Western Front
The so-called
Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Battle of Canal du Nord (27 September-1 October 1918): Belgians threaten Roulers.
The so-called
Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Battle of the St. Quentin Canal: The German Army's primary defensive line, the Hindenburg Line, is breached by Franco-British troops, with the help of substantial air support. Important progress on St. Quentin-Cambrai sector, Thorigny-Guistain-Rumilly taken. Cambrai fired by Germans. British in Cambrai outskirts; six villages captured. German incendiarists at work. BEF first uses mustard gas, vs so-called Hindenburg Line. Ferdinand Foch, back from Flanders sees Douglas Haig at Arras.
Meuse-Argonne Offensive: Battle of Champagne and Argonne (see October 15th): General Gouraud, on 20-mile front in Champagne takes Ste. Marie-a-Py, etc.
General Mangin progresses on Aisne and Vesle.
AEF heavily engaged as its ill-organized motor and horse transport becomes increasingly traffic-jammed. Allied maximum advance now 8 miles with 18,000 PoWs and 200 guns.
German September losses 236,200 men. Total 160 Allied divisions (+57 in reserve) vs 113 German front-line divisions (+84 in reserve), but only 59 German divisions classed as ‘fit’. British Army adopts 24-hour clock (French Army throughout) from midnight September 30-October 1. During September 10 more German divisions disbanded (3 more early October) to strengthen depleted remainder. Lack of horses reducing medium batteries from 4 guns to 3.
The Allied Flanders Advance:
Battle of the Flanders Peaks (see October 10th) and the Fifth Battle of Ypres 1918 (see November 10th, 1917, and October 2nd, 1918): British progress north of Neuve Chapelle., troops 2 miles away from Menin.
Western Front, Air: During September German airmen make 130 parachute descents as new
Heinecke equipment comes into general use. RAF September loss (excluding IAF) a record 235 aircraft (French 59). German loss 115 aircraft (excluding September 21-23 and 30). Jasta Boelcke scores its monthly record of 46 kills for loss of 2 pilots.
Wounded Canadian soldiers on the Western Front:
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...369242185117696
American nurse gives a wounded African American soldier chocolate:
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...399508006023168
German Field Marshal von Hindenburg and General Ludendorff at a train station in Brussels:
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...414588294631425
Eastern Front
Canadian contingent lands at Archangel to join Allied Expeditionary Force (see August 2nd).
Southern Front
Hostilities between Bulgaria and Entente Powers cease at 12 noon, conceding Allied occupation of key points and use of railways vs remaining Central Powers; Bulgarian Army to be reduced to 3 divisions and 2 cavalry regiments. British September sick admissions 9,855 (mainly flu and malaria); 3,137 wounded.
Opening of Sobranje and King's Speech.
German
Alpenkorps (from Western Front) reaches Nis with 219th (Saxon) Division (from Eastern Front) behind.
Albania: Italian cavalry patrols reach river Skumbi.
RAF photo-recon flight to Sofia.
Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Syria: Arab flags flown in Damascus as Turks retreat north on two roads and Germans blow ammo dumps. Australian Mounted Division blocks Barada Gorge (Beirut road) and takes 4,000 PoWs; 5th Cavalry Division makes 1,294 for 10 casualties; Arabs take 600 from Turk Deraa column after Lawrence fetches 4th Cavalry Division artillery.
Ottoman prisoners captured as Allied troops approach the city of Damascus: © IWM (Q 12353):
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...308775412551680
Mesopotamia: Turkish Sixth Army estimated at 13,725 soldiers (more than 4 divisions), 154 guns and 237 MGs.
Naval and Overseas Operations
North Sea: British seaplane squadron over Heligoland Bight.
Atlantic: U.S.S.
Ticonderoga torpedoed by
U-152 (121 soldiers lost) (another source says 213). USS
Ticonderoga:
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...338977224183808
Adriatic: Otranto Barrage completed.
Allied and neutral shipping lost to U-boats in September: 79 ships (48 British with 521 lives) worth 186,600t (British 136,859t). U-boat figure 91 ships worth 171,972t including 38 ships of 42,693t in Mediterranean (including last Austrian score, 16 ships worth 5,004t); 9 U-boats sunk.
Political, etc
Germany: Count Georg von Hertling, German Imperial Chancellor, and all German Secretaries of State resign. (see October 30th, 1917, and October 4th, 1918).
United Kingdom: The Chancellor of the Exchequer Bonar Law opens a "Feed-the-Guns" campaign to raise a second War Loan of £1,000,000,000.
Mr. Balfour on the League of Nations.
Japan: Lieut.-General Giichi Tanaka appointed Japanese Minister for War.
United States: Woodrow Wilson tells Senate woman suffrage ‘a vitally necessary war measure’.
Despite President Wilson’s support of women’s suffrage, the amendment to give women the right to vote is defeated in the Senate by two votes. Wilson’s speech:
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=126468
Governor Whitman of New York makes an appeal for citizens to buy Liberty Bonds:
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...429698333581314