THE BALKANS
At Salonika, the Allies approved a new commander General
LFF Frachet D’esperey in July, 1918 who launched a major offensive in September
1918 with eight divisions made up of six Serbian and two French against a seven
mile front held by a Bulgarian division.
The assault which began on September 15th 1918
with a heavy bombardment achieved a 5 mile breakthrough by nightfall the next
day’ while British and French forces widened the breach to 25miles. A British
assault on September 1918 prevented the Bulgarians from reinforcing their
positions and enabled the Serbians to advance deep into the Bulgarian territory
at kavadaci at the junction of the carna – vidder perimeter.
Two days later, the Bulgarian front west of the Vardar
had collapsed. With the Italian, British and Serbians together with the French
penetrating deep into the country, the Bulgarians sued for peace unreservedly
on September 29, following the capture of Skopje, being the key to their whole
system of defenses. The Bulgarian delegates signed the peace terms dictated by
the Allies.
THE TURKISH FRONTS
1918
The Turkish armies confronting the British in the summer
of 1918 were reputed to be three armies, even though they were barely two
divisions strong. The front lines stretched from the Jordan River west ward
north of Jericho and Lydda to the Mediterranean just north of Jaffa.
The Turkish army stationed on the east of the Jordan and
two divisions to the west of Jordan depended on the Hejaz railway for supplies
and its main lines ran through Damascus down east to the Jordan and which was
joined at Devaaly a branch line serving Palestine.
Lyman Von Sanders the German commander of the Turkish
forces in Syria – Palestine reckoned that the main British attack would occur
east of the Jordan River. British General Edmund Allenby however was more
interested in advancing all the way up the coast of Palestine. He planned a
diversionary attack of his cavalry to seize a junction of the Hejaz railway
sixty miles behind the Turkish lines and isolate the two Turkish armies to the
east.
His plan was to initiate the Calvary attack in the rear
of the Turks. He deceived the Turks as to his true intent, while his infantry attacked
the much reduced Turkish forces opposing him, overwhelmed them and opened a
breach through which the cavalry swept in and advanced thirty miles down the
road on the coastal corridor and eventually turning inland to cut the Turks
northward lines of retreat.
This battle known
as the battle of Megiddo saw the British enjoy tactical superiority of 10 –
1When the main British advance began, Atula, Beisan and Nazareth had fallen to
the British the following day. The Arab forces allied with the British cut the
railway lines on which the Turks east of the Jordan were depending on for
retreat while a British Calvary division from Beisan was also striking out to
intercept the Turks.
At the same time, British Divisions alongside a force of
Arabs advanced on Damascus which fell on October 1. The advance was halted
after the capture of Aleppo and the junction of the Baghdad railway. Allenby’s
advance in 38 days had yielded 350 miles of territory and 75,000 prisoners at a
cost of less than 5,000 casualties.
Meanwhile British
forces had taken Kitri north of the Diyala left bank tributary of the Tigris in
Jan 1918 and khan al – Baghdadi, up the Euphrates in March. A British advance
northward from Kitri had seized Kirkuk in May but soon evacuated it.
British forces in Mesopotamia were advancing to capture
Mosul in October when the war was brought to an end by Turkish capitulation in
the face of the Allied threat to seize Istanbul from the west following the
capitulation of Bulgaria.
On October 30 1918, an armistice was signed on a British
cruiser off the coast of Limnos in which the Ottoman Turks were forced to open
the straits of Dardanelles to the Allies, demobilize their forces, allow the
Allies free use of their ports, railways and roads and order the surrender of
their remaining garrisons in Arabia, Syria and Mesopotamia. The armistice
signaled the end of the centuries – old Ottoman Empire.
THE ITALIAN FRONT 1918
The war between the Italians and the Austrians had
stalemated after the Italians had stabilized their front on the Piare River at
the end of 1917. The Austrians in June 1918 decided to force the Tonale pass
and enter north eastern Lombardy. They also decided to attack central Venetia
from two directions. The one occurred, south east ward from the Trenton, while
the other the other took place across the lower Piare.
The attacks failed utterly, costing the Austrians some
100,000 men. The Italians on the other hand under Diaz their commander in chief,
planned to drive three of their five armies lining the front from the Monte
Grappa sector to the end of the Piare River. They were to advance across the
Piare River towards Vittorio Veneto so as to severe the communication lines
between the two Austrian armies opposing them.
