<– Part 200 – May 19, 1918 | Part 201 – May 26, 1918 | Part 202 – June 2, 1918

On May 23, Costa Rica declared war on Germany.

The telegraph cable connecting New York and Nova Scotia was cut May 21, and May 25 saw three US schooners off the coast of Virginia stopped, crews imprisoned, and ships sunk by the German sub U-151, which remains at large.

Ottoman forces have invaded the Russian Transcaucasus along three axes, each having 10-15,000 soldiers, drawing protests from Germany as a violation of last December’s armistice. The Ottomans goal, besides taking the valuable oilwells of the region, includes eliminating the last area of Armenian territory, which has seen hundreds of thousands of ethnic Armenians enter following the Ottoman elimination and genocide of Armenians within the Ottoman Empire’s own territory. Due to the Russian Army’s evacuating the area, a native Armenian army has been formed, and the area is seen as the Armenian’s last stand. Church bells rang for six days, calling all able-bodied men to muster, and others, including children, have volunteered to carry supplies. A minor skirmish towards Sardarabad May 20 saw the Turks brush aside an Armenian unit, with another victory against an Armenian force of 600 infantry and 250 cavalry on May 21. The Armenian 5th Regiment was orered to conduct guerilla operations against the advancing Turks, and were successful on May 22 at halting the Turkish advance at the Araks River, and have been opposing the Turks since, though they have since entrenched along the mountain heights, and have been in near-constant contact since.

An additional force attacked May 21 towards Yerevan, but following three days of intense fighting with an Armenian force half their size, the Armenians counter-attacked on May 25 and have begun pushing the Ottomans back.

The final prong of the Ottoman attack, facing no opposition at first, has finally encountered Armenian resistance mustered from the nearby population centers on May 25 near Karakilisa, and has been engaged in brutal fighting for several days.