Glad to see the thread back in your name Mark.

Friday 2 August 1918.

2nd Battle of the Marne. The French advance six miles retaking Soissons, only 300 of the pre-war population of 15,000 remain in the town.

Russian Civil War. In an escalation of the conflict British and French troops land in another Arctic port, Archangel; they are already in Murmansk.

Two Royal Navy destroyers, HMS Ariel and HMS Vehement sunk by mines in the North Sea, 97 killed.

Saturday 3 August 1918.

2nd Battle of the Marne. The Allies are advancing on a 30 mile front; in the Somme sector the Germans retreat beyond the river Ancre.

Russian Civil War. The first of a planned 12,000 Japanese troops land in the east at Vladivostok, 520 British are also landed.

The Australian Hospital Ship Warilda sunk in the English Channel by a torpedo from the UC49, 123 killed.

Sunday 4 August 1918.

2nd Battle of the Marne. The battle comes to an end with the Americans taking Fismes and the Allied armies crossing the river Vesle.

Cpl Adolf Hitler awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class.

Russian Civil War. The first British troops reach Baku on the Caspian Sea at the invitation of the anti-Bolshevik government. 

Monday 5 August 1918.

Russian Civil War. French troops join the Anglo-Japanese in Vladivostok.

The Turkish Army of Islam reaches Baku, the capital of the newly proclaimed Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, but are driven off in their first attack.

Final air raid on GB; five Zeppelins despatched, but after one is shot down over the sea before reaching the coast the raid is called off.

Tuesday 6 August 1918.

Western Front. A German counter-attack on the Somme at Morlan court is successful with territory being recovered from the Australians.

Louis Malvy the French Minister for the Interior 1914-17 convicted of treason and exiled for five years.

Gen. Ferdinand Foch, C-in-C Allied Forces, created a Marshal of France.

Wednesday 7 August 1918.

Russian Civil War. The Whites capture Kazan and the Tsarist gold reserves worth 650 million rubles.

Louis Malvy the French Minister for the Interior 1914-17 convicted of treason and exiled for five years. A pretty light sentence for someone convicted of treason during war time. Doesn't sound right, does it?

Thursday 8 August 1918.

Battle of Amiens. The final decisive offensive against the Germans begins (see separate entry).

On a visit to Pergine airfield the Austrian emperor Karl witnesses an aerial battle in which two of the three Austrian fighters are shot down by the RAF.

The beginning of the end; it is known as the 100 Days Offensive, although it was actually 96 days to the German surrender. From 8 August onwards the Germans knew they could not win the war, the best they could hope for was to hold out for a peace settlement that was not too harsh. But the collapse of their three allies; Austria-Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria in October/November killed off that idea.

Friday 9 August 1918.

Battle of Amiens. Gains on all fronts by the allies; the British taking Morlancourt and Rosieres-Lihons, the French Pierrepont and Assianvillers while the Australians take eight villages.

Italian aircraft drop 200,000 leaflets on Vienna calling on the Austrians to rid themselves of the Prussian yoke.

The Battle of Amiens was the beginning of the end of the German armies. A powerful Allied force, spearheaded by Canadian and Australian troops, nearly broke through the enemy lines on 8 August, pushing the Germans back several kilometres.

Secret Preparations

After the failed German offensives in spring 1918, the Allies regrouped and counterattacked along the Western Front. Prepared in secret, with a major counter-intelligence operation to deceive the Germans as to the real location of Canadian and Australian ‘shock troops,’ the attack at Amiens would prove one of the most successful of the war.

A Near Breakthrough

The offensive at Amiens was a surprise assault based on a combined arms approach to war. The infantry attacked behind a creeping artillery barrage, supported by tanks, cavalry, armoured cars, and tactical airpower.

On 8 August, the Canadians advanced 13 kilometres through the German defences, the most successful day of combat for the Allies on the Western Front. But the Germans rushed reinforcements to the battlefield to prevent an Allied breakthrough, and subsequent fighting became far more difficult and costly, especially since the attacking forces were moving beyond the range of their guns. By the night of 11 August, most offensive operations had ground to a halt.

The ‘Black Day’ of the German Army

Amiens, called the ‘black day’ of the German army by one of its commanders, shook German faith in the outcome of the war and raised Allied morale.

Previously, most Allied commanders had predicted the war would continue well into 1919 and possibly into 1920. Amiens proved that the German army, bending under the strain of four years of attritional warfare, was closer to defeat than anyone had predicted.

