100 Years Ago: Alan Winslow and Douglas Campbell Deliver the First U.S. Air Service Victories

Lts. Alan Winslow and Douglas Campbell, 94th Aero Squadron

The first U.S. Air Service aerial victories by fighter planes in the American sector in France were by Lts. Alan Winslow and Douglas Campbell, two pilots of the 94th Aero Squadron, which had just been transferred to the front. 

Squadron Insignia

On Sunday morning, 14 April 1918, they were on alert at Gengoult Aerodrome near Toul, France. German planes were reported in the area and the two U.S. pilots, completely inexperienced in aerial combat, took off in their Nieuport 28s. Almost immediately they saw two German aircraft and attacked them directly over the flying field at less than 1,000 feet altitude, in full view of not only the Americans at Gengoult Aerodrome but also the French citizens of Toul. Winslow shot down an Albatross D.V and a minute later Campbell destroyed a Pfalz D.III. They were both  back on the ground in a matter of minutes. This initial fighter combat by the U.S. Air Service, although probably successful due as much to luck as skill, convinced the French people that the Americans were "super-human."

On 31 May 1918, Campbell became the first U.S.-trained pilot to receive official credit for his fifth victory, thus becoming an ace. Winslow was decorated for a later action but was shot down on 31 July, lost an arm and spent the remainder of the war as a POW.

Sources: USAF National Museum, Air and Space Museum

New Expanded Edition: Are You a Victim of Optimism?

Presenting!!!

Selections from the Wipers Times

Source:  The BBC History Website

Centennial at the Grass Roots: Lost Altos [California] History Museum WWI Program

Today the Los Altos (CA) History Museum will open what appears to me to be a model WWI appreciation presentation, adaptable by communities around the country. It actually has three important elements. At the center is the photographic exhibit provide through the National Archives. Los Altos chose the "Over Here" program that examines the home front. A second program is available focusing on the action "Over There."

From "Over Here" — A Women's Committee of Food Conservation on Parade

A second dimension of the Los Altos approach is to bring in local experts to expand on the war and how things were influenced on the home front.

From "Over Here"— Men Who Have Just Registered for the Draft

The third part of the program will specifically look at how the war impacted Los Altos itself. The greatest influence came from nearby Camp Fremont, where the Army's 8th Division was training. Speaker Barbara Wilcox is the author of a book on the subject,  World War I Army Training by San Francisco Bay: The Story of Camp Fremont.

New Soldiers Training at Camp Fremont

You community can build a similar program using the the National Archives "Over There," and "Over Here" programs.  Here's contact information for you.

Help Commemorate Armistice and Veterans Day 2018

Last year on behalf of the World War One Centennial Commission, we asked our readers to suggest inscriptions for the new National Memorial at Pershing Square. The response was tremendous and greatly appreciated by the Commission.  Once again we have been asked to help with the planning of  part of the commemorations of the war.  This time it's the 1918–2018 Armistice Day Remembrance which will be held at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.  We are being asked to recommend musical selections, both hymns and period song, and suitable readings.

The National Cathedral

Here is some background information on the event the Commission has provided:

National Cathedral Interfaith Service

An Interfaith Service will take place the morning of Sunday 11 November 1918, at the National Cathedral  in Washington, DC. The ceremony itself will be an interfaith service with a special emphasis on WWI and will include original and period musical performances, hymns, and readings.

The National Cathedral will webcast this event. The Commission will, additionally, distribute a template for a WWI service that other organizations and institutions can distribute and/or use for a local WWI-themed 11 November service.

The ceremony will climax at 11am ET when the National Cathedral will toll its bells in honor of the commencement of the Armistice that ended the fighting in the Great War. This bell-tolling will kick-off of the National Bell-Tolling.

Examples (These are from your editor, not the Commission):

A.  Reading

This year we have special and moving cause to be grateful and to rejoice. God has in His good pleasure given us peace. It has not come as a mere cessation of arms, a mere relief from the strain and tragedy of war. It has come as a great triumph of right. Complete victory has brought us, not peace alone, but the confident promise of a new day as well in which justice shall replace force and jealous intrigue among the nations.

