2 August, 1914: Treaty of Alliance Between Germany and Turkey

Signatories Grand Vizier Said Halim Pasha and German Ambassador Baron Hans von Wangenheim

A secret treaty was concluded between the Ottoman Empire and the German Empire on August 2, 1914. The Ottomans were to enter the war on the side of the Central Powers one day after the German Empire declared war on Russia. The alliance was ratified on 2 August by many high-ranking Ottoman officials, including Grand Vizier Said Halim Pasha, the Minister of War Enver Pasha, the Interior Minister Talat Pasha, and Head of Parliament Halil Bey. Austria-Hungary adhered to the Ottoman-German treaty on 5 August. However, Turkey did not go to war when Germany went to war against Russia.

It seems not all members of the Ottoman government accepted the alliance. There was no signature from the Sultan Mehmed V, who was nominally in charge of the army but had little power. The third member of the cabinet of the Three Pashas, Cemal Pasha, also did not sign the treaty as he had tried to form an alliance with France. 

Berlin grew annoyed as the Ottomans stalled but offered two ships and a large loan. On the 29 October 1914, the Ottomans entered the war after their fleet had bombarded Russian ports on orders from Enver Pasha.

On 22 January 1915, a more general alliance was signed between the Ottoman Empire and Germany that was to last into 1920. On 28 September 1916, a treaty against separate peace was signed. In 17 October 1917, the 1915 treaty was amended to enhance military cooperation between the empires. On March 21 1916, Austria-Hungary had joined the Ottoman-German pact.

Russia declared war on Turkey on 3 November 1914, and on 5 November 1914, Great Britain and France also declared against Turkey.

First and Last Pages of the 2 August Document

Treaty of Constantinople, 2 August  1914

1. The two contracting parties agree to observe strict neutrality in regard to the present conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia.

2. In case Russia should intervene with active military measures, and should thus bring about a casus foederis for Germany with relation to Austria-Hungary, this casus foederis would also come into existence for Turkey.

3. In case of war, Germany will leave her military mission at the disposal of Turkey. The latter, for her part, assures the said military mission an effective influence on the general conduct of the army, in accordance with the understanding arrived at directly between His Excellency the Minister of War and His Excellency the Chief of the Military Mission.

4. Germany obligates herself, if necessary by force of arms ... [cipher group lacking] Ottoman territory in case it should be threatened.

5. This agreement which has been concluded for the purpose of protecting both Empires from international complications which may result from the present conflict goes into force as soon as it is signed by the above-mentioned plenipotentiaries, and shall remain valid, together with any similar mutual agreements, until 31 December 1918.

6. In case it shall not be denounced by one of the high contracting parties six months before the expiration of the term named above, this treaty shall remain in force for a further period of five years.

7. This present document shall be ratified by His Majesty the German Emperor, King of Prussia, and by His Majesty the Emperor of the Ottomans, and the ratifications shall be exchanged within a period of one month from the date of its signing.

8. The present treaty shall remain secret and can only be made public as a result of an agreement arrived at between the two high contracting parties. In testimony whereof, etc.

BARON v. WANGENHEIM

SAID HALIM

(With regard to 3: The Turks wished to use this phraseology in view of the fact that His Majesty the Sultan is the Commander-in-Chief of the Turkish army. General Liman, however, had officially informed me in advance that he had arranged a detailed agreement with the Minister of War Enver which provided the Military Mission with the actual chief command -- as required by your telegram 275....)

WANGENHEIM

Sources:  Upcoming Armageddon Blog; WWI Document Archive; Wikipedia

Hell Spit: One of the Many Names at Anzac

 

Original Sign (Australian War Memorial Collection)

The Anzac area of Gallipoli became a miniature version of the Western Front. More than 200,000 men packed into a battlefield 1.5 miles square, about the size of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.

Soon after the initial landings, countless trenches and tunnels cut through the rocky soil like capillaries, bringing fresh blood forward and carrying the wounded back. The soldiers assigned each of these features' nicknames. One narrow stretch of no man’s land was known in Turkish as bomba sirt, or “Bomber Ridge,” because of the near-constant exchange of hand-tossed grenades.  On the other side of the line, the Anzacs proved to be prolific and imaginative name givers.

