Grasping Verdun — An Orderly Overview of the War's Most Chaotic Battle

On 21 February 1916 the longest and, arguably, the most famous battle of the Great War began, the Battle of Verdun. One hundred and ten years on, I thought a broad overview of the battle was the best introduction for our readers. This is adapted from a pamphlet of the National Association of the Battle of Verdun. They describe the 1916 battle in four phases.

On the Front Line at Verdun, Fort Vaux/Tavennes Tunnel Sector

Phase I: 21 February–1 March : Opening Attack

On 21 February, at 0715 hrs the Germans opened fire on the two banks of the Meuse, over a front of 40 kilometers. Simultaneously, Verdun proper was systematically bombarded, the first shells falling on the cathedral grounds. Fire was kept up for nine hours, the 1200+ German artillery pieces included a high proportion able to fire heavy caliber shells. The infantry attack was launched at 1615 hrs just before dusk, from the Haumont-Ornes Woods. The first strong resistance they met was from Chasseurs deployed in Bois des Caures commanded by Lt. Col. Emile Driant, who became the first hero of the battle. Over the next few days the terrain and villages between the Bois des Caures and Fort Douaumont were systematically conquered. The fort, which was almost abandoned, fell without resistance on 25 February. General Henri-Philippe Pétain took command over the army of Verdun the same day. To better organize the defenses, he implemented a rotational system for the defending troops and improved the only supply route to the City, the Bar-le-Duc–Verdun road, which came to be known to posterity as the Voie Sacrée or Sacred Way.

Illustration for German home front consumption of the capture of
Verdun's Fort Douaumont on 25 February 1916

Phase II 2 March–15 April : The Assault Intensifies and Broadens

The German Vth Army expanded their attack to the left (west) bank of the Meuse. The fighting in Bois des Courbeaux and on the slopes of Mort-Homme (Dead Man's Hill) were particularly fierce. On the right bank, mainly the village of Vaux and the forest of the Caillette were contested during this period. The gains of the Germans remained limited. General Pétain declared to his troops, "Courage. . . we will get them!"

Click on Map to Enlarge

Phase III: 15 April–12 July : Intense Attrition

The enemy continued his advance step-by-step with local actions that were murderous for both sides. On the left bank, Hill 304, Mort-Homme, and the village of Cumières were sites of desperate struggles. General Pétain was replaced by General Nivelle on 15 May.

On the right bank, the attempt of General Mangin to take back the Fort Douaumont was a bloody failure (22 May), whereas the Fort Vaux surrendered to the Germans on 7 June after a week's siege. On 23 June, Nivelle, anticipating a German attack issued an Order of the Day which ended with the now-famous line: "Ils ne passeront pas!" (They shall not pass!") Later, 60,000 Germans were sent to the assault at an increasingly narrow front on the right bank to seize the ruins of Thiaumont and Fleury which were subsequently taken and recaptured several times. At the fortification known as Froideterre, last obstacle before Verdun, the defenders managed to hold. On 11 and 12 July a maximum effort of the German troops pushed to what was their extreme advance: the ravine of the Poudrière (a powder magazine south of Fleury village) and the scarp of Fort Souville.

French Version of the Fighting on Mort Homme

Phase IV: 12 July–15 December: The Stabilization and [Partial] Liberation

Terribly violent combat followed on the two banks until August. From then on the German attacks were more and more diverted from Verdun by the vast French–British attack at the Somme. In Verdun, another offensive led by General Mangin managed to recapture Thiaumont and Douaumont along with 6,000 prisoners by 24 October. Fort Vaux was reoccupied a week later. By 15 December the offensive freed Louvement and Bezonvaux villages and 11,000 more German soldiers surrendered. The line was now pushed back 5 km from the Germans' extreme advance of July.

