Hundred Days : The Campaign That Ended World War I (9780465074907)
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11Prince Max, Memoirs, II, pp. 342–3.
12Taken from M. Baumont, The Fall of the Kaiser, trans. E. I. James (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1931), Chapter 2.
13Major-General Löffler, letter, 5 November 1918, cited in W. Groener, Lebenserinnerungen. Jugend. Generalstab. Weltkrieg (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1957), pp. 456–7.
14‘Denkschritt des Generals v.d. Schulenburg vom 26 August 1919’, cited in A. Niemann, Revolution von oben – Umsturz von untern (Berlin: Verlag für Kulturpolitik, 1928), pp. 353–4.
15Baumont, The Fall of the Kaiser, p. 97.
16Groener, Lebenserinnerungen, pp. 460–61.
17Heye’s interview of the thirty-nine officers – the so-called Armeeparlament – has long been seen in an unfavourable light, with critics complaining that the men were not even given breakfast before they reported to Heye. Had they done so, it is claimed, they would not have been as downhearted and pessimistic and might have given a different response. Groener thought not. Although he admitted that it might have been better had they been allowed some time to recover from their journey, he believed that their response would not have been any different, and he was probably correct. A straw poll of nine staff officers from OHL delivered the same verdict. The men would fight on, but the Kaiser would have to resign and peace negotiations begin. Groener, Lebenserinnerungen, pp. 458–9. For a full discussion of the events in Spa on 9 November see S. Stephenson, The Final Battle. Soldiers of the Western Front and the German Revolution of 1918 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), pp. 83–96.
18Heye cited in Baumont, The Fall of the Kaiser, p. 111.
19Prince Max, Memoirs, II, p. 360.
20Crown Prince Wilhelm, Memoirs, p. 245.
21Groener, Lebenserinnerungen, p. 463.
22W. Guinness, Staff Officer. The Diaries of Walter Guinness (First Lord Moyne) 1914–1918, eds. B. Bond and S. Robbins (London: Leo Cooper, 1987), p. 239.
23TNA: WO 95/180, ‘Report on First Army Operations: 26th August–11 November, 1918’, p. 74.
24LAC: MG31 G30, File 7, W. B. Woods to Professor Desmond Morton, 14 June 1989.
25C. Degelow, Germany’s Last Knight in the Air. The Memoirs of Major Carl Degelow, trans. and ed. P. Kilduff (London: William Kimber, 1979), pp. 175 and 184. Original emphasis.
26G. von der Marwitz, Weltkriegsbriefe, ed. E. von Tschischwitz (Berlin: Steiniger-Verlage, 1940), p. 344.
27JMO: 26 N 20/2, ‘Journal de Marche de la 1ère Armée du 1er novembre 1918 au 31 décembre 1918’, p. 535.
28MHI: WWI 146 (Folder 1), ‘The Last Kilometer: The Very Last’, by J. E. Ausland, pp. 8–11.
29BA-MA: MSG2/10347, Leutnant K. Urmacher, letter, 11 November 1918.
30IWM: 06/62/1, Captain T. F. Grady, diary, 11 November 1918.
31LAC: RG41, Vol. 12, Testimony of A. B. Goodmurphy.
32See for example MHI: WWI 146 (Folder 1), ‘The Last Kilometer: The Very Last’, by J. E. Ausland, p. 11. George Marshall complained that ‘Getting word to the troops to cease fighting and advancing at eleven o’clock, was quite a problem on some portions of the lines’, particularly for those units which had crossed the Meuse, such as 89th and 90th US Divisions, at Stenay. G. C. Marshall, Memoirs of My Services in the World War 1917–1918 (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1976), p. 199.
33MHI: WWI 3345, Private F. W. Groves, Army Service Experiences Questionnaire.
34IWM: 78/29/1, ‘A Field Artillery Officer, 1914–1919’ by Colonel F. J. Rice, pp. 169–70.
35MHI: WWI 2450 (Folder 1), ‘Memoirs of Clair Groover of Service in the US Army’, p. 43.
36Field Marshal Sir D. Haig, diary, 11 November 1918, in D. Haig, War Diaries and Letters 1914–1918, eds. G. Sheffield and J. Bourne (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005), p. 487.
