Zweibund — the Dual Alliance — Germany and Austria-Hungary united, were the core of the Central Powers, and here join hands. The bars of Germany's flag border the top left, and those of the Habsburg Austrian Empire and ruling house the bottom right.

Schulter an Schulter

Untrennbar vereint

in Freud und in Leid!'



Shoulder to shoulder

Inseparably united

in joy and in sorrow!

Other views: Larger, Back

Tuesday, June 15, 1915

"Tuesday June 15th [1915]. We have got all our instructions. We have a trench to take, in fact the enemy's second line, together with the help of the Lincolns. I'm afraid it's going to be a very difficult job. The men are all cheery and we all rag each other as to how we will look with wooden legs, or tied up in an oil sheet for burial. All the plans have been explained today, Tuesday 15th, to all ranks.

All stores have been issued and we are waiting to march off. Hope we win! Unfortunately the Huns must know almost everything, as it has been so widely discussed. I am beginning to suspect it is done with an object. Sacrifice a brigade here and push hard somewhere else. However we are going to justify our existence as Terriers and men — we middle-class businessmen! God Save the King!"

Quotation Context

Captain Bryden McKinnell writing on June 15, 1915. He was on the line in the Ypres sector, where a diversionary attack was planned for June 16, the main attack to take place further south at Givenchy. Captain McKinnell was in the Territorials or Terriers, the home guard that had been moved into battle on the continent, not professional soldiers. He and his men were joined in the attack by the Lincolnshire Regiment. McKinnell did not survive the attack.

Source

1915, The Death of Innocence by Lyn Macdonald, pp. 388, 389, copyright © 1993 by Lyn Macdonald, publisher: Henry Holt and Company, publication date: 1993 (Great Britain); 199

Tags

1915-06-15, 1915, June