National Cemetery and Ossuary at Verdun Today

Aftermath: 

The result in terms of human lives of the battle of Verdun was appalling—by the most conservative estimate, 377,000 French and 337,000 Germans were killed, wounded, or disappeared. It is only in September and October 1918 that the whole of the territory lost after 21 February 1916 was reconquered thanks to the great commitment of the American troops.

First American to Die in the Great War?—Remembering Edward Mandell Stone, French Foreign Legion

The First American to die in the First World War was Harvard graduate, Edward Mandell Stone (1888–1915).  He completed his work for the A.B. degree in 1907, and during his senior year studied in the law school. He did not finish his studies there but in 1909 served in the Legation at Buenos Aires as a volunteer private secretary to the Hon. Charles H. Sherrill, United States Minister to the Argentine Republic. Returning to this country he entered the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in January 1910, taking courses in history and political science, and the next autumn resumed his course in the law school.  

He had been living in France for some time before the outbreak of the war and become deeply interested in this country and fond of its people. When Germany attacked France in August 1914, he enlisted at once as a private in the Foreign Legion, 2nd Regiment, Battalion C. In October he was sent to the trenches at the front with a machine gun section and served at or near Craonne until wounded there by shrapnel on 15 February 1915 while on guard duty. He was taken to the Military Hospital at Romilly, where he died of his wounds on 27 February 1915. He is buried in the Romilly-sur-Seine, Community Cemetery.

Newspaper Announcement and Photo of Stone's Grave in France

His former classmate, Rudolph Altrocchi '08, wrote his obituary in the Harvard Crimson: 

We do much talking around the Yard about the war, taking sides (usually the same side) with earnest eloquence; but here was a fellow, happy, rich, strong, with a promising life before him, who did not hesitate to volunteer under a foreign banner and sacrifice his life for the cause he thought (and most of us think) right.

Source:  American War Memorials Overseas; Harvard Law School; Poynter50

Ten Float Planes Over El Afule—The Naval Air Raid That Stopped a Railway

Wing Commander Charles Rumney Samson's Favorite Floatplane,
Short 8372, Over Port Said

By I.M. Burns

Excerpted from Floatplanes Over The Desert

On 25 August 1916, Commander Charles Samson led ten floatplanes from three Royal Naval Air Service carriers in a coordinated strike against the Ottoman railway junction at El Afule, deep in the interior of Palestine. The raid was part of a sustained campaign by the East Indies and Egypt Seaplane Squadron to disrupt Turkish supply lines during the Sinai and Palestine campaigns of the First World War.

The plan was ambitious. Three seaplane carriers—Ben-my-Chree, Raven, and Anne—would launch their entire complement of Short and Sopwith float planes in a single formation. Each ship had a designated target within the El Afule complex: rolling stock in the station sidings, buildings and stores, and the main line south of the junction. The float planes would attack at staggered altitudes between 700 and 1,700 feet to avoid collisions.

Admiral Rosslyn Wemyss approved the operation immediately. The French Navy, pleased with recent work by Samson's squadron, provided destroyer escorts. The two slower carriers sailed on the morning of 24 August 1916, with Ben-my-Chree following in the afternoon. They assembled off Haifa before dawn.

Ben-my-Chree nearly missed the rendezvous. At 03:30 she ran onto an uncharted sandbar off Athlit, close to a known Turkish coastal battery. Flight Sub-Lieutenant George Dacre, aboard for the raid, recorded the moment with characteristic humour: "I was rudely awakened before dawn by my camp bed giving way and discovered that the cause was the ship had properly run into Syria in the dark and we were hard aground." After an hour of reversing engines, the carrier worked herself free and continued north.

Samson was first off at 05:30, his Short float plane's fin painted red for identification. The remaining Shorts formed up behind him in starboard quarter-line. The faster Sopwiths launched up to 25 minutes later, joining the formation as it headed inland. Once the bombs were dropped, the Sopwiths were to watch for enemy aeroplanes.

