A Nearly Forgotten Classic: Luxury Fleet: The Imperial German Navy, 1888-1918

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By Holger Herwig

Allen and Unwin, 1980

Ashland Highlands, 1987 Revised Edition

Previously, we have recommended Holger Herwig's Luxury Fleet: The Imperial Germany Navy, 1888-1918 as one of the dozen BEST BOOKS on the Naval War of 1914-1918.  

However, we have never been able to find a reviewer to take on this work for Roads to the Great War and I want to encourage our readers to read this singular and valuable book before it's forgotten.  Below is a collection of some of the most telling comments on Luxury Fleet that I've been able to find online.

Originally published in 1980 'Luxury' Fleet (the phrase was Winston Churchill's) was the first history of the Imperial German navy from 1888 to 1918. After tracing the historical background to German naval ambitions, the first two sections of the book analyse Admiral Tirpitz's programme of building a battle fleet strong enough to engage the Royal Navy in the North Sea. The author shows the fleet in its European setting and describes the warships and the attitudes of the officer corps and seamen. The final section of the book discusses the tactical deployment of the German fleet during the First World War, both in home waters and overseas; and it weighs the balance between those who supported fleet actions in preference to those who favoured cruiser and submarine warfare. 

Amazon Review

Herwig is well qualified to provide the first overview of the Imperial Navy that reflects the recent scholarship "that has radically altered accepted views" of the [German Navy]. . . Herwig touches upon all the major "debatin points" in the building of the "luxurry fleet": the German justification for alarge blue-water navy; naval strategy and planning; German-English naval rivalry; the impact of the Dreadnought; and the role of Tirpitz.  The broad scope of the book, however, results in several topics receiving short shrift, most notable the issue of unrestricted submarine warfare on the naval mutinies of 1917-1918. . . Historians will find the book informative and most original in Herwig's analysis of the navy's political history, particularly the role of Tirpitz and the officer corps in the development and deployment of the High Seas Fleet.

Naval War College Review,  1981

My personal view is that in Luxury Fleet Holger Herwig constructed one of the most intriguing and seductive Table of Contents in the History of Military History. 

Introduction. 

1. Modest Beginnings: The Prussian/German Naval Tradition to 1888 

2. Kaiser Wilhelm ii: the Years of Hope and Misdirection, 1888-1898 

3. The ‘New Course’: Alfred v. Tirpitz, Architect of the Battle Fleet, 1897-1905 

4. The Dreadnought Challenge: The Master Plan Goes Awry, 19-05-1911 

5. ‘We Have Them Up Against the Wall’: Dénouement, 1912-1914 

6. A Place in the Sun: The German Colonial Empire and the navy, 1884-1914 

7. ‘Men Fight, not Ships’: The Personnel of the Imperial German Navy 

8. August 1914: The War That Came Too Soon 

9. Jutland 1916: Missed opportunity or Fortunate Escape? 

10. ‘Museum of Experiments’: The End of the Battleship Era, 1914-1918 

11. ‘Between the Thames and Helgoland’: German Naval Policies, 1917-1918 

12. The Sun Sets: Scapa Flow, 21 June 1919.

 MH

The Striking Black-and-White Lithographs of War Artist George Harding

Artist George Harding

Capt. George Harding (1882–1959) was one of the eight official artists appointed by the United States War Department. He was a Philadelphia-born artist and architect. Before becoming a full-time artist and writer, Harding worked briefly as an architect while studying art at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. He contributed illustrations to The Saturday Evening Post and Harper’s Monthly, taught briefly at the University of Pennsylvania and Moore College of Art, and established his own studio. In addition Harding painted mural decorations for theaters, hotels, and other civic projects.

These images—displayed at width=580px—can be viewed at width=1000px by clicking on them.

Between Shells at Chateau Thierry

American Troops Entering a Village in Pursuit of the Enemy during the Advance across the Marne, July 13, 1918

American gun fire, early morning

As a war artist, Harding was particularly intrigued by the new technologies of war. His war pictures are full of guns, airplanes, motorcycles, trucks, and tanks. He returned to America in February 1919 and before the end of the year published a lavish portfolio of his war art, The American Expeditionary Forces in Action. In 1922, Harding became the head of the department of illustration at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, remaining at the school until his retirement in 1958.

Night Patrol, No Man's Land

Mopping Up, Argonne, October 1918

Searching Germans Just Captured

Harding was the only AEF artist to serve in both World Wars. Immediately after Pearl Harbor, Harding become a 60-year-old Marine captain. He painted the Marine landings on Bougainville, New Georgia, Guam, and elsewhere. Ninety-two of his combat sketches were publicly displayed even before the war ended.  