In a trend continued by other set-piece attacks in the following months, the battle was exceedingly costly. The Canadians suffered more than 11,800 casualties in total, including nearly 4,000 on 8 August alone.

Hundred Days

Since the summer of 1918, Canadian and other Allied forces had been pursuing the Hundred Days Campaign (see Battle of Amiens and Battle of Cambrai) — an aggressive series of offensives that routed the German armies from their strongholds on the Western Front. The campaign forced the Germans into full retreat eastward out of France and Belgium, fighting as they gave back territory to their pursuers.

In the final weeks of the Hundred Days Campaign, the Canadian Corps (see Canadian Expeditionary Force) took the French town of Valenciennes after a vicious, two-day battle.  By 9 November they were on the outskirts of Mons.

Symbolic Value

In the early days of the war in 1914, British forces had put up a fierce resistance around Mons against the invading German armies, in an effort to hold up the German drive towards Paris. After pushing the British out, the Germans had occupied the town for four years.

Mons was a bastion of coal mining, whose resources had been used throughout the war to fuel Germany's war effort. Recapturing Mons now, at the end of the war, was of huge symbolic importance to the Allies. Lieutenant General Arthur Currie and his Canadian Corps were ordered to take the town.

Liberators

The Canadians wanted to capture Mons without destroying it. Given the deadly and tricky challenges of fighting urban warfare, taking Mons was no small feat. Rumors also filled the ranks of a possible peace treaty, but until there was an official armistice, the war would continue.

Currie planned an encircling maneuver. The Canadians then entered the town, fighting against stiff German resistance. Enemy prisoners informed them that the Germans were planning a retreat, but German machine-gun fire remained constant.

The Canadians pressed on, and by the early morning of 11 November, they had subdued most of Mons without the use of heavy shelling. Bagpipes played and the town’s inhabitants welcomed the Canadians as liberators.

George Price

At 6:30 a.m. that day, Currie’s headquarters received notice that hostilities would cease at 11:00 a.m. Word spread among the troops that a ceasefire had finally been achieved, although most fighting had already ended after the clearing of Mons.

Canada is traditionally assigned the tragic distinction of losing the last casualty among British Commonwealth forces during the First World War. Private George Price was hit in the chest from a sniper shot in the town of Ville-sur-Haine, near Mons. He died at 10:58 a.m., two minutes before the armistice went into effect, officially ending the First World War (see Remembrance Day).

Overall Canadian casualties in the Battle of Mons were slight compared to other engagements of the war, but no less poignant: 280 men killed, wounded or missing during the last two days of operations.

Controversy

Some of the troops serving under Currie at Mons questioned the decision to push through and capture the town — and sacrifice lives — on the last days of the war. This was especially difficult for those who lost comrades or relatives in Mons, knowing that the armistice was imminent. Throughout his leadership of the Canadian Corps, Currie had been a conscientious commander, deeply aware of the human costs of warfare and working wherever possible to minimize the sacrifices of his men, while at the same time driving hard to defeat the enemy. (See also: Canadian Command During the Great War.)

                   

General Sir Arthur Currie, June, 1917.

Image: Department of National Defense/Library and Archives Canada/PA-001370.

LAC

                   

Sam Hughes

General Sir Sam Hughes, Canadian Minister of Militia and Defence, 1914-1919.  Image: Canadian Department of National Defence/Library and Archives Canada/C-020240.

LAC

Even so, the losses at Mons and especially during the Hundred Days campaign fueled the notion among some Canadians that Currie had been a cold-hearted general. In 1919, Sir Sam Hughes, the former defence minister, denounced him in the House of Commons for “needlessly sacrificing the lives of Canadian soldiers,” and suggesting that Currie should be court-martialled for leading the assault on Mons. Prime Minister Robert Borden later defended Currie, saying, “No criticism could be more unjust.”

Years later, in 1927, the same charges were repeated in the Evening Guide, a newspaper in the small town of Port Hope, Ontario, which called Currie a butcher for the “shocking” and “useless” assault on Mons. Currie sued the paper for libel. After a widely-publicized trial, in which little evidence was produced to support the accusation against him, Currie won his case along with a small damage award.

Although some war veterans remained angry with Currie over Mons, the vast majority regarded their former general as a hero. In 1928 he was elected dominion president of the Canadian Legion. Currie spent the final years of his life championing pension reform and other veterans causes.

Saturday 10 August 1918.

