Italy Goes to War and Discovers It's Going to Be a Long Grind

General Luigi Cadorna

Italian Chief of Staff Luigi Cadorna, having learnt of the Treaty of London, accepted the orders but declared that the army would not be ready before one month. This notwithstanding, morale was high; the general was convinced that within a month his army would have reached Trieste; upon being asked by Francesco Saverio Nitti in the summer of 1915 on the army's winter equipment, Prime Minister Salandra answered: "Do you believe that the war will last beyond winter?"

Both of them did not seem to have taken into consideration the several communications that were already in circulation regarding the new war. The military attaché in Berlin, Luigi Bongiovanni, had written for instance several reports on the conditions of this conflict and on how, after a few weeks of fighting, the struggle would be transformed into one based on positional warfare that would be intense, stationary, with the excavation of trenches and battlefronts that would be difficult to move.

The preparation of the Italian army envisaged both an offensive plan as well as a plan to contain the enemy across an area that covered from the Stelvio Pass (the border between Lombardy and Alto Adige) up to the eastern zone of the plains of Friuli for a total of some 600 kilometers. The front was divided in five segments: the westernmost segment was largely of a defensive nature whereas the other four segments, from Cadore right up to the zone of Cervignano del Friuli, were offensive.

Italy's Soldiery Was Highly Enthusiastic at the Start

On its part for several weeks Austria-Hungary had already understood what would happen. Military propaganda had already started to depict Italy as a State that was treacherous and that could be expected to undertake any kind of dishonorable action. On 20 May the Emperor ordered a state of alert and nominated Archduke Eugene as commander of the new front in the south-east. Three days later Vittorio Emanuele III sent to the Italian ambassador in Vienna the declaration of war. This declaration said that on the next day, 24 May 1915, the Italian army would start military operations along the border.

When fighting began, Cadorna had under his command some 400,000 soldiers in the plains of Veneto and Friuli. Besides the First Army which had largely defensive duties, the other armies and the Zona Carnia already had received orders to advance beyond the border.

Early Attack on the Italian Front

The Austro-Hungarian Army could rely instead only on 50/70,000 soldiers, that went up to 110,000 during the next weeks. Its troops reflected the heterogeneous nature of the empire where only one fourth could speak German and included among their ranks even two percent who were Italians. But these differences were overcome by a strong anti-Italian sentiment (especially among the Austrians and the Slavs), as was pointed out by the German Field Marshal Hindenburg: "[the Habsburg troops] fought against the Russians with their heads but attacked the Italians with all their heart." 

In the zone of Medio and Basso Isonzo, the initial objective was to isolate Gorizia and to reach Monfalcone in the south and the basin of Caporetto in the north. Although the Austro-Hungarian army left several kilometers without any resistance and placed its defenses on the first elevations, the Italian troops advanced with a lot of prudence. They crossed the border at Cervignano del Friuli and took two days to reach the right bank of Isonzo which was impossible to cross because of heavy rains. After the night of 4 June, the troops were again slowed by the marshes that had been prepared by the Austrians who in the meantime had organized their own defense on the Karst behind Monfalcone, which the Italians reached on 9 June.

While the Messina Battalion entered this port, further north the Second Army launched its first attack on Mount Calvario, on the outskirts of Gorizia. All the hills that surround this city on the river Isonzo had already been prepared for its defense and so this action failed. Instead in the Natisone Valleys the inexperience and the lack of preparations led to several rather simple mistakes: on reaching Caporetto on 25 May, the military commanders decided to conquer the mountains Nero and Mrzli so as to surround the village of Tolmino from the north. For some unknown reason, however, the advance was stopped toward the end of May, and it was only on 6 June that the 3rd Reggimento Alpini conquered Mount Nero.

