Diary of the War
Sept. 1918.
The German retreat still continued, and the Allies gained ground all along the line. The salient at St. Mihiel was carried by the American Army, and the Hindenburg line was captured by the British. A combined attack of the British and Belgian troops under the command of King Albert succeeded beyond all expectation, and the British Fleet was able to join in and bombard the coast. An Austrian offer to enter into Peace negotiations was published, and at the same time the Germans made overtures to the Belgians, but the Allied conference at Versailles refused even to consider either of these proposals.
In Macedonia the Allied Forces inflicted a defeat on the Bulgarians, who retreated on a front of nearly 100 miles, and on September 25 the Bulgarian Government applied for an unconditional armistice.
In Palestine General Allenby commenced a series of attacks on the Turks between Rafat and the sea, and on the 30th Damascus was taken.
Divisional Account
During September Marshal Foch followed up his successes all along the line, and the Germans were forced to abandon position after position. Ludendorff, however, always imagined that the Siegfried line was impregnable, and that if the German Army succeeded in getting back there intact, there was no reason why this position should not be held during the winter.
To the British Army was assigned the difficult task of piercing this impregnable line and rendering it untenable, but many doubts were expressed as to whether this was feasible. Sir Douglas Haig, however, was convinced that it could be done, and directed the First and Third Armies to open the attack in the direction of Cambrai, in the hopes that after they had advanced it would be possible for the Fourth Army to pierce the strongest part of the line farther south.
After the operations at the end of August the Guards Division had only five days' rest before it was again put into the line. On September 2 the Canadian Corps had broken the Drocourt—Queant Switch, whilst on the Sixth Corps front the Third Division had, after very heavy fighting, made ground in the neighbourhood of Noreuil and Lagnicourt. The Guards Division moved up from the Ransart area, and was ordered to continue the attack the following day. The position of the advanced troops of the Third Division was so uncertain that it was decided to form up for the attack, along the railway line just east of Noreuil, some distance in rear of the line which the Third Division claimed to have reached, the troops of this Division being then withdrawn. This necessitated the sacrifice of a certain amount of ground won by the Third Division at a heavy cost, but it ensured a straight jumping-off line, and enormously simplified the task of the artillery. (This procedure was repeated on October 9, and on each occasion was fully justified by results.)