Postcard map of East Prussia and Polish Russia with a message and postmark, Vienna, August 20, 1915. From a series that asks, 'Do you know the high times?'
Image text: Kennen Sie schon 'Die grosse Zeit'die neue vom Verlag Ullstein & Co. herausgegebene illustrierte Kriegsgeschichte? Wenn nicht, lassen Sie sich die bereits erschienenen Hefte von Ihren Buchhändler vorlegen. Das Werk gibt in zeitlicher Reihenfolge eine packende reich illustrierte Darstellung der Kriegsereignisse; jedes Heft ist erzeln erhältlich und kostet 30 Pfennig.Do you know 'The big time' new from publisher Ullstein & Co., a published illustrated history of the war? If not, you can acquire the already published issues from your bookseller. In chronological order, the book gives a gripping and richly illustrated presentation of the war; each issue is available and costs 30 cents.Reverse:B.Z. KriegskarteVerlag der B.Z. am Mittag, BerlinB.Z. War Card Publisher of B.Z. at Noon, BerlinMessage and postmark, Vienna, August 20, 1915
Map of the plan for the Allied Offensive in France showing the situation on September 24, the eve of the infantry assault. An Anglo-French would attack eastward in Artois (with the British at Loos) as the French attacked northwards in Champagne. From 'Military Operations France and Belgium, 1915, Vol. II, Battles of Aubers Ridge, Festubert, and Loos' by Brigadier-General J.E. Edmonds.
Image text: Situation, 24th September 1915Showing direction of the Allied offensive
British pilot Captain Albert Ball from an insert to the French magazine Guerre Aerienne No. 23, April 19, 1917. He died weeks later, on May 7, with 44 victories, fourth highest of British pilots in the war.
Image text: Captain Albert Ball
Memorial statue to Prime Minister David Lloyd George in Parliament Square, London, United Kingdom. © 2013 John M. Shea
Image text:
Metal grave markers at the Laventie German Military Cemetery, Laventie, France. A plowed field and village is in the background. © 2013 by John M. Shea
". . . most of the fighting is on Polish ground. It is our towns, fields, and estates which are being ravaged, burnt and looted by both sides! But that isn't all. Owing to the partition of Poland, this war is having the most dreadful effects. Look at my family! I'm a Russian subject; my bother's an Austrian subject. One of my brothers-in-law is a German subject, another a Russian; all my cousins and nephews are similarly distributed by the necessities of inheritance among the three countries. Though all of the same race, we are condemned to civil war!" ((1), more)
"Despite poor visibility, artillery firing began on October 11 [1915] at 1400 hours, and the infantry assault occurred at 1615. The daily log in Foch's headquarters recorded the result: 'progress was almost nil, and the attack did not yield the expected results. Preparation by heavy artillery insufficient. Attack conducted by exhausted or already sorely tried troops. Enemy forewarned and strongly reinforced with artillery, unleashing at the slightest indication of attack terrible [artillery] barrages.' . . . In a letter to Joffre, Foch blamed the failure on 'insufficient' preparatory fire. He explained that Tenth Army had fired 73,000 rounds of heavy artillery for the attack on September 24-25 but only 21,600 rounds on October 10-11." ((2), more)
"Several of our aeroplanes came over, making for hangars, many miles behind, and tales were told of gallant deeds and especially of the prowess of a young fellow, named Albert Ball, who has just brought down his thirtieth Boche aeroplane, is aged nineteen, and lives to tell the tale. We stood for a long while riveted by the strange Satanic scene — but, at last, it was a relief to turn away. The ground which we were treading, the shell-holes we avoided, are broken patches of the battlefield of only a short month ago. It was here and then that Raymond Asquith's brilliant promise was extinguished and my dear nephew, Charles Feversham, was killed, and on the grey horizon beyond Albert there are, at this moment, thousands of fellow-countrymen, their trenches the playground for shells . . ." ((3), more)