A Sampler of Anzac Names
Note Location of Hell Spit

The convoluted lines required intimate familiarity with every fold of ground. Geographical features and trench complexes were all named, giving historical accounts a fantastical flavor. Men fought from, in, and over places like the Nek, the Pimple, Dead Man’s Ridge, Battleship Hill, Lone Pine, the Daisy Patch, Plugge’s Plateau, the Sphinx, Courtney’s Post, Shrapnel Valley, Baby 700, and Hell Spit. Since "Hell Spit's" etymology is both apt and easily demonstrated visually, let's look at it briefly.

Aerial View of Hell Spit and Beach Cemetery
Plugge's Plateau to Right

The slight headland destined to be nicknamed Hell Spit is the southern-most point of  the crescent-curved beach of 1000-yard-long Anzac Cove. It was so named because it was the most exposed part of the area held by Anzac troops. The  Ottoman artillery on the headland of Gaba Tepe to the south, bombarded Hell Spit during the day, as did the artillery to the north.

View of Hell Spit from the Northern End of Anzac Cove

Nonetheless, it was a position that had to be held and manned through the entire campaign.  Just inland from here is Shrapnel Valley, which connects the Anzac front line to the beach. Shrapnel Valley was a lifeline—all the stores went up this valley and all the wounded were evacuated back down it. 

View Inland from Hell Spit

At Hell Spit, its "Beach Cemetery" was one of the first graveyards established during the Anzac campaign, and most of the dead had to be reburied a number of times because their bodies kept being blown out of their graves. Today, Beach Cemetery holds the remains of 391 Commonwealth soldiers. The most famous burial is of Private John Simpson Kirkpatrick, the "Man with a Donkey."

Beach Cemetery Today

The name of the first Digger who coined "Hell Spit" is lost to history, but we can be sure when his mates first heard him utter those words, they said to themselves, "Why that's a right proper name for this bloody never never, mate."

Sources: Slate; Wiki Commons, Australian War Memorial, and Donna Gaye, Roads Research Director

Answering the Call: Erie County, Pennsylvania in World War One.

Prepared & Published by the Erie County World War One Centennial Committee, 2021.

Reviewed  by Peter L. Belmonte

The Erie County World War One Centennial Committee was formed in August 2018 with the goal of remembering the contributions of the men and women of the county to the American effort in World War I. Their idea to create a plaque with the names of the 190 Erie County men who died in service during the war resulted in their research to find more information about the men. In addition to discovering another eleven men who made the supreme sacrifice, they accumulated enough material to make this book possible. There are several editors listed along with twenty-two contributing authors. The chief editors are: Mary Jane Phillips Koenig, Susan Bowser Mueller, Ann Silverthorn, and Bill Welch.

Answering the Call is divided into short chapters covering many different aspects of Erie County’s war effort. A brief review of some of the chapters will suffice to give the reader an idea of the scope and content of the book. Initial chapters provide an overview of the progress of the war to 1917, a brief history of the county’s involvement in the war, and an explanation of the criteria for inclusion in the list of the dead. The next chapter gives a brief vignette of each Erie County serviceman who died during the war, including a few who died while in the service of another country. Accompanying most of the vignettes is a small portrait of each man.

Subsequent chapters are devoted to vignettes of other men from the county and a brief look at units composed largely of men from Pennsylvania. These include the 28th, 79th, and 80th Divisions. A separate chapter covers the men of the 313th Machine Gun Battalion, 80th Division, and their service during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.

All the County's Fallen Are Remembered

One chapter is devoted to Benjamin and Carrie Lawson, an African American couple who gave four sons to military service. All four returned home safely at war’s end. In another chapter Ann Silverthorn covers the history of her paternal grandfather’s brother who was killed in action while serving with American forces, and also his paternal grandmother’s brother who was killed in action while serving with German forces. As Silverthorn states, “Imagine the sad conversation they [the author’s grandparents] must have had when they were first getting to know each other” (p. 117).

The editors devote a full chapter of Answering the Call to covering the industrial support given by Erie County to the war effort; products included engines, paper (including sheet music), bombs, and boilers. Another fine section of several chapters covers the work of the women of Erie County during the war. They served in the Red Cross and other auxiliary organizations, they worked in industries, they served as nurses, and they raised money for the war effort.

A chapter covering the pilgrimage of Gold Star Mothers to Europe in the early 1930s provides a sad coda to the story of women on the home front. Other chapters cover the 1918 flu epidemic, the visit of a captured German U-Boat to Erie, the departure of Erie’s U.S. Naval Reserve men for duty in April 1917. Another chapter lists the various awards and decorations, including non-medal awards, which men and women could earn during the war; it closes with a list of eight men from Erie County who earned the Distinguished Service Cross, along with the appropriate citations. The final chapters cover the building and dedication of the Veterans Memorial Stadium to honor the county’s fallen in 1924 plus several more vignettes covering the service of specific soldiers.

