Progress of the War Recording Campaigns on All Fronts and Collateral Events From April 18, 1918, Up to and Including May 17, 1918

UNITED STATES

The campaign for the Third Liberty Loan of $3,000,000,000 ended on May 4. The total subscription was $4,170,019,650, as announced by the Treasury Department on May 17.

On April 20 President Wilson issued a proclamation extending to women enemy aliens the restrictions imposed on men.

The Overman bill, giving the President power to consolidate and co-ordinate executive bureaus and agencies as a war emergency measure, was passed by the Senate on April 28 and by the House on May 14.

The War Trade Board announced on May 3 that a general commercial agreement with Norway had been signed. On May 12 it announced that in order to conserve materials and labor and to add tonnage to the fleet carrying men and munitions to Europe, arrangements had been made to have Great Britain, France, Italy, and Belgium pass upon the advisability of releasing proposed exports before granting licenses to shippers. On May 14 an agreement was reached between the United States and the allied nations providing that all imports to the United States should be forbidden unless sanctioned by the War Trade Board.

A conference report on the Sedition bill, giving the Government broad new powers to punish disloyal acts and utterances, was adopted by the Senate on May 4, and by the House of Representatives on May 7, and sent to the President for his signature.

As a result of charges of graft, inefficiency, and pro-German tendencies directed against the military aircraft administration by Gutzon Borglum, President Wilson, on May 15, asked Charles Evans Hughes to aid Attorney General Gregory in making a thorough investigation. Mr. Hughes accepted the invitation. The President also wrote a letter to Senator Martin denouncing the Chamberlain resolution for an investigation of the conduct of the war by the Committee on Military Affairs of the Senate, and on the same day the Senate Committee on Audit and Expenses, to which the resolution had been referred, ordered a favorable report on it, modifying it so as to provide for a limited inquiry.

SUBMARINE BLOCKADE

The American steamship Lake Moor was reported sunk on April 11.

Forty-four Americans were killed when the Old Dominion liner Tyler was sunk off the French coast on May 2.

The British liner Oronsa was sunk on April 28. All on board except three members of the crew were saved. The British sloop Cowslip was torpedoed on April 25. Five officers and one man were missing.

The British Admiralty announced on April 24 the cessation of the weekly return of shipping losses and the substitution of a monthly report.

In a statement made in the Chamber of Deputies on May 11, Georges Leygues, the French Minister of Marine, declared that the total of allied tonnage sunk by German submarines in five months was 1,648,622, less than half the amount alleged by Germany to have been destroyed. He announced that the number of submarines sunk by the Allies was greater than Germany's output.

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LEADERS IN THE IRISH CONTROVERSY

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Twelve German submarines were officially reported captured or sunk in British waters by American or British destroyers during the month of April, and two others were known to have been destroyed.

Ten passengers were killed when the French steamship Atlantique was torpedoed in the Mediterranean early in May. The ship managed to reach port.

CAMPAIGN IN WESTERN EUROPE

April 18—French advance on both banks of the Avre River between Thanne and Mailly-Raineval; Germans deliver terrific assaults upon the British front from Givenchy to the neighborhood of St. Venant.

April 19—Italian troops reach France; British beat off assaults on Mont Kemmel and recover ground west of Robecq; bombardment of Paris resumed.

April 20—Germans hurl force against American and French troops at Seicheprey and get a grip on the town, but are driven out; Belgians give ground temporarily near the Passchendaele Canal, but regain it; British re-establish their positions in Givenchy-Festubert region.

April 21—British drive Germans from some of their advanced positions near Robecq; Americans retake Seicheprey outposts.

April 23—British gain ground east of Robecq and in the neighborhood of Meteren.

April 24—Germans take Villers-Bretonneux, but are repulsed at other places south of the Somme; Franco-American positions at Hangard shelled.

April 25—British recover Villers-Bretonneux; French and British lose ground in the Lys salient before terrific German assaults from Wytschaete to Bailleul, aiming at Mont Kemmel; Germans take Hangard.

April 26—Germans take Mont Kemmel and the villages of Kemmel and Dranoutre and push on to St. Eloi; French recover part of Hangard.

April 27—British and French troops recover some of the ground lost in the Bailleul-Wytschaete sector; Germans repulsed at Voormezeele after hard fight.

April 28—Germans take Voormezeele, but are driven out by counterattack; Locre changes hands five times.

April 29—Germans make heavy attacks upon the entire Franco-British front from Zillebeke Lake to Meteren; British hold their line intact; French yield some ground around Scherpenberg and Mont Rouge, but later regain it; Belgians repulse attacks north of Ypres; Americans take over a sector of the French line at the tip of the Somme salient.

April 30—French recover ground on the slope of Scherpenberg and advance their line astride the Dranoutre road; positions of the allied forces push forward between La Clytte and Kemmel.