Machine Gunners, Argonne

Going Through Gas

Château-Thierry Refugees, May 31, 1918

Sources: Smithsonian;  Villanova University Library; U.S. Army Art Collection

The First Victoria Cross of World War II Went to a Gallipoli Orphan

2nd Lt. Richard Wallace Annand, VC

Richard Wallace Annand was born in Westoe, South Shields, County Durham, on 5 November 1914. He was the son of Lieutenant Commander Wallace Annand (1887–1915), who served with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) during the Great War, and his wife Elizabeth (née Chapman). Richard was just seven months old when his father was killed at Gallipoli, and an uncle became his guardian.

His father, Wallace, had joined the RNVR as midshipman on 11 April 1907, being attached to HMS Satellite on the Tyne. On the creation of the Royal Naval Division, he was promoted lieutenant and was initially employed training men until appointed to the Division's Collingwood Battalion. Just before leaving the camp at Blandford, he was gazetted lieutenant-commander, 8 May 1915. Wallace Annand was killed near Achi Baba, Gallipoli and was buried on the battlefield. His body was never discovered. His name is listed on the Cape Helles Memorial. An unidentified officer afterward sent a letter to his family:

On June 4th (in the third battle of Krithia) he was well in advance during the big attack, urging the men on, and was shot early in the engagement at about the same time as the C.O. His loss is irreparable. he was a man of infinit tact and strong personal character, which commanded respect from all his seniors and endeared him to all of inferior rank.

Lt. Cmdr. Wallace Annand

Richard Annand, who was known to his school friends as "Dickie," was educated at Pocklington School, East Yorkshire. After leaving school, he worked for the National Provincial Bank from 1933–1937, first in its South Shields branch and later in Rugby, Warwickshire, and London. His move to the capital saw him attend three nights of drill on HMS President stationed on the River Thames, for he intended to follow his father into naval service.   In 1937, Annand applied for a commission in the Royal Navy as a seaman officer but was refused on the grounds that, at 22, he was too old. However, he was still young enough for an army commission and, in January 1938 (by then 23), Annand was gazetted as a second lieutenant into the Durham Light Infantry (DLI), thereby ending his career as a banker.

After one month’s army training in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, he was attached to the regiment’s 2nd Battalion based at Woking, Surrey. On 26 September 1939, Annand joined the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) in France. Then, in October of that year, he moved to Bercy, Lille, on the Belgian frontier during the so-called Phoney War. . . As the assaults on the Low Countries progressed, the River Dyle in Belgium formed an Allied  defensive line, east of Brussels. It was on one night in May that Annand, then aged 25, distinguished himself in resisting a fierce German attack.

The citation for his VC, published on 23 August 1940, detailed his action: 

“For most conspicuous gallantry on 15-16 May 1940, when the platoon under his command was on the south side of the River Dyle, astride a blown bridge. During the night a strong attack was beaten off, but about 11am the enemy again launched a violent attack and pushed forward a bridging party into the sunken bottom of the river. Second Lieutenant Annand attacked this party, but when ammunition ran out he went forward himself over open ground, with total disregard for enemy mortar and machine gun fire. Reaching the top of the bridge, he drove out the party below, inflicting over 20 casualties with hand grenades. Having been wounded, he re-joined his platoon, had his wound dressed, and then carried on in command.

“During the evening another attack was launched and again Second Lieutenant Annand went forward with hand grenades and inflicted heavy casualties on the enemy. When the order to withdraw was received, he withdrew his platoon, but learning on the way back that his batman was wounded and had been left behind, he returned at once to the former position and brought him back in a wheelbarrow, before losing consciousness as the result of wounds.”

Annand was evacuated back to the UK for hospital treatment of his injuries, which included the loss of some hearing.  Annand later lost the rest of his hearing during rifle training, as a consequence of which he served the remainder of the war in the UK. His tasks included training commandos in Scotland and working in the War Office. 

The Old Warrior

In 1948, Annand was invalided out of the army as a captain, having declined the opportunity to be transferred from the DLI. For the next three decades, Annand devoted himself to the welfare  of the disabled, including those people who were deaf or hard of hearing. From 1948–1970, he was personnel officer for the Finchale Abbey Training Centre for the Disabled near Durham. His other roles included being president of the Durham County Branch of the Normandy Veterans, president of the Durham County Association for Disabled; deputy lieutenant of Durham and president of the Durham and Cleveland branch of the Royal British Legion. He was also president of the North East League of the Hard of Hearing and a founder member of the British Association of the Hard of Hearing.

Once a brave man, always a brave man. On 26 February 1979, when aged 64, Annand saved his wife’s life by diving into the bitterly cold River Tyne in the dark after she had fallen off a ship’s gangplank. The couple, who did not have children, celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary on 9 November 2000. Annand died at the University Hospital of North Durham on Christmas Eve 2004.

