The Great War (1914-1918) in real time

[lordroel]

Day 1452 of the Great War, July 29th 1918

Western Front

German positions north of Oulchy-le-Chateau stormed. French capture Grand Rozoy. French and British capture Buzancy. Australians capture Merris and advance in Morlancourt sector, south of Albert.

United Kingdom

Munition workers' strike ends.

Russia: Lenin Declares the Allies Are at War with Russia

Tensions between the Allies and Lenin’s Sovnarkom had been building for some time. The Allies were worried that the Bolsheviks were letting the Germans walk over them and steal Russian resources with impunity, as evidenced by the spreading German presence east of the Ukraine; they were also displeased at the Bolsheviks’ repudiation of Russian debts (not to mention their exit from the war). The Bolsheviks believed the Allies sought a counterrevolution in Russia. Allied troops had already landed at Vladivostok and Murmansk, and even fought some Red Army troops south of the latter. Allied influence was evident in some of the revolts against Bolshevik rule, especially those of the SRs in Yaroslavl and the recent bloodless coup in Baku (triggered by the Bolsheviks’ refusal to invite British forces to defend against the Turks). What most scared the Bolsheviks, however, was the Czech Legion, which had helped install anti-Bolshevik governments along the Trans-Siberian Railway and had clear connections to the British and French governments.

On July 29, Lenin told the Central Executive Committee that Russia was in a de facto state of war with the Allied “predators,” saying that “what we are involved in is a systematic, methodical, and evidently long-planned military and financial counterrevolutionary campaign against the Soviet Republic, which all the representatives of Anglo-French imperialism have been preparing for months.” This likely overstates the case; while the Allies were certainly unfriendly to the Bolsheviks, their main focus in the area was still firmly on the Germans. Nevertheless, over the coming weeks, the Cheka began to round up many British and French citizens in the country. This came along with severe repression of Russia’s own citizens; on the same day the Central Executive Committee declared the “Socialist Fatherland in Danger,” calling for “mass terror” against the counterrevolutionary bourgeoisie; this was the start of the Red Terror.

Russia: Trotsky drafts the Tsar’s officers

The military situation for the Bolsheviks is grim. The Czechoslovak Legion, allied to the anti-Bolshevik Komuch government in Samara appears to be unstoppable. Simbirsk in the Volga region has fallen to them, a target of symbolic importance as it is the birthplace of Lenin. Ekaterinburg too is now in their hands, falling to the Czechoslovaks a week after the Bolsheviks there had killed the Tsar and his family; the Czechoslovaks find no trace of the dead royals although a British officer serving with them manages to rescue Joy, the Tsarevich‘s pet dog, the only survivor of the executions.

Desperate times require desperate measures. Trotsky, the war commissar, has already shocked socialist sensibilities by seeking to recruit former Tsarist officers into the Red Army. Now he goes further, ordering the mass conscription of all former officers in the hope of professionalising the Red Army’s officer corps. To avoid leftist opposition to this measure he abolishes the Red Army’s soldiers’ committees.

For those Tsarist officers who find themselves in the zone controlled by the Bolsheviks, the choice is now simple: either they join the Red Army and take up arms against their former comrades now serving with Denikin and Alexeev, or they face imprisonment and other reprisals at the hands of the Bolsheviks. Further encouraging them into the Red Army’s ranks is the fact that many of these former officers are now effectively destitute as a result of the revolution. With no real choice they join the Red Army in large numbers, to the dismay of those who see their presence as symbolising a betrayal of revolutionary principles.

Aerial operations: Turkey

Out in Turkey, minor efforts have been going on to reorganise the Air Forces. Today, the name of Aviation Affairs Inspectorate was changed to “Air Force General Inspectorate” with a brief to improve efficiency. The AIA had been formed in February 1915 to oversee the expansion of Turkish air forces.

Even at this point in the war, the Ottoman Airforce was entirely made up of German Aircraft. The crews were more mixed and as the air forces expanded more and more Turks supplemented the German pilots.

Unlike the RAF, the tactical command and control of aircraft units was assigned to the respective armies in the area. Even with the new General Inspectorate, they never came under a centralised operational command or independent arm during the war.

Naval operations: ship losses

RIO PALLARESA (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 62 nautical miles (115 km) east north east of Malta by SM UC-25 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of two of her crew.

[lordroel]

Day 1453 of the Great War, July 30th 1918

Western Front

Strong German resistance all along line. At St. Euphraise (south-west of Reims) German counter-attack fails. Remigny captured.

Ukrainian War of Independence: German Military Governor of Ukraine Assassinated

The Left SRs were virulently opposed to the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk and the expanding German occupation of large parts of Russia and Ukraine. In early July, they assassinated the German ambassador in Moscow, Count Mirbach, which led to the Bolsheviks effectively outlawing them in areas under their control. The crackdown did not extend beyond their reach, however; Left SRs were present in the anti-Bolshevik governments in Baku and Samara, and throughout German-occupied Ukraine. On July 30, a Left SR member attacked Field Marshal Eichhorn, the German military governor, killing him and one of his aides with a bomb. Beyond his position as the head of the occupying regime, Eichhorn was hated for his role in the late April coup that overthrew the (largely socialist) Ukrainian Rada and installed a compliant Czarist general as “Hetman” of Ukraine. The assassin was executed in early August.

United States

Onondaga Indians declare war on Germany.

Naval operations: ship losses

HMS STOCK FORCE (Royal Navy) The Q-ship was torpedoed and damaged in the English Channel 25 nautical miles (46 km) west of Start Point, Devon (49°49′N 3°53′W) by SM UB-80 ( Kaiserliche Marine). She counter-attacked and severely damaged SM UB-80, earning her commander Harold Auten a Victoria Cross. HMS STOCK FORCE later sank in Bigbury Bay.

[lordroel]

Day 1454 of the Great War, July 31st 1918

Western Front

Severe fighting round Seringes (north-east of Fere-en-Tardenois); finally left to Americans.

Caucasus campaign: Turks Capture Urmia

The Turks had re-entered Persian Azerbaijan (its northwestern region, not to be confused with the modern country of the same name) after the Russian exit from the war, occupying Tabriz in mid-June. This posed a large threat to the local Armenian and Syriac Christian population, many of whom were refugees from the 1915 genocide in Turkey. Volunteers from the newly-independent Republic of Armenia marched south to help (against explicit orders), but were pushed back, and their presence directly precipitated a massacre in Khoy in late June.

Christians in the border region fled south to the city of Urmia, which was mounting a solid defense against the Turks. However, by late July, the Turks were clearly gaining the upper hand, and the Turkish commander in Tabriz had made his intentions clear earlier in the month:

The cursed, rabid Armenians are always doing whatever they can to violate the political and religious rights of our poor brothers in Azerbaijan; what is more, they are trying to seize their land. The victorious army of the Ottoman Empire, which is striving to defend our holy religion and liberate our fellow Muslims in Azerbaijan, and also to liquidate the Armenians, has already laid siege to the city of Urmia.