Inevitably, Though, It Came to Trench Warfare

From this it was obvious that what should have been a war based on an offensive strategy revealed itself instead as a hazardous and badly organized advance. The poor quality of the equipment and of communications between divisions was already giving rise to problems. Besides, the morale of the troops already began to sway from the first moments when they found out that the population of Friuli and of the Isonzo region had welcomed their arrival with a lot of suspicion (although propaganda had convinced them of the contrary). In the first month Italy lost about 15,000 men and already on 10 June 1915 Cadorna informed his family (and also Salandra at a later stage) that even on the Italian front a battle based on trench warfare was looming that would not be concluded in a short time.

Forty-two months later the war of choice by Italy had joined voluntarily would lead to victory, but at a stupendous price. The Great War cost Italy approximately 600,000 to 650,000 military deaths, over 950,000 wounded, and a total direct financial cost of over $12 billion (1914–1918 USD). Postwar inflation, political instability, and the rise of Fascism followed the Armistice.

Source:  Itinerary Della Grande Guerra

A Portrait of Innocence: Austria-Hungary Goes to War

On 27 July 1914 the Austrian foreign minister Berchtold requested Emperor Franz Joseph to sign the declaration of war, on the express grounds that the situation called for swift action, in order to achieve a fait accompli that would forestall any possible peace initiative on the part of the Triple Entente.

War Declared

Demonstrations of support for the war were not limited to Paris, London, and Berlin. In Vienna and Budapest, crowds also eagerly or anxiously awaited news of the developing situation and took sorrowful leave of loved ones as trains full of recruits left the train stations heading off toward the front.

The Troops Were Optimistic

Emperor Franz Joseph reportedly entered World War I with a fatalistic, "decency-over-victory" mindset, believing the conflict was a necessary, though likely doomed, defense of Habsburg honor.

Even though an Austrian ultimatum ostensibly started the war, once the fighting started, military events seemed to have a way of fading to un-importance whenever Austro-Hungarian forces were involved. Or such at least is the impression one has when viewed from the vantage point of the Western Front. But the war experience for soldiers, willing and unwilling, of the vast multi-ethnic empire of the Hapsburgs was just as dangerous, miserable, and tediously boring as that of their Western Front enemies and comrades-in-arms.

The Austrian Army's Uniforms

Departing for the Fronts

Polish Cavalrymen — The Variety of the Dual Empire's Uniforms
(and Languages) Was Amazing 

Supporting the War Effort

Early Mobilization & Action

Invading Serbia Would Be a Greater Challenge Than the Generals Anticipated

An Early Photo of the Wounded

The outcome of World War I for Austria-Hungary was the total collapse, dissolution, and dismemberment of the Habsburg Monarchy in 1918.  Estimates of military deaths for the Dual Monarch and its empire vary between 1,016,000 and 1,200,000 to over 1.5 million (including missing/POWs). Estimated civilian deaths (non-flu) are 465,000. As a defeated Central Power, the empire was replaced by independent states (Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia) and lost vast territories to Italy, Romania, and Yugoslavia, ending centuries of Habsburg rule. 

Note: Tomorrow on Roads to the Great War we will take a look at Italy's early war experience, which did not go as its politicians and generals thought it would. MH

Sources:  The Tony Langley Collection; Habsburger.net

The Duke Blue Devils and Their World War One Nickname

The Original Blue Devils

Tonight #1 Ranked Duke University's basketball team plays their opening game of the Sweet Sixteen stage of the NCAA's national basketball tournament. Many fans I would guess are unfamiliar with the detail that the team's distinctive Blue Devils nickname has a World War I heritage. It was adapted when the school was still known as Trinity College. (Duke became Duke in 1924.)

Today's Duke Blue Devil Inspiring the Basketball Team's Fans

The Duke Blue Devils nickname was inspired by les Diables Bleus ("the Blue Devils"), an elite French Alpine light infantry unit (Chasseurs Alpins) known for their courage and distinctive blue uniforms during World War I. Founded in 1887, the Chasseurs took part in their first major actions during World War I.  Their units notably held the line along the Vosges Mountains in eastern France for the entirety of the war. The name was adopted by the school in 1922–23 to honor these troops and foster a more inspiring identity. 

