Germany
Germany in the First World War →Tag
(889)1918
January
- 30
- Peace talks resume at Brest-LitovskOn 30 January 1918 the peace talks resumed at Brest. Trotsky brought delegates of Soviet Ukraine and challenged the right of the Kiev Rada to negotiate.
- Latvian Provisional National Council calls for independenceOn 30 January 1918 the Latvian Provisional National Council resolved in Petrograd that Latvia must be an independent republic, but did not yet proclaim it.
February
- 24
- Germans take DorpatOn 24 February 1918 the Germans entered Dorpat (Tartu), the university town of Livonia, unopposed. That day the Estonians declared independence in Tallinn.
- Estonia declares independenceOn 24 February 1918, as the Bolsheviks fled and the Germans neared, the Estonian Salvation Committee proclaimed the Republic of Estonia in Tallinn.
- 25
- Germans take Reval and PskovOn 25 February 1918 the Germans entered Reval (Tallinn), and in the night after a brief fight they took Pskov. The road to Petrograd lay open before them.
- Convention of BobruiskOn 25–26 February 1918 at Bobruisk Gen. Dowbor-Muśnicki's I Polish Corps agreed with the Germans that it would be treated as a neutral force and keep its arms.
March
- 07
- Giants raid LondonOn the night of 7 March 1918 German giant bombers attacked London without moonlight. A bomb weighing a ton destroyed houses in Warrington Crescent.
- German–Finnish peaceOn 7 March 1918 in Berlin Hertling and envoys of Finland's White government signed a peace treaty and a trade agreement. Finland entered Germany's orbit.
- 24
- Key eventGermans take Bapaume and PéronneOn 24 March 1918 the Germans crossed the old Somme battlefield. Péronne was theirs, the British gave up Bapaume at night, and at Dury Pétain alarmed Haig.
- Fighting at Es SaltOn 24–25 March 1918 London infantry broke weak defences below the hills of Moab; on the evening of the 25th Australian horsemen rode into Es Salt unopposed.
- 27
- Key eventFighting at RosièresOn 27 March 1918 six exhausted divisions of British XIX Corps held off an attack by eleven German divisions before Rosières, on the road to Amiens.
- Germans take MontdidierOn 27 March 1918 French corps at the junction with the British fell back, and the German 18th Army entered Montdidier, south of Amiens, without a fight.
- 29
- Germans take PoltavaOn 29 March 1918 the Ukrainian Zaporozhian Division and German troops drove the Bolsheviks out of Poltava. The road to Kharkov and eastern Ukraine lay open.
- Shell hits the church of Saint-GervaisOn Good Friday, 29 March 1918, a Paris Gun shell hit the church of Saint-Gervais during a service. The collapsing vault killed about 90 worshippers.
April
- 03
- Germans land at HankoOn 3 April 1918 von der Goltz's German Baltic Division, about 9,500 men from Danzig, landed at Hanko. Red Finland began to crumble.
- Germans take YekaterinoslavIn early April 1918 the Bolsheviks abandoned Yekaterinoslav on the Dnieper and German troops entered the city. The road to the Donbas lay open before them.
- 04
- Key eventFighting on the AvreOn 4 April 1918, in the rain, the Germans struck at Amiens. By evening they were at Villers-Bretonneux, but an Australian counter-attack threw them back.
- Steczkowski governmentOn 4 April 1918 the Regency Council appointed the government of Jan Kanty Steczkowski, a Galician banker, ending Ponikowski's five-week caretaker cabinet.
- 10
- Key eventGermans take MessinesOn 10 April 1918 the German 4th Army attacked in fog north of Armentières and took Messines. In the evening the South Africans briefly retook the village.
- Shelling of MonroviaOn 10 April 1918 the German U-cruiser U-154 shelled Monrovia, destroying the French radio station, having first sunk Liberia's only warship.
- German-Turkish settlement treatyOn 10 April 1918 Germany and Turkey exchanged in Berlin the ratifications of the settlement treaty and nine other treaties replacing the capitulations.