In the last two weeks of July, around 60-70,000 refugees fled Urmia for Hamadan, where the British Dunsterforce had a considerable presence. On July 31, the Turks captured the city. The remaining Christian population, numbering about 1000, had taken refuge in the European missions in the city; they were quickly killed by irregular troops affiliated with the Turks. The Armenian and Syriac Christian communities in the area would never recover.

United Kingdom

Lord R. Cecil accepts recommendations of Royal Commission on Foreign Office reforms.

Sir Charles W. Fielding appointed Director-General of Food Production.

Aerial operations: 10/12/99

This morning 12 DH9s from 99 Squadron RFC set off to bomb Coblenz railway station in Germany. Three of them turned back early with engine trouble. The rest flew on but couldn’t see the target due to low cloud and attacked the station and factories at Saarbrücken instead. They met with stiff opposition and four were shot down:

- Lieutenant Ernest Launslet Doidge and Lieutenant Harry Taylor Melville (C6145).

- Lieutenant W J Garrity and 2nd Lieutenant George Herbert Stephenson (C6196).

- 2nd Lieutenant Frank Smith and 2nd Lieutenant Kenneth Howard Cecil Ashton (D1029).

- Lieutenant Marthinus Theunis Steyn Papenfus DFC and Lieutenant Arthur Leslie Benjamin
After completing the mission, the remaining 5 set off for home but were attacked again and another three were shot down:

- 2nd Lieutenant Thomas Marshall Ritchie and 2nd Lieutenant Leslie William Gilbert Stagg (C6149).

- Lieutenant Stewart McBrayne Black and 2nd Lieutenant Edward Singleton (C6278).

- 2nd Lieutenant Robert Dennis and 2nd Lieutenant Frederick William Woolley (D1032).

Doidge, Melville, Dennis and Wooley were killed and the rest taken prisoner

Of the two aircraft that returned, Captain Ashley Dudley Taylor and Lieutenant Harold Stuart Notley claimed to have shot down an enemy scout over Saarbrücken. German records show that Unteroffizier Fritz Salb from Jasta 80 was killed in combat with a group of DH9s, though it’s impossible to know of this crew downed him.

Naval operations: Merchant shipping losses

British, Allied and Neutral ships lost to enemy submarines, mines and cruisers etc in the month - 115 ships of 274,000 tons gross. (Lloyd's War Losses)

Naval operations: ship losses

ALKOR (Norway) The sailing vessel was sunk in the North Sea off the south coast of Norway by SM U-98 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

HMT CITY OF LIVERPOOL (Royal Navy) The naval trawler struck a mine laid by UC 71 (Walter Warzecha) and sank in The Downs with the loss of ten of her crew.

[lordroel]

Day 1455 of the Great War, August 1st 1918

Western Front

Allies advance on Ourcq, on north, reaching line Cramoiselle-Cramaille (north-west of Fere-en-Tardenois), on south take Cierges (south-east of Fere-en-Tardenois).

French capture Romigny (south-west of Reims).

Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War: Allies Seize Archangelsk

Lenin’s pronouncement that a de facto state of war existed between the Allies and the Bolsheviks seemed to be confirmed only two days later when an Allied fleet showed up off of the northern port of Archangelsk. The move was little surprise to anyone; in fact, the ill-fated SR uprising in Yaroslavl had been counting on it. The Bolsheviks had sent a commissar and additional troops north to deal with the threat, but not enough. The coastal batteries attempted to shell the Allied fleet, but to little effect. The senior officers in charge of the defense quickly realized there was little point in resisting, and changed sides. An anti-Bolshevik “Supreme Administration of the Northern Region,” comprised mainly of socialist Constituent Assembly members, was hastily formed. The Allies suffered two casualties while taking the port–the closest thing to an opposed landing the Allies would encounter during their intervention in Russia.

United Kingdom

Speech of Mr. Balfour on League of Nations.

Aerial operations: North Russia

Today a combined air, sea, and land attack on Modyugski Island was launched in an effort to drive out Bolshevik forces.

Two navy seaplane carriers HMS NAIRANA and HMS PEGASUS brough Fairey Campanias, Sopwith Baby’s and DH4s.

Fairey Campanias from HMS NAIRANA assisted ground forces and ships in driving Bolsheviks out of their fortifications on Modyugski Island at the mouth of Northern Dvina River in Russia, then scouting ahead of the Allied force as it proceeded up the channel to Arkhangelsk.

The attack was part of an allied intervention in Russia, publically to protect stores originslly intended for Russian Forces from the Bolsheviks, but primarily to support White Russian forces against the Bolsheviks.

Naval operations: ship losses

COLUMBIA (Denmark) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea off Port Said, Egypt by SM UC-34 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of a crew member.

MIKULA SELYANINOCICH (Soviet Navy) Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War; The icebreaker was scuttled at Archangelsk to prevent capture by British forces.

SVYATOOR (Soviet Navy) Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War; The icebreaker was scuttled at Archangelsk to prevent capture by British forces.

[lordroel]

Day 1456 of the Great War, August 2nd 1918

YouTube (Four Years of War)



Western Front: French Recapture Soissons

One of the main objectives of the Allied offensive was the key rail junction of Soissons, on the Aisne. After two weeks of fighting, the Germans finally withdrew in the wee hours of August 2; later that day, French cavalry entered the city. Only 300 civilians remained of what had been a pre-war population of over 15,000. Further east, the Germans were withdrawing behind the Vesle (a southern tributary of the Aisne); by August 4th, the Allies had reached the river. Over the weeks of fighting, the Germans had lost 35,000 PoWs but still 50,000 fewer casualties than the Allies. They could scarcely afford it, however, as their reserves had in the meantime dwindled to 29 divisions (down from 41), while more American troops were arriving daily. Ludendorff dismissed the Americans’ contributions, comparing them to French African troops. French General Mangin, who had led several divisions of Americans in tandem with his own favored African divisions, did not take the comparison as an insult.

Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War: Allies Land in Archangel

The Allies were sucked into the Russian Civil War over the course of 1918, but the only sizable Allied unit in Russia until August was a small force of Royal Marines at Murmansk (not counting the indeed very sizable but inactive 70,000 Japanese troops in Vladivostok). However, on August 2, 1918, a larger British expeditionary force under the command of General F.C. Poole landed at the port city of Archangel in North Russia to defend the region from German forces stationed in Finland and keep British war material from falling into their hands, as well as to give the Czechs a way out of Russia if they needed it. The idea for the landing at Archangel had been Poole’s, who advised the government to do so, and to whom the War Cabinet conceded, “with a view to prevent further emergencies.”

General F.C. Poole had been the British Army’s advisor to the Russian artillery service during the First World War. Still in country after the revolution, he became a fervent apostle of intervention, travelling and observing developments with his staff, developing a circle of British officers committed to action in Russia. One of his subalterns, a Lieutenant Lessing, was reported to be involved in secret political meetings in Moscow, "working on some policy unknown to us”, according to a British diplomat. "This is one of Poole’s brave boys", responded the Director of Military Intelligence, apparently unconcerned that a mere lieutenant was involved in making high-level military planning. Poole and his cohort did not wait for plans to filter down to them from London; instead, they made them on the spot. When the Czech Legion’s revolt decided Britain on intervention in Russia, the government turned to Poole for advice. He suggested an occupation of Archangel, and the War Cabinet duly made Poole head of the operation. His instructions were as follows:

1. To effect the removal of British war materials and personnel from Russia;

2. to prevent the Germans from mobilizing the war resources of Russia;

3. to carry away from Russia the Czech Legion, then attempting to wend its way towards the northern ports on the Trans-Siberian railway;

4. to defend the Murmansk coast against a potential Germano-Finn advance.