The Chasseurs Alpins Recruited for Athletic Soldiers

The Trinity Chronicle school newspaper ran a contest to determine the mascot for the football team after the board of trustees lifted a 25-year ban on the sport. The "Blue Devils" was chosen from nominations that also included: Blue Titans, Blue Eagles, Polar Bears, Royal Blazes, and the Blue Warriors. Initially, it was not universally popular because some feared the name was anti-religious. This was apparently alleviated somewhat when its heroic military inspiration became better known. 

Thanks to our friend Courtland Jindra for suggesting this article. The information in this article was gathered from Duke University sites.

The Incredible 32 Days of June 1916

Stretch June 1916 a little, adding a day at each end—31 May and 1 July. This minor astronomical adjustment allows adding two monumental events, to what was already a hyperactive historical period. In hindsight, we can see a different kind of war emerged after this Long June. Collectively, they had changed the game, and other forces—not evident to the combatants at the time—had been set loose or were accelerated.

Consider this list:

31 May - 1 June: The Battle of Jutland

Despite some tactical successes, Germany discovers her big ship-building program has been a waste and must look to submarine warfare. This will inevitably bring the United States into the war.

3 June: President Wilson Signs the National Defense Act of 1916

A success of the Preparedness Movement, the legislation expands the standing army and the National Guard, creates the Army Air Division, establishes the Reserve Officer Training Corps, and facilitates mobilization should war come, which it did ten months later.

4 June: The Brusilov Offensive Is Launched

Russia's biggest "success" of the war will cost one million casualties and contribute to the demoralization of the army. For the Central Powers, Austria-Hungary's military will be decimated and become utterly subordinate to Germany's. The road to the dissolution of Empires has opened.

5 June: Arab Revolt Begins with an Assault on the Ottoman Medina Garrison

Much is still debated about the military importance of the Arab operations partly led by T.E. Lawrence, but the political importance of Sheik Hussein and his sons siding with the British at this time is undeniable. For the British Empire, Gallipoli had been a failure, the surrender of Kut had been a disaster, and the Ottoman Sultan's call for jihad was still in force. By siding with the British, Feisal guaranteed that the Arabs would not be unified against the Allies, that Egypt would remain a safe base of operations for them, and that Allenby's advance would not have to worry about a huge and open right flank on its march north. What it meant for the Middle East of today is complicated and beyond discussion here.

8 June: Fort Vaux Captured & Final Assault Launched (23 June)

Refocusing on the right bank, Germany attempts a concentrated offensive to capture Verdun that is ultimately defeated in July by French artillery. The appalling casualties, however, will take a near-fatal toll on French Army morale.

1 July: The Battle of the Somme Opens

The greatest battle of attrition in the West will bring a most critical problem to everyone's attention: the belligerents of 1914 are now running out of men—the war cannot go on forever. Germany, under Hindenburg and Ludendorff, will consciously wage "total war." The Allies, being more populous, will continue trying to wear down the opposition.

All-in-all, the Long June of 1916 led to a different kind of war in 1917 and 1918 and, eventually, a different world than the politicians and people of 1916 thought they were fighting for.

"Match Sellers: Class of '17"— The AEF's Version of Sargent's Gassed

Click on Images to Enlarge

American artist John Singer's Sargent's Gassed—a dramatic and powerfully moving painting of a column of blinded British Tommies being evacuated off a battlefield—is the most famous work of combat art from the First World War. Apparently inspired by Sargent's work, a Doughboy veteran named Kerr Eby later produced a similar work  (a charcoal drawing on paper) showing blinded and bandaged Doughboys in a comparable formation. His title Match Sellers refers to a future job possibility that would not require the use of sight.