In October 1918, when the Germans began to press for an
armistice, the Italians used the opportunity to launch their offensive. The
attack in the Monte Grappa sector was repulsed with heavy losses though it also
depleted the Austrians of their reserves, while the flooding of the Piare River
by the Austrians prevented two of the Italian armies from coordinating with the
third for a joint attack.
The third army
comprising Italian and British units under cover of darkness and fog occupied
Papadopoulos Island further downstream, and won a foothold on the left bank of
the Piare river on October 27, 1918. The breach was thus left to the Italian
reserves to exploit.
By this time, the Austrian forces under great pressure
were ready to mutiny and the high command had to order a general retreat to
contain the threat. Vittorio Venetia was occupied the next day by the Italians
and they were also pressing on towards Tagliamento when on Nov 3, the Austrians
obtained an armistice.
THE COLLAPSE OF
AUSTRO-HUNGARY
The dual system of Austro – Hungary was from the very
start of the war, a factor in the politics of the Empire and how it conducted
its war. Whereas the Austrians parliament had ceased to meet since March 1914
following its suspension, the Hungarian parliament had continued to meet regularly
and had refused to make itself amenable to the dictates of the military.
The Slav minority had however remained loyal to the union
until the Russian revolution of March 1917 which tended to whip up socialist
and nationalistic instincts. At the resumed sitting of the Austrian Reichserat
(parliament) a note was passed round by the Czech intelligentsia to its
deputies calling for reforms and a Democratic Europe made up of autonomous
states.
Feelings however got to a high following the Russian
Revolution of October 1917 and Wilsonian peace pronouncements which advanced
the cause of independence for ethnic nationalities bound in the Habsburg
Empire, alongside a free Poland. In September 1918, the Austro – Hungarian
government had proposed a peace conference on neutral grounds to deliberate
these issues.
The US government quashed the proposal on the grounds
that the issues involved had already been dealt with in the Wilsonian peace
proposals. However in October 1918, when Austro - Hungary asked for an armistice
based on the fourteen points, the Americans responded by saying that fresh
independence promises guaranteed to Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia precluded the
US government from upholding the Wilsonian peace points in its original context.
To compound issues, King Charles had chosen to grant
autonomy to the Austrian peoples of the empire as opposed to the Hungarians.
This move however failed to receive international recognition and only
escalated the tension among the Slav- speaking people of the empire who
promptly prepared internal organs for take – off of a separate Slav state from
among the northern Slavs to be called Czechoslovakia and the southern Slavs to
be named Yugoslavia.
On October 24th when the Italians launched
their last offensive in the war, the disintegration of the Habsburg’s empire of
Austro-Hungary became inevitable as the Hungarians set up a national peace
council in Budapest calling for peace with the Allies and severance from the
union with Austria.
Similarly on October 28th 1918, the
Czechoslovakian committee in Prague passed a law for an independent Czech state
while a similar Polish committee called for the setting up of an independent
Poland comprising amongst other provinces; Galicia and Austrian Silesia.
On October 29th while the Austrian high
command was seeking an armistice with Italy, the Croats in Zagreb declared an
independent Slav state comprising Slovenia, Croatia and Dalmatia pending the
formation of a national state of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs. On October 30th
the German members of the Reichscrat in Vienna proclaimed an independent state
of German Austria.
Austro – Hungary and the Allies finally signed an
armistice at the villa Giusti near Padua on November 3, 1918 which took effect
the following day. Under the terms of the armistice the Austro Hungarian forces
were required to withdraw from all territories occupied since 1914 and also
from its native provinces of South Tyrol, Tarisio, and the Isonzo valley,
Gorizia, Trieste, Istria, Western Carniola and Dalmatia.
All German forces were to be expelled from Austro –
Hungary within 15 days or interned and the Allies were to have free use of
Austro –Hungarian communications and to take possessions of most of her warships.
Count Mihaly
Karolyn chairman of the Budapest National committee had been appointed Prime
Minister of Hungary by Emperor Charles, but he was rather bent on severing
Hungary from the dual monarchy and making a separate peace with the Allies
which plan never came to fruition.
However as events unfolded, Emperor Charles later
abdicated his rights over Hungary on November 13 after earlier abdicating his
right over Austria on November 11. The Austro – Hungarian empire thus came to
an end to be succeeded by the states of Austria, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and
Poland.
The Final
Offensive on the Western Front
The Allied strategy in the closing days of World War 1
involved the American forces under Gen John J. Pershing advancing across the
difficult terrain of the Argonne forest so that the Allies could mount a
coordinated offensive along the entire German frontlines in the West running
from Ypres to Verdun.
