Western Front
Battle of Courtrai (to 19/20 October):
Battle of Courtrai or
Battle of Roulers or
Second Battle of Belgium ends (see 14th).
Lys: Ludendorff directs Rupprecht to hold Hermann Lys position for at least 8 days as Plumer’s Second Army forces river in 6-mile advance taking Courtrai on October 20.
Zeebrugge and Bruges reoccupied by Belgian forces (see October 12th and 14th, 1914); their left on Dutch frontier; whole coast and west Flanders liberated.
Allied soldiers visit an abandoned German coastal battery position on the Belgian coast:
https://i0.wp.com/ww2-weapons.com/w...ndern.jpg?ssl=1
Battle of the Selle (see 25th/26th): French break Hunding Line between Sissonne and River Serre.
British-American advance continued between the Oise and Le Cateau.
Artois: 4th Canadian Division liberates Denain in record day’s advance of nearly 7 miles; Prince of Wales attends thanksgiving ceremony. British advance east of Douai and Lille and take Marchienne.
France: FOCH’S LAST GENERAL DIRECTIVE to his 14 armies.
Western Front, Air: Canadian Western Front ace Quigley (34 victories) dies of flu.
Fritz Otto Bernert, German ace with 27 victories despite only having one functioning arm, dies to the Spanish flu:
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...937724540477440
King Albert letter to Curzon praises RAF support in Allied victory of September 28-30.
British troops entering Lille, accompanied by a French boy:
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...877185311236098
American troops at an outdoor church service next to a ruined church in Verdun:
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...907584062218247
French tanks passing through Rampont:
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...952903470776322
Belgian troops resting near Pervijze with observation balloons in the background: © IWM (Q 11394):
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...967938058346497
Allied troops capture Zeebrugge and Bruges. German concrete shelters used to house U-boats at Bruges: © IWM (Q 7745):
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...192798600679424
British tanks, shielded by smoke, advance across an open field: © IWM (Q 56295):
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...209272295788546
Inhabitants of Ostend, Belgium go out into the streets to welcome the arriving Allied soldiers: © IWM (Q 11380):
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...239450300542976
A Canadian soldier enjoying blackberries that he had just gathered:
https://twitter.com/CenturyAgoToday...269795624370176
Eastern Front
North Russia: Allied troops from Murmansk have cleared Karelia of enemy, and from Archangel have occupied Kadish (100 miles south of Archangel) (announced).
Southern Front
Serbia: Serbs occupy Zayechar (Austrian-Bulgarian-Serb frontier).
Bulgaria: French reach Danube at Vidin, capture convoy of lighters on October 21; Franchet d’Esperey reports first French guns heard on Danube since 1809. Jouinot-Gambetta’s cavalry reach Danube at Vidin (October 21) after 437-mile march in 36 days.
Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Syria: Two Australian No 1 Squadron Bristol fighters destroy German two-seater 25 miles southwest of Aleppo (bombed October 23), and Babannet airfield to north attacked.
Persia: Despite flu (1,453 sick on October 23) British occupy Ahram, but Zair Khidar and Wassmuss have fled; c.1,000 British leave Shiraz on October 20 to relieve Firuzabad from 2,000 tribesmen (October 25) before flu strikes.
Mesopotamia: Germans withdraw all 1200 advisers, planes, guns and transport (continues until October 21).
Naval and Overseas Operations
GERMAN SUBMARINES ORDERED TO RETURN TO THEIR BASES (announced from Madrid).
Britain: First torpedo plane squadron with 20 Sopwith Cuckoos embarked in British carrier
Argus.
Political, etc
United Kingdom: Haig visits CIGS and War Cabinet in London, considers ‘
enemy was not ready for unconditional surrender’ but urges terms for 1918 armistice to prevent winter recovery by Germany.