Countdown on the Great War: October 6, 1918. The British advance, the Ottomans withdraw, the Germans ask to quit, Naval disaster, and the Flu spreads.

Miss Anna Maria McMullen who died on this day in France.  She was from Allenstown Pennsylvania.

1. The British 25th Division took Beaurevoir, France.

2.  Ottoman forces engage in a strategic withdrawal from Lebanon.

3.  The HMS Otranto collided with the HMS Kashmir off of Ireland resulting in the loss of 431 lives.

4.  The news of the day as received in Wyoming:

Roads to the Great War: 100 Years Ago: One of the Great Wars Most Iconic ...

Roads to the Great War: 100 Years Ago: One of the Great Wars Most Iconic ...: The bridge in the photo above still stands across the St. Quentin Canal, just south of the village of Riqueval where the canal emerges...

The 100 Days. Battle of St. Quentin Canal. September 29 to October 10, 1918

British troops being addressed by Gen J. V. Campbell at the Riqueval Bridge over the St. Q

When we last read about this action, the U.S. 27th and U.S. 30th Divisions had gone into action on September 27 to try to take part of the Hindenburg Line in preparation for an assault on a longer piece of the line scheduled for this day.

And on this day, the larger ball got rolling.

On this day 30 British Empire Divisions and two American Divisions went into action in this region against 39 Divisions.  In spite of being a much smaller force, the U.S. Army would take over half the Allied causalities in the effort before it was done; in an effort that is paradoxically primarily remembered as a British Empire, or more precisely Australian, effort.

The British Empire forces commenced the battle with their largest artillery bombardment of World War One, firing over 1,000,000 shells.  Among the munitions that were used, the British fired mustard gas rounds for the first time, targeting German headquarters and artillery units with chemical weapons.

American and Australian troops at the Bellicourt Tunnel.

The two American divisions lead off the attack, followed by Australian divisions, and backed by British tanks, with the objective of breaking through the Beaurevoir Line.  The U.S. 27th Division, however, met with stout German resistance and in fact one regiment of the 27th, the 107th Infantry, sustained the highest casualties of any American regiment in a single day for the war.  The Australians, who were to have "leap frogged" over the Americans after they took the initial objectives, then committed by necessity with the American objectives untaken.  The 30th Division, however, did better.  Nonetheless, American failures in the battle basically lead the Australians to take over and lead to enduring debates about the quality of the American Army in the attack, with Monash attributing its failures to it being green.  That their contribution to its ultimate success was real, however, was never debated.

While this was going on the Australians committed near the Bellicourt Tunnel where tanks were not available in strength due to losses that had already occurred.  The British also then committed as well as the U.S. 30th Division, which overall performed well in the battle.  Fierce Allied artillery close support contributed to the assault and after a large scale effort the Canal was taken.  Fighting continued on through October 10, but the much depleted Australian Corps was withdrawn on October 5, it ranks much thinned due to combat attrition and the Spanish Flu.  It would not be recommitted prior to November 11 and therefore its role in the fighting ceased on that date.

The 100 Days. Battle of St. Quentin Canal. The American 27th and 30th Divisions go into action. September 27, 1918.

Infantryman of the U.S. 30th Division with German prisoners on September 30, 1918.  Note that they are equipped with British SMLE rifles.  American soldiers assigned to British commands were equipped with British small arms.

St. Quentin as a place name has featured prominently in the newspaper headlines that have appeared here in the past couple of weeks.  Obviously it was a strategic point on the line that the British were hoping to crack.

Most histories of this battle have it commencing on October 29, 1918, but in reality it started today when the U.S. II Corps, which was attached to the British forces, commenced an assault on the northern section of the Hindenburg Line in order to attempt to position the British forces for the assault that was scheduled for two days later.  The II Corps remained part of the British forces and while made up of two divisions was the numerical equivalent of four British or Empire Divisions..

The overall assault had been assigned to Australian Genral Monash, whose earlier efforts in recent weeks had been uniformly successful and indeed quite inventive.  Monash was not happy with the assignment however as the Australians felt that they were being overused and there was serious dissension in Australian ranks.  Monash's feelings on the matter, however, were addressed by the assignment of the U.S. II Corps, made up of two large divisions (the equivalent of four British divisions) to his command.  Field Marshall Haig had opposed the use of the U.S. troops for the assault on the northern part of the line as he felt that they were too green, but British Gen. Rawlinson convinced him to give it a go on the basis that the Germans in the area, which had previously been the subject of an unsuccessful British attack, were now weakened and likely to collapse.

Haig's misgivings proved correct and the American assault failed.  This resulted in a request from Monash to postpone the September 29 planned attack but the request was refused.  We'll rejoin this story, accordingly, on the 29th.