The Allied force led by Poole that landed in Archangel in August 1918 was small and multinational, only 1,500 strong, composed of British soldiers and Royal Marines, a French colonial battalion, and fifty American sailors. It had help seizing the city from a fifth column led by a Tsarist naval officer, Captain Grigori Chaplin, which turned out the local soviet when the Allied force landed. With the help of Chaplin’s officers, Archangel was quickly and bloodlessly secured, while throngs of local peasants and bourgeoisie hailed the disembarking troops as liberators.

Poole chose an elderly Russian Socialist-Revolutionary, Nikolai Chaikovsky, to head the pro-Allied Provisional Government of North Russia. Chaikovsky, at seventy-years old, had a seasoned revolutionary career: he had been imprisoned for years under the Tsarist government, spent time abroad attempting to establish socialist utopias in England and the United States, and been elected to the Constituent Assembly of the Provisional Government in 1917. Chaplin became commander of Archangel’s White Guards.

Persian campaign

Turks occupy Urmia, north-west Persia.

Japan

Japanese Government decides to act with U.S.A. in sending troops to Vladivostok.

Naval operations: ship losses

HMS ARIEL (Royal Navy) The ACHERON-class destroyer struck a mine at the western end of the Heligoland Bight and sank with the loss of 49 of her 70 crew.

DORNFONTEIN (Canada) The four-masted auxiliary schooner was set afire in the Atlantic Ocean 25 nautical miles (46 km) west north west of Brier Island, Nova Scotia by SM U-156 ( Kaiserliche Marine). She was towed in to port but was a total loss.

FLEVO X (Netherlands) The sailing vessel was sunk in the North Sea 40 nautical miles (74 km) east of the Shipwash Lightship ( United Kingdom) by SM UB-104 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

MALVINA (United Kingdom) The cargo ship sank in the North Sea 1 nautical mile (1.9 km) north north east of Flamborough Head, Yorkshire with the loss of fourteen of her crew.

PORTUGAL (Belgium) The cargo ship was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) west north west of Trevose Head, Cornwall, United Kingdom (50°32′N 5°07′W) by SM U-113 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

REMKE (Netherlands) The sailing vessel was shelled and sunk in the North Sea 55 nautical miles (102 km) west north west of the Hoek van Holland, South Holland by SM UB-104 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

T-15 (Soviet Navy) The T-13-class minesweeper was shelled and sunk at Archangelsk by Prince Pozharsky ( Russian Navy) White Movement. Salvaged by the Whites, repaired and returned to service.

TOKUYAMA MARU (Japan) The cargo ship was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean off the east coast of the United States (39°12′N 70°23′W) by SM U-140 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

HMS VEHEMENT (Royal Navy) The V and W-class destroyer struck a mine in the Heligoland Bight and was consequently scuttled.

[lordroel]

Day 1457 of the Great War, August 3rd 1918

Western Front

Allies reach Fismes (on River Vesle), and retake 50 villages.

Germans retreat behind River Ancre from Hamel (north of Albert) to Dernancourt (south of Albert).

Siberian intervention

British forces land at Vladivostok.

Canada: Anti-Greek Riots in Toronto

For the first few years of the war, Greece had been effectively treated as an enemy in the Allied press; their King was the Kaiser’s brother-in-law, they had surrendered parts of their territory to the Central Powers without a fight, and they had even fired on Allied troops. Greece’s posture changed in the summer of 1917 when the Allies ousted King Constantine and Venizelos was returned to head the government of a reunited Greece, but the impression that the Greeks were pro-German remained in many Allied countries.

On August 1, a wounded veteran, Claude Cludernay, was ejected from a Greek-owned restaurant on Yonge Street in Toronto and arrested after striking a waiter; Cludernay had been highly inebriated at the time. The next evening, a group of veterans and others gathered at the restaurant and looted it. They considered Toronto’s Greeks to be “slackers” (draft-dodgers) who had attacked one of their own; in fact, Canada’s strict naturalization laws had made it almost impossible for many Greek immigrants to serve in the army until 1917. The mob grew that night, targeting many other Greek-owned businesses.

On August 3, the Toronto police, which had done little so far, finally responded and attempted to stop the rioting. Eventually, troops had to be called in to suppress the riots, which would not be fully quelled until the night of the 4th. With their businesses destroyed, much of Toronto’s Greek community on Yonge Street relocated further east to Danforth Avenue.

Aerial operations: An inter allied bombing force

Today at the allied War Cabinet, the military representatives of France, Britain, America, and Italy, agreed a resolution on the subject of an Inter-Allied Bombing Force for submission to the Supreme War Council.

The matter had been brought by the French after months of dispute over the Independent Force and the fact that it was outside the control of the Supreme War Council.

The note (Joint Note 35 (Appendix 35)) stated

“the opinion of the military representatives that, as soon as Allied resources in men and material allowed, an Inter-Allied Bombing Air Force should be constituted on the Western front. The force should be equipped with weight-carrying aircraft with a wide radius of action and should be at the disposal of the Generalissimo in France who would nominate its commander after consultation with the Commanders- in-Chief of the various Allied armies under his orders.”

The note also suggested that planning should begin immediately without waiting to decide whether the enemy should first be summoned to stop bombing Allied towns under penalty of reprisals.

Finally it was suggested that any similar bombing force which might be set up in a theatre of operations outside France, should be placed under the control of the commander-in-chief of the armies in the theatre. This suggestion arose out of an recommendation made by the British military representative, who possibly wanted to ensure independent bombing operations conducted from British soil remained under British control.

Bizarrely the actual practical effect of this would have been to put an Independent Bombing Force, operating from England, under the Commander-in-Chief, Home Forces rather that the Air Ministry.

In the end the Force never came into being. Months of wrangling between the French and British over who should command it was overtaken by the end of the war.

Naval operations: ship losses

ANNIE PERRY (United States) The schooner was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 40 nautical miles (74 km) off Seal Island, Nova Scotia, Canada by SM U-156 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

BERWIND (United States) The cargo shp was sunk in the English Channel off Audierne, Manche, France (47°55′N 4°28′W) by SM UB-88 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of six of her crew.

CAMBRAI (France) The coaster was torpedoed and sunk in the North Sea 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) east of Flamborough Head, Yorkshire, United Kingdom by SM UB-104 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of 25 of her crew.

CHRYSOLITE (United Kingdom) The cargo ship collided with Geraint ( United Kingdom) in the Bristol Channel off Morte Point, Devon and sank.

LAKE PORTAGE (United States) The cargo ship was sunk in the English Channel 4.5 nautical miles (8.3 km) south of Audierne (47°56′N 4°44′W) by SM UB-88 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of three of her crew.

