Recording Campaigns on All Fronts and Collateral Events From March 18, 1918, Up to and Including April 17, 1918
UNITED STATES
The German Government announced on March 18 that American property in Germany would be seized in reprisal for the seizure of German property in the United States.
Drastic restrictions were placed by the War Trade Board upon the importation of many nonessential commodities, the regulations to become effective April 15.
The terms of the Third Liberty Loan were announced by Secretary McAdoo on March 25. The bill authorizing it was completed by Congress and signed by President Wilson on April 4, and on April 6 the drive began.
Secretary Daniels, in a speech in Cleveland on April 6, disclosed the fact that a great fleet of American vessels, including battleships, was operating in the war zone.
Announcement was made in Tokio on March 28 that an agreement had been concluded under which Japan promised to turn over to the United States 450,000 tons of shipping.
President Wilson issued a proclamation on April 11, giving Secretary McAdoo control of the principal coastwise steamship lines.
Charles M. Schwab was appointed Director General of the Emergency Fleet Corporation April 16.
SUBMARINE BLOCKADE
Sir Eric Geddes gave in the House of Commons on March 19 figures of shipping losses which are given in detail elsewhere in this number of Current History Magazine, also figures made public by the British Admiralty on March 21 are given elsewhere.
The Royal Mail steamer Amazon and the Norwegian steamship Stolt-Neilson, commandeered by the British, were sunk March 19.
The steamship Conargo was torpedoed in the Irish Sea March 31, and the lifeboats were shelled.
The armed boarding steamer Tithonus was sunk March 28, and the sinking of the steamship Carlisle Castle was reported April 2.
On April 1 the Celtic was torpedoed off the Irish coast, but reached port in safety.
The American steamer Chattahoochee, formerly the German Sachsen, was sunk off the English coast on March 25.
The Spanish steamers Arpillao and Begona were sunk March 25.
The Italian steamer Alessandra was sunk off the Island of Madeira April 2.
The Ministre de Smet de Naeyer, a Belgian relief ship, was sunk in the North Sea on April 6, and twelve members of the crew were lost.
As a result of the commercial agreement between Spain and the United States, German submarines began a blockade of Spanish ports, April 11.
Because a German submarine had captured a Uruguayan military commission bound for France, the Government of Uruguay on April 11 asked Berlin, through Switzerland, whether it considered that a state of war existed with Uruguay.
CAMPAIGN IN WESTERN EUROPE
March 18—Belgians repulse German raids in the region of Nieuport, Dixmude, and Mercken.
March 19—French penetrate German line near Rheims; British carry out successful raids in the neighborhood of Villers-Guislain, La Vacquerie, and Bois Gienier.
March 20—German airplane drops balls of liquefied mustard gas on American lines northwest of Toul; Americans shell Lahayville, causing a heavy explosion and forcing the Germans to retreat; French repulse violent raids in the Souain sector of Champagne.
March 21—Germans open terrific drive on British lines on a fifty-mile front from southeast of Arras as far as La Fère; French lines bombarded north and southeast of Rheims as well as on the Champagne front; Paris bombarded by long-range guns.
March 22—Germans claim 16,000 prisoners in big drive; General Haig reports them gaining at some points and repulsed at others; American artillery fire destroys German first and second line trenches east of Lunéville; violent gun duels in the Aisne and Champagne sectors; French repulse three German raids near Souain.
March 23—Germans smash British front, win victories near Monchy, Cambrai, St. Quentin, and La Fère, and penetrate into second British positions between Fontaine les Croisilles and Moeuvres; British evacuate positions in the bend southwest of Cambrai; Germans penetrate third British position between the Omignon stream and the Somme; Paris again shelled by gun seventy-five miles away; ten persons killed and fifteen or more wounded; fierce artillery fire on the French front from the Oise River to the Vosges Mountains.
March 24—Germans capture Péronne, Chauny, and Ham, and cross the River Somme at certain points south of Péronne; assaults further north repulsed; Paris again bombarded by gun located in the Forest of St. Gobain.
