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On January 29, Mahmut Kamil Paşa returned from Istanbul. He could feel that the Russians would not only attack to Erzurum but also renew the offensive southern flank around Lake Van. Hınıs, located further south, was taken on February 7 to prevent reinforcements from Muş from coming in. Mahmut Kamil tried to strengthen the defensive lines. That drew most of the Turkish reserves and diverted Turkish attention away from the decisive attack farther north. On the same day, Russian forces captured Muş after the Battle of Mush. Muş was seventy miles from Erzurum. On February 11 and 12th, the Deve-Boyun Ridge, an important artillery platform, was the scene of heavy fighting. To the north of the Deve Boyun ridge the Russian columns approached over the Kargapazar ridge, which the Turks considered impassable. The X Turkish Corps guarded that sector of the line, and its commander had positioned his divisions so that they were not mutually supporting. Mahmut Kamil had five divisions in the Deve-Boyun ridge area, but was slow to react to what was going on north of that position.

After their defeat, the Ottoman Army gave Mustafa Kemal the organization of the defense of the region in August. The region was controlled by the 2nd Army. When Mustafa Kemal was assigned to his post, the enemy forces were in constant advance. Fighting around the east side of Lake Van continued throughout the summer but was inconclusive. In the earlier periods of the campaign, the XVI Corps managed to take Bitlis and Mush. Ahmet İzzet Paşa decided to attack one week after the conclusion of the Russian offensive. A military force was gathered and sent marching along the coast. The Second Army advanced on August 2. While Nikolai Nikolaevich Yudenich was in the north and pushing the Ottoman 3rd Army, the Ottoman 2nd Army was in the south facing the insurgency and the second branch of Russian army under General Tovmas Nazarbekian and the detachment Armenian volunteer units led by Andranik Ozanian. After fighting from 1–9 August 1916, the Ottoman Army was overwhelmed and the entire region fell to the Russian Empire and Armenian volunteers, and thus an assault on Van was prevented.

In late May, facing Baratov was assigned to the XIII Corps commanded by colonel Ali İhsan Bey, who began his advance. Meanwhile, on the Russian side, Baratov was hoping to capture Khanaqin and move down to Baghdad, which could have been taken by the Russians as the Turks and the British were busy with fighting each other. On June 3, he forced Khanaqin once again, but this time the balance had changed. The Ottoman XIII Corps successful repulsed Baratov's forces, and did not leave it there; soon the counter-offensive that was planned launched. Ali İhsan Bey captured Kermanshah on 2 July and took Hamadan on 10 August. Having lost half of his men, Baratov was forced to retreat north. Baratov stopped at the Sultan Bulak range. In August 1916, the gendarmes return to Kermanshah.

On 20 January, Enver Pasha replaced Nureddin Pasha with Colonel Halil Kut (Khalil Pasha). Nureddin Pasha did not want to work with a German General. He sent a telegram to the War Ministry "The Iraq Army has already proven that it does not need the military knowledge of Goltz Pasha..."[citation needed] After the first failure, General Nixon was replaced by General Lake. British forces received small quantities of supplies from the air. These drops were not enough to feed the garrison, though. Halil Kut forced the British to choose between starving or surrendering, though in the mean time they would try to lift the siege. Between January–March 1916, both Townshend and Aylmer launched several attacks in an attempt to lift the siege. In sequence, the attacks took place at the Battle of Sheikh Sa'ad, the Battle of the Wadi, the Battle of Hanna, and the Battle of Dujaila Redoubt. These series of British attempts to break through the encirclement did not succeed and their costs were heavy. Both sides suffered high casualties. In February, XIII Corps received 2nd Infantry Division as a reinforcement. Food and hopes were running out for Townshend in Kut-al-Amara. Disease were spreading rapidly and could not be cured.