Erie County's Industry Made Many Contributions to
the Nation's War Effort

The editors have included a helpful guide for genealogists, historians and others who want to research American servicemen. In addition, a complete list of the men from Erie County is included. The book is heavily illustrated with  photographs of soldiers, places, equipment, etc. It is highly recommended to those readers interested in how the war affected American communities.

For Purchasing  Answering the Call: Erie County, Pennsylvania in World War One:

·  $22 per softbound copy,  plus $5.00 shipping, with all proceeds going toward the maintenance and upkeep of the World War I memorial at Erie County Veterans Memorial Park. 

·  For information on the book, or to request a copy, email eriecountyww1@gmail.com or call 814-868-2225. 

The Cypriot Mule Corps in the Great War

 

The role played by British colonies during the Great War is only now starting to emerge in the last decade or so. This article aims to include Cyprus among those colonies that contributed enormously to the British war effort, such as India, Jamaica and the former settler colonies. Before the war, Cyprus was an "inconsequential possession," and during the first two years of the war it played a very minor role, when for the most part it served as a pawn to lure Greece into the war, which failed when Athens rejected the British offer to cede Cyprus to Greece in exchange for Greece coming to the military aid of Serbia in October 1915. From the summer of 1916, soon after the British and French signed the Sykes–Picot Agreement, the island became a bustling military and humanitarian base, while it also fed and fueled the Allied armies in Egypt, Macedonia, and France. 

Its most significant contribution was undoubtedly the formation of the Cypriot Mule Corps in summer 1916. Cypriot muleteers served in the British Army mostly on the Macedonian Front during the First World War. Until it was dissolved in April 1920, over 12,000 men had served at one time or another, a staggering number given the small size of the island, representing 25 percent of the male population aged 18–35. Some 3500 mules and 3000 ponies were also involved.

The contribution of the island and its people says much about imperial loyalty as well as the social fabric of a Mediterranean island emerging after centuries of Ottoman rule to the modernizing influences of Great Britain. The British government used the existing economic problems in Cyprus to attract Cypriot support. For some Cypriots joining the war, serving in the army was the only way to provide a livelihood for their family. In fact, Turkish Cypriots participated in the Great War against the Ottoman Empire.  At least 38 of the muleteers died in service.  The muleteers were so successful that they were called back for service in the Second World War, seeing action in Greece, Italy, the Middle East, and North Africa.

Sources: "The Impact of the Cypriot Contribution During the Great War" by Andrekos Varnava, First World War Studies, August 2016; "The Cypriot Mule Corps in the First World War," Nur Centiner.

 

A Dozen Photos from Verdun's Memorial Museum

Click on Images to Enlarge

Contemporary Graphic Novel

French Reenactors

Lt. Col. Driant's Command Post at Opening of Battle

German Artillery Unit

Stormtrooper Grenade Bags

Stretcher Teams

French Casualty

Post of Command 118

German Aviator's Helmet

Present Day View of Ossuary & National Cemetery

Bois de Cauires After the Battle

Fort Douaumont Today

 

In Case of "Abandon Ship" Remember There Is Lots of Time

 

USS Walter A Luckenbach Made Five Trips to France
to Return the Doughboys Home in 1919

These were the instructions issued to the troops:

Hawaii and the SMS Geier Incident

Even after the annexation of the Hawaian Islands by the United States in 1898,  the German community who stayed to work in trade or agriculture fit in comfortably with the highly mixed native Hawaiian, Asian, European, and  American populace. This arrangement, sadly, would change with the coming of the war. Much of the disharmony grew around the visit and internment of two German ships.

SMS Geier in Honolulu (German Flag)

The German gunboat SMS Geier was en route to the German base in Tsingtao when war broke out in Europe in August 1914. Slipping out of still-neutral British Singapore days before Britain declared war on Germany, she crossed the central Pacific in an attempt to link up with Maximilian von Spee's East Asia Squadron. While at sea, she captured one British freighter, but did not sink her. In need of engine repairs and coal, Geier  put into the neutral United States port at Honolulu, Hawaii,  on 15 October with her collier, Locksun. 