- 11
- Germans take Armentières and MervilleOn 11 April 1918 the Germans entered Armentières, abandoned by the British, and broke into Merville that evening. The Lys front fell back towards Hazebrouck.
- The "Backs to the Wall" orderOn 11 April 1918 Douglas Haig issued an order of the day telling his troops to fight "with our backs to the wall" and hold every position to the last man.
- 12
- Key eventStart of the Battle of HazebrouckOn 12 April 1918 the German Sixth Army struck at Hazebrouck. It broke through at Pacaut and Doulieu, but the Guards and 5th Division held it at Nieppe Forest.
- United Baltic dietsOn 12 April 1918 in Riga a united council of Livonia and Estonia, dominated by Baltic Germans, asked for a monarchy in personal union with Prussia.
- 13
- Key eventBattle of Bailleul beginsOn 13 April 1918 the Germans attacked the hills between Bailleul and Neuve-Église. The British gave up an exposed salient but held the Ravelsberg ridge.
- Germans take HelsinkiOn 12–13 April 1918 the Baltic Division took Red Helsinki after street fighting. The White government declared the Germans had come to Finland at its request.
- 15
- Germans take BailleulOn 15 April 1918 the Germans took the Ravelsberg ridge east of Bailleul. That night the British left the town, which in later months was reduced to ruins.
- End of the Battle of HazebrouckOn 15 April 1918 the front before Hazebrouck settled at Nieppe Forest. Artillery broke up German attempts to attack the 5th Division and the Australians.
- 16
- Germans retake PasschendaeleOn 16 April 1918 the Germans took the Passchendaele ridge unopposed. The British gave up their 1917 gains to shorten the front and free troops for the Lys.
- Burián becomes foreign ministerOn 16 April 1918 Baron István Burián succeeded Czernin, becoming foreign minister for the second time. He was to rebuild Berlin's trust after the Sixtus affair.
- 19
- Germans enter the CrimeaOn 18–19 April 1918 German troops broke the Reds' defences on the Perekop Isthmus and entered the Crimea. Their goal was Sevastopol and the Black Sea Fleet.
- End of the First Battle of Mount KemmelOn 19 April 1918 the French 28th Division took over Mount Kemmel. The Germans halted their attack on the Belgians and prepared a new, methodical assault.
- 29
- Key eventFighting for the ScherpenbergOn 29 April 1918 the Germans attacked the Scherpenberg and Mont Rouge. The French and British repulsed them, and that evening Ludendorff halted the offensive.
- Skoropadskyi proclaimed hetmanOn 29 April 1918 a congress of landowners in Kiev proclaimed General Pavlo Skoropadskyi Hetman of Ukraine. With German backing he overthrew the Central Rada.
May
- 04
- End of the second raid on Es SaltOn 3–4 May 1918 the Australians left Es Salt and came down to the plain; by midnight all Chauvel's units but two bridgeheads were back across the Jordan.
- Armistice of KorenevoOn 4 May 1918 at Korenevo station near Kursk, envoys of Soviet Russia and the German-Ukrainian command agreed an armistice and marked out a neutral zone.
- 07
- End of the Finnish Civil WarIn early May 1918 the Whites took Kotka and Hamina, and the last Reds laid down their arms on the Kymijoki. The Finnish Civil War was over.
- Key eventPeace of BucharestOn 7 May 1918 in Bucharest the Marghiloman government signed peace with the Central Powers. Romania lost Dobruja and the Carpathian passes; Germany got its oil.
- 08
- Key eventNicaragua declares war on GermanyOn 8 May 1918 Nicaragua announced that Congress had declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary. President Chamorro openly sided with the United States.
- Germans occupy RostovOn 8 May 1918 the Germans entered Rostov-on-Don, abandoned by the Bolsheviks, without a fight. Insurgent Cossacks took power on the Don.
- 11
- Finno-Turkish peaceOn 11 May 1918 in Berlin representatives of Finland and Turkey signed a peace treaty. It stated that there was no state of war between the two countries.
- Key eventFighting at KaniówIn the night of 10/11 May 1918 the Germans attacked the Polish II Corps at Kaniów. The Poles held out all day, but short of ammunition they capitulated.