37J. de Pierrefeu, French Headquarters 1915–1918, trans. Major C. J. C. Street (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1924), p. 307.
38Sir G. Aston, The Biography of the Late Marshal Foch (London: Hutchinson, 1932), pp. 277–9.
Epilogue
1IWM: 92/36/1, ‘The Wheels of Darkness’ by Lieutenant R. G. Dixon, pp. 138–9.
2IWM: 06/30/1, Account of T. H. Holmes.
3CWM: 58A 1 237.6, F. C. Teskey to his mother, 11 November 1918.
4J. P. Guéno and Y. Laplume (eds.), Paroles de poilus. Lettres et carnets du front 1914–1918 (Paris: Radio France, 1998), pp. 172–5.
5BA-MA: MSG2/10347, Leutnant K. Urmacher, letter, 11 November 1918.
6P. Scheidemann, Memoirs of a Social Democrat, trans. J. E. Michell (2 vols., London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1929), II, p. 595.
7Although widely attributed to Fridrich Ebert, who addressed German troops in the centre of Berlin on 10 December 1918, he never used the phrase. He told them that their ‘sacrifice and deeds’ had been ‘without equal’ and that ‘No enemy has conquered you.’ S. Stephenson, The Final Battle. Soldiers of the Western Front and the German Revolution of 1918 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), pp. 241–2.
8A. Hitler, Mein Kampf, trans. R. Manheim (London: Hutchinson, 1989; first publ. 1925), p. 183.
9See the account of F. J. Hodges, Men of 18 in 1918 (Ilfracombe: A. H. Stockwell, 1988).
10Crown Prince Rupprecht to Prince Max, 15 August 1918, in Prince Max of Baden, The Memoirs of Prince Max of Baden, trans. W. M. Calder and C. W. H. Sutton (2 vols., London: Constable, 1928), I, p. 320.
11D. Stevenson, With Our Backs to the Wall. Victory and Defeat in 1918 (London: Allen Lane, 2011), p. 239.
12Wilfred Owen to Susan Owen, 4 or 5 October 1918, in W. Owen, Selected Letters, ed. J. Bell (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1985), p. 351.
Index
Achiet-le-Grand 81
Achiet-le-Petit 80, 88
‘Advance to Victory’ see ‘Hundred Days’
African Trench (German lines) 173
Ailette, River 74
air power
Bristol Fighter aircraft 36
crucial role at Amiens 36
Division Aérienne 36, 40
Fokker DVIIs aircraft 94
played a key role 35–6
RAF biplanes 53, 57
Sopwith Camel fighter 36, 93–4
Spad fighter aircraft 36
superiority of Allies 93
see also German Air Force; Royal Air Force (RAF)
Aire river 162
Aisne river
Amiens comparison 74
main body of French Army to move past 95
new offensive opened on 74
and the Siegfried Line 143
thick belt of enemy defences on 153–4
Albers, Leutnant 39–40, 46–7
Albert–Arras railway line 80
Albrecht of Württemberg, Duke 145–6, 246
Alenfeld, Leutnant Erich 249–51
Aleppo 226
Allenby, Sir Edmund 226
Allied prisoner-of-war camps 90
Allies
acceptance of Wilson’s Fourteen Points 252
advance depended on engineers 107–8
Amiens always in their hands 29
and the Armistice 275–8
artillery bombardments had pounded into dust 244
assault on 8 August deep into German lines 54
at the mercy of enemies 21
attacks to go on 78
9 August a day of wasted opportunities 56
conference in Paris on 5 October 216–17
constant air attacks from 93
continued to jab away at German line 181
counter-attack plans 40
counter-stroke on the Marne 40
equality in numbers to Germans 25
face to face with German defensive line 167
finally on their way 77
flu brings grim resignation 19
Foch co-ordinating the actions of 21, 25
and the Hindenburg Line 80, 138–9
learnt about secrecy the hard way 38
let slip priceless advantage at Marne 278
<
br /> liberated most of western Belgium by 19 October 220
little to prevent from liberating all of Belgium 177
meeting of Commanders-in-Chief at Foch’s headquarters on 27 October 226