前回同様の質問を致しまして、解決したかに思えたのですが、やってみたらできなかったので再掲です。 以下のようなデータがあります。str1 (or 2, 3) は文字列で、*はワイルドカードです。 つまり長い文字列の中にstr1~str3がそれぞれ入っています。 *str1*　*str2*　*str3*　*str1*　*str2*　*str3*　*str1*　*str2*　*str3*　*str1*　・・・ 0.303　NaN1.271　0.507　NaN　0　2.662　0.53　0.956　1.772　・・・ 0.454　1.126　1.766　0.386　0.234　0.309　NaN　1.028　0.371　0.235　・・・ 0.27　NaN　NaN　0.612　NaN　0.255　2.006　0.395　0.437　0.269　・・・ ほしいデータは、各行ごとに、隣接するstr1~str3を１区切りとして、str1~3それぞれを最小値とする組がいくつあるかということです。 つまり上記の例だと一行目では、最初の　0.303　NaN1.271 では 0.303 が最小なので*str1*にカウント1が入り、次の組み合わせ 0.507　NaN　0 では 0 が最小なので *str3* にカウント1、次では 2.662　0.53　0.956 の組み合わせなので、*str2* にカウント1。ここまでで 全て１ずつカウントされることになります。 このようにstr1~3のどこに最小値がくるかを数えるには、関数だけでは厳しいでしょうか？

General Teodorescu ordered a redeployment of forces so that 9 battalions were to defend Sector I, 12 battalions Sector II, 2 battalions Sector III and 5 battalions Sector IV, while an additional 7 battalions remained in reserve. This order, however, reached the troops only in the morning and the units were not able to execute it. At around 4:30 am on 6 September the Bulgarian artillery again opened fire in sectors I and III. Men of the Bulgarian 4th division began crossing the large forest that separated the two main and secondary defensive lines. Aided by the powerful artillery preparation, the Bulgarian 7th and 31st infantry regiments advanced rapidly.

The new Kenali defensive line was occupied from Lake Prespa to Kenali by the 3 independent infantry brigades(9/2 IB, 2/6 IB and 1/6 IB), from Kenali to the heights east of the Cherna river by the 8th division and from there to the Mala Rupa peak by the 1/3 Infantry Brigade. Further to the east were the remaining forces of the Eleventh Army - the rest of the 3rd Balkan Infantry Division, whose positions remained unchanged since they were occupied on 25 of July 1916.Around that time, when it became clear that the Allies were pulling troops from the eastern flank and were concentrating them against Monastir the commander of the Bulgarian Second Army general Todorov ordered the 7th Rila Division to take positions for an attack over the Struma river, in order to assist the hard pressed Bulgarians and Germans west of the Vardar.

Leon Trotsky, head of the Russian delegation, hoped to delay talks until a revolution occurred, which would force Germany out of the war. Trotsky was the leading advocate of the "neither war nor peace" policy and on 28 January 1918 announced that Soviet Russia considered the war over. This was unacceptable to the Germans who were already transporting troops to the Western Front. The German Chief of Staff, general Max Hoffmann, responded by signing the peace treaty with Ukrainian People's Republic on 9 February and announced an end to the cease-fire with Russia in two-days time on 17 February, leading to the resumption of hostilities. While negotiations were ongoing, Soviet Commander-in-Chief Nikolai Krylenko oversaw the demobilization and democratization of the Russian army, introducing elected commanders, ending all ranks, and sending troops home. On 29 January, Krylenko ordered demobilization of the whole army. On 18 February, the German and Austro-Hungarian forces started a major three-pronged offensive with 53 divisions. The northern force advanced from Pskov towards Narva, the central force pushed towards Smolensk, and the southern force towards Kiev. The northern force, consisting of 16 divisions, captured the key Daugavpils junction on the first day. This was soon followed by the capture of Pskov and securing Narva on 28 February. The central forces of the 10th Army and XLI corps advanced towards Smolensk. On 21 February Minsk was captured together with the headquarters of the Western Army Group. The Southern forces broke through the remains of the Russian Southwestern Army Group, capturing Zhitomir on 24 February. Kiev was secured on 2 March, one day after the Ukrainian Central Rada troops had arrived there. Central Powers armies had advanced over 150 miles (240 km) within a week, facing no serious resistance. German troops were now within 100 miles (160 km) of Petrograd, forcing the Soviets to transfer their capital to Moscow. The rapid advance was described as a "Railway War" (der Eisenbahnfeldzug) with German soldiers using Russian railways to advance eastward. General Hoffmann wrote in his diary on 22 February: It is the most comical war I have ever known.