Sargent's Gassed

Kerr Eby (1889–1946) was a Canadian-American artist who served in the AEF. Not an official war artist, he enlisted in the engineers and, because of his artistic skills, was assigned to a camouflage unit. In 1918, he participated in the battles of Château-Thierry and Saint-Mihiel. In the interwar period Eby became ardently anti-war. Match Sellers appeared in a 1936 collection of his works inspired by his military service titled War.

The Sort of Scene Eby Would Have Witnessed on the Western Front

Eby—despite his feelings about war—tried to re-enlist to serve in the Second World War but was denied because of his age. Determined to get to the battlefields, he joined a civilian combat artists program and deployed to the Pacific. He contracted a tropical disease while covering the war in Bougainville and would die at his home in Westport, Connecticut, in 1946.

Sources: Kerr Eby and Efforts Against War, Hillstrom Museum of Art

Pusher Aces of World War I

By John Guttman

Osprey, 2009

Reviewed by Dale Thompson

The Breguet M-5

Air Speed 88 mph, Ceiling 14,110 ft

Jon Guttman is well known for the meticulous detail and broad scope of his WWI aviation histories. In this unique volume on the early war, Pusher Aces of World War I, he brings to life the story of the pusher aircraft and their pilots.

"Pusher" aircraft were so called because the propeller was behind the wing, just like the Wright Fliers of ten years previously. They were deployed with the French and British squadrons at the start of the war in 1914. Initially they were used as observation and photo-reconnaissance platforms. What better place for the observer than out in front? As soon as the observers began shooting at each other it was found that the gunner did very well out in front…it was also found that these aircraft were highly vulnerable to attack from the rear.

The German aircraft in 1914 were all tractors, with the engine and propeller ahead of the pilot. At that time the British and French were developing their own tractor-type fighter aircraft that began to displace the pushers. With the arrival of the Fokker Eindeckers and their synchronized machine guns in 1915, the pushers were completely outclassed as fighters.

Pusher Aces traces the development and deployment of these aircraft, following their combat action and the pilots and gunners who flew them. This book will serve as a valuable source for historians who are studying either aircraft or combat crews during World War I. There is little detail on the developmental history of the various models built by Voisin, Farman, Vickers, de Havilland, and others. The book features substantial detail about the crews and  combat the pushers encountered.

The author covers many aces who flew pushers  including Lanoe Hawker VC, who formed and led Britain's first fighter squadron before dying in a ten-minute duel with Manfred von Richtofen, American "cowboy" ace Frederick Libby, third-ranking French ace Charles Nungesser, and the aggressive Belgian ace Fernand Jacquet.

Order HERE

Guttman augments his text with 24 superb color plates showing makes, models, and color schemes for the pushers. A fine collection of black-and-white photos is distributed throughout the book. The appendix includes a table of the aces who flew these aircraft, tabulated by name, scores, aircraft type and serial number and their squadrons. This listing should be of special interest to researchers. A bibliography is included in the appendix. In Guttman's 2009 work that is still in print, he has contributed yet another valuable volume on WWI aircraft and pilots and their contributions in that war.

Dale Thompson

Race Tracks Were Valuable Assets in Wartime

To its participant nations, the requirements  of the First World War brought hitherto unknown sacrifice and change to all aspects of daily life. However, through the curfews and censorship, the bereavement and hunger emerged a culture of improvisation, industry and ingenuity. The world of horse racing was part of this. From 1914 to 1918, racecourses across the world were put to new and unintended uses as part of the war effort, from airfields to military hospitals to encampments. They were large open spaces and the barns could house both humans and animals.  One of the most famous racing venues drafted into the war effort was Britain's world famous Epsom Downs. There was a military encampment on the Downs, while both grandstands were used as hospitals.  Most memorably, on 22 January 1915, on a snow-covered Epsom Downs in blizzard conditions, Lord Kitchener held an inspection of 20,000 volunteers from the 2nd London Division, before they marched off to the Western Front. 

Last December, we presented the story of the Ruhleben Trabrennbahn racecourse outside, which was converted into a massive internment camp for the duration (LINK).  Here some additional examples of other functions I've discovered since.  

