The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force

The Men of the New Force

Origins

The Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF) was a small volunteer unit of approximately 2,000 men raised hastily in August 1914. It the first military unit raised in 1914 for service overseas. The force was formed at the request of the British Admiralty immediately following the outbreak of the war. Its primary objective was to seize and destroy German wireless radio stations in the south-west Pacific, specifically in German New Guinea. These communication hubs posed a severe strategic threat because they were used by Vice Admiral Maximilian von Spee's East Asia Squadron to track Allied merchant shipping and naval movements

The men who enlisted in the AN&MEF were trained in a hurry - ready for action. Before recruiting began, hundreds of men registered their interest to serve in the inevitable war. They signed up with the army, navy and other organizations, such as the South African Soldiers' Association. Mostly these men were members of the Citizen Forces or the Naval Reserves, or veterans of previous conflicts.

The Naval Force Approaches

Opening Operations

After highly expedited training, the  AN&MEF approached Blanche Bay, just south of Rabaul, at dawn on 11 September 1914. A naval force, comprising Sydney, Encounter, Yarra, Warrego, Berrima and the supply ship Aorangi, and the submarines AE1 and AE2, gathered at Port Moresby before rendezvousing with HMAS Australia on 9 September en route to Rabaul.

The military leaders had expected the occupation to be a simple exercise; nevertheless they had sent 1,500 men and almost the entire Australian fleet. Then, not having encountered any naval formations or coastal defense, the AN&MEF became complacent. Holmes, in particular, convinced himself that he could acquire new territory for the British empire “without a shot being fired”.

Two parties of 25 naval reservists went ashore at the settlements of Herbertshöhe and Kabakaul, on the south-eastern shore of the bay. Their orders were to capture the radio station at Bitapaka, about seven kilometers inland. Lieutenant R.G. Bowen, RAN, led his men from Kabakaul and headed inland along a narrow road. They had travelled less than two kilometers when they encountered three Germans and about 20 New Guineans fighting for the Germans. “This is where the fighting began, shots being exchanged as fast as we could put them in our barrels,” recalled Able Seaman Sidney Staines, a member of the lead party. “Bullets were buzzing all around us … I was expecting to drop anytime at this stage, so we got together and started firing volleys.”

The Troops Head Ashore

The Australians soon captured the group after wounding one of the Germans. A map found on one of the prisoners revealed German plans to resist the Australian troops by means of a system of trenches, rifle pits and mines. Bowen sent for reinforcements and pushed on. Some New Guineans had climbed the tall trees and were firing from elevated positions. The Australians made slow progress and “were constantly subjected to rifle fire by an unseen enemy”, which forced them from the narrow road into dense jungle. The fighting turned out to be more brutal than either the force's troops or commanders anticipated

At 7.00 pm the wireless station was captured and Admiral Patey demanded the German acting governor, Dr Edward Haber, surrender the entire colony. Although Haber did not officially surrender, he told Patey that Rabaul and Herbertshöhe were “unfortified” and “no opposition [would] be offered to the military occupation”. The next day the naval reservists marched from Kabakaul to Herbertshöhe, and Berrimalanded a garrison at Rabaul. On Sunday 13 September, AN&MEF forces raised the Union Jack in Rabaul. 

 Australian Flag Is Raised in Angorum, New Guinea

WWI Firsts for Australia 

Able Seaman Bill Williams, aged 28, was wounded by German sniper fire at Bita Paka on 11 September. He died on HMAS Berrima the same day - the first recorded Australian casualty of World War I. 

Lieutenant Thomas Bond, aged 52, was awarded the Distinguished Service Order for his bravery at Bita Paka. With one officer and one man, he disarmed eight Germans. This would have humiliated the Germans in front of the 20 Micronesian militia who accompanied them. Bond had the honor of receiving the first Australian decoration of the war. He later joined the 1st Royal Australian Navy Bridging Train (RANBT) and served in the Gallipoli, Sinai and Palestine campaigns.

On the evening of 14 September 1914, the navy lost a vessel. HMA Submarine AE1 sank without a trace off Neulauenburg (modern-day Duke of York Islands), north-east of New Guinea. On board, all 35 British and Australian submariners were killed. (An archaeological wreck survey revealed an implosion that could have been accidental.) 