- Batum peace talksOn 11 May 1918 a Turkish-Transcaucasian peace conference met at Batum. The Turks rejected the Brest terms and demanded more land and railways.
- 17
- Arrests of Sinn Féin leadersOn the night of 17/18 May 1918 police and troops in Ireland arrested the leaders of Sinn Féin, including de Valera and Griffith, over the "German Plot".
- Independence of the DonOn 17 May 1918 the Krug for the Salvation of the Don adopted the basic laws of the All-Great Don Host. A Cossack state under Ataman Krasnov arose on the Don.
- 19
- Last air raid on LondonOn the night of 19 May 1918 over 40 German bombers attacked London, killing 49 people. The Germans lost seven machines. It was their last raid on England.
- Air raid on ÉtaplesOn the night of 19 May 1918 the Germans bombed the railway bridge at Étaples. Bombs hit hospitals and camps, killing 182 people, including a Canadian nurse.
- 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
- Austro-Finnish peaceOn 29 May 1918 in Vienna Finland made peace with Austria-Hungary. It was the last of its four peace treaties with the Central Powers.
- 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.
- 08
- Germans land at PotiOn 8 June 1918 two German battalions from the Crimea landed at the Georgian port of Poti, to protect Georgia from the Turks and guard the railway to Baku.
- Bolsheviks demand the withdrawal of Entente troopsOn 8 June 1918 the Murmansk soviet read General Poole a Lenin–Chicherin telegram ordering the Allies to leave Russia at once. The soviet preferred they stay.
- 09
- Key eventStart of the Battle of the MatzOn 9 June 1918 the German Eighteenth Army struck between Montdidier and Noyon. The French knew the hour of attack, yet by evening lost 10 km in the centre.
- Hague conference on prisoners of warIn June 1918 a second Anglo-German conference on prisoners opened at The Hague. London sent the Home Secretary, George Cave.
July
- 15
- Key eventSecond Battle of the Marne beginsOn 15 July 1918 the Germans attacked either side of Reims. In Champagne they broke against Gouraud's defence; on the Marne they crossed at Dormans and stalled.
- British protest over Dutch sandIn mid-July 1918 London protested against the Dutch–German sand and gravel agreement. The Allies demanded control of the transit to Belgium.
- 20
- Germans withdraw back across the MarneOn the night of 19–20 July 1918 the Germans left their bridgehead south of the Marne, won on 15 July. In the morning the French found empty ground ahead.
- Last aeroplane raid on BritainOn 20 July 1918 a German aeroplane appeared briefly over Deal in Kent and dropped no bombs. It was the last German aeroplane flight over England in the war.
August
- 13
- Key eventCzechoslovaks declare war on GermanyOn 13 August 1918, per the British chronology, the Czechoslovaks declared war on Germany too. They had three armies, in Russia, France and Italy.
- Resignation of CapelleOn 13 August 1918 Admiral Eduard von Capelle left the Imperial Naval Office. His departure was part of a shake-up of the navy's leadership directed by Scheer.
- 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.
- Supplementary treaty to Brest-LitovskOn 27 August 1918 Germany and Soviet Russia signed in Berlin a supplementary treaty to the Peace of Brest-Litovsk. Russia agreed to pay 6 billion marks.
- 29
- New Zealanders retake BapaumeOn 29 August 1918 the Germans abandoned Bapaume by night after holding it against the Third Army for days. In the morning New Zealand patrols entered it.
- French retake NoyonOn 29 August 1918 Humbert's French Third Army retook Noyon, lost in March. That day the French ended the Second Battle of Noyon and the Third Battle of Picardy.
- 30
- Battle of the Scarpe (1918) endsOn 30 August 1918 the Canadians took the rest of the Fresnes–Rouvroy line at Vis-en-Artois. Horne and Currie put off the Drocourt–Quéant attack to 2 September.
- British retake BailleulOn 30 August 1918 British patrols entered Bailleul, abandoned by the Germans. The town, lost in April, lay in ruins. The Germans were retreating from the Lys.
