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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 12h

Where the Allies advance, they are greeted by elated civilians, eager to celebrate the end of German occupation. Here, some children of Brancourt eagerly chat with one of the liberating Americans.

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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 13h

American infantry on the attack near Premont. The officers have brought along their horses, a practice long abandoned by the other armies of the conflict.

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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 1d

Another day, another small crisis for the German army: British forces have pushed into the city of Cambrai, swatting away what little resistance the local German forces could muster.

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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 4d

Chancellor Baden has questioned the request for an immediate armistice, arguing that it puts Germany in a very weak negotiating position. He relents when Ludendorff predicts an imminent collapse of the army in the west.

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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 4d

Prince Maximilian of Baden has been appointed as the new Chancellor of Germany. Despite personal misgivings, he has, on the request of Kaiser Wilhelm and Erich Ludendorff, sent a message to the United States, asking for "the immediate conclusion of an armistice."

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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 5d

The headquarters of the surrounded American troops in the Argonne forest has received a message, delivered by a shell-shocked carrier pigeon: "We are along the road parallel to 276.4. Our own artillery is dropping a barrage directly on us. For heavens sake stop it."

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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 5d

Faisal was offered a ride into Damascus in a captured German Mercedes, but preferred to enter the city on an Arab charger. He will now lead Arab interests in the thorny question of the region's future: Britain has made claims to Palestine, while France demands Syria.

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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 5d

Fresh from the celebrated capture of Damascus, General Allenby of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force has had a first official meeting with Emir Feisal, the celebrated leader of the Arab Revolt.

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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 6d

The American attack into the Argonne has encountered heavy resistance, and spirited German counter-attacks have surrounded over 500 men of the US 77th Division, who are now desperately resisting assaults on all sides.

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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 7d

Along much of the Western Front, Allied armies push against the retreating Germans in a series of offensives that have rolled on more or less continuously since August. But these attacks come at a cost: in the past month, Britain alone has suffered close to 200,000 casualties.

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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 7d

Damascus has fallen! With whatever Ottoman troops still in the city surrendering or simply deserting, Australian cavalry has already entered and exited the ancient settlement: they exit to make room for the ecstatic Arab Army.

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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 9d

Even as Kaiser Wilhelm joins the military leadership in Spa to discuss the catastrophic fallout of Bulgaria's exit from the war, the Allies attack the Hindenburg Line at the St. Quentin Canal, breaking through what Ludendorff had hoped would be an unbreakable defence.

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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 9d

Bulgaria has signed a separate armistice with the Allies: as of noon tomorrow, Bulgaria is no longer in the war. Germany and Austria-Hungary are now physically separated from their Ottoman allies, and a critical gap has formed in their flanks that the Allies are eager to exploit.

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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 10d

After calming down and regaining his composure, Ludendorff approaches Chief of the Great General Staff Paul von Hindenburg. They both agree: Germany has lost its chance at victory; an armistice must be signed before the Allies can reach Germany itself.

World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 10d

Following the news of the Bulgarian collapse, Erich Ludendorff breaks down in an apparent mental episode; his staff leaves him alone in a closed room as he angrily rants "against the Kaiser, the Reichstag, the navy and the homefront."

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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 10d

Following the news of the Bulgarian collapse, Erich Ludendorff breaks down in an apparent mental episode; his staff leaves him alone in a closed room as he angrily rants "against the Kaiser, the Reichstag, the navy and the homefront."

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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 10d

Earl Winterton, a member of the House of Commons, is serving with T.E. Lawrence in the British effort to assist the Arab Revolt. The Arabs, laughing heartily at Winterton's appeal, leave the prisoners alone, slaughtering a sheep instead.

World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 10d

Edward Turnour, Earl Winterton, argues with a group of Arabs not to murder their prisoners by appealing to his future political career: "The good people of Horsham and Worthing... whose votes I shall be seeking...might think I connived at the shooting and vote against me."

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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 10d

Edward Turnour, Earl Winterton, argues with a group of Arabs not to murder their prisoners by appealing to his future political career: "The good people of Horsham and Worthing... whose votes I shall be seeking...might think I connived at the shooting and vote against me."

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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 11d

Lawrence and the other British officers did not, in fact, order the execution of enemy prisoners. Still, rather than admitting they had lost control of their Arab troops, they claim responsibility for their unlawful executions of prisoners.

World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 11d

The Arab forces, outraged over the slaughter at Tafas, show no mercy to any enemy they catch up to outside of the village. 250 Ottoman and German prisoners are mowed down. After the fact, Lawrence reports: "We ordered 'no prisoners' and the men obeyed."

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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 11d

The Arab forces, outraged over the slaughter at Tafas, show no mercy to any enemy they catch up to outside of the village. 250 Ottoman and German prisoners are mowed down. After the fact, Lawrence reports: "We ordered 'no prisoners' and the men obeyed."

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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 11d

Hundreds of people have been slaughtered throughout Tafas. The village headman, Talal, having arrived at the site with Lawrence, furiously charges alone at the retreating Ottomans, shouting as his war cry: "Talal, Talal!" He is promptly killed by the Ottoman rearguard.

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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 11d

T.E. Lawrence, accompanying Arab rebels as they follow retreating Ottomans on the path to Damascus, comes across a recent massacre in the town of Tafas. Folded over a wall, he sees "a woman... bottom upwards, nailed there by a saw bayonet... She had been pregnant."

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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 11d

The Germans are facing increased pressure all along the front; while the Americans are pushing at the Argonne, the Canadians are probing the lines at the Canal du Nord near Cambrai. Every new day creates another small crisis for an increasingly strained and exhausted Germany.

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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 11d

The guns are never truly quiet on the Western Front; here, a British 60-pounder blasts away in the growing dawn at Moeuvres. Mounted artillery batteries are moving forward in the distance.

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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 12d

The Bulgarian army is quickly unravelling under the pressure of the Allied attacks; as Bulgarian soldiers start widespread looting and rioting, the government is sending a truce party to the British: Bulgaria is ready to surrender.

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World War I As It Happened (1918) @warhappened.bsky.social · 13d

The Allies have no shortage of shells, and they are not afraid to use them: The artillery barrage preceding the American attack expended more munitions in three hours than both sides of the American Civil War did in 4 years.

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