War in the South Pacific
Includes Operations of the AN&MEF   

The Extended War in the South Pacific

A force of New Zealand troops, escorted by 5 RAN ships and a French ship, captured and occupied German Samoa on 30 August 1914. On 9 September, a landing party of 25 naval personnel from HMAS Melbourne landed on Nauru. They arrested the German administrator and destroyed the wireless equipment. Australian troops occupied the island until the end of the war.

The Japanese had declared war on Germany by 23 August 1914. Japan took control of all Germany's colonial possessions in East Asia and Micronesia. These actions annoyed the commanders of the Australian mandated territories because the East Asian sites were valuable.

Following the capture of German possessions in the region, the AN&MEF provided occupation forces for the duration of the war.   The occupation force included Australian nurses, who also later were part of the "Tropical Force". A military government was subsequently set up by Holmes.  On 9 January 1915,  Holmes handed over command of the AN&MEF to Brigadier General Sir Samuel Pethebridge, the former Secretary of the Department of Defence. Holmes returned to Australia in early 1915 and re-enlisted in the AIF, as did most of his men.  Many later served in Egypt, Gallipoli, Sinai and Palestine and on the Western Front. A large number became casualties, including Holmes, who was killed in action in 1917. They were replaced by the 3rd Battalion, AN&MEF, which was known as the Tropical Force because it had been specially enlisted for service in the tropics.  The size of the garrison at this time was set at a total of 600 men. 

German Flag Captured at Bitapaka

Following the end of hostilities in November 1918 the role of the AN&MEF in the former German colonies in New Guinea had become primarily one of civil administration, although it continued to provide a garrison for the next two and a half years.

Sources: Anzac Portal;  Wikipedia; Virtual War Memorial Australia

Ten Views of Artillery in the Great War

1.  A Poilu Observes Artillery Fire

The rumbling of the artillery became more and more frequent and ended up forming a single rumbling of the whole earth. From all sides, outgoing bursts and explosions threw forth their flashing beams which lit up the dark sky over our heads with strips of light in all directions. Then the bombing grew so heavy that the flashes became continuous. In the midst of the uninterrupted chain of thunder claps we could see each other directly, helmets streaming like the bodies of fish, gleaming black iron shovels, and the whitish drops of the endless rain, truly it was like moonlight created by cannon fire.

Henri Barbusse, Under Fire

2.  An Illustrator's View of the Big Guns

3.  AI's Answer to:  "What  can  you  tell  me  about artillery  in  WWI?"

Artillery was the dominant and most destructive weapon of World War I, completely shaping how the war was fought. It caused up to 70 percent of all battlefield casualties and dictated military tactics on both sides. 

       Destructiveness

• Massive Casualties: It caused the majority of deaths and physical trauma during the conflict.
• Shell Shock: The constant psychological terror of bombardment created severe psychological trauma.
• Landscape Alteration: Millions of shells blasted fields into muddy, cratered, and completely unrecognizable terrain.

Tactical Impact 

• Enforced Trench Warfare: Heavy fire forced soldiers underground into deep defensive trenches for survival.
• No Man's Land: Continuous bombardment destroyed all cover between opposing trenches.
• Barbed Wire Destruction: Armies used prolonged bombardments to cut wire before infantry charges. 

Evolution of Tactics

• Flash Spotting: New scientific methods located enemy guns by measuring sound and light flashes.
• Creeping Barrage: Artillery fired just ahead of advancing infantry to shield them from defenders.
• Counter-Battery Fire: Armies dedicated specific batteries solely to destroying enemy artillery pieces.     
•                                                 
• From Gemini at Google Chrome
• 
  

4.  A Poet's View

5. The Human Body's Response to Being Bombarded

The first thing a soldier would experience would be the concussive force of the explosion, caused by the rapid release of energy compressing the air particles. This is often referred to as “over-pressure.” Soldiers feel like the air is sucked out of the area, causing a tightening of the skin and pulsating of the eyes.

Split milliseconds after the over-pressure strikes and radiates outwards, it is followed by shock waves that create a vacuum in the immediate area of the explosion. Oxygen is pushed out, sucked back in, and then immediately pushed out again into a gut-smashing wave of energy. The blast wave followed by the shock wave creates havoc on internal organs—brain, lungs, stomach—often pulverizing them if the soldier is too close to the point of impact. Air sucked out of the lungs leaves the soldier gasping for breath. The shock wave is felt strongly in the gut. Blood is forced out of organs and arteries upwards towards the brain. After successive blasts, eardrums could rupture causing bleeding out of the ears.

