgium ends (see 14th).
Lys: Ludendorff directs Rupprecht to hold Hermann Lys position for at least 8 days as Plumer’s Second Army forces river in 6-mile advance taking Courtrai on October 20.
Zeebrugge and Bruges reoccupied by Belgian forces (see October 12th and 14th, 1914); their left on Dutch frontier; whole coast and west Flanders liberated.
Allied soldiers visit an abandoned German coastal battery position on the Belgian coast: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/kuestenbatterie-flandern.jpg?ssl=1
Battle of the Selle (see 25th/26th): French break Hunding Line between Sissonne and River Serre.
British-American advance continued between the Oise and Le Cateau.
Artois: 4th Canadian Division liberates Denain in record day’s advance of nearly 7 miles; Prince of Wales attends thanksgiving ceremony. British advance east of Douai and Lille and take Marchienne.
France: FOCH’S LAST GENERAL DIRECTIVE to his 14 armies.
Western Front, Air: Canadian Western Front ace Quigley (34 victories) dies of flu.
Fritz Otto Bernert, German ace with 27 victories despite only having one functioning arm, dies to the Spanish flu: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1052937724540477440
King Albert letter to Curzon praises RAF support in Allied victory of September 28-30.
British troops entering Lille, accompanied by a French boy: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1052877185311236098
American troops at an outdoor church service next to a ruined church in Verdun: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1052907584062218247
French tanks passing through Rampont: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1052952903470776322
Belgian troops resting near Pervijze with observation balloons in the background: © IWM (Q 11394): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1052967938058346497
Allied troops capture Zeebrugge and Bruges. German concrete shelters used to house U-boats at Bruges: © IWM (Q 7745): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1053192798600679424
British tanks, shielded by smoke, advance across an open field: © IWM (Q 56295): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1053209272295788546
Inhabitants of Ostend, Belgium go out into the streets to welcome the arriving Allied soldiers: © IWM (Q 11380): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1053239450300542976
A Canadian soldier enjoying blackberries that he had just gathered: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1053269795624370176

Eastern Front
North Russia: Allied troops from Murmansk have cleared Karelia of enemy, and from Archangel have occupied Kadish (100 miles south of Archangel) (announced).

Southern Front
Serbia: Serbs occupy Zayechar (Austrian-Bulgarian-Serb frontier).
Bulgaria: French reach Danube at Vidin, capture convoy of lighters on October 21; Franchet d’Esperey reports first French guns heard on Danube since 1809. Jouinot-Gambetta’s cavalry reach Danube at Vidin (October 21) after 437-mile march in 36 days.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Syria: Two Australian No 1 Squadron Bristol fighters destroy German two-seater 25 miles southwest of Aleppo (bombed October 23), and Babannet airfield to north attacked.
Persia: Despite flu (1,453 sick on October 23) British occupy Ahram, but Zair Khidar and Wassmuss have fled; c.1,000 British leave Shiraz on October 20 to relieve Firuzabad from 2,000 tribesmen (October 25) before flu strikes.
Mesopotamia: Germans withdraw all 1200 advisers, planes, guns and transport (continues until October 21).

Naval and Overseas Operations
GERMAN SUBMARINES ORDERED TO RETURN TO THEIR BASES (announced from Madrid).
Britain: First torpedo plane squadron with 20 Sopwith Cuckoos embarked in British carrier Argus.

Political, etc
United Kingdom: Haig visits CIGS and War Cabinet in London, considers ‘enemy was not ready for unconditional surrender’ but urges terms for 1918 armistice to prevent winter recovery by Germany.

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Western Front
Battle of the Selle (see 25th/26th): British cross the Selle river in face of heavy resistance. British two miles from Tournai.
Flanders armies continue advance; British across whole of Lys river on their front.
Entire Belgian coast in hands of Allies.
Lorraine: Ferdinand Foch directs Philippe Petain to prepare to launch offensive as latter requested (October 14).
Meuse and Argonne: US losses now 54,158 men.
Wounded French soldiers at a Red Cross hospital: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1053300088959852544
Belgian women sitting on an abandoned German coastal gun in Ostend: © IWM (Q 11380): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1053330202347085824
French civilians in Lille looking at a dummy tank made by the Germans to resemble a British Whippet tank: © IWM (Q 9599): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1053572806439526401
British soldiers with two Belgian refugee children at Courtrai: © IWM (Q 11391): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1053602996788051968
American troops reenacting for the cameras an attack through barbed war at the Argonne, France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1053633207869104129

Eastern Front
South Russia: Heavily-mauled Czech 4th Regiment mutinies, 1st Regiment soon follows.

Southern Front
Serbia: Battle of Paracin (until October 23): Serbian First Army attacks strong counter-attacking German rearguards in Upper Morava valley. Serbian Second Army relieves French at Pristina before advance to Western Morava valley via Kossovo.
Corporal of a German infantry regiment in Serbia in October 1918: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/de-unteroffizier-serbien-okt-1918.jpg?ssl=1

Naval and Overseas Operations
North Sea: Coastal submarine UB-86 is the last outward bound boat to cross Northern Barrage for Irish Sea.
Irish Sea: S.S. Dundalk torpedoed in Irish Channel.
English Channel: Royal Navy monitor M.21 strikes 2 mines off Ostend, towed back to Dover but sinks.

Political, etc
Germany: German Government reply to President Wilson's Note accepting proposals contained therein (see 14th and 23rd).
Turkey: General amnesty to exiles and refugees; part of Izzet Pasha Government program read to Assembly (October 19). Press meet and agree to act together (October 21).
United States: Fourth Liberty Loan in U.S.A. exceeds $1.5 billion.
“Shoulder Army,” a comedy film starring Charlie Chaplin, Edna Purviance, and Sydney Chaplin, is released: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1053663406916624385
Denmark: Denmark proposes to Germany a plebiscite (as to nationality) for Schleswig-Holstein.

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Western Front
Battle of the Selle (see 25th/26th): French advance between Rivers Serre and Oise; stubborn fighting north of Verdun.
Belgians three miles from Ghent, across Derivation Canal to Eede (Dutch frontier).
British push on; stubborn resistance.
Sir Douglas Haig's despatch of 20 July, on March and April withdrawal, published.
Exhibition in Paris display captured German helmets: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1053693607692169216
American soldiers and French children at the village of Vaubecourt, France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1053904985388470272
German howitzer knocked over by Canadian artillery: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1053965392669040642
A funeral for an American soldier at La Rochelle, France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1053995594480582656

Southern Front
Italy: Italians fighting on Asiago and Grappa fronts.
Armando Diaz’s final orders for upcoming offensive stress aim ‘to separate the Austrian forces on the Trentino from those on the Piave’.
The new Italian C-in-C General Armando Diaz (right), appointed after the defeat of Caporetto, succeeded in reorganising the Italian Army and improving morale by making various concessions to the soldiers: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/General-Armando-Diaz.jpg?ssl=1
Serbia: Battle of Paracin (until October 23): French capture convoy of lighters at Lom Palanka (Danube). (Duplicate notice from yesterday?)
Bulgaria: British 26th Division arrives by rail (until October 23) at Mustapha Pasha on Bulgarian-Turkish frontier west of Adrianople where garrison of only 1 battalion with 2 guns.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Irish Sea: Last merchant ship (coaster Saint Bareham, 8 lives lost) sunk by U-boat in British home waters.
German light cruiser SMS Frankfurt accidentally collides with the U-boat SM UB-89, sinking the submarine and killing 7. The SMS Frankfurt: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1054010693941379073

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: German Austrians declare independence at Vienna and form National Provincial Assembly (2nd mtg passes fundamental laws October 30).
The Ban of Croatia refuses offer of Military Governor of Agram to suppress the Yugoslav National Council (see 5th and 29th).
Germany: Erich Ludendorff approves Reinhard Scheer’s U-boat plan, including release of skilled workers from front. Kaiser meets Reichstag at Berlin Bellevue Palace, ISP leader says ‘Crowns are rolling about the floor’.
France: The Le Matin newspaper’s ‘Panorama of the Battle of Liberation’ map posted up in Paris.
United Kingdom: King George receives Inter-Parliamentary delegates.
David Beatty insists to War Cabinet meeting on German Fleet’s surrender as well as all U-boats and Heligoland.
Lord Beaverbrook resigns as Information Minister (ill-health). Labour Minister reports that Special Branch and GHQ Home Forces preparing supply of auxiliary labour. Thomson (Special Branch) writes that working-class morale ‘Probably at its highest point’, but warns of union strike plans.
Belgium: German Governor-General of Belgium pardons Belgians and neutrals convicted by Court Martial.
Belgian Bill for German damage already nearly 400 million pounds.

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Western Front
Battle of the Selle (see 25th/26th): French and Czechoslovaks push Germans back on the Serre river.
Scheldt: British First Army closes in on Valenciennes, 3rd Canadian Division clears Foret de Raismes in 4-mile advance.
Fierce fighting by the Americans on both banks of Meuse, north of Verdun and in the Woevre.
Hindenburg's order "approving peace-steps" captured.
French President Henri Poincare with General William Birdwood inspecting the British Guard of Honour as they arrive in the newly captured city of Lille: © IWM (Q 9592): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1054040889050439680
African American troops disembarking in France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1054326603642294272

Southern Front
Lord Cavan's despatch, dated 14 September (covering 10 March to 13 September), issued.
Italy: 142 Italian flying boats and 56 Caproni bombers raid Pola.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Arabia: Affair of Imad (Aden).

Naval and Overseas Operations
North Sea: Magnus von Levetzow delivers verbal operational order (Operations Plan No 19) to Hipper at Wilhelmshaven: ‘High Seas Fleet shall attack and engage in battle with the English Fleet.’ Nothing is to be allowed to delay the operation because the country ‘is rushing toward an armistice at full speed’. Plan envisages coordinated raids to Thames Estuary and down Flanders coast with 22 U-boats of Scotland.
Admiral Reinhard Scheer, the hero of the Jutland naval battle was promoted in August 1918 to Chief of the Admiral Staff and Commander of the Naval War Command. With the command to the High Seas Fleet operation he triggers the mutiny in Kiel, which finally led to the November Revolution in Germany: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Scheer.jpg?ssl=1
Albania: Italian ships shell S. Giovanni di Medua.