Germany's intention was to turn these territories into political and territorial satellites, but this plan collapsed with Germany's own defeat within a year. After the German surrender, the Soviets made an attempt to regain lost territories. They were successful in some areas like Ukraine, Belarus and the Caucasus, but were forced to recognize the independence of the Baltic States, Finland, and Poland. In the Bolshevik government, Lenin consolidated his power; however, fearing the possibility of a renewed German threat along the Baltic, he moved the capital from Petrograd to Moscow on 12 March. Debates became far more restrained, and he was never again so strongly challenged as he was regarding the Brest-Litovsk treaty. The Capture of Jericho occurred between 19 and 21 February 1918 to the east of Jerusalem beginning the Occupation of the Jordan Valley during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of the First World War. Fighting took place in an area bordered by the Bethlehem–Nablus road in the west, the Jordan River in the east, and north of a line from Jerusalem to the Dead Sea. Here a British Empire force attacked Ottoman positions, forcing them back to Jericho and eventually across the Jordan River. Winter rains put an end to campaigning after the advance from the Gaza–Beersheba line to the capture of Jerusalem in December 1917. This lull in the fighting offered the opportunity for the captured territories to be consolidated. Extensive developments were also required along the lines of communication to ensure that front-line troops were adequately supplied, approximately 150 miles (240 km) from their main bases at Moascar and Kantara on the Suez Canal. General Edmund Allenby's initial strategic plans focused on his open right flank. If attacked with sufficiently large forces, he could be outflanked by an attack from the east—unlike his left flank which rested securely on the Mediterranean Sea to the west. His aim was to capture the territory east of Jerusalem stretching to the Dead Sea, where his right flank could be more secure. The area was garrisoned by Ottoman troops entrenched on hill-tops which the British infantry, Australian light horse and New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigades attacked.

The British commander General Edmund Allenby needed to establish a defensive line running from the Mediterranean Sea which could be held with reasonable security once his right flank was secured on the Dead Sea. In order to consolidate a strong British line, it was necessary to push the 3rd and 7th Divisions, part of the XXII Corps, of the Ottoman Eighth Army away from the Nahr el Auja 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Jaffa on the Mediterranean coast. The river was defended on the northern bank, by a trench system, from Mulebbis and Fejja to Bald Hill. From Mulebbis to the sea the river is between 40 to 50 feet (12 to 15 m) wide and 10 feet (3.0 m) deep except for the ford. The first attack across the Nahr el Auja, was little more than a raid, on the night of 24/25 November by two infantry battalions from the 54th (East Anglian) Division and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade. The outnumbered battalions, were driven back by the Ottoman defenders, as they recaptured the bridgeheads and restored the tactical situation. Three infantry divisions of the British XXI Corps, under the command of Lieutenant General Edward Bulfin, began moving their units into position on the coastal plain on 7 December. The 75th Division was on the right with the 54th (East Anglian) Division in the centre and the 52nd (Lowland) Division on the left at the coast. The 162nd (East Midland) Brigade, relieved the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade in the front line on 11 December and the mounted riflemen, who had been heavily involved in the earlier attempt to capture the Nahr el Auja, moved back to bivouac near Ayun Kara. On 14 December Major General John Hill, the commanding officer of the Lowland Division, submitted a plan for a surprise assault across the river by his division. Artillery was concentrated behind the lines, while the division's Royal Engineers, formed pontoons and canvas coracle boats, that were large enough to accommodate twenty men. It had initially been planned for a heavy artillery bombardment to proceed the attack, however Hill suggested they instead try a surprise attack without the artillery bombardment.

