How Some Devon Newspapers Reported the Final Phases of the First World War
Like Armageddon 1914, this talk is based on a close study of Devon newspapers – mainly the Devon and Exeter Daily Gazette and the Western Times.
Beginning with the massive Allied attack on August 8th, 1918, it shows how the fortunes of war turned against the Central Powers and especially against Germany, which had made impressive gains on the Western Front during the spring with reinforcements released from the Eastern Front in a last desperate gamble to win the war before the mass arrival of American troops.
Through the use of new tactics and the “All Arms Battle” the Allies won an unparalleled series of victories in only a hundred days to force the Armistice of November 11th – but at a terrible cost. Battle reports and editorials reveal the dramatic unfolding of events in what historians later called the Last Hundred Days.