The Americans eventually pushed forward from their
position northwest of Verdun, and the French from Eastern Champagne on
September 26th with Mezieres as their objective, in order to
threaten not only the German supply line along the Mezieres – Sedan – Mountmedy
railway and the natural route of withdrawal for the Germans across Lorrain be,
but also the crest of the Antwerp – Meuse defensive lines that the Germans were
constructing.
The British on the other hand were to attack the German
frontlines between Cambrai and St Quentin on September 27 with a view to
securing the key rail junction at Manbeague. The Belgians with Allied support
were to push on from Ypres towards Ghent on September 28. The Americans seized
Vauquois and Montfaucon in the first two days of their attack before being held
down by the German defenses.
By October 14th 1918 when the attacks were
suspended they had advanced only halfway to their original objective Mezieres.
The French attack on the other hand was held up at Aisne.
The British who had succeeded in piercing the Hindenburg
line and breaking out into open country however could not outpace the German
forces and endanger their orderly withdrawal. The German positions were made
more perilous by the Belgian occupation of all the heights around Ypres By
September 30.
THE LAST OFFENSIVE
AND THE END OF THE EUROPEAN WAR 1918
Following the withdrawal of Russia from the war, the
Germans were now in a position to significantly bolster their position in the
west following the mass transfer of battle tested divisions to the west from
the east where the fighting had ceased.
This strengthening of the German position in the West was
a source of considerable worry for the Allied high command that was in a
quandary as to what to do stave off the impending blows before considerable US
forces could be dispatched to Europe to stem the German tide.
French General Henri Petain was able to convince a
reluctant British General John Haig to increase his front lines from the 100
miles he had to contend with, to 125 miles for his sixty divisions while the
French now had to hold 325 miles with their 100 divisions .
Haig thus devoted 46 of his divisions to a front
stretching from the English Channel to Guizean court (South west of German held
Cambria and 14 divisions to the remaining third of the front from Guizean court
past German – held Saint – Quentin to the Oise River).
For the Germans their troop strength following the
armistice with Russia in November 1917 grew from 146 divisions to 192,
approximately totaling 570,000 men. Ludendorff therefore planned to break
through the Allied lines before the Americans could become a significant factor
in the war.
His offensive was premised on the need to breach the
Allied lines by attacking the points of least resistance using new methods of
attacks. His plan involved a barrage that was brief but intense involving
poison gas and smoke shells.
These were
designed to blind the forward machine gun positions and observation trenches.
His well trained and disciplined shock troops were to advance along the lines
of least resistance bypassing the strong defenses.
The advance was to be preceded by a light – artillery
barrage that was to creep forward at a walking pace to keep the enemy under
fire while the German infantry advanced behind it as it sought to gain
territory. Ludendorff chose the 47 miles between Arras and Leafier (on the Oise
River).
Two German armies
4th and 17th were to break through the front between
Arras and Quentin, north of the Somme and then wheel right so as to force most
of the British back towards the channel while the 18th army between
the Somme and Oise protected the left flank of the advance against counter
attack from the south.
Code – named Michael, this attack was to be supplemented
by three other drives against the British and the French. The main attack was
carried out by 62 divisions of the German army. The attack started on the 21st
March 1918 preceded by a barrage involving 6,000 guns and a morning mist that
concealed the attack from the British observation posts.
Although the ensuing battle which is known as the second
battle of the Somme caught the British unawares and resulted in a major
breakthrough by the German 18th army under General Hutier south of
the Somme, the northern part of the offensive was held up by strong
concentration of British forces in the Arras sector.
For a week Ludendorff vainly sought to break the impasse
instead of exploiting the breakthrough that had gone 40miles deep up to Mont
Didier by March 27th. The Germans finally began to push towards
Amiens by March 30th.
By now the Allies had recovered from the surprise assault
and began to slow down the German advance with the help of French reserves to a
line East of Amiens. A renewed attack was also halted on April 14th.
At this point the offensive was finally brought to a halt.
The offensive had yielded the greatest territorial gains
in the war on the western front since the first battle of the Marne’s in
September 1914. The offensive resulted in the collapse of one third of the
British front and resulted in Marshal Foch being appointed on April 14th
the Supreme Commander of the Allied forces on the recommendation of British
General, John Haig.
Further German attacks were launched on April 19th
on the extreme northern front between Armentieres and the canal of La Basses,
followed by an attack that led to the capture of Kummel Hill southwest of Ypres
that also led to the fall of Armentieres. A further German push was halted
after 10 miles by the British with the help of French reserves.
