On October 9, 1914 Antwerp was bombed by a Zeppelin. German forces occupied the city the next day. Postcard with an inset portrait of Count von Zeppelin.
Image text: Antwerpen unter Feuer eines Zeppelin.Antwerp under fire of a Zeppelin.Reverse:No. 1958 Charles Lehmann, Kunstanstalt, Berlin N.O. 43
Serbian and Montenegrin uniforms, from a 1910 advertising card. From left to right: a soldier of the guard, an infantryman, a cavalryman, an artilleryman, and a general, all of the Serbian army, and three Montenegrin soldiers.
Image text: Véritable Extrait de Viande Liebig.Serbie et Monténégro. – En Serbie, tout citoyen valide de 20 à 50 ans fait partie successivement, pendant une période de dix ans, de l’armée active, de la première et de la seconde reserve de la milice nationale. Le pays est divisé en 5 districts militaires. L’effectif, en temps de paix s’élève à environ 600 officiers et 12,000 hommes; en temps de guerre, il est de 130.000 hommes de l’armée régulière auxquels s’ajoutent 124,000 de première levée de la milice nationale et 62,000 de seconde levée. Les uniformes, en particulier ceux de la cavalerie, se rapprochent des uniformes autrichiens. – Dans la principauté de Monténégro, il n’existe pas de loi réglant le service militaire; tout Monténégrin se considère dès l’age de 12 ans comme apte à défendre sa patrie. En fait de troupes, il n’existe qu’un peloton de gardes du corps montés et deux companies de la même arme à pied, plus trois bataillons d’infanterie. Le costume national, rehaussé pour les officiers d’un manteau vert richement brodé d’or, sert d’uniforme. – Notre gravure représente, de gauche à droite: un soldat de la garde, un fantassin, un cavalier, un artilleur, un général et trois soldats monténégrins.Serbia and Montenegro. - In Serbia, every citizen from 20 to 50 years old is, for successive periods of ten years, a member of the standing army, then of the first reserve, and finally of the second reserve of the national militia. The country is divided into five military districts. In peacetime the army is about 600 officers and 12,000 men; in wartime, it consists of130,000 men of the regular army, supplemented by 124,000 of the first round of the national militia and by 62,000 of the second. Uniforms, particularly those of the cavalry, are similar to Austrian uniforms. – In the principality of Montenegro, there is no law governing military service. From the age of 12, each Montenegrin considers h
England's Distress: Postcard map of England and Ireland with the restricted zone Germany proclaimed around the islands, showing the ships destroyed by submarine in the 12 months beginning February 1, 1917.
Image text: Englands Not12 Monate uneingeschränktenU-Bootskrieges auf dem nördlichen See kriegsschauplatzAlle durch Minen und vor dem 1. Februar 1917 vernichteten Schiffe sind in dieser Karte nicht enthalten.SperrgebietsgrenzenBedeutet ein durch die Tätigkeit unserer U-Boote versenktes Schiffe ohne Berücksichtigung seine GrosseDie Eintragungen der Schiffe entsprechen dem Versunkungsort.England's distressUnqualified 12 monthsSubmarine warfare in the North Sea theaterAll ships destroyed by mines of before February 1, 1917 are not included in this map.restricted zone boundaries[Sunken ship symbol] indicates a ship sunk by the actions of our submarines without taking into account the size of the vessel. The records correspond to the ships' place of operations.Reverse:Auf Anregung Sr. Majestät des Kaisersi. Auftr. des Admiralstabes d. Rais. Marine zu Gunsten der Sinterbliebenen der Besatzungen von U-Booten, Minensuch- und Vorpostenbooten herausgegeben vom Verein für das Deutschtum im AuslandFaber'sche Buchdruckerei, Magdeburg.At the suggestion of His Majesty the Emperorhis commission of Naval Staff Rais d. Navy issued in favor of the sintering relatives of the crews of submarines, minesweepers and outpost boats by the Association for Germans abroadFaber'sche book printing, Magdeburg.
German postcard map of the Western Front in Flanders, looking south and including Lille, Arras, Calais, and Ostend. In the Battle of the Yser in October, 1914, the Belgian Army held the territory south of the Yser Canal, visible between Nieuport, Dixmude, and Ypres (Ypern). Further north is Passchendaele, which British forces took at great cost in 1917.
Image text: Der KanalStraße von CalaisThe English Channel and the Strait of CalaisReverse:Panorama des westlichen Kriegsschauplatzes 1914/15 Von Arras bis Ostende.Die Panorama-Postkartenreihe umfaßt mit ihren 9 Abschnitten Nr. 400 bis 408 den gesamten westlichen Kriegsschauplatz von der Schweizer Grenze bis zur Nordseeküste.Panorama of the western theater of operations 1914/15 from Arras to Ostend. The panoramic postcard series includes nine sections, with their No. 400-408 the entire western battlefield from the Swiss border to the North Sea coast.Nr. 408Wenau-Postkarte Patentamtl. gesch.