May 1—Americans repulse attacks in the Villers-Bretonneux region; BÉthune region bombarded.

May 3—French and British improve their positions along the Somme River southward to below the Avre; French take Hill 82, near Castel, and the wood near by.

May 4—Germans repulsed at Locon; French make progress near Locre, and British advance near Meteren; Americans in the Lorraine sector raid German positions south of Halloville and penetrate to third line; French shell disables last of German guns that have been bombarding Paris.

May 5—Franco-British forces, in operation between Locre and Dranoutre, advance their positions on a 1,000-yard front to an average depth of 500 yards; Germans foiled in attempt to occupy former American trenches in the Bois BrÛlÉ.

May 6—Germans launch heavy gas attacks against American troops on the Picardy front.

May 8—Germans gain a foothold at several points midway between La Clytte and Voormezeele, but are repulsed at other points along the line; Australians advance 500 yards near Sailly and 300 yards west of Morlancourt.

May 9—British re-establish their lines and drive Germans out of British trenches between La Clytte and Voormezeele; Germans occupy British advanced positions at Albert on a front of about 150 yards.

May 10—British restore their line at Albert; German artillery fire active in the Vimy and Robecq sectors of the British front, and south of Dickebusch.

May 11—Berlin reports heavy losses inflicted on American troops southwest of Apremont; Germans gain small portion of territory southwest of Mailly-Raineval, but are driven out by French; French gain ground in Mareuil Wood.

May 12—French troops north of Kemmel capture Hill 44 and an adjoining farm; Germans bombard Albert, Loos, and Ypres sectors, and lines southeast of Amiens, but are repulsed by the French near Orvillers-Sorel.

May 13—Americans blow up enemy ammunition dump and start fires in Cantigny, with explosions; Germans resume firing north of Kemmel.

May 14—Hill 44, north of Kemmel, changes hands several times; French advance in Hangard region; British carry out successful raid near Robecq.

May 15—Germans repulsed by the British southwest of Morlancourt and by the French north of Kemmel. May 16—Heavy gunfire in the Lys and Avre areas.

May 17—Official announcement that American troops have taken their place in the British war zone in Northern France; German gunfire increases in the Lys and Hailles region.

ITALIAN CAMPAIGN.

May 3—Heavy fighting reported along the entire front between the Adriatic and the Giudicaria Valley.

May 5—Increase in artillery fire, notably in the Lagarina and Astico Valleys.

May 11—Italians penetrate advanced Austrian positions on Monte Carno.

May 12—Italians wipe out a Coll dell' Orso garrison.

May 14—Austrian attempts to renew attacks on Monte Carno and to approach Italian lines at Dosso Casina and in the Balcino and Ornic Valleys fail.

May 16—Italians enter Austrian lines at two points on Monte Asolone; British make successful raid at Canove.

CAMPAIGN IN ASIA MINOR.

April 21—Armenians retake Van.

April 27—British in Mesopotamia advance north of Bagdad and Kifra.

April 28—British cavalry forces a passage of the Aqsu at a point southwest of Tuzhurmatl.

April 29—British take Tuzhurmatl.

April 30—British advance as far as the Tauk River, and occupy Mezreh.

May 1—Es-Salt taken by the British.

May 7—British enter Kerkuk.

May 12—Arabs of Hedjaz raid Jadi Jerdun station and a post on the Hedjaz Railway, taking many prisoners and destroying tracks and bridges.

AERIAL RECORD.

Trent, Trieste, and Pola were raided by Italian scouts on May 10.

Carlshutte, Germany, was bombed by the British May 3. Saarbrucken was bombed on May 16, and five German machines were brought down.

British aviators raided the aviation grounds at Campo Maggiore on May 4 and brought down fourteen Austrian planes.

German airmen attacked Dutch fishing vessels in the North Sea May 5.

Ostend, Westende, and Zeebrugge were attacked by British seaplanes on May 6.

Many notable air battles occurred on the western front in connection with the fighting in Picardy and Flanders. In one day, May 15, fifty-five German airplanes were brought down by British and French aviators, and on May 16 forty-six German machines were brought down by the British.

NAVAL RECORD.

Early in the morning of April 23 British naval forces, in co-operation with French destroyers, carried out a raid against Zeebrugge and Ostend, with the object of bottling up German submarine bases. Five obsolete British cruisers, which had been filled with concrete, were run aground, blown up, and abandoned by their crews, and two old submarines were loaded with explosives for the destruction of the Zeebrugge mole. A German destroyer was sunk and other ships were shelled. Twenty yards of the Zeebrugge mole were blown up, and the harbor was blocked completely. On May 10 the obsolete cruiser Vindictive was sunk at the entrance to Ostend Harbor, practically completing the work.

An Austrian dreadnought of the Viribus Unitis type was torpedoed by Italian naval forces in Pola Harbor on the morning of May 14.

