A Swiss postcard of 'The European War' in 1914. The Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary face enemies to the east, west, and south. Germany is fighting the war it tried to avoid, battling Russia to the east and France to the west. Germany had also hoped to avoid fighting England which came to the aid of neutral (and prostrate) Belgium, and straddles the Channel. Austria-Hungary also fights on two fronts, against Russia to the east and Serbia and Montenegro to the south. Italy, the third member of the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary, declared neutrality, and looks on. Other neutral nations include Spain, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Romania, Bulgaria, and Albania. Japan enters from the east to battle Germany. The German Fleet stays close to port in the North and Baltic Seas while a German Zeppelin targets England. The Austro-Hungarian Fleet keeps watch in the Adriatic. Turkey is not represented, and entered the war at the end of October, 1914; Italy in late May, 1915.
Image text: Der Europäische KriegThe European WarReverse:Kriegskarte No. 61. Verlag K. Essig, BaselKunstanstalt (Art Institute) Frobenius A.G. Basel
Italy's armed forces at the ready in a 1915 postcard. In the foreground the artillery, infantry, an Alpine soldier (in feathered hat), and a Bersaglieri (in plumed headgear). Behind them are a bugler and lancer; in the distance marines and colonial troops. The Italian navy is off shore, an airship and planes overhead. On the reverse are the lyrics of a patriotic Italian March by Angelo Balladori, lyrics by Enrico Mercatali. It ends with a call to the brothers of Trento and Trieste, Austro-Hungarian territory with large ethnic Italian populations.
Image text: Reverse:Marcia ItalicaD'Italia flammeggin le sante bandiereBaciate dal sole, baciate dal vento,Su l'aspro sentier di Bezzecca e di TrentoDe l'alma Trieste, sul cerulo mar.. . . Fratelli di Trento, Triestini fratelli,La patria s'è desta alla grande riscossa!Dell'aquila ingorda la barbara possaDai liberi petti domata sarà!Parole di Enrico MercataliMusica di Angelo Balladori.Casa Editrice Sonzogno - Milano. 1915.
Mounted reserves fording a stream on their way to Verdun, a photo from the archives of the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Daily News. The back of the photo is stamped Oct — 3 1916. A hand-written note indicates it would cover two columns on the home page.
Image text: Reverse:Stamp: Oct — 3 1916Affixed clipping:Reserves on way to VerdunThe sector around Verdun still continues to be the scene of terrific fighting. Both the French and the Prussians continue in their attacks, and as a result troops are constantly being sent to take the places of fallen comrades.Hand-written:2 colHome Edition
A large German bomber, capable of bombing England. The plane is powered by two engines, and holds a crew of three with a pilot and front and rear gunners. The plane is likely a Gotha bomber, originally built by Gothaer Waggonfabrik, then built under license by Siemens-Schukert Werke and Luft-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft (LVG). Note the ground crew pushing on the lower wing and the men holding the tail up as the plane is moved backwards. Sanke postcard number 1040.