This is then followed by the outward force of the rapidly expanding gases that grabs anything in the nearby area and throws it outward with relentless force. Soldiers standing are the most vulnerable to this part of the blast, as if they are hurled into something solid—such as a tree or building—they can be killed by the impact. Lying on the ground can often mitigate this effect, as the pulse of the blast rolls over them and the shock is dissipated up and out.

The sound—or report—of the blast was incredibly loud, damaging eardrums. Heat from the explosion would burn those caught in the blast—although the over-pressure would have already killed them.

So much for the explosion itself.

Shells are encased with metal sheathing, which upon detonation is broken up into tiny fragments that are projected upwards and outwards at speeds of over 60 miles per hour. These shards embed in flesh or—if large enough—rip parts of the body away. Soldiers struck directly would explode in all directions, leaving nothing remaining of their existence other than blood and fragments of bone, flesh, organs, and uniform scraps. Soldiers entering Belleau Wood in 1918 remarked with disgust at the bodies and body parts hanging from high in the shattered trees. Shrapnel shredded trees, bushes, rocks, anything in the area, creating more deadly fragments.

Multiply this by the rate of in-coming fire. Say, one concussion every second, and bombardments could last for hours.

The Angry Staff Officer

6.  A Gunner's View of Loading and Firing a 60-pounder Field Heavy Gun

First of all you put the shell into the breech, then you have a long ramming tool, a drift they called it; you stand with your back to the gun and ram it home. When you’d put that in, you put the cartridge in. Then you closed the breech, which closed the breech block itself, had threads on it. Well then the lever had a link connecting it from the lever itself to the bottom of the breech block, and when you’ve closed the breech lever further, that link caused the breech block to revolve by sixty degrees, thereby locking all the threads together. Well then there was a hole right through the breech block by which means you ignited the cartridge.  You put in a little tube, revolved it ninety degrees, which locked it, and then there was a little loop on that, metal ring on that, and you hooked your lanyard into that and when you pulled that this caused a flash – almost like striking a match – and the flash went through and impinged on the red end of the cartridge, thereby igniting the cartridge, and that blew the shell out.

Leonard Ounsworth, Royal Garrison Artillery

7.  The Lives of Artillery Shells

8.  A Statistician's View

9.  Inside a 37 MM Shell

10. Roads to the Great War's Library of Artillery Articles, HERE

Henry Ford + Colorization Technology = Marvelous Images of the American Homefront at War

There was a time between 1915 and the mid-1920s when Henry Ford was a movie mogul, overseeing the largest motion picture production and distribution operation on the planet. Today, these motion pictures and other films produced or acquired by the Ford Motor Company between about 1914 and 1954 are preserved at the National Archives.   Almost every facet of the American experience from the mid-1910s through the early 1920s is portrayed, including business, city life, farming, manufacturing, news events, recreation, rural life, sports, transportation, and WORLD WAR ONE.  Further, modern digital artists have started to colorize them.  A reel covering America in the 1910s has been converted by Samuel Francois-Steininger of Paris-based Composite Films.   Here is a collection of stills I've captured from the National Archives. I don't think they require captions, but I should mention for anyone who doesn't recognize him, #4 is Teddy Roosevelt and the last is the Unknown Soldier. These are displayed at 560px width and can be enlarged to 800px by clicking on them. 

When Douglas MacArthur "Voted" for John J. Pershing as Commander of the AEF

Secretary of War Newton Baker & Captain Douglas MacArthur

By Brigadier General John S.D. Eisenhower

Command of the American Expeditionary Force  was one of the most important decisions that Secretary of War Newton Baker and President Wilson would ever make, as the officer selected would have to be capable of carrying tremendous responsibility on his own. Secretary Baker could not look over the shoulder of the man sent to command in Europe.

Pershing, who had recently commanded the Punitive Expedition into Mexico, had not always been Baker's first choice. In early 1917 the most prestigious field officer in the United States Army was Major General Frederick Funston, commanding the Southern Department at San Antonio, Texas. A Medal of Honor recipient and seventeen years a general officer, Funston was expected to lead any force the United States would put into the field. It was not to be. The command picture changed drastically during the evening of 19 February 1917. Army duty officers Brigadier General Peyton March and Major Douglas MacArthur received a message disclosing that General Funston had died of a massive heart attack that evening while dining out at a local hotel in San Antonio. MacArthur, the junior of the pair, was detailed to deliver the message to Secretary of War Baker who was with the President at a dinner party. 