Target—El Afule Rail Junction

The flight took the formation up the valley between the Carmel and Nazareth ranges. Heavily loaded with bombs, Lewis guns, ammunition drums, and cameras, the float planes could barely climb. Turkish troops in camps around Tabaun opened fire as the formation passed through the valley, the machines bouncing in the turbulent air. Flight Sub-Lieutenant Guy Smith recalled: 'So intense was this attack upon us that I could hear the crackle of the guns above the roar of my motor.'

Smith's observer, Lieutenant Millard, was making notes and sketching, oblivious to the fire around them. Smith threw a biscuit at him to get his attention. "He immediately developed a pronounced peeve, indicating that his sketch had been spoiled. At any rate, I attracted his attention to the situation, and he forgot his grievance and got busy with the machine gun."

Emerging from the defile, the formation attacked. Raven's flight broke away first, swooping on a train steaming south from the station. Flight Sub-Lieutenant Paine's bombs damaged the track and set the last coach alight. Smith made four passes on the train, dropping bombs that demolished carriages and tore holes in the track. Between his runs, Flight Lieutenant Clemson attacked at 300 feet, his observer machine-gunning the locomotive crew.

Over El Afule itself, Turkish anti-aircraft fire was heavy. The defenses had been strengthened considerably since Samson's solo raid on 15 August. But within 15 minutes, the squadron had dropped one 112-lb, six 65-lb, 15 16-lb, and eight incendiary bombs. Station buildings burned, a locomotive and 14 carriages were destroyed or damaged, and stores were consumed by fire.

All ten machines returned safely between 06:32 and 07:10, most with bullet holes but no serious damage. Two Shorts launched again to assess the damage. They found fires still burning and reported that 'the permanent way south of the junction was completely wrecked. Rails uprooted, embankment destroyed.' Samson concluded in his report that 'the junction and south-going line will not be in operation for some time.'

Ben-my-Chee in the Suez Canal

On the return voyage, Ben-my-Chree intercepted two dhows running supplies to Turkish front-line troops. The crew of one vessel, brought aboard as prisoners, confirmed that Samson's earlier raid on 15 August had shut down rail traffic for five days.

The success was marred by the loss of Dacre. Sent to bomb a camp near Bureir that afternoon, he failed to return. His Sopwith's engine had quit at 3,000 feet, 12 miles inland. Forced to land on the floats, he recalled: "I got to within a few feet, pulling her back and back to do a pancake landing. I seemed to be actually travelling very slow just before I touched, but when I did hit Turkey she went over on to her nose like a flash."

A Damaged Short Float Plane 

Arab villagers seized him, threatening to cut his throat. Women beat him with sticks and threw mud in his face. A Turkish NCO arrived just in time, driving off the mob with a whip. Dacre spent the remainder of the war as a prisoner at Afion Kara Hissar. An American Embassy report in October confirmed his capture. He returned to the Royal Air Force after the war, retiring as an Air Commodore in 1944.

The El Afule raid demonstrated what coordinated naval air power could achieve against infrastructure far from the coast. Intelligence reports later confirmed that the damage was sufficient to halt traffic for several days, disrupting Ottoman supply lines during a critical phase of the campaign.

This article is adapted from Float Planes Over The Desert, available from Little Gully Publishing. Dedicated to preserving the stories of the past, Little Gully offers firsthand accounts, new histories and quality reissues. Visit littlegully.com to explore more and order your copy.

Chasing the U-Boat: The U.S. Navy Initiates Anti-Submarine Warfare, May–June 1917

U.S. Navy Four-Stacker Destroyer with a Convoy

Despite internal Navy opposition to sending destroyers to Europe, the Navy did so, and by June 1917 over 30 U.S. destroyers were operating in the Western Approaches to Great Britain and the Bay of Biscay off France against German U-boats. As of 21 May, the British had (finally) adopted the convoy system as the best means to combat U-boat attacks rather than fruitlessly patrolling in open waters. U.S. destroyers were immediately integrated into the British convoy system. In the first weeks, although there were several encounters with U-boats, real and imagined, the U.S. destroyers mostly rescued survivors from ships sunk by U-boats that were not protected by convoy.