— President Woodrow Wilson, Thanksgiving Day Message, 1918 

B.  Music

1.  Period Music:  There's a Long Long Trail A-Winding

2. Hymn: Battle Hymn of the Republic

2017 Veterans Day Concert at the National Cathedral

How To Submit Your Suggestions:

There are  three ways to submit your recommendations. These can be done anonymously or with your name and  address or home town included. Submissions are needed by 1 October 2017.

1.  Through Roads to the Great War, just publish in the comments section to this page.

2.  Send it to me via email to: greatwar@earthlink.net

(For methods 1 and 2 I'll aggregate them with your name and send them to Commissioner Edwin Fountain.)

3.  Send directly to Commissioner Edwin Fountain: fountaine@abmc.gov

This is a chance for you to make a lasting contribution to the effort to honor the service and sacrifices of all those American who served in the war.

Please use you social media and connections to other organization to pass the message on. Submissions are needed by 15 May 2018.

Thanks for your support,

Mike Hanlon, Editor/Publisher

The Wolf Reviewed by Bruce G. Sloan

The Wolf:
The Mystery Raider That Terrorized the Seas During World War I

by Richard Guilliatt & Peter Hohnen

The Free Press, May 2011

SMS Wolf at Sea

As a feat of military seamanship, the voyage of the Wolf was so singular as to justify Admiral Holtzendorff's claim that it would never be repeated. Karl Nerger kept his ship at sea for 444 days and traveled more than 64,000 miles in one unbroken voyage, equivalent to nearly three circumnavigations of the earth, without pulling into any port. He traversed three of the four major oceans and evaded the combined navies of Britain, France, Japan, Australia, and the United States, while carrying out a military mission that sank or damaged 30 ships, totaling more than 138,000 tons. When he returned to port, he had lost only a handful of crew and prisoners and had maintained extraordinary discipline on a ship crowded at times with nearly 750 men, women, and children.

Epilogue

Over five years, the authors thoroughly researched the voyage of the Wolf, using official military archives of Britain, Germany, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand. They tracked down descendants of the prisoners and crew that lived on the ship over 100 years ago and analyzed handwritten diaries, letters, faded black-and-white photographs, strips of silent film, memoirs, and books by the participants.

The Wolf was a warship disguised as a civilian freighter, sent to mine approaches to Allied ports and sink or capture Allied shipping. This is a human story of the crew and prisoners from a multitude of nations, thrown together for months at a time, and how they came to be close to one another, dislike each other, and in some cases, to exhibit racial hatred. They endured extreme mental and physical hardships during the voyage, and almost all survived.

The story is also about how easily the press and public can be manipulated by government secrecy and manipulation. Coupled with fantastical journalism, which also played its role, it is no wonder that the entire voyage was shrouded in mystery.

Even for those who have heard of the voyage of the raider Wolf, this book will be a revelation, as it appears to be the first unbiased account of Kapitän Karl Nerger's incredible odyssey, that of his crew, and the crew and passengers of the victim ships.

This reviewer highly recommends this volume.

Bruce G. Sloan

100 Years Ago: The Second Ludendorff Offensive, Operation GEORGETTE, Is Launched

German Forces Advancing Toward Mont Kemmel

The second major German offensive of spring 1918 was code-named Operation GEORGETTE. Operation MICHAEL had failed to decisively end the war and the Germans had suffered very heavy losses. With fewer soldiers available the original German plan called GEORG was reworked as a smaller attack, GEORGETTE. The Germans secretly massed 36 divisions in Flanders, east of the Belgian town of Armentières. Less than 20 miles away was the vital Allied rail hub of Hazebrouck.

British Battery Firing Against the Advance

THE BATTLE

At 4.15 a.m. on 9 April 1918 more than 2,250 German guns opened fire on some 25 miles of British front held by just 12 divisions. After four-and-a-half hours of bombardment, the German infantry advanced, overwhelming much of the lightly held British front and advancing over three miles in the first few hours. Heaviest hit was the 2nd Portuguese Division, which was virtually annihilated.

The next day the village of Messines, taken at great cost the previous year, was lost, despite a counterattack by the South African Brigade. By 11 April the situation seemed desperate. German units were just a few miles from Hazebrouck and to rally his men Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig, commander of British forces in Western Europe, issued an order of the day "…with our backs to the wall and believing in the justice of our cause, each of us must fight on to the end."