During the battle of Jaffa the attacks by the two British divisions had forced the Ottoman forces back 5 miles (8.0 km). The battle was a success for the British, with 316 Ottoman prisoners taken and ten machine guns captured. The battle was mentioned in General Sir Edmund Allenby's despatch; "The successful crossing of the Nahr el Auja reflects great credit on the 52nd (Lowland) Division. It involved considerable preparation, the details of which were thought out with care and precision. The sodden state of the ground, and, on the night of the crossing, the swollen state of the river, added to the difficulties, yet by dawn the whole of the infantry had crossed. The fact that the enemy were taken by surprise, and, that all resistance was overcome with the bayonet without a shot being fired, bears testimony to the discipline of this division....The operation, by increasing the distance between the enemy and Jaffa from three to eight miles, rendered Jaffa and its harbour secure, and gained elbow-room for the troops covering Ludd and Ramleh and the main Jaffa-Jerusalem road." The British official history described the battle; The passage of the Auja has always been regarded as one of the most remarkable feats of the Palestine campaign...its chief merits were its boldness — justifiable against troops known to be sluggish and slack in outpost work and already shaken by defeat — its planning, the skill of the engineers;the promptitude with which unexpected difficulties in the bridging the river were met; finally, the combined discipline and dash of the infantry which carried out the operation without a shot being fired and won the works on the right with the bayonet. This was one of the last actions the 52nd (Lowland) Division fought in this campaign. In March 1918, they were ordered to move to the Western Front in France. The 54th (East Anglian) Division remained in Palestine taking part in operations at Berukin in April 1918 and the battle of Sharon in September. The British units involved in the battle were awarded the distinct battle honour Jaffa.

The final break with the Tsentralna Rada came on April 29, when General Pavlo Skoropadskyi declared himself Hetman of the Ukrainian state. The Treaty of Rapallo of 1922 between Germany and Soviet Russia canceled the German commitments made at Brest-Litovsk. The disintegration of Austria-Hungary in late 1918 automatically annulled its commitments. Turkey renounced the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk by signing a treaty with the Ukrainian SSR in 1922. Only Bulgaria, as far as is known, did not formally annul the treaty. The Battle of Rarańcza was fought between Polish Legionnaires, and Austria-Hungary, from February 15 to 16, 1918, near Rarańcza in Bukovina, and ended with a Polish victory.The Brest-Litovsk Treaty, which was being negotiated on February 9, 1918, did not appear to benefit the idea of a nation state for Poland. This treaty, signed between the Central Powers (including Austria-Hungary) and the Ukrainian People's Republic on February 9, 1918, transferred the province of Chełm to the Ukrainian state. Poles, meanwhile, believed that the town of Chełm and surrounding lands should be under Polish control. The Polish forces, part of the Austro-Hungarian Army stationed on the border of Bessarabia, were increasingly restless. They were relatively spread out throughout the region over a frontline 250 km in length. They consisted of the Polish Auxiliary Corps (known as the II Brigade of Polish Legionnaires up till the recent oath crisis), as well as some additional Polish units. The Poles, having received the information about the treaty on February 12, and expecting, in the aftermath of the treaty further weakening of the Polish units, decided on the February 14 to join forces with the Polish First Army Corps in Russia by crossing the Austrian-Russian front lines. Only a few, including general Michał Zieliński, proposed taking no action, however even Zieliński unofficially supported the mutiny. Polish units, mostly the 2nd and 3rd Regiment under the command of Józef Haller de Hallenburg, attempted to break through the Austrian lines on February 15 to 16, 1918. Austrian forces were ordered to stop them, and fighting ensued in several places (while in others Austrian units withdrew).