- 31
- Germans abandon KemmelOn 31 August 1918 troops of the British Second Army occupied Mount Kemmel, taken by the Germans in April and now abandoned. Americans fought at its foot.
- Key eventSecond Battle of Bapaume beginsOn 31 August 1918 Australians attacked Mont Saint-Quentin above Péronne as the Third Army beat off counter-attacks beyond Bapaume. The battle began.
September
- 03
- End of the Second Battle of the SommeOn 3 September 1918 the Germans broke contact between the Somme and the Sensée and fell back behind the Canal du Nord, ending the Somme and Arras battles.
- United States recognises the CzechoslovaksOn 3 September 1918 the US recognised a state of war between the Czechoslovaks and the Central Powers, and their National Council as a de facto government.
- 15
- Austrian peace noteIn mid-September 1918 Austria-Hungary invited all the belligerents to confidential talks on peace. Wilson rejected the proposal in under half an hour.
- German peace offer to BelgiumOn 15 September 1918 news spread that Germany had offered Belgium peace. The government in Le Havre rejected it, and Berlin denied any offer had been made.
- 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.
- 29
- Key eventBattle of the St Quentin Canal beginsOn 29 September 1918 the British 46th Division crossed the St Quentin Canal in fog, while Americans and Australians stormed the Hindenburg Line at Bellicourt.
- Allies retake PasschendaeleOn 29 September 1918 the Belgians consolidated on the retaken Passchendaele ridge, took Moorslede and recovered Diksmuide, lost in November 1914.
- Key eventLudendorff demands an armisticeOn 29 September 1918 at Spa Hindenburg and Ludendorff demanded an immediate armistice request. The Kaiser agreed to appeal to Wilson and to parliamentary rule.
- 30
- Key eventArmistice of SalonicaOn 29 September 1918 Bulgaria signed an armistice at Salonica. The fighting stopped at noon on 30 September, the first Central Power out of the war.
- Hertling resignsOn 30 September 1918 the Kaiser accepted Chancellor Georg von Hertling's resignation and announced that men trusted by the nation would join the government.
October
- 01
- End of the Battle of the Canal du NordOn 1 October 1918 the Canadians attacked north of Cambrai for the last time. They gained 1.5 km and a hill above the city, after which Horne halted the advance.
- French retake Saint-QuentinOn 1 October 1918 Debeney's French First Army entered Saint-Quentin, abandoned by the Germans. The town, evacuated in 1917, lay in ruins.
- 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
- Key eventStart of the battle of the Beaurevoir LineOn 3 October 1918 the British and Australians broke the Beaurevoir Line, the Hindenburg Line's last position. Montbrehain fell, but the Germans retook it.
- 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.
- Abdication of FerdinandOn 3 October 1918 Tsar Ferdinand I of Bulgaria renounced the throne in favour of his son Boris III and left the country. The dynasty survived the defeat.
- Max von Baden becomes chancellorOn 3 October 1918 Prince Max von Baden became Reich chancellor. For the first time in the Empire's history Social Democrats joined the government.
- 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".
- 05
- End of the battle of the Beaurevoir LineOn 5 October 1918 the Australians took Montbrehain in their last battle of the war, and in the evening the British entered Beaurevoir.
- Serbs retake VranjeIn early October 1918 the Serbian First Army threw back the Austro-Hungarian 9th Division and regained Vranje, the first large town in the Morava valley.
- 08
- Key eventBattle of Cambrai beginsOn 8 October 1918 the British Third and Fourth Armies and the Americans attacked between Sequehart and Cambrai. At Niergnies the Germans used captured tanks.
- Wilson's first replyOn 8 October 1918 Wilson asked Germany whether it accepted the Fourteen Points and for whom the chancellor spoke. On 12 October Berlin answered yes.
- 09
- Capture of CambraiOn 9 October 1918 the Canadians and the British 57th Division entered Cambrai, abandoned and set on fire by the Germans. The Hindenburg Line battles ended.
- Scheuch becomes minister of warOn 9 October 1918 General Heinrich Scheuch became Prussian minister of war. He replaced Hermann von Stein, who left under pressure from the new chancellor.