Hospital at Hippodrome des Bruyères, Rouen, France

The war brought an urgent need for hospitals. Alongside large residential houses, church halls and schools, several racecourses took on new roles as military hospitals, among them Cheltenham, Epsom Downs, Saint-Cloud, and Rouen.

Patients at the No. 12 General Hospital at Rouen's Racecourse

That at Rouen was among the most strategically important. The city was the nucleus of the British plan of evacuation. A large proportion of those wounded in the Somme were taken there. Casualties arrived by ambulance train and barge from the front line to its 15 or so hospitals, several of which were housed at the Hippodrome des Bruyères on the outskirts of the city.

One of these, No. 12 General Hospital, was among the earliest British hospitals to be established in France. It comprised 1,350 beds, housed almost entirely in a forest of tents, two huts accommodating about 30 wounded each, and a further ward of ten beds adjoining the operating theatre providing the only patient accommodation not under canvas. The racecourse buildings themselves were used for administrative and staff purposes—the Post de Police became the laboratory, loose boxes substituted for larder and kitchen, the jockeys’ room housed nurses, as did the paddock, in which wooden huts were erected.

Training Camp at Royal Randwick,  Sydney,  Australia

In Sydney, the Australian Jockey Club (AJC) threw itself wholeheartedly in the war effort. Its chairman promptly placed Randwick "at the disposal of the Defence Department in connection with the organisation of expeditionary forces" (AJC Committee Minutes, 19 August 1914).

Troops on Parade at Randwick

Come the outbreak of war, Australia did not possess a fully trained and equipped military organization and, immediately, makeshift training camps were set up in and around all the major cities. Alongside Rosebery Park Racecourse and the Royal Showgrounds, Randwick was transformed into Sydney’s third instructional camp.

The new recruits of the Australian Imperial Force 1st Brigade began arriving at their temporary home in August 1914. Facilities were basic. Initially, not even tents were provided. Sleeping amenities were recorded as: one army blanket and one bed, being a six-feet portion of one of the concrete steps of the grandstand.

Although the AJC turned all its buildings over to the Defence Department, the racecourse continued operation during the war. So-called "patriotic" race meetings were staged in Sydney to fund-raise for the war effort, and, from 1915 onward, the AJC subscribed all its profits to various patriotic funds, including the British Red Cross, French Australian League of Help, Polish Relief Fund and the Salvation Army. As the conflict finally drew to a close, the AJC decided to continue its support for the war effort by financing a convalescent hospital for returned servicemen.

Balloon School Santa Anita, Arcadia, California (Original Site)

These Two Training  Balloons at Ross Field Were
Nicknamed "The Elephants" for Some Reason

The current location of the famous racing site is its third.  The original track  opened in 1907.  In 1909 the state of California—in a reform-minded mood—outlawed horse racing, and the grandstand burned down in 1912.  So, there was a nice open space available when the U.S. joined the war. A total of 184 acres of land were donated to the government to construct the Army's Ross Field Balloon School for  training  Army observation balloon crews. Buildings that once housed racehorses were converted into enlisted barracks, and new bachelor officer's quarters were built. Deflated balloons were stored at first under the grandstands of Baldwin's racetrack. Its postwar history is a little cloudy. Apparently, Ross Field evolved into a combination dirigible and fixed-wing flying field and eventually closed in the early 1930s. However, it may have been put back to military use in the Second World War.

Source: Thoroughbred Racing Commentary, 12 February 2016;  Arcadia Historical Society

Missouri, USA, Goes to War — In Images

As part of Missouri's commemoration of the WWI Centennial, a tremendous collection of war-related images were gathered under the state-sponsored "Missouri Over There." Below is a representative sample.  The entire collection can be accessed HERE.