French Reinforcements with a Tommy on Wire Detail

However, the tide was turning. Allied reinforcements were arriving and the 1st Australian Division took up positions in the forest of Nieppe to block further German advances towards Hazebrouck. In response the Germans turned their attacks on Mount Kemmel—a dominating geographical feature in West Flanders—where French reinforcements would play a critical role.

On 15 April the British were forced to reduce their line in the Ypres Salient, giving up virtually all of the gains made during the Third Battle of Ypres the previous year, but crucially holding on to Ypres itself. Mount Kemmel fell on 25 April, but it was the last German success of GEORGETTE. Fighting continued for several more days until German commanders finally called off the offensive on 29 April.

Offensive Halted at the Canal d'Aire, Robecq

AFTERMATH

This was one of the most critical periods of the war as a German breakthrough in Flanders, so close to the vital Channel ports, could have forced a British withdrawal from the continent. The British and French had held the line, but only just. British casualties were more than 80,000 and French losses were some 30,000. In 20 days of fierce fighting the German Army had again captured a large, but mostly unimportant, geographical area. They also suffered very heavy losses, and some 85,000 German soldiers were wounded, captured, or killed.

The first two German offensives of 1918 had fallen mainly on the British, but with the help of French reinforcements the Germans had been stopped. Knowing that this must have weakened the French line the Germans now prepared for a third offensive, this time against the French on the Chemin des Dames Ridge near the River Aisne. 

Source: CWGC Website

Great Images from the Australian War Memorial

I was brushing up for my spring battlefield tour at Hamel, which includes a visit to the site of the 4 July 1918 victory of  General Monash's Anzac Corps (with some Yanks of the 33rd Division thrown in).  I came across some great photos of the battle at the website of the Australian War Memorial.  It's a great source of articles and images from all the battlefields of the Aussies.  Here's what caught my eye, starting with a map to show where the fighting took place.

A tank conducting mopping-up operations in a ruined street of Hamel, the day after its capture by troops of the 11th Australian Infantry Brigade, 5 July 1918. AWM E02864

An Australian stretcher party moves past a crashed RE8 aircraft near Le Hamel
AWM E04888

Australian stretcher bearers resting in a sunken road west of Le Hamel AWM E02701

Tank H52, 8 Battalion, C Company, Royal Tank Corps (shown here)
suffered a direct hit at the Battle of Hamel on 4 July 1918 and
was put out of action. AWM E03843

This was the view, taken a few days after the Battle of Hamel on 4 July 1918,
from German positions on the hill to the east of the village. This position
was seized by men of the 44th Australian Infantry Battalion, and four of
them can be seen here in a trench along with two soldiers of the American
Expeditionary Force who fought with them during the battle. AWM E02844A

 Premier Georges Clemenceau, MG E.E. Sinclair-Maclagen
(4th Division Commander), and Lt. General John Monash

Jan Smuts and the Birth of the Royal Air Force

Early this week, the 100th anniversary of the RAF was commemorated. In this article we look at the man most responsible for making that come about.

Field Marshal Jan C. Smuts

Jan Christiaan Smuts was born in 1870 near Riebeeck West in what is now South Africa. He studied law at Christ's College Cambridge but returned to South Africa in 1895 and a few years later was fighting against Britain in the Boer War. During the First World War, Smuts joined on the British side and, rising to the rank of lieutenant general, commanded the Allied forces in East Africa. In January 1917 he returned to Britain as the South African representative at an Imperial War Conference. It was later that year that Germany's daylight bombing raids of London were increasingly highlighting the woeful inadequacies of Britain's air defenses.

In response to the public outcry against the bombing raids, Prime Minister Lloyd George turned to General Smuts. In July 1917, Smuts was asked to turn his mind to the task of quickly solving the air defense problems. He headed a government committee to examine both air defense arrangements and air organization. He was fortunate to have as his closest adviser Sir David Henderson, the first commander of the RFC in France and, since 1915, the director general of Military Aeronautics. In two reports issued in July and August 1917, Smuts recommended an Air Ministry and Air Staff to amalgamate the RFC and the RNAS into a new single Air Service independent of the Army and Navy.

Taken together, the two reports represented a milestone in aviation history, not only for the needs of British air power in the First World War, but also for the future of air power development throughout the World. These recommendations were accepted by the government and the process of amalgamating the two services into an independent Air Service began. General Smuts  reports on British future Air Defense and the move toward a unified Air Service were of paramount significance to the creation of the RAF. [Of course, there was intense  political resistance, inter-service rivalries, institutional opposition to change in the midst of war, and countless other problems to overcome.]