MacArthur with His Staff During the St. Mihiel Offensive

Wilson and Baker, though somewhat shaken, took the news in stride. As MacArthur waited for instructions, they beckoned for him to follow as they went into an adjacent room. First the President dictated a message of sympathy to Mrs. Funston. Then turning to Baker, he asked, ''What now, Newton, who will take the Army over [there]?'

Baker, perhaps stalling for time, turned to  MacArthur, "Whom do you think the Army would choose, Major?" ''I cannot, of course, speak for the Army, but for myself the choice would unquestionably be General Pershing." 

Wilson looked at the young officer for a long moment. Then he said quietly, "It would be a good choice." 

Wilson's reaction was widely shared, and almost certainly would have been reached without MacArthur's contribution. Even though Funston had been Pershing's superior, Pershing might have been selected in any case, for Baker and Scott had come to realize that Pershing possessed certain qualities that Funston lacked. The most obvious of these was an ability to deal with people who held opposing views. Pershing was no diplomat, but compared to the impetuous Funston, he was a model of self-restraint. With Funston out of contention, the choice would be even easier.

General Pershing Decorates Bg. Gen. MacArthur for His War Service

Foremost among Pershing's remaining competitors was Major General Leonard Wood, the Army chief of staff between 1910 and 1914. In that position, Wood had been highly effective. But despite his stellar performance, Wood had shortcomings, one of which was a genius for stirring up controversy. He advocated military preparedness so blatantly that the Wilson administration-always determined to avoid saber-rattling-had become alarmed. . .When he provided a rostrum from which Roosevelt attacked the Wilson administration on the preparedness issue, Secretary Baker transferred him to command the Southeastern Department, with headquarters in Charleston, South Carolina. 

(Editor's Comment:  From the moment in 1903 in San Francisco that Lt. Douglas MacArthur and Captain John J. Pershing were introduced, the two men had a friendly/hostile, hot/cold,  friendship/rivalry. It lasted right up to Pershing's death in 1948. I might write an article about it for Roads some day. It's probably worth a book, though. MH) 

From Yanks by Bg. General John S.D. Eisenhower

Map Series #30 The Famine of 1918

 

Click on Map to Enlarge

Famine with the accompanying civilian deaths and civil disorder on the homefronts was a primary driving force behind the collapse of the Central Powers. The severe food shortages stemmed from multiple causes. 

1)The British Royal Navy’s blockade cut off essential food imports and agricultural fertilizers to Germany and Austria-Hungary.

2) Manpower shortages due to military conscription.

3) Crop failures, especially with potatoes that led to the Turnip Winter of 1916–1917.

4) Threats of revolution in both the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires as actually happened in Russia. (Russia's February 1917 Revolution began with food riots.)

Also, see our articles on The Food War (HERE)

Sources: Vox from data provided by "Food Guide for War Service at Home" and d-maps.com

Peak Higher Ed: How to Survive the Looming Academic Crisis

  

By Bryan Alexander

John Hopkins University Press, 2026

Reviewed by David F. Beer

Editor’s Note:  Readers probably recognize that this work is somewhat distant from our usual material. However,  author and futurist Bryan Alexander is one of our regular reviewers and contributors, and I always try to support their work. Also, Bryan's book covers a topic of great importance to all of us. MH

Bryan Alexander at a Georgetown University Event

In the week since getting Bryan Alexander’s latest book on higher education I have noticed four articles in our local newspaper on topics Bryan seriously and methodically explores in one way or another. The first article was on how graduating seniors at the University of Texas are having a tougher time finding jobs this spring and another was on how universities are becoming concerned about grade inflation. In another, a local reporter described a mock funeral, complete with ancient horse-driven hearse, which took place one recent afternoon near our campus protesting how politicians and administrators are "killing" the university. The fourth article was a charming but bittersweet piece by a father whose young daughter had anxiously asked him if “everyone has to go to college.” The dad, who a few years back would have answered with a definite yes, realized now he isn’t so sure.

These incidental bits of information probably caught my attention due to having spent almost all my working life as a teacher in a university. So reading Bryan Alexander’s Peak Higher Ed: How to Survive the Looming Academic Crisis has turned out to be what I feel is the most accurate and impactful study on the futures of higher education that any of us could hope to currently encounter. This is a recent publication by the author, and his previous books have pointed to what he so elegantly deals with in this one: the possible futures of the Academy—namely, where our endangered universities and colleges are headed and how we will survive and hopefully prosper within new circumstances and forces.

