Western Front
Battle of Amiens (see 11th): Rawlinson asks Haig ‘
Are you commanding the British Army or is Marshal Foch?’ and gets Amiens thrust ended; he has 85 tanks (30 knocked out) in action (38 on August 11, 6 on August 12).
RAF Amiens offensive bombing switches to railways as well, 90 extra fighters bring strength to 480, but Peronne station raid costs 6 of 52 aircraft involved (Peronne attacked 3 times, August 11). Oblt Erich Lowenhardt (53 victories) killed in mid-air collision (Germany’s third ranking ace), one of 15 aircraft lost (38 Allied planes claimed). Captain A Yuille (Sopwith Camel, No 151 Squadron) shoots down first Giant bomber behind British lines near Talmas (night August 10-11).
British tanks going through the town of Hourges at the Battle of Amiens:
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Canadian armored car in action at the Battle of Amiens:
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The ruins of Chipilly a day after it was taken by the Americans during the Battle of Amiens:
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Battle of Montdidier (see 15th): Montdidier retaken by French forces (see 8th, and March 27th). Montdidier garrison surrounded and captured by French First Army in 7-mile-advance. 7 new German divisions arrive, drunken Bavarians shout at 38th Division ‘What do you war-prolongers want ?’. The Victoria Cross is awarded to Captain F.M.F. West of No.8 Squadron, Royal Air Force, for gallantry displayed during a low-level attack on German troops far over enemy lines north east of Roye in France, with the co-operation of the Tank Corps.
Second Battle of Lassigny: French Third Army (7 divisions) drives 3-4 miles northeast into German Eighteenth Army flank below Montdidier in (until August 22).
France: Total Allied PoW haul since August 8: 24,000, plus over 400 guns. US First Army operational under Pershing; Colonel Hugh A Drum CoS. AEF combat strength 822,358. Churchill (flew to France on August 8) at BEF GHQ Shell conference.
A carrier pigeon is released from a tank near Albert, France: © IWM (Q 9247):
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British cavalry passing through Beaucourt-en-Santerre, as they pursue retreating German troops:
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Australian soldiers at Crepy Wood during their attack against Lihons:
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Eastern Front
Russia: Lenin orders anti-German screen troops to Volga despite Trotsky’s doubts (still 37 German divisions in east).
Asiatic and Egyptian Theaters
Siberia: Czechs and 400 Cossacks repulse 5,000 Reds in Stepanovka-Kraevsk area.
Naval and Overseas Operations
Western Atlantic: U-boat gas attack on US Coast Guard station and lighthouse, Smith Island, NC.
As reported in the US Press at the time: August 13, 1918: "German submarine terrorism on a more intensive scale was disclosed tonight when the Navy Department announced that one of the U-boats operating on this coast had made a mustard gas attack off North Carolina. It is probably the same submarine that sank the Cape Hatteras lightship.
This attack was made about 5 o'clock Saturday afternoon. Mustard gas oil was released on the tides which swept in past Smith Island. The gas generated by the floating oil, which is vary volatile in the hot sunshine, temporarily put the coast guard station and lighthouse personnel on Smith Island out of commission. Six men were gassed, but no deaths resulted.
Information from the Coast Guard Station on Smith Island, at the mouth of the Cape Fear River, tonight, is that none of the victims of the gas there on Saturday afternoon suffered serious injury. Those who suffered at the lighthouse were the keeper, Captain Charles Swann, his wife and one other, composing the entire crew of the lighthouse, while three of the Coast Guards suffered. A brood of chickens on the reservation was killed, and other animals on the place showed signs of the gas." (New York Times)
North Sea: Harwich Force (4 cruisers and 13 destroyers) off Western Frisian Islands launches 6 CMBs to attack German minesweepers across minefields, but all lost to German seaplane attacks (1 lost), other aim of trapping Zeppelin achieved.
Mediterranean: French troopship SS
Polynesien is sunk by the German submarine SM
UC-22, resulting in 19 deaths. The ship was carrying Serbian soldier Milunka Savić, one of the most decorated female soldiers in history, who survived the sinking:
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Political, etc
Turkey: Mushaver ul Mamalek, Persian Foreign Minister, resigns (see 11th and January 19th).