8 October

Great War events that took place on 8 October.

1914 (Thursday)

Western Front	▶ General Foch takes supreme command of the Allied armies defending the Coast.	▶ Fighting at Roye.	▶ Antwerp is bombarded: Belgians and Naval Brigades leave (being cut off and losing 2,000 interned in Holland).	▶ Sir John French's third despatch^[a] (published 19 October).
Eastern Front	East Prussia: Russians take Lyck.
Asiatic and Egyptian Theatres	Tsing-tau: Japanese capture "Prince Heinrich" hill.
Naval and Overseas Operations	British submarine HMS E9 sinks German destroyer S 126 at mouth of the River Ems.

Notes

↑ Sir John French's third despatch of 8 October covers the period from 11 September to the end of September. It describes the crossing of the Ourcq, arrival at the Aisne and crossing of this river by most of our forces, together with the severe fighting involved; arrival of the 6th Division on the 16th; necessity for more and heavier guns; German counter-attacks perpetually defeated up to the 28th, when they died away. Our [Britain's] total losses during this period: 561 officers and 12,980 other ranks.

Sources: Various material contemporary with the war have been used to compile The Great War On This Day and its associated Compendium.

On This Day pages are styled as timelines and have been transcribed from two out-of-copyright sources: Chronology of the War (1918-1920), and History of the Great War – Principle Events 1914-1918 (1922). The spelling of place-names is a particularly convoluted subject. Some names were spelt differently depending on source, others have changed over time for various political or geographical reasons. In general, spelling of place names are original to British use at the time of, and shortly after, the war. Some typos have been altered or corrected for consistency. Similar events between these sources have been amalgamated; as a result the date and wording may differ to their original texts.

Compendium entries form the central hub of (a) An index-like collection of places, people, ships, battles, political events, etc., and (b) Words and phrases of the Armed Forces of Great Britain during the Great War. The majority of these have been transcribed from Chronology of the War (1918-1920) and Soldier and Sailor Words and Phrases (1925) respectively, the later which is reflected in the language used and some may seem derogatory by today's standards.

Images come from scans or photographs of original sources, Wikimedia Commons, and the Imperial War Museum's online collections under the IWM Non-Commercial Licence. Attribution is given separately to the latter and does not come under the general licence of this site. Please be aware that some images, although very few, may depict distressing scenes.

Advisory note: The information in these sources may not accurately represent updated histories, present-day spellings, or geographical borders. It is also written from a British perspective, and words such as "enemy" are used extensively. For further details and a full list of sources, click here.

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[1] Sir John French's third despatch of 8 October covers the period from 11 September to the end of September. It describes the crossing of the Ourcq, arrival at the Aisne and crossing of this river by most of our forces, together with the severe fighting involved; arrival of the 6th Division on the 16th; necessity for more and heavier guns; German counter-attacks perpetually defeated up to the 28th, when they died away. Our [Britain's] total losses during this period: 561 officers and 12,980 other ranks.

[a]