Order HERE

In eight chapters, with a full introduction and copious notes (plus an index) the author examines the current state of America’s higher education and admits that all is not well. Simply put, we have over-built and over-extended. So where do we go from here and what possibilities does the future hold? These two questions are analytically described, investigated, evaluated, and (in my opinion) as thoroughly processed and answered as is possible at this time. Read the book and you will see what I mean.

David F. Beer

P.S.  If you would like to see how America's higher ed responded to the challenge of the First World War, read our articles on the experiences of Penn State HERE and Clemson HERE 

Remembering a Veteran: Lt. Dana Coates, 11th Aero Squadron, USAS

 

Cadet Pilot Dana Coates with Sopwith F1 Camel

By Gareth Morgan, Western Front Association

Dana Edmond Coates was born in Lodgepole, Nebraska, in 1894, the third of ten children. He was descended from one Charles Coates, a British soldier sent to America during the Seven Years War (1756–1763—although hostilities started two years earlier in North America) who settled in the country after hostilities ended. Charles's descendants fought in the American War of Independence and in the Civil War. His mother was born in true pioneer style in a "soddy" (a house made of earth sod) in Nebraska. At the time of Dana's birth, the Coates family ran the train depot and the telegraph station in Lodgepole. The family later moved to Denver, Colorado, where his father ran a telegraph school, and two of his sisters were noted as being exceptional in their mastery of the telegraph. 

Dana served in the Colorado National Guard Signal Corps and saw service on the Mexican border during the U.S. Army's 1916 campaign against the revolutionary Pancho Villa. We can only wonder if he saw the Curtiss JN-3 aeroplanes flown by the U.S. Army during the campaign and decided then that aviation was the way that he'd like to wage war.

Following the U.S. entry into the Great War in April 1917, Dana enlisted in the army on 15 August 1917 and volunteered for the air service, then a branch of his old regiment, the Signal Corps. James Sloan, in his book Wings of Honor, lists Dana Coates as a member of the second group of 204 American cadets sent to England in August and September of 1917, known as the Oxford Group. They were selected from the group of graduates from the Schools of Military Aeronautics at Princeton, the Universities of Illinois, Texas, and California. These cadets were originally informed they would be sent to Italy. An undated newspaper article (probably in the Denver Post) announced that "1st Lieutenant Coates has been sent to Italy to serve with the American squadron of aviators."

Photos From the Coates Family Collection

After transport across the Atlantic Ocean, and arrival in England, Cadet Coates and his traveling companions were informed that they would be sent to Oxford, along with other potential pilots from the US. Army, to commence flying training with the British RFC. His flying clothing was issued on 15 November 1917 at No 44 Training Squadron at Waddington, Lincolnshire, where he may have undergone some basic flying training. He then attended the School of Military Aeronautics at Oxford University, with Squad 20, Course No. 6, and was billeted in Exeter and King's Colleges. 

During his time at Exeter College he was invited out for afternoon tea by Sir William and Lady Osler, the Canadian-born Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford (Sir William was a descendant of American War of Independence hero Paul Revere and died during the influenza pandemic of 1919; his son, Lt Revere Osler, was killed in action while serving with the 16th Canadian Infantry Battalion in October 1916). . . 

After ground training at Oxford, Dana moved back to Waddington for flying training at No. 47 Training Sqn about February 1918. It appears that he had flown his first solo prior to this date, but, unfortunately, his logbook has suffered some damage and the first two pages are no longer legible.

In September 1918, 1Lt Coates was posted to the 11th Aero Squadron USAS, in France. The squadron was originally formed at San Antonio, Texas, in May 1917 and transported to the UK from New York in December. After being split up for training at various locations in the UK it was reunited at Waddington (where Dana Coates trained) in late July. After a period at Waddington, the unit moved to Delouse in France on 26 August to be equipped with the U.S.-built DH-4 (the Airco DH-4, a two-seat light bomber) and to serve as a bombing squadron on the Lorraine-St Mihiel-Meuse-Argonne sector of the Western Front. Commanded by 1Lt Charles L Heater, it moved to Amanty aerodrome on 6 September and then to Maulan on 24 September. Maulan was also the home of the two other units in the First Day Bombardment Group, the 20th and 96th Aero Squadrons. Later they were joined by the 166th Aero Squadron, also a DH-4 unit. It was at Maulan that the 11th Aero Squadron adopted the cartoon character Mr. Jiggs (from the George McManus comic strip "Bringing Up Father") as its symbol, and commenced painting the little man on its aeroplanes.