America's Neutrality Laws did not allow belligerent warships to remain in port more than 24 hours unless they were in need of repairs. Captain Karl Grasshof declared the Geier  needed boiler and machinery repairs. After an inspection, the State Department granted him three weeks to make the repairs. At the end of that time the warships had to leave or be interned for the duration of the war. While repairs were being made, two Japanese warships, Hizan and Asama, appeared outside of Honolulu harbor, intending to wait until the German ships tried to leave. On the day scheduled for the Geier's departure, a crowd of spectators, many of whom were Japanese, came to watch the confrontation. They were disappointed, however, because Captain Grasshof turned his ships over for internment. 

Honolulu gave the men of the Geier a hearty welcome to the islands, and until the U.S. entered the war, relations between the crewmen and Honoluluans were very cordial. The Advertiser apparently stated the majority opinion regarding these men in a December, 1914, editorial; "It is said that somebody is objecting to the sailors of the  Geier  having shore liberty. If this be so there is 'somebody' in Honolulu who has the soul the size of a peanut." Having dealt with the opposition, Editor Matheson went on to say that "The sailors on the Geier are a lot of clean cut young gentlemen. They have committed no wrong. By the fortune of war they are our guests." 

Crewmen of SMS Geier Relaxing in Hawaii

The men of the  Geier became a part of the Honolulu scene. The German community especially tried to make them feel at home and sponsored Christmas parties for them in 1914 and 1915 at the Phoenix Lodge on Beretania and Fort Street. Gifts were exchanged, carols sung to the music of the Royal Hawaiian Band, and Georg Rodiek, German consul and Hackfeld manager, led the toasts to the Kaiser. The Geier returned the hospitality. In celebration of their successful completion of English classes at the YMCA, the Geier's crew invited the entire German community to an evening which included music and athletic exhibitions.

Things began changing, however, in early 1917 when Germany and the United States appeared headed for war.  The U.S. severed diplomatic relations with Germany on 3 February 1917. On 4 February, Honoluluans discovered that several days previously all the German crews had systematically destroyed as much of the machinery on their respective ships as possible so they could not be used by U.S. forces. The 14th Naval District took immediate control of the warships while civilian officials dealt with the sailors. The crews were taken to the Immigration Station where they could be held without formal charges.

A final resolution of the problem came after the U.S. declared war on Germany on 6 April  1917; U. S. officials then seized all interned ships. Matson Navigation Co. received the contract to tow the merchantmen to San Francisco for repairs, while the Geier and the Locksun went to Pearl Harbor for renovations and to allow the ship to serve in the U.S. Navy. Ironically, the Geier was rechristened the Schurz that same year in honor of a German-American who had served with distinction in President Lincoln's cabinet.

The Kaiser Visited SMS Geier in Calmer Times

The German attempt to disable the interned vessels and the fear that they might attempt to disable the harbor created a feeling that these men had betrayed the community's trust.  In response, the Spanish Consul, who was now handling German affairs, wanted the District Attorney to prosecute the Advertiser for calling the Geier's officers "worthless" and thereby impugning their honor. The paper retorted that the Germans had already demonstrated their complete lack of honor by accepting Honolulu's s hospitality and then abusing it.  No more was heard of German honor.

Into this simmering cauldron fell the revelations of Geier Captain Karl Grasshof's diary which was discovered in December, 1917, several months after the Geier was seized. The betrayal by those "gentlemanly" sailors had been greater than hitherto imagined. Messages had been sent to Germany via the Geier's wireless which was supposed to have been sealed upon internment. The Germans were also involved in smuggling sailors back to Germany and supporting Germany's Hindu Spy Conspiracy.

Honoluluans were shocked that those nice young men, so much a part of the community, had behaved with duplicity the entire time. The men from the Geier were a part of the community just as the local Germans were. If they had behaved in such a dishonorable manner, it seemed natural, to some,  to assume that all Germans in Honolulu would behave in the same way. Relations between the German community in Hawaii and the non-German declined dramatically through the rest of the war By the end of the war there was no longer a German community in Hawaii, as there once had been. Germans had lost their jobs, church leadership, and the respect of their neighbors. Many eventually migrated to the West Coast to escape persecution. 

As for SMS Geier, it went to war. On April 6, 1917, the US entered hostilities. Geier was seized and refitted for United States Navy service; renamed USS Schurz on June 9; and commissioned on 15 September 1917, Comdr. Arthur Crenshaw in command.