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Czech Socialist Vaclav Klofac tells Emperor Czech lands slipping away from Crown.
Germany: Prince Max announced program of some reforms; equal suffrage voted (October 26). Karl Liebknecht released: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1054296409392988160
United Kingdom: New 10s note design issued.
United States: Wounded American soldiers learning to make artificial limbs at a hospital in Lakewood, New Jersey: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1054071084595732480

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Western Front
Battle of the Selle (see 25th/26th): Heavy fighting by French in Serre and Vouziers sectors. Third phase: Byng’s Third Army (including 6 tanks) attacks Forest and Ovillers, captures Grand Champ Ridge, Rawlinson’s 18th Division (with 6 tanks) captures Bousies. BEF drives 6-mile deep, 35-mile wide breach into German line (until October 24).
Scheldt: Big British attack between Le Cateau and Valenciennes carries line forward one to three miles after stiff resistance; Bruay taken and Scheldt reached.
Western Front, Air: More activity than for several weeks, RAF No 20 Squadron’s Bristol fighters claim 5 Fokker fighters for no loss, Hirson rail junction bombed. Prince Albert flies in Handley Page to join IAF HQ near Nancy.
Germany: Handley Page bomber destroys Kaiserslautern Greist munitions factory with 1,650lb bomb (night October 21-22). Similar devastation in Wiesbaden city centre (nights October 23-24, 49 casualties).
One of the newer British Tank Mk V towed another tank with a steel cable: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Tank-Mk-V-abschleppen.jpg?ssl=1
Two soldiers inspecting their uniforms for the presence of lice: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1054356841671602176
British troops crossing a bridge destroyed by the Germans near Douchy: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1054387148940558336
A Belgian road being repaired after it was recaptured by the Allies: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1054402409802416128
Men of the Gordon Highlanders bury a Frenchwoman killed by a shell near Denain. Her daughters stand by the grave: © IWM (Q 9607): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1054628614141042689
German coastal artillery left behind after they retreated from Zeebrugge, Belgium: © IWM (Q 7134): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1054658861536296960

Eastern Front
North Russia: Bolsheviks attack Allied position of River Dvina (south of Archangel) and are repulsed.

Southern Front
Albania: Croatian troops seize Fiume, but are suppressed.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Mesopotamia: British advance on Mosul begins (see November 4th).

Naval and Overseas Operations
239,000 tons Allied shipping (including 151,000 British) lost in September (announced).
North Sea: Harwich Force last in action. Though weather prevents its seaplanes taking off and 3 of 4 Sopwith Camels broken on lighters, German aircraft driven off.
Admiralty warns Beatty of German Fleet sortie preparation.
Adriatic: Austrian Fleet discipline breaking down with demands to go home.

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Prime Minister Wekerle resigns; Baron Hussarek still Austrian Premier. Emperor Charles and Zita open Debrecen University.
Germany: Dr. Solf and German War Minister on the situation.
United Kingdom: House of Commons votes 274-24 for women Members of Parliament.
Balfour speech at Anzac lunch says Germany’s colonies can never be returned.
Belgium: King and Queen of Belgians fly to Bruges.
United States: President Wilson replies to German Note of the 20th, and agrees, to submit the matter to the Allied and Associated Governments (see 27th, and November 3rd).
Charlie Chaplin secretly marries actress Mildred Harris at Los Angeles (announced November 9).
Myrtle Gonzalez, American actress considered one of the first Latino American actresses in Hollywood, dies at the age of 27 to the Spanish flu: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1054417414782414848

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Western Front
Battle of the Selle (see 25th/26th): British attack resumed; advance of three miles after heavy fighting. 9,000 prisoners and 150 guns claimed in last two days. German counter-attack on Derivation Canal repulsed by Belgians.
Slight French advance in southern sectors.
French soldiers demonstrate the use of a 37mm trench gun: © IWM (Q 94769): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1054689124119142401
Canadian troops practice making an attack with tanks: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1054719374391681024
American troops practice firing rifle grenades in France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1054780779719507969
A German observation post camouflaged as a destroyed house at La Bassée, France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1055052562238525440
A German coastal gun at Zeebrugge destroyed by the Germans during their retreat from the Belgian coast: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1055082775060140033

Southern Front
Italy: Third Battle of the Piave (aka Battle of Vittorio Veneto) begins in rain on Caporetto first anniversary at 0500 hours with 1,402-gun shelling on Mt Grappa sector and at 0700 hour Fourth Army infantry assault on 13-mile front gains little ground and 1,800 PoWs vs fierce, skilled defence. 2 British battalions seize northern half of Papadopoli island in river Piave and 6 Italian battalions Caserta island (night October 23-24) and take 350 PoWs, but Austro-Hungarian artillery destroys most bridges. On Asiago Anglo-French diversion takes 1,000 PoWs.
Austro-Hungarian Skoda Model 1914 149-mm-howitzer in action with Italian forces: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/149mm-skoda-model1914-ital-front.jpg?ssl=1
600 Allied aircraft (including 93 Anglo-French) support final offensive; wreak havoc among fleeing Austro-Hungarian columns (especially from October 29-30). RAF drop 20,000lb bombs and fire 51,000 rounds, losing 7 aircraft (until November 4).
A large Italian gun being moved up towards the front: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1055022364017287168
Serbia: Serbs force Austro-Hungarians back in disorder along Morava.

Eastern Front/West Asia Border Theater
Armenia-Azerbaijan: By now new Turkish Government withdrawing 4 divisions from Armenia and Azerbaijan (Germany informed) and Enzeli advance abandoned, only 3 divisions left in Caucasus after early October advance north to Derbent. British successfully attack Turks at Fatha.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Syria: Aleppo taken by British forces.
Mesopotamia: British cavalry within four miles of Kirkuk (100 miles south-east of Mosul, Tigris river).

Naval and Overseas Operations
Germany: The German Admiralty gives the order for a final, all-out attack against the Royal Navy to take place on October 30-31, despite ongoing negotiations with the Allies for an armistice and increasing dissent among German sailors.

Political, etc
Germany: Growing desire in Germany for Kaiser to abdicate. German mark drops to 33 to the pound.
Emerging States: King of Montenegro issues manifesto in favor of a confederated Yugoslavia with autonomous States (see 29th, and November 7th and 23rd). National Council in Croatia meets.

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Western Front
Battle of the Selle (see 25th/26th): Battle of the Selle ends. Further British advance between Le Quesnoy and Maing. Total captures: 20,000 PoWs and 475 guns. Last effective german line of defence on w front broken.
Oise: Successful French attacks between Rivers Serre and Oise, and between Rethel and Sissonne. French 79th Regiment (XX Corps, First Army) with 4 tanks storms Villers-le-Sec in Hunding Line, taking 150 PoWs, 1 gun, 58 MGs and 1 mortar for 40 casualties despite counter-attack.
Stiff American fighting north of Verdun.
Flanders: British Second Army success at Ooteghem. French and British advance to 10 miles east of Courtrai.
France: Ferdinand Foch, Douglas Haig, Philippe Petain and John Pershing meet at Senlis, formulate stiff proposals including surrender of artillery, railway stock and U-boats, agree to preventing fresh fighting after any armistice.
American troops resting near Fismes, France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1055112963219210241
The ruins of La Bassée, France: © IWM (Q 9617): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1055143164581953542
At the Battle of the Selle, British troops rout the Germans from the Selle River and capture Le Cateau. British troops resting on a tree near Le Cateau: © IWM (Q 3317): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1055399843881988096

Southern Front
Italy: Third Battle of the Piave (aka Battle of Vittorio Veneto): British overrun rest of Papadopoli Island (night October 25-26) but flooding river delays main crossing. Italian Grappa attacks continue at heavy cost capturing and losing Mt Asolone again with 600 PoWs, Pesaro Brigade and Arditi take Mt Pertica; Austrian Edelweiss Alpine Division thrown into battle.
Italians of a scout unit with fighting knives: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/italiener-nahkampf.jpg?ssl=1
Serbia: Austro-German retreat over Sava and Danube (until November 1) by bridges and streamers between Smederovo and Sabac covered by river monitors. Serbs reach Kraguyevats and Chrupriya (60 miles south of Danube).
Salonika: First 5 Indian battalions from Mesopotamia land.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Syria: Colonel Nuri Bey’s 1,500 Arabs enter Aleppo at second attempt but again driven out by Kemal’s troops as 500 British cavalry join armored cars 13 miles southwest.
Mesopotamia: Kirkuk again occupied by British forces (see May 24th).
British columns turn Turkish position at mouth of Lower Zab river.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Mediterranean: Reinhardt Scheer orders all seaworthy Mediterranean U-boats to sail home, 12 do so (October 29-31).
Canadian passenger liner SS Princess Sophia runs aground on a reef during a storm and sinks, resulting in the deaths of all 343 passengers and crew. It is the worst maritime disaster in the history of British Columbia: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1055369639314763776

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Count Gyula Andrassy the younger succeeds Baron Burian as Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister (see April 17th and November 1st).

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Western Front
British progress south of Valenciennes and repulse German attack on Maing.
Heavy French fighting on Rethel-Oise front.
Slight advance east of Courtrai.
At BEF GHQ Churchill chairs senior gas officer conference (flies home on October 30).
Western Front, Air: The Inter-Allied Independent Air Force (IAF) is created under Supreme Commander Marshal Foch and the Commander in Chief, Major General Sir Hugh Trenchard.
A gravedigger digging new graves for civilians at Denain, France: © IWM (Q 3313):
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1055430036843626497
Wounded Canadian soldiers enjoy tea at a dressing station: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1055460262906482688
A girl next to a smashed piano at Denain, France: © IWM (Q 3308): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1055490453456457729
The King and Queen of Belgium return to Bruges after it was recaptured from the Germans: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1055506816765956099
French troops digging trenches near Saint-Quentin-la-Petit: © IWM (Q 78114): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1055748387713269760

Southern Front
Italy: Third Battle of the Piave (aka Battle of Vittorio Veneto): Italian Grappa attacks mainly fail, gaining only Peak 1186 and Col del Cuc (Aosta Alpini Battalion 568 casualties to date). Field Marshal Boroevic thanks defenders, confident ‘that they would convince the enemy that their blood had been shed in vain’, but 3 Hungarian divisions ask to be withdrawn home (until October 27). Italians begin 4 bridges at middle Piave.
Austro-Hungarian soldiers resting between actions at the Piave river front: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Gefechtspause-Piave-Oesterreicher.jpg?ssl=1

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Syria: British advanced troops occupy Aleppo after c.1,000 Turks leave; 500 Jodhpur and Mysore Lancers (80 casualties) charge Kemal’s 3,000 Turks and 8 guns north of city at Haritan but beaten off after lancing 50 and taking 20 PoWs.
Arab and Allied forces capture the city of Aleppo from the Ottomans: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1055718184387534849
Mesopotamia: Turks on Tigris retreat during night 26/27 to Kalaat Shergat. Cassels’ 1,000 cavalry with 6 guns (11th Cavalry Brigade) ford mile-wide Tigris 13 miles north of Sharqat after 83-mile ride in two days as 17th Indian Division (until October 27) repulsed from Turkish Humur line with 618 casualties.