The Aircrews and DH-4s of the 11th Aero Squadron

1Lt Coates had his first flight in a DH-4 at Amanty,  in AS 23292 (which he described as a "Liberty DH 4") on 24 September. He next flew AS 32808 to Maulan. After a navigation exercise to Ligny, Bar-le-Duc and St Dizier on 25 September, Dana flew his first combat mission on 26 September when, with 2Lt Lauren R. Thrall, from Bone Gap, Illinois, as observer, he flew DH-4 AS 33043 in a six-aeroplane bombing raid on Etain, flying at 12,000 feet. The raid was assessed as being very successful, and all the U.S. aircraft returned to Maulan. Coates didn't take part in a successful six-aeroplane raid on Grandpré, on the extreme left of the American sector of the front, on 29 September. 

On 1 October, the 11th and 20th Aero Sqns experimented with a large combined formation, with each unit forming one arm of a "V"; the 11th formed the left arm and the 20th the right arm. 1Lt Coates was flying DH-4 AS 32950, with Lt Jones as observer, when he suffered engine trouble after 15 minutes and had to return to Maulan. The rest of the unwieldy formation broke up shortly after and the raid was abandoned. The 11th Aero Sqn experienced many problems with the Liberty engines of its DH-4s, and it was very common for aircraft to turn back early from operations.

Coates's next effective combat mission was a bombing raid on St Juvin on 2 October when, with 2Lt Thrall as observer, he flew DH-4 AS 32605. The bombing was assessed as successful, and all the squadron aircraft returned to Maulan. Coates. Thrall had an active October, completing several successful missions, but sometimes being forces to abort due to problems with the aircraft or its fickle Liberty engine. 

On 4 November, 12 aircraft led by 1Lt Walter A Stahl took off to bomb Cheveney le Château from 12,000 feet, including Coates and Thrall in AS 32905, who were at the rear of the unit's formation. Three aircraft were forced to turn back before the formation reached the lines. Back at Maulan, 1Lt Cyrus J Gatton, from Bozeman, Montana, a flight commander and veteran of 12 missions with the French and 13 with the USAS, and 2Lt G E Bures, a four-mission veteran from Cicero, Illinois, both of whom had just returned to the squadron from leave, volunteered to reinforce the raiders. Five minutes after the departure of the main formation, they took off from Maulan in another DH-4 and endeavored to catch up with the formation, only to be shot down when in sight of the main body, probably by flak. Both airmen were killed.

After bombing, the formation was attacked by about 20 Fokker D VIIs from Jagdgeschwader 1's Jasta 11, one of which was flown by Lt. Friedrich Noltenius, an ace then credited with 20 victories. Noltenius concentrated on Coates's AS 32905, and hit the fuel tank, setting the aeroplane on fire. It was Noltenius's 21st, and last, victory of the war. Coates sideslipped in an effort to reduce the effect of the flames while Thrall continued to fire at the Fokkers, one of whom was reported to be shot down, though German records don't show a corresponding fighter loss, so it is likely that the pilot survived the encounter. The DH-4 crashed near the town of Stenay and both men were killed. They were buried by French civilians. Although the DH-4 was nicknamed "The Flaming Coffin," only eight of the 33 USAS DH-4s lost to enemy action were shot down in flames.

A raid on Mouzon by the 11th Aero Sqn on 5 November was abandoned due to adverse weather; it was the squadron's last operation of the war. If 1Lt Coates had survived the raid on 4 November, he would almost certainly have survived the war. 

1Lt Dana Coates now rests in Plot F Row 3, Grave 31, Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Romagne, France. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, the WWI Victory Medal with battle clasp for Meuse-Argonne, and the WWI Bronze Victory Button. [Presumably Lt. Thrall received similar decorations, but we have been unable to confirm this detail, or determine his final resting location.]

Source: Abridged from Gareth Morgan's article "From Lodgepole to Stenay: First Lieutenant Dana E Coates, 11th Aero Squadron, USAS" at the Western Front Association's Online WWI Articles.  The full article with extensive details on Lt. Coates training and combat missions can be found HERE.

