Western Front
Airplane raid on Kent, Essex, Herts, Bedforshire and London; 23 killed, 39 injured;
3 of 6 ‘Giant’ bombers sent attack London (25 houses destroyed, night March 7-8) in moonless conditions; second 2,204lb bomb employed. 42 defence sorties killed 2 pilots in collision, no sightings. A claim that one Gotha was downed, but this cannot be verified
Occupied Belgium: Scheldewindeke Giant bomber base opens south of Ghent, probably first airfield with paved runways.
Five-engined Zeppelin Staaken ‘Giant’ bomber:
https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...XV-04.jpg?ssl=1
American soldiers with captured German flame throwers at Menil-la-Tour, France: © IWM (Q 94318):
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...971017056342016
The ruins of Cloth Hall, a commercial building dating back to the 13th century, in Ypres: © IWM (Q 9938):
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...001219647983616
A submerged British tank in the destroyed landscape near Ypres: © IWM (Q 8703):
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...076726271987712
Naval and Overseas Operations
The SS
Faith, the first concrete ship in the U.S., being constructed in California. Concrete ships were proposed to deal with lack of steel-making plants on the West Coast:
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...061628816056322
Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Palestine: British advance in Palestine, pressed continuously for some days, reaches maximum of three miles on front of 18.
Political, etc
Germany: Paul von Hindenburg persuades Kaiser invading Finland ‘
healthy pressure’ on Reds. Hoffman diary ‘
Our Bolshevik friends are now beginning to destroy the railways’.
United Kingdom: Vote of credit for £600,000,000. Estimated daily cost per day £6.75 million.
United States: A claim that Woodrow Wilson authorizes bronze Army medal DSM; however, AFAICT, the Distinguished Service Cross & Distinguished Service Medal were actually established on 2 January 1918.
Netherlands: Entente Note to Holland demanding unconditional use of Dutch shipping in ports of Allies (see 18th, and January 4th).