Political, etc
Germany: General Erich Ludendorff resigns. Kaiser says ‘The operation is done. I have split the Siamese twins’ (Hindenburg and Ludendorff). Kaiser refuses Hindenburg’s tendered resignation. Ludendorff succeeded by Wilhelm Groener whose railway expertise proves invaluable during the retreat.
Turkey: Three Turkish envoys begin armistice talks at Mudros (until October 30).

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
German attack north-west of Le Quesnoy repulsed.
Aisne: French Fifth Army attacks on 7 1/2-mile front northwest of Chateau Porcien (west of Rethel), major bombing of Seraincourt to northwest on October 28. Germans give way on Serre-Oise salient; French pursue.
Meuse and Argonne: US 78th Division (c.5,000 casualties) captures Grandpre after fighting since October 25. Americans take Bois Belleu (east bank of Meuse).
Western Front, Air: The Victoria Cross is awarded to Major W.G. Barker, a Canadian of No.201 Squadron, Royal Air Force, for destroying four enemy aircraft during a dogfight over Foret de Mormal in France in a Sopwith Snipe (E8102). He had, in his Sopwith Snipe of No 201 Squadron single-handedly battled 5 formations totaling c.60 aircraft over Mormal Forest. His victory over these 4 brings his total victories to 50; he received 3 wounds, and crash-landed behind British lines.
American troops near Le Nefour launching phosphorus bombs to create a smokescreen: © IWM (Q 70743): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1055778597967982593
The Prince of Wales at Lille, France after the city's recapture from the Germans: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1055808807350218753
A British soldier with two refugee children at Tournai: © IWM (Q 9625): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1055854119074889729
The ruins of Lens almost a month after it was recaptured from the Germans: © IWM (Q 49082): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1056110780159086593

Southern Front
Italy: Third Battle of the Piave (aka Battle of Vittorio Veneto): Austrian counter-attacks recapture Mt Pertica (briefly), Istrice and Valderoa (600 PoWs). After wading across from 0645 hours Italians and British form 3 bridgeheads over Piave up to 2 1/2 miles deep, taking 7,800 PoWs and 74 guns. Austrian guns destroy 3 bridges by 0800 hours but parts of 2 Austrian divisions refuse to counter-attack. Eighth and Twelfth Armies rely on swimmers (82 Caimani di Piave) and air supply as 5 new bridges short-lived, only allowing 17 battalions to cross (night October 27-28).
Lord Cavan commands 10th Italian Army.
Six R.E.8s drop 5,000 rounds by parachute to forward British troops. Nine Sopwith Camel fighters destroy 3 Austrian balloons. Austrians bomb Allied Piave bridges without success.
A lonely British soldier guards a group of Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war on the Piave: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Brite-bewacht-KuK-KG.jpg?ssl=1
Italian anti-air guns mounted on a railcar at the Battle of Vittorio Veneto: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1056140984378159104
Serbia: Serbs drive Austro-Hungrians back north of Kraguyevats.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Syria: British cavalry seize Muslimie junction (north of Aleppo, on Baghdad railway).
Mesopotamia: British main body in touch with Turks on Lower Zab. Turks fall back to hills covering Shergat.

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Emperor Charles cables Kaiser ‘My people are neither capable nor willing to continue the war … I have made the unalterable decision to ask for a separate peace and an immediate armistice’. Austro-Hungarian Government submit further Note to President Wilson asking for immediate armistice "without awaiting the result of other negotiations") (see 4th and 18th).
Austrian Government ask Italy for an armistice (see 4th and November 3rd).
Germany: German Government acknowledges President Wilson's Note of October 23rd.
German General Erich Ludendorff, who was forced to resign after an order sponsored by him and von Hindenburg ordering German soldiers to “fight to the finish” was leaked, which caused outrage among the war-weary German populace: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1056080578855030784
France: Colonel House arrives in Paris as U.S. special representative.
United Kingdom: British landowner Cecil Chubb donates Stonehenge to the British government: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1055823899903049730
United States: Barbers in Cincinnati wearing masks to prevent the spread of the Spanish flu: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1055884291975102469

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
Scheldt: British 51st Division captures Mont Houy south of Valenciennes but driven back to southern slopes, 3 German divisions counter-attack (until October 29).
Heavy French fighting at Verly (Oise) and (American) about Grand Pre.
Western Front, Air: Great French bombing raid on Seraincourt (north-west of Rethel).
Three Fokker fighters (2 lost) intercept D.H.9s (1 lost) over Mons and RAF No 205 Squadron bombs Namur (until October 30).
American soldiers in a “elephant shelter” made of corrugated iron near Cunel, France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1056519715542220800
Interior of a British military hospital at St. Pol, France: © IWM (Q 3333): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1056565015824740353

Southern Front
Italy: Third Battle of the Piave (aka Battle of Vittorio Veneto): Severe fighting in Grappa region. General advance by 10th and 12th Italian Armies. Stiff fighting, Austrians driven back. Italian XVIII Corps reinforces Anglo-Italian Papadopoli bridgehead, taking 3,000 PoWs, 7 guns and 150 MGs with aid of British barrage. Austrian Sixth Army orders retreat at 2030 hours after Italians join up the 3 bridgeheads and are up to 4 miles from river. King watches operations from Montello. Austrian Armistice Commission meets.
Field Marshall Svetozar Boroevic tells Emperor Charles situation ‘untenable’ (night October 28-29).
Gordon Highlanders escorting Austro-Hungarian prisoners across the Piave River at Salettuol, Italy: © IWM (Q 26737): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1056201371131830272
Italian troops during the offensive: © IWM (Q 25977): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1056231575057252353
Serbia: Serbs reach line Uzice-Arandelovac-Pozarevac.
Albania: Italians enter Allessio.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Syria: Muslimiya Junction, north of Aleppo, occupied by British cavalry.
A Syrian refugee family who fled the fighting between the Ottomans and the Allies: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1056504617863921664
Mesopotamia: Battle of Sharqat begins (see 30th): Turks attack British on east bank of Tigris, but are heavily beaten on west bank, and retreat. Gurkhas ferried over to Cassels after 33-mile march in 21 hours and fight 6,000 Turks and 24 guns from Mosul.
Turkish cavalry is arriving from Mosul: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/turk-Kav-Mosul.jpg?ssl=1
Ottoman artillery shells burst around a Rolls-Royce armoured car at the Battle of Sharqat: © IWM (Q 24758): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1056534818153025538

Naval and Overseas Operations
North Sea: Final U-boat sortie: Flanders Flotilla coastal submarine UB-116 (Emsmann) with volunteer crew undertakes ‘suicide’ mission vs Grand Fleet battleship Queen Elizabeth (erroneously believed lying at Scapa). Raider destroyed in electrically-controlled minefield.
Adriatic: German personnel evacuate Pola, Cattaro ones sail (October 30), scuttle 10 U-boats there and at Fiume (until November 1).

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Professor Heinrich Lammasch succeeds Baron Max Hussarek as Austrian Minister-President.
Fresh Austro-Hungarian note to President Wilson urging immediate Armistice.
Agram military command surrender to Yugoslav Council.
Czech National Council takes over administration in Prague. Czechoslovakia independent, Galicia severed from Empire.
Czechoslovakia proclaims its independence from Austria-Hungary. Austro-Hungarian symbols are painted over in Kolín: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1056458061949227008
Germany: Kaiser signs amended constitution, says ‘… (his) office is one of service to German people’, but at Hindenburg’s request returns to Spa by train on October 29 refusing to meet Prince Max.
Russia: Siberian Coalition Ministry formed under Admiral Aleksandr Kolchak (War and Marine); MM. Shekin (Foreign Affairs), Orlov (Commerce) and Ostrugov (Communications).
France: Allied armistice Conference in Paris (until October 30).
United Kingdom: Admiral Prince Higashifushimi Yorihito arrives in London.
Canada: 5th War Loan.
Bulgaria: British 22nd Division lands at Dedeagach (sailed from Stavros) from 17 destroyers (after 2 bad weather post-ponements) for invasion of European Turkey 10 miles away, transport and cavalry arrive on October 30 after gruelling overland march. French Army of the Danube formed under Berthelot (until January 25, 1920).

[dicksbro]

The war is winding down. About 12 more days. Hard to believe. Gotta tell you, this has really been a fascinating journey following your posts. I, for sure, thank you. :thumbs:

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
Successful French attack on 7.5-mile front north-west of Chateau Porcien (west of Rethel).
Western Front, Air: German fighters (2 lost) turn back No 107 Squadron’s D.H.9s (1 escort lost) from Mariembourg, but bombed on October 30.
Germany: 14 Independent Air Force aircraft bomb 9 different targets (night October 29-30, over 40 casualties).
British General William Birdwood being welcomed in Lille after the city was recaptured from the Germans: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1056595216491261954
American 14-inch gun firing near Thierville, France: © IWM (Q 56650): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1056851907090804736

Southern Front
Italy: AT 0830 HOURS AUSTRIANS SEEK ARMISTICE: Captain Ruggera takes white flag to Italian lines at Serravak in Adige valley.
Third Battle of the Piave (aka Battle of Vittorio Veneto): Calabria Brigade storms Mt Asolone (Grappa), but loses it to Austrians; Italians suspend operations in sleet and fog after 24,500 casualties. All 21 Italian Eighth Army bridges rebuilt as Austrian guns fall silent (night October 28-29) and British troops cross river Monticana by intact bridge after beating 2-division counter-attack. Italians play for time as Austrian collapse worsens. French troops capture Segusina with 3,000 PoWs and 18 guns. Austrian GHQ announces decision ‘to evacuate the Veneto … to show its goodwill towards peace’. Italian general 5-mile advance captures Conegliano and Susegana.
Seaplane squadron commander Lieutenant Casagrande Eugenio completes last of 15 agent landing and recovery operations behind Austrian Piave lines since July 30.
Wounded Italians receive front-line medical aid during the Battle of Vittorio Veneto: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/Vittorio-Veneto-ital-verwundete.jpg?ssl=1
Albania: San Giovanni di Medua occupied by Italian forces (see January 25th, 1916).
Salonika: Lieutenant-General T M Bridges arrives to be British Military Mission Chief to Franchet d’Esperey.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Syria: EEF has 4,345 motor vehicles and 1,523 motor cycles.
Palestine: Armenian orphans at an orphanage in Palestine: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1056836823710949378
Mesopotamia: Battle of Sharqat (see 30th): Pursuit of Turks continues: position cut-off and captured. British 7th Cavalry Brigade (c.3,100 strong) storms Cemetery Hill on foot taking 990 PoWs and 12 MGs as 3,000 men of 17th Division (509 casualties) make slow progress vs 4000 Turks.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Allied Naval Council prepares naval armistice terms (until November 4).
North Sea: High Seas Fleet prepares for*‘death or glory sortie’, but already passive resistance hampering it in all battleships and 3 small cruisers. Red Flags hoisted in battleships Thüringen and Helgoland.