LUDVIG (Denmark) The schooner was shelled and sunk in the North Sea east of the Shetland Islands, United Kingdom (60°35′N 3°41′E) by SM UB-120 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

MACEIO (Brazil) The cargo ship was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Ortegal, Spain (45°02′N 10°27′W) by SM U-43 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

MURIEL (United States) The fishing vessel was scuttled in the Atlantic Ocean 45 nautical miles (83 km) west by north of Seal Island by SM U-156 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

ROB ROY (United States) The fishing vessel was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 35 nautical miles (65 km) east of Seal Island by SM U-156 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

SKJOLD (Denmark) The three-masted schooner was shelled and damaged in the North Sea off Lindesnes, Rogaland, Norway by SM UC-40 ( Kaiserliche Marine) and was abandoned by her crew. The derelict vessel was sunk on 12 September by SM UB-125 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

SYDNEY B. ATWOOD (United States) The ship was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 30 nautical miles (56 km) off Seal Island by SM U-156 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

SM UB-53 (Kaiserliche Marine) The Type UB III submarine struck two mines and sank in the Strait of Otranto (39°40′N 18°40′E) with the loss of ten of her crew.

VOUGA (Portugal) The schooner was scuttled in the Atlantic Ocean north west of Spain (45°40′N 10°28′W by SM U-43 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

HMAT WARILDA (Royal Australian Navy) The hospital ship was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel 32 nautical miles (59 km) south south west of the Owers Lightship ( United Kingdom) (50°10′N 0°13′W) by SM UC-49 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of 123 of the 801 people on board.

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Day 1458 of the Great War, August 4th 1918

Western Front

Americans take Fismes; Allies on right bank of Vesle.

End of Second Battle of the Marne.

Ukrainian War of Independence

General Kirchbach takes command at Kiev.

Aerial operations: Heavy Losses

Today, Hugh Trenchard, General Officer Commanding, Independent Force, wrote to the Chief Of the Air Staff Frederick Sykes, outlining his concerns that the opposition and subsequent losses being incurred by daylight bombing squadrons were so at effective bombing was becoming almost impossible.

Other than switching to night raids (which were less likely to suffer battle casualties but more likely to suffer accidents), there were really only two solutions:

(1) Provide additional escorts

(2) Adopt larger formations

The former was not really possible as most fighters did not have the endurance to accompany these long range missions. Long range fighters could be developed but this would further diversify production with consequent loss of efficiency. Even if suitable aircraft were available, this would divert resources from supporting the armies at the front, something Trenchard had always wished to avoid.

The latter was considered a better approach at the time as it was though that it would in turn force the Germans would divert additional resources to home defence. Indeed, this was often cited at the time as a justification for continuing the raids despite heavy losses (a average stage rate of 70% per month)

The Official History also pushed the line that the daylight raids were justified by the diversion of German resources, but later research (Malcolm Cooper, “British Air Policy on the Western Front, 1914-1918”) showed that this was not in fact the case and the Germans devoted very few resources to home defence, focussing instead in the arrival of the US forces on the Western Front. What aircraft were provided tended to be older types deemed unsuitable for the front.

In the end Trenchard’s belief before he took over as commander of the IF, that long range bombing was a waste of resources was proved correct.

Naval operations: ship losses

CLAN MACNAB (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Irish Sea 14 nautical miles (26 km) north north west of the Pendeen Lighthouse, Cornwall (50°20′N 5°55′W) by SM U-113 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of 22 crew.

DON (Norway) The barque was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 350 nautical miles (650 km) west of the Skellig Islands (50°44′N 16°21′W) by SM U-157 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

HUNDVAGGO (Norway) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Bay of Biscay 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) off Groix, Finistère by SM UB-88 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of three of her crew.

NELSON A. (United Kingdom) The schooner was scuttled in the Atlantic Ocean 25 nautical miles (46 km) south of Shelburne, Nova Scotia, Canada by SM U-156 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

O. B. JENNINGS (United States) The tanker was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 100 nautical miles (190 km) off the coast of Virginia (36°40′N 73°58′W) by SM U-140 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of two crew. One of the survivors was taken as a prisoner of war.

REINHARD (Russia) The schooner was shelled and sunk in the Irish Sea north east of Ireland (55°27′N 6°45′W) by SM U-96 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

REMONSTRANT (Norway) The barque was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 280 nautical miles (520 km) west of the Fastnet Rock (50°30′N 18°00′W) by SM U-157 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

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Day 1459 of the Great War, August 5th 1918

Caucasus campaign: First Turkish Attack on Baku

The valuable oil-producing city of Baku was, in the late summer of 1918, the nexus of four great powers’ ambitions, not to mention the local Azerbaijani and Armenian populations. The Turks, along with their “Army of Islam” raised in part from the Azerbaijanis, wanted to add the city to their sphere of influence and use it as a springboard to push on to their cultural brethren across the Caspian in Turkmenistan. On August 5, they launched their first attacks on the heights surrounding the city; they were repulsed by the defenders, including a handful of British troops.

The British had their own interests in Baku, but were primarily concerned at present with denying the city to the Turks. The first British soldiers of Dunsterforce had arrived the day before, at the invitation of the new “Centro-Caspian Dictatorship”; by August 5, they numbered 245 men and two armored cars. More were on their way, but it was unclear if they would be enough.

Their position was not helped by the Russian Red Army, who had largely refused to participate in the city’s defense since the Centro-Caspian Dictatorship overthrew the local Bolsheviks and arrested Stepan Shaumian and his fellow commissars. The Reds had secured the commissars’ release, and were attempting to turn the population against the British, but to little effect; the British, whatever their eventual motives, were clearly committed to stopping the Turkish advance. Even Bicherakov’s Cossacks, who had been working with Dunsterville, were no longer helping. Under severe pressure from Moscow and from his own men, Bicherakov had withdrawn north towards Dagestan on August 4.

Finally, the Germans had their own designs on Baku’s oil. They had their own small contingent of troops in Georgia, but were not interested (or capable) of taking the city themselves. Rather, they wanted economic concessions, of the sort they had been able to extract from the Bolsheviks since Brest-Litovsk. In early August, a German trade mission arrived from Astrakhan to make demands on Baku’s supply of oil, cotton, and manganese, as well as arranging for the return of German and Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war held in the area. The Turkish advance threatened Germany’s plans for the region, and the Germans tried to hold them up by any means possible short of outright military confrontation. On August 5, Kress von Kressenstein, the German commander in Georgia, informed Berlin by radio that “I have hampered every [Turkish] shipment of munitions from Batumi via Tblisi up to the present.” The Americans (who were at war with Germany but not Turkey) intercepted and decoded this message within an hour, giving the Allies valuable insights into their enemies’ disagreements.

Revolt of the Czechoslovak Legion: Czechs Find Imperial Russian Gold Reserve

In the summer of 1918 the Allied Czechoslovak Legion was making its way through Russia, heading both east and west and trouncing hapless units of Bolshevik Red Guards that got in their way. The Czechs reached the Volga river and July, terrifying the Red government in Moscow which could not seem to stop them. Thankfully, the Czechs wanted to leave Russia more than oust Lenin, but they did liberate many cities from Bolshevik rule where the nascent White forces could find a safe harbor.