In spite of all these difficulties, the newly independent RAF fought effectively from 1 April 1918 over the Western Front in direct support of the ground forces. It also took the war to Germany and exploited the offensive potential of air power as Smuts had forecast. Smuts returned to support of the Second World War, reaching the rank of Field Marshal before retirement and died, aged 80, in 1950.

What Was the Liberty Loan Program?

Not wanting to disrupt the economic advances the nation had enjoyed under neutrality, Secretary of the Treasury William McAdoo and the government as a whole heavily promoted the sale of war bonds called Liberty Loans. Mounting four Liberty Loans drives and one Victory Loan drive, the U.S. government raised $20 billion with nearly one-third coming from people making less than $2,000 annually.

Secretary William McAdoo

The 24 April 1917 Emergency Loan Act authorized issue of $1.9 billion in bonds at 3.5 percent; the 1 Oct 1 1917 Second Liberty Loan offered $3.8 billion in bonds at 3 percent; the 5 Apr 1918 Third Liberty Loan offered $4.1 billion in bonds at 4.15 percent; and the 28 Sep 1918 Fourth Liberty Loan offered $6.9 billion in bonds at 4.25 percent interest. The 30-year bonds were redeemable after 15 years.

The Liberty Loan plan had three elements. First, the public would be educated about bonds, the causes and objectives of the war, and the financial power of the country. McAdoo chose to call the securities “Liberty Bonds” as part of this educational effort. Second, the government would appeal to patriotism and ask everyone—from schoolchildren to millionaires—to do their part by reducing consumption and purchasing bonds. Third, the entire effort would rely upon volunteer labor, thereby avoiding the money market, brokerage commissions, or a paid sales force. The Federal Reserve Banks would coordinate and manage sales, while the bonds could be purchased at any bank that was a member of the Federal Reserve System. Celebrities exhorted citizens to buy bonds. Artists produced posters that were powerful tools in each of the separate bond drives. The three posters shown here are "car cards," so called because of their placement on buses, trams, and subway cars to attract the attention of riders.

Despite the success of the 1917 Liberty Loan program, as war expenditures rapidly increased and debt ballooned, government officials realized borrowing alone could not fully fund the war—taxation too must play a role. The War Revenue Act of 1918 forever changed American taxation. Before the First World War, three-fourths of federal revenues were derived from custom and excise taxes; after the war, this would be flipped, so that the same percentage would now come from income, profit, and estate taxes. Still, bond drives remained crucially important. Bond subscribers were given a button with every purchase, and, according the poster to the left of the case, were expected to wear it as a sign of patriotism.

Sources:  The Library of Congress and Federal Reserve Bank Websites

Martinique and the Great War

Monument to the Dead, Fort-de-France, Martinique

By Thomas Bolz

During World War I, France drew heavily upon the manpower and natural resources of its colonial empire to support its war effort.  In 1913, the French had instituted compulsory military training for all males living on their southern Caribbean island of Martinique.  Beginning in 1914, the colony had to furnish 1,000 men per month to the French Army.  Approximately 18,000 of the mostly black Martiniquais served in the French military between 1914 and 1918.  

In France, Martiniquais were treated much better than soldiers from other French colonies as they were considered more loyal to France. Although there was some racial tension, the French Army placed the black Martiniquais into racially mixed regiments containing white troops from metropolitan France. Many were promoted to high ranks in the French non-commissioned officer corps over the course of the war.  Although the sons of the wealthy white Martiniquais planter and merchant class could join the French officer corps, the black Martiniquais were excluded from becoming commissioned officers. Overall, Martiniquais soldiers had an admirable record for bravery and loyal service, and 1,306 of them died during the war.   