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Archduke Joseph charged by Emperor Karl with scheme for independence of Hungary.
Arz cables Hindenburg that Austrian Army in Italy finished, over half divisions refuse to fight.
France: Indictment of Caillaux in French Senate.
Canada: 5th War Loan.
Emerging States: Yugoslav National Council at Agram repudiate Imperial policy and declare the independence of the Yugoslavs; independence of Croatia and Yugoslav lands agreed to by Croat Congress (see 5th, 21st, 26th and November 7th and 23rd).

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
Allies claim over 30,000 prisoners taken in Flanders during past month.
Region above Valenciennes flooded by Germans.
Western Front, Air: Mannheim bombed by British. Sopwith Dolphin fighters of No 19 Squadron and D.H.9s (No 98 squadron) attacked by many German fighters (10 lost) covering vital rail targets; 10 Dolphins and 4 D.H.9s lost; 2 D.H.9s crash-land, but 12 Bristol fighters (88 Squadron) destroy 9 of c.17 Fokker fighters over Tournai for no loss. 62 RAF aircraft (3 lost) attack Rebaix airfield north of Ath, hit 4 hangars and destroy 9 aircraft in air. c.30 German fighters scatter 2 D.H.9 squadrons (2 bombers and 4 fighter escorts shot down}. Lieutenant Degelow downs D.H.4, wins last of 75 air Pour le Merite awards. [Note: a claim I’m having great trouble verifying] RAF claims record 67 German aircraft for loss of 41.
New Zealand troops firing howitzers at Le Quesnoy, France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1056882124836483073
American soldiers operating a device used to locate enemy aircraft by reflecting and focusing its sound: © IWM (Q 73786): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1056898467237371904
A destroyed street in Grandpré, France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1056928671372587008
Ned Parfett, who achieved fame as the newspaper boy holding the Evening News poster “Titanic Disaster Great Loss of Life” in 1912, is killed in action near Valenciennes: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1056958872987013121
A German machine gun post captured on the Quéant line: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1057218105175392256
Canadian soldiers admiring loot taken from the Germans: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1057248357616369664

Southern Front
Third Battle of the Piave (aka Battle of Vittorio Veneto): Italian Firenze lancers and Bersaglieri cyclists enter Vittorio Veneto (old Austrian Sixth Army headquarter). Third Army storms Lower Piave at four points as Italian cavalry and armored cars begin pursuit; Austrian Sixth Army split in two. Claimed PoWs total 33,000. Austrian Belluno Group begins general retreat (night October 30-31). Austrian Armistice Delegates reach Villa Giusti near Padua at 2000 hours.
Severe fighting at Grappa.
Austrian PoWs at Vittorio Veneto: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/austrian-pows-vittorio-veneto.jpg?ssl=1
Serbia: Serbs reach Danube east of Semendria and occupy and Pozharevats.
Albania: 122,000 Austrian troops (5 ½ infantry and 1 cavalry divisions) with 540 guns in Albania and Serbia vs 144,000 Italians and 373 guns among 730,850 Allies with 1,883 guns.
Croatia: Fiume surrendered to the Croats by the Hungarian authorities (see Political, etc., below).

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Mesopotamia: Battle of Sharqat (see 30th): Battle of Sharqat ends (see 28th). Turkish army on the Tigris surrenders. 11,321 PoWs; 51 guns; 130 MGs; 2,000 animals for 1,886 British casualties since October 23 including 7th Cavalry Brigade 16-mile north pursuit taking 1,200.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Germany: Room 40 intercepts High Seas Fleet 0800 hours signal ‘All officers on board the Flagship’ as first hint of mutiny. Order to leave port defied five times and crews too denuded by 1,000 arrests to do so (until October 31). Disorder and insubordination grow among German sailors who believe the German Admiralty will sacrifice them in a final battle. German Navy cancels the plan for a final sortie against the British Grand Fleet but mutinous sentiment and activity persists. Hipper disperses Fleet to the Elbe, Kiel and Wilhelmshaven.

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Hungarian Republic proclaimed: Count Janos Hadik Prime Minister.
Emperor Charles gives Fleet to Yugoslav National council, Danube Flotilla to Hungarians; allows officers to serve in new national armies.
Germany: Government note to US says armistice terms awaited.
United Kingdom: Serious influenza epidemic in London; 2,200 deaths last week.
Turkey: Armistice between Turkey and Entente Powers signed at Mudros (see 31st). 25 clauses begin with Dardanelles opening and occupation (published November 2).
Emerging States: "National Council of Fiume" proclaim the independence of the city and announce desire for union with Italy (see November 5th).
Croatian Congress (Sabor) unanimously adhere to Yugoslav declaration of independence (see 29th).

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
British successful attack south-west of Audenarde (Courtrai), carrying all objectives; claim 1,000 prisoners.
British captures in last three months claimed to be: 172,659 prisoners, 2,378 guns, 17,000 machine guns, 2,750 trench mortars, etc.
Overall, just in October, Allies have captured 108,343 PoWs and 2,064 guns.
Foch tells Supreme War Council: ‘… since July 18 we have forced the enemy to retreat. We have attacked him along 400 kilometres and we are continuing to do so … we can continue it if the foe desires it right up to their complete defeat...’
Western Front, Air: In October record of 5,360,000 leaflets dropped by Allied balloons; AEF reports 80% German PoWs with one by October 15, BEF say 12% of theirs. RAF losses 164 aircraft, French 46.
American pilot Eddie Rickenbacker scores his 26th aerial victory, making him the top American ace in the war: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1057308783410642945
Germany: 9 bombs from No 55 squadron D.H.s cause 86 casualties at Bonn.
British troops in the damaged town of Douai, France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1057338965668306947

Southern Front
Third Battle of the Piave (aka Battle of Vittorio Veneto): Austrians in Trentino and Venetian Alps separated and chased back, losing all positions between the Brenta and Piave.
Italian Fourth and Sixth Armies occupy empty Austrian Grappa and Asiago lines, by 1700 hours 2 Alpini battalions clear Feltre. British and Italians reach river Livenza. British recapture Sacile.
Austrian Commander-in-Chief applies to General Armando Diaz for an Armistice.
Italians and Slovenes take over Trieste.
Italian soldiers occupy an abandoned Austro-Hungarian position: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/ital-soldaten-besetzen-stellung.jpg?ssl=1
Albania: Scutari retaken by Italian forces (see January 23rd, 1916).

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Persia: 600 British troops (35 casualties), 4 guns and 2 MGs take Lardeh village and 30 PoWs (until November 1).
Mesopotamia: Only 3,280 Turks with 44 guns estimated in Mosul or en route. General Lewin occupies Altun Kopri on Little Zab.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Austria: Fleet at Pola completes transfer to Southern Slav National Council in Agram. Non Serbian Slavs free to go home, ships fully illuminated for first time, Admiral Horthy makes farewell signal, relinquishes command at c.1645 hours.
Allied and neutral shipping October losses to U-boats: 52 ships (23 British with 318 lives) worth 112,427t (British total all causes 25 ships worth 59,229t); U-boat figure 73 ships worth 116,237t. Lowest monthly tonnage score since July 1916; 5 U-boats sunk.
Britain: In October over 10,000 ships reported as repaired since June 1917. Shipbuilding up nearly 50% over 1917, little change in jobs or days lost.

Political, etc
Austria-Hungary: Revolutions in Vienna and Budapest (see November 1st, 12th and 16th).
Count Istvan Tisza assassinated in Vienna (see May 23rd, 1917). István Tisza: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1057581721292627970
End of the Dual Monarchy.
Polish troops occupy Cracow.
Death of Egon Schiele, Expressionist painter and soldier, aged 28 from flu at Vienna. 700,000 PoWs have returned from Russia since March 3.
Revolutionary Hungarian soldiers and civilians tired of war and Austrian rule occupy Budapest as part of the Aster or Chrysanthemum Revolution. Revolutionary soldiers in the city: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1057550296782721025
Germany: Kaiser leaves Berlin (for last time) by train for OHL at Spa.
Turkey: Hostilities between Entente and Turkey cease at 12 noon (see 30th). Otto von Liman hands over to Mustapha Kemal at Adana, repatriation of 10,000 Germans begins.
Emerging States: Slovenes in Laibach National Assembly proclaim independence.

[gekkogecko]

11 Days until Armistice
Western Front
Foch’s plan for final phase of general offensive (until November 11): major thrusts by BEF in North and AEF in South, both supported by French armies on their flanks. BEF is to force the Scheldt, advance to Maubeuge and press on to seize Meuse crossings from Namur to Dinant. If taken before Germans evacuate Flanders they are to be pressed back against border of neutral Holland and captured. In south, US First and French Fourth Armies to advance by forced marches to seize Mezieres and Sedan, so isolating Germans facing French Centre Army Group and sever the great lateral railway Bruges-Ghent-Maubeuge-Mezieres–Metz, key artery to half of Western Front.
Scheldt: Battle of Valenciennes (until November 3): Haig turns Scheldt defences (Hermann position) and pushes east and north to Maubeuge, Mons and river Dendre. BEF Third and First Armies attack on 6-mile front and reach Valenciennes outskirts (4th Canadian Division captures Mont Houy) despite German 28th Reserve Division counter-attack with 4 (captured BEF) tanks (2 lost), last such effort. BEF Fourth Army’s 32nd Division and 3 tanks attacks Happegarbes Spur southwest of Landrecies. Constant rain (until November 11).
Aisne and Meuse: FRANCO-US offensive begins: US First Army (7 divisions) with 19 tanks and right wing of French Fourth Army; US V Corps in centre, drives a 5-mile deep wedge into German lines astride Bourgogne Wood including first AEF use of mustard gas (41t of gas, 36,000 round), as 4 German divisions overrun. US 5th Division crosses Meuse isolating Dun-sur-Meuse.
Western Front, Air: D.H.9s bomb Brussels rail station and Maubeuge.
Fonck’s 75th and final victory, a German leaflet-dropping two-seater.
Germany, Black Sea and Mediterranean: German Naval Air Service 1,478 aircraft and seaplanes with 16,122 men (2,116 aircrew) at 32 seaplane 17 land air bases strong.
New Zealand soldiers with a captured German machine gun at Sapignies, France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1057596832631660544
American wounded getting sandwich rolls and chocolate at a Red Cross Bureau at Toulouse: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1057657237374668806

Eastern Front
Ukraine National Council assumes administration of East Galicia. "State of War" begins between The Ukraine and Poland (see 23rd). Fighting breaks out between Ukrainian and Polish forces in Lemberg (Lviv, Lwów), sparking the Polish-Ukrainian War. Lemberg proclaimed to be in state of siege.
Germany: Between 1-11 November 2 German divisions transfer to Western Front.
North Russia: In November A A Samoilo made C-in-C Sixth Detached Red Army (headquarter Vologda). Red Western Front formed and Ukrainian Soviet Army (late November).
Don: Red Army takes offensive vs Denisov’s Great Don Host (50,000 men).
North Russia: In November 2 air squadrons (White and RAF plus 6 Sopwith Camel fighters form late November) go into action above Dvina Force.

