Western Front
The so-called
Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Battle of the St. Quentin Canal:
Battle of the St. Quentin Canal ends (see September 29th). French eject Germans from the remainder of St. Quentin. Advance north of the Vesle to near Cormicy. Lille being evacuated.
Meuse-Argonne Offensive: Battle of Champagne and Argonne (see October 15th): French capture Challerange.
Surrounded US ‘Lost Battalion’ (308th Infantry Regiment, 77th Division) holds till relief (until October 7), 194 survivors from over 600.
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):
Battle of Ypres 1918 ends (see September 28th). Germans withdraw on wide front north and south of La Bassee Canal; British recapture Armentieres. Allies stopped short of key objectives (Roulers junction and Menin), but claim 11,000 PoWs, 300 guns and 600 MGs for 4,500 Belgian and 4,695 British casualties.
Britain: 3,017 BEF officer weekly casualties since September 25, second highest of war.
Western Front, Air: Aircraft of No.82 and No.218 Squadrons of the Royal Air Force (Armstrong Whitworth FK8s & de Havilland DH9s) are detailed to carry food to French and Belgian troops whose reserves are exhausted. 15,000 rations are dropped in bags of earth to prevent damage.
German communications bombed (October 3-4).
A British Mark IV tank captured by the Germans and then destroyed by French artillery, north of Perthes: © IWM (Q 49089):
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...056150544429056
French troops and a Renault FT-17 tank on a road near St. Julien: © IWM (Q 49087):
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...086371188432897
British band plays in the ruins of Bellenglise, France: © IWM (Q 9522):
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...116590616068097
Mass of recently captured German soldiers held at Abbeville: © IWM (Q 9355):
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...146797410521094
Southern Front
Albania: RAF from Andrano in heel of Italy make 4 raids on Durazzo (total 29 aircraft), drop 6,280lb bombs.
Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Syria: Last Australian action: 9th ALH takes 1,481 PoWs, 3 guns and 26 MGs; only 17,000 of 100,000 Turks have escaped north. Lawrence’s Arabs disperse Algerian-Druze riot in Damascus.
Hodson’s Horse regiment of the Indian Army marching through the recently captured city of Damascus:
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...025939295686656
Mesopotamia: Marshall told to begin Tigris advance without delay. Trading with enemy limits raised in Baghdad and Basra districts.
Naval and Overseas Operations
Adriatic: Durazzo bombarded by Italian and British warships, which destroy Austrian base; 3 Austrian destroyers and torpedo boats slightly damaged in harbor (Austrian evacuation ordered September 28). Hospital ship allowed out. Austrian
U-31 torpedoes cruiser Weymouth‘s stern off.
Atlantic: German submarine shells and sinks Spanish S.S.
Francoli off Cartagena.
Political, etc
Germany: Grand conference in Berlin under Kaiser's presidency. Bussche briefs Reichstag party leaders: sustained Allied attacks on whole Western Front make formation of reserves impossible; OHL can no longer make good losses suffered; Germany can continue for some time inflicting heavy losses and implementing a ‘scorched earth’ policy, but she cannot win the war. Every day reduces likelihood of acceptable peace terms.
United Kingdom: Allies recognise belligerent status of Arab allies in Palestine and Syria.
United States: Italian Bersaglieri veterans in New York City to help raise money for the Liberty Loan:
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...814601415970816
Norway: M. Maxim Litvinov arrives at Bergen.