The coastal city of Ostend in Belgium – along with much of the rest of the country – was occupied by the Germans during the First World War. As the war began drawing to an end in October of 1918, the Germans destroyed buildings as they retreated on the 17th of October.
17th October 1918: Officers at the General Headquarters of the Anti-aircraft School of Britain’s Royal Artillery.
After more than four years of fighting, the First World War would be over less than a month after this picture was taken.
British soldiers of the 4th Battalion, Royal Leicestershire Regiment fire at German snipers and machine gunners on the edge of the Bois de Requerval, France on the 10th of October, 1918.
The image was taken by John Warwick Brooke, who was Britain’s second official photographer of the First World War.
The advance to recapture the Selle in the Picardy region was complete by the end of the month.
The Battle of the Canal du Nord took place in France from the 27th of September to the 1st of October, 1918. The battle was fought between Allied forces and the German Empire, resulting in an Allied victory.
These images are from the first day of the offensive, which began before dawn.
Canadian soldiers going forward near Moeuvres; the wounded coming back at dawn. X
Infantry – 4th Canadian Division. X
Tanks of A Company, 7th Battalion parked after capturing Bourlon Village. German prisoners carry British wounded across a cutting, near Moeuvres. X
German prisoners, carrying a wounded man, follow a British tank near Moeuvres. X
German prisoners in the Canadian sector. X
The iconic Battle of Amiens, later to be known as the opening chapter of the Hundred Days Offensive that ended the First World War, took place from the 8th to the 12th of August, 1918.
This painting, by Australian official war artist Will Longstaff, is titled 8th August, 1918. It shows a column of German prisoners of war heading in one direction, while horse-drawn artillery heads in the other.
The painting can be found in the collection of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
4th August 1918: British soldiers in Ranchicourt, France hold a service to mark the fourth anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War. The British Army military band stands in the foreground.
People gather outside Winchester Cathedral, Hampshire on the 4th of August, 1918 to mark the fourth anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War.