- 14
- Wilson's second noteOn 14 October 1918 Wilson demanded guarantees of Allied superiority, an end to attacks on passenger ships and a change of rule. Berlin gave way on 20 October.
- 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.
- 15
- End of the Battle of Champagne and ArgonneOn 15 October 1918 the Battle of Champagne and Argonne ended by the French naming. Gouraud's Fourth Army reached the Aisne, while the Americans fought on.
- Allies take MenenOn 15 October 1918 the British entered Menen on the Lys, abandoned by the Germans, and at Comines crossed the river to its southern bank.
- 25
- End of the Battle of the SelleOn 25 October 1918 the Battle of the Selle ended. The British reached the Sambre–Oise Canal and the Forest of Mormal, taking about 20,000 prisoners.
- Korfanty's speech in the ReichstagOn 25 October 1918 Wojciech Korfanty demanded in the Reichstag that Posen, Polish West and East Prussia and Upper Silesia be joined to Poland.
November
- 01
- Key eventBattle of Valenciennes beginsOn 1 November 1918 the Canadians took Mont Houy near Valenciennes in under an hour, supported by fire such as no other brigade had ever had.
- Serbs retake Belgrade againOn 1 November 1918 the Serbian First Army entered Belgrade, which the last Central Powers troops left that day across the Sava and Danube, blowing the bridges.
- 05
- Foch supreme commander against GermanyAfter Austria-Hungary's surrender the Entente leaders gave Foch strategic direction of the war against Germany on all fronts, including the Italian and Balkan.
- Lansing noteOn 5 November 1918 Lansing passed to Germany the Allies' reservations on freedom of the seas and reparation and told it to apply to Foch for armistice terms.
- 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.
- 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.
- Belgians retake GhentOn 10 November 1918 the Germans left Ghent and the Belgians entered the city. The occupation of the capital of East Flanders, in place since 1914, was over.
- Kaiser Wilhelm in the NetherlandsOn 10 November 1918 Wilhelm II left Spa and crossed the Dutch border at Eijsden. The government of the neutral Netherlands granted him asylum.
- Piłsudski returns to WarsawOn the morning of 10 November 1918 Józef Piłsudski, freed from Magdeburg, arrived in Warsaw. A dozen people met him; by evening he was talking to the regents.
- 11
- British retake MonsOn the morning of 11 November 1918 the Canadians entered Mons, where the British had fought their first battle in 1914. The war ended where it had begun.
- Key eventArmistice of CompiègneAt dawn on 11 November 1918 Germany signed an armistice with the Entente in Foch's railway carriage in the Forest of Compiègne. At 11 a.m. the guns fell silent.
- 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.
- Belgians return to AntwerpOn 19 November 1918 Belgian troops reoccupied Antwerp. The fortress, which had capitulated in October 1914, returned to Belgium after more than four years.
- 28
- Abdication of Wilhelm IIOn 28 November 1918 at Amerongen Wilhelm II signed a renunciation of the crowns of Prussia and the Reich, 19 days after his abdication was announced in Berlin.
- Bolsheviks take NarvaOn 28 November 1918 the Red Army attacked Narva, which the Germans were leaving. The Estonians had to give up the town. The Estonian War of Independence began.
December
- 14
- Armistice extendedOn 13 December 1918 at Trier Foch and Erzberger extended the armistice to 17 January 1919. The Allies reserved the right to occupy the neutral zone.
- Fall of the HetmanateOn 14 December 1918 Directorate troops broke into Kiev, and Hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi renounced power and went into hiding under German protection.
- 16
- Internment of MackensenOn 16 December 1918 Field Marshal Mackensen's train from Romania was stopped in Budapest. At French insistence the Hungarians interned him at Fót.
- Germans leave FinlandOn 16 December 1918 the last units of von der Goltz's Baltic Division sailed from Helsinki for Stettin. Thousands of the capital's inhabitants saw them off.
- Congress of Councils in BerlinOn 16 December 1918 the first Reich congress of workers' and soldiers' councils met in Berlin. It rejected a council republic and set elections for 19 January.