Sources: Find a Grave:  www.britainatwar.com

The Baltimore Sabotage Cell: German Agents, American Traitors, and the U-boat Deutschland — Video

The 353rd "All Kansas" Infantry Regiment of the National Army, Part 1 – An Overview

Series Introduction by Editor/Publisher  Michael Hanlon

Since I became interested in the First World War, one of my efforts has been to share the story and experiences of the Doughboys who went "Over There" to fight the Kaiser's troops and "Make the World Safe for Democracy." I've tried to draw on the best AEF histories available to share with our readers. For some time, however, I've been aware of a gap in what's to be found on this subtopic—the service of the "National Army" units in France.  These were the divisions made up primarily (not exclusively) of draftees. These units were eventually to be the bulk of the four-million-man army America planned for the war.  

The early fighting by Pershing's forces was accomplished, though, by already formed "regular" formations of soldiers and Marines and the National Guard units that had recently been active on the Mexican border. The National Army divisions, on the other hand, had to be created from scratch. The draft had to be organized and implemented. The training bases called cantonments had to be constructed. Only then, the process of turning  civilian citizens into trained warriors could begin. This process took over a year to crank out the first troops ready for deployment. The first of these 28,000-man divisions, the 77th,  arrived in France just in time for the Second Battle of the Marne in August 1918, and ten more saw action, with six more preparing for deployment just before the  Armistice came. It's been my observation that the contributions of the men in these units—except Alvin York (82nd Division)—have been somewhat neglected since the war.  

Our frequent contributor, Jim Patton,  has come up with a corrective measure for this deficiency.  He has researched a representative, highly active  unit of the National Army and prepared a ten-part series on its service. The 353rd Infantry Regiment was a component of the 89th Division, which was formed with men from the Midwest. All the men of the 353rd, initially, were from Kansas, and the unit trained at Camp Funston in Kansas. The regiment saw action in both the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne Offensives with its parent division and was subsequently called upon to participate in the occupation of Germany. Their story will give you a good idea of the effort required to take typical young American men of the period lacking any military experience and turn them into capable and successful soldiers of the Republic.

The 353rd "All Kansas" Infantry Regiment of the National Army, Part 1—An Overview

The Helmet the Kansans Wore in France with the
89th Division Insignia

By James Patton

The 89th "Rolling W" Infantry Division was established at Camp Funston, Kansas, on 5 August  1917. At inception, it was under the command of Maj. Gen. Leonard Wood (1860–1927), a famous Apache fighter and the former CO of Teddy Roosevelt in Cuba, who, along with Teddy, had become a spokesman for the Preparedness Movement in the U.S. In 1915, Wood was one of the founders of the Plattsburg Camps (held at Plattsburgh, NY) for the training of future officers. One of the four regiments of this division was the 353rd Infantry, formed on 5 September, with an initial strength of 2,974 men, all of whom were draftees from Kansas, so the regiment was named "All-Kansas."

The commander of the 353rd throughout (with a short stint as the acting commandant of the 177th Brigade) was Col. James H.  Reeves (1870–1963), a native of Alabama and a member of the West Point Class of 1892. Having previously served in Cuba, the Philippines, the Boxer Rebellion, and two stints as a military attaché in China, he was promoted and transferred from the 3rd Cavalry, then serving on the Mexican border. 

Division Commander MG Leonard Wood

The Timeline of the 353rd "All-Kansas" Infantry Regiment

• Organized at Camp Funston, Kansas, 5 September 1917

• Left Camp Funston, 26 May 1918

• Left Hoboken, NJ, two ships (111 officers, 3401 enlisted men) on 4 June

• Reynal Training Area, France, 24 June–4 August

• Lucey Sector, 5 August 5–11 September

• St. Mihiel Offensive,  12-16 September

• Euvezin Sector, 16 September–7 October

• Reserve Fifth Corps,  9-19 October

• Meuse-Argonne Offensive—Bantheville Wood

19 October- 1 November

• Final drive Meuse-Argonne Offensive, 1 November

• Barricourt Woods-Tailly and Army Line, 2 November

• Capture of Stenay, 11 November

• Army of Occupation, 24 November 1918–6 May 1919

• Left port of Brest, France, USS Leviathan (105 officers, 2533 enlisted men) on 14 May 1919

• Arrived at Hoboken, NJ, 22 May 1919

• Demobilized 2 June 1919 at Camp Funston, Kansas

Ready for Occupancy: A Newly Constructed Camp Funston

The All-Kansas men had a hot war, with heavy fighting in both the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne Offensives. Members of the regiment were awarded two of the 89th Division’s nine Medals of Honor. By the way, the 353rd had a song that the folks back home could stand around the piano and sing: The Kansas Hymn, dedicated to the "All-Kansas Regiment" with words and  music by  Lillian Forrest. We will tell you more about Lillian's song in our final installment, when we cover the legends and traditions of the 353rd Infantry.

