Western Front
Airplane raid on London, Essex and Kent; 14 of 16 German bombers (1 Giant) attack southeast England, 6 reach London. Total of 11,300lb bombs cause 97 casualties (another sources gives 14 killed, 85 injured.), and £238,861 property damage, worst since Zeppelin Raid vom September 8-9, 1915. No 44 Squadron commander Captain Murlis Green MC achieves first night fighter success against aircraft over Britain in Sopwith Camelwith 4 attacks over East London, forcing Gotha to ditch off Folkestone (armed trawler Highlander rescues 2 survivors); 2 other Gothas burnt after crash landing.
A claim that heavy air fighting ends in Allies' favor on northern front.
A British soldier shaking hands with a kitten at Neulette, France: © IWM (Q 6400):
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...469523818590209
Eastern Front
Ukraine: Ukrainian Rada rejects Red transit demands (Lenin ultimatum from December 17) and mobilizes and cuts telegraph links on December 19.
Southern Front
First Battle of the Piave (until December 30): Italian Fourth Army heavily attacked near Mt. Asolone (Mt. Grappa), Austro-Hungarians claim 2,000 prisoners.
Erwin Rommel’s Wurttemberg Mountain Batallion withdrawn from final but local and costly success (after German failure to take Mt Solarolo); he and his commander receive
Pour le Merite.
A mountain gun is positioned on the Italian front:
https://i1.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...front.jpg?ssl=1
Naval and Overseas Operations
A photograph of the US submarine USS
F-1, sunk yesterday in a collision with the submarine
F-3:
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...439472674766852
Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
British clear ground south-east of Jerusalem, beyond Abu Dir.
Armistice of Erzincan is signed, ending the fighting between Russian forces and the Ottomans in the Caucasian and Persian fronts.
Political, etc
Germany: Kaiser in Kreuznach Crown Council approves Armistice terms.
Russia: Trotsky appeals to Europe’s ‘
oppressed peoples’ after Brest-Litovsk armistice signing.
Canada: In the Canadian federal election held yesterday, Unionists win 153 seats, while the Liberals win 82. The main issue of the election was over conscription, with the Unionists supporting it and the Liberals opposed.
Switzerland: Jan Smuts meets Austrian Albert von Mensdorff (ex-Ambassador to London) on separate peace chances (until December 19). Also, a claim that at Geneva, Lloyd George’s Secretary Philip Kerr meets Dr Parodi (Turkey).