Warship USS Schurz (American Flag)

On October 31, Schurz left Pearl Harbor to escort Submarine Division 3 to San Diego. At the end of the November, the convoy transited the Panama Canal.  Eventually, assigned to the American Patrol Detachment, Schurz departed Charleston toward the end of April and, for the next two months, conducted patrols and performed escort duty and towing missions along the east coast and in the Caribbean.

On June 19, she departed New York for Key West. At 0444 on the 21st, southwest of Cape Lookout lightship, she was rammed by the merchant ship, Florida. Florida hit Schurz on the starboard side, crumpling that wing of the bridge, penetrating the well and berth deck about 12 feet, and cutting through bunker no. 3 to the forward fire room.

One of Schurz’s crew was killed instantly; twelve others were injured. Schurz was abandoned. Three hours later, she sank. The name Schurz was struck from the Navy list on August 26, 1918. 

Sources:  "The Effect of World War I on the German Community in Hawaii" Sandra E. Wagner-Seavey, Hawaii Historical Society, Worthopedia, and Wikipedia

Great Then and Now Photos of the Messines Battlefield

Messines Ridge was captured on  7 June 1917 due to the effectiveness of the greatest mining operation of the war. On this part of the front the mines would have detonated in the foreground, below the rise up to the ridge.  The photos appear at 580 px width, but can be enlarged to 700 px.

Source:  Messines Mines Survey Project

Eyewitness to Loos: Lance Corporal Budge's Account

Scottish Battalions Attacking at Loos

Lance Corporal Bernard Scott Budge served with Company D, 5th Battalion, Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. The young soldier was wounded by shrapnel during the Battle of Loos. Recuperating at the Ulster Volunteer Force Hospital in Ireland, he wrote to his mother in Scotland recounting his experiences during the battle. Soldiers wrote home to their families often, but because of censors or not wanting to cause their loved ones to worry, they did not always go into detail about their battlefront experience. Budge did not conceal much from his mother, which provides us with valuable insight into this important battle. The Battle of Loos was fought between 25 September and 13 October 1915 and is noteworthy for Great Britain’s first use of gas. 

Wilfrid Gibson’s “Breakfast”

Prewar British Soccer Club

By David F. Beer

If you’ve spent much time in England you may be aware of the intense competition, name-calling, and even enmity that can exist between rival football (soccer) teams and their fans. A visiting team is likely to be referred to as “rubbish,” while a player or referee can field a storm of insults and profanity from the crowd. Feelings run high, sometime resulting in fights. 

So it’s not unusual for a fan like Ginger to get highly indignant when it’s suggested that his team, Halifax, could lose a match if a certain player is substituted for another. On top of this his very name implies he is a feisty fellow (as in “getting one’s ginger up,” meaning to make a person angry). The result is ironically tragic: Ginger’s impulsive reaction to a bet causes his death.

There’s more to the poem than this, of course. Several soldiers are taking what cover they can while eating breakfast by lying low—apparently no shelter is available. Ginger raises his head—probably no more than a few inches—and is shot dead. The sheer chance and utter randomness of the event shocks us. But perhaps more shocking is the absence of a reaction from Ginger’s pals. This is brought home to us by the first two lines of the poem also being the last two. The terrible, the inconceivable, has become the commonplace, nonchalantly accepted, and they continue to eat their breakfast. Could we do the same, with a dead person next to us?  Here’s the poem:

      BREAKFAST

We ate our breakfast lying on our backs,

Because the shells were screeching overhead.

I bet a rasher to a loaf of bread

That Hull United would beat Halifax

When Jimmy Strainthorpe played full-back instead

Of Billy Bradford. Ginger raised his head

And cursed, and took the bet; and dropped back dead.

We ate our breakfast lying on our backs,

Because the shells were screeching overhead.

Wilfrid Wilson Gibson (1878–1962)

Wilfrid Gibson began writing poetry in 1902 and was a close friend of Rupert Brooke. Several of his poems were included in anthologies of the time and he produced a play, Daily Dread, in 1910. He enlisted in the army in 1917 and was a private, serving as a driver and a clerk. According to editor Tim Kendall, Gibson was probably the first poet to describe the horrors of trench warfare while still a civilian, basing his material on reports and imagination. After the war he continued to write and publish poetry, his last work appearing in 1950.