March 25—Germans take Bapaume, Nesle, Guiscard, Biaches, Barleux, and Etalon; French take over sector of British battlefront south of St. Quentin and around Noyon; General Pershing announces that two regiments of American engineers are on the Somme battlefield; long-range bombardment of Paris continues; one long-range gun explodes, killing ten men; American gunners shell St. Bausant and the billets north of Boquetau.
March 26—Germans take Noyon, Roye, and Lihon, and cross the battleline of 1916 at many points; Americans in the Toul sector drive Germans out of Richecourt.
March 27—British, reinforced, beat back German attacks, capture Morlaincourt and Chipilly, north of the Somme, and to the south of the river advance their lines to the village of Proyart; Germans announce the capture of Albert and the crossing of the Ancre north and south of the city; French forced to yield ground east of Montdidier, but check assaults near Lassigny and Noyon.
March 28—British repulse all-day attacks at Arras; Germans capture Montdidier and push their lines as far as Pierrepont, and regain some ground south of the Somme which they lost in 1914; French advance at Noyon for a mile and a quarter on a six-mile front.
March 29—British line south of the Somme pushed back to a line running west of Hamel, Marcelcave, and Demuin; German drive slackens in the north; French in the Oise Valley retake Monchel; seventy-five persons killed and ninety wounded in church near Paris by shell from long-range gun.
March 30—Paris again bombarded by long-range guns; eight killed, thirty-seven wounded; Germans wrest six villages in the Montdidier sector from the French, and Demuin and Mézières from the British, but are repulsed in the Boiry-Boyelles region.
March 31—Germans lose ground near Feuchy; British advance near Serre; French recapture Ayencourt and Monchel and gain considerable ground near Orvillers; American Army starts for the battlefront; Paris again bombarded; one person killed, six injured.
April 1—French repulse German attacks against Grivesnes; Germans mass troops near Albert for renewed drive; bombardment of Paris resumed.
April 2—British carry on successful minor operations between the Avre and the Luce Rivers and in the neighborhood of Hébuterne; French repulse Germans southwest of La Fère and shell enemy concentrations east of Cantigny.
April 3—British occupy Ayette, check Germans near Moreuil; French extend their lines north of Plémont and take over another sector of the line, extending their holdings northward to Thennes; Americans heavily gassed in a sector other than Toul.
April 4—Germans deliver terrific attack against the French along a front of nearly nine miles, from Grivesnes to north of the Amiens-Royes road, and occupy the villages of Mailly-Raineval and Morisel; British lose ground north of Hamel and in the direction of Vaire Wood.
April 5—French forces, by vigorous counterattacks, improve their positions in the region of Mailly-Raineval and Cantigny; Germans attack British lines from the Somme northward to a point above Bucquoy and reach the Albert-Amiens railway, but are driven back.
April 6—Germans attack at several points along the French front from the region of Montdidier eastward to the east and south of Chauny, but are repulsed everywhere except on the left bank of the Oise in the Chauny sector.
April 7—Germans push on south of the Oise and take Coucy Wood and Pierremande and Folembray; British retake Aveluy Wood and repel attacks opposite Albert and south of Hébuterne.
April 8—British lines around Bucquoy heavily shelled; Germans drive French back to the western bank of the Ailette River and take Verneuil and the heights east of Coucy-le-Château; Americans rout German patrol northwest of Toul; French airmen locate and bombard the gun that fired on Paris.
April 9—Germans force back the British-Portuguese centre on the River Lys between Estaires and Bac St. Maur, and take Richeboucq-St. Vaast and Laventie; British repulse attacks at Givenchy and Fleurbaix.
April 10—Germans cross the River Lys at several points between Armentières and Estaires; British forced back north and south of Armentières; French repulse Germans in the Hangard region; first American troops reach the British front.
April 11—Germans hurl troops at British front from La Bassée to the Ypres-Comines Canal, and force the British to give ground at some points, notably at Estaires and Steenwerck.
April 12—Germans launch heavy attacks against the French in the Hangard-en-Santerre sector, penetrate Hangard, but later lose half of the village to the French; Americans help to repel an attack in the Apremont Forest; British forced back west and northwest of Armentières to Neuve Eglise; Merville lost.
April 13—French advance northwest of Orvilles-Sorel and repulse attack near Noyon; British regain Neuve Eglise, but beat off German attacks southeast of Bailleul; Americans repulse two attacks in force in the Toul sector, winning the first all-day battle in which they have been engaged.