RUSSIA.

On April 20, Japan ordered reinforcements sent to Vladivostok, as the Bolsheviki had directed the removal of munitions westward. On the same day diplomatic representatives of the allied powers were formally informed by the Siberian Provincial Duma of the formation—by representatives of the Zemstvos and other public organizations—of the Government of Autonomous Siberia.

The Bolshevist Foreign Minister, George Tchitcherin, on April 26, addressed representatives in Moscow of the United States, England, and France, requesting the speedy recall of their Consuls from Vladivostok and the investigation of their alleged participation in negotiations said to have been conducted between their Peking embassies and the Siberian Autonomous Government. He also asked them to explain their attitude toward the Soviet Government and the alleged attempts of their representatives to interfere with the internal life of Russia. Japan was asked to explain the participation of Japanese officials in the counter-revolutionary movement. An official report of the demand for the removal of John K. Caldwell, the American Consul at Vladivostok, was received by the American State Department on May 6, from Ambassador Francis. The State Department announced that Mr. Caldwell had done nothing wrong and that he would not be removed. On the same day a report was received that the Russian authorities at Irkutsk had arrested the Japanese Vice Consul and the President of the Japanese Association on the charge of being military spies.

At a meeting of several thousand peasants of the Ukraine, held on April 29, a resolution was passed calling for the overthrow of the Government, the closing of the Central Rada, the cancellation of the Constituent Assembly convoked for May 12, and the abandonment of land socialization. General Skoropauski was proclaimed Hetman and was recognized by Germany.

The German advance into the Ukraine continued, military rule was established in Kiev, and several members of the Government, including the Minister of War, were removed on the ground that the Government had proved too weak to maintain law and order. Vice Chancellor von Payer, speaking before the Main Committee of the German Reichstag on May 4, attempted to justify Germany's use of the iron hand by declaring that grain had been withheld and that prominent Ukrainians, members of the Committee of Safety, had been caught planning the assassination of German officers.

Rostov-on-the-Don was occupied by Germans on May 9, but was recaptured by the Russians the next day.

M. Tchitcherin, on May 12, sent a wireless message to Ambassador Joffe, at Berlin, instructing him to try to obtain from Berlin cessation of every kind of hostility, and declared that captures of Russian territory violated the terms of the treaty of peace. He also gave assurances that the Black Sea Fleet would not attack the port of Novorossysk, which the Germans threatened to capture. In an evasive reply the Commander in Chief of the German troops in the East said he could only agree to the cessation of naval operations against the Black Sea Fleet, provided that all ships returned to Sebastopol and were retained there, thus leaving the port of Novorossysk free for navigation.

A Swedish report of May 14 told of a German ultimatum to the Bolshevist Government demanding the occupation of Moscow and other Russian cities, the abolishment of armaments, and the effecting of certain financial measures which would practically make Russia a German colony.

Professor H. C. Emery, the American who was seized when the Germans landed in the Aland Islands, was freed from prison, but was still detained in Germany, according to a report received on May 5.

The British Foreign Minister, A. J. Balfour, announced in Commons on May 5 that Great Britain was ready to grant temporary recognition to the Esthonian National Council.

Transcaucasia proclaimed its independence on April 26, and a conservative Government was formed, headed by M. Chkemkeli.

Ciscaucasia proclaimed itself an independent State on May 14.

The Caucasus proposed peace negotiations with Turkey May 10.

Russian Bolshevist troops crossed the Caspian Sea in gunboats and recaptured Baku from the Mussulmans May 17.

Emperor William issued a proclamation, May 14, recognizing the independence of Lithuania, allied with the German Empire, and saying that it was assumed that Lithuania would participate in the war burdens of Germany.

FINLAND.

Hostilities between the Finnish White Guards and the Germans and the Red Guards continued. Germany protested to the Bolshevist Foreign Minister on April 23 against the landing of allied troops at Murmansk, declaring that such landing was a violation of the Brest-Litovsk treaty. Germany also denied that Germans had participated in the raid of the Finnish White Guards upon Kem.

The White Guards, on April 26, demanded the surrender of a fort on the Finnish coast ceded to Russia by the Finnish Bolshevist Government, constituting part of the Kronstadt defenses. The Kronstadt Council of Workmen's and Soldiers' Delegates refused to comply with the demand, and organized resistance.

Viborg was taken by the White Guards on April 30. On May 3, the Germans in the southwest defeated the Red Guards after a five days' battle near Lakhti and Tevastus. The Finnish flag was raised on the fortress of Sveaborg on May 13. On May 15 the White Guards entered Helsingfors, and on May 17 they seized Boris-Gleb on the Norwegian border from the Russian troops, thus gaining access to the Arctic Ocean.

RUMANIA.