The main Polish units broke through the Austro-Hungarian Army near a town called Rarańcza, located in Bukovina, but the rear units with wagons were stopped by an armored train, and eventually disarmed and arrested. The Legionnaires won the battle, but estimates of their losses vary: according to historian Jerzy Lerski they suffered "great losses", but Gawlik states there were only 16 casualties, while over 900 soldiers of the Auxiliary Corps and other Polish soldiers from other formations - about 4,000 total - were arrested). 86 officers and NCOs were later put to trial by the Austro-Hungarian government, but Charles I of Austro-Hungary ordered the trial to be stopped, and a few weeks later Austro-Hungary was no more. Some (according to Gawlik, about 1,600) of Hallenburg's troops were able to make it through the front lines into already abandoned Russian trenches, and on March 5 were absorbed into the Polish Second Corps, whilst many were captured and imprisoned by the Austrians. The remaining troops under general Hallenburg would be defeated in May by the Germans in the battle of Kaniów. The Operation Faustschlag ("Operation Fist Punch"), also known as the Eleven Days' War, was a Central Powers offensive in World War I. It was the last major action on the Eastern Front. Russian forces were unable to put up any serious resistance due to the turmoil of the Russian Revolution and subsequent Russian Civil War. The armies of the Central Powers therefore captured huge territories in the Baltics, Belarus, and Ukraine, forcing the Bolshevik government of Russia to sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.Bolsheviks took power in Russia during the October Revolution and announced that Russia would be withdrawing from war. Talks with the Central Powers started in Brest-Litovsk on 3 December 1917 and on the 17th a cease-fire went into effect. Peace talks soon followed, starting on 22 December. As negotiations began, the Central Powers presented demands for the territory that they had occupied during the 1914–1916 period, including Poland, Lithuania and western Latvia. The Bolsheviks decided not to accept these terms and instead withdrew from the negotiations, eventually resulting in the breakdown of the ceasefire.

They were to move towards the Wadi el Auja, which flowed eastwards into the Jordan River (not to be confused with the Wadi el Auja which flowed westwards into the Mediterranean Sea from the same watershed). At the same time, Chauvel's Desert Mounted Corps, mounted force formed by the 1st Light Horse Brigade and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade (both brigades from the Anzac Mounted Division), was to cover the right flank of Chetwode's infantry and advance towards Rujm el Bahr on the Dead Sea. The plan was for the 60th (London) Division to advance to Mukhmas eight miles (13 km) north-north-east of Jerusalem, then advance forward six miles (9.7 km) east through El Muntar Iraq Ibrahim and Ras et Tawil. Their left flank was to be covered the 53rd (Welsh) Division, which was to capture the high ground at Rammun three miles (4.8 km) north of Mukhmas while their right was covered by the Anzac Mounted Division. The second stage required the 60th (London) Division to advance to a point yet to be decided, in three brigade columns: the right to Jebil Ekteif south of the main Jericho road, the centre to Talat ed Dumm, and the left column moving along the "Ancient Road" running east from Mukhmas. Their final advance would take them to the edge of the ridge overlooking Jericho and the Jordan Valley; there was no plan for them to enter the valley. Each infantry column was to be supported by a 60-pounder or 6-inch artillery battery, a Field artillery brigade and a field company of Royal Engineers. On 14 February, preliminary operations were carried out by the XX Corps; the 60th (London) Division which advanced to Mukhmas eight miles (13 km) north-north-east of Jerusalem, while on their left flank the 53rd (Welsh) Division captured the village of Deir Diwan. At this time the 1st Light Horse and New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigades were at Ayun Kara; they marched out for Bethlehem arriving there on 17 and 18 February. While the infantry attacks were progressing along the road between Jerusalem and Jericho on 19 February, the two brigades of the Anzac Mounted Division were to move in a flanking movement towards Nebi Musa. They were to make their way down into the Jordan Valley towards Rujm el Bahr to cut off enemy retreat from Jericho, and drive the remaining Ottoman defenders to the eastern side of the Jordan River.

