'Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red' — the Tower of London poppies — each of the 888,246 ceramic poppies representing one serviceman of the British Empire killed in World War I. The installation was a collaboration of artist Paul Cummins and stage designer Tom Piper. Since November, 2014 the poppies have been installed in other sites in the United Kingdom. Photographed October 3, 2014. © 2014 by John M. Shea
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German postcard celebrating "the great German victory over the English" off Jutland, May 31, 1916. The Battle of Jutland (or of the Skagerrak) was the largest naval engagement of the war. Although, as on this card, the Germans declared victory, the outcome was less clear, and the German surface fleet did not again contest British control of the North Sea.
Image text: Der große Sieg der Deutschen über die EngländerSeeschlacht an Jütlands Küste 31. Mai 1916 - The great German victory over the EnglishNaval battle off the coast of Jutland, May 31, 1916
A French officer charging into battle in a watercolor by Fernand Rigouts. The original watercolor on deckle-edged watercolor paper is signed F. R. 1917, and addressed to Mademoiselle Henriette Dangon.
Image text: Signed F. R. 1917Reverse:Addressed to Mademoiselle Henriette Dangon
A mass of German troops bear an enormous egg striped in the black, white, and red of the german flag. Atop the egg, a cannon is fired by troops with a Hungarian flag. The target, diminutive in the distance, is Paris, Eiffel Tower gray against the brown city.The watercolor is labeled,Husvét . Páris piros tojása . 1918Easter . Red eggs for Paris . 1918The front of the card is postmarked 1918-04-05 from Melököveso.The card is a Feldpostkarte, a field postcard, from Asbach Uralt, old German cognac. Above the brand name, two German soldiers wheel a field stove past a crate containing a bottle of the brandy under the title Gute Verpflegung, Good Food. Above the addressee is written Einschreiben, enroll, and Nach Ungarn, to Hungary. The card is addressed to Franz Moritos, and is postmarked Hamburg, 1918-03-30. A Hamburg stamp also decorates the card.A hand-painted postcard by Schima Martos. , Germany on registered fieldpost card, 1918, message: Red Egg for Paris, Easter, 1918.The German advance in Operation Michael in the March, 1918 nearly broke the Allied line, and threatened Paris, putting it once again in range of a new German supergun capable of hitting the city from 70 miles away.
Image text: Husvét . Páris piros tojása . 1918Easter . Red eggs for Paris . 1918The front of the card is postmarked 1918-04-05 from Melököveso
"So well was London guarded from hostile air craft that the zeppelins were denied access to the areas above the metropolis until May 31st [1915], ten months after the opening of the War. Near midnight on that day, several zeppelins appeared above the city, raining down shells upon the city and killing six persons.In reprisal the citizens of London declared a boycott upon every person having a name of German origin; German shops were looted, German homes were attacked, and rioting took place in many districts where Germans were numerous." ((1), more)
"The Defence was heavily engaged, salvoes dropping all around her. At 1815 a salvo hit her abaft the after turret and a big red flame flashed up. The ship heeled, then quickly righted herself and steamed on. But almost immediately another salvo struck between the forecastle turret and foremost funnel, and she was lost to sight in an enormous black cloud which, when it cleared, showed no signs of a ship at all." ((2), more)
"They judged it prudent to separate the three battalions of the 296th Regiment from one another, and they billeted us fairly far apart. Our battalion was quartered in barracks four kilometers from Sainte-Menehould. It was only when we got there that we learned that the other battalions were elsewhere.The next day [May 31], at 7 p.m., they assembled us for departure to the trenches. Noisy demonstrations resulted: cries, songs, shouts, whistling; of course, the 'Internationale' was heard. I truly believe that, if the officers had made one provocative gesture, said one word against the uproar, they would have been massacred without pity, so great was the agitation." ((3), more)
"On May 31st [1918], when the Germans were already in the outskirts of Château-Thierry, an American machine-gun unit was hurried thither in motor lorries. Château-Thierry lies on both banks of the Marne, which is spanned by a big bridge. A little to the northward a canal runs parallel to the river and is crossed by a smaller bridge.The Americans had scarcely reached their quarters when news was received that the Germans had broken into the northern part of Château-Thierry, having made their way through the gap they had driven in our lines to the left of the town and then pouring along the streets to the bridge, intending to establish themselves firmly on the south bank and capture the town.The American machine gunners and French colonials were thrown into Château-Thierry together." ((4), more)
(1) The prevailing winds and stormy weather provided some of London's defense against Zeppelin air raids. Most aircraft were as yet unable to operate at the altitudes at which the airships did.
King's Complete History of the World War by W.C. King, page 155, copyright © 1922, by W.C. King, publisher: The History Associates, publication date: 1922
(2) At the end of May, 1916, the British (May 30) and German (the 31st) fleets moved into the North Sea with similar plans and deployments: a squadron of half a dozen ships to lure the enemy into the guns of a large battle fleet. Admiral Reinhard Scheer commanded the German High Sea Fleet, and Rear Admiral Franz Hipper his smaller battle squadron. Their British counterparts were Admiral John Jellicoe commanding the Grand Fleet, and David Beatty the squadron. Hipper's and Beatty's squadrons first exchanged fire at 3:48 PM. By 6:00 PM both fleets were engaged in the Battle of Jutland, the largest naval battle of the war. Defence had a failing shared with other British ships: its magazines were dangerously close to, and unprotected from, the gun turrets, and a direct hit on the turret could lead to the ignition of the magazine. Defence sank with all hands at 6:20. The British suffered heavier losses in the battle: 14 ships and 6,097 men to Germany's 11 ships and 2,551 men, but the British fleet remained the stronger, and the German surface fleet did not again contest control of the North Sea.
Naval Battles of the First World War by Geoffrey Bennett, page 181, copyright © Geoffrey Bennett 1968, 1974, publisher: Pan Books, publication date: 1983
(3) Excerpt from the notebooks of French Infantry Corporal Louis Barthas of the 296th Regiment. After the failure of French commander in chief Robert Nivelle's 1917 spring offensive — the Second Battle of the Aisne, begun on April 16 — an offensive that Nivelle had asserted would provide the breakthrough of the German line that would lead to victory, mutinous incidents broke out in the French army, particularly among the troops that had suffered the highest rates of casualties in the offensive. The mutinies were of greater or lesser severity, beginning in April, with the most serious incidents in May and June. Some soldiers took the Russian Revolution as their model. Barthas was asked on May 30 to take the lead role in a soviet that would assume command of his company. He declined, but wrote a manifesto on behalf of the company protesting the delay in leaves after Nivelle's disaster. The 'Internationale' is a Socialist anthem from the late nineteenth century.
Poilu: The World War I Notebooks of Corporal Louis Barthas, Barrelmaker, 1914-1918 by Louis Barthas, page 328, copyright © 2014 by Yale University, publisher: Yale University Press, publication date: 2014
(4) Beginning of a British press dispatch of June 5, 1918 on the fighting at Château-Thierry during the German Aisne Offensive. The defenders prevented German forces from crossing the Marne River, blowing the big bridge referred to. Three days earlier American troops working in unison with a French tank brigade and a platoon of French flame throwers had captured the village of Cantigny, and held it against repeated German counter-attacks. The action at Château-Thierry was critical in holding the line of the Marne.
The Great Events of the Great War in Seven Volumes by Charles F. Horne, Vol. VI, 1918, p. 196, copyright © 1920 by The National Alumnia, publisher: The National Alumni, publication date: 1920