The Bats of Verdun

Bechstein’s Bat (Myotis bechsteinii)
 One of 15 Species of Bat Populating the Verdun Battlefield

During my days leading tours of the Western Front battlefields we were occasionally treated to subterranean bat sightings. This most often happened at the Verdun sector forts, but I've since learned that many species of bats have been identified at Verdun, and they've been found in all sorts of places. 

 

A Colony Inside a Verdun Fort

The reason for this vibrant population is twofold. First, the big forts—like Douaumont, Vaux, or Troyon—where I've personally seen the critters—plus the countless number of abandoned concrete bunkers, subterranean tunnels, and fortified military shelters scattered across the surrounding battlefield provide perfect habitats and hibernating quarters for bats. The rough brick and stone interiors of the shelters are ideal for roosting. 

Second, the millions of craters—found everywhere else around the battleground—provide a wonderful hunting ground for those delicacies of bat cuisine, insects and amphibians. Apparently, the—recently arrived to the area—rare yellow-bellied toad is particularly delectable for bats.

Bats' Hunting Ground

Furthermore in the 21st century, both the predator and their quarry have found powerful legal protection, at least from humans. The Verdun battlefield is protected by the European Union Habitats and Birds Directives, which designate the area as a Natura 2000 site. In France, these frameworks are enforced under the Environmental Code (Code de l'environnement), specifically restricting activities that might threaten rare amphibians (like the yellow-bellied toad) and bat colonies. Incidentally, much to the happiness of local farmers, insects as far as I can tell are not protected and the bats of Verdun are welcome neighbors.

Verdun Bat Food: The Delicious Yellow-Bellied Toad

Sources: "In France, a Bloody WWI Battlefield Has Become a Wildlife Refuge," Atlas Obscura; "100 Years After WWI, Nature Is Finally Reclaiming A Historic Battlefield," DiscoverMagazine.com; Verdun Tourism.

Lonesome Memorial #25 Memorial Germânico do Passo Pordoi

 

These Images Can All Be Enlarged by Clicking on Them

Fighting in the Dolomites during World War I was a brutal, high-altitude struggle against both the enemy and the elements. Soldiers faced freezing temperatures and harsh, unforgiving terrain. Avalanches were frequent killers. Combat involved intense artillery duels, cliffside tunnel warfare, and a never ending struggle to keep supplies arriving at the high altitudes. It's very fitting that the men who lost their lives in the "White War" should be honored at some of the highest war memorials in Europe. Those of the Central Powers are honored here at the Memorial Germânico do Passo Pordoi at altitude, 2,238m. sThe Italian equivalent memorial is farther east at Pocol,  near Cortina.

At Passo Pordoi, the second highest pass of Italy's Dolomite Mountains, is this ossuary and cemetery for the remains of the fallen of both World Wars. World War One casualties include 8,128 Austro-Hungarian and 454 German. There are also 847 German soldiers buried on the grounds who were killed during the Second World War. The detail that—despite having the majority of the fallen, neither Austria nor Hungary are mentioned in the name of the memorial—is due to postwar Nazi Germany being responsible for its construction, which did not begin until 1937. It was one product of a cemetery agreement concluded between the German Reich and the Kingdom of Italy in the same year. 

Designed by Robert Tischler,  the chief architect of the German War Graves Commission from 1926 until his death in 1959, the structure mimics a Totenburg (a Germanic "fortress of the dead"). It features an austere, circular, dark-stone design divided into three levels, with the center holding an octagonal crypt and a flaming bowl. On the side walls are larger-than-life figures of mourning soldiers. Among his other works, the most famous is the German Cemetery at Langemark, Belgium.

Getting There

The nearest city is Bolzano  to the west located on the Brenner Pass Motorway (A22).  Passo Pordoi is about 42 driving miles away on the Strada Dolomites (SS48).  It's a beautiful ride but somewhat complicated to get to, so have a map handy or some navigation aid with your car.  GPS coordinates are: 46°29'28.64"N; 11°49'41.35"E.  There is a small cluster of businesses at the Pordoi Pass (shown above), which includes a small war museum which is worth a stop. Just past the museum is a turn to the left marked "Deutscher Soldatenfriedhof". This will lead on to a narrow road  for .7 miles which ends in a parking lot. Then it's a short walk to the memorial.