Incidentally, unlike many National Army regiment-sized units, the 353rd had a post-WWI life. After the 1919-1920 demobilization period, the 353rd was reactivated in the new Army Reserve on 24 June 1921. It was no longer All-Kansas, though, having added units based in Nebraska and South Dakota. Recalled to active duty on 15 July 1942, the regiment fought in the latter stages of the European campaign. The regiment was active in the Army Reserve from 1948 until 2008, when certain active-duty training battalions at then-Fort Polk, LA, were badged to the 353rd Infantry. In 2020, only the single battalion 3/353rd remained, assigned instead to the Security Force Assistance Command based at Fort Liberty, NC. 

Over the course of the next nine Fridays, we will continue to follow the progress of the All Kansas men as chronicled in The History of the 353rd Infantry Regiment, 89th Division, National Army September 1917 – June 1919 by Capt. Charles F. Dienst and associates, published in Wichita by the 353rd Infantry Society in 1921. 

Next Friday we will rendezvous with the thousands of young Kansans who have been ordered to report to Camp Funston, Kansas, to begin their military training.

James Patton

Between Sedan and Dreyfus: The French Officer Corps and Politics — A Roads Classic

General Boulange in His Prime

The defeat of the French Second Empire at German hands led to the creation of the Third Republic, a governmental system that placed power within the legislature and was plagued by ministerial instability and bureaucratic ineffectiveness. Most French officers, disproportionately Catholic, rural, and conservative, disliked and distrusted the anticlerical and pro-Parisian leanings of the government. The Third Republic, in their eyes, was a bastard child of the bloody Paris Commune and would, in all likelihood, last not much longer than the four years of the Second Republic (1848–1852). Then France could go back to a more authoritarian, conservative, and effective government that would support the army and promote traditional French values.

Joffre, 1889

The Third Republic was also rife with scandals, political intrigue, and persistent rumors of military-led coups. General George Boulanger's political movement of the late 1880s was the most famous but far from the only one of its kind. Boulanger combined right-wing authoritarianism and left-wing populism to build a movement that terrified the French government into a series of extreme measures that included ordering government employees to vote against the general and, eventually, exiling Boulanger himself. The threat only ended in 1891 when a love-sick Boulanger shot himself on the grave of his mistress, who had recently died of consumption.

Thus, French officers in the late 19th century often felt that they had more to fear from their fellow French than they did from the Germans. Officers had to learn how to play the system and curry favor with politicians in order to survive the turmoil and intrigue of the Third Republic. Some, like Joseph Joffre and Maurice Sarrail, developed ways (albeit very different ways) to deal with political realities. Others, like Paul-Marie Pau, had promotions denied to them on the basis of their politics. In 1907 then prime minister Georges Clemenceau had to intervene personally to give Ferdinand Foch command of the French War College; a report shown to Clemenceau had accused Foch of giving higher grades to Catholics, and Foch had a Jesuit brother, but Clemenceau decided to back Foch anyway.

Foch Before the War

When French officers weren't worrying about politics in Paris, they were looking overseas. The way to make a career in the late 19th-century French Army was by distinguishing oneself in the empire. After the Franco-Prussian War, France looked to Indochina, Madagascar, Senegal, and, above all, Algeria, to recover lost glory. The Germans, for their part, did all they could to encourage French imperial interests, both to turn French attention away from the continent and in the hope that imperial endeavors would keep France and Britain in constant conflict.

Virtually all of France's best-known and best-regarded generals had made their names in the colonies. Joffre, Hubert Lyautey, Charles Mangin, Joseph Gallieni, and countless others became French heroes for their work extending French influence to the corners of the globe. Given enormous powers, they learned to manage resources over tremendous distances, conquer problems of logistics, and balance military responsibilities with economic and political ones. To many of them, most notably Lyautey, the prospect of a war with Germany was infinitely less important than the expansion and solidification of the empire.

Source:  Over the Top, March 2007

The Veterans' Big Presence at the Antwerp Olympics

Joseph Guillemot (1899–1975), French winner of the 5,000-meter race, possibly best embodied the transition from war to sports for the athletes at Antwerp. Born in Le Dorat, France, Joseph Guillemot's lungs were severely damaged by mustard gas when he fought in World War I. Also, his heart was located on the right side of his chest. Despite this, Guillemot, an athlete of small stature (5'2", 118 lbs.), but with extraordinary vital capacity, won his regiment's cross-country championships.