Click on Images to Enlarge

 

German Democratic Party leaflet, c. 1918

Missourian John J. Paris at Paris Victory Parade

Barton County Men Reporting for Service

Carrie P. Bribach and Fellow Members of  the 
National Service School for Women 

Single Page (of 98) from Scrapbook of Joseph G. Broz, 27th Aero Squadron

Dr. Esther Leonard served as an Army contract surgeon in an evacuation
hospital in Souilly (Meuse) and the Anesthetic Unit No. 1 at Vichy

1918 Christmas Card to Folks by George J. Maguolo, 447th  Engineers

St. Louis Had 55,917 Who Served & 1,007 Killed in the War

September 1918 Bond Drive

Honor Roll of Howell County, Missouri

Panoramic Photo, Kirkwood, Missouri, 11 November 1918
 "We Got the Kaiser's Goat" Demonstration

Remembering a Veteran: Georges Braque — Poilu and Cubist

 

Prewar—Still Life with Metronome,  1909 

Georges Braque (1882–1963) was a modern artist who painted in the Cubist style. Before the war, he was involved with an extensive network of artists including Pablo Picasso. As a member of the French army reserves, he was called up for duty when France mobilized on 1 August 1914. Pablo Picasso was one of the friends who saw him off at the railroad station when he departed for military service. Braque served as a sergeant in an infantry regiment in the early days of the war.

“I’m now in the firing line,” he wrote to Picasso on 29 November. “I had my baptism about a week ago…There’s a lot of fighting here and we’ve taken up guard among dead Boches and unfortunately some (French) marines. Now the area is fairly calm. You can’t imagine a battlefield is like with the uprooted trees and the earth dug up by the shells.” 

In the Trenches

Afterward:

•  Suffers a severe head wound in combat in 1915. He is temporarily blinded.

•  Relieved of military service, he returns to art in 1916. 

•  [But] Remains well known today as a French modern artist

Post Wartime Service—Still Life with Musical Instruments, 1918

Braque resumed painting in late 1916. Working alone, he began to moderate the harsh abstraction of Cubism. He developed a more personal style characterized by brilliant color, textured surfaces, and—after his relocation to the Normandy seacoast—the reappearance of the human figure. 

Source:  MacArthur Memorial "In Their Shoes"; arthistoryunstuffed, 5 August 2016; Archive.org

Who Was Wojciech Korfanty?

Wojciech Korfanty (born 20 April 20 1873, Siemianowice, Upper Silesia, Ger. [now in Poland]—died 17 August 1939, Warsaw) was a political leader who played a major role in the national reawakening of the Poles of Upper Silesia and who led their struggle for independence from Germany. Korfanty is considered one of the "fathers of Polish independence," alongside figures such as Józef Piłsudski and Roman Dmowski.

The son of a miner, Korfanty became a journalist and a member of the secret nationalist society “Z,” which resisted Germany’s attempt to Germanize Upper Silesia’s Polish population. He became Upper Silesia’s first Polish member of the Reichstag (the German parliament) in 1903, being reelected in 1907 and 1918, and served in the Prussian Diet from 1904 to 1918—to the dismay of the Prussian administration, the Catholic hierarchy, and local capitalists. 

The War and Korfanty's Last Speech

As a Polish politician in the German Reichstag, his unspoken goal was the independence of Poland and the protection of Polish interests in Upper Silesia, not the support of the Central Powers. Initially however, Korfanty saw a potential opportunity to leverage support for the Central Powers in the conflict for Polish autonomy. As the war progressed and it became clear that Germany would not support a truly independent Poland, Korfanty’s opposition grew. By 1917, he had withdrawn his support for the German war effort.

By October 1918 the defeat of the Central Powers was already certain. The gathering of members of the Reichstag in the Polish Circle, anticipating the imminent end of their mission, began the final phase of their activities. It culminated in a speech by Wojciech Korfanty on 25 October 1918.

No statistical tricks will be able to change the fact that in West Prussia the left bank of the Vistula up to the Hel Peninsula is inhabited by an undoubtedly Polish population.

