100 Years Ago Today

[Sailor Steve]

November 8, 1918


In Berlin the majority Socialist pary demands the resignation of the Kaiser. When news comes from Spa that he has refused, they resign en masse and call for a nation-wide strike.

Revolutionary sailors sieze the city of Cologne and raise the red flag.

In the evening Admiral von Hintze arrives in Spa to tell the Kaiser he no longer has the support of the navy.


Air War:

No significant aerial fighting. Several planes are brought down by ground fire, and a couple of claims are made, all unconfirmed.

[Jimbuna]

9th November 1918

Western Front

British enter Maubeuge, approach Mons, capture Tournai.

French surround Mezieres and occupy Hirson.

Eastern Front

Polish Government formed at Lyublin.

Southern Front

Romanian ultimatum to Marshal von Mackensen: German troops to leave Romania within 24 hours.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

French occupy Alexandretta (northern Syria).

Naval and Overseas Operations

H.M.S. "Britannia" (battleship) torpedoed and sunk off Gibraltar (50 drowned).


Political, etc.

Nominal Abdication of Kaiser.

Flight of Kaiser and Crown Prince to Holland.

Revolution in Berlin.

Prince Max becomes Regent; Herr Ebert becomes Chancellor.

Herr Kurt Eisner assumes Premiership and Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bavarian Republic.

Reported resignation of Marghiloman Cabinet at Jassy; General Coanda to form New Cabinet.

Swiss Federation of Workmen's Unions orders general strike.

Ship Losses:

HMS Blazer (Royal Navy) The naval tug hit The Steval and sank near Conger Ledge, Scilly.
HMS Britannia (Royal Navy) The King Edward VII-class battleship was torpedoed and sunk in the Strait of Gibraltar by the submarine SM UB-50 ( Imperial German Navy) with the loss of 50 of her 762 crew.
USS Saetia (United States Navy) The cargo ship struck a mine – probably laid by the submarine SM U-117 ( Imperial German Navy) – and sank in the Atlantic Ocean off Fenwick Island, Delaware, 10 nautical miles (19 km) south-southeast of the Fenwick Island Lightship without loss of life. Nineteen of her crew in two life rafts were rescued by the steamship Kennebec (flag unknown) and landed at Cape May, New Jersey, and the other 66 members of her crew landed at Ocean City, Maryland, in four lifeboats.

[Sailor Steve]

November 9, 1918


"The army will march home in peace and order under its leaders and commanding generals, but not under the command of Your Majesty, for it no longer stands behind Your Majesty."
-General Groener, to the Kaiser at Spa

"Have they not taken the military oath to me?"
-Kaiser Wilhelm

"Today oaths of loyalty have no substance."
-Groener's reply


Air War:

1025 Two RAF SE.5a pilots share a victory over a Fokker D.VII.
Lt Holroyde (no first name given), H7162, nationality and victory number unknown.
Charles Ross, South Africa, F5543, victory number 18.

1030 Charles Ross scores his second kill of the day, shooting down another Fokker D.VII for victory number 19.

1435 English RAF ace Reginald Maxwell, in Sopwith Camel C8836, shoots down an Albatros two-seater for victory number 9.

German ace Rudolf Stark, flying whth Jasta 35, shoots down SE.5a E5796. 2nd Lt J.C. Crawford, 56 Sqdn RAF, is killed.

[Jimbuna]

10th November 1918

Western Front

French and Americans cross Meuse, capture Hirson, and advance towards Montmedy; surround Mezieres.

Southern Front

Romania takes up arms again.

Allied forces cross Danube and join hands with Romanians.

Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres

British join French at Alexandretta.

Naval and Overseas Operations

British mine-sweeper "Ascot" torpedoed and sunk by German submarine off north-east coast of England (51 lives lost).

Political, etc.

Tewfik Pasha (ex-ambassador to London) is appointed by Sultan Grand Vizier and forms pro-Entente Government at Constantinople.

Kaiser crosses into Holland.

Ship Losses:

Admiral Kornilov (Russia White Movement) The steamer, being used as a headquarters ship by General Bicherahov, was destroyed by fire at Petrovsk. The cause was possibly arson/sabotage.
HMS Ascot (Royal Navy) The Racecourse-class minesweeper was torpedoed and sunk in the North Sea off the Farne Islands, Northumberland (55°38′N 1°30′W) by SM UB-67 ( Imperial German Navy) with the loss of 51 of her crew.
HMT Renarro (Royal Navy) The naval trawler struck a mine and sank in the Dardanelles with some loss of life.
36PN (Regia Marina_ The PN-class torpedo boat struck a mine and sank in the Adriatic Sea off the Cape of Rodon, Albania.