Lake Erie’s USS Wolverine Crew Became "Blue Water Sailors" on Multiple Navy Ships

By Linda Bolla

Orders to mobilize came in code on 6 April 1917 at 9:15 p.m., just hours after the United States Congress declared war on Germany. It was Good Friday, and USS Wolverine Commander William Leverett Morrison had been waiting for the call in the Pennsylvania Naval Militia office at Erie’s Federal Building. America was at war, and his crew would be the first men in Erie County to see active service in the Great War.  Divisions C and D of the Naval Force of Pennsylvania had been drilling all week in anticipation of the news. It could be argued that they had long been training for this—in August of 1915, just a few months after the sinking of the Lusitania, the Wolverine hosted preparedness exercises on Lake Erie for all of the Great Lakes states’ Naval Militia ships. When America went to war, Navy men would be ready.

 

USS Wolverine (Formerly USS Michigan)
Patrolling Lake Erie

The crew was ordered to report to the ship, in her usual berth at the Public Steamboat Landing, most often known as the Public Dock, by noon on Saturday 7 April. From that point forward, most of the crew lived aboard until departure orders came, thus sacrificing an Easter holiday with loved ones while they waited.

On Tuesday 10 Apri, over a hundred sea gulls, considered by sailors an omen of good luck, flocked around Wolverine all day as her crew had dinner together on board and made ready to depart. At 6:00 p.m., their sea bags already loaded on the train, the crew lined up on the dock opposite their ship. Commander Morrison gave the order, “Forward, march!” and they were on their way. A special train bound for League Island Navy Yard (Philadelphia) awaited them at Union Station, ready to depart right after the regular 6:45 train left.

All but the most recent recruits were smartly turned out in uniform, and all wore a look of determination that belied the emotions they felt as they marched up State Street. At Second and State they acquired an escort that included the Power Boat Squadron captains and Erie Yacht Club crews, a personal compliment to Commander Morrison, who was instrumental in organizing those groups. Civic leaders, including Mayor Miles B. Kitts, local fraternal orders with their bands, and the Citizens’ Protective Association all fell in to honor the crew. The previous day, the association had presented the departing sailors with four gross of tobacco, matches, and shoe polish.  Crowds lined both sides of the street the entire way, with even more people shouting their best wishes from upper floor windows of State Street businesses. The newspaper estimated the crowd to be 5,000 people.  At the head of the march, Lt. Cmdr. William L. Morrison led Division C, along with Lt. Armand Kessler and Surgeon J. T. Strimple. Ensign Peter Schaaf, Jr., led Division D, as Lt. N.R. Wilbur was unable to march due to illness.

Wolverine Crewman Grant Floyd Cowley Would Be Assigned
 to the Battleship  USS Iowa and the transport  USS Artemis

The columns marched amidst cheers and flag waving all the way to Turnpike, where the “tars” turned right to the train station. Their escort lined up and saluted them as they passed on their way down to the south platform, where they broke ranks to receive final handshakes, small packages of “eats,” and teary farewell kisses from mothers, wives, and sweethearts. Bands kept things lively, playing patriotic airs while they waited. The Star-Spangled Banner finale was prematurely played in the confusion when the regular 6:45 train departed. Delays held the special until it finally departed at 7:30. Erie’s “jackies” were scheduled to de-train within a block of the Navy Yard the next morning at 8:00.

Though they left together, once in Philadelphia they were assigned to cruisers and gunboats of the United States reserve fleet to fill out the complement of enlisted men. They would now be in the “blue water Navy.” Several Wolverine crewmen, such as African-American brothers Fred and Robert Vosburgh, were assigned to USS Iowa. This receiving ship spent six months in Philadelphia, then went to Hampton Roads, training men and guarding the entrance to Chesapeake Bay for the remainder of the war. Specialists in what was then cutting-edge technology (electricians and radio operators) found more adventurous service as overseas transport in USS Artemis or in USS Chicago at the submarine base at New London, Connecticut. While many were fortunate to find an old mate in their new assignments, the Wolverine crew did not serve again together as a unit during the war.