"What bearing had all this on Third Ypres? By 11 October [1917] it had been raining steadily in Flanders for a week. There could be no reason for taking a more hopeful view of operations there than when Lloyd George, before the weather had broken, had spoken so disparagingly on the subject eight days earlier. Nor was the Prime Minister inclined to do so. . . .Far from being hopeful, the Prime Minister predicted failure in the attempts to capture even the Klerken Ridge. He 'would call the War Cabinet's attention to this in three weeks' time'. . . .Indeed there was a large positive consequence of Lloyd George's chillingly negative announcement that, in three weeks' time, the War Cabinet would assemble to record the lack of success of the operation. This forewarning of failure and futility constituted his authorization for the campaign to continue." ((4), more)
"Frenchman, from Brest, Bordeaux, Garonne;Ukrainian, Cossack from the Urals, from Dnjestr and Don;Austrians, Bulgarians, Turks and Serbs,All of you in the raging whirlpool of action and dying —Britisher, from London, York, Manchester,Soldier, comrade-in-arms, truly fellow human being and best of men —American, from the populous states of freedom:Throw away partisanship, national pride and antagonism!If you were an honourable enemy, become an honourable friend.Here is my hand, so that hand in hand may now be linked togetherAnd our new day find us sincere and humane." ((5), more)
(1) Count Joseph Potocki to Maurice Paléologue, French ambassador to Russia, on October 11, 1914. He started by reporting that he and his Polish compatriots did not believe that Grand Duke Nicholas's manifesto of August 16 promising to re-establish Poland with a large measure of autonomy would ever take effect, both because it would be undermined by reactionaries within Russia, and because Russia would not conquer Polish territories held by Germany and Austria-Hungary. As the two men spoke, and to Potocki's final point, Russia, Germany, and Austria-Hungary were battling in Russian Poland, and the Central Powers were countering a major Russian offensive to seize Berlin.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. I by Maurice Paléologue, page 165, publisher: George H. Doran Company, publication date: 1925
(2) French Commander Joffre's great offensive of autumn 1915, while having some success, had failed to achieve the breakthrough he had hoped for in the French offensive in Champagne and the Anglo-French attacks in Artois. French General Foch wrote of the failure in the Third Battle of Artois. It had already become clear that extensive preliminary artillery bombardments were required for attacks. But in the autumn battles, even if adequate shells were available on the first day, they were lacking in followup attacks.
Pyrrhic Victory; French Strategy and Operations in the Great War by Robert A. Doughty, pp. 200, 201, copyright © 2005 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College, publisher: Harvard University Press, publication date: 2005
(3) Excerpt from the diary of Viscountess D'Abernon, quoted in Martin Gilbert's The First World War, who had visited the Somme battlefront from Pozières to Thiepval. British pilot Captain Albert Ball eventually had 44 victories, fourth highest of British pilots in the war. He died on May 7, 1917 during a dogfight, but possibly of engine failure.
The First World War, a Complete History by Martin Gilbert, page 293, copyright © 1994 by Martin Gilbert, publisher: Henry Holt and Company, publication date: 1994
(4) At the last meeting of the British War Policy Committee on October 11, 1917, there was little discussion about the Third Battle of Ypres, even though the government of Prime Minister Lloyd George anticipated failure and could have stopped the battle, but let it stumble on. Rather there was a lengthy discussion of where to focus attention other than on the western front: Italy? Palestine?
Passchendaele The Untold Story by Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson, pp. 153 and 155, copyright © 1996 Robin Prior and Trevor Wilson, publisher: Yale University Press, publication date: 2002
(5) Stanza from 'An die Soldaten des Grossen Krieges' ('To the Soldiers of the Great War', translated by Patrick Bridgwater) by Gerrit Engelke, German writer and soldier, wounded on October 11, 1918, dying on the 13th. Engelke served at Langemarck, Verdun, the Somme, Champagne, and St. Mihiel and was a recipient of the Iron Cross.
The Lost Voices of World War I, An International Anthology of Writers, Poets and Playwrights by Tim Cross, pp. 89–90, copyright © 1989 by The University of Iowa, publisher: University of Iowa Press, publication date: 1989