Click on Image to Enlarge

In the next year, Guillemot won the French military championship, followed by his first national championship title in the 5,000-meter race in 1920. That qualified him for the Olympic Games. In Antwerp, the main favorite was Paavo Nurmi. In the 5,000-meters final, Nurmi devised a bold strategy in order to exhaust the dangerous Swedes Eric Backman and Runar Falk in the first part of the course. After three laps, Nurmi took the lead and built speed, with only Guillemot following doggedly. Halfway around, Guillemot still refused to yield, and Nurmi began to lose heart. On the final curve, Guillemot moved to pass Nurmi on the outside. Unaccustomed to final-stretch sprinting, Nurmi gave up completely and jogged to the finish line four seconds after Guillemot had broken the tape for the gold medal.

The 10,000-meters final was brought forward by almost three hours by the request of King Albert. Guillemot heard this after finishing a very large lunch. Fighting stomach cramps and shoes that were two sizes too big (his own shoes had been stolen), Guillemot had to be satisfied with the 10,000-meter silver.

Joseph Guillemot Receiving the Congratulations of
King Albert

After the Olympics, Guillemot won the International Cross-Country Championships in 1922 individually and led the French team to first place in 1922 and 1926. He won the French Nationals in 5,000 meters on three occasions but missed the next Olympics due to the disagreements with the French Athletics Union. He also held two world records: 2,000-meter (5:34.8) and 3,000-meter (8:42.2). Joseph Guillemot, a pack-a-day cigarette smoker, died in Paris at the age of 75.

Source: St. Mihiel Trip-Wire, October 2020

America’s U-boats: Terror Trophies of World War I

Click HERE To Order This Book

By Chris  Dubbs

Univ. of Nebraska Press, 2014

Reviewed William F. Bundy

Originally presented in the Naval War College Review, Autumn 2015

Chris Dubbs, a Gannon University executive, followed a fascination with his discovery of a First World War German submarine wreck in Lake Michigan. He pursued meticulous research through collections of First World War U-boat accounts and recorded American attitudes on the war and the public fascination with submarines. Throughout the book, he grabs the attention of readers as he skillfully recounts the arrival of the German freighter submarine Deutschland in the United States to reopen trade with Germany, the horrors that U-boats caused during the war, and the end of the war, when the allies claimed U-boats as war prizes. His well-cited account of events in the United States, at sea, and in Europe between 1916 and 1920 entertains readers with riveting images of German submarines and crews, the perils of war at sea, and public reaction and debates on the war. 

Dubbs offers an informative and historically accurate description of the impact U-boats had on the evolution of warfare and the subsequent employment of submarines as offensive weapons in war. He concludes his book with a note on the entrance of the United States into the Second World War, when Admiral Harold Stark, Chief of Naval Operations, ordered U.S. submarines to commence unrestricted submarine warfare against Japan, thereby disregarding the moral outrage against sinking ships without warning. USS Swordfish (SS 193) consummated the intent of that order nine days after 7 December 1941 when it torpedoed a Japanese freighter. Swordfish, commissioned on 22 July 1939, was certainly designed and constructed based on exploited First World War U-boat technology.

Dubbs has never served in our Navy or been identified as a naval warfare analyst; however, his account of submarine technology and warfare describes in compelling detail the phases of a revolution in military affairs brought about by offensive employment of submarines.

Dubbs details capability/countercapability phases and the evolution of technology that began a revolution in military affairs. While this aspect of the book is not Dubbs’s main focus, it serves as a textbook lesson for naval innovators and strategists in understanding the narrative on submarines and submarine warfare that continues today in the form of the U.S. Navy’s undersea warfare dominance.

Dubbs offers details on how Germany, with the initial advantage of superior submarine technology, executed a strategy designed to intimidate the United States and then threaten American and allied shipping at sea and American cities along the Atlantic coast. Imagine a Chinese high-speed freighter submarine arriving at the Port of Los Angeles to deliver bulk consignments of rare earth minerals. Imagine there were no known accounts of the Chinese freighter submarine being constructed or warnings of its passage until it surfaced west of Santa Barbara Island. Imagine its arrival in Los Angekes, with fanfare, public fascination, and U.S. government mortification.

This hypothetical arrival of a Chinese freighter submarine today is comparable to Dubbs’s account of the 1916 prewar arrival of Deutschland. Deutschland commenced its surface transit through the Chesapeake Bay bound for a call on the Port of Baltimore on 9 July 1916. Deutschland delivered not only rare dyes from Germany but also strategic communications that the British blockade of Germany was ineffective against German submarines and that German combat U-boats could arrive undetected along the Atlantic coast.

