German troops resting in Poland. After withdrawing from southern Poland, Hindenburg came from the area southwest of Thorn to strike the Russians who were advancing towards the Silesian border in a flank attack. The Battle of Lodz and Lowicz finally brought the Russian steamroller to a halt at the end of November. A card from Der Weltkrieg 1914-1918, a 1930s German history of the war illustrated (or not) with pasted-in cigarette cards.
Image text: Rastende Truppen in Polen. Nach dem Rückzug aus Südpolen stieß Hindenburg aus der Gegend südwestl. Thorn den gegen die schlesische Grenze vordringenden Russen in die Flanke. Die Schlacht bei Lodz und Lowicz brachte Ende November die russische Dampfwalze endgültig zum Stehen. - Unter die schweren Kämpfe bei Lodz zählt auch der berühmte Durchbruch Litzmanns bei Brzeziny.Troops resting in Poland. After the withdrawal from southern Poland, Hindenburg came from the area southwest of Thorn to strike the Russians advancing towards the Silesian border in the flank. The Battle of Lodz and Lowicz finally brought the Russian steamroller to a halt at the end of November. - Among the heavy fighting in Lodz, Litzmann's famous breakthrough in Brzeziny ranks highly.
To the Dardanelles! The Entente Allies successfully capture their objective and plant their flags in this boy's 1915 war game, as they did not in life, neither in the naval campaign, nor in the invasion of the Gallipoli peninsula.
Image text: Aux Dardanelles; Victoire; Vive les AlliésLogo and number: ACA 2131Reverse:Artige - Fabricant 16, Faub. St. Denis Paris Visé Paris N. au verso. Fabrication Française - Marque A.C.A
Postcard of a cross-section of the German mine-laying submarine UC5, captured by the British.
Image text: Captured German UC5, mine-laying submarine. by Authority of the Admiralty, July 1916.Areal 2 wiresJumping wiresPeriscopeTelescopic mast Height ???? feetSteering wheel fitted to ????Main vent from tankWaterlineVertical rudderAfter trimming tankSilencerEngine room; engine; electric motors and diesel Benz motorsTank; oil fuel tanksAccumulators??? 70 in number???Ballast keel; 18.3 ?? tonsHand wheelKingston valvesBallast tanks tons; safety weightAccumulatorsBallast keel. . . Reverse:Crown Copyright Reserved.-Not to be reprinted without permission of Controller of H.M. Stationary Office.
Bourlon and Bourlon Wood. From The Tank Corps by Major Clough Williams-Ellis & A. Williams-Ellis.
Image text: The Bapaume-Cambrai Road.12. L.O. 28.57º Bourlon & Wood2.12.17.10.
"Sazonov is delirious with joy :'Our victory at Lodz is splendid, complete, and far more important than all our successes in Galicia. We're waiting for the fruits of our victory to be harvested before making it public.'. . . General Bielaiev confirmed what Sazonov has told me :'We've won a victory, a great victory; but between Brzeziny and Strykov the Germans are still making desperate efforts to cut their way through north. That is why in our communiqué we are saying that the advantage is with our troops and the Germans are finding it very difficult to secure their retreat. . . .'In the city the public delight is to be read on every face." ((1), more)
". . . from the early evening of 26 November, the Suvla Sector War Diary of the 86th Brigade, 29th Division, illustrates the terrible experience which was to befall those at Suvla and to some extent those at Anzac.'1900. Very severe thunderstorm with very strong gale and torrents of rain.'2000. All telephone communication was cut off and all dugouts flooded out.'2100. Reported to Bde H.Q.s that all trenches were flooded, water had come in as though it had been a tidal wave, that many men must have been drowned, and few had been able to save their rifles and equipment. The men were standing up to their knees in water, behind the parados of the trenches.'" ((2), more)
"26th November [1916]Rumania is under even greater threat of invasion. The Government is said to have left Bucharest.In Belgium the deportations of unemployed, and even, it is reported, of other persons, grow more and more widespread.In France and England the problem of supplies has taken on a serious aspect.The Somme offensive is dying slowly, without the General Staff daring to admit it. The submarines are becoming increasingly active.The prospects of peace are more and more remote, but the speeches remain just as impassioned." ((3), more)
"On November 25 and 26 [1917] we renewed our attack upon Fontaine-Notre-Dame and again tried to capture Bourlon Village.In the end, however, both these important points remained in enemy hands.A week had now elapsed since the launching of the battle.According to the original scheme, the action should not have been continued for more than three days, but in spite of our original 'Self-Denying Ordinance' as to ground, when desirable points of vantage were actually in our hands, we had fallen a prey to 'land hunger' and had still fought on and continued to advance in order to consolidate these new and delightful possessions." ((4), more)
(1) Entry from the memoirs of Maurice Paléologue, French Ambassador to Russia, for Thursday, November 26, 1914. Sergei Sazonov was the Russian Foreign Minister. The Russians did threaten to achieve a significant victory in the Battle of Lodz as early reports had it, but the Germans were successful in their efforts to break out, and the Russians would not achieve the great victory they anticipated.
An Ambassador's Memoirs Vol. II by Maurice Paléologue, page 200, publisher: George H. Doran Company
(2) The storm that moved into the Dardanelles on November 26, 1915 would prove deadly, first with flood waters, then with blizzard conditions and freezing cold. Of the three Allied positions on the Gallipoli Peninsula, that at Suvla Bay was the most recent and least well entrenched due to the the rocky soil that made it too difficult to dig in. In many places the men, rather than being dug in, sheltered behind stone barriers.
Men of Gallipoli: The Dardanelles and Gallipoli Experience August 1914 to January 1916 by Peter Liddle, pp. 256, 257, copyright © Peter Liddle, 1976, publisher: David and Charles, publication date: 1976
(3) Summary of the bleak situation facing the Entente Allies as 1916 drew to a close, the entry from the war diary of Albert, King of the Belgians, November 26, 1916. Romania was then being invaded by a German-Austro-Hungarian army that had broken through the Carpathian Mountains to the west, and by a German-Bulgarian-Turkish army to the east and south that had just crossed the Danube River and threatened the Romanian capital of Bucharest. German authorities were deporting Belgians to Germany as forced labor. Shortages in France and the United Kingdom had not approached those that faced Germany and Austria-Hungary, but German submarine activity had increased and threatened supplies of food and war materiel, particularly from the United States. The Anglo-French offensive on the Somme was ended in November with little gain and over 620,000 Allied casualties. The Americans, led by recently re-elected President Woodrow Wilson, were promoting peace, and Germany would soon make a proposal that France and Britain would immediately dismiss.
The War Diaries of Albert I King of the Belgians by Albert I, page 129, copyright © 1954, publisher: William Kimber
(4) The British tank and infantry offensive in the Battle of Cambrai began on November 20 and met with unexpected success on the first day as the tanks and infantry trained to work with them cooperated in the advance. On the second and subsequent days, the British did not have reserves to continue the offensive, and could only proceed with fewer tanks, and weary soldiers who had not been trained for tank warfare. The British took much of Bourlon Wood, but could not capture and hold the village of Bourlon north of the woods or Fontaine-Notre-Dame to the east.
The Tank Corps by Clough Williams-Ellis & A. Williams-Ellis, page 116, publisher: The Offices of "Country Life," Ltd. and George Newnes, Ltd., publication date: 1919