Ludendorff thereafter suspended further attacks; fearing
that the bulge created might invite Allied counter strokes against his lines.
Thus far, even though Ludendorff had fallen short of his strategic objectives,
he had achieved huge tactical success with British casualties alone mounting up
to 300,000 men, destruction of 10 British divisions while German strength mounted
to 208 divisions with 80 being held in reserves.
By this time
however about a dozen US divisions were already at the disposal of the Allies
and more were arriving. Ludendorff launched the last of his offensives on May
27th on a front extending from Cauchy north of Soissons eastward
towards Reims. The attack involved 15 German divisions. The Germans swam over
the ridge of the Chemise des Dames and across the Aisne River and by May 30th,
were on the Marne between Chateau – Thierry and Dorman’s.
When the Germans further pushed westward against the
right flank of the Allies’ Compiegne salient which was sandwiched between the
German Amiens and Champagne bulges they were checked by counter attacks
particularly by the newly arrived US divisions that held them at Belleau Wood
for a fortnight. German attacks from No yon against the left flank of the
Compiegne salient came too late by June 9th to dent the Allied
lines.
Ludendorff’s offensives had caused three deep bulges in
the Allied lines, and had drained the best of the German forces including his
reserves without a breaking through. With casualties mounting up to 800,000 at
the end of the enterprise, the German army was drained of vital strength at a
time US forces were beginning to arrive in France at the rate of 300,000 a
month.
The next German offensive launched on July 15th
achieved little. A German advance from the front, east of Reims towards Chalons
– sur-Marnes was frustrated by a new system of elastic defense that Petain was
prescribing but which the local commanders had failed to practice in stopping
the previous German advances.
A push from Dorman’s on the left flank of the German’s
huge Soissons – Reims bulge across the Marne, simply exposed the Germans to
greater danger when Foch’s long prepared counter offensive was finally launched
on July 18th. In this great offensive, the French army assailed the
Compiegne bulge from the west, another from the southwest and another still
from the south and a fourth from the area of Reims.
The advance was led by masses of light tanks that forced
the Germans into a hasty retreat. By August 2 the French had pushed the
Champagne front back to a line following the Vesle River from Reims and then
along the Aisne to a point west of Soissons. Having recovered the initiative,
the Allies were determined not to lose it and for their next blow, chose again
the front, north and south of the Somme.
The British struck first with their First army comprising
elements of Australian and Canadian units alongside 450 tanks on August 8th
1918. They overwhelmed the German forward divisions who were not well dug in;
in the bulge they had recently conquered.
The advance proceeded steadily for four days taking
21,000 prisoners and inflicting even more casualties than the 20,000 the
British sustained. The offensive was only halted on the old battlefields of the
1916 offensive.
The attack led to
the collapse of many German battlefield divisions. The battle of Amiens as it
came to be known was a source of great psychological boost to the allies.
August 8 in the words of General Ludendorff became the black day of the German
army. The events of that day came to convince the General that Germany could no
longer afford to keep on with the war and needed to negotiate a peaceful
settlement.
In his memo to the Emperor, he advised on a strategy that
will leave Germany in a position to negotiate a settlement and avoid an
outright surrender .The conclusions reached at the meeting of the German war
council at Spa was that, “we can no longer hope to break the war – will of the
enemy by military operations” “and the objects of our strategy must be to
paralyze the enemy’s war will gradually by a strategic defensive.
By this time French forces had retaken Montdidier and
were driving towards Lassigny (between Reye and No yon); and on August 17, they
began a new drive from the Compiegne salient south of No yon. In the fourth
week of August two more British army’s went on the offensive on the Arras –
Albert sector one advancing on Bapaume while the other operated further to the
north.
At this time the Allies launched a series of closely
co-ordinate attacks along the entire length of the western front that dazed the
German armies and kept them off- balance in their desperate bid to plug in the
holes scored, with reserves.
The blows
inflicted under the command of Marshal Ferdinand Foch, the French supreme
commander drove back the German armies behind the Hindenburg line where they
had been, before the great offensives of March 1918 were launched.
At this time also, the US expeditionary forces under
General John J Pershing further eroded Germany’s diminishing fortunes by acting
as an independent force in erasing the triangular saint Mihiel salient that the
Germans had been occupying since 1914 between Verdun and Nancy.
This turn of
events led the Allies to seek final victory against Germany by launching a
series of coordinated major offensives against the German army in the latter
half of 1918.
VITORIO VENETIA,
THE END OF THE ITALIAN CAMPAIGN, 1918
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