<– Part 219 – September 29, 1918 | Part 220 – October 6, 1918 | Part 221 – October 13, 1918

Ferdinand I of Bulgaria

At Meuse-Argonne, the German counterattack nearly shattered the US 35th Division but was barely halted by an engineer battalion. However, the adjacent French units have advanced nearly 10 miles at Somme-Py and Saint-Thierry, but are awaiting the Americans to catch up from their 2-5 mile penetration.

Following the first phase, the second phase commenced October 4, which saw all of the first phase assault divisions replaced by fresh troops. One American unit, the “Lost Battalion,” has been cut off in the Argonne forest since October 2. Efforts are being made to rescue the 500 Americans.

Boris III of Bulgaria

Fighting at Ypres ended October 2 with stiffening German resistance, with the high ground around the town taken by the Allies. To assist in reinforcements, 80 Belgian and British planes have been dropping supplies to the troops. The Allies lost 9,100 soldiers, fairly evenly-split between Belgian and British, while 10,000 Germans have been taken prisoner, with hundreds of artillery pieces and machine guns.

Following the humiliation of Bulgaria, the Tsar of Bulgaria, Ferdinand I, abdicated October 3 to his 24-year-old son Boris III.

“We were no longer engaged in a maneuver for the pinching out of a salient, but were necessarily committed, generally speaking, to a direct frontal attack against strong, hostile positions fully manned by a determined enemy.”

In Palestine, two cavalry charges, at Kauab and Kiswe, broke entrenched Ottoman positions and opened up Damascus to the British, losing less than a dozen cavalrymen but taking nearly 700 prisoners. With the fall of Damascus on October 1, British cavalry is pursuing the shattered Yildirim Army Group.

On October 2, a British and Italian task force shelled the Austro-Hungarian port of Durazzo, sinking and damaging 8 ships, and forcing the evacuation of the entire port. The Allies had 6 ships damaged.

Fighting in Champagne erupted October 3 at Blanc Mont Ridge, as American forces seek to push the German Army out of the entire region.

Rumors have begun that Germany and Austria-Hungary have opened secret peace negotiations with U.S. President Wilson.