The Czechs most valuable conquest was the entirety of the Imperial Russian gold reserve, which they captured near Samara on August 5. It was a collasal hoard amounting to 651 million golden rubles. The Czechs shipped it to Omsk, where an anti-Bolshevik Siberian Duma was organizing.

United Kingdom

Message of Mr. Lloyd George to British Empire to "Hold Fast".

United States

U.S.A. Man-power Bill introduced into Congress; military age from 18 to 45.

Naval operations: ship losses

AGNES G. HOLLAND (United States) The trawler was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by SM U-156 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

BELAYA AKATSIYA (Soviet Navy Red Movement) The armed boat was run aground and abandoned on the Volga River during a battle with Czech Legion gunboats.

BURTAK (Soviet Navy Red Movement) The armed boat was run aground and abandoned on the Volga River during a battle with Czech Legion gunboats.

FRESHFIELD (Canada) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) north east by nort of Capo Colonna, Calabria, Italy by SM UC-25 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of three of her crew.

LUZ BLANCA (Canada) The tanker was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 35 nautical miles (65 km) off Halifax, Nova Scotia by SM U-156 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of two of her crew.

STANLEY M. SEAMAN (United States) The sailing vessel was scuttled in the Atlantic Ocean 110 nautical miles (200 km) east of Cape Hatteras, Virginia by SM U-140 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

[lordroel]

Day 1460 of the Great War, August 6th 1918

Western Front: Victory at the Marne paves way for planned Allied offensive at Amiens

Supported by British and American troops the French have been counter-attacking in the Marne sector. Like its namesake in 1914, this Second Battle of the Marne has pushed back the Germans, who no longer threaten to break through and seize Paris. If anything the victory now is greater than that of 1914, as there is a real sense that the offensive power of the Germans has been broken and that the initiative has passed to the Allies. In the Marne fighting the French have recovered all the ground lost in the Blücher-Yorck offensive, advancing some 50 kilometres. They have also captured some 25,000 Germans, a sign that German morale is beginning to break.

Ludendorff is still planning another offensive, this time against the British in Flanders, but his thinking in this regard is increasingly delusional. German forces are spent; with the Allies in the ascendant it is unlikely the Flanders offensive will ever take place, far less that it will win the war for Germany.

The German situation is increasingly precarious. The fighting since the start of the first offensive in March has taken a heavy toll on their forces, with the Germans suffering nearly a million casualties. Their Western Front army now has 300,000 men less than it did before the start of the Kaiser’s Battle. The Allies meanwhile are seeing their numbers growing all the time, as more and more American soldiers arrive in France. In desperation the Germans are drafting youths who will not turn 18 until next year, but calling these children to the colours will still not make good the losses suffered in the year’s fighting. German ranks are further being depleted by the influenza pandemic, which appears to be hitting their men harder than those of the enemy.

The Allies are also outproducing the Germans. They now have a marked advantage in guns, tanks and aircraft. Their ability to use these weapons has greatly improved, with Allied artillery tactics dominating the battlefield and tanks finally being used in an effective manner.

On the Allied side, Foch recognises that the Germans have lost the advantage. Haig and Pétain demurred when he called for them to go on the offensive, but since then they have come round to his thinking. Haig and Rawlinson, the local British commander, are now preparing to attack the Germans in the Somme sector, hoping to push them back so that they can no longer shell the important transport hub of Amiens. The attack will be led by Canadian and Australian forces. Planning is being undertaken in great secrecy in order to guarantee the element of surprise. The offensive is scheduled to begin on the 8th, at which point it will be clear whether the advantage has really shifted to the Allies or whether Foch is guilty of the kind of hubris that afflicted Haig in 1916 and at Passchendaele, and Nivelle last year.

France: Foch Promoted to Marshal

General Foch, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies, had survived intense criticism that arose after the German success on the Aisne in late May, and by early August had won his own first great victory, reversing most of the German gains while keeping a large enough Allied reserve to plan further attacks imminently. For this success, Foch was promoted to Marshal of France on August 6. This brought him to the same rank as Haig, who himself had likely been promoted in response after Joffre received his baton as compensation for being forced out by Nivelle in late 1916.

Even the Central Powers respected Foch, with Vienna’s Arbeiter Zeitung saying on the same day:

…the Allies now possess a leader whose name arouses confidence and…they believe that, unlike his predecessors, he will not fall far short of the mature skill…possessed by Hindenburg and Ludendorff.

The next hundred days would be a test of all three leaders’ skill and perseverance.

United Kingdom

Speech of Mr. Montagu on Indian Constitutional Reform.

Austria-Hungary

Czech's, Yugo-Slavs, some Poles vote against Austrian Budget.

Naval operations: ship losses

BIRUTA (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel 8 nautical miles (15 km) nort west of Calais, France by a Kaiserliche Marine submarine with the loss of twelve of her crew.

CLAN MACNIEL (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 10 nautical miles (19 km) north of Alexandria, Egypt (31°21′N 29°47′E) by SM UC-34 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

DIAMOND (United States Lighthouse Service) The lightship was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean by SM U-140 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

MERAK (United States) The cargo ship was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina (34°57′N 75°40′W) by SM U-140 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

[lordroel]

Day 1461 of the Great War, August 7th 1918

Western Front

French and American troops cross the Vesle River and advance against the Germans on a 5-mile front.

Russian Civil War: Whites Take Kazan

The Red situation on the Volga had been steadily deteriorating over the last month. Although Muraviev’s revolt had been nipped in the bud by his death, Red Army morale was low and the Czechs and the Komuch continued to win victories, taking Simbirsk, Lenin’s birthplace, on July 24. Nevertheless, the local Red commander, the Latvian Col. Vācietis planned a general offensive, ordering his forces to move on Simbirsk, Samara, Ekaterinburg, and the Trans-Siberian Railway. The White leadership, on the other hand, was more cautious, planning a slow advance down the Volga towards Saratov, long an SR stronghold. Not all of their commanders agreed, however, and on August 5, a “microscopic” detachment of Czechs and troops loyal to the Komuch arrived at Vācietis’ headquarters at Kazan after sailing down the Volga.

Supported by heavy guns mounted on barges in the river, heavy fighting continued for the next two days between the Whites and the Latvian Riflemen. Vācietis complained about the other troops at his disposal; the Russians “turned out to be completely useless as a result of their poor training and indiscipline” and “the workers could not shoot or attack, they could not even build barricades.” Vācietis himself only narrowly escaped his own headquarters in the wee hours of August 7, after part of his staff defected to the Whites and began shooting at him.

The victory in Kazan was also a major financial victory for the Whites, as Kazan was the home of Russia’s gold reserves since 1915, moved there from Petrograd after the Germans advanced uncomfortably close to the city. The haul, totaling over 1000 pounds, would prove highly useful in financing the war effort against the Bolsheviks.

The fall of Kazan caused a seeming panic among Bolshevik leadership, sometimes to their detriment. An emergency draft of workers in Izhevsk (150 miles northeast of Kazan) caused a workers’ revolt in that city which would not be suppressed for several months. Trotsky was dispatched to the Volga region to lead the Red Army personally. Three days later, against Trotsky’s advice, Lenin ordered over 30,000 men to be moved from Petrograd’s defenses (where they were guarding against the Germans) east to the Volga. The Germans, after all, had promised they would not move on the city–and besides, the Germans would have far more pressing matters in the West in the coming days.