Southern Front
Third Battle of the Piave (aka Battle of Vittorio Veneto): Austrians retreat from Venetian Alps and plain towards River Tagliamento.
Comando Supremo receives Allied armistice terms by telephone from Paris by 0615 hours, General Pietro Badoglio tells Austrians’ actual text available only on November 2. Allies progress on Asiago plateau, Italians reoccupy Belluno and Longarone. Last Austrian GHQ communique ‘In the Veneto the evacuation operations proceed’.
In the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, Italian troops push on Austrian positions on Monte Grappa. Italian machine gunners on Monte Grappa: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1057627020757229568
Serbia: Belgrade retaken by Serbian forces (see October 9th, 1915, and December 9th, 1918).

Eastern Front/West Asia Border Theater
Armenia-Azerbaijan: Merv retaken by British and White Russian forces [Approximate date.] (see August 18th).

Naval and Overseas Operations
Adratic: Italian raid sinks the Austro-Hungarian battleship SMS Viribus Unitis. However, the Italians didn’t know the ship had been transferred to the newly-established (and neutral) State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. The sinking kills around 300-400 crew: © Q 80983.
Rhodesia: German force in East Africa enters Rhodesia and attacks Fife (see 9th and September 29th).

Political, etc
Austria: Baron Ludwig von Flotow succeeds Count Guyla Andrassy (provisionally) as Austrian Foreign Minister (see October 24th and October 25th).
Austrian Expressionist painter Egon Schiele dies to the Spanish flu at the age of 28, only three days after his pregnant wife also died to the flu. His self-portrait: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1057718880209117187
Hungary: Independent Hungarian Government formed. Count Mihály Károlyi as Prime Minister.
With Budapest controlled by revolutionary soldiers and protestors, Emperor Karl of Austria-Hungary recognizes pro-Entente, anti-war politician Mihály Károlyi as the Prime Minister of Hungary: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1057688684395458561
Russia: Early November Communist Youth League Komsomol founded; 100,000 members by end of 1919.
France: Versailles Conference opens. Around this date the Supreme Allied Council for Supply and Relief is formed.
United Kingdom: British War Cabinet decide to recognize Provisional Siberian Government.
RFP up 4% to 133%. Shipbuilding control transferred from Admiralty to Shipping Ministry.
Turkey: Talaat Pasha addresses last Congress of Party of Union and Progress, admits massacre of innocent Armenians by many officials.
Bulgaria: King Boris of Bulgaria abdicates (see October 4th). Peasant Government established at Tirnova under leadership of Mr. Aleksandr Stambuliski.
United States: 306,719 Army flu cases since September 12; 19,429 deaths.
Emerging States: Great Serbian National Council proclaimed at Sarajevo (Bosnia).

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
Battle of Valenciennes ends (see 1st and 3rd): Canadian Corps (c.380 casualties) captures Valenciennes and claiming 1,800 PoWs and 7 guns, and over 800 Germans killed.
Aisne and Meuse: Germans retreat before US I Corps which captures Buzancy and links with French Fourth Army.
Sambre: Mutiny of Eastern Front reinforcements for German Seventeenth Army; they have to be disarmed by a storm battalion.
French capture south bank of Canal des Ardennes between Semuy and Neuville.
Western Front, Air: First attempted ‘cloud’ (blind) bombing (using dead reckoning): lone D.H.9a of No 99 Squadron RAF drops 3 x 112lb bombs in area of Avricourt rail junction and nearby dump.
German prisoners are led down a street while French civilians watch: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1057937811737845760
A wounded Canadian soldier being treated among the ruins of the Canal de l'Escaut:
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1057952917653782528
New Zealand soldiers inspecting a British tank that was captured and used by the Germans: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1057983121256267776
French civilians at Suresnes watch a procession for fallen Allied soldiers as it enters the cemetery: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1058013326045839364

Southern Front
Italian Front: Italian First Army begins advance, occupies Rovereto and Calliano in Adige valley (night November 1-2) and Col Santo. Italian Seventh Army begins advance west of Lake Garda, captures Mt Pari near it. First armistice meeting 2100-0300 hours (night November 2-3), Austrians reluctantly accept 24-hour delay for end of hostilities.
Third Battle of the Piave (aka Battle of Vittorio Veneto): Austrian retreat in Venetian Alps and plain continued.
Italy: Allied Supreme War Council approves plan (until November 4) for up to 40 Italian divisions (including 5 British and French) to invade Bavaria from Innsbruck and Salzburg areas in early 1919 under Foch’s direction.
Allies enter Belluno.
Italian troops advance across the Assiago plateau: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/iatl-truppen-assiago-hochebene.jpg?ssl=1
Italian troops continue their offensive in the Battle of Vittorio Veneto, as the Austro-Hungarian Army collapses. Italian and British troops passing by abandoned Austro-Hungarian equipment: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1058270021544116224


Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Mesopotamia: William Marshall gets full armistice terms; General Cassels sees Ali Ihsan, arranges advance to within 2 miles of Mosul.
Commander-in-Chief of the British forces in Mesopotamia William Marshall reads the proclamation of the armistice with the Ottoman Empire to his troops in Baghdad: © IWM (Q 56808): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1058300198475182081

Naval and Overseas Operations
Mediterranean: Last British merchant vessels (S.S. Surada and Murcia) sunk by submarine.
Constantinople: Germans hand over U-boats to Turks.
Rhodesia: von Lettow bombards Fife in Northern Rhodesia but declines to assault (premature shell explodes mortar) while 1/4th King’s African Rifles 23 miles to east. Von Lettow advances into Northern Rhodesia with 400 cattle; at Mwenzo Mission increases quinine supply to over 30lb (enough to last to June 1919).

Political, etc
Austria: 69th Hungarian Infantry Regiment deserts Schoenbrunn Palace (Hungarian troops later officially allowed to go home) but Wiener Neustadt military cadets (military academies close) replace them. Emperor Charles refuses Archduke Joseph’s call to abdicate as King of Hungary.
Germany: Baltic: Mass meeting of 3rd Squadron sailors in Waldweisse meadow, Kiel. Stoker Karl Artelt urges men to persist for their imprisoned shipmates’ release and gain support from shipyard workers; 5 other speakers demand continuing resistance and refusal to obey orders (reactionary officers deserve to be ‘clubbed to death’), and an immediate end to war. Kiel Governor Admiral Souchon (of Goeben fame) attempts to disperse the crowd with 2 naval infantry coys, but both units refuse to open fire.
Paul von Hindenburg appeals for unity. Unions and industrialists demand demobilization office instead of Imperial Economic Office.
Poland: Polish Regency Council orders formation of regular Standing Army.
United Kingdom: Mass meeting of Trade Unionists in London to consider Labour's part in the Peace.
Turkey: Publication of armistice terms with Turkey.
Enver, Talaat and Djemal leave Constantinople in German naval ship for Ukraine.
United States: New York’s worst subway accident, the Malbone Street Wreck occurs in Brooklyn, resulting in around 93 deaths. (Another source says (97 killed, plus 100 injured). It is one of the deadliest train crashes in US history: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1058058623925055490
Emerging States: Administration of Carniola taken over from the Austro-Hungarian authorities by Slovene leaders (see August 17th).

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
Flanders: Belgians reach outskirts of Ghent.
Aisne and Argonne: Franco-American offensive ends; Lille-Metz rail line severed. French IX Corps takes Basancourt Farm. Germans retreat in Argonne Forest. Americans capture Buzancy. French capture south bank of Canal des Ardennes between Semuy and Neuville.
British troops outside the destroyed train station at Valenciennes: © IWM (Q 78802): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1058360614756777985
Allied flags flown by the residents of Valenciennes to greet the advancing soldiers: © IWM (Q 78804): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1058390818623492096
Canadian soldier tries to comfort a wounded Belgian baby whose mother was killed by a shell: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1058407172017713152
German prisoners captured and held at Le Quesnoy, France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1058633653281009664
The museum in Valenciennes, France that was looted by German troops: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1058663851355385857
Canadian soldier in the ruins of Valenciennes: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1058694060263817216

Eastern Front
Romania: Mackensen proposes immediate evacuation (US decrypt message, August von Mackensen receives Romanian ultimatum on November 9 and begins pullout November 10).
Poland: Polish Regency Council orders formation of regular Standing Army.

Southern Front
Third Battle of the Piave (aka Battle of Vittorio Veneto): AUSTRIAN ARMISTICE SIGNED AT 1800 HOURS by Generals Weber and Badoglio at Diaz’s Villa Giusti headquarter near Padua. Austrian Army group commanders suspend hostilities from 0330 hours. Italians (from Venice) land at Trieste, occupy Trento. British 48th Division completes haul of 23,000 PoWs with 14 battalions. Italian cavalry cross Tagliamento and regain Udine.
Trieste occupied by Italian forces.
Italian cavalry enters Trento. At the same time, a coy of Alpini troops lands in the port of Trieste: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/ital-kav-trient.jpg?ssl=1
Serbia: Serb Government re-enters Belgrade.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Mutiny in the German fleet at Kiel becomes general (see August 3rd, 1917). 3,000 sailors and workers converge on Waldweisse in Kiel; a USPD representative and shipyard workers proclaim solidarity. The elated crowd then marches towards Feldstrasse naval gaol, but is fired on in Karlstrasse by 48 officer cadets and shipmates (Lieutenant Steinhauser), 8 killed, 39 wounded. Crowd retaliates with stones and a few rifle shots (Steinhauser killed), then disperses.
Adriatic: Italian Navy from Venice, Ancona, Brindisi and Albania begins occupying 32 Dalmatian Islands and Adriatic ports (until December 5) beginning with Trieste and Pelagosa Island (4 small craft) and Lissa island.

Political, etc
Among Allied Powers: Allied Governments agree to Germany's proposal for an armistice and peace on basis of President Wilson's proposals of January 8th (see 5th and October 23rd).
Austria: AUSTRIAN ARMISTICE WITH ALLIES signed at noon (effective November 4, published November 6) after Emperor Charles relinquishes supreme command to Arthur Arz (Hermann Kövess von Kövessháza nominated November 4).
Poland: Republic declared at Warsaw.
Emerging States: Yugoslav Republic declared at Agram.