Your Lordships, Mr Ledebourg explained to us here yesterday which parts of the country he thought should belong to Poland. Here I would like to confirm his data and declare that we do not want a single German district, but demand Polish districts of Upper Silesia, Middle Silesia, Poznan, Polish West Prussia and Polish districts of East Prussia. [...] It is a miraculous orchestration of God that the old Prussia, the old Russia and the old Austria will perish under the onslaught of national ideas against which these three states have committed the greatest crimes.

This was the last speech by a Polish MP in the Reichstag. Together with Korfanty, other members of the Polish Circle also resigned. After the war's end he led the Polish demand for an Upper Silesian plebiscite. Although the majority of Silesian voters decided in favor of remaining part of Germany, Korfanty’s campaign efforts resulted in a pro-Polish majority in the southeastern industrial section of Upper Silesia (March 1921). After he had led a third armed rebellion (May 1921), he induced the Allies to set the German–Polish border along a line in Silesia more favorable to Poland than previously intended.

Silesian Dissidents Named Their Armored Car in Honor of Korfanty

In the newly restored Poland, he sat in the Constituent Assembly (1919–22) and the Parliament (1922–30) as a leader of the national bloc. Opposed to Józef Piłsudski’s dictatorial methods, he was imprisoned in 1930 but was soon released and entered the Senate. Fearing repression, he left Poland for the capital of Czechoslovakia in 1935.  

Korfanty’s emigration status deteriorated significantly in March 1939. This was because at that time the Wehrmacht occupied Czechoslovakia. This meant an immediate threat to Korfanty, who was living in Prague. At first he took refuge in the French embassy, then, with a French passport in the name of Albert Martin, he left for Paris. Efforts to obtain permission from the Polish authorities to return to the country were unsuccessful. But they did not discourage him either. On 27 April 1939, he arrived in Gdynia and from there Katowice.

However, in the country to which he so badly wanted to return, he was arrested and, despite the protests, imprisoned in Pawiak prison. He spent three months there. It was also during this time that the prisoner’s numerous ailments and conditions manifested themselves: liver disease, anaemia, inflammation of the gall bladder and pleurisy. These, as well as the fear of Korfanty’s death in custody, contributed to Korfanty’s release after 82 days. He died on 17 August 1939, on the 20th anniversary of the outbreak of the Silesian Uprising.

Sources: Encyclopedia Britannica; European Network Remembrance and Solidarity

Weapons of War: The Sterling Spark Gap Transmitter

British 60-Pounder at Ypres, Early War
The Story Begins Here

James Patton

When the Race to the Sea was over, and the opposing forces were bogged down in their fixed positions, the artillery truly became the King of Battle. For maximum effectiveness, the guns need to be corrected by forward observation. Everybody had airplanes, so it was obvious that a way should be found to use them for this job. For the British, there was also the lurking U-boat threat, even in the English channel, and the Royal Navy was keen to use their aerial assets to spot the submarines as well.

The British solution was the Sterling Spark Gap wireless transmitter, also referred to as the No. 1 Aircraft Transmitter Spark. It was designed in late 1914 and first brought into use at Gallipoli in 1915 by the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). They were operating off of the seaplane carrier HMS Ark Royal (later re-named as the eighth HMS Pegasus) to support naval gunfire, which was not very successful, due to the limited trajectory of the guns and the lack of appropriate shells.

HMS Ark Royal

The Sterling device was based on a design by then-Lieutenant Basil Binyon (1885—1977) OBE MA RNVR, an experienced wireless engineer who was serving in the RNAS. After the war, Binyon was a director of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Co. (MWTC) and a founding director of the BBC. In 1939, at age 62, he was appointed a group commander in the Royal Observer Corps.