The names of 35 local men who died in World War I are listed
on the sides of this French war memorial located in Les Trois-Îlets,
 Martinique.  The inscription on the front of the pedestal reads:

LA COMMUNE 

DES TROIS-ILETS 

A SES ENFANTS 

MORT POUR LA FRANCE 

1914–1918

In addition to providing manpower, Martinique was also involved in other aspects of the war effort. French authorities requisitioned Martinique’s entire rum production for the French Army.  Many sugar mills were converted to distilleries to produce molasses that was then shipped to France. There the molasses was further refined into industrial alcohol used in manufacturing munitions explosives. During World War I Allied naval forces frequently used the island’s ports for logistics support, including U.S. Navy warships after America entered the war in 1917. This was not the case in World War II, when the Vichy Government ruled the island after the fall of France in 1940. In mid-1943 a coup by Free French sympathizers overthrew the Vichy officials, and Martinique’s ports were opened to the Allied powers.   

During the 1920s and '30s, 22 monuments were built on the island to honor the war dead. The largest memorial is in the city of Fort-De-France, Martinique’s capital city, while the 21 others are more modest in size, such as in  Les Trois-Îlets as shown above, often being just a statue of a Poilu infantryman. As in mainland France, most list the names of the local men who perished during the war. 

In 1946, Martinique ceased to be a French colony and became an overseas department of France. The island eventually became a full-fledged department of France when the “overseas” label was dropped.  Today, native Martiniquais elect voting representatives to the French parliament in Paris and enjoy all the privileges and responsibilities of full French citizenship. 

100 Years Ago: Foch in the Lead

Foch

The crisis generated by Operation MICHAEL led to one supremely valuable change for the Allies. At the height of the crisis, discouraged by Pétain's slowness in providing reinforcements and willingness to prioritize the defense of Paris, thus increasing chances of a physical split in British and French forces, General Haig called for an inter-Allied conference. 

Doullens Town Hall: Site of the 26  March Meeting

It was convened on 26 March at Doullens, France. Without consulting their American, Belgian, or Italian comrades, Prime Minister Clemenceau and General Milner, representing the British government, signed an agreement charging General Foch with “coordinating the action of the allies' armies on the Western Front.” After nearly four years of war, the Allies had a semblance of unity of command. 

Artist's Depiction of the Doullens Meeting

On 28 March, however, General Pershing offered Foch the direct and immediate help of the American forces: "I come to tell you that the American people would consider it a great honour for our troops to take part in the present battle. I ask this of you in my name and theirs. At this time, the only question is to fight. Infantry, artillery, aviation, all we have is yours."

The Three Key Army Commanders with Generalissimo Foch:
Pétain, Haig, Foch, and Pershing

The understanding yielded almost instantaneous progress when Foch declared that saving Amiens was the first priority of the Allies. The action of 26 March was formalized at a later meeting at Foch's headquarters in Beauvais on 3 April and gained official American concurrence with this instrument:

Gen. Foch is charged by the British, French, and American Governments with the coordination of the action of the Allied Armies on the western front; to this end there is conferred on him all the powers necessary for its effective realization. To the same end, the British, French, and American Governments confide in Gen. Foch the strategic direction of military operations. The Commander-in-chief of the British, French, and American Armies will exercise to the fullest extent the tactical direction of their armies. Each Commander-in-Chief will have the right to appeal to his Government, if in his opinion his Army is placed in danger by the instructions received from Gen. Foch.

Sources:  OVER THE TOP and The Steve Miller Photographic Collection

America's Sailors in the Great War Reviewed by James M. Gallen

America's Sailors in the Great War:
Seas, Skies, and Submarine

by Lisle A. Rose

2nd Edition, University of Missouri, 2016

American Sailors & Returning Soldiers Aboard the  USS Louisiana

In American Sailors in the Great War, author Lisle A. Rose presents both the big picture of the Navy's role in the war as well as the lives of the individual sailors. Though not generally thought of as a naval war in the way World War II was, the First World War found the United States Navy to be an early and major contributor to hostilities. In fact, America received its first introduction to the reach of Axis power in the summer of 1916 when one of the German monster "merchant" U-boats, Deutschland, designed to transport New World supplies through the British blockade, made two visits to the United States. The lesson was reinforced in September when Lieutenant Hans Rose, with an Iron Cross pinned to his chest, surfaced U-53 in Narragansett Bay near the U.S. Naval War College. During the next few days U-53 sank five merchant vessels within sight of the Newport Lighthouse.

Armies of the Great War era relied on masses of troops that could be quickly raised by draft calls and supplied with small arms. Navies by contrast are made of fleets that must, to a considerable extent, be shipshape when Mars's siren calls. The expansion of America's reach after the Spanish-American War left the navy as America's best-prepared force in 1917 and the first able to extend its power into the war zone. Less than six weeks after the declaration of war, five destroyers of Division 8 were in Queenstown, Ireland "ready now…except for refueling."