April 14—British hold Neuve Eglise against repeated German assaults; Germans attack near Bailleul and Merris; Americans repulse attacks north of St. Mihiel; bombardment of Paris by long-range gun continues.
April 15—Germans take Neuve Eglise, and hurl huge forces toward Bailleul and Wulverghem; British straighten out their salient around Wytschaete; definite announcement made of the appointment of General Foch as Commander in Chief of the allied armies in France, with enlarged powers.
April 16—Germans take Wytschaete and Spanbroekmolen, after forcing the British out of Bailleul; sixteen killed, forty-five wounded in long-range bombardment of Paris.
April 17—British re-enter Wytschaete and Meteren, but are forced out; Germans occupy Poelcappelle, Langemarck, and Passchendaele.
CAMPAIGN IN ASIA MINOR
March 21—British advance in Palestine, taking Beit Rima, Kefrut, and Elowsallabeh.
March 22-23—British advance nine miles on the left bank of the Jordan; Arabs destroy Turkish camel corps company near Jedahah.
March 26—British carry Turkish main positions north of Khan-Baghdadi; entire Turkish force in the Hit area captured or destroyed.
April 1—British advance seventy-three miles beyond Anah and menace Aleppo.
April 4—Armenians recapture Erzerum from the Turks.
April 7—Turks take Ardahan from the Armenians.
April 11—British in Palestine advance their line to a depth of one and a half miles on a front of five miles, and capture the villages of El Kefr and Rafat.
April 17—Turks capture Batum.
ITALIAN CAMPAIGN
March 22—Fighting becomes more active along the entire front; Italians drive back patrols on the Trentino front and eject an Austrian detachment from an advanced post in the Frenzela Valley sector.
March 28—Artillery engagements east of Badeneoche; forty Austrian divisions transferred to the Italian front.
AERIAL RECORD
James Ian Macpherson, Parliamentary Secretary of the British War Office, announced in the British Commons on March 19 that 255 flights into Germany, constituting 38 raids, had been made since last October, and that forty-eight tons of bombs had been dropped.
Italians bombed Metz on the nights of March 17 and March 23 and the railway station at Thionville on March 24.
Paris was raided on the night of April 12 and twenty-six were persons killed and seventy-two wounded.
Bombs were dropped on the east coast of England on the night of April 12. Five persons were killed and fifteen injured.
NAVAL RECORD
Ostend was bombarded by British monitors on March 21. On the same day two German destroyers and two torpedo boats were sunk off Dunkirk by British and French destroyers.
The Alexander Agassiz, a small boat formerly of American registry, which was outfitted by the Germans at Mazatlan for service as a raider, was captured in the Pacific Ocean by an American cruiser on March 19.
The Belgian relief ship Flandres was sunk by a mine on April 11.
The German transport Frankland struck a mine and sank at Noorland, March 22, and all on board, including Admiral von Meyrer, were drowned.
Ten German trawlers were sunk by the British in the Cattegat on April 15.
RUSSIA, RUMANIA, AND POLAND
Leon Trotzky asked the American military mission for ten American officers to aid as inspectors in organizing and training a new volunteer army, and requested the aid of American railway engineers and transportation experts in the reorganization of the railways, March 20. The same day he addressed the Moscow Soviet, calling for a new army of from 300,000 to 750,000, commanded by trained officers.
Japanese and British marines were landed at Vladivostok on April 5, following the invasion of a Japanese office by five armed Russians, who killed one Japanese and wounded two others. The Siberian Council of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates protested to the Consular Corps, but the Japanese representatives at Vologda explained that the landing was only a local incident and that Admiral Kato had acted on his own initiative.
The Trans-Caucasian Constituent Assembly, in session at Tiflis on March 21, refused to ratify the peace treaty with Germany, and urged immediate war. On March 29 the Caucasus Diet approved the basis of a separate peace agreement with Turkey, including autonomy for Armenia and the restoration of old frontiers.