methods of attack improved 74
and the ‘mouse trap’ 2–3, 5–6
naval blockade of 15–16
not be halted until German resistance impossible 228
only just getting started in 1918 114
operating in terrifying/dangerous chemical environment 102
problems clearing vast array of German material 264–5
rear lines of armies vibrant in September 1918 134–5
remarkable gains July–November 1918 278
shared a common goal of breaking German Army 200
slowed down in wake of German destruction 263
smashing blow at Amiens 97
speed of Amiens advance slows 55
strain of constant operations 92
Supreme War Council 21
tactical control of armies 22
tactical learning curve of xxxiii
use of gas 103, 106
see also Western Front and various army entries
Alsace-Lorraine 216, 227, 244, 253
American Army see United States Army
American Civil War 152
American declaration of war (April 1917) 126
American Expeditionary Force (AEF) 26–7, 165
see also United States Army and various army entries
American Tank Corps 160
Amiens
and Aisne comparison 74
Allies’ smashing blow 97
always in Allied hands 29
attack on 8 August 44–7
battle of xxx, xxxii
crucial link in Western Front 29–32
crucial role of aircraft 36
deception plan prior to 36
Foch pleased by results 63, 137
Foch’s plans 64
great test of training 56
greatest defeat for German Army 70
infantry, horses/tanks 41
passage of 46th (North Midland) Division 133
Pershing requested withdrawal of five US divisions after battle 127
rail junction in range of enemy guns 25
smashing blow of Allies 97
speed of Allied advance slows 55
suffered relatively lightly 28
Amiens–Roye road 46, 57
Anderson, Sergeant Hakon 165–6
Antwerp–Meuse Line 11, 112, 224, 238, 244
Argonne 128, 137–8, 143, 152–3, 158–60, 204
Armeeparlament 260, 328n.17
Armentières 143, 207
Armin, General Sixt von 264
Armistice, the
background to xxvi, xxx, xxxii
brought forth mixed feelings 271–2, 276–7
and Foch 226, 266
in force 267–70, 274, 329n.32
Hitler’s reaction 214
most iconic event xxxiii
negotiations begin 252–4, 260, 327n.4
not a total victory for Allies 275–6
offer on 1 October 196, 201
Owen killed seven days before 250
pointless and ultimately futile 278
rumours circulate throughout Western Front 240
US offer on 21 October 223–4
war continues 262–4
Wilson’s conditions 216–17
Army Group Gallwitz 205
Arras xxix, 143
artillery
bombardments pounded Allies into dust 244
counter-battery fire 35
fought a demanding war 82–3
patchy support in Amiens 59
rail-mounted naval guns 33
vital to operations 33–5
Assevillers 108
Ausland, John 265–6
Australian Corps
5th Brigade 87
1st Division 56
5th Division 86
and Amiens attack 36, 49
capture of Mont Saint-Quentin 85–6
crossing the Somme 95, 107
feverish activity at calibration range 34–5
reputation of 31
surprise raid on German positions 39
Austro-Hungary
collapse of Empire 271
naval blockade of 16
soon to offer peace 205
on the verge of capitulation by October 1918 226
weakening of the forces of 142
Avesnes 109, 251
Avesnes conference (September 1918) 112
Avre, River 30, 44
Bairnsfather, Bruce 20
Baker, Newton 131
Ball, E. F. (Padre) 174
Bapaume 64, 80, 89
Barricourt Heights 241–2, 264
Bavaria, King of 256
Bavarian Alpine Corps 58
Bazentin-le-Grand 88
Beaucamp xxvi, 171–4
Beaumont Hamel 84
Beaurevoir–Fonsomme Line 189, 208
Beier, Vice Sgt 46
Belgium
final days xxxiii
forces harrying retreating German armies 207
German reserves at their thinnest 175
little to prevent Allies from liberating all of 177
western part liberated by Allies by 19 October 220
Belleau Wood 115–16, 126
Bellenglise 185, 187
Bellicourt 144, 182
