The Great War (1914-1918) in real time

Day 1438 of the Great War, July 16th 1918

Western Front: Germans Call Off Their Last Offensive

The German offensive aimed at Rheims had not had the hoped-for result; Ludendorff was “very wad about the paltry outcome.” Attacks east of Rheims were quickly called off, but the Germans attempted to continue from their new bridgehead across the Marne on the 16th. However, their artillery would need to cross the Marne to provide sufficient support, and the French were able to bring reserves west now that the Germans had stopped attacking in Champagne. On the evening of the 16th, Ludendorff called off the offensive. One of his staff officers wrote in his diary: “Fairly depressed mood. Difficult question–what is to happen from now on?” Ludendorff wanted to proceed with Operation Hagen in Flanders, and drove north to meet with Crown Prince Rupprecht the next day. In the meantime, the Germans’ bridges across the Marne came under heavy artillery and aerial bombardment (as had the Austrians’ on the Piave), and they began preparations to abandon their sole gain in the battle.

France

Trial of M. Malvy, former French Minister of Interior, on charge of treason.

Russia: Bolsheviks Kill the Czar and His Family

After his abdication, the Czar and his family remained at his palace at Tsarskoye Selo, under what amounted to lavish house arrest, while the Provisional Government figured out what to do with him. They had no particular interest in charging him for any crimes, and really just wanted him out of the country. However, he was unpopular abroad as well, and both France and Britain refused to take him in. In August 1917, the Romanovs were transferred to Tobolsk in Siberia, with the eventual hope of moving them to Japan. What luxuries they had were forfeit after the Bolsheviks took power; they no longer had any servants, were put on reduced rations, and, at the end of April 1918, were moved to a modest house in Ekaterinburg.

After the Romanovs’ arrival in Ekaterinburg, however, the Bolsheviks’ fortunes in Siberia took a turn for the worse. The first fighting between the Czechs and the Bolsheviks began in mid-May in Chelyabinsk, just over 100 miles to the south. By July, they had linked up with the Czechs across the Urals in Samara, and were advancing north towards Ekaterinburg to prevent the Bolsheviks from making any move on the Trans-Siberian Railway. The local Bolsheviks believed the Czechs were on their way to liberate the Czar and help to reinstall him on his throne, and decided to execute the Romanovs to prevent this. How much involvement the Bolsheviks in Moscow had with this decision is unclear; official Soviet history held that it was a local decision, but Trotsky and others held that it was decided in Moscow. If it was Lenin’s decision, he was very careful to make sure no paper trail was left.

In the wee hours of July 17, the Romanovs were woken by their doctor and summoned down to the basement of the house, on the pretext that they were to be moved out of Ekaterinburg. At around 2AM, the commandant of the house, Yakov Yurovsky, entered with a Cheka squad and read their sentence: “Nikolai Alexandrovich, in view of the fact that your relatives are continuing their attack on Soviet Russia, the Ural Executive Committee has decided to execute you.” After repeating the order, the firing began. Most of the men aimed at Nicholas or Alexandra, and the children were protected from incidental fire by the large number of gems sewn into their clothing. The guns did not use smokeless powder and it soon became too smoky to continue in the confined space, so they soon turned to bayonets to kill the children, then pistol shots to the head when that failed.

Photo: The basement of the Ipatiev house where the Romanov family was killed, the wall has been torn apart in search of bullets and other evidence by investigators following the shooting



The bodies were disposed of two days later, and the execution of the Czar was publicly announced. The fate of the rest of the family was not discussed openly, but the Whites were able to piece together what happened after they captured Ekaterinburg a week later. They were unable to find the bodies, however, so wild speculation continued until glasnost.

Naval operations: ship losses

HMS ANCHUSA (Royal Navy) The ANCHUSA-class sloop was sunk in the Atlantic Ocean north of Ireland by SM U-54 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of 78 of her 93 crew.

FISHERMAN (United Kingdom) The schooner was shelled and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 380 nautical miles (700 km) north west by west of Cabo da Roca, Portugal (40°17′N 18°20′W) by SM U-91 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

GaRIBALDINO (Regia Marina) The Soldati-class destroyer was rammed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea off Villefranche-sur-Mer, Alpes-Maritimes, France by the destroyer HMS Cygnet ( Royal Navy).

LYNDIANE (France) The cargo ship was sunk in the Bay of Biscay by SM UB-103 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of four of her fourteen crew. The submarine then rammed a raft with a number of survivors before departing the area, killing many of them. Eight survivors of the sixteen people on board were rescued by Villanil ( Spanish Navy) and some Spanish fishing vessels.