Image text: Deutsches Riesen-Flugzeug(Englandflieger)1040Postkartenvertrieb W. SankeBerlin No. 37Nachdruck wird gerichtlich verfolgtGerman giant aircraft(England flyer)1040Postcard distributor W. SankeBerlin No. 37Reproduction will be prosecuted
". . . [Serbian] King [Peter] Karageorgevic mounted the heights of Rudnik to inspire the army, and [Field Marshall] Putnik began a vast counterattack with two hundred thousand troops on December 2[, 1914]. The three divisions of the Serbian First Army converged with the three divisions of the Serbian Third Army on Valjevo, hammering the Austrian Sixth Army and the Fifth Army's XIII Corps out of Razana and Valjevo. The four divisions of the Serbian Second Army closed from Obrenovac on the right and Lazarevac on the left around the Fifth Army's VIII Corps. Putnik had finally been resupplied with shells and bullets and had brought up all of the reserves that were left in the kingdom . . ." ((1), more)
"Operations petered out in the first week of December [1915], when heavy snowfalls obliterated trenches and wire. The Fourth Battle [of the Isonzo] had added 49,000 casualties to the 67,000 from the Third. Austrian losses were 42,000 and 25,000 respectively. Summarizing the reasons for the failure, the Italian official history of the war blamed the barbed wire, which was 'practically impossible' to destroy. Many months would pass before the Italians found a remotely effective solution." ((2), more)
"In my old company, the 21st (Hudelle's company), my old active-duty Sergeant Darles had been killed by a shell. His brother, a private in the same unit, went to his aid, but a second shell killed him, two minutes later.This was a simple fact. What did it matter that it was two brothers, two friends, or two strangers? But think about a father and a mother with two children—their hope, their help in the future, in their old age, upon whom their thoughts settled—who learn, all of a sudden, the brutal news, the horrible death of their two children.Go talk about glory, victory, the fatherland to these poor old people. They'll ask you not to insult their misery." ((3), more)
"The anger of the people in the threatened areas was turned on Coventry during this tense period, when thousands of workers in the local aircraft engine industry went on strike.Coventry was denounced as 'the center of the contempt of the British Empire.' The Lord Mayor pleaded in vain with the workers to serve as 'loyal soldiers in the munitions shops.' A Royal Naval Air Service chaplain was flown from the front in France to preach patriotism in the strikebound city. Aircraft even dropped leaflets on Coventry on 2 December, calling 'for an increase in aircraft production'." ((4), more)
(1) Under the command of Field Marshall Putnik, the Serbian army had been retreating before Austria's third, and final, 1914 invasion of Serbia. Austro-Hungarian commander Oskar Potiorek had inadequately supplied his men, then driven them for weeks through the mountains, snow, and mud of northwest Serbia. Many of his men had abandoned their weapons along the way, and his army had overstretched their supply lines. He had further weakened his attack in a costly attempt to take the Serbian capital of Belgrade. Putnik had retreated to a position close to his supplies, and concentrated his army for an all-out counterattack. Exhausted, underfed, ill-clothed, and ill-equipped, the Austro-Hungarian invaders collapsed.
A Mad Catastrophe by Geoffrey Wawro, page 328, copyright © 2014 by Geoffrey Wawro, publisher: Basic Books
(2) Italian Commander-in-Chief Luigi Cadorna launched the Third Battle of the Isonzo River on October 18, 1915 on a 50-kilometer front with 1,300 guns, most of them 75 mm. field guns that neither cut barbed wire nor destroyed entrenchments. He followed hard on the end of the Third with the Fourth Battle on November 10 with even less artillery preparation.
The White War: Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919 by Mark Thompson, pp. 134, 135, copyright © 2008 Mark Thompson, publisher: Basic Books, publication date: 2009
(3) Excerpt from the notebooks of French Infantry Corporal Louis Barthas whose division had been relieved by the British on December 1, 1916. The division moved to Salouel, a suburb of Amiens. Their previous relief had been after the division had attacked, and their casualties were much heavier then, but Barthas notes 'the shells had claimed victims every day, even in the quietest sectors.'
Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-1918 by Louis Barthas, page 284, copyright © 2014 by Yale University, publisher: Yale University Press, publication date: 2014
(4) From Monday, September 24 to October 1, 1917, ninety-two German Gotha bombers took part in the Autumn Moon Offensive against England. Fifty-five of the two-engine planes reached England with twenty or fewer making it to London. A handful of Staaken Giant bombers also took part in the raids, with one reaching the capital. On six of the eight nights the bombers struck. A total of 69 people were killed and 260 wounded, some by shell casings from the British defensive barrage. Before the raids had ended, over 300,000 people had taken shelter in the London Underground. A raid on the night of October 31-November 1 struck southeast of London.
The Sky on Fire by Raymond H. Fredette by Raymond H. Fredette, page 167, copyright © 1966, 1976, 1991 by Raymond H. Fredette, publisher: Smithsonian Institution Press, publication date: 1991