[Mr Quatro]

Is this too soon? I don't want to spoil a great thread

https://www.floridatoday.com/story/o...ry/1942726002/

Nearly 100 years ago, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, the guns across Western Europe fell silent. That morning, an armistice to end what was known as the Great War was signed.

[Sailor Steve]

Yes, it's too soon.

On the other hand I've been guilty several times of posting things far too late, so I can't complain too much.

Also, this thread won't be over until at least next June, when the peace treaties are all signed.

[Sailor Steve]

November 10, 1918


Word from Berlin reaches General Foch that the Germans will immediately depart from Belgium, France, Luxembourg and Alsace-Lorrane. All deported inhabitants of those places will be repatriated. German forces will retreat behind the Rhine river and surrender 5,000 cannon, 25,000 machine guns, 3,000 thrench mortars and 1,700 aeroplanes. Also to be surrendered are 5,000 railway engines and 150,000 railway cars and 5,000 lorries. Black Sea ports will be evacuated and all captured Allied merchant ships returned.


Air War:

0830 English RAF ace pilot Geoffrey Hooper, flying Bristol F.2b E2407 with Lt M.A. McKenzie as observer, shoots down a Fokker D.VII for victory number 11.

0840 Canadian RAF ace William Jenkins, in Sopwith Camel D8219, shoots down a DFW C.V for victory number 11.

1050 German ace Friedrich Altemeier, with Jasta 24, shoots down RE.8 C2691 for victory number 21. Lt D.B. Agnew and 2nd Lt S. Coates, 12 Sqdn RAF, are taken prisoner.

1315 William Jenkins scores his second kill of the day, shooting down a Fokker D.VII for victory number 12.

1345 South African RAF ace Charles Ross, in SE.5a C8904, shoots down a Fokker D.VII for victory number 20.

[Jimbuna]

11th November 1918

Western Front

British capture Mons before dawn.

Armistice signed at 5 am. Hostilities on all fronts cease at 11 am.

End of the Battle of the Sambre.

British front extends about 60 miles from near Montbliart (east of Avesnes) to just north of Grammont; held from south to north by Fourth, First, Fifth and Second Armies. Positions unchanged until 17 November.

Eastern Front

British recognise Lettish Government as independent.

New National Government in Estonia orders general mobilisation.

Polish Directorate established at Warsaw; Regency Council deposed.

Political, etc.

Appeal of Dr. Solf, German Foreign Minister, to President Wilson for mitigation of armistice terms.

Abdication of Grand Dukes of Hesse, Mecklenburg and Saxe-Weimar. King of Saxony and Grand Duke of Oldenburg dethroned.

German Socialist Coalition Ministry formed.

Message of King George to British Empire.

Great rejoicings in England.

Speech of President Wilson at Washington.

Expulsion of Bolshevist Mission from Switzerland.

British soldier George Edwin Ellison, French soldier Augustin Trébuchon, Canadian soldier George Lawrence Price, and American soldier Henry Gunther are few of the last known Allied soldiers killed in the War. Gunther is killed 1 minute before 11 am.

On “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month,” the armistice between Germany and the Allied Powers comes into effect. The Great War is over.


Ship Losses:

SMS Berlin II (Imperial German Navy) The Vorpostenboot was lost on this date.
SMS Feronia (Imperial German Navy) The depôt ship was scuttled at Antwerp, Belgium.

[Sailor Steve]

November 11, 1918

"A nation of seventy millions suffers but does not die."
-Matthias Erzberger, chief German delegate, after pointing out that the Armistice terms would bring about anarchy and famine in Germany.

Emperor Karl resigns, leading to the seperate states of Austria and Hungary.

Poland expels German troops. Jozef Pilsudski, commander-in-chief of Polsih forces during the war, assumes leadersdhip of the newly-independent state.

At 0630 word reaches American High Command, which issues orders that the fighting will not sotp until 1100.
"The men who died or were maimed in those last few hours suffered nedlessly, and their mishandling provoked a Congressioal investigation after the war."
-Historian Donald Smythe, as quoted by Martin Gilbert

"I fired my battery until 1045, when I fired my last shot."
-Captain Harry Truman

Canadian Private George Price, waiting with his fellows at the village of Ville-sur-Haine, near Mons, is killed by a German sniper. The time is 1058. He is the last of 60,661 Canadian soldiers to die in the war.

"Officers had their watches in their hands, and the troops waited with the same grave composure with which they had fought. At two minutes to eleven, opposite the South African brigade, at the eastern-most point reached by the British armies, a German machine-gunner, after firing off a belt without pause, was seen to stand up beside his weapon, take off his helmet, bow, and then walk slowly to the rear."
John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir, who served in the Propaganda Bureau and was also editor of a magazine chronicling the war and was later published as 'Nelson's History of the War'.