MIEFELD (Norway) The barque was shelled and scuttled in the Atlantic Ocean 82 nautical miles (152 km) south west of the Fastnet Rock (50°44′N 11°21′W) by SM U-55 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

SOUTHBOROUGH (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the North Sea 5 nautical miles (9.3 km) north by east of Scarborough, Yorkshire by SM UB-110 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of 30 of her crew.

VANLOCK (Sweden) The sailing vessel was shelled and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 140 nautical miles (260 km) west of Tory Island, County Donegal, United Kingdom[75] by SM U-92 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

WAR SWALLOW (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 72 nautical miles (133 km) south west by south of Malta (34°35′N 15°00′E) by SM UB-50 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of seven crew.

Day 1440 of the Great War, July 18th 1918

YouTube (2nd Battle Of The Marne - Turning Point On The Western Front)



Western Front: Allies Go On the Offensive

For some time, Generalissimo Foch had been preparing an attack on the right flank of the German salient stretching south from the Aisne. When the Germans launched their latest offensive on July 15, Pétain tried to cancel the effort and move troops south to meet the German attack, but Foch countermanded the order; the attack would go forward as planned on July 18. Preparations continued at night, and the Germans, who were preoccupied elsewhere, did not suspect a thing. They were taken entirely by surprise when the French and Americans attacked behind a massive creeping barrage at 4:35 AM. Private Francis, in the US 2nd Division, recalled:

I will never forget the sight when our artillery opened up. It was worse than any electrical storm I have ever seen. The whole sky seemed to open up for it became as light as day. This put new life into us and we went over as if we had just hopped off the trucks. It was impossible to hear any one talk, and the artillery kept a continual roar day and night. It seemed like thunder and it didn’t even let up for five minutes.

The infantry was also supported by 500 tanks, mainly quick-moving light French Renault models, although many of them were knocked out during the day.

Map: Allied plan of attack at Soissons for the morning of 18 July 1918. The French Tenth Army would carry out the main attack to cut off the main German supply routes in the Marne Salient with the French Sixth Army attacking south of the Ourcq River in support of the French Tenth Army. The French Fifth Army would attack the eastern flank of the salient near Reims



Along a 27-mile front, stretching from Soissons south to the Marne, the French and Americans would advance up to five miles–in the words of one officer in the 2nd Division, it was “nothing but a hike.” French cavalry was present to exploit the breakthrough, but they could never quite be assembled in time and in the right place to make a difference. Even in the open country beyond the Germans’ lines, a few well-placed machine gunners could quickly stop the advance.

Map: German gains in early 1918



The Allied attack greatly concerned Ludendorff, who had been planning Operation Hagen in Flanders with Crown Prince Rupprecht. He sent what reserves he could to the area, and countermanded the movement of troops and artillery north to Flanders. Apart from that, however, with German reserves running low, he “could only await further developments.” General Lossberg, Chief of Staff of the Fourth Army in Flanders, would write that:

July 18, 1918 was the precise turning point in the conduct of the war. The OHL’s failure to understand that the combat strength of the German army was already severely shattered…finally drove us to the position in which we found ourselves at war’s end.

Germany

Debate in Reichsrat re: "German Course" of Austrian policy.

Japan

Japanese Diplomatic Council approves U.S.'s proposal for intervention in Siberia.

Russia

Following the assassination of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, Soviet Cheka agents execute several relatives of the Romanov family in Alapayevsk. Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich is shot, while the rest are thrown down a mining shaft and grenades are dropped in.

Aerial operations: United Kingdom

Aeroplane raid on Kent; no casualties.

Day 1442 of the Great War, July 20th 1918

Western Front: Fighting Intensifies on the Marne

The French doubled their commitment to the offensive on the 20th, launching attacks on the German bridgehead south of the Marne at Dormans, and on the eastern flank of their large salient south of Rheims. Eventually, essentially all available French reserves were committed to the fighting. Mangin’s forces on the west side of the salient had broken through to open country, but this brought its own problems–recall that the most deadly period of the war was its first few months, before the trenches appeared. They were out of range of their own artillery, few tanks were available (or even usable in the wooded terrain), and air cover was limited. Lt. Clark, with Mangin’s American forces, noted: “Our position was wholly exposed to observation as the Boche had supremacy of the air…the Boche started to shell us out. All they had to do was to direct fire from a balloon on a beautiful target.” Supply problems, the summer heat, and three days of constant fighting also took their toll. Lt. Clark again:

By noontime, [Lt.] Eddie [Blanchard] was going around with his mouth hanging open – an obvious victim of ‘shell shock’…We told him that he ought to go back for a rest but he maintained that he was all right. Early in the afternoon we summoned an ambulance and sent him back to the hospital. Later, we heard that he had died, so we divided up his usable belongings. I think I got his bedding roll.