Joint operations in support of the response to the Boxer Rebellion had forged close relations between the Royal and American Navies. Maritime combat in the Great War was a contest between German surface raiders and U-boats striving to cut Britain's supplies of food and material and Allied and American protecting forces. The stage having been set by the time she entered the war, America expanded its navy to fulfill its assigned roles. For Americans this meant building destroyers, sub chasers, and mine layers to counter the submarine threat.

The growing U.S. Army was of no use until it was transported to France. Never before had America had to safely move such a force across the seas. Troop convoys were escorted by destroyers that would hunt, and (if possible) sink, any harassing U-boats. Canadian convoys generally left Halifax for British ports, while most American troops sailed from New York and Hampton Roads to Brest, St. Nazaire, La Pallice, and Bordeaux in France. So efficient were American transports that only three troop ships were lost and then on lightly escorted return trips while empty of their human cargoes.

Official Art of U.S. Escorted Convoy

Rose begins with the "State of Play," an analysis of the state of the U.S. Navy and the status of Maritime Theatres at the time of the declaration of war, the relationships between the United States and Royal and German Navies and the unrestricted submarine warfare that finally compelled a reluctant President Wilson to lead his country into belligerency. His next topic is the "Call to Quarters" in which Americans are rapidly incorporated into the combat of Neptune's realm.

Next to be addressed is the variety of America's vessels. While we might think of naval aviation as requiring the advent of aircraft carriers, in fact planes were merely new tools adopted by all forces, with sea planes being a major part of the navy's contribution to the air war. One of the most interesting chapters deals with the development of the convoy system that became essential when success on the battlefield relied on the transportation of men and supplies from Canada and the United States.

The spotlight is then turned on the types of ships employed: the destroyers that protected the convoys and hunted their menacing U-boats; the battleships that, although ill-suited to the routine of the war did, on occasion, provide artillery support to land forces; the submarines that hunted other submarines; the minesweepers that made channels impassable and later reopened them; and perhaps unique to this war, the sub chasers, the swarms of near-yachts that plied the seas in search of U-boats.

,

The title notwithstanding, much of the book deals with the ships, boats, and planes that were the tools of America's contribution to the Great War. Anecdotes drawn from the lives of the sailors provide some of the most entertaining interludes in this book. Division 8's sailors who arrived in Europe looking forward to encounters with Irish colleens were disappointed to find "not a one had any teeth, their hair looked like rope and they had no shape." (p.58) Later arrivals were to arouse jealousy among the Irish lads. In England, a drunken swabbie who shouted "To hell with King George" below his portrait in a Liverpool bar had to do some quick backpedaling when a husky Anzac replied with "To hell with President Wilson." Turning around the Yank offered a hand and cried, "That's what I say! I'm a Republican." (p.183)

Even experienced readers of Great War literature will find America's Sailors in the Great War to be an excellent introduction to the men and machines that so heroically completed their assigned missions. Names distributed throughout this tome such as Texas, Arizona, Nimitz, Kimmel, and Halsey will be recognized from histories of a later war. The narrative of this book is well researched and skillfully crafted and certainly retains the reader's attention. At its end I had a much firmer grasp on the contributions of America's sailors to the Great War.

James M. Gallen

Remembering a Veteran: Dr. James Naismith, YMCA

By James Patton

James Naismith, Basketball Inventor and Coach

‘Tis April and the fancy of many has lightly turned to…basketball, a sport literally invented in 1891 by one man, James Naismith (1861–1939). He was a Canadian (until 1925) who at the time was a physical education instructor at the International YMCA Training School, which became Springfield College in 1954. Naismith left there shortly after his blockbuster invention to study medicine in Denver and upon graduation from that he took up employment at the University of Kansas (KU), where he would spend most of his working life serving as a physical education instructor, coach of several sports, athletic director, chaplain, and physician. Although he coached KU basketball only for the program’s first nine seasons, with an overall record of 55–60, his "coaching tree" includes his successor, the legendary Forrest "Phog" Allen, the founders of two other dynastic NCAA programs, Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp, and North Carolina’s Dean Smith, and the NBA great Wilt "The Stilt" Chamberlain.