U-boat Deutschland with a Tug Outside Baltimore Harbor

Deutschland’s technology and apparent ability to transit the Atlantic established the first phase of a revolution in military affairs. It demonstrated superior German U-boat operational and functional capabilities to wartime enemies and potential adversaries.

Other accounts of German U-boat capabilities strengthened the initial demonstration of a strategic capability that provided Germany with a means of achieving strategic ends. Dubbs’s detailed accounts of U-boat exploits, while compelling reading, also inform present-day arguments for operating forward with superior war-fighting capability.

Throughout the book, maritime warfare is recounted in deep detail including tactical maneuvers and operational effects that have strategic consequences in warfare. Phases of a classic revolution in military affairs are brought into focus as submarine operations versus antisubmarine warfare illustrates a response cycle to the introduction of unrestricted submarine warfare in the Atlantic. Wartime incidents described by Dubbs are certainly significant revelations for some readers and provide persuasive details related to military-political affairs for strategists. Those narratives alone are well worth a serious reading of Dubbs’s wartime U-boat operations.

The revolution in military affairs created by U-boats in the First World War had a dramatic effect on the public, the conduct of the war, and the near attainment of German strategic aims. According to Dubbs, German U-boats were a major focus in negotiating the armistices that ended the war.

Dubbs chronicles the debate by American Navy leaders on the benefits of taking U-boats as war prizes. They had to be convinced that there were benefits to crewing U-boats with American submariners and crossing the Atlantic. Dubbs also introduces American submariners in his account of these events. Those officers would later emerge as leaders of the submarine force in the Second World War. Their efforts to inject First World War U-boat technology into U.S. submarines formed the basis for the U.S. Navy’s undersea warfare dominance today.

America’s U-boats is an important book for naval warfare professionals and submariners. It conveys a near-complete history of the origins of submarine warfare and the revolution in military affairs that submarines have delivered to maritime and strategic warfare then and now.

William F. Bundy

Russian Soldiers Write Home

Russian Soldiers on the Dvina Front

A century has passed since the beginning of the First World War, and now only the letters from men serving in the tsar’s army on the Eastern Front allow us to fully feel the terror of the men that were involved in it.

Unlike in other European countries, the First World War in Russia has remained in some ways a forgotten conflict, overshadowed by the sheer effort and cost imposed upon the nation by the victory in WWII. Yet, for three years, Russian troops were in action against Austro-Hungarian and German troops on the Eastern Front, suffering huge casualties before the Bolshevik Revolution ended the country’s participation in the war.

With the outbreak of hostilities in 1914, Russia implemented the Provisional Regulations on Military Censorship, which allowed the government to review and seize any letters from the front if they contained any secret information.

Thanks to this regulation, we can now read these letters, which are located in the archives, especially in the Russian State Military Historical Archive, where several volumes of letters from the front have been preserved.

Unbearable battle horrors

At the initial stage of the war, many were full of illusions. “Of course, this is a tough enemy, but nothing that we can’t handle—and all fully believed in our final victory,” wrote Colonel Samsonov to his wife. "Everyone sympathizes with this war, and all are going hunting for Germans.” The thoughts of the coming victory were voiced in many letters of this period.

However, soon the battlefields were covered with bodies of the fallen, and their families began to receive letters of condolence. Then came the realization of the war as a personal catastrophe, and an awareness of the irreversibility of terrible events began to penetrate into the hearts of people.

“Heavy battles are taking place on all fronts daily,” wrote one Russian officer. “Many have fallen on the battlefield, and many more will fall. And who will return unscathed? All fields where there were battles are strewn with the killed and those dying from their wounds—our soldiers and the Germans. And how many more will fall? War... What a horror! Death and destruction all around.”

The lines in a letter by another Russian officer already sound as an antiwar appeal, as a desperate incantation: “Every person who ever was in a war, who participated in it, comes to understand what a great evil this is. People should strive to eliminate wars.”

Exasperation

Other letters relate the brutality of events in unflinching detail, documenting how battles became a slaughterhouse.

“We are defending a bridge,” writes one soldier. “Yesterday the Germans wanted to cross over to our side, but, after letting them come up to the middle of the bridge, we opened such hellish fire that the Germans were forced to run like mad. Piled on the bridge were literally mountains of corpses.

“Today they again wanted to cross, or to remove the corpses of their men. Our artillery with its accurate fire instantly cleared the bridge of the red-faced pork-butchers. To the right of us, they wanted to cross at any cost. They rushed neck-deep into the water, but our machine gunners and riflemen did not even let them reach the middle of the river.

“After the battle, they say that the river water turned pink. Yes, that is as it should be, since they sent here at least 5,000-6,000 men, and all of them remained in the river.”

