July 1918

July

• 01

  • Clash at NhamacurraOn 1–3 July 1918 Lettow-Vorbeck routed the Portuguese-British garrison of Nhamacurra near Quelimane. Many defenders drowned and the Germans took vast stores.
• 03

  • Death of Mehmed VOn 3 July 1918 Sultan Mehmed V died in Constantinople. His brother Vahdettin succeeded him as Mehmed VI, the last sultan of the Ottoman Empire.
• 04

  • Key eventAustralians take HamelAt 3.10 a.m. on 4 July 1918 Australians with Mark V tanks and Americans attacked Hamel on the Somme. In about 90 minutes they took the village, woods and ridge.
  • Siberian declaration of independenceOn 4 July 1918 Pyotr Vologodsky's government in Omsk proclaimed Siberia's state independence, while stating that it was not separating it from Russia for ever.
• 06

  • Start of the offensive in AlbaniaOn 6 July 1918 the French and Italians attacked the Austrians on the Devoll and Osum. Next day the Italians crossed the Vjosë near Vlorë into the Mallakastër.
  • Assassination of MirbachOn 6 July 1918 the Left SRs Blumkin and Andreyev shot the German envoy Mirbach in Moscow. The killing was the signal for their failed uprising.
• 07

  • The Murmansk agreementOn 7 July 1918 the Murmansk soviet approved an agreement with Britain, France and the USA. The Allies would defend and feed the region and not meddle in it.
• 09

  • Hintze becomes foreign secretaryOn 9 July 1918 Richard von Kühlmann lost his post as Foreign Secretary. He was replaced by Rear Admiral Paul von Hintze, a candidate acceptable to the generals.
  • The Italians occupy BeratOn 9 July 1918 the Italian Tanaro Brigade entered Berat without a fight and another brigade took Fier. The broken Austro-Hungarian XIX Corps fell back north.
• 10

  • Horvat governmentIn July 1918 Dmitry Horvat, head of the Chinese Eastern Railway, declared himself Provisional Ruler of Russia at Grodekovo. The Allies told him to withdraw.
  • Turks take KurdamirOn 10 July 1918, after three days of fighting, Turks and Azerbaijanis took Kurdamir station. Baku Commune troops and Bicherakhov's Cossacks fell back on Baku.
• 11

  • Czechoslovaks take IrkutskOn 11 July 1918 Gajda's Czechoslovaks and Siberian volunteers entered Irkutsk almost unopposed. The Reds fell back to Baikal, blowing up bridges behind them.
• 12

  • Key eventHaiti declares war on GermanyOn 12 July 1918 Haiti's Council of State, standing in for the dissolved parliament, declared a state of war with Germany. US-occupied Haiti followed Washington.
  • Explosion aboard the KawachiOn 12 July 1918 in Tokuyama Bay a magazine explosion capsized the Japanese dreadnought Kawachi. She sank in four minutes and more than 600 men were killed.
• 13

  • General Haller in FranceOn 13 July 1918 Gen. Józef Haller, after a voyage from Murmansk via Scotland, landed at Le Havre. A few days later he joined the Polish National Committee.
• 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.
• 16

  • Dismissal of ConradIn mid-July 1918 Karl I removed Field Marshal Conrad from command in the Tyrol, sweetening it with the title of count. Archduke Joseph August replaced him.
  • Key eventMurder of the imperial familyOn the night of 16–17 July 1918 in Yekaterinburg the Bolsheviks murdered the former Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, their five children and four companions.
• 17

  • Sinking of the CarpathiaOn 17 July 1918 U-55 torpedoed the liner Carpathia in the Atlantic, the ship that saved Titanic's survivors in 1912. Five engine-room men died.
• 18

  • Worthington-Evans becomes Minister of BlockadeIn July 1918 Laming Worthington-Evans succeeded Lord Robert Cecil as Minister of Blockade. Cecil became deputy to the Foreign Secretary.
  • Key eventMangin's counter-offensiveOn 18 July 1918 Mangin's French Tenth Army, with Americans and hundreds of tanks, struck the German flank from Villers-Cotterêts without a bombardment.
• 19

  • Key eventHonduras declares war on GermanyOn 19 July 1918 President Francisco Bertrand declared a state of war with Germany by decree. Honduras was the last of eight Latin American states to do so.
  • British set out for TranscaspiaOn 19 July 1918 a detachment of General Malleson's mission left Mashhad for the border of Transcaspia, where Bolshevik rule had been overthrown a week before.
  • Sinking of the San DiegoOn 19 July 1918 off Fire Island near New York the armoured cruiser San Diego struck a mine laid by U-156. Six sailors were killed.
• 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.
  • Defence of RashtOn 20 July 1918 about 2,500 of Kuchik Khan's Jangalis attacked the British in Rasht. Soldiers of the Hampshires and Gurkhas beat off the assault.
• 21

  • Allies retake Château-ThierryOn 21 July 1918 the French entered Château-Thierry, abandoned by the Germans, and the US 3rd Division crossed the Marne and set off in pursuit.
• 22

  • Offensive in Albania comes to a haltAround 22 July 1918 the Italian-French advance in Albania stalled. Supplies and reinforcements ran short, malaria spread and the Austrians counter-attacked.
• 23

  • Key eventStart of the Battle of the Soissonnais and the OurcqOn 23 July 1918 the British 15th and 34th Divisions, thrown in straight off the march, attacked with Mangin's army south of Soissons. They gained very little.
• 25

  • Seidler resignsOn 25 July 1918 Charles I confirmed the resignation of Ernst Seidler's government, brought down by the Polish Club. Max Hussarek became Austrian prime minister.
  • Polish riflemen at Saint-Hilaire-le-GrandOn 25 July 1918 a 1st Polish Rifle Regiment company took Bois de la Raquette in Champagne and beat off three counter-attacks. It became the regiment's day.
• 26

  • French in MurmanskOn 26 July 1918 a French colonial infantry battalion arrived in Murmansk. General Poole had been waiting for it before moving on Archangel.
  • Fall of the Baku CommuneOn 25 July 1918 the Baku Soviet voted to invite the British. The Bolsheviks gave up power, and on 1 August the Centrocaspian Dictatorship took over.
  • British assurance to RussiaAt the end of July 1918 the British government declared it had no wish to violate Russia's territorial integrity and that its aim was to expel the Germans.
• 28

  • Allies retake Fère-en-TardenoisOn 28 July 1918 the French entered Fère-en-Tardenois, a junction deep in the Marne salient left by the Germans, and the Americans crossed the Ourcq at Sergy.
• 30

  • Assassination of EichhornOn 30 July 1918 the Left SR Boris Donskoy threw a bomb at Field Marshal Eichhorn in Kiev. The commander of German forces in Ukraine died that evening.