Western Front
Battle of Cambrai: Germans shell Bourlon Wood and Ypres front. 16,000 German gas and high-explosive shells rain down on Bourlon Wood.
France: AEF US First Army Staff College opens at Langres with three-month course.
Eastern Front
Russia suffers heavily from the war. As a result of famine, there were even cases of cannibalism:
https://i2.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...ismus.jpg?ssl=1
Southern Front
First Battle of the Piave (until December 30): Italian batteries shell Austro-Hungarian boats on Lower Piave.
Albania: Austro-Hungarians assault Italian positions nine miles north-east from Avlona.
A German or Austro-Hungarian soldier taking a picture of the ruined town of Asiago, Italy after its capture:
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...237081336569857
Naval and Overseas Operations
British Home Waters: U-boat sinks British Elder-Dempster liner Apapa (77 lives lost).
Adriatic: Austrian destroyers and torpedo boats shell coast railway near Senigallia.
Britain: WRNS founded (Women’s Royal Naval Service).
East Africa: GERMAN EAST AFRICA ALL IN BRITISH HANDS. K George V’s telegram congratulates Jacob Deventer on November 30.
Political, etc
Russia: Estonia declares itself independent.
Bashkirs in Russia proclaim the creation of Bashkurdistan, the first autonomous ethnic region in Russia.
Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky radio and telegram proclamation ‘
The Russian Army and the Russian people cannot and will not, wait any longer.’
France: First meeting of Great Inter-Allied Conference opens in Paris.
British Premier Lloyd George meeting with French Premier Georges Clemenceau for tomorrow's Allied war council. © IWM (Q 57040):
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...486021789192192
United Kingdom: Air Force (Constitution) Act, 1917, comes into operation in Great Britain (see December 21st, 1917 and January 3rd, 1918).