Battle of Amiens. The French retake Montdidier. Over 24,000 German soldiers have been captured in three days.

Russian Civil War. Troops of the Czech Legion plus 400 Cossacks hold off an attack by 5000 Reds at Stepanovka-Kraevsk in eastern Siberia.

Sunday 11 August 1918.

Battle of Amiens. With the Allied advance in danger of outpacing its supply lines, much as the Germans did in April, the Allied High Command decide to announce a temporary halt for the following day. They have reached a line Armancourt-Tilloy-Cambronne.

The German Commander Ludendorff offers his resignation to the Emperor but it is refused.

Russian Civil War. The Japanese 12th Division lands at Vladivostok to join the British and the French.

Large German air raid on a supply depot at Calais destroys 100 vehicles and £1.25 million worth of spare parts and equipment.   

The Battle of Cambrai in northern France took place from 27 September to 11 October 1918, during the First World War. The battle was among the Canadian Corps' most impressive tactical victories of the war, particularly because of the Canadians' skillful use of military engineers. It was part of a series of connected battles at the start of the Hundred Days Campaign, which would lead to the defeat of Germany and the end the war.

Hundred Days

After years of grinding stalemate in the vast trench works of the Western Front, the armies of France, Britain and their empires had by that summer finally found ways of beating the Germans — using new battlefield tactics and weapons. The Allies were also assisted by the arrival of fresh US troops into the war. Emboldened by their decisive victory at Amiens earlier that year, Allied commanders decided to stay on the offensive in the fall of 1918. They launched multiple attacks against German strongpoints throughout northern France, including an attack on enemy forces holding the city of Cambrai – an important railway and supply hub for the German army.

These attacks became known as the Hundred Days Campaign, the spectacular Allied offensive which put German forces on the run and led to the signing of the armistice on 11 November.

Cambrai's Defences

Cambrai was not only heavily defended by German forces, it was surrounded by interlocking man-made canals that were naturally difficult for infantry soldiers and tanks – one of the newest battlefield weapons – to cross. The canals were also guarded by enemy machine-gun posts, barbed wire and other defences.

To get into Cambrai, Allied forces would need to cross the Canal du Nord to the west of the city, as well as seize the heights of Bourlon Wood, a forested hill that overlooked its banks. The difficult task of capturing these two obstacles was given to the Canadian Corps (see Canadian Expeditionary Force), under the leadership of Lieutenant General Arthur Currie. Their job was made even tougher because the Germans had flooded much of the land surrounding the canal and the woods.

Currie spent the latter part of September carefully planning the attack. Canadian and British engineers were given expanded resources and manpower, and ordered to construct bridges to be used in the attack across the canal, and tramway lines for transporting artillery and other supplies to the battlefield.

The Assault

On the morning of 27 September the Canadian Corps, with British forces on its flanks, assaulted a dry portion of the partially excavated canal, following in the wake of a moving, or creeping, artillery barrage that kept German defenders down in their dugouts or concrete machine-gun posts. By nightfall, after a day of stiff fighting, the canal had been crossed and secured, and Bourlon Wood captured.

For the next several days the Canadians fended off heavy German counterattacks. Throughout the battle they were assisted over the difficult and often-flooded terrain by engineers who repaired roads and hastily assembled bridges for infantry and artillery.

With Cambrai's outer defences overrun, the city was captured and liberated by the Allies on 11 October.

Victoria Crosses

                   

Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest award for military valour in the British Commonwealth.

14488560 © Rotarepok | Dreamstime.com

Several Victoria Crosses, the British Empire's highest award for military valour, were awarded to members of the Canadian Corps in the battles for Canal du Nord and Cambrai. Among those honoured was Lieutenant G. T. Lyall, a mechanical engineer by training, who found himself and his men confronted by a German strongpoint at Bourlon Wood on the first day of the battle. They outflanked the strongpoint, capturing 13 German soldiers, a field gun and four machine guns. Later, Lyall charged alone into another pocket of resistance, capturing 45 prisoners and five machine guns. Upon reaching his final objective, he took another 47 prisoners while securing his company’s position.

He later captured another 80 prisoners and 17 machine guns after overwhelming a German strongpoint on 1 October.

Another Victoria Cross winner, S. L. Honey, had already earned the Military Medal and the Distinguished Conduct Medal for his actions at the Battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917. During the assault on Bourlon Wood on 27 September, all officers in Honey's unit had become casualties. Honey took command of his company and reorganized its advance while under constant fire. He rushed a machine-gun nest and captured the position alone, taking ten prisoners and the gun. He then held ground against four German counterattacks before leading the capture of another post, which he discovered during a lone reconnaissance mission after dark. He led another attack against a German strongpoint on 29 September and died from wounds the next day.