France: Former French Minister of Interior Banished to Spain

France’s Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau had lived through the Prussian siege of Paris in 1871, as well as the bloody suppression of the Paris Commune. His experiences made him both a committed enemy of Germany, and a cynical political animal. His determination to beat Germany at all costs during the Great War was matched only by his determination to root out “defeatists” in the French government.

One of Le Tigre’s victims was Louis Malvy, the former Minister of the Interior. A member of the left-leaning Radical party, (as was Clemenceau) Malvy had subsidized newspapers in France which favored a peace treaty and an end to the war. Unfortunately for him, one of his newspapers was found to have received money from German agents as well. In the aftermath of the Paris mutinies in 1917 Malvy was sacked, blamed for not coming down hard enough on pacifists.

Malvy went on trial, and though he was acquitted of treason, he was found guilty of negligence in his duties. His punishment was a five year banishment, under which he departed for Spain.

Naval operations: ship losses

DUPETIT-THOUARS (French Navy) The GUEYDON-class cruiser was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 400 nautical miles (740 km) west of Brest, Finistère by SM U-62 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

HIGHLAND HARRY (United Kingdom) The cargo liner was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 83 nautical miles (154 km) north by west of Eagle Island, County Mayo (55°28′N 11°15′W) by SM U-96 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of 24 lives.

LORNA (Norway) The cargo ship was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 300 nautical miles (560 km) west of Ouessant, Finistère (47°00′N 12°00′W) by SM U-62 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

[lordroel]

Day 1462 of the Great War, August 8th 1918

Western Front: “The Black Day of the German Army”

The British had largely not participated in the three weeks of intense fighting on the Marne, contributing only four divisions to the effort. As a result, they were ready to launch an attack of their own against the large German salient won during Operation Michael in March. Rawlinson had been planning a relatively limited attack, similar to the successful operation at Hamel in early July, but somewhat larger in scope. The aims became decidedly less limited when Foch placed the French First Army at his disposal, and envisioned an eventual advance of nearly thirty miles. Rawlinson was not pleased with this, as he thought an expansion of the attacking force stood a chance of ruining the surprise on which his plan hinged.

Map: Map depicting the advance of the Allied line



The British went to lengths as yet unseen in the war to achieve that surprise. Fake radio traffic was sent to convince the Germans that the Canadian Corps (who would be in the vanguard of the attack) was instead being sent north to Ypres. A huge British and French air presence made sure the Germans could not see the Allied preparations from the air; in the final hours, the airplanes also conducted a “noise barrage” to hide the sounds of the 430 tanks starting up and moving into their final positions. The artillery was registered by electric means beforehand, so that they would not clue the Germans in by range-finding by shelling them. Rawlinson was convinced to not conduct a preliminary bombardment, but, as on the Marne, start off with a rolling barrage only a minute or two before the infantry would advance; the German defenses were weak enough that this would be sufficient.

Photo: Men of the Royal Garrison Artillery loading a 9.2-inch howitzer near Bayencourt just before the battle, 8 August 1918



Photo: British Mark V tank (B56, 9003) of the 2 Battalion, Tank Corps traversing a ditch at the side of a road at Lamotte-en-Santerre, 8 August 1918



Photo: An Australian Lieutenant addressing his platoon before the advance onto Harbonnières which is obscured by smoke from heavy shellfire, 8 August 1918



The attack started at 4:20 AM on August 8, and the Canadians and Australians quickly overwhelmed the German defenses. Some tried to hold out, but found it impossible. Lt. Albers recalled:

Unfortunately our hand grenades had all been used; there was no longer time to operate the machine gun amid the chaos. Every man fired and defended himself as well as he could. But a new wave of English arrived in force, firing pistols and throwing hand grenades and killing or wounding many of my colleagues. Completely surrounded, shot at and bombed from all sides, with resistance no longer possible, the 20 men remaining from my company had to surrender.

They were among the over 15,000 PoWs captured that day. By 9 AM, the Australians and Canadians had reached the old German artillery positions (capturing over 300 guns) and were in open country. Sgt. Walter Downing, from Portland, Victoria, recalled:

For miles and miles infantry were everywhere advancing, dotted over hill and dale on either hand as far as the eye could see. Bayonets grouped and glinted in the charge as a battalion swarmed to the storming of a town miles away. Here and there thick columns of smoke and sputtering explosions told that the enemy dumps were burning. Red roofs and while walls trembled in the hot sunshine where villages drowsed beneath their lichened elms; the crops were lemon green, the pastured hillsides of a richer verdure; double rows of poplars shadowed the long straight roads.

By the end of the day, the Australians and Canadians had advanced up to nine miles some places. The advance was slower on the flanks; in the north, the Germans had slowed progress with a well-time gas barrage, while in the south, the French got off to a later start (opting for a 45-minute preliminary barrage) and met stiffer resistance.

At OHL, the mood quickly soured. Ludendorff would later call it “the black day of the German army.” They had few reliable reports from the field, but knew at least six divisions had been “completely broken.” They ordered what reserves they had to the area and were able to plug the breach in the line, but Ludendorff felt Germany’s chance for victory in the war had slipped away. He later recalled:

Leadership now assumed…the character of an irresponsible game of chance, a thing I have always considered fatal. The fate of the German people was for me too high a stake. The war must be ended.

If he felt this at the time, however, it was not apparent in his orders or his communications with other German leaders, although it was apparent Ludendorff was despondent. As on the Marne, the Germans would continue “a strategic defensive,” making the Allies fight for every foot of ground, rather than falling back to the Hindenburg Line.

Photo: German prisoners guarded by British soldiers of the 58th Division at Sailly Laurette, 8 August 1918



United Kingdom

(British) Education Act receives Royal Assent.

Reply of Mr. Balfour in House of Commons to Pacifists.

Aerial operations: Amiens

At 0420 this morning British, French and United States forces (22 Divisions in total) launched an offensive in the Amiens area on a 25 mile front with the objective of called for reducing the Saint-Mihiel salient and freeing the railway lines that ran through Amiens from German shellfire.

It was the largest commitment by the RAF to one battle with around 800 aircraft involved. Unusually the night before, Squadrons had been briefed in detail on the overall battle plan and the RAF’s role in it, initially though supporting the ground assault with contact patrolling and ground attack.

Early on there was thick fog, which while beneficial to the attacking troops, made contract patrolling and ground attack impossible until it cleared at around 0900. The RAF then pressed home its ground attacks for the rest of the morning

Around midday, reconnaissance reports came in suggesting enormous activity on the bridges across the Somme as enemy troops attempted to flee. At this point the RAF switched tactics to bomb the bridges to sew confusion in the German troops, bottle up the retreating troops and prevent reinforcements from arriving. 5 fighter squadrons from IX Brigade abandoned their role as escorts to join the bombing. According to the Official History, “The most hopeful supporters of air warfare did not believe that a success so complete was possible, but although the bigger prize might prove to be out of reach it was believed that every interruption of traffic which air bombing achieved would be richly and disproportionately rewarded.” In the end 12 tons of bombs were dropped in the area

In response the German aircraft abandoned their selective offensive policy and were forced to throw everything into the battle. Indeed the majority of fighting in the air took place that afternoon over the bridges.

