Western Front
The so-called
Battles of the Hindenburg Line: Second Battle of Cambrai begins (see 9th): Great Allied (3rd and 4th British Armies, 30th U.S. Division and French) three-mile advance on St. Quentin-Cambrai; takes Fresnoy-Rouvroy line northeast of Arras. Armies attack with 82 tanks (22 lost) on 20-mile front between St Quentin and Cambrai, advance 3 miles, take 10,000 PoWs and 150 guns (including 1,500 PoWs and 30 guns by US 30th Division). Third Army captures Villers-Outreaux, Forenville and Niergnies southeast of Cambrai despite 15 German tanks (6 lost) heading 3 local counter-attacks and hitting 4 British tanks (4 A7Vs deliver another, October 11). Army Groups Rupprecht and Boehn ordered back to Hermann position. Boehn’s group then to be broken up; its Second Army to Rupprecht, Eighteenth to Crown Prince, Boehn sent on leave. over 10,000 prisoners and 150 guns.
North of Scarpe British take Fresnes-Rouvroy line.
French drive Germans back on the Arnes, Aisne and Suippe.
Meuse-Argonne Offensive: Battle of Champagne and Argonne (see October 15th): Americans and French take Cornay and Consenvoye, and drive Germans back north of Verdun. After his platoon suffered heavy casualties during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in France's Forest of Argonne, American Corporal Alvin York led the 7 remaining men on an attack against a German machine gun nest, killing 28 German soldiers and capturing 132 others.
Western Front, Air: RAF support Second Battle of Cambrai including laying smokescreens with 40lb phosphorous bombs, few air combats. Night bombers strike rail junctions (night October 8-9).
German prisoners of war giving their addresses to a Red Cross chaplain so that their families can be told they are alive:
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Allied troops launch an offensive against Cambrai, France. Canadian soldiers advancing towards Cambrai:
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British troops resting besides a disabled tank during the Battle of Cambrai: © IWM (Q 7113):
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American troop advancing towards the village of Prémont, France: © IWM (Q 7084):
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French 320mm guns on the Western Front:
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A wounded German prisoner captured at the Battle of Cambrai: © IWM (Q 11375):
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Eastern Front
Southern Russia: Death of General Mikhail Alexeiev at Ekaterinodar (age 60), Anton Denikin becomes White supreme commander and civil dictator.
Southern Front
Greece: Greeks occupy Drama.
Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
26 Turkish Divisions reported wiped out in Syrian and Mesopotamian campaigns.
7th Indian Division occupies Beirut after 2 French destroyers’ arrival, 600 Turks handed over. Colonel Piepape, French military Gouverneur, whose troops arrive on October 20.
Naval and Overseas Operations
Germany: Rear-Admiral Adolf von Trotha CoS German High Seas Fleet recommends a ‘final sortie’ vs Grand Fleet if U-boat campaign abandoned completely or Fleet threatened by a ‘humiliating end’. Franz von Hipper sanctions (October 10) detailed planning for this
Flottenvorstoss (‘Fleet Attack’); Reinhard Scheer’s CoS Commodore Magnus von Levetzow supports (October 16). Scheer does not inform Army, Kaiser or politicians.
Mediterranean: Admiral Somerset Calthorpe leaves Malta in cruiser Foresight, arrives at Mudros on October 11.
Political, etc
Russia: Vladimir Lenin appoints Iosef Stalin to Revolutionary Military Council.
France: Ferdinand Foch note gives his armistice terms to Allied Prime Ministers.
United States: President Woodrow Wilson replies to Note of German Government, and demands evacuation of occupied territories as first condition of armistice (see 4th and 12th).
A New York policeman wearing a mask to protect him from the Spanish flu:
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Spain: Spanish Cabinet (Sr. Antonio Maura) resigns.