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
Battle of the Sambre including the Second Battle of Guise (4th/5th): British Fourth (3 divisions with 26 tanks and 6 armored cars; 1,200 casualties), Third (8 divisions with 11 tanks) and First Armies (6 divisions) attack on 30-mile front from east of Valenciennes to Guise; Landrecies falls to 600 men of 25th Division. NZ Division storms Le Quesnoy taking 2,500 PoWs and 100 guns. Lieutenant W Owen (Manchester Regiment), war poet, killed aged 25 by MG fire at Sambre Canal assault. BEF 5-mile advance captures 10,000 PoWs and 200 guns. Haig orders Plumer to be ready to cross river Scheldt c. November 11. German Second Army begins retreat to Antwerp-Meuse position (night November 4-5). 10,000 prisoners and 200 guns captured.
Belgians advance to north-west and southern suburbs of Ghent.
French reach Le Chesne on Ardennes Canal.
Meuse and Argonne: Franco-Americans clear Argonne; AEF take Stenay and Dun-sur-Meuse.
New Zealand soldiers using a captured German machine gun near Beaudignies, France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1058754460330196992
Allied soldiers on the frontlines near Le Quesnoy: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1059042593110147072
Divisional commanders on horseback riding into the newly captured town of Le Quesnoy, France: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1059072788458364928
Allied troops win the Battle of Sambre, crossing the Sambre Canal and capturing the town of Le Quesnoy, Painting showing New Zealand troops scaling the walls of the town, by George Edmund Butler (1920): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1059102987749126145

Southern Front
Third Battle of the Piave (aka Battle of Vittorio Veneto): Battle of Vittorio Veneto, and all fighting on the Italian Front ends with the armistic3e effective as of noon (see October 24th). Hostilities between Austria-Hungary and the Entente cease (see 3rd and 15th).
Diaz cables Paris that Italy will intervene to enforce Germany’s armistice terms if necessary.
US 332nd Infantry Regiment gets into action a few hours before ceasefire, capturing Austrian MGs on east bank of river Tagliamento. Italian 1st and 4th Cavalry Divisions reach the frontier in Carnia and Caporetto beyond. Italian 54th Division captures 10,000 Austrians at Muzzanella bridge west of coastal frontier after Commander Borghese cuts the road with Bafile Batallion and Arditi (November 3-4) who are forced to surrender at 0800 hours.
Montenegro: Antivari occupied by Italian naval forces (see January 22nd, 1916).
Serb Second Army liberates capital Cetinje.
Following the armistice with Austria-Hungary, Italian troops begin occupying all of Tyrol, including Innsbruck. Austro-Hungarian troops captured at Trento: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1059012390992404480

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Mesopotamia: Mosul occupied by British forces under General Fanshawe (see October 23rd).

Naval and Overseas Operations
Baltic: Enraged by ‘Karlstrasse Bloodbath’ thousands of sailors, 20,000 garrison troops and workers join Kiel mutiny. Crew of battleship Grosser Kurfürst overpower their officers and march to Karlstrasse to swear an oath of vengeance. At mass meeting in 1st Torpedo Division, Artelt demands immediate establishment of a ‘sailors’ council’. Officers attempting to silence him are savagely disarmed. Council elected with Artelt as chairman drafts programme of ’14 demands’. Troops of 1st Dock Division arrive but refuse to fire, hand over their weapons. Even the staunchly loyal U-boat Division now turns against officer corps. At 1345 hours Kiel city Commander informs Souchon ‘The mutiny … continues to spread … we no longer possess any reliable troops…’. Souchon dismissed and replaced by Socialist Gustav Noske.
Demonstrating German sailors in Wilhelmshaven: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/demonstrierende-matrosen.jpg?ssl=1
Karl Artelt, one of the leaders of the incipient revolution: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1058785904364535809
Adriatic: Italian ships enter Fiume and Zara, occupy Rovigno, isles of Lagosta, Meleda and Curzola, and port of Dulcigno.

Political, etc
Germany: KIEL MUTINY: Revolution spreads to Lübeck and Travemünde (November 5), Hamburg, Bremen, Cuxhaven, Wilhelmshaven (November 6), Landwehr and workers. General Greoner goes to Berlin and learns no armistice if Kaiser does not abdicate; meets Chancellor Ebert on November 6. Stuttgart founds first Workers Council.
Turkey: Liman reaches Constantinople, put in command of evacuation; most Germans have or are sailing to Odessa (until November 19).
United States: U.S. recognize Polish army as autonomous and co-belligerent.

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
Battle of the Sambre including the Second Battle of Guise (4th/5th): Pursuit after Battle of the Sambre begins: BEF Fourth, Third and First Armies engaged; Mormal Forest cleared. Canadian Corps and 3 British divisions with tanks orce river Grand Honnelle (mainly just inside Belgium; until November 7). OHL ORDERS GENERAL RETIREMENT INTO ANTWERP-MEUSE POSITION (issued 0400 hours). Foch given ‘supreme strategical direction of all forces operating against Germany on all fronts’.
Aisne: French take Chateau-Porcien.
Meuse: General retreat of Germans from the Meuse to Conde on the Scheldt begins, French Center Army Group joins in pursuit. Groener in Berlin informs German Cabinet ‘… one thing must not be allowed to happen. The American Army … must be prevented from advancing north of Verdun’. MacArthur in command of 42nd ‘Rainbow’ Division (until November 22) on advancing US I Corps flank after AEF link with Gouraud.
Douglas MacArthur, one of the most important generals of the Second World War, as commander of the Rainbow Division in 1918: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/McArthur-1918-Rainbow-Div.jpg?ssl=1
American troops leaving for the front: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1059123122966855681
An American deserter and straggler wearing signs marking their crimes in France: © IWM (Q 70742): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1059389879023517697

Naval and Overseas Operations
Baltic: Captain Weniger and 2 other officers of battleship König, shot dead while attempting to prevent hoisting of red flag on their ship (Kiel town cadet also killed by sailors on November 6). Kaiser’s brother Grand Admiral Prince Heinrich flees in a truck flying the red flag.
North Sea: H.M.S. Campania sunk by collision in the Firth of Forth with battleship HMS Revenge, No lives are lost: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1059450287495221248

Political, etc
Germany: (Listed for yesterday): German troops are sent to Kiel to disperse the mutinous sailors, but many end up refusing orders or joining the revolutionaries. The city of Kiel falls under the control of the revolutionary sailors and workers, and they issue their “14 Points”: http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_document.cfm?document_id=3939
Soviet Ambassador Yoffe expelled from Germany for subversion, but gives Independent Socialists 4 million rubles for propaganda on November 6.
Russia: Resignation of Siberian Government in favour of "All-Russian Government" (i.e., Whites not Bolsheviks).
United Kingdom: Lloyd George announces Armistice conditions in Commons.
British Ministerial changes; Sir A. Geddes becomes President of Local Government Board in place of Mr. W. Hayes-Fisher, resigned.
Rows of munitions in a warehouse at the National Shell Filling Factory at Chitwell, Nottinghamshire: © HU 96430: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1059359682169573377
United States: President Wilson sends final Note to the German Government with Allies' acceptance of armistice proposals (see 3rd and 8th). Germany must apply to Foch for terms. Government recognizes Romanian Unity National Council (Britain on November 11, Italy on November 22).
U.S. elections for Congress; Republican majority returned.

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
Rethel taken by French forces.
Meuse: US 1st Division reaches Sedan (see August 29th, 1914): traffic halted on key Mezieres-Montmedy railway; only line to Western Front still available south of Ardennes; 4 German armies are virtually cut off. Army Group Gallwitz ordered to retire to Antwerp-Meuse position. Groener warns Chancellor: ‘… even Monday will be too late [for an armistice], it must be Saturday at the latest’.
Scheldt: Canadians enter Belgium, forcing Rivers Aunelle and Honelle north of Valenciennes-Mons road; they take 1,750 PoWs from 7 German divisions (November 1-8).
Sambre: British Third Army makes very limited advances owing to Seventeenth Army rearguards and repeated shelling of river crossings; added to heavy rain, bad roads and limited room for manoeuvre.
Oise and Aisne: French recapture Vervins and Rethel.
Lorraine: Foch decides to attack as soon as possible and assigns troops from US Second Army.
American soldiers with French FT-17 tanks are advancing: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/US-FT17.jpg?ssl=1
American soldier manning a machine gun near Grandpré, France: © IWM (Q 79595): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1059768626323054592
American US Signal Corps photographers taking reconnaissance photos of German lines near Varennes-en-Argonne: © IWM (Q 113418): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1059798837177524226
An old French couple greeting American soldiers after they retook Brieulles-sur-Bar: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1059829028679573504

Naval and Overseas Operations
Baltic: Following Kiel, the German port of Wilhelmshaven also falls to revolutionary sailors and workers. Revolutionary sailors of battleship SMS Prinzregent Luitpold: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1059859223130058752
Caspian: 5 Royal Navy ships reach Petrovsk (Northern Caucasus) to fetch Bicherakov.

Political, etc
Austria: Emperor formally demobilize armed forces.
Germany: A dozen sailors persuade all 12,000 workers at Hamburg’s Blohm & Voss shipyard to down tools. Friedrich Ebert, leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germany: “If the Kaiser does not abdicate, the social revolution is inevitable. But I do not want it, I even hate it like sin.”
Russia: Lenin tells 6th Soviet Congress ‘Germany has caught fire, and Austria is burning out of control.’
United Kingdom: Lloyd George lunches and dines ministers; they agree to call General Election.
Serbia: King Peter of Serbia re-enters Belgrade (see 1st and January 17th, 1916).
Romania: Marghiloman Government resigns at Jassy, General Coanda succeeds.

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
France: Germans radio Foch with names of armistice envoys, (leave Spa at noon) he stipulates they must come to Forest of Compiegne. Marshall Foch informs German armistice delegates they may advance to French outposts by Chimay-Fourmies-La Capelle-Guise road. Haig orders that on November 8th ‘The Fourth, Third and First Armies should continue their present operations … reaching the line Avesnes-Maubeuge-Mons (Avesnes road): advanced guards and mounted troops should then be pushed forward beyond … to keep touch with the enemy … the Fifth and Second Armies… with the Flanders Group of Armies should on the 11th November … force a passage of the Scheldt and then drive the enemy back over the river Dendre.’
Record of 190,564 US soldiers in 23 hospitals and 21 hospital trains. French Army has 185 hospital trains (8 in 1914).
Sambre: British advance 5 miles through Avesnes and Bavai to Haumont, 3 miles west of Maubeuge and Elouges (9.5 miles south-west of Mons).
Scheldt: German artillery ‘hate shoot’ on Oudenarde, heavy civilian casualties. At 1915 hours Petain cables ‘... Reserve Army Group is to support the British right wing, making its principal effort by the Chimay gap [before Givet on Meuse]; Centre Army Group is to secure Mezieres, Charleville and Sedan and establish bridgehead on the Meuse’.
Meuse and Argonne: US 29th Division and French 10th Colonial Div meet on Borne de Cornoiuller (15,000 US casualties since Septembet 26) above Meuse after fighting since November 3. US Third Army formed. French and Americans threaten Charleville-Mezieres.
Australian troops are advancing on the Western front: https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/autral-truppen-westfront.jpg?ssl=1
A “baby dispatch car” designed for use by the US Army: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1060167508945190913

Southern Front
Serbia: Franchet d’Esperey and Serb Crown Prince enter Belgrade under triumphal arches and meet Karolyi’s Hungarian delegation which left Budapest on November 5, hand them the armistice terms.
Austria: Austrians inform Italians that elements of II Bavarian Corps approaching Brenner Pass.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Allenby makes Anglo-French declaration of Eastern Peoples’ “liberation” from Turkish oppression.
Syria: Yilderim and Seventh Army HQs closed, Kemal recalled to Constantinople, Nihad Pasha in command of Second Army takes over.