The Sterling was state-of-the-art in 1914, simple but robust, employing a principle discovered by Heinrich Hertz (1857–94) in 1886. The tuning was straightforward, the aim was to create a good fat white spark for maximum antenna current. Unlike its successor, the continuous wave (CW) transmitter, the Spark Gap sent the dots and dashes of Morse code as bursts of radio frequency (RF) energy on an otherwise silent frequency, whereas the CW transmitter broadcast a steady RF signal (wave) which was briefly interrupted by the Morse code dots and dashes. CW technology enabled voice transmission when they figured out how to modulate the wave.

Around 1,300 Sterling No. 1 sets were made during the First World War. The first 100 or so were made by the Sterling Telephone and Electric Company Ltd. (hence the name) and the remainder by the War Department (WD) Wireless Factory. Subsequent variants models were manufactured by MWTC as well as the WD totaled 3,898. In 1918 a similar device to the Sterling was produced for the U.S. Army Signal Corps by the Connecticut Telephone and Electric Company, which was called the Airplane Radio Telegraph Transmitting Set Box Type BC-15A. 

Sterling No. 1

In the original version, the Sterling operated on the wave lengths between 100 and 260 meters. Batteries provided up to 10 volts DC power. The transmitter's RF output power of 30 to 40 Watts, coupled to the 35-meter (or ¼ wave) long-wire antenna that trailed behind the plane and the height above ground, gave an operating range of eight to ten miles. 

The set was usually mounted on a tray on the side of the aircraft fuselage, outside of the cockpit. Since both the Morse key and the transmitter produced sparks, they had to be enclosed. The transmitter was in a box with a small mica window, so the operator could see the "strength" of the spark. Both of these enclosures were precautions to minimize the danger of the spark igniting the gasoline vapors that could build-up in the cockpit. The antenna was made of stranded copper wire with a 1½ kg weight at the end (to keep the wire trailing straightened out. After reaching the desired altitude, the wire was spooled out, either from the side of the aircraft fuselage alongside the wireless set or through an insulated grommet in the floor of the cockpit. Aircraft engaged in long-range reconnaissance used a version that powered the transmitter with airstream-driven generators giving 600 volts DC, producing a kilowatt of RF power.

At first, communication was air-to- ground only, so the sender (usually the observer), had no way of knowing if the message had been received, and frequently simultaneous transmissions occurred, causing jamming. A device known as a "Clapper break" was fitted to the transmitter to produce a slight variation in the sound of the received signal, so that the ground operators could differentiate between the various aircraft transmitting. There were developed one or two character codes to enable the user to identify himself and tell the batteries how to adjust their fire.

The Full Kit for Aircraft Observation

Early on, receivers had been tried out in aircraft, but with little success due to the incoming signal being masked by the engine ignition spark, as well as the ambient noise, both from the engine and the slipstream. Eventually those problems were overcome. The ignition system was shielded and flyer’s helmets were equipped with built-in Type A reed headphones, invented by Sidney G. Brown FRS (1873–1948), which could amplify the weak voltage output of the crystal receiver. Notwithstanding the deficiencies, the Sterling set was very important, especially when the users were equipped with both a transmitter and a receiver.

Perhaps the most significant development was to the wireless sets themselves: first by improving tuning over the "cats-whisker" crystal receivers. The Tuned Frequency (Tt) three-vacuum tube receivers, capable of receiving either Spark or CW transmissions, were developed at RNAS Cranwell in 1917. They also developed a vacuum tube transmitter known as the TI1, which was a simple feedback oscillator using two vacuum tubes operating in parallel with a tappable coil for tuning. Completing the rig was a windmill-type generator that produced 1200 volts DC, significantly upping the transmission power. Even radio telephony (voice communications) became possible by the end of the war; some RAF aircraft were equipped with two-way voice-capable communication with a range of over ten miles.

Post-war versions operated on shorter wave lengths and were powered by a 150-watt wind-driven alternator. Used by the RAF into the 1930s, these radios had ranges of 200 to 300 miles air to ground and 40 miles air to air. If you’re intrigued by the technology of the Sterling devices, here is a LINK for you.