Another soldier wrote about similar battles, unprecedented in their cruelty, recalling them with internal horror and a fluttering heart:

“We were in the trenches, and repulsed the attacks of the Germans, who never came closer than 400 steps, being forced to turn back and leave. Four times they came towards our trenches (we could clearly see their faces), but could not withstand our fire and turned back.

“Sazonov and I lay next to each other in the trench, shooting at their officers and selecting the bigger soldiers. Well, we dropped those damned ones! They walked in silence, without firing a shot, in a wall formation. We allowed them to come close to us, to the best shooting distance, and then opened up with a terrible barrage.

“The ones in the front dropped like rocks, and the ones behind them turned and ran back. Frost bit at our skins, and the hair on our heads stood on end. I think Sazonov, the sergeant and I, sent a decent number of Germans to the other world. Painfully close they came. Their faces were pale, when they came at us. It was terrifying. God forbid that this ever happen again!"

Shell Shock

There was probably nothing more horrible than a massive artillery "preparation." When absolutely nothing depends on the man, he just hugs the ground, waiting for the barrage to stop, but it goes on and on.

The intensity of such attacks reached such a level that, as one artillery officer wrote, “artillery shots merged into a general howl, the sun was darkened, and one could see no more than five steps ahead in the smoke that was created.”

Sometimes, the nerves of a person coming under such fire would give out, and then, as one officer wrote, “I wanted to cry.” Afterwards many were never able to hear the howl of shells without starting to sob at the next shelling:

“This incessant roar of guns and exploding shells, from which there is no peace, finally breaks the nerves. Our Colonel Zhelenin even started to cry, like a little boy, his nerves could not stand it. Rossolyuk also roars like an ox.”

Going Over the Top

However, even in this sheer hell of war, soldiers retained their clarity of mind and self-control, running out of the trenches, and pressing on with their attacks under a swarm of bullets. Here is how these inexorably draining moments before an attack were described by a Russian officer:

“Finally, the word was passed down the line: ‘Prepare to attack.’ Literally, an electric current passed through us; some started to adjust their ammunition, some, removing their caps, devoutly crossed themselves, involuntarily feeling the approach of the great moment; but already down the line flies the new order ‘forward’; men crossing themselves, pop out of the trenches, with the words: ‘Brothers! To the attack, forward.’

“Literally like ants, people began to jump out of the trenches, with eyes to the right, marching together, looking death right in the face.”

Deprivation, blood, trench dirt, and the deaths of comrades—that is what the First World War looked like to the ordinary Russian soldier, a conflict unprecedented for humanity at beginning of the 20th century in its scale and the number of war dead.

Source: "The Forgotten War, 100 years on: WWI in the Letters of Russian Soldiers," from Russia Beyond;  RIA Novosti (Photo)

Britain's Farm Labor Crisis

On 18 August 1914, the government called on farmers to increase the production of food and the area of agricultural land under wheat and cereal production. It asked farmers to commit to what was, at the time, a more labor intensive and financially precarious production system without any support or protection. Realizing that Britain was not producing enough food to feed the nation, the government continued to look overseas and forge new contracts for supplies from across the world.

Almost a third of male farm workers had gone to war along with mechanics and blacksmiths, work horses had been requisitioned, machinery was limited and fertilizers and feed were in short supply. By 1917, almost half of steam-ploughing sets were lying idle due to the loss of farm workers to the war.

Registering for military service was voluntary under what was known as the "Derby Scheme," However, from the outbreak of war, men were encouraged to sign up for military duty with a heavy recruitment campaign and regular  publications of propaganda. Replacing lost labor proved difficult as many of the men working on farms had enlisted; the Board and the War Office had to cooperate. In 1917, the War Office released men to help with the spring cultivation and harvest and the Women’s Land Army was formed to provide extra labor on farm

The government was reluctant to apply "essential" status to agriculture as it had done to mining and munitions. These industries had been deemed essential to the war effort and therefore the government ensured that the labor supply was maintained. As long as the food supply was maintained with imports the government saw little need for action.

Agricultural fairs were heavily targeted by recruitment officers and a significant number of men signed up. Historian P.E. Dewey reported that farms saw a loss of 170,000 men aged 18 and over between 1914 and 1918, around 17.5 per cent of the workforce. A lot of skills and experience were lost with these men, and when Britain was faced with food shortages from 1916 the government recognized that it needed to provide assistance for farms.

A National Registration Act was introduced in 1915 which listed men still available to sign up and these men were targeted. In May 1915, recruitment officers were instructed not to accept skilled farm workers so that they could remain on the farm to protect Britain’s food supply. Government was beginning to recognize that with the war continuing past Christmas, food supplies must be considered. Farming was emerging as an increasingly vital part of the war effort.