The Armenians and Georgians refused to recognize the cession of territory made under the Brest-Litovsk treaty, and on April 3 fierce fighting broke out in the districts of Batum, Kars, and Ardahan, as the Turks began military occupation. The Georgians seized most of the Russian warships in the Harbor of Batum and took them into the Black Sea. On April 4 the Armenians recaptured Erzerum from the Turks, and on April 7 the Turks took Ardahan from the Armenian forces.
Alexander Marghiloman, leader of the Conservatives, was appointed Premier of Rumania March 20. On the same day Germany announced the extension of the armistice until March 22.
On March 21 Germany increased her demands on Rumania, calling for the surrender of all war munitions. Austria demanded the surrender of all territory west of a line extending from a point east of Red Tower Pass to a point on the Danube near Ghilramar, and also a strip of country eighty miles long and ten miles wide in the region of Predeal. On March 23 Germany again extended the armistice because of a delay in the formation of the Rumanian Cabinet. On March 29 Germany demanded that the Rumanian oil wells be turned over to a German-controlled corporation.
German forces continued their advance in Ukraine, taking Kherson on March 21 and burning Poltava on March 31. The Ukrainian Rada protested against the German demand for 85 per cent. of the country's grain supply and practically all of the sugar supply, March 27. On April 5 the Bolshevist Government protested against the invasion by German and Ukrainian troops of Kursk Province.
Finland protested to the German Government, March 29, against the arrest of Major Henry Crosby Emery, representative of the Guaranty Trust Company of New York, and his detention on the Aland Islands.
British and French troops were reported on March 31 to be co-operating with the Bolshevist troops in the defense of the Kola and Mourmansk troops against the Finnish White Guards. German troops were landed in Finland April 3, and on the same day the Finnish White Guards captured Tammerfors. The Russian fleet escaped from Helsingfors on April 7. On April 8 Germany sent an ultimatum demanding the removal or disarmament of all Russian warships in Finnish waters by April 12, and on April 11 a German squadron, with several transports, arrived at Lovisa.
On April 14 German troops took Hyving and Finnish White Guards took Bjoerneborg. Helsingfors was occupied by the Germans on April 15.
Abo was evacuated by the Red Guards on April 16.
MISCELLANEOUS
President Poincaré refused to pardon Bolo Pacha, April 7, and the next day the condemned man made a statement concerning other treason cases, thus gaining a reprieve. He was executed on the morning of April 17.
Holland refused the Allies' terms for the transfer of Dutch ships and demanded guarantees that they would not be used for troops or munitions. On March 20 President Wilson issued a proclamation ordering their seizure. The Netherlands Government protested in a statement which appeared in the Official Gazette March 30. On April 1 President Wilson issued an order authorizing the Navy Department to take possession of all equipment and cargoes. Secretary Lansing replied to the Netherlands Government in a statement issued on April 13.
Premier Lloyd George addressed the British House of Commons on April 9 on the military situation and the man-power problem. He asked that the services of every able-bodied man between the ages of 18 and 50 be placed at the disposal of the Government and advocated conscription in Ireland. Leave to introduce the man-power bill was carried in the House. The next day the second reading was carried, and on April 12 the bill was passed. On the same day Sir Horace Plunkett submitted to Lloyd George his report on the Irish Convention's plan for home rule. The third reading of the man-power bill was passed by the House of Lords April 17.
Mme. Despina Davidovitch Storch, a woman of Turkish birth; Baron Henri de Beville, Mrs. Elizabeth Charlotte Nix, and a man who called himself Count Robert de Clairmont were arrested in New York City on March 18 on suspicion of being members of an international spy system working in the interests of Germany. President Wilson ordered their deportation to France. Mme. Storch died of pneumonia at Ellis Island on March 30.
Lieutenants Calamaras and Hodjopoulos, who landed in Greece from a German submarine to act as agents of ex-King Constantine, and who planned to arrange a spy system and establish a naval base, were executed on March 30.
The Supreme War Council of the Allies issued a statement on March 18 condemning German political crimes against the Russian and Rumanian peoples, refusing to acknowledge Germany's peace treaties with them, and announcing their purpose to establish a reign of organized justice.
General Ferdinand Foch was made Generalissimo of all the allied forces on the western front on March 28. A definite official announcement of his appointment as Commander in Chief, with enlarged powers, was made on April 15.