The Americans took far more casualties in each of the second and third days of fighting than they had in the first.

Nevertheless, the Germans were having the worse of it. What few reserves they had were being thrown into the deadly open warfare as if it were a repeat of Passchendaele, and just one more counterattack would stabilize the line. The three days of fighting so far had also cost them 20,000 PoWs, further losses that could not be replaced. There was one bright spot for the Germans on the night of the 20th; they successfully evacuated their bridgehead south of the Marne, despite French infantry, artillery, and aerial attacks on their positions and river crossings.

That day, Ludendorff finally admitted that his long-planned Operation Hagen, the next offensive in Flanders, would have to be called off, cabling Crown Prince Rupprecht:

In view of the situation of the Army Group Crown Prince Wilhelm [on the Marne] which…will absorb a still great amount of troops, and…the possibility of a British offensive action the Hagen operation will probably never come into fruition.

Aerial operations: United Kingdom

Aeroplane raid on Kent; no damage.

Aerial operations: “Obviously unwarlike”

Following the attack on British seaplanes off the coast on 18 July 1918, Admiral Sir Doveton Sturdee, Commander-in-Chief, The Nore (which covered the southern part of the North Sea) sent a senior officer to the Admiralty to explain his concerned. He followed this up with this letter:

“This is the sixteenth occasion since 31st May, 1918, on which flights of German machines have been reported in this area, and the continual visits of these enemy craft show the great importance they attach to this district: this has been anticipated (vide my former submissions on this subject). On the 20th of July I sent the air officer on my staff to the Admiralty and Air Ministry to explain personally the serious situation of our air defences in this command. I understand that this is now appreciated by the air authorities at the Admiralty and the Air Ministry, so it is hoped that immediate steps will be taken to place our air defences at least on an equality with the probable enemy forces. Recognizing the strategic positions of Westgate and Manston with their proximity to the enemy air bases, the naval Flights at these stations, in order to be efficient in a real war sense, should be superior in number, type, and speed of machines, and staff for maintenance. Then these attacks will be met properly, and our command of the air will be assured; until this happens the enemy will continue their attacks, in the hope of destroying our weak patrols, daily or when the weather conditions allow. The present situation, with the consequent weak patrols, is so obviously unwarlike that it would seem only to require being mentioned to ensure it being rectified.’

The problem was simply one of supply in that the British did not have to capacity to supply aircraft of sufficient quality or quantity at this time, or at least what capacity was available was allocated to other uses. This meant, on this front at least, the Germans enjoyed both technical and numerical superiority.

Some partial help did arrive today at Royal Naval Air Station Killingholme, on the mouth of the Humber which was formally handed over to the US Navy. US pilots have been assisting in the patrol work in the North Sea using British aircraft but it is hoped that the new arrangement will bring more US aircraft into the fray.

Naval operations: ship losses

HMS E34 (Royal Navy) The E-class submarine struck a mine and sank in the Wadden Sea between Texel, North Holland and Vlieland, Friesland, Netherlands with the loss of all 30 crew.

GEMINI (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 7 nautical miles (13 km) north west of the Godrevy Lighthouse, Cornwall (50°17′N 5°36′W) by SM U-60 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of two crew.

HERMES (Denmark) The three-masted schooner was sunk in the North Sea 40 nautical miles (74 km) west of Bergen, Hordaland, Norway by SM U-113 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

KOSSEIR (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 40 nautical miles (74 km) north east by north of Alexandria, Egypt (31°45′N 30°11′E) by SM UB-51 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of 39 crew.

ORFORDNESS (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic Ocean 2.5 nautical miles (4.6 km) west by north of Newquay, Cornwall (50°24′N 5°11′W) by SM U-60 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of two crew.

SM UB-124 (Kaiserliche Marine) The Type UB III submarine was depth charged and damaged in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Ireland. She was consequently scuttled with the loss of two of her crew.

Day 1445 of the Great War, July 22nd 1918

Western Front

Allies hold German counter-attacks between Ourcq and Marne, and cross Marne near Dormans at Chassons and Passy. Germans in retreat. General Gouraud re-occupies former positions between the Suippe river and Massiges.