USS Iowa—Stopping Off Ship for Some Wolverines

 

Although he marched to give his crewmates a good send-off, Ensign John P. Smart remained in Erie in command of Wolverine. Along with Chief Boatswain’s Mate F.S. Poole, he was tasked with recruiting new men to fill Divisions C and D again, and take them, with Wolverine, to United States Navy Great Lakes Training Station in North Chicago. Before accepting volunteers for the reserve force, however, they recruited and sent men directly into Navy service, dispatching those not accepted in time to leave with Wolverine’s crew to Buffalo for assignment. Navy enlistments in Erie surpassed the Army, nine sailors to every one soldier, in the weeks around the declaration of war, and Polish-Americans surpassed all. Poole is quoted in the Erie Dispatch on 11 April, “Poles are the best Americans we've got. I never knew it until I came to Erie. I never saw such a bunch eager to get into this fight in my life.” Of the 45 applications for enlistments in the Navy that week, more than 50 percent were men of Polish descent. Sent to Buffalo that day were Joseph W. Gdaniec, John J. Kudiak, Walter K. Kuczynski, and Roy P. J. Kriquelstive, all from Erie; also Russell G. Shearer, Cambridge Springs, and James J. Burke, Dunkirk, Chautauqua County, New York.

Several of Wolverine’s previous crew were called up or reenlisted as well. Ensign Landis E. Isaacs had already been assigned to USS Connecticut, where he would ultimately earn promotion to lieutenant, then serve as Navy inspector at Erie Forge. Twelve-year Navy veteran William Henry Stine reenlisted in March 1918, then sent to serve as coxswain on USS Shawmut, part of Mine Squadron One on its way from Boston to the North Sea. A most hazardous operation, Naval staff referred to these men as “living on the edge of eternity,” because they went to sea in ships packed with high explosives. In five months, they planted 56,571 mines in the 250-mile North Sea Strait between Scotland and Norway.

Notably, two of the men who marched with Erie’s first to serve in World War I answered our nation’s call again in World War II. Charles Blake Alloway served in the United States Army in WWII, retiring as a U.S. Army major. Frank Grucza tried to join the Navy in 1942 but was rejected as too old, so he joined the Merchant Marine. He was awarded the Merchant Marine Combat Bar, the Atlantic War Zone Bar, and the Mediterranean Middle East War Zone Bar for his service in WWII.

--------------------------------------

About Answering the Call

The Erie County WWI Centennial Committee Who Produced
Answering the Call

This article is simply one of over 40 different perspectives of Erie County, Pennsylvania's participation in the Great War collected in Answering the Call, a wonderful  piece of Americana. It profiles fully the  efforts, sacrifices, and adventures of the citizens of one of America's 3,140 counties during the Great War. Proceeds for the sale of this book will be used for the preservation of the World War I Memorial at Erie County Veterans Memorial Park.

Cover Art

For Purchasing  Answering the Call: Erie County, Pennsylvania in World War One:

·  $22 per softbound copy,  plus $5.00 shipping, with all proceeds going toward the maintenance and upkeep of the World War I memorial at Erie County Veterans Memorial Park. 

·  For information on the book, or to request a copy, email eriecountyww1@gmail.com or call 814-868-2225. 

Stonehenge in America — It's a World War I Memorial (A Roads Classic)

Maryhill, Washington, War Memorial

The Maryhill Stonehenge is a replica of Stonehenge located in Maryhill, Washington, overlooking the Columbia River. It was commissioned in the early 20th century by businessman Samuel Hill and was dedicated on 4 July 1918 as a memorial to the citizens of Klickitat County, who would die in World War I. The memorial was completed in 1929. It is constructed of concrete. Because of its pre-Armistice dedication it is considered America's first memorial to the fallen of the war. Six names of Klickitat County soldiers were included at the monument immediately upon its dedication and seven more were added before the Armistice.

After a 1995 restoration of the site, Maryhill Museum Director Josie De Falla said that the memorial "assists in communicating what Sam Hill, a Quaker, felt so fervently: that it was imperative that future generations never lose sight of the loss of life, as well as the heroism and valor, which result from war" 

The HistoryLink.org website provides some interesting background on Sam Hill's inspiration for the memorial:

Sam Hill had visited Stonehenge on England's Salisbury Plain with Lord Horatio Herbert Kitchener (1850–1916) in 1915. Kitchener was Britain's Secretary of State for War at the time and it was supposedly he who told Sam Hill, "Here the ancients 4,000 years ago offered bloody sacrifices to their heathen gods of war" (Tuhy, p. 190). At the time it was generally thought that Druids had constructed Stonehenge as a place for human sacrifice. This idea has since fallen out of favor (some archaeologists believe Stonehenge functioned as an astronomical calendar), but it had a powerful impact on Hill at the time. A Quaker and lifelong pacifist, Hill reasoned that modern warfare (like Druid sacrifices as he understood them) was a form of needless human sacrifice. Hill's biographer John Tuhy quotes Hill as later saying that he built the Maryhill Stonehenge "to remind my fellow man of [that] incredible folly" (p. 190).