Below, General Otto von 79, 97
Berlin 15
Bertangles 108
Bertry 209
Bidet, Edmond 272
Bidet, Elise 272–3
Bill, Captain Charles xxix
Binarville 204
Binding, Rudolf 9, 92, 109, 148
Birmingham ‘Pals’ see 15/Royal Warwick Regiment (British)
Black Death 19
‘Black Jack’ see Pershing, General John
Blanc Mont ridge 126, 155
Blue Cross gas see tear gas
Blue Dotted Line 52
Blunden, Edmund xxv–xxvi
‘Boche’, the see German Army
Boehn, General Hans von
Army Group faced bulk of British strength 175
Army Groups of 145, 214, 247
daily visits to the Siegfried Line 112
and Lossberg 70, 88
temporary residence at Avesnes 109
and work on the Hermann Line 193–4
booby-traps 210
Boucanville 123
Bourlon Wood 167, 170
Braithwaite, Lieutenant-General Sir Walter 185
Bray 63
Bridges, Major-General Tom 117
Brie 64, 107
Briey iron basin 137
Bristol Fighter aircraft 36
British Army
and Amiens 29
approaching total exhaustion at the Armistice 277
capture of Jerusalem 142
compelled to remain in the north 127
facing devastated countryside in final weeks of August 1918 78
finally knew how to fight effectively 83–4
guns in the Amiens sector 35
Haig worried about exhausted state of 227
harrying retreating German armies 207
morale rose ‘like mercury’ as advance continued 100
ready for renewed push in August 1918 79
tough resistance on northern coast of Greece 142
see also Allies; British Expeditionary Force (BEF); Western Front
ARMIES
First
breaks through at Canal du Nord 170
breaks through Drocourt–Quéant Line 98–9
Cambrai falls 208
report on German destruction 263
to breach Hindenburg Line 138
Second 176
Third 228
attack on 21 August 1918 80–81, 88–9
attack at Cambrai 135, 171, 173, 175, 208
; Foch’s plans 64
Haig’s plans 66–7
and the Hindenburg Line 138, 170
Fourth
and Amiens 29–30, 34
at the Drocourt–Quéant Line 99
breaks into German rear areas 52
crosses the Sambre–Oise canal on 4 November 250
establishes itself on the canal 187
fifty miles from railheads by the Armistice 277
heavy barrage at Amiens 45
mounts major operations 17–24 October 228
no further attacks without artillery 65
peace talk not allowed 207–8
staff had complete plan of German defences 181–2, 316–17n.2
three miles of ground gained on 9 August 59
CORPS
III Corps
at Albert 38
secured left flank of Amiens attack 46
IX Corps 185
DIVISIONS
5th 80, 108, 135, 171, 173
6th (North Midland) 133, 185–8
32nd 60
37th 81–2
38th Welsh 83, 232
56th (London) 230
66th 262
BRIGADES
13th 81, 173
15th 172–3
95th 173
regiments
1/6th North Staffordshire 186–8, 317–18n.15
1/Coldstream Guards 171
1/Royal West Kents 171–2
12 Glosters 81
14/Royal Warwickshire 172, 190, 318n.20
15/Royal Warwickshire xxviii–xxix, 80, 81, 136, 172–4, 190, 293n.4
16/Lancashire Fusiliers 189
BATTALIONS
1st 52
2/Manchesters 189, 207
16/Royal Warwickshire 190
British Expeditionary Force (BEF)
‘Amiens method’ standard operating procedure 79
Anglophone focus xxxi
benefited from RAF dropping boxes of ammunition 108
by 1918 composed mainly of youthful conscripts 275
growing reputation of Canadian/Australian Corps 31
Haig tells Lloyd George on 19 October ‘never more efficient’ 241
manpower shortages in October 1918 191
tactical proficiency of 85–6
see also Allies; British Army; Western Front and various army groupings
British Government
circulated ‘British Military Policy, 1918–19’ 139
needed convincing that victory near 140
British Military Mission 117
‘British Military Policy, 1918–19’, 139
British War Cabinet 101
Brunswick, Duke of 256
Bucher, Georg 9–10
Bulgaria 142, 195, 226
Bullard, Robert Lee 27
Byng, Sir Julian 79, 168, 170, 270
Calais 25
Cambrai
attack towards 167