A peace treaty between Rumania and the Central Powers was signed May 6, and supplementary legal, economic, and political treaties were later concluded.

The Rumanian Parliament was dissolved on May 10 by royal decree and new elections were ordered.

POLAND.

The Lausanne Gazette announced on May 12 that Poland was handed over to Germany economically, politically, and militarily, according to a secret treaty arranged at Brest-Litovsk between a Russian delegation, headed by Trotzky, and German representatives. At a conference between the Emperors of Germany and Austria-Hungary, Germany agreed to the solution of the Polish question desired by Austria, in return for certain concessions from Austria.

MISCELLANEOUS.

The Guatemalan Assembly, on April 22, declared the country to be in the same position as the United States in the war, and the following day the Guatemalan Minister at Washington announced that the declaration was meant as a declaration of war against Germany and her allies.

In response to a request from Uruguay for a definition of the relations between the two countries, Germany replied, according to an announcement made public May 16, that she did not consider that a state of war existed.

Nicaragua declared war on Germany and her allies on May 7.

Royal assent to the British man-power bill, providing for conscription in Ireland, was given on April 18. An Order in Council was issued on May 1 postponing the Conscription act.

Lord Wimborne, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and Henry E. Duke, Chief Secretary, resigned on April 24. Edward Shortt was appointed Chief Secretary and Viscount French succeeded Lord Wimborne as Lord Lieutenant.

James Ian MacPherson announced in the House of Commons on May 9 that a German submarine had recently landed an associate of Sir Roger Casement on the Irish coast, where he was arrested by Government officials, and that he was now in the Tower of London and would be tried by court-martial. A dispatch dated May 15 revealed that two Germans accompanied him, and that all three were imprisoned.

All the Sinn Fein leaders, including De Valera and the Countess Markievicz, were arrested in Belfast, Dublin, and other cities, on May 17, as the result of the discovery of treasonable relations with Germany. Lord Lieutenant French issued a proclamation dealing with the situation, calling on all loyalists to aid in blocking the German plans and asking for volunteers to provide Ireland's share of the army.

Sir Arthur Roberts, financial adviser to the British Air Minister, resigned on April 24 as a result of a disagreement with Lord Rothermere. The next day Lord Rothermere resigned. He was succeeded by Sir William Weir. Baron Rhondda resigned as Food Controller and Lord Northcliffe resigned as Chairman of London headquarters of the British Mission to the United States and Director of Propaganda in Enemy Countries.

Representatives of the allied nations met at Versailles on May 1 and May 2.

On May 6 Major Gen. Frederick Barton Maurice, formerly Director General of British Military Operations, addressed a letter to The London Daily Chronicle challenging the statements made in the House of Commons by Premier Lloyd George and Andrew Bonar Law with regard to the military situation and demanding a Parliamentary investigation. On May 7 ex-Premier Asquith moved for an inquiry in Commons. After a speech by Lloyd George in Commons in his own defense, May 9, the House, by a vote of 293 to 106, upheld him and the Government and rejected Mr. Asquith's motion.

The Austrian Premier was empowered by Emperor Charles, on May 4, to adjourn Parliament and to inaugurate measures to render impossible the resumption of its activities.

A growing resentment against the domination of Austria-Hungary by Germany was manifested by Austria's Slavic peoples. A dispatch from Switzerland dated May 8 told of serious disturbances in the fleet, caused by seamen of Slavic and Italian stock, which resulted in several changes in the high command. A new Hungarian Cabinet, headed by Dr. Wekerle, was formed on May 10. On May 13 Vienna papers published a declaration by the Czech members of the Austrian House of Lords in which an independent State was demanded.

As a result of a conference between Emperor William and Emperor Charles at German Headquarters on May 10, Austria-Hungary concluded a new convention with Germany.

M. Duval, manager of the Bonnet Rouge, and his associates, Leymarie and Marion, directors of the paper; Goldsky and Landau, journalists, and two minor men named Joucla and Vercasson, were placed on trial in Paris on charges of treason and espionage, on April 29. On May 15, Duval was sentenced to death for treason, and the six other defendants were sentenced to imprisonment for terms ranging from two to ten years.

The British Government replied to the note of the Netherlands Government concerning the taking over of Dutch ships on May 1, and asserted the full legality of the seizure.

A London dispatch, dated April 24, announced that Germany had sent an ultimatum to Holland demanding the right of transit for civilian supplies and sand and gravel. Holland yielded to these demands on April 28, with the stipulation that the sand and gravel should not be used for war purposes. On May 5, Foreign Minister Loudon announced in the Dutch Chamber that Germany had promised to transport no troops or military supplies and to limit the amount of sand and gravel.

Persia informed Holland, on May 3, that it regarded as null and void all treaties imposed upon Persia in recent years, and especially the Russo-British treaty of 1907 regarding the spheres of influence.