Hill asked Professor W. Wallace Campbell (1862–1938) of the Lick Observatory, who was in Goldendale to observe a total eclipse of the sun visible there on June 8, 1918, to decide where the altar stone should be positioned. The stone's placement and the plan for where the standing pillars would later be located were based on Campbell's calculations of where sunrise would be on the summer solstice.

Sources:  HistoryLink.org, Columbia Rivers Tourism

Activation of Marine Corps Units for the Great War

 

By:   Colonel William T. Anderson, USMCR (Ret)

From:  The Bravest Deeds of Men: A Field Guide for the Battle of Belleau Wood

1 May 1918: Marines Ready for Action
(2nd Division Website)

Although America’s participation in the Great War began officially on 6 April 1917 with the declaration of war, the secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels, anticipated dramatic increases in requirements for the naval service. With the Naval Act of 1916 (Public Law 64-231, dated 29 August 1916), both the Navy and the Marine Corps expanded dramatically. Supported by Secretary of the Navy Daniels, Major General Commandant George Barnett concluded he could provide two regiments of Marines for service with the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF).

The first of these, the 5th Regiment, was hastily organized from existing  companies at various posts, stations, and ship detachments throughout the Marine Corps with an activation date of 8 June 1917. By order of President Woodrow Wilson, the regiment was transferred to control of the War Department, which was responsible for the AEF vice the Navy Department. This new regiment was among the first AEF contingents to go to France, with the 1st Battalion arriving on 27  June 1917. The second, the 6th Regiment, began assembling at Quantico, Virginia, the new Marine Corps base, on 11 July 1917.

After considerable pressure for the use of the Marines, the War Department authorized a brigade of Marines on 20 September 1917 to replace an Army brigade originally planned for the Army’s 2nd Division. Joining the 5th Regiment, the battalions of the 6th Regiment arrived in France on 5 October 1917. On 23 October 1917, the brigade was organized formally, consisting of the 5th Regiment and elements of the 6th Regiment, plus units of a machine gun battalion still embarked, with newly promoted Brigadier General Charles A. Doyen, commander of this new 4th Brigade. Doyen opened the 2nd Division headquarters on 26 October 1917. On 8 November 1917, he turned over command of the division to Army Major General Omar Bundy.

The Marine Corps formed a machine gun battalion on 17 August 1917, consisting of the 77th and 81st Companies for service with the regiments. When the 5th Regiment left for France, each of its battalions included a machine gun company. Later, as the Marine battalions arrived in France, the machine gun companies were reorganized into the 6th Machine Gun Battalion with four companies (15th, 23d, 77th, and 81st) to support the brigade. In addition, each Marine regiment contained one machine gun company: 5th Regiment (8th Machine Gun Company) and 6th Regiment (73d Machine Gun Company). By 28 December 1917, the reorganization was completed and the 6th Machine Gun Battalion joined the brigade. 

Since coming to France, the Marines had performed mostly stevedoring and guard duties. According to many accounts, it was a dreary experience for the Marines. With the coming of the New Year, activity picked up and training began in earnest. On 12 January 1918, Colonel Albertus W. Catlin opened 6th Regiment headquarters. With the arrival of the 2nd Battalion on 5 February 1918, the  regiment was now intact. Major Holland M. Smith served as the brigade adjutant or operations officer.

When Doyen returned to the United States in early May due to illness, Army  Brigadier General James G. Harbord, formerly the AEF chief of staff, became the new brigade commander. 

June 1918: Marine Machine Gunners and French Poilus
Near Belleau Wood

The 2nd Division went to the trenches on 13 March 1918 in a so-called “quiet sector” southeast of Verdun, France, for frontline training. From 17 to 30 March, these elements participated in the occupation of sectors on the west face of the Saint-Mihiel salient. The division continued its service at the front until 13 May, when it was relieved to conduct further training. On 18 May, it was assigned to the French Group of Armées of Reserve. As a result of the German offensive on 27 May 1918, the brigade’s scheduled Decoration Day (now known as Memorial Day) festivities were canceled. The division was placed at the disposal of the French Sixth Army on 31 May and directed to the French XXI Corps sector near Château-Thierry to assist in the Aisne defensive, which put the Marines on the road to Belleau Wood. The rest, as they say, is history.