Map of the Western Front on October 4, 1918. From The History of The A.E.F. by Shipley Thomas.
Image text: October 4, 1918
"General Joffre informed me that the primary object of the operations then being pursued on the western wing of the Allied Armies was to envelop the German Army's opposing wing. If this should prove impossible, the manœvre would serve to prevent any corresponding attempt on the part of the enemy to envelop our left. With this object in view he had transported to the left of the Sixth Army . . .In addition to this, the British Army had asked to be transferred from the Aisne to our left flank. . . . Finally, arrangements would have to be made, sooner or later, for coöperation with the Belgian Army, now grouped in the vicinity of Antwerp." ((1), more)
"We are in camp on the vast endless plain. Military and horses all around. Lead gray clouds hang low on the horizon. The Danube marshes start here; the rich Hungarian plain melts into the immense stretch of reed. German infantry is marching southward with resounding steps. Under the wind the sedge bows weakly, as if everything must tremble at the roar of the heavy guns over the Danube." ((2), more)
"In the distant Mediterranean, the war of torpedo against liner continued. On October 4 a German submarine struck twice, each time with success, sinking first the Cunard liner Franconia, on which twelve died, and then the French troop transport Gallia, on which six hundred men were drowned." ((3), more)
"Ludendorff grumbled that 'we only came through [the Battle of Broodseinde] with enormous losses. It was evident that the idea of holding the front line more densely . . . was not the remedy.' The German official historian summarizes: 'The new battle scheme had not stood the test of the 4th October.' Prince Rupprecht's chief of staff wrote: 'Crown Prince Rupprecht found himself compelled to consider whether . . . he should not withdraw the front in Flanders so far back that the Allies would be forced to carry out an entirely new deployment of Artillery.' Another enemy monograph referred to the Battle of Broodseinde as 'The Black Day of October 4th.' Foot Guard Regiment No. 5 considered it 'the worst day yet experienced in the war.'" ((4), more)
"At 5.30 a.m. on October 4th the general attack was renewed. The enemy divisions on the front from Fresnes-en-Woevre to the Argonne had increased from 10 in first line to 16, and included some of his best divisions. The fighting was desperate, and only small advances were realized, except by the First Division on the right of the First Corps. By evening of October 5th the line was approximately Bois de la Cote Lemont-Bois du Fay-Gesnes-Hill 240-Fleville-Chehery, southwest through the Argonne." ((5), more)
(1) From the memoirs of French General Foch on his meeting with French Commander Joffre on October 4, 1914. Foch is first hearing details of Joffre's plans for outflanking the Germans, mutual attempts that ended on the North Sea, giving the name the Race to the Sea to the movement and battles.
The Memoirs of Marshal Foch, translated by Col. T. Bentley Mott by Ferdinand Foch, pp. 112-113, copyright © 1931 by Doubleday, Doran & Company, Inc., publisher: Doubleday, Doran & Co., publication date: 1931
(2) October 4, 1915 journal entry by Hungarian cavalryman Pál Kelemen, positioned on the Serbian border in preparation for the German and Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia.
The Beauty and the Sorrow: An Intimate History of the First World War by Peter Englund, page 169, copyright © 2009 by Peter England, publisher: Vintage Books, publication date: 2012
(3) Declared after Great Britain imposed a blockade of Germany, and suspended after the May 7, 1915 sinking of the passenger liner Lusitania in which 1,195 civilians, 128 of them Americans, Germany decided in September, 1916 to resume unrestricted submarine warfare in January. German U-boats continued their campaign, and were particularly successful in the Mediterranean Sea.
A Naval History of World War I by Paul G. Halpern, pp. 291–292, copyright © 1994 by the United States Naval Institute, publisher: UCL Press, publication date: 1994
(4) The Battle of Broodseinde on October 4, 1917 was a British attack within the overall Third Battle of Ypres, begun on July 31. The Germans had initially used a thin defense in the front line, often with men holding shell holes rather than trenches, many of the positions supporting pillboxes and machine gun nests. After British advances, the Germans moved more men and machine guns to the front where they suffered the horrendous casualties to which our quotations testify. Rupprecht was Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Bavaria. With Paul von Hindenburg Erich Ludendorff commanded the German Army, with the latter increasingly responsible for operations.
In Flanders Fields, the 1917 Campaign by Leon Wolff, page 195, copyright © 1958 by Leon Wolff, publisher: The Viking Press, publication date: 1958
(5) Excerpt from American Commander-in-Chief General John J. Pershing's 'final report' on the beginning of the second phase of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive on October 4, 1918. The first phase had begun on September 26 and had fallen well short of Pershing's goals.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. VI, 1918, p. 341, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