Photo: Ruins of Marfaux captured by the 62nd Division, 21-23 July 1918



Western Front: Hindenburg Admits Total Failure; Ludendorff in Crisis

Although the Allied advance had slowed somewhat and the Allies were suffering extremely high casualties, it was clear that the Germans had been dealt a major defeat. The Kaiser visited Hindenburg & Ludendorff at OHL on July 22; he had hoped to hear good news from the offensive that began on July 15. Instead, Hindenburg told him the truth; the net result of the German offensives since May–and in fact the entire German strategy this year–was “total failure.” The German Army had suffered tremendous losses to gain an untenable salient stretching to the Marne that they were now in the process of losing, at the cost of even more men. The Kaiser was left at a loss by this news, and returned to his headquarters at Spa, in his own words, “a defeated War Lord.”

On the same day, Ludendorff decided that the salient had to be evacuated, at least to the Vesle (a southern tributary of the Aisne). However, he was extremely reluctant to do so, and the order would not go out for two more days. It is around this time that others at OHL began to grow increasingly concerned about Ludendorff’s mental state. Col. Mertz noted that Ludendorff was “visibly distressed” on July 22, and told Mertz that he had had no confidence in the July 15 offensive, reading him an inauspicious passage from that day’s entry in the prayer book of the Moravian Brethren. Two days later, Mertz wrote:

Serious question of Ludendorff’s nervousness and the inconsistency in his work. Decisive for our fate is the answer to the question: “Can we again regain the initiative or is it to remain lost to us?” [He] works himself to the breaking point, concerns himself too much with details. This situation is really serious….The real impression is that [he] has lost all confidence. The Army commanders suffer terribly from this….

Macedonian Front

Allied offensive in Albania checked.

France

Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the US Assistant Secretary of the Navy, arrives in France on a trip to inspect Allied naval administrations.

Austria-Hungary

Dr. von Seidler resigns Austrian Premiership.

United Kingdom

Resignation of Lord Lee as Director-General of Food Production.

Naval operations: ship losses

DELO SOVETOV (Soviet Navy Red Movement) The gunboat was damaged by Czech Legion gunboats and was beached and abandoned on the Volga River.

HMT IJUIN (Royal Navy) The naval trawler was shelled and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea off Alexandria, Egypt (32°42′N 28°25′E) by SM UB-51 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

L 1 (Royal Navy) The barge was sunk in the Mediterranean Sea (32°37′N 28°39′E) by SM UB-51 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

ROBERT & RICHARD (United States) The schooner was scuttled in the Atlantic Ocean 60 nautical miles (110 km) south east of Cape Porpoise, Maine by SM U-156 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

Day 1447 of the Great War, July 24th 1918

Western Front

French and Americans advance south of Ourcq towards Fere-en-Tardenois and along Marne in Forest of Fere (between Charteves and Jaulgonne).

Western Front: Foch meets the Allied commanders, calls for them to go on the attack

On the Western Front the tide appears to be turning in favour of the Allies. The German Marne-Champagne offensive has failed and now a French-led counter-attack is recapturing lost ground in the Marne sector. Meanwhile the balance of forces is becoming ever more favourable to the Allies as thousands of US troops continue to arrive in France every day while tanks and aircraft pour out of British and French factories.

Today Allied military leaders meet at Bombon, the headquarters of Foch, the Western Front generalissimo. Foch and Weygand, his chief of staff, greet Haig, Pétain and Pershing, the three Allied commanders. Weygand and Foch argue that the time has come for the Allies to go on the offensive, proposing a rolling series of assaults to push the Germans away from vital railway lines and pave the way for eventual Allied victory.

Haig and Pétain are both wary, fearing that their armies need to lick their wounds further before they can launch major offensives against the enemy. Pershing meanwhile is more keen to attack, but he remains insistent that American units must fight independently and not be incorporated into British or French armies (he had only with reluctance supplied US troops to support the French counterattack on the Marne).

Foch and Weygand are unable for now to bend Haig and Pétain to their will, but they manage to avoid a complete rejection of their proposals. Instead the Allied commanders will bring them to their own staff officers and issue a more considered reply in coming days. Foch remains confident that his fellow commanders will come round to his way of thinking. Soon the Allies will attack and seize the initiative permanently from the enemy.

Map: map included of General Ferdinand Foch’s concept of four operations to squeeze out enemy-held salients on the Marne (1), Somme (2), St Mihiel (3) and Flanders (4). Offensive operations begin with the attack on the Marne



Macedonian Front

Successful French and Italian fighting in Albania.

Austria-Hungary

Dr. von Hussarek, Austrian Premier.

United Kingdom

General Smuts in London re: future of South Africa.

65,000 munition workers in Birmingham go on strike to protest wage disparities. Minister for Labour George Henry Roberts warns that workers who persist in the strike will be called up to fight in the war.