Casualties

The capture of Canal du Nord is widely considered by historians to be one of the greatest Canadian tactical achievements of the war, overshadowed by the 1917 victory at Vimy Ridge, but no less impressive. It signaled the effectiveness of highly mobile infantry supported by well-coordinated air, artillery and engineering forces — a recipe for success that the Canadian Corps would employ through the rest of the Hundred Days Campaign.

The costs, however, were horrendous. More than 13,600 Canadians were killed or wounded during the six-day fight for the canal and the heights around Cambrai — making it one of the bloodiest Canadian operations of the war. More than 30,000 Canadians were killed and wounded overall in the Battle of Cambrai.

You're a little premature with that, we're still seven weeks away from the Battle of Cambrai. Meanwhile -

Monday 12 August 1918.

Battle of Amiens. The Allied advance is halted after significant gains to allow the supply train to be re-established.

Tuesday 13 August 1918.

Western Front. The French retake Belval.

An Anglo-American air raid on the German airfield at Varssenaere in occupied Belgium destroy around 30 parked aircraft.

The Czecho-Slovak National Council, the government in waiting for the Czech nation, declares war on Germany.

At a conference at Spa leading figures from the German government and military agree that the war cannot be won through military means alone.

You're a little premature with that. 

You sound like some of the girls I went out with in my younger years Mark. Who have you been talking to.

Wednesday 14 August 1918.

Western Front. The Germans begin the retreat from the river Ancre, several towns and villages are evacuated peacefully

The two Emperors; Karl of Austria-Hungary and Wilhelm II of Germany, meet for the last time at Spa where the Austrian delegation announce that they can only hold out until the end of the year and urge immediate peace negotiations. The German Commander Ludendorff agrees. Emperor Wilhelm authorizes an approach to Wilhelmina, Queen of the Netherlands to act as mediator, but in fact his intention is to buy time with a temporary ceasefire. 

Thursday 15 August 1918.

Western Front. The British cross the river Ancre. The French capture the Lassingny Massif.

Russian Civil War. The Whites capture Ekaterinador, it becomes the capital of White Russia.

The USA severs diplomatic relations with Soviet Russia.

Friday 16 August 1918.

Western Front. The Anglo-French advance in the Roye sector.

Russian Civil War. The 27th US Infantry Div. joins the Allied armies in Vladivostok. The C-in-C of the Allied forces in the Far East, the Japanese Gen. Otani, also arrives.

The Whites occupy Shenkursk as they attempt to link up with the Allied Intervention Force in Archangel 175 miles to the north. 

Saturday 17 August 1918.

Western Front. Further gains by the French in particular, they retake Canny-sur-Matz and advance between the Oise and lower Aisne rivers.

Russian Civil War. Elements of the Allied army in Archangel begin to move south aiming to link up with the Whites heading north.

Saturday 18 August 1918.

Western Front. Continued Allied gains.

Russian Civil War. The Allied army in east Siberia hold off a Red attack on the Ussuri river south of Runovka. 12 pdr guns removed from the cruiser HMS Suffolk are converted for use on land.

Monday 19 August 1918.

Western Front. The French retake Le Hamel and Morsain, the British take Merville. 

Tuesday 20 August 1918.

Western Front. A day of significant gains; the French advance three miles between the rivers Oise and Aisne taking 8000 prisoners. Since the beginning of the offensive on 8 August the Canadians have advanced up to 14 miles on a six mile front liberating 65 sq miles of territory and taking over 9000 prisoners.

Balkan Front. Aware of an impending Allied assault the Austrians begin a pre-emptive offensive in Albania.

Wednesday 21 August 1918.

Battle of Baupame. A new Anglo-French offensive on the Western Front begins with a ten mile assault north of the river Ancre. With the aid of 500 tanks the first objective of the Albert-Arras railway is reached and 2000 prisoners taken.

Thursday 22 August 1918.

Battle of Baupame. The British take Albert. The French make significant advances on Noyon taking Quiwray and Evricourt. 32 Allied Divisions have beaten 47 German Divisions on a 47 mile front since 8 August.

Balkan Front. The Austrians advance to the line of the rivers Devoli and Semeni taking the Italians by surprise.