1918 in France

See also: 1917 in France, other events of 1918, 1919 in France.

Events from the year 1918 in France.

Events

• 5 February - first US pilot to down an enemy airplane, Stephen W Thompson.
• 21 March - Second Battle of the Somme begins.
• 23 March - The giant German cannon, the so-called Paris Gun, begins to shell Paris from 114 km (71 mi) away.
• 27 May - Third Battle of the Aisne begins.
• 1 June - Battle of Belleau Wood begins.
• 6 June - Third Battle of the Aisne ends with the German advance halted after initial gains.
• 26 June - Battle of Belleau Wood ends in Allied victory.
• 15 July - Second Battle of the Marne begins, last major German offensive on the Western Front.
• 18 July-22 July - Battle of Soissons.
• 5 August - Second Battle of the Marne ends with Allied victory.
• 8 August - Battle of Amiens begins.
• 12 September - British victory in Battle of Havrincourt.
• 12 September-15 September - Battle of Saint-Mihiel, Allied victory.
• 18 September - British victory in the Battle of Épehy.
• 8 October-10 October - Battle of Cambrai, decisive Allied victory.
• 7 November - Anglo-French Declaration signed between France and the United Kingdom, agreeing to implement a "complete and final liberation" of countries that had been part of the Ottoman Empire.
• 11 November - Battle of Amiens ends, when the armistice is signed.

Births

• 25 April - Alain Savary, politician and Minister (died 1988).
• 25 April - Gérard de Vaucouleurs, astronomer (died 1995).
• 26 June - Roger Voisin, trumpeter (died 2008).
• 26 August - Marcel Bleibtreu, Trotskyist activist and theorist (died 2001).
• 14 September - Paul Bonneau, composer (died 1995).
• 30 September - René Rémond, historian and political economist (died 2007).
• 6 October - André Pilette, motor racing driver (died 1993).
• 16 October - Louis Althusser, Marxist philosopher (died 1990).
• 7 November - Paul Aussaresses, general
• 8 December - Gérard Souzay, baritone (died 2004).
• 16 December - Pierre Delanoë, songwriter/lyricist (died 2006).
• 30 December - Lucien Leduc, soccer player and manager (died 2004).

Full date unknown

• Madeleine Giteau, historian (died 2005).
• Gilbert Martineau, author and curator of the French properties on St Helena (died 1995).
• Marcel Mouly, artist (died 2008).
• Roger Trézel, bridge player (died 1986).

Deaths

• 9 January - Charles-Émile Reynaud, science teacher, responsible for the first animated films (born 1844).
• 25 March - Claude Debussy, composer (born 1862).
• 5 October - Roland Garros, aviator and World War I fighter pilot (born 1888).
• 13 October - Marcel Deprez, electrical engineer (born 1843).
• 9 November - Guillaume Apollinaire, poet, writer and art critic (born 1880).
• 3 December - Étienne Destot, radiologist and anatomist (born 1864).
• 22 December - Philippe Alexandre Jules Künckel d'Herculais, entomologist (born 1843).

Full date unknown

• Henri Chantavoine, writer (born 1850).
• Émile Étienne Guimet, industrialist, traveller and connoisseur (born 1836).
• Thérèse Humbert, fraudster (born 1856).

References