A rescue effort by Major William J. "Wild Bill" Donovan was begun in haste attempting to dig the men but their efforts were hampered by mud-slides and continued enemy shelling. :pp.167–171 Two men were rescued and five dead were recovered before efforts had to be halted. The voices other men could be heard for a while, but the remaining fifteen men died before rescue efforts could resume. :pp.167–171 Donovan was awarded the French Croix de Guerre for his actions during the attempted rescue. :pp.209–210 Poet and literary critic Joyce Kilmer, a sergeant with the regiment, wrote the 1918 poem "Rouge Bouquet" (also called "The Wood Called Rouge Bouquet" to commemorate the soldiers in his unit who died. :pp.175–176 The poem was first read by Kilmer at the memorial service held on the battlefield a few days later. :pp.175–176 It first appeared in print in the American serviceman's newspaper Stars and Stripes—published two weeks after Kilmer died in combat in the Second Battle of the Marne on 30 July 1918. The Battle of Tell 'Asur, known as the Action of Tell 'Asur also known as the Battle of Turmus 'Aya, took place between 8 and 12 March 1918, after the decisive victory at the Battle of Jerusalem and the Capture of Jericho during the Sinai and Palestine Campaign of World War I. Fighting took place over an area which extended from the Mediterranean to Abu Tellul and Mussalabeh on the edge of the Jordan Valley. After the Capture of Jericho by the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) in February 1918 the occupation of the Jordan Valley began. However, the captured territory was not sufficiently broad to provide a strong enough base for the planned Transjordan operations. The EEF's front line was successfully pushed northwards following attacks by the XX and XXI Corps against the Ottoman Seventh Army and Eighth Army. At the end of March the First Transjordan attack on Amman was launched to be followed the next month by the Second Transjordan attack on Shunet Nimrin and Es Salt.General Edmund Allenby's right flank was secure but was not sufficiently broad to support the planned operations across the Jordan to the Hedjaz railway.

During these operations a general advance on a front of 14–26 miles (23–42 km) and up to a maximum of 5–7 miles (8.0–11.3 km) in depth by both the XX and XXI Corps pushed Ottoman forces north from the River Auja on the Mediterranean coast, from Abu Tellul and Mussallabeh on the edge of the Jordan Valley and up the Jerusalem to Nablus road capturing Ras el Ain. The objectives of the XX Corps were Kh. el Beiyudat and Abu Telul in the Jordan Valley north of the Wadi el Auja and to the west astride the Jerusalem to Nablus road, the road running from Mughaiyrir through Sinjil and Jiljliya (Gilgal) to Abwein. The XXI Corps' right was to advance to Deir Ballut and Majdal Yaba 4.5 miles (7.2 km) north of its present position at Et Tire. Some preliminary operations mainly to gain better gun positions commenced on the night of 2 March when infantry from the 53rd (Welsh) Division advanced west of the Nablus road on a 3 miles (4.8 km) front from north-west of Rammun to south-west of Bir ez Zeit and the 10th (Irish) Division advanced to Beit Ello 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Bir ez Zeit. On the night of 6 March 53rd (Welsh) Division occupied the village of Taiyibe and the artillery was then brought up. The main advance by infantry from the XX Corps, began during the night of 8 March, by the 53rd (Welsh) Division with the 1st Light Horse Brigade (probably operating dismounted in the rough terrain — see map opposite), the 74th (Yeomanry) Division and the 10th (Irish) Division. On the right flank the 181st Brigade, 60th (2/2nd London) Division, which took part on the first day only, was to secure the line of the Wadi el Auja in and just above the Jordan Valley and guard it and the open right flank of the 53rd (Welsh) Division against an attack. The 60th (2/2nd London) Division pushed Ottoman units back from high ground on the north bank of the Wadi Auja, well beyond the valuable water supply in the river. The XX Corps began its advance during the night of 8 March at the same time as the Ottoman XX Corps began to arrive on the Auja. The wadi was 20 yards (18 m) across but only 3 feet (0.91 m) deep and the 2/22nd and 2/21st Battalion, London Regiment crossed the wadi in the plain without incident before 05:00.