By autumn 1915, some of these skilled laborers became "starred" which made them exempt from military duties. Starred workers were in positions deemed essential to the war effort. Many of these protected skilled workers felt patriotic enough to attest their willingness to serve but were usually granted exemptions. In 1917, a Food Production Department was established by the Board of Agriculture to manage the distribution of agricultural inputs such as labor, feed, fertilizer, and machinery to increase the output of crops.

To help with a lack of labor the Ministry of Munitions became responsible for the production and distribution of agricultural machinery in a bid to increase the number of motor tractors used on farm. As a result of the Industrial Revolution, the Army had increased demands on industry as the new age of warfare meant using metals, chemicals and railways for transportation which contributed to delays in the distribution and manufacture of agricultural machinery.

Eventually, the War Office supplied farms with prisoners of war and British soldiers from 1917. By 1918, there were 14,000 prisoners of war and 66,000 soldiers employed in British agriculture. They also began to send experienced ploughmen back from the front line to assist, as this was a vital and skilled job. However, many of these men had been injured, and yet more labor was needed.

By 1915, the Board of Agriculture developed a scheme for training women to do agricultural work in agricultural colleges across the country. This training focused on milking and "light" farm work. The courses lasted for 25 weeks, and 218 women signed up, with 199 finding work afterward. On top of this, many women took it upon themselves to form women’s associations to find work in agriculture. There were also some private organizations, such as the Women’s Defence Relief Corps, which was taken over by the Board of Agriculture in 1917.

This led to the formation of the Women’s Land Army (WLA) in 1917. The aims of the WLA were to recruit women for agriculture, break down the anti-feminine bias, and organize "gangs" for farm work. If women were working on a farm for over 30 days, they were entitled to wear an armlet of military appearance to demonstrate to others that they were doing their duty for their country; the armlet was khaki with a red crown. By 1918, there were more than 223,000 women in agriculture, with 8,000 working in the WLA performing the same tasks as men to continue producing food for Britain. 

Source: "The Few That Fed the Many", NFUONLINE.com

Elsie and Mairi: The Angels of Pervyse—A Roads Classic

Many of those [women] who initially rushed to sign up [for war work] had never been farther than the boundary of their village, or town, and had known few people outside their neighbors and, later, those they worked with. Going to war was to be the big adventure, which brings me to two women who immediately saw the opportunity to blend adventure with service: Elsie Knocker (1884–1978) and Mairi Chisholm (1896–1981), who, arguably, became the most famous women of the Great War, as news of their courage reached Britain and, indeed, the rest of the world. They became known as the "Angels of Pervyse" after the village north of Ypres where they cared for the wounded for almost four years. 

"Elsie wanted to get away from the dreary post-Victorian life she was leading," says Flemish historian Patrick Vanleene, "and young Mairi thought Elsie could lead her to an adventurous life". In a letter to her aunt shortly after arriving in Belgium, Mairi wrote: "Fancy […] lolling about doing nothing when there is such a tremendous lot to do here. It's too rotten to think of."

An early turning point came when the women realized how many soldiers were dying because they were not treated soon enough, as the front lines were far from the base hospitals. Elsie and Mairi decided to do something about it. They left Munro's team, broke out on their own, and moved to the heart of the battle zone in Pervyse. 

Here the two women set up their first aid post in autumn 1914. Their rundown cellar house, Le Poste de Secours Anglais, as it became known, was just meters away from the Belgian front line. At first, they had help from former colleagues, but by the beginning of 1915, it was just Mairi and Elsie, risking their own lives to help save those of the Belgian soldiers.

In the Trenches with the Troops

As well as their medical work, Mairi and Elsie were a constant presence on the front line, often handing out hot cocoa and soup to the grateful Belgian soldiers. They were regularly mentioned in soldiers' diaries, poems, and songs and were given presents too. Before long, the women were known as the Madonnas or Angels of Pervyse.

As their reputation soared, so too did the publicity that surrounded the Angels of Pervyse. "People really wanted to meet them and to see the conditions they were living in, and in many ways just to be able to say they'd met them," says their biographer Diane Atkins.

Elsie and Mairi became celebrities of their day—British visitors to the Flanders Front would go to meet them; they were lauded in the press and treated like stars on their visits back to British soil. Their work continued throughout the war years, but in 1918 both were seriously injured in a gas attack and returned to the UK for treatment. The momentum behind their work was lost, and neither was in Pervyse when the Armistice came. After the war, they had a falling out over Knocker's second marriage, and they rarely spoke for the rest of their lives.

From Jackie Winspear's blog, Tony Langley, and the BBC