Germany: Largest POW Escape of the War

n September 1917, a new PoW camp opened in Holzminden for British officers; other camps had become overcrowded as the war progressed and more officers were captured from the counterattacks around Passchendaele. Among their number was James Whale, who would later go on to direct Frankenstein and Bride of Frankenstein. The camp commandant quickly acquired a reputation for cruelty; some prisoners were killed, and others (such as the famous Capt. Leefe Robinson) were kept in continuous solitary confinement. Within weeks, many of the officers were planning an escape attempt, digging a long tunnel out of the camp with spoons and whatever tools they could steal. They were aided in the task by three Germans–two men who were bribed (the commandant did not treat his own men well, either), and one woman who was infatuated with one of the prisoners. Those who weren’t digging worked on the ventilation system, or prepared papers and clothes for after the escape.

By July, the tunnel was finally finished, and around 100 of the 700 men in the camp were set to go through the tunnel to freedom in the wee hours of July 24th. Those who had done the majority of the digging went through first. Unfortunately, the tunnel collapsed on the 30th man, who had to be pulled out; the escape attempt ended there. The alarm was raised by a nearby farmer, who noticed his fields being trampled by the escapees. Nineteen of the officers were rounded up and returned to Holzminden, but ten were able to make it safely to the Netherlands. One of them, Col. Rathbone, was proficient enough in German to travel by rail and made out of the country in only five days; the others had to travel by foot and took multiple weeks.

Naval operations: ship losses

KILKIS (Greece) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the North Sea 6 nautical miles (11 km) off the South Gare Lightship ( United Kingdom) (54°42′N 1°01′W) by SM UC-70 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

HMT LOCHIEL (Royal Navy) The naval trawler was either torpedoed or struck a mine and sank in the North Sea (54°36′30″N 0°4′00″W) with the loss of twelve of her crew.

HMS PINCHER (Royal Navy) The Beagle-class destroyer ran aground on the Seven Stones reef and was wrecked.

RUTHERGLEN (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean Sea 50 nautical miles (93 km) east south east of Port Mahon, Spain by SM UB-50 ( Kaiserliche Marine). Her crew survived.

Day 1449 of the Great War, July 26th 1918

YouTube (Ludendorff's Last Swing)



Western Front

General retreat of Germans on Marne toward Epernay.

Partial capture of Buzancy by Scottish Division.

Siberian intervention

French troops join the northern Russian Expeditionary Force at Murmansk.

Russian Civil War: Bolsheviks Deposed in Baku

Bolshevik power in Baku had been tenuous, at best. They had benefited from the ethnic violence in late March that temporarily crushed Azerbaijani political organization, but by late July the main threat was now from the approaching Turkish “Army of Islam.” They were largely cut off from the rest of Russia by the Volunteer Army, the Czechs, and the Komuch to the north, and from Central Asia by the revolts in Turkmenistan; Moscow would be unable to provide any support. The British, however, had no desire to see Baku’s oilfields fall to the Turks, and were willing to provide as much support as Dunsterforce could provide. The Bolsheviks, however, were wary of the British, especially after other Allied interventions on the Russian periphery (in Murmansk and Vladivostok) showed no indication of ending anytime soon.

On July 26, the Baku Soviet voted to invite the British to participate in the defense of Baku. When the Baku Commune (the Bolshevik leadership) refused to cooperate, they were quickly removed from power and detained. A new “Centro-Caspian Dictatorship” was formed by a coalition of Mensheviks, SRs, and Armenian Dashnaks; the first British scouting party would arrive about a week later.

Japan

Japan accepts U.S.'s proposals for joint action in Siberia on behalf of Czecho-Slovaks.

United Kingdom

Government warning to munition workers: after 29 July, alternative is return to work or military service.

Naval operations: ship losses

BLAIRHALL (United Kingdom) The cargo ship was torpedoed and sunk in the North Sea 3.5 nautical miles (6.5 km) north east of Sunderland, County Durham by SM UC-40 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of a crew member.

BOY JACK (United Kingdom) The fishing smack was scuttled in the North Sea 4 nautical miles (7.4 km) east of the Cross Sands Lightship ( United Kingdom) by SM UB-40 ( Kaiserliche Marine) with the loss of three of her crew.

GODESGENAGE (Belgium) The fishing vessel was scuttled in the North Sea off the Cross Sands Lightship by SM UB-40 ( Kaiserliche Marine).

MONASTIR (France) The tanker was torpedoed and damaged in the Strait of Kasos (35°00′N 27°00′E) by UC-74 ( Kaiserliche Marine). She was beached in Poro Bay, Crete. Monastir was later repaired and returned to service.