But there were times in Naismith’s life that didn’t involve KU. Prior to joining the YMCA, Naismith had graduated with a degree in theology from McGill University’s Presbyterian College. Although not an ordained minister (the YMCA was interdenominational) when the call came in March 1916 for the Kansas National Guard to send a unit to guard the Mexican Border, Naismith was swept up in the fervor. He quickly obtained credentials from the Presbyterian Church and was appointed by the governor as an honorary captain and the chaplain of the nascent 1st Kansas Infantry. He was then 54 years old. 

National Guardsman James Naismith Guarding the Border in 1916

The regiment was mobilized at Ft. Riley in June 1916 and sent to Eagle Pass, Texas. They served there for about four months. Their time was characterized by monotonously watching river crossings—there were quite a few on the Rio Grande in the low-water season—and by training exercises. There was no combat, not even a desultory pot shot or two. 

Naismith took his calling as the chaplain very seriously, approaching the task just like coaching a team of his young players, encouraging them to realize their potential. He conducted church services, counseled soldiers, and advised his CO as to the spiritual needs of the unit. He was particularly concerned with efforts to keep the troops away from prostitutes, gambling, alcohol, and brawls with the locals. To this end, and to keep them busy and physically fit, he organized basketball games, baseball games, and boxing matches involving the entire garrison at Eagle Pass. 

Back in Lawrence, when war was declared, Naismith sought to have his inactive National Guard chaplaincy transferred to active duty status, but he was turned down flat: he was a Canadian citizen and he was way too old. 

But he found another avenue of service that was open to him. As the ranks quickly swelled, the Army was woefully short of chaplains and concluded agreements with service organizations to provide spiritual guidance and support if not actual religious celebrations. One of these was Naismith’s old friend the YMCA. 

James Naismith, YMCA Secretary in France

It was originally thought that these volunteer counselors would work at stateside training camps and hospitals. Because of his long experience (as well as his National Guard stint), in June 1917 Naismith was accepted as a lecturer on "moral conditions and sex education." His job was training counselors, inspiring troops and developing programs to improve morale and morality. His experience in this work formed a large part of the material for his 1918 book, Essence of a Healthy Life. 

In the fall he was sent to France as a YMCA Overseas Secretary, where his work continued as before but now in the shadow of the front. He wrote of this time, "I feel that I’m fitted for this work." With his breadth of experience, probably no one was a better choice. Early in his time in France he wrote:

"It is a pretty big job…go over and make the camps clean places for the boys to fight. And also get the right spirit into the men. That involves two things. Educate the men and eliminate the evils from the camps and vicinity. Pershing is very anxious to have this done. I go without instructions to find out the best thing to do and then get the machinery working. It is no child's play, especially when it is among the old-fashioned type of soldier and in France where ideals are so different. The responsibility is great but I am going into it determined. I do wish that you and the family would pray for me, for I have never felt so much in need of help as I do at this present minute."

Historic Marker at Kansas University Honoring Naismith

He spent 19 months with the YMCA in France. Shortly before his return he wrote that he was thankful for "the knowledge that I have tried to help the people of the world to make it a little better, and that I have tried to love my neighbor as myself." When he returned, he resumed his former duties at KU, a 57-year-old veteran.

Sources include the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps and The University of Kansas. 

Austria-Hungary: Still Growing As It Was Dying

Contrary to  popular assumptions, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was still growing in 1918.

Dark Purple Area Ceded to Austria-Hungary by Romania

The last territorial change within the Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy took place in the last year of the First World War. In May 1918, the Dual Monarchy signed a peace treaty with Romania in Bucharest. As a result, an area of 5,636 km  was annexed to the empire (a strip with a width of 3–16 square kilometers at the eastern and southern feet of the Carpathian Mountains and at the eastern border of Bukovina). These territorial changes can be explained by the intention of providing improved conditions for guarding the empire’s borders. By annexing Bosnia and Herzegovina, the empire’s very long borders originally running through Croatia, Slavonia and Dalmatia got considerably—by hundreds of kilometers—shortened. The terms of the Peace Treaty of Bucharest also included the establishment of a better defense system in the Carpathian region.

Source: "Was Austria-Hungary a Great Power,"  Mihály Miklós NAGY – László GULYÁS