The result was a long list of casualties for both sides. At the time the RAF Communique claimed 48 German aircraft destroyed and a further 17 forced down whilst counting 50 missing British aircraft. The Germans in return made around 60 claims with a further 13 from ground fire. RAF records show 28 killed, 16 wounded and a further 36 taken prisoner. Despite the efforts of the German pilots a large number of these were caused by ground fire. Given the large scale of the battle and number of aircraft involved there remains much dispute about the veracity of many of the claims on both sides (see the discussions on the Aerodrome forum).

Regardless of this, the result was an overall victory for the allied forces which was the beginning of the end for the Germans with further irreplaceable losses for the German Air Services.

Naval operations: ship losses

CLAN MACVEY (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel 0.5 nautical miles (930 m) off Anvil Point, Dorset by SM UB-57 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of seven of her crew.

HMT MICHEAL CLEMENTS (Royal Navy) The naval trawler was rammed and sunk in the English Channel off St. Catherine's Point, Isle of Wight by HMT John Cattling ( Royal Navy). Her crew survived.

SYDLAND (Sweden) The cargo ship was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 100 nautical miles (190 km) off the Nantucket Lightship ( United States Navy),[50] (43°30′N 65°23′W), by SM U-156 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

SM UC-49 (Kaiserliche Marine) The Type UC II submarine was depth charged and sunk in the English Channel off Start Point, Cornwall, (50°20′N 3°30′W) United Kingdom by HMS OPOSSOM ( Royal Navy) with the loss of all 31 crew.

SMS V68 (Kaiserliche Marine) The V25-class destroyer struck a mine and sank in the North Sea off the coast of Belgium with the loss of eighteen of her crew.

[lordroel]

Day 1463 of the Great War, August 9th 1918

YouTube (The Black Day Of The German Army - The Battle of Amiens)



Western Front

On the first day of the Battle of Amiens, Allied forces advance 7 miles on a 20-mile front against the Germans, taking around 16,000 German prisoners. German General Ludendorff calls it “the black day of the German Army.”

Second Battle of Lassigny begins.

British occupy Morlancourt and reach Lihons (2 miles from Chaulnes).

French 3rd Army advances on Montdidier from north and south, capturing Assainvillers (on south) and Pierrepont (on north).

Western Front: Paris Gun Fires its Last Shot

A shell crashed into Aubervilliers in north-east Paris on August 9, 1918. It was the last shell that would land on Paris until the next world war. Starting in March 1918 the Germans had begun shelling the French capital with an enormous cannon called the “Paris Gun,” or sometimes the “Big Bertha,” although that was a nickname for a smaller siege weapon.

The gun was a typical feat of German engineering. “It took about three minutes for each giant shell to cover the distance to the city, climbing to an altitude of 25 miles (40 km) at the top of its trajectory,” writes the journalist Adam Hochschild. “This was by far the highest point ever reached by a man-made object, so high that gunners, in calculating where the shells would land, had to take into account the rotation of the Earth. For the first time in warfare, deadly projectiles rained down on civilians from the stratosphere.”

It was also a typical effort of the German military, in that it was impressive and terrifying and ultimately fairly pointless. It caused panic at first in Paris, but more because it revealed the Germans were at the doorstep. 256 Parisians died and 625 were wounded by the gun. Ultimately, however, the gun caused more anger than fear, uniting the people of Paris against their invader. On August 9, as the Allies turned the tide and burst through the German lines at Ameins, the Germans packed up the Paris Gun and retreated. Somewhere along the road it was dismantled by acetylene torch, denying the advancing Entente an impressive prize.

Italian Front: Italian Propaganda Flight Over Vienna

The nationalist poet and proto-fascist Gabriele D’Annunzio had been one of the leading voices calling for Italian entry into the war. Since then, he had been chosen to be Italy’s official war chronicler (a task he would never complete), occasionally participated in the fighting at the front (including a disastrous raid that he carried out during the Tenth Battle of the Isonzo), and trained to be a pilot. He put these latter skills to use on August 9, when he led a leaflet-dropping mission over Vienna, a 750-mile round-trip flight. D’Annunzio’s 50,000 leaflets were in his usual overwrought style (“On this August morning, while the fourth year of your desperate convulsion comes to an end and luminously begins the year of our full power, suddenly there appears the tricolor wing as an indication of the destiny that is turning….”) and were in Italian, which could not be read by most of Vienna’s population. Critics quipped that once “he wrote but did not act,” but “now he acts but does not write.”

The planes also dropped 350,000 leaflets in German, which were presumably more effective:

VIENNESE!

Learn to know the Italians.
We are flying over Vienna; we could drop tons of bombs. All we are dropping on you is a greeting of three colors: the three colors of liberty.
We Italians do not make war on children, on old people, on women.
We are making war on your government, the enemy of national liberties, on your blind, stubborn, cruel government that can give you neither peace nor bread, and feeds you hatred and illusions.

VIENNESE!

You are famous for being intelligent. But why have you put on the Prussian uniform? By now, you see, the whole world has turned against you.
You want to continue the war? Continue it; it’s your suicide. What do you hope for? The decisive victory promised to you by the Prussian generals? Their decisive victory is like the bread of Ukraine: You die waiting for it.

PEOPLE OF VIENNA, think of your own fates. Wake up!

LONG LIVE LIBERTY!

LONG LIVE ITALY!

LONG LIVE THE ENTENTE!

While its effect on Vienna is unclear, the flight provided a definite boost to Italian morale, especially in the parts of Italy occupied by the Austrians. While the Allies won great victories on the Western Front, the Italian Army continued to recuperate; the Italians would have be satisfied with D’Annunzio’s exploits for the time being.
Russia

News of arrest of Messrs. Lockhart (British Consul-General at Moscow) and Wardrop (British Consul) by Bolsheviks.

United Kingdom

Appeal of Executive of Miners' Federation of Great Britain to miners to increase output of coal by avoiding unnecessary absenteeism.

Naval operations: ship losses

EMMA (Russia) The three-masted schooner was sunk in the Skagerrak 37 nautical miles (69 km) off Ryvingen, Rogaland, Norway (57°29′N 8°09′E) by SM UB-89 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

GIROLA CIOLINO (Italy) The sailing vessel was sunk in the Malta Channel (36°18′N 13°34′E) by SM UC-22 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

GLENLEE (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) east of the Owers Lightship ( United Kingdom) by SM UB-57 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of a crew member.

ORKNEY (Denmark) The barque was scuttled in the Atlantic Ocean west of Gibraltar (39°50′N 17°47′W) by SM U-157 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of five crew.

[lordroel]

Day 1464 of the Great War, August 10th 1918

Western Front

The First United States Army is formed in France under the command of General Pershing, as sufficient American manpower has arrived to the Western Front.