On 21 May 1917, Ericsson (DD-56) launched a torpedo at a surfaced U-boat that was shelling a Norwegian and a Russian sailing vessel, the first torpedo fired by the U.S. Navy at an enemy in the war. The torpedo missed. The U-boat dived and sank the two sailing vessels with torpedoes of its own, leaving Ericsson to rescue survivors.

On 4 June 1917, Chief Boatswain’s Mate Olaf Gullickson, commanding the Naval Armed Guard on board the U.S. steamship Norlina, opened fire on U-88, just as Norlina was hit by a torpedo. Despite two hits, U-88 survived. (The U-boat’s skipper was Kapitänleutnant Walter Schwieger, who as skipper of U-20 had sunk the British liner Lusitania in May 1915. U-88 would hit a mine and be lost with all hands, including Schwieger, in September 1917.) For his quick action, Gullickson would be awarded the Navy Cross, the first of the war.

On 16 June 1917, O’Brien (DD-51) depth-charged and slightly damaged a German submarine. The British were so thrilled (thanks to intercepting and reading German codes) that Vice Admiral Sir Lewis Bayly, commander-in-chief of the Western Approaches, put the O’Brien’s commander, Lieutenant Commander Charles A. Blakely, in for the British Distinguished Service Order (Blakely was also awarded a U.S. Distinguished Service Medal for the same action) and Ensign Henry N. Fallon for a British Distinguished Service Cross (not a bad haul for a near-miss.) Fallon would later receive a Navy Cross for action with another U-boat in September 1917.

Troop ships of the first American convoy in 1917.
The ships are the Henderson, Antilles, Momus, and Lenape

On 14 June 1917, the first American Expeditionary Force (AEF) convoy, with 14,000 troops (Army and Marines), departed from New York City in four groups bound for St. Nazaire, France, under the overall command of Rear Admiral Albert Gleaves. Each group consisted of three or four troopships (including Dekalb—formerly the commandeered German liner/auxiliary cruiser Prinz Eitel Friedrich, which had been interned in Norfolk in March 1915 following seven months as a commerce raider in which she sank, among others, the U.S. schooner William P. Frye in January 1915, the first U.S.-flagged ship sunk in the war). Each of the groups was also escorted by an armored cruiser (Seattle—CA-11), protected cruiser (Charleston— CA-19—and St . Louis—CA-20), or a scout cruiser (Birmingham—CS-2), and three destroyers each. The oilers Kanawha (AO-1) and Maumee (AO-2) provided underway refueling (which had been done only for the first time on 28 May) for the escorting destroyers. Group 3 also included the armed collier Cyclops (AC-4), which would become famous for disappearing without a trace in the “Bermuda Triangle” in March 1918.

Destroyers from North America escorted the ships for the first leg before breaking off to return home. They were replaced by American destroyers based in Queenstown, Ireland, which met the convoy mid-ocean to guide them through the final "danger zone" near the French coast. As each group approached the Western Approaches/Bay of Biscay, additional U.S. destroyers operating out of Queenstown augmented the escorts. Although there were several reported torpedo attacks (which were probably imaginary), none of the ships was hit by U-boats. The first group dropped anchor in the Loire River off Saint-Nazaire on 26 June 1917.

U-58's Crew Abandoning Ship

The U.S. Navy would not sink its first German U-boat in World War I until 17 November 1917. The USS Fanning and USS Nicholson forced the German submarine U-58 to the surface with depth charges off Milford Haven, Wales, before it was sunk. The crew of U-58 surrendered and was taken as prisoners.

Note:  This article focuses on the Navy's early response to the U-boat threat.  For details on convoy operations, see our earlier article HERE. 

Source: U.S. Naval History & Heritage Command

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