Naval and Overseas Operations
North Sea: Harwich Force sorties (until November 8) but cannot prevent some German steamers interning themselves in Holland by sailing in Dutch territorial waters. First Sea Lord Admiral Sir R Wemyss made British Naval Representative for Armistice talks. Beatty writes ‘The Fleet, my Fleet, is brokenhearted [at being denied battle], but are still wonderful, the most wonderful thing in creation.’

Political, etc
Germany: Bavaria proclaimed a Republic by Prussian Jew Kurt Eisner at Munich as King Ludwig III flees into Austria (formally deposed November 8, ‘abdicates’ November 16), becoming the first monarch in the German Empire to be deposed: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1060227918440349697
Majority Socialists demand Kaiser and Prime Minister’s abdication by noon November 8, resign from Reichstag and call General Strike for November 8. Demobilization Office set up. General Linsingen in command of Brandenburg forbids Soviets.
The German revolution spreads to nearly all coastal cities, as well as Munich, Hanover, Brunswick, and Frankfurt. Sailors seize Cologne despite 45,000-strong garrison. Kiel and Hamburg in hands of "Soviets" (i.e., Workers’ and Sailors’ councils).
Alsace: Pro-French demo at Strasbourg.
Russia: Statue of Marx and Engels is unveiled by Lenin in Moscow for the first anniversary of the Russian Revolution: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1060107105636618240
United Kingdom: Labour Ministry forms Civil Demobilization and Resettlement Department. Churchill announces munitions ‘carry on at reduced speed’ (not less than halftime on November 9, in force November 11). Health Ministry Bill introduced into Commons.
United States: False armistice celebrated in New York due to erroneous UP dispatch. Similar false news is spread in other Allied countries: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1060197716473626625
Emerging States: Yugoslav conference at Geneva decide to form a joint Yugoslav-Serbian Government to control military and foreign affairs (see 23rd, and October 29th).

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
France: German armistice delegates reach Allied General Headquarters (see 11th and October 23rd), led by Matthias Erzberger, they see Foch at 0900 hours, refer terms to Berlin 1300 hours. Marshal Foch refuses request for provisional armistice, terms of armistice to be accepted or refused by 11 am on 11 November.
Maubeuge retaken by British forces (see September 7th, 1914).
French reach outskirts of Hirson and Mezieres; French and Americans clear heights east of Meuse.
Germans retire from Hermann position (Oudenarde-Tournai-Conde). BEF begins advance to Armistice Line (18,000 PoWs taken since November 1). US Second and First Armies and 4 French Armies begin final advance.
Sambre: British 32nd Division (Fourth Army) captures Avesnes.
Scheldt: Germans begin withdrawing opposite BEF Fifth Army at 0200 hours. British patrols soon discover abandoned German bridgehead west of Antoing-Tournai, British quickly reach western bank from Bruyelle to Froyennes and cross river.
German delegation led by Matthias Erzberger crosses the front lines to negotiate the armistice with the Allies: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1060258114518298625
A German prisoner crossing the Canal de l'Escaut: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1060469493577801729
German guns captured by the Canadians around Cambrai: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1060500955723194368

Political, etc
Austria: War Minister and Emperor order that new loyalty oath replaces imperial one.
Germany: German senior commanders unanimously imply to imperial chancellor that army cannot be relied on, if ordered, to suppress uprisings at home.
Prince Max’s proclamation to Germans abroad declaring Germany beaten, and resigns Chancellorship. King of Württemberg and Duke of Brunswick abdicate. Pilsudski released from Magdeburg fortress to Berlin, arrives Warsaw on November 10.
Poland: Leaders tells Austria they has assumed sovereignty over Galicia.
United Kingdom: Blockade Minister warns enemy ships’ transfer will not be recognized.
Final wartime import restrictions issued (first relaxation on November 14).
Romania: M. Marghiloman, Romanian Premier, and M. Arian, Romanian Foreign Minister, resign (see March 21st, and December 1st).
United States: Woodrow Wilson cables congratulations to new governments at Vienna, Budapest and Prague.

[dicksbro]

The end is in sight.

[gekkogecko]

More than you might realize. Today's post:
Western Front
Scheldt: Germans in general retreat on British Second Army front; British take Tournai.
Sambre: Guards Division battalion (Third Army) occupies Maubeuge. BEF Fourth Army organizes Major-General Bethell’s mobile force (including 5th Cavalry Brigade and 5 armoured cars) to pursue Germans across Belgian frontier east of Avesnes (until November 11).
Aisne: French capture Hirson rail junction.

Southern Front
Austro-Hungarian and German planes damaged at a captured aerodrome in Campoformido, Italy: © Q 108874: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1060531166036574210

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Syria: Alexandretta occupied by Entente naval forces.

Naval and Overseas Operations
Eastern Atlantic: Last U-boat sunk: U-34 (sinker of 121 ships of 262,886t since 1915) sunk off Gibraltar by British ex-Q-ship Privet and minelayers.
Atlantic: The pre-dreadnought battleship H.M.S. Britannia sunk by submarine UB-50 off Cape Trafalgar, resulting in 50 deaths (last warship so lost). British battleship HMS Britannia: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1060818043092250625
North Sea: Grand Fleet heavily afflicted by flu, 2 captains die. U-boat Commander Michelsen orders last c.20 loyal U-boats and small craft to home ports.
Rhodesia: Kasama taken by Colonel von Lettow-Vorbeck's force (see 1st and 13th).

Political, etc
Between Allied Powers: Joint Declaration by British and French Governments regarding future occupation of Syria and Mesopotamia.
Austria: Emperor Karl to his advisers ‘I will not abdicate and I will not flee the country’.
Hungary: Reported resignation of Marghiloman Cabinet at Jassy; General Coanda to form New Cabinet
Germany: Revolution breaks out in Berlin. German Imperial Chancellor Prince Max announces that the Kaiser has decided to abdicate, as Philipp Scheidemann proclaims German Republic from Reichstag, Prince Max becomes Regent. Herr Friedrich Ebert becomes Imperial Chancellor (see 10th, 28th and October 4th). Prince Max becomes Regent (having announced Kaiser’s abdication) and Ebert becomes Chancellor. General Wilhelm Groener (after 39 division, brigade and regiment commanders give Army’s opinion), tells Kaiser at Spa Army will not follow him (‘Treason, gentlemen, barefaced treason!’). Groener boldly states ‘The Army will march back home under its own generals in good order but not under the leadership of Your Majesty’. Kaiser retorts ‘I require that statement in writing, I want all the commanding generals to state … that the Army no longer stands behind its Supreme Commander. Has it not taken an oath on the colors?’ Groener replies that in this situation oaths lose their meaning. Saxony declared a Republic. Eisner Prime Minister and Foreign Minister in Bavaria.
Majority socialist Philipp Scheidemann proclaims the German Republic from a window of the Reichstag “The old and rotten, the monarchy has collapsed. The new may live. Long live the German Republic!”: https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/scheidemann-ruft-republik-aus.jpg?ssl=1
Kaiser tells Reinhard Scheer (at Spa) ‘I no longer have a Navy’. Franz von Hipper’s flagship hoists red flag and he goes ashore.
Karl Liebknecht Sparticists seize Old Palace and hang red flag. Republic of Hesse declared. Krupp Works at Essen close; Gustav Krupp decides to keep pre-war workers (November 10) and sends 70,000 (including over 30,000 Poles) home with 2 weeks pay and rail tickets (until November 18).
Herr Kurt Eisner assumes Prime Ministry and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bavarian Republic.
Max von Baden: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1060848242995458049
Poland: Polish Government formed at Lyublin.
United Kingdom: Lloyd George in Guildhall speech says Germany’s choice immediate surrender or worse fate.
Lloyd George on Kaiser’s abdication ‘Was there ever a more dramatic judgment?’
A surgical ward in Winchester, England: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1060591558699950082
Italy: Prime Minister Vittorio Orlando Rome speech claims ‘it is a Roman victory’.
Romania: Romanian ultimatum to Marshal von Mackensen: German troops to leave Romania within 24 hours.
United States: Woodrow Wilson directs Herbert Hoover to Europe (in London November 23) for food relief.
Switzerland: Swiss Federation of Workmen's Unions orders general strike.
Emerging States: Czechoslovakian official addressing crowds in Prague. The country proclaimed its independence from Austria-Hungary on October 28th: © IWM (Q 112683): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1060561357706268673

[dicksbro]

Tomorrow's the day! Hard to believe.

[gekkogecko]

Western Front
Flanders: Ghent reoccupied by Belgian forces (see October 12th, 1914).
Sambre: Canadian 3rd Division enters Mons (264 Canadian casualties) overcoming diehard MG squads; town cleared of German 62nd Regiment (12th Division) by dawn November 11.
Meuse: Gouraud’s right wing (French Fourth Army) reaches Mezieres; Germans abandon gun parks, huge store dumps and rolling stock. US First Army assault crosses Meuse.
Moselle: US Second Army (Bullard), including 92nd Division (“Negros”; 1,000 casualties), attacks towards Briey Basin (blast furnaces and iron ore workings).
Lorraine: Mangin gives Legion RMLE its 9th, final and record citation in Army Orders, unit in sight of Metz on November 11.
Western Front, Air: 11 D.H.4s (1 lost) of No 55 Squadron bomb railways at Ehrang. Low cloud, mist and heavy flak prevent them reaching Cologne; 5 killed, 7 injured in central Metz by Handley Page bomber (night November 10-11).
A destroyed bridge of the River Scheldt at Tournai, Belgium: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1060923751515209728
French firemen shaking hands with British Royal Engineers at Tournai: © IWM (Q 9651): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1060938854952243202
British troops marching into Maubeuge, France after it was evacuated by retreating German troops: © IWM (Q 3339): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1061229510232866816

Eastern Front
Romania: Allied forces cross the Danube at Ruschuk and enter Romania (also at Sistova and Nikopol on November 11),
Hungary: Serb First Army crosses unopposed around Belgrade into Hungary.