Photo: German gun and limber caught by British gun-fire during the retirement. Note dead horses, also wagon shell carriers etc. Near Chipilly, 10 August 1918



Photo: Captured German 10.5 cm FH 98/09 howitzer and wicker shell carriers. Near Chipilly, 10 August 1918



Western Front: French Capture Montdidier

As was typically the case in the First World War, the great gains of the Allied offensive on August 8 slowed down considerably on subsequent days as they outran their artillery, their tanks broke down (only 67 of 430 remaining in service on the 10th), supplies became harder to come by, and German reinforcements arrived. Nevertheless, they were still able to make considerable progress. In a textbook operation, the French First Army encircled and captured Montdidier, their main objective, on August 10. The Germans were also making a limited withdrawal from certain areas, aiding the Allies. However, in other areas, they ran into stiffer resistance: fresh German troops supported by machine guns and heavy artillery. Many of the Germans that had survived the fighting on August 8 realized, as did many generals, that the defeat was the beginning of the end of the war for theme, and called the newly-arriving troops “blacklegs,” “strike-breakers,” and “war-prolongers.”

Foch wanted the Allied offensive to continue, pressing their advantage and pushing on towards Ham, as planned. Rawlinson, however, knew that his men were exhausted, his position had weaknesses on its flanks, the Germans had reinforced, and supply difficulties would only grow as he pushed on into the old Somme battlefield. On August 10, he confronted Haig, asking him, “Are you commanding the British Army or is Marshal Foch?” Although local fighting would continue over the next few days, the offensive would not resume as Foch desired. Instead, Haig began planning an attack with Byng’s Third Army just to the north. Foch, who just wanted to keep the Germans on their toes, was ultimately satisfied with this.

Naval operations: ship losses

ALEDA MAY (United States) The fishing vessel was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean (41°45′N 67°10′W) by SM U-117 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

CRUISER (United States) The fishing vessel was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean (41°45′N 67°10′W) by SM U-113 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

EARL & NETTIE (United States) The fishing vessel was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean (41°45′N 67°10′W) by SM U-113 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

KATIE L. PALMER (United States) The fishing vessel was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean (41°45′N 67°10′W) by SM U-113 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

MADAME RENEE (United Kingdom) The coaster was torpedoed and sunk in the North Sea 1 nautical mile (1.9 km) north north east of Scarborough, Yorkshire by SM UB-30 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of ten of her crew.

MARY E. SENNETT (United States) The fishing vessel was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean (41°45′N 67°10′W) by SM U-113 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

PATRA (France) The sailing vessel was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea off the Egyptian coast by SM UC-34 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

POLYNESIEN (France) The troopship was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 7 nautical miles (13 km) off Valletta, Malta by SM UC-22 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of nineteen lives.

PROGRESS (United States) The fishing vessel was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean (41°45′N 67°10′W) by SM U-113 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

RELIANCE (United States) The fishing vessel was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean (41°45′N 67°10′W) by SM U-113 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

TATARRAX (United Kingdom) The tanker was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea off Rosetta, Egypt (32°00′N 30°45′E) by SM UC-34 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of 61 lives.

WILLIAM H. STARBUCK (United States) The fishing vessel was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean (41°45′N 67°10′W) by SM U-113 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

[lordroel]

Day 1465 of the Great War, August 11th 1918

Western Front

Allied advance between River Avre and and River Oise reaches line Armancourt (south-west of Roye), Tilloy, Cambronne (between Metz and Oise).

British air-raid on Karlsruhe.

Japanese intervention in Siberia

First Japanese contingents arrive at Vladivostok.

Russian Civil War

Semenov defeats Bolsheviks north of Manchuria Station.

Russia

Arrival of German Embassy (Helfferich) from Moscow at Pskov.

Aerial operations: Frisian coast

Off west Frisian coast fight between British naval light forces and aircraft and German aircraft.

German airship burnt north of Island of Ameland.

Naval operations: Hipper Takes Command of the High Seas Fleet

Admiral Holtzendorff, the German Chief of the Naval Staff, had been one of the leading proponents of unrestricted submarine warfare. By August 1918, however, it was clear that the campaign had failed to defeat Britain and had mainly resulted in the arrival of an ever-growing American army, despite his pledge on his “word as a naval officer that no American will ever set foot on continental soil.” Increasingly in conflict with Hindenburg & Ludendorff, and suffering from a severe heart condition, Holtzendorff stepped down on August 11, and was replaced by Admiral Scheer, head of the High Seas Fleet. Scheer moved his headquarters to Spa to be closer to Ludendorff. He also immediately proposed a vast expansion of the submarine campaign, which would involve building 36 new submarines a month. This was not possible given Germany’s strained resources, and Germany had enough to worry about on land at the moment.

Taking Scheer’s place with the High Seas Fleet was Admiral Hipper, who had previously commanded Germany’s battlecruisers. Hipper would be the final wartime commander of the High Seas Fleet. After the Armistice, he would refuse to be the one to lead the fleet into internment, instead passing off the task to a subordinate, and went into a mostly-quiet retirement in Germany.

Naval operations: ship losses

CITY OF ADELAIDE (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 60 nautical miles (110 km) east north east of Malta (36°26′N 15°37′E) by SM U-63 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of four crew.

PENISTONE (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 145 nautical miles (269 km) south west of Nantucket, Massachusetts, United States (39°50′N 67°30′W) by SM U-156 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of a crew member.

[lordroel]

Day 1466 of the Great War, August 12th 1918

Western Front

Close of Battle of Amiens.

German General Staff loses heart.

Photo: King George V visits the III Corps headquarters at St. Gratien, 12 August 1918. This was the British Corps which formed part of the Fourth Army in the Battle of Amiens



Photo: King George V inspecting the Guard of Honour on his visit to the III Corps headquarters at St. Gratien, 12 August 1918. This was the British Corps which formed part of the Fourth Army in the Battle of Amiens



Caucasus campaign: Bolsheviks Depart Baku

The remaining Red Army forces in Baku were left in an awkward situation after the Bolshevik commissars that had been running the city were deposed and arrested in late July. The troops were able to secure the commissars’ release, and attempted to turn the local population against the new government, the Centro-Caspian Dictatorship, to no avail. Not wanting to cooperate with the British, even to defend the city against the Turks, they were given orders from Moscow to depart. The Centro-Caspian Dictatorship gave them ships to take them to Astrakhan, the last Bolshevik-friendly port on the Caspian, and they departed on August 12. However, it soon became apparent that they had taken off with a large quantity of materiel needed for the city’s defense, and the Centro-Caspian Dictatorship soon dispatched more ships to track them down. They soon intercepted the Red ships, brought them back to Baku, and forced them to unload all their military supplies before letting them depart again. The Baku commissars, on the other hand, were arrested once again. The departure of the Red Army troops and their theft of the supplies needed to defend the city completely turned the local population decidedly against the Bolsheviks; they would only return, by force, in 1920.

Naval operations: ship losses

G6 (Regia Marina) The naval trawler was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea south east of Sicily by SM U-63 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

SOMMERSTAD (Norway) The cargo ship was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 30 nautical miles (56 km) south east of the Fire Island Lightship ( United States Navy) (40°00′N 69°00′W) by SM U-117 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.