Casualties in the division from 21–27 March were 6,109, the most costly day being 21 March. Gough had been forced to order a fighting retreat to win time for reinforcements to reach his army. As the British fell back, troops in the redoubts fought on, in the hope that they would be relieved by counter-attacks or to impose the maximum delay on the German attackers. The right wing of the Third Army also retreated, to avoid being outflanked. The morning fog had delayed the use of aircraft but by the end of the day, 36 squadrons of the Royal Flying Corps had been in action and reported losing 16 aircraft and crew, while having shot down 14 German aircraft; German records show 19 and 8 losses. The first day of the battle had been costly for the Germans, who had suffered c. 40,000 casualties, slightly more than they inflicted on the BEF. The attack in the north had failed to isolate the Flesquières Salient, which had been held by the 63rd Division and the weight of the German offensive was increased in the south, where the 18th Army received six fresh divisions. And then, exactly as a pianist runs his hands across the keyboard from treble to bass, there rose in less than one minute the most tremendous cannonade I shall ever hear...It swept round us in a wide curve of red leaping flame stretching to the north far along the front of the Third Army, as well as of the Fifth Army on the south, and quite unending in either direction...the enormous explosions of the shells upon our trenches seemed almost to touch each other, with hardly an interval in space or time...The weight and intensity of the bombardment surpassed anything which anyone had ever known before. Minister of Munitions Winston Churchill, who was inspecting the 9th (Scottish) Division at Nurlu on the morning of Michael Day 2, 22 March On the second day of the offensive, British troops continued to fall back, losing their last footholds on the original front line. Thick fog impeded operations and did not disperse until early afternoon. Isolated engagements took place as the Germans pressed forward and the British held their posts, often not knowing who was to either side of them. Brigade and battalion control over events was absent. .

The Bn then retired with difficulty to the line protecting the PERONNE–CLERY road with the remainder of the 116th Inf. Bde. to cover the retreat of the 117th and 118th Inf. Bdes. When this had been successfully accomplished under very harassing machine gun fire from the enemy, the Bn conformed to the general retirement on CLERY village where it concentrated. The remnants of the Bn then defended a line of trenches between the village and running down to the River SOMME.”(23 March 1918) Ludendorff issued a directive for the "continuation of the operations as soon as the line Bapaume–Peronne–Ham had been reached: 17th Army will vigorously attack in the direction Arras–St Pol, left wing on Miraumont (7 km (4 1⁄2 mi) west of Bapaume). 2nd Army will take Miraumont–Lihons (near Chaulnes) as direction of advance. 18th Army, echeloned, will take Chaulnes–Noyon as direction of advance, and will send strong forces via Ham". The 17th Army was to roll-up British forces northwards and the 2nd Army was to attack west along the Somme, towards the vital railway centre of Amiens. The 18th Army was to head south-west, destroying French reinforcements on their line of march and threatening the approaches to Paris in the Second Battle of Picardy (2e Bataille de Picardie). The advance had been costly and the German infantry were beginning to show signs of exhaustion; transport difficulties had emerged, supplies and much heavy artillery lagged behind the advance. Actions at the Somme crossings, 24–25 March Day 4, 24 March By now, the front line was badly fragmented and highly fluid, as the remnants of the divisions of the Fifth Army were fighting and moving in small bodies, often composed of men of different units. German units advanced irregularly and some British units ended up under French command to the south or behind enemy lines to the east, making the logistic tasks of the corps and divisional staffs nigh impossible. The Official Historian, Brigadier-General Sir James E. Edmonds wrote, After three days of battle, with each night spent on the march or occupied in the sorting out and reorganization of units, the troops – Germans as well as British – were tired almost to the limits of endurance. The physical and mental strain of the struggle against overwhelming odds, the heavy losses, the sinister rumours which were rife, all contributed to depress morale.

