France
France in the First World War →Tag
(541)1918
February
March
April
May
- 27
- Key eventThird Battle of the Aisne beginsOn 27 May 1918, after a bombardment by over 1,000 batteries, the Germans took the Chemin des Dames, broke British IX Corps and crossed the Aisne to the Vesle.
- Germans retake CraonneAt dawn on 27 May 1918 the Germans took the Californie plateau and the ruins of Craonne, held by the British. The Allies had held the village since May 1917.
- 29
- Germans retake SoissonsOn 29 May 1918 the Germans took Soissons on the Aisne. Their troops had entered it the evening before but were pulled back. The occupation lasted until August.
- Germans take Fère-en-TardenoisOn 29 May 1918 the Germans took Fère-en-Tardenois, a railway junction and supply centre of the French Sixth Army. Clemenceau nearly fell into their hands there.
June
- 06
- End of the Third Battle of the AisneOn 6 June 1918 the British retook the hill at Bligny and the German Aisne offensive died down. The Germans stood on the Marne, but in a narrow, exposed salient.
- Americans attack at Belleau WoodOn 6 June 1918 US Marines took Hill 142 and Bouresches and broke into Belleau Wood. The brigade lost more than a thousand men that day.
- 30
- Murmansk soviet sides with the EntenteOn 30 June 1918 the Murmansk soviet resolved to defy Moscow's orders to expel the Allies and invited the Entente to defend the region jointly against Germany.
- Czechoslovaks take the oath at DarneyOn 30 June 1918 at Darney Czechoslovak soldiers took the oath and received a colour from Poincaré, and France recognised the Czechoslovak National Council.
July
August
- 02
- Allies retake SoissonsOn 2 August 1918 the Germans left Soissons and blew the Aisne bridges; the French entered the burnt town. So ended the battle of the Soissonnais and Ourcq.
- Allies in ArchangelOn 2 August 1918 conspirators overthrew Bolshevik rule in Archangel and General Poole's ships sailed into the city. Nikolai Chaikovsky formed a government.
- 07
- Second Battle of the Marne endsOn 6 August 1918 Pétain halted attacks on the German line beyond the Vesle; on 7 August he proclaimed victory. The Americans still fought for Fismette.
- Sinking of the Dupetit-ThouarsOn 7 August 1918 U-62 torpedoed the French armoured cruiser Dupetit-Thouars in the Atlantic as it escorted a convoy from New York. About a dozen sailors died.
- 27
- French retake RoyeOn 27 August 1918 Debeney's French First Army took Roye, abandoned by the retreating Germans after two weeks of hard fighting for the approaches to the town.
- Second wave of the Spanish fluOn 27 August 1918 the first sailors fell ill in Boston. Almost simultaneously the second and deadliest wave of the Spanish flu broke out in Brest and Freetown.
September
- 16
- End of the Battle of Saint-MihielOn 16 September 1918 the Battle of Saint-Mihiel ended. The Americans dug in on the Haudiomont–Vandières line as their divisions left for the Meuse and Argonne.
- Last air raid on ParisOn the night of 15/16 September 1918 German bombers attacked Paris for the last time. Bombs fell on the northern and eastern districts and the suburbs.
October
- 02
- End of the Fifth Battle of YpresOn 2 October 1918 Belgian, French and British attacks in Flanders failed. In the evening Plumer ordered the Second Army to dig in and wait for artillery.
- End of the Battle of the St Quentin CanalOn 1–2 October 1918 the British Fourth Army took Joncourt and the rest of the Hindenburg Line at Bony and broke into the Beaurevoir Line, but lost Sequehart.
- 03
- The British retake Armentières againIn early October 1918 the Germans abandoned Armentières, taken in April on the Lys. The British returned to a town that had been reduced to ruins.
- British take LensOn 3 October 1918 the British entered Lens, abandoned by the Germans. After four years of occupation the mining town was a field of rubble.
- Lost Battalion surrounded in the ArgonneOn 3 October 1918 Germans trapped Major Whittlesey's force of the 77th Division in the Argonne's Charlevaux ravine. The press called it the "Lost Battalion".
- 13
- French retake LaonOn 13 October 1918 the French Tenth Army entered Laon and the First Army La Fère. Both towns had been in German hands since the first days of September 1914.
- Capture of TripoliOn 13 October 1918 British cavalry and armoured cars took Tripoli in Lebanon without a fight. The port was to supply the pursuit deep into Syria.
- 14
- Key eventBattle of Kortrijk beginsOn 14 October 1918 the Belgians, British and French attacked again in Flanders. They broke through the last German position and retook Roeselare.
- French take Craonne once moreOn 14 October 1918, French sources say, the French 320th Infantry Regiment freed the ruins of Craonne. The Germans gave up the Chemin des Dames unopposed.
November
- 06
- The French take RethelOn 6 November 1918 the French entered ruined Rethel on the Aisne. The Germans, threatened along the whole front, were already falling back to the Meuse.
- Americans at SedanOn 6–7 November 1918, racing for Sedan, the Americans reached the heights above the town and cut the German railway. But Foch sent the French into Sedan.
- 08
- German envoys before FochOn 8 November 1918 Erzberger's delegation stood before Foch in the Forest of Compiègne. It heard the armistice terms and was given 72 hours to reply.
- British retake MaubeugeOn the night of 8/9 November 1918 a Grenadier Guards battalion entered Maubeuge unopposed, the Sambre fortress the French had surrendered in September 1914.
- 09
- Occupation of AlexandrettaOn 9 November 1918 British and French warships entered the Gulf of Alexandretta. Mustafa Kemal wished to defend the port, but Constantinople made him yield.
- Anglo-French DeclarationIn early November 1918 Britain and France declared that they sought the "complete liberation" of Syria and Mesopotamia and governments chosen by their peoples.
- Death of Guillaume ApollinaireOn 9 November 1918 the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, son of the Pole Angelika Kostrowicka, weakened by a war head wound, died of Spanish flu in Paris. He was 38.
- 10
- French retake MézièresOn the eve of the armistice the French recovered Mézières on the Meuse, long a key German command centre. Fighting on the river went on until 11 November.
- Romania re-enters the warOn 10 November 1918 French battalions crossed the Danube at Ruse, and King Ferdinand called on the Romanians to take up arms against the Germans again.
- 19
- The French enter MetzOn 19 November 1918 troops of the Tenth Army entered Metz, capital of German Lorraine. The parade was watched by Pétain, who learned of his promotion that day.
- Pétain becomes Marshal of FranceOn 19 November 1918, the day the French entered Metz, General Pétain learned he would be made a Marshal of France. The decree was signed on 21 November.
December
- 11
- Ukrainians occupy OdessaOn 11 December 1918 Directorate troops entered Odessa. The Russian volunteers withdrew to the port, where an Allied zone formed under cover of Entente warships.
- Mannerheim becomes regent of FinlandIn December 1918 the pro-German regent Svinhufvud stepped down and parliament elected General Mannerheim in his place. Finland turned towards the Entente.