Southern Front
Alps: Some German troops cross Austrian frontier into North Tyrol but soon dissolve into desertion and Italians occupy Brenner Pass where Commander of 4th Bavarian Division says he will retire to Germany on November 11.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Syria: British join French at Alexandretta.
Mesopotamia: Turks evacuate Mosul for Nisibis.

Naval and Overseas Operations
North Sea: Paddle minesweeper HMS Ascot (53 crew lost) sunk by coastal submarine UB-67 off Northeast England.
Britain: Naval staff discuss desirability of abolishing the submarine.
Western Mediterranean: Newly arrived Brazilian Squadron fires in error on US submarine chasers during anti-submarine operation.

Political, etc
Germany: The Kaiser crosses the frontier into Holland (see 9th and 28th) at Eysdin at about 0700 hours with 70 staff in 11 cars, waits for and reboards imperial train for journey through Liege (Crown Prince follows him on November 12 with 4 staff).
Kaiser Wilhelm II crossing the border into Dutch exile: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/kaiser-grenzuebertritt-holland.jpg?ssl=1
Chancellor radios Armistice delegation after 1800 hours to sign.
Death of Herr Albert Ballin.
United Kingdom: Carl Mannerheim arrives from Finland at Aberdeen.
British tanks on parade at the Lord Mayor’s Show, London: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1060953968547913729
Turkey: Sultan appoints Tewfik Pasha (ex-London Ambassador) to form pro-Allied government (Assembly approves on November 18).
Belgium: German troops hoist red flag in Brussels.
Romania: King of Romania announces that the Romanian nation have taken up arms again on the side of the Allies (see December 6th, 1917).
Emerging States: Czechoslovakia: Tomáš Masaryk elected President in Geneva. 2 Hungarian divisions drive 1,100 Czechoslovaks from Slovakia.

[gekkogecko]

Armistice concluded between the Allied and Associated Powers and Germany. [Signed in Marshal Foch's special train at Rethondes, station in the Forest of Compiègne, at 0505 hours.] Hostilities on the Western front cease at 11 a.m. (see 8th and December 14th). Germans to evacuate France and Low Countries in 14 days. New German Foreign Minister Dr Solf appeals for lighter terms and immediate talks (November 12).
The Allied Plenipotentiaries at the signing of the Armistice in Foch’s Salon Carriage: https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/waffenstillstand-11nov-1918.jpg?ssl=1
In the forest of Compiègne, the German delegation signs the armistice with the Allied powers, which will come into effect in 6 hours: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1061468586286424069
On “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month,” the armistice between Germany and the Allied Powers comes into effect. The Great War is over. © IWM (Q 65857): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1061559244095401986
Western Front
Allied line from Selzaete and Ghent to Thann and Swiss border: BEF stands on 55-mile line; Franco-Belgian frontier east of Avesnes-Jeumont-Givry, 4 miles east of Mons (captured by 3rd Canadian Division and 5th Lancers) - Chievres 4 miles east of Ath-Lessines (captured at 1055 hours with 150 PoWs) – Grammont. Since July 18 Allied Armies have taken 385,500 PoWs and 6,615 guns (BEF share totals 188,700 PoWs and 2,840 guns). Petain weeps in frustration that Armistice has denied ‘decisive’ victory, but at 2000 hours writes GHQ order ‘Closed due to victory’.
Meuse: Vanguards of US Second Army and 3 French corps are within 6 miles of Montmedy. AEF strength 1,981,701 men (1,078,222 combat troops).
British soldier George Edwin Ellison, French soldier Augustin Trébuchon, Canadian soldier George Lawrence Price, and American soldier Henry Gunther are few of the last known Allied soldiers killed in the War. Gunther is killed 1 minute before 11 am.
Western Front, Air: French Breguet 14 (Minier) carries German plenipotentiary Major Geyer from Tergnier to German GHQ at Spa with armistice terms. They include immediate demobilization of German Army Air Service and surrender of 2,000 fighters and bombers (eventually reduced to 1,700). Special importance is attached to confiscation of all Fokker D-VII fighters and Zeppelins – 2,713 planes handed over by January 16, 1919.
French first-line strength 4,511 aircraft and 61,000 men in 80 fighter, 32 bomber and 146 reconnaissance squadrons; German 2,390 (2,709 establishment) including 1,134-1,296 fighters and 164 bombers in 284 flying units with c.4,500 airmen. Since May 16, French 1st Air Division (600 aircraft) alone has claimed 637 German aircraft and 125 balloons, dropping 1,360t of bombs. At the time of the Armistice, the Royal Air Force was the largest air force in the world, holding 22,647 aircraft of all types, including 3,300 on first-line strength and 103 airships. These were operated by no fewer than 133 squadrons and 15 flights overseas, on the Western Front and in the Middle East, Italy and the Mediterranean, 55 squadrons at home and 75 training squadrons and depots.
Royal Air Force units operated from 401 aerodromes at home and 274 abroad and had a personnel strength of 27,333 officers and 26,3837 other ranks. Between January and November 1918, nearly 5,500 tons of bombs had been dropped, 2,953 enemy aircraft destroyed and an area of 5,000 square miles photographed. British aircraft manufacturers were producing 3,500 aeroplanes a month.
https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/images/aviation_timeline/british-military-aviation/1918/thumbs/IWM-Q69031.jpg
American engineers at Oudenaarde, Belgium help reconstruct a destroyed bridge: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1061335196895711232
Canadian troops marching in the streets of Mons in the morning as the news of the armistice spreads: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1061532755908091904

Eastern Front
Germans have 26 divisions from Finland to Georgia, Austrians have 7 divisions in Ukraine.
Lithuania: Carl Hoffmann diary (Kovno) ‘A Soldiers’ Council has been formed here also.’
Northern Russia: Allies (53 casualties) at Kurgomin-Tulgas (river Dvina) repulse 1,000 Reds (over 600 casualties) and gunboats.

Southern Front
Balkans: 80,000 Germans (53 battalions or 6 divisions) with 338 guns on Southeastern (Danube) front. British effective other ranks strength 103,996 (November 1 ration strength 158,707).

Naval and Overseas Operations
North Sea: Armistice terms stipulate delivery of 11 German battleships, 5 battlecruisers, 8 cruisers, 50 destroyers (all modern warships) and all U-boats to internment. Germany to retain only 6 battleships, 6 cruisers and 24 destroyers (all oldest classes). Record 20 Q-ships under SNO Scotland. Germany has 171 U-boats plus 149 building.
Naval Council of 21 in command at Wilhemshaven.
Britain: Light cruiser Carlisle completed by Fairfield Yard, joins Harwich Force.

Political, etc
Austria: Emperor Karl renounces rule (and as King of Hungary on November 13). Minister-President Heinrich Lammasch and last Imperial Cabinet resign. Emperor accepts his last Minister-President’s resignation. Imperial family leave Schoenbrunn for Eckartsau, 37 1/2 miles northeast of Vienna.
Karl I, Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, relinquishes his political power over Austria: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1061578047890092032
Germany: Berlin workers delegates appoint council of Six Peoples Commissars (non-Bolshevik). Abdication of Grand Dukes of Hesse, Mecklenburg and Saxe-Weimar. King of Saxony and Grand Duke of Oldenburg dethroned.
Appeal of Dr. Wilhelm Solf, German Foreign Minister, to President Wilson for mitigation of armistice terms.
Demonstrations continue in Germany a day after the proclamation of the German Republic: © IWM (Q 88160): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1061289900312535040
Firefights also break out in Berlin. Armed men at the Schloßplatz: © IWM (Q 52733): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1061304999932817413
Estonia: New National Government formed in Estonia (see 16th, and January 13th).
Poland: Directorate formed at Warsaw, deposes Regency Council.
France: From 1100 hours church bells salute the Armistice, Paris anti-aircraft guns fire 1,200 shots.
Citizens in Paris go out into the streets to celebrate the end of war: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1061566731511042049
A flag vendor and a boy in Paris making the most of the celebrations: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1061608255250685953
United Kingdom: King’s message to Empire. Joyous pandemonium in London and elsewhere from 1100 hours. CIGS Wilson records No 10 dinner ‘Lloyd George wants to shoot the Kaiser. Winston does not …’ War Risks Insurance reduced 50% since November 1.
British Government recognize Latvian Provisional Government as independent (see January 12th).
American troopship arrives in England as the war comes to a close: https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1061547847915585536
Crowds celebrate at the Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace: © IWM (Q 47894): https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday/status/1061638451035074561
Belgium: First German Army Soviet formed at Malines.
United States: AP flash brings armistice news at 0300 hours. Wilson reads terms to joint session of Congress. Greatest nationwide celebration ever known. Wilson Washington speech says Allies will feed Central Europe.
Holland: Kaiser given refuge at Count Bentinck’s Amerongen moated house near Utrecht.
Switzerland: Bolshevik Mission expelled.

[gekkogecko]

So, with the conclusion of the armistice (technically only supposed to last 36 days, it was extended at several points until the meeting of a formal peace delegation in Paris on 18 January 1919, and the subsequent signing of the peace treaty in the Palace of Versailles (and therefore became known as the Treaty of Versailles) on 28 June 1919: and subsequently registered with the League of Nations on 21 October 1919. Technically, this treaty only covered the hostilities between the Allied powers and Germany itself. The other Central Powers concluded separate peace treaties.

Meanwhile, there was much conflict ongoing, as a direct result of the First World War: The ongoing civil war in Russia; much conflict in the emerging states from the dismembered Austro-Hungarian empire; the ongoing Allied Powers invasions (claimed as 'necessary intervention') is Russia: and a particularly ugly conflict between emerging Poland (with some aspects of a civil war in that country), and Russia, after the Soviets had mostly finished off the counter-revolutionaries in Russia. The Armistice may have formally ended the hostilities in the west, but the fallout of the First World War can be directly seen in the origins of the Second.

[dicksbro]

GG … thank you again for sharing this wonderful recounting of this epic struggle. One has to wonder if Wilson's 14 points had been the basis of the treaty if WWII would have ever happened.

[eastbo44]

We Do Not Require The History Of The World Wars!! This Is PIXES Place And Here We Talk About Sex, Love, Lesbian And Homosexual Relationships.
And The Love Between A Father And Daughter And A Mother And Daughter Or Her Son.


The end of the age of European empires did, indeed, change the world.

[dicksbro]

Sorry you didn't enjoy the thread. Best advice … don't read it. Some of us did find it very interesting.