The status of the Transcaucasian Commissariat was unclear at the time: the Ottomans regarded it as an independent entity, a legal successor of the Russian Empire, while the Commissariat still considered itself a part of the Russian Republic. The Ottoman Empire was already party to the Brest-Litovsk armistice with Russia (15 December) that covered the Caucasian and Persian Fronts. After receiving a ceasefire proposal from Vehib Pasha, commander of the Ottoman Third Army, the Commissariat authorised the commander of the Russian Caucasus Front, General Przhevalski, to negotiate an armistice with his Ottoman opposite. The result was the Erzincan Armistice, after which the Russian troops began to withdraw, leaving the Transcaucasian Commissariat completely undefended. A supplement to the armistice was signed on the same day, demarcating the line of occupation between the two sides. On 12 February, Ottoman forces began advancing across the line in defiance of the armistice, having rejected the Transcaucasian Commissariat's authority to sign it and accused the Armenians of massacring Muslims behind the Ottoman line on 15–16 January. On 24 February the Brest-Litovsk armistice was broken by Germany and became of no effect. Both armistices were superseded by the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Russia, signed on 3 March 1918, and the Treaty of Batum with the successor states of the Transcaucasian Commissariat, signed 4 June. The Special Transcaucasian Committee (Russian: Особый Закавказский Комитет Osobyi Zakavkazskii Komitet (OZaKom, Ozakom or OZAKOM)) was established on March 9, 1917, with Member of the State Duma V. A. Kharlamov as Chairman, to replace the Imperial Viceroy Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich and with special instruction to establish civil administrations in areas occupied in the course of the war on the Caucasian front by the Russian Provisional Government in the Transcaucasia as the highest organ of civil administrative body. Commissars were appointed for the Terek and Kuban oblasts, and these as well as the Committee were to carry on relations with central government institutions through a Commissar for Caucasian Affairs in Petrograd attached to the Provisional Government.

The divisive debate ended with the country divided on linguistic lines. The Liberals won 82 seats, 62 in Quebec, with many other seats won in provinces such as Manitoba, New Brunswick, and Ontario in ridings with significant French Canadian populations. The Unionists won 153 seats. The three Unionist won seats in Quebec were all in mainly English-speaking ridings. That led to the Francœur Motion in January 1918. Out of 235 seats, 33 were won by acclamation -- 17 to the Laurier Liberals (all in Quebec) and 16 to the Unionists (all outside Quebec). Two of the Unionist acclamations were for the riding of Halifax, where the only candidates were two Unionists, and where, eleven days earlier, the tragic Halifax Explosion had taken place. The Battle of Jaffa was an engagement fought during the Southern Palestine Offensive of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign in World War I, between the Egyptian Expeditionary Force of the British Empire on one side and the Yildirim Army Group of the Ottoman Empire and German Empires on the other. The port of Jaffa had been occupied by the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade on the 16 November, as a result of the victory gained by that brigade and the 1st Light Horse Brigade at the Ayun Kara two days before, but the Ottoman forces were only 3 miles (4.8 km) away across the Auju River (Yarkon River), the mouth of which is known as the Nahr-el-Auja. The closeness of the Ottoman army made the port and town unusable to shipping, still being within range of Ottoman artillery. Over the night of the 20–21 December 1917, the 52nd (Lowland) Division carried out an assault river crossing. With the far side of the river taken, the other divisions of the XXI Corps with their supporting artillery crossed and forced the Ottoman defenders to withdraw 5 miles (8.0 km). With the Ottoman forces pushed back, Jaffa and communications between it and Jerusalem were made secure. The night crossing of the river has been regarded as one of the most remarkable feats of the Palestine campaign.On 16 November 1917 the British forces occupied the port of Jaffa on the Mediterranean coast. However the Ottoman forces forced out of the town were still able to interdict shipping and harass troop movements from their positions on the northern bank of the Yarkon River—the Nahr el Auja as it was called in Arabic.