In Shrewsbury, England, near the Welsh border. Wilfred Owen's parents are celebrating when the telegram arrives informing them their son had been killed one week earlier.

At 10 Downing Street in London, Prime Minister David Lloyd George opines that the Kaiser ought to be hanged. Winston Churchill disagrees.

In France American General John Pershing says he thought the Germans had gotten off lightly, and that the war should have continued until all the German solders had dropped their arms and surrendered.

"Militarism and bureaucracy have been thoroughly abolished here. The present leadership seems thoroughly equal to the task."
Alber Einstein, letter to his mother, November 11, 1918

[Jimbuna]

12th November 1918

Eastern Front

Anti-Semitic pogroms in Poland reported.

Naval and Overseas Operations

The British fleet enters the Dardanelles as part of the armistice conditions with the Ottomans. Painting by Frank H. Mason:


Political, etc.

Publication of Armistice terms.

Dr. Solf appeals to President Wilson for immediate peace negotiations.

Speech of Mr. Lloyd George at Meeting of Liberals on National Policy.

Letter of Mr. Lloyd George to Unionist Meeting expounding domestic policy.

Statement of Dr. Addison, Minister of Reconstruction re: Government plans for demobilisation, in House of Commons.

King George V and Queen Mary attend Thanksgiving Service on the signing of the Armistice at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

[Sailor Steve]

November 12, 1918


Ludwig III of Bavaria issues the Anif declaration, releasing all civil servants and military personnel loyal to the monarchy from their official oaths. The 738-year rule of the House of Wittelsbach in Bavaria is over.

Bernhard III, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, is forced to abdicate. The former Duchy becomes the Free State of Saxe-Meiningen

Joachim Ernst, Duke of Anhalt, voluntarily abdicates. His Duchy becomes he Free State of Anhalt.

Ukrainian troops depart Przemyśl, which comes under Polish control.

Dutch Prime Minister Charles Ruijs de Beerenbrouck says he will increase the daily bread ration if calls to overthrow the government cease. Socialist leader Pieter Jelles Troelstra continues to call for a socialist revolution in the Netherlands.

[Bilge_Rat]

November 13, 1918.

WW1 ace D'Urban Victor Armstrong, 21 (5 victories) who had joined the RFC in 1915 and managed to survive the entire war dies in a crash of his Sopwith Camel while performing low level acrobatics, a practice known as "stunting".

p.s. - apparently many pilots were injured or killed right after the war pulling the same type of dangerous stunts.

[Jimbuna]

13th November 1918

Naval and Overseas Operations

Allied Fleet at Constantinople.

German cruiser "Konigsberg" sails with plenipotentiaries of Workmen's and Soldiers' Council of German Fleet to meet representatives of British Admiralty.

German troops in East Africa under General von Lettow-Vorbeck, unaware of the Armistice, capture the town of Kasama, Northern Rhodesia (Zambia) from the British.

Political, etc.

Abdication of Emperor Karl officially announced in Vienna, and resignation of Lammasch cabinet.

Abdication of Prince Leopold of Lippe.

Publication of assignment of officers in new German Government.

Appeal to Germany of 302 Danish Associations of North Schleswig for right of self-determination.

Message of President Wilson to Germany re: food.

Speech of Mr Lloyd George in London at Meeting of Employers and Trade Unions.

Ship Losses:

Carabinier (French Navy) The Spahi-class destroyer ran aground at Latakia, Syria. She was scuttled on 15 November.

[Sailor Steve]

November 13, 1918


Prince Otto of Bavaria abdicates.

King Friedrich Karl III of Saxony abdicates.

Grand Duke Friedrich II of Baden abdicates.


Born today:

Noted Canadian philosopher and political writer George Grant.


Died today:

Alfred Hindmarsh, first leader of the New Zealand Labor Party.

Robert Bruce Ricketts, American army officer, commanded the artillery defense on Cemetery Hill at the Battle of Gettysburg in 1862.

[Jimbuna]

14th November 1918

Western Front

Marshal Foch warns German High Command that acts of violence still being committed in occupied regions by German troops must cease.

Naval and Overseas Operations

General von Lettow-Vorbeck surrenders on Chambezi river, south of Kasama (northern Rhodesia).

Political, etc.

Republic of German-Austria proclaimed in Vienna.

(British) Labour Conference decides to leave Coalition Government; Mr. Barnes, Labour M.P. of War Cabinet, leaves Labour Party.

Ship Losses:

HMS Cochrane (Royal Navy) The Duke of Edinburgh-class cruiser ran aground in the River Mersey. She later broke